OUR QUESTIONS AND THE LORD’S ANSWER

 

The final message by Mr. Madsen at the conference in Switzerland, September, 1969.

July — August, 1970

Vol. 48, No. 4

OUR QUESTIONS AND THE LORD’S ANSWER

[Poul Madsen]

“But now I go unto him that sent me; and none of you asketh me,
Whither goest thou?” (John 16:5).

JESUS is here speaking from heaven and saying what He hears His Father say. Because He has heard His Father say it, He says: “None of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?” This is quite remarkable, because if you read John 13:36 you will find that Peter did ask the Lord: “Lord, where goest thou?”, and if you read John 14:5 you will find that Thomas also asked the Lord where He was going: “Lord, we know not whither thou goest, how know we the way?” Peter and Thomas had asked the way, but, according to Jesus, they had not asked anything at all!

Jesus said of Himself: “I am from above: ye are of this world” (John 8:23), so the questions we ask are of the earth and not in the realm of the Spirit. Therefore you very seldom find that our Lord Jesus answered the questions put to Him. Again and again in John’s Gospel we see that people asked Him questions and He said something which seemingly had nothing to do with the question.

Nicodemus was one of these questioners. He put this question to the Lord: “How can a man be born again?” Had he put that question to us we would have answered: ‘One, if you do this and that, and, secondly, you must do something else, and, thirdly, you must testify to people, and, then, fourthly, the Lord will give you new birth.’ But the Lord Jesus did not answer Nicodemus’ question! He said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Nicodemus asked further: “How can these things be?” Again if he had asked us that question, we would have answered with four more points, and said: ‘And then it happens!’ But the Lord did not do that. He said: ‘If you do not believe when I speak of earthly things, how can you believe when I speak of heavenly things?’ If you read chapter three of John’s Gospel, you will have great difficulty in finding an answer to that question that you will like. That is because Nicodemus asked his questions as an earthly man, but the Lord never answers questions as an earthly man, so what He says fails to satisfy man’s mind.

It was the same when the Greeks came and said: ‘We would like to see Jesus.’ What an answer the Lord Jesus gave them! “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified” (John 12:23). Is that an answer? Not to our minds!

It is always like that with the Lord. He does not answer questions. He cannot do so, for an answer which we would understand would be a means of keeping us in our world. It would be a hindrance to man if the Lord answered his questions according to his mind. The Lord wants to draw the earthly man out of his world, so He cannot give him an answer that he would understand for that answer would keep him in his earthly world. The Lord knows what is in man and is not in need of his questions! We often feel that our questions are very important but the Lord knows better. Our questions are not vital. Deep down underneath the many questions there is something that the Lord knows, and that is what is vital. It might be a hidden sin; it might be pride; it might be fear of man: it might be superficiality; or it might be some kind of bondage. Therefore the Lord does not answer questions, and it is as though we do not ask anything at all.

The Lord’s answer is, of course, the word of the Cross, and the Cross does not answer the questions of earthly-minded people. It was an answer the disciples had never expected, for it did not answer their questions, but was a shock to their whole being. The Cross does not accept the earthly man and his questions, but does away with them. It is as if the Lord from the Cross says: ‘You are nothing and your questions are nothing. You have never asked one question that is valid with Me!’ That is the way in which the Lord answers questions, and it seems as if He does not speak at all to the earthly man.