Having, in our last meditation, covered the
ground of the greatness of Christ in the Scriptures as
the meaning of all things, the idea and nature of all
things, and the final test of all things, we now go on to
consider
2.
His Place - By the Love of the Father
Infinite Divine Love the Motive and Power
His place is by the
love of the Father. Infinite Divine love is the motive
and the power which lies back of His appointment to the
position which has been given to Him.
This is revealed in
several ways. It is revealed
(a) In All the Scriptures
Many of these
Scriptures will immediately spring to mind. Let me give
you a small selection.
"Thou lovedst
me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24)
"Through whom also he made the worlds" (Heb.
1:2).
"Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the
foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of
thy hands" (Heb. 1:10).
But before He laid the
foundation of the world, before the world was, the
declaration is that He was the Beloved of the Father.
"The Father
loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself
doeth" (John 5:20).
"The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all
things into his hand" (John 3:35).
"Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay
down my life, that I may take it again" (John
10:17).
"Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved
you" (John 15:9).
"A voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my
beloved Son" (Matt. 3:17).
"That we should be... to the praise of the glory
of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved" (Eph. 1:6).
"Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and
translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his
love" (Col. 1:13).
And so we could go on
and on, but we have quoted sufficient to shew very fully
that the Scriptures reveal that Christ has His place by
the love of the Father.
But not only is this so
in direct and definite statements, but everything points
to it. Every Old Testament figure of Christ brings out
the idea of love with fullness and inheritance in view. I
think we often overlook what seems to be the
all-too-fleeting and transient glorious morn before Adam
fell, but it is a picture of Divine love for the man whom
God had created. Love - yes; love planning, love giving,
love companioning, love desiring. It is a picture of
love, and all with fullness, a great inheritance, in
view. And did we but realize it, the rebellion and
disobedience were a blow at the heart of God more than
anything else, the God who so loved the world. Adam, we
are told, was a figure of Christ (Rom. 5:14) before the
Fall, only a figure, but there is enough there to show
the love-relationship between God and man, with desire
for man's fullest inheritance. We will just glance at
these outstanding personal representations or figures of
Christ.
Isaac - it is
impossible to be blind to the love element surrounding
Isaac. He is the love of the father, a particular and
peculiar love, and it was said that "in Isaac shall
thy seed be called" (Gen. 21:12). The inheritance is
along the line of the son of his love.
Joseph - there is
perhaps no greater figure of Christ in the Old Testament
than Joseph, but what a son of the father's love! And how
did he come to glory, to fullness? By the jealous love of
One greater than his earthly father, because he was a
figure of Him that was to come. There is no mistaking the
prefiguring of Christ in Joseph. Sold for twenty pieces
of silver, to all intents dead and out of sight, cast
into the deepest dungeon, tasting the bitterest travail
of soul, and raised to glory and power to bring life to
his brethren. Well, it is patent that here is a figure of
Christ, but the governing feature is love unto fullness.
Or take
Israel. Surely, if there is a mystery in history, it is
the mystery of God's love for Israel, when viewed in the
light of all they proved to be. God spoke of Israel as
"My son," "My firstborn," "I
remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of
thine espousals" (Jer. 2:2). God is there speaking
like a lover concerning Israel. Amazing love, all with
the inheritance in view. Is it not strange that the
nation which has drawn out the love of God by way of
example so utterly, should become the nation to exhibit
so utterly the opposite of love for God, and for the Son
of God? I could add much more as from the Old Testament
to this story of figures of Christ in terms of love with
fullness in view.
There is
another whole series of symbols and types of Christ which
carry the thought of preciousness and glory,
preciousness, that is, in the eyes of God. There is a
subject for you to study. Glory is according to heaven's
standard, and it is all Christ implicit. We leave it
there. Is it not revealed in Scripture that He holds His
place by the love of the Father, both by direct
statements and by numerous figures and symbols and types?
(b) By the Opposite of Love to All Divine Activities
But then
this same fact is revealed by the opposite of love to all
Divine activities. We always get something confirmatory
from the opposite side. One of the strongest
confirmations of this very thing comes from the intense
antagonism of the adversary to this appointment and
position which Christ holds by the love of the Father.
