Galatians 6:17 From now on let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Although the first and the chief meaning of "stigmata" is the brand the slave bore to show that he was the property of another, yet the word also meant any scar, and I am inclined to think that the apostle had this also in his mind when he said, "Don't you trouble me. I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus." There were the weals — the red lines-through the scourgings. There were the bruises through the stonings. I think Paul says to all, "It is no use your trying to turn me back. You are not talking to any young recruit. I have fought in the battle. I have been wounded in the conflict. I have tried and tested my Captain in actual war. Look at the scars I have on me." And methinks his eyes would flash as he would say, "Yes, I have scars already, and I am willing to have a great many more. Why, look at what I have suffered for Him. Do you think I am going to give Him up now? Look at what I have endured for Him. Do you think that, after bearing all the scourgings and buffetings and loneliness that I have, I am likely to be turned on one side now?" He was proud of his scars. Do you see what a beautiful expression it is — "the marks of the Lord Jesus? We may say, Paul, it is a most disgraceful thing to be whipped. Why, you have on your back the brand of infamy." He only smiles and says, "No, I have on my back the marks of the Lord Jesus." "Why, Paul, look at your wrist; there is a deep, blue line round it where the manacle has been. You have the mark of the fetter on you." Says the apostle: "You mistake it; I have the mark of the Lord Jesus." He looked upon these scars as so many badges of honour. Go, walk through Greenwich Hospital tomorrow, or go down to Chelsea and talk to some of the old pensioners. Are they ashamed of their scars? Why, I remember how a few months back we had, at one of our meetings, a brother who had served in the Crimean war, and he showed me how a bayonet had gone in here and come out there; how there was a mark in his arm where a ball had gone right through, and a scar in his face where the sword had cut. I think he told me that he had about twenty scars on him, and his eyes flashed fire as he told the story. And have not you, brethren, some marks of the Lord Jesus of this sort? Have not you been wounded in conflicts willingly endured for the Master's sake? Have not you known what it is to be jeered at for Christ's sake? Have you not had to stand a rattling artillery of scoffs in your workshop? Have not some of you deep scars now through being cruelly misrepresented, and you knew it was for Christ's sake? I will say to you as Paul said to the Church at Galatia, "Have you suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain?" Oh, by the scars of the past, I pray you be heroes in the present. I demand of you a complete consecration. Will you yield to the demand which He here makes by me? If some of us have had to say, "Lord, I am afraid that the mark is not as clear as it used to be," then I will tell you what we had better do. We had better go and kneel down at His feet, and say, "Lord Jesus, brand us anew. Put Thy mark on us again. Thine we are, and on Thy side. Brand us. Put the iron upon us, though it burn us. Oh, do not listen to our cries, but put a deep indelible mark, so that in business life, in home life, in church life, men and women shall say, 'Lo, there are men who carry the stigmata of their Lord upon them.'" May God fill us with this holy impassioned earnestness — this sense of having taken an irretrievable step, which shall lead us to say to all about us, "From henceforth let no man trouble me. From henceforth clear the road, for I bear in my body the brand of the Lord Jesus." The Lord put His brand on us afresh for His name's sake. Amen. (A. G. Brown.) Parallel Verses KJV: From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. |
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