"...the gospel
of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to
my trust" (1 Tim. 1:11). "Be not ashamed
therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his
prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according
to the power of God..." (2 Tim. 1:8).
"...our Saviour
Jesus Christ... abolished death, and brought life and
incorruption to light through the gospel, whereunto I was
appointed a herald, and an apostle, and a teacher"
(2 Tim. 1:10, R.V. mg.).
"Remember Jesus
Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David,
according to my gospel..." (2 Tim. 2:8).
We come now to our
closing thoughts on what Paul called "the gospel
which I preach". "The gospel of the glory of
the blessed God". We need, in the first place, just
to note the correct translation of these words, because
the different versions render them in different ways. The
Authorised Version has: "the glorious gospel of the
blessed God". You will note how different this is
from the Revised Version from which I have quoted above.
The latter - the Revised - is the correct rendering of
the statement, and the point in getting it right is this.
Paul is not speaking of what the gospel is about - the
content of the gospel. He is speaking of the gospel which
has to do with the manifestation of the glory of God.
That may sound a little technical, but it is very
important. Let me repeat: what Paul has in mind here is
the gospel, or the good tidings, which is concerned with
the manifestation of the glory of God. The glory of God
in manifestation - that is the gospel.
Note another thing:
"the gospel of the glory of the blessed God".
There is a translation which changes that word, and uses
the word 'happy' in the place of 'blessed': "the
gospel of the glory of the happy God". But that does
not sound quite right, does it, in our ears? And yet, if
we understood the real meaning, we should realise that
that is not an altogether inappropriate word.
There are two Greek
words translated 'blessed' in the New Testament. One,
which is much the more common, literally just means 'well
spoken of'. That is its literal meaning, but in the New
Testament it is almost exclusively used in the sense of
'blessed', and is so translated. That, however, is not
the word that is used here. The word used here - the
second of the two words to which I have referred - is one
that occurs far less frequently. It is a word which
expresses that which properly speaking is true of God
alone: that is, the uniqueness of God as to what He is in
Himself, altogether apart from what men think of Him or
say about Him. It is just what He is in Himself. You may
think what you like, and say what you like, but God is
this. This is the word here translated 'blessed'. The
word really means that solemn, calm, restful, perpetual
gladness that fills the heart of God. If you can get the
feeling of that definition, you have got somewhere near
understanding the meaning of the word here translated
'blessed'. It is the gospel of the glory of the calm,
restful, confident gladness of the heart of God; the good
news, the good tidings, of that.
The
Good Tidings of the Glory of God
What is this glory of
God which becomes that gospel, that good news? It is the
glory of God in the revelation of Himself in His Son
Jesus Christ. The revelation of Himself. In the Old
Testament the glory of God has symbolic form, as we know.
For instance, in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle,
between the cherubim on the mercy seat, the glory was
found. The glory covered the mercy seat. It was a light
streaming down upon the mercy seat, upon the ark of the
covenant; streaming down and focusing there. It was
heavenly radiance. It was but a symbol. That which it
symbolized is here - the light of God streaming down
upon, and through, His Son Jesus Christ. That is the
glory of God. Paul in writing to the Corinthians puts it
in this way: "the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor.
4:6). It is that which is in the Lord Jesus of God's
perfectly restful, calm, tranquil, abiding satisfaction.
The
Glory of God in a Man
Now, here is a very
remarkable thing. You bear about the glory of God. Much
is said about it, and you are told that that is what you
will find in the Bible; that, if you go to the Bible,
there you will find much about the glory of God. When you
take up the Bible looking for the glory of God, what do
you find? A Man! You find that you are confronted
with a Man. You cannot get away from that Man: the Old
Testament is always pointing, by numerous means and
methods and ways, to a Man; the New Testament, from
beginning to end, has one Man in view, a Man always in
view. So that you have to say: 'This is the answer to my
quest. I am in quest of the knowledge of the glory of
God, and God's answer to the quest is a Man.' That is but
an exposition of this little phrase, "the gospel of
the glory of the blessed God", which is the
revelation of God in His Son, Jesus Christ.
God is here represented
as being in a state of perfect tranquillity, restfulness,
calm, abiding assurance and satisfaction and joy, and
everything that can be summed up in the word '
blessedness '. God is represented as being, God is stated
to be, in that condition. What is the basis of that state
of God? It is just that God has found a perfect, a
complete, expression of Himself in a Man. Yes, we know
who that Man was. I am not overlooking or setting aside
His Deity, His own Godhead, but I am not thinking about
that just now. You see, God created man with very, very
high purposes. Indeed, man was created in order to answer
to and satisfy the heart of God: and when we say that, we
are saying tremendous things. To satisfy the heart of God!
