“He Brought Me”
In the Word of God there are three particular occurrences of this brief but blessed clause, or its equivalent, “He brought me,” which are especially instructive and meaningful to the Spirit-illumined heart and mind. Related to its separate contexts, the clause brings before us a Divine activity in each of the three occurrences under our careful and prayerful consideration. The pronoun “He” refers to the origin of the Divine activity — namely, God. The verb “brought” directs our attention to the actual operation of the Divine activity. Lastly, the pronoun “me” indicates the object of the Divine activity.
First of all, let us consider the passage which demands the primary place because of its paramount theme:
The Death of the Son
In Psalm 22, the first in that great trilogy of Psalms which reveals the Lord Jesus Christ in His grace (22), guidance (23), and glory (24), we read these startling and solemn words in verse 15: “… and Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” Over this graphically prophetic Psalm which not only presents Christ’s cruel crucifixion, but also His victorious resurrection and glorious reign, might well be written the words of 1 Peter 1:2: “The sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them” (A.S.V.).
The verse from which our clause is taken discloses the exhausted strength and extreme thirst of the dying Lamb of God as He suffered the excruciating agonies and anguish of the cross. Who killed the Lord Jesus Christ? Many different answers might be given to this question, and each answer would be true in its own way. In a sense, the Jews killed Him (Acts 3:14-15; 5:30); Pilate killed Him (Matt. 27:24-26); the Roman soldiers killed Him (Matt. 27:35); and the Devil killed Him (Gen. 3:15). Morally speaking, not any of us is excluded from the guilt of history’s foulest deed, for God’s Word plainly states that Christ “bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (Pet. 2:24). Nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that God Himself slew His own Son. This is the full import and impact of the words already quoted from Psalm 22:15, and other Scripture passages add to the sublime reality of this solemn truth. For instance, the Prophet Isaiah has written, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief…” (53:10; see also vv. 4 and 6b; Acts 2:23; 2 Cor. 5:21). So great was God’s love for us that He permitted the stroke of His righteous wrath to fall with a crushing blow upon His only begotten Son, this having been planned in the council chamber of the Triune God long before the world was spoken into existence (1 Pet. 1:20). Facing all the implications of the sin problem, only by the slaying of the Son of His love could God be both “just and the justifier” (Rom. 3:26).
If I am pressed into selecting a favorite hymn, it is Anne Ross Cousin’s “O Christ, What Burdens Bowed Thy Head!” One of the stanzas of this beautiful song of praise centres upon the theme of God having slain His Son on the cross:
“Jehovah bade His sword awake:
O Christ, it woke ‘against Thee!
Thy blood the flaming sword must slake,
Thy heart its sheath must be;
All for my sake my peace to make,
Now sleeps that sword for me.”
And just as surely as that sword pierced the heart of God the Son, so also did it pierce the heart of God the Father. The death of Christ is the dearest theme to the heart of God, and through all Eternity we shall never lose sight of the infinite price of our redemption, for the marks of our Lord’s crucifixion shall never be erased. This is further confirmed by John’s unfolding of a future scene in Heaven in Revelation 5. Three times over in that glorious chapter the Lord Jesus Christ is described as “the Lamb that was slain” (vv. 6, 9, 12). And surely, the chief reason why Christ instituted what is generally called “The Lord’s Supper” is that we, who by nature are so prone to forget, might presently in this earthly scene remember His death for us on the cross. Alas, how many have drifted away from the simple and blessed observance of this divinely instituted remembrance feast for His own, either lightly esteeming it or else polluting it by the addition of pagan rituals and ceremonies.
We come now to the second selected occurrence of the brief but blessed clause, “He brought me,” introducing us to the best news in all the world, and this, a direct result of Christ’s death — namely:
The Deliverance of the Sinner
“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord” (Ps. 40:2-3).
While the Messianic character of this Psalm is readily recognized, a legitimate application of verses 2 and 3 is often made in connection with the believing sinner’s spiritual experience and testimony. From the highest heights to the lowest depths—“even the death of the cross” — the Lord Jesus Christ came down and into this earthly scene in order that He might bring us up and out of the horrible pit of sin. When we think of who He is, what He did, and the fact that we are the objects of such infinite and condescending love, it is all the more amazing and wonderful to contemplate our Deliverer and full deliverance (see Heb. 12:2-3; 2 Cor. 1:10).
In his intensely practical and delightful little book, Life with A Capital “L,” A. Lindsay Glegg calls Psalm 40:2-3, “The Autobiography of A Christian.” Including verse 17, Mr. Glegg quaintly points out that there are five chapters to the believer’s autobiography: (1) Brought Up; (2) Set Up; (3) Held Up; (4) Tuned Up; and (5) Caught Up.
The last chapter in a book is often the most thrilling, and surely this is so here as we look forward to the joyous realization of “that blessed hope” (Tit. 2:13). In view of present-day events and conditions over the world it is not only possible, but highly probable that we shall be among that privileged group of believers who will be “caught up” when Christ descends to the air — right into Satan’s territory (Eph. 2:2) — for His own (1 Thess. 4:16-17). This will be the greatest day of our lives! Come on now, if you know that favorite little Sunday School chorus, “I’m on the Rock,” sing it with me. If you do, it will make your day all the better and brighter.
“I’m on the rock, Hallelujah!
I’m on the rock to stay, Hallelujah!
For He lifted me from the miry clay.
I’m on the rock to stay.”
Or, if you don’t know that one, perhaps you know, “He Lifted Me Up.”
He lifted me up — yes, up
Up from the miry clay;
He lifted me up — yes, up,
To walk the narrow way,
He lifted me up — yes, up —
I’m bound for Heaven’s shore;
He lifted me up — yes, up —
To live forever more.”
We come to our last theme, and that is:
The Delight of The Saint
“He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love” (Song of Sol. 2:4).
As we think, then, of His “banqueting house” in this light, we do well to continually keep in mind that it is:
1. A Place of Rest.
As those who have come to Christ for rest (Matt. 11:28), there are no fears or anxieties which fill our hearts, for our text assures us that “His banner over me was (and is) love,” and we know that “perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).
“O Christ! we rest in Thee,
In Thee ourselves we hide;
Laden with guilt and misery,
Where could we rest beside?
‘Tis on Thy meek and lowly breast
Our weary souls alone can rest.”
—James G. Deck
2. A Place of Remembrance.
“This do in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24-26).
3. A Place of Realization.
“For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). Do we always sense the reality of His presence when we remember Him? How real IS the Lord Jesus Christ to us in our day by day experience?
4. A Place of Recognition.
“The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Cor. 10:16-17). Oh, that we might always recognize that we are one in Christ with all who truly call upon His Name, and that this blessed oneness might be revealed in a practical way among all His own!
5. A Place of Rejoicing.
… in Thy presence is fulness of joy” (Ps. 16:11).
“With joy we meditate the grace
Of our High Priest above;|
His heart o’erflows with tenderness,
His very name is Love.”
—Isaac Watts
6. A Place of Replenishment.
Is it not so that in blessing Him, we ourselves are blessed? See Philippians 4:19.
7. A Place of Renewal.
As often as we partake of the bread and the cup, it should serve to renew within us “that blessed hope,” for we do so only “till He come” (1 Cor. 11:26).
The words of a stanza from another of Anne Ross Cousin’s classic hymns, “The Sands of Time Are Sinking,” make a fitting close to our study, and especially to this final aspect of it:
“Oh! I am my Beloved’s,
And my Beloved’s mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner
Into His house of wine!
I stand upon His merit,
I know no other stand,
Not e’en where glory dwelleth,
In Immanuel’s land.”