Oh, what that has provoked through history, and does
still provoke, in an opposite way! All the jealousy that
you can see associated with those very figures that we
have mentioned, suspicion, hatred, malice, prejudice,
pride, murder, is but an expression of it. All these and
much more have broken out against the Son of His love.
How do you explain it? We sometimes sing,
Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run.
He gave the blind their sight.
Even a
gross man of this world could say, "I find no crime
in him" (John 18:38), "I wash my hands of the
blood of this innocent man," Why this rage and
spite? The answer is that it comes from hell below. It is
because of this love of the Father and the position in
which that love has placed Him. Do not think that this is
just a statement of some facts. This lies at the very
heart of our union with Christ. "As the
Father hath loved me, I also have loved you." You
see to what union with Christ leads us. Well, that in
passing, lest you might think I am just passing on so
much data and matter. No, hell has given its own mind on
this matter. It is very significant. Anything, no matter
what it is, which has the advancement of the interests of
Christ in view immediately becomes the object of sinister
jealousy, suspicion, hatred, prejudice, and, if possible,
murder. This opposition springs up without reason so far
as men are concerned, without investigation, without
enquiry. It simply, spontaneously comes into being, and,
is encircled by the most unreasoning and unreasonable of
attitudes, many of which collapse on honest enquiry. But
there it is. The question still remains as to how men are
caught in this kind of thing. But we know full well where
it comes from, and it is the opposite of love to all
Divine activities in relation to the Son.
(c) By the Father's Demand that the Son Be Honored
This is
revealed, thirdly, by the Father's demand that the Son
shall be honored. "This is my beloved Son,"
came the announcement from heaven, "hear ye
him" (Matt. 17:5). Here we see the Father's jealousy
for the position of the Son. He will not bypass Him, He
will not allow even an ardent apostle to step in front of
His Son. We see Jesus "crowned with glory and
honour" (Heb. 2:9). Peter, referring to the
transfiguration, said many years afterward, "He
received from God the Father honour and glory, when there
was borne such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (2
Peter 1:17). He received from the Father honor.
In the
book of the Revelation this is taken up in the great
concourse. "Worthy is the Lamb that hath been
slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and
might, and honour, and glory, and blessing" (Rev.
5:12). The Father honors the Son. I have not quoted
from John's Gospel because there it is what the Son
Himself says about the Father's honoring of Him. We
accept that, but there is much more that confirms it. His
place is by the love of the Father, therefore the Father
demands that the Son be honored.
Now that
is a very practical thing. Do you think that you will
ever bypass Jesus Christ and get to God? The Father's
appointments are all with His Son. Now, that is
comprehensive and covers the whole creation. In Him,
through Him, unto Him, were all things created, therefore
God's appointment was with His Son in the whole creation.
That is to say, God would meet everything created on the
ground of His Son. Now when the creation through its
first overlord, Adam, made a breach with the crown rights
of God's Son and handed them to the rival, Satan, what
did God do? According to Paul's marvelous statement, God
acted at once and right at the heart of the whole
creation He wrote "dis-appointment." His
jealousy for His Son's inheritance meant that He would
not look outside of His Son to rival or rebellion. Paul
says that "the creation was subjected to
vanity" (Rom. 8:20), and from that moment the
creation has at its very heart disappointment. That is
true about man. Whatever his attainments, his successes,
his achievements, his inventions, the last word is
disappointment. Whatever there is that is fair and
beautiful in creation around us, it goes so far and then
fades and dies; everything is subjected to death and
corruption. That is disappointment. The appointment is
broken. The appointment for glory, for fullness, for
consummation, is made with His Son, and outside of His
Son there is no such appointment, but all is
disappointment. Is that true? Why do not men see that? We
Christians know it, if no one else knows it; but, blessed
be God, we have come back to God's appointment and the
disappointment has been wiped out. God has come back to
us, to appointment in His Son, to union with Christ.
This union
is not something official, something legal or formal. It
is affectional. It is not obligation that governs here.
Love never stops at obligations, but always goes on to
the utmost possibilities. Union with Christ is of that
character because it is the center of God's love. You
will have, of course, to do quite a lot of quiet
meditation on all this and relate all that we are saying
about Christ to the Christian life. "Translated...
into the kingdom of the Son of his love" (Col.