There are some people who take a lot of satisfying.
Indeed, they never do seem satisfied. Things are always
falling short of their standard and their ideal. But you
can go a long way, you can go as far as it is possible to
go with any human conception of satisfaction, and you
still fall far, far short, infinitely short, of God's
idea. God is so much greater, so much more wonderful.
We have in the fallen
creation but a faint reflection of how wonderful and
great God is. Yet even when we view this very creation as
it is, with all its faults and weaknesses and variations
and so on, we have to stand in awe and worship. We can
see just a faint indication of what a wonderful God He
is, and of how much it must take to satisfy Him. Yet here
He is in a state of absolute satisfaction, calm,
tranquil, restful, happy, because all those thoughts of
His, all those desires of His, all those intentions of
His, and all those first undertakings of His, have now
been consummated and perfected - not in the creation
generally, but in a Man. That Man answers to God to the
very last requirement of that infinite Mind. How great
Christ is! God finds, therefore, His happiness, His
blessedness, His satisfaction, His tranquillity, in that.
A
Representative Man
Perhaps you may think,
'That is a beautiful thing to say, those are very
wonderful thoughts to express, but where is the practical
value of it?' Ah, that is just the gospel, you see. Do
you think that the Lord Jesus, God's Son, came through
and took the position of man, and was made perfect to
God's utter and final satisfaction, just in order that
God should have that in one Man? No, the gospel is this,
that the Lord Jesus is representative of all the men that
God is going to have. He is representative and He is
inclusive. The old and beautiful beginning of the gospel,
which you and I, after long familiarity with it, still
often need, for our own tranquillity, to grasp more
perfectly, is just this: that Jesus Christ, God's Son, is
a sphere into which we are called, bidden, invited to
enter by faith, so that we are hidden in Him as to what
we are ourselves; God sees only Him and not us. A
wonderful thing! You have got to put aside all your
arguments and all your questions, and accept God's fact.
That this phrase, "in Christ", occurs two
hundred times and more in the New Testament must surely
mean something.
God
Sees Us in Christ
The first, and perhaps
the all-inclusive, thing that it means, is that, if you
are in Christ, God sees Christ instead of seeing you. I
have a little piece of paper here. Let that represent you
or me in ourselves, what we are. I put it into a book,
and that book represents Christ. You do not see the paper
any more you only see the book. That is our position
"in Christ". That is what Christ means. All His
satisfaction to God is put to our account. That is the
gospel: when you and I are in Christ, God is satisfied
with us - tranquil, happy, blessed. Oh, wonderful gospel!
You cannot grasp it, or explain it, but there is the fact
stated. This is the gospel of the glory of the satisfied
God.
Putting again the test
that we were applying in other connections in an earlier
chapter, it is just this: that, when you and I really
come into Christ and find our place in Christ, one of the
first things of which we are conscious is that all the
strain has gone out; we have come to rest. A marvellous
tranquillity, that is not natural, has come into us. We
feel the battle is all over between us and God. It is
wonderful; a blessed, happy condition. Now, that is our
experience, but what is the significance of it? It is the
Spirit of the happy God bearing witness to God's
happiness in our hearts. "The gospel of the glory of
the blessed God". The first stage of that is a
position. We are in Christ.
Christ
In Us
The second stage or the
second aspect of that is that Christ is in us. But we
must not pursue that to the same conclusion as in the
last point. That does not mean that we are seen and
Christ is hidden. No, Christ is in us and we are in
Christ: an impossible thing to explain, unless perhaps we
can put it like this. Dr. Campbell Morgan was asked on
one occasion whether baptism was sprinkling or immersion.
He said: 'My dear friend, come with me to the Niagara
Falls, and stand underneath. Are you sprinkled or are you
immersed?' Well, I leave you to answer. But it is like
that. Christ is in us. Why is He in us? He is in us as
that very satisfaction to the heart of God, in order that
the Spirit of God may work in us to conform us to Christ.
And that introduces
another aspect of the Christian life: that, if you and I
go on continually on the basis of Christ within, our joy
increases. That can be put to the test. Stop going on
with the Lord, and see what happens to our joy. Get away
from the Lord, and see what happens to our blessedness.
We shall begin to lament then -
'Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?'
Ah, but God forbid that
it should be necessary for any of us to sing that hymn.
It is not necessary. Go on with the Lord Jesus on the
basis of God's satisfaction with Him, and the blessedness
increases. God's happiness enlarges in our heart. Christ
is installed within as the pattern, standard, and basis
upon which God works.
Now, here is something
fundamental. Oh, how long we take to learn this! It is
simple, I know, but it is fundamental and it is a thing
on which we are always tripping up. If we begin to try to
go on on the ground of what we are, God stops