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The same holds good of the word "ambassador". An ambassador who did not
represent a person or power who sent him is a contradiction in terms:--
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us"
(II Cor. 5: 20).
"He sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace" (Luke 14: 32).
Secondly, ambassadors, apostles and angels deliver the message given to them.--This
most obvious fact is not, alas, so patent when we begin to take stock of our own service
or that of others. The apostle said to the Corinthians:--
"I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received" (I Cor. 15: 3).
The close association of being "sent" and being told what to "say" is exemplified in
the commission of Isaiah:--
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I: send me. And
He said, Go and tell" (Isa. 6: 8, 9).
Lastly (and this note we hope to strike again and again for our encouragement and for
an example) these special features of service are found in all their fullness in the Son of
God Himself. Neither Peter nor Paul can claim the title, "The Chief Apostle", for this
belongs to the Lord: "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus" (Heb. 3: 1). He was pre-eminently the Sent One, and, as such, He delivered the
message entrusted to Him:--
"My doctrines is not Mine, but His that sent Me" (John 7: 16).
"I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a
commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak" (John 12: 49).
If Paul, in his conception of what a true ambassador should be, could say, "as though
God did beseech you by us", how much more could this be said of Christ!
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father, He hath declared Him" (John 1: 18).
"He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14: 9).
Further, the prophet Malachi refers to Christ under the symbol of an angel, saying:--
"The Lord Whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
(angel) of the covenant" (Mal. 3: 1).
Let us learn from these symbols of true service what is essential in our own, so that,
however lowly our ambassage may be, or however limited the sphere of our ministry, we
shall at least have the comfort and the encouragement of knowing that we have been
"sent", and that He has said, "Go . . . . . tell". Jeremiah knew this double aspect of
service, and with the Lord's words to him on the day when he was commissioned, we
will end this article:--
"Thou shalt go to all that I shall SEND thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou
shalt SPEAK" (Jer. 1: 7).