1:13). That aspect alone is amazingly wonderful and
full - "the Son of his love." Union with
Christ brings us on to that ground, into that realm. Oh,
do not have comparative ideas of this love, as though the
love of God were graded according to the degrees of
goodness or of badness which He may find. His love for
you and me is the love which He bears for His Son. That
is the revelation. To be united with Christ is to be
enfolded in all the dimensions of His relationship with
the Father as the Son of His love. I have not said
"in all the dimensions of His relationship with the
Father as very God," but as Man, as His Son Jesus
Christ.
3.
The Greatness of Christ is Spiritual and Moral
You may
not like that word "moral," but I am using it
in a particular and limited sense. "Spiritual"
looks in a Godward direction, and speaks of His union
with the Father. "Moral" is a word which comes
in after the Fall, and relates to a whole system of
things which originates with fallen humanity - morals; so
that when we speak of moral, we mean that which touches
downward, not upward, that which links with evil and not
with God. Christ's greatness therefore is spiritual by
reason of His life with the Father. His greatness is
moral by reason of His perfect separation from that which
is from beneath, the realm of the fallen nature with all
that it means. That is all I mean at the moment in the
use of those words - spiritual and moral, and as you read
your Gospels that is what you find to be the background
of everything. It is these two things all the time that
are the ground of the challenge. Perhaps we shall see
more of that as we go on.
But I want
to remind you that the whole of the Old Testament is
constituted upon the idea of a coming Holy One, or
Righteous One, or Righteous Servant. "Neither
wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption"
(Ps. 16:10). That is in a Psalm, and is quoted, as
you know, by Peter on the day of Pentecost concerning
Christ. "Thy holy one." That One, by
that title, was recognized in the spiritual realm.
Demons
knew Him altogether apart from incarnation. "I
know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God"
(Mark 1:24). That takes you a long way back in the
Old Testament. From a prophet we get Paul's quotation -
"My righteous one." There was from
the beginning, when sin entered through what we call the
Fall, a quest for a holy one, for a righteous one. Heaven
was in quest and all the activities of God in the earth
bear on this quest for a righteous one. Where shall a
righteous man be found? If he can be found, he is the
solution to the whole problem. Countless figures of the
righteous One are given us. Abel had witness borne that
he was righteous. Because of his faith, Abraham was
called righteous. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
You who know the Bible do not need me to follow that
further. The figures of the righteous One are there in
great numbers. But with all the figures there was
failure, leaving the quest for the fully righteous One
still unanswered and unmet, and the Old Testament closes
still with the cry and sigh for this righteous and this
holy One. The creation is left in suspense. Men were
still awaiting the realization of a glorious intention,
and destiny was hanging upon an essential state, and that
an inward state in man; not a ceremonial state, but an
inward state, that is, a state of inward righteousness
and holiness. Everything was in suspense until that state
was found in man. All this great and glorious intention
and destiny was impossible of realization without a
state. I want you to focus upon that and think much about
it. God did His best to help men on, to encourage men on,
to get them there, but may I say it reverently, there is
a sense in which God's intentions broke down. The
situation did not allow of His just getting a people
through to glory by a sovereign act. God could not do
that. Everything depended upon an inward state. There
could be no realization, no answer to God's intention, no
possibility of reaching the intended end without an
inward state. He got them as far as He could by
ceremonial conditions, but we know how that failed. The
contrary inward state was far too much for the
ceremonial. No, sacraments do not achieve it, there must
be an INWARD condition of righteousness.
Ah, well,
blessed be God, the inward state of Christ was the state
that made everything possible. Yes, the excellence of
Christ was His inward state, not His legal status or His
official position. Always remember that. He has gone far
beyond all ceremonies, all sacraments, all rites, all
ordinances, all that system which broke down. He
surpassed it all because of what He was inwardly. That is
His excellence.
