When Jesus Christ Is Truly Lord | Bethany & the Headship of Christ (Part 2)

Do you know what Bethany means? What does the word Bethany mean? Bethlehem is the house of bread; Bethany is the house of the figs. The church is a house of figs to the Lord. It is a place where He can come in and sit down, where He is received, and where He can eat, and where He can rest, and the Lord has cursed all else. It cannot feed him. The Lord wants a place where He can come in, rest, and be received.

“I stand at the door and knock, and if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me.” This is a similar picture of what the Lord wants: a people. It’s not to the church, but to a people where He can come in and sup with them and they with Him. I believe this is addressed to the overcomers, is it not? Am I mistaken? He wants a place where He can come in, rest, and be fed.

Okay, let’s turn now to Matthew 26:6 again. A little principle, but an important one. This is not Mary. As far as I can tell, this isn’t Mary; it is someone else. Maybe Mary got her idea from this one. I may be wrong. Jesus comes into Bethany. A woman takes an alabaster box of ointments and pours it on the Lord’s head. The room is filled with the smell of it. They said, “Why this waste? Why this waste?” Were they saying, “Why this waste?” They weren’t saying, “Why this waste? as much as they were saying…brothers and sisters…when you say, “Why this waste?”, do you realize what you’re really saying?

You’re saying, “Lord, you’re not worth it.” Now you think about it. That was spilled out and poured on the Lord Jesus, and it was very, very pure and costly.

Well, 2,000 years later, as we look back, if we had the privilege of being in the same home where the Lord Jesus was, you know, it would be no waste at all to pour something upon his head. But they said, “Why the waste?” Christ is not worthy of something so precious. Now, this is subjective, I realize, but I am saying to you: when the head is not honored, someone is saying, “He is not worthy,” or “He is not trustworthy of this; it should not be done.” I don’t know if you understand what I mean, but I have watched with my own eyes, and the centuries of the years, where Jesus Christ is not finally and completely received. I mean, He is received in some part, but He is not totally received, because it costs too much.

Unfortunately, I have seen this with my own eyes. It costs so much to anoint the head of Christ. I have watched this. We have tried, and we have tried, and we can’t make it. I can almost hear the voice of the children of Israel in the wilderness – “Take the cloud and the smoke and the fire from us and give us something that will keep moving, something we can see, hear, and talk to, and that will show us the way! Give us a man.” It takes so much cost to anoint the head of Christ, that the oil might fall forth upon his body and down to His feet.

Along the way, so many have said, “It’s not worth it.” I don’t want to draw any close parallel examples because there aren’t any, but I can give a poor example. This never got started right, but nonetheless, let me show you where it ended. You know, the Quakers were raised up, and they got so clear, so crystal clear and certain that things were wrong in the organized world of religion. They left it, and they wouldn’t go to the meeting; they wouldn’t do anything. Fox really saw something. He made a real contribution to restoring the city of the Lord. He said, “There is a light inside: follow it.”

You’ve heard how the Quakers met, and here’s where the poverty was. He said, “Drop all forms, all everything. Come in and sit down and don’t move until you get a light.” Well, he didn’t see so much. They just sat there, and once in a while someone would get up, and some of it was precious, and for a long time there was a great power with the Quakers. Well, they got started on the wrong foot. They could not have fully recovered from this. They got started wrong, but I want you to see where they are today. Where are they?

Brothers and sisters, it costs too much to anoint the Lord as Head. Have you ever been in their meetings? I have not, but I have a dear friend who left them to come and take a stand with the Lord for the church, and he was a pastor of one of their churches. I asked him about this. He said, “We have church buildings, and we have pews, and we have a pulpit. And when you walk into many of our churches, they have a bulletin with an order of worship. You come in, and you sit down, and there’s a man to direct the order of worship, and you sit there in a meeting with singing, and then he gets up and preaches. It costs too much. The Lord is not worth it. To anoint His head, to have Him as everything; only the Lord Jesus Christ knew that that woman had properly received him.

Do you think it’s easy to restore this matter? Well, let’s look at what has happened up until now. Has it been restored? It will cost. It will cost you everything to pour the precious oil upon the Lord’s head. It will cost…everything. Hallelujah. Praise God. It has been said for too long, “He is not worth the effort.” Somewhere, someday, a group of people has got to sit down and say, “Lord, we are going to meet together, and we are going to stand for your rule on this earth, and you are still among us in spirit, and you will rule us by your Head. Right now, right here.”

Let’s go. John 11 – What is Bethany? It’s a place where Jesus Christ is received. What does God want? He wants some Bethanys all over this earth. What is Bethany? It is a place where Jesus Christ can come in, rest, and be fed. What is Bethany? It’s a place where he’s worth everything. Where his head is anointed with oil, and he is worth everything. What is Bethany? It is a place of death and resurrection.

It was here that Mary anointed the Lord Jesus with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Verse 15.  I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent you may believe; nevertheless, let us go unto them. Well, that’s a small thing, but it was not the Lord Jesus alone who was received there, but there was the fellowship of all the brethren. Here is a place where the Lord Jesus Christ and the disciples had fellowship one with another. It was a place of love. It was a place of fellowship, and now, it is a place of death. Here is a picture of the church: people receiving the Lord. Here is an assembly. Here is some within a little village standing for the Lord, and death has come.