(a)
Heaven Knows It
Heaven
knows it, and that is why He was anointed of the Holy
Ghost; for, while you have anointings in the Old
Testament, they are partial and transient, there is no
fullness and there is no permanence about them. They were
for the fulfillment of a temporary purpose. He was
anointed of God in fullness and finality. He evermore is
the Anointed, and God gave to Him the Spirit without
measure. To anoint, as we have often said, is simply a
symbol of God committing Himself. Do you think God would
commit Himself like that to any state that did not answer
to His requirements? Heaven attested Him: "Thou
art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
He
triumphed through testing. His inward state was subjected
to every form and kind of testing at the defiled hands of
the Evil One himself, and He triumphed over every attempt
at spiritual defilement, that is, to get something in
between Himself and God to spoil that relationship and
fellowship and walk with God in purity, in holiness, in
truth. He triumphed upward, and He triumphed over every
effort to get Him to make a contact with the cursed
earth, and so make a link with that which was outside of
the blessing of God. That is His excellence. It is
inward. Heaven knows it
(b) Man Senses It
Man senses
it, and, having said that, everybody knows what that
means. There is an instinctive rising up in man when
mention is made of Jesus Christ in any way. It varies
from ridicule and the charge of being
"goody-goody" to open hostility, and it is
because the conscience of man is touched, and he feels
uncomfortable and out of place in the presence of this
One; he feels there is something wrong with his being.
You know it. Without so much as a word, you are marked,
if Christ is in you. Man senses this spiritual and moral
excellence, and he resents it. He senses the greatness of
Christ and feels poor and mean and despicable and
uncomfortable in His presence.
(c) Hell Attests it by Attempted Corruption
Hell
attests it. We have said as much - Hell attests it by
attempted corruption. Because Christ is the object in
view, the heir of all things, and because this
inheritance is to be holy and incorruptible as conformed
to the image of God's Son, the only way to cheat Him of
His inheritance and defeat this Divine purpose, to
circumvent the course of the Son of God, is somehow to
introduce corruption. That is the history all the way
through. Much springs into mind.
His Greatness is Implicit in
(a) His Satisfaction to God
His
greatness is implicit in His satisfaction to God. That
goes without saying. God, being what He is, infinitely
holy, in attesting His Son as well-pleasing to Him and as
offering a sacrifice well-pleasing to Him, thereby
expresses His utter satisfaction regarding Him. In
figures, in types, in symbols, the verdict on all that is
of Christ is that God is satisfied. His greatness is
implicit in His satisfaction to God.
(b) His Redemptive Work
It is
implicit in His redemptive work, for no sinner can save a
sinner. You can profit no one beyond the level of your
own life and experience. For Christ to achieve an
uttermost, final, consummate redemption and salvation, He
must be utterly and consummately sinless. His redemption
is based upon that.
(c) The Spirit's Operations
Again, it
is implicit in the Spirit's operations, which means,
firstly, that the Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, and
secondly, that He is the Holy Spirit. This makes
everything subject to experiment, so to speak. The
greatness of Christ is not a doctrine, not a declaration
of some fact. It is open to practical proof along all
lines. Now then, try to get away with known sin in the
presence of the Holy Ghost, and see how you get on. Try
to grow in the spiritual life without dealing with
something upon which the Holy Spirit has put His finger,
and see how far you get. There is your proof. The crown
of all God's intentions is found in the gift of the Holy
Spirit to dwell within, and all His operations are upon
the ground of the absolute greatness and glory of Jesus
Christ. He is working to the most minute point. Is that
according to Christ? Is that glorifying to Christ? Does
that reflect Christ? We are at once arrested in our
spiritual life, and we will make no further progress,
even were we to live for the next half a century, if the
Holy Spirit has said, "That is contrary to
Christ," and we have shut our eyes to it and ignored
it and have been rebellious. The Holy Spirit is jealous
for Christ. What is the Christian life after all? It is
not to conform to a set of doctrines, to obey a set of
regulations. Christianity is Christ, and there is nothing
else to it, and the Holy Spirit keeps us to that.
Everything, therefore, is subject to testing. All that we
have said is brought up as a practical issue by the Holy
Spirit.
There we
must leave it for the time being, but are you just
glimpsing now something of what union with Christ means?
Oh, blessed be God, union with Christ means that God is
utterly satisfied with Him, and therefore with me and you
as in Him. Have you got hold of that yet? That is one of
the fundamentals of the Christian faith, but how long we
take to get hold of it. We are so afraid that we shall
not be coming up to standard. You just get a firm
faith-hold on Jesus Christ as your answer to God for all
your needs, and the Holy Ghost has got His ground. It is
Christ, not what I am, but what He is, and that covers
all questions. God is satisfied in Him, and that has
glory as the issue. "Christ in you, the hope of
glory" (Col. 1:27). You see, you can go
on. He is the answer, and this is all of the grace of
God, marvelous grace, boundless and free. Union with
Christ answers every question, satisfies God and brings
us to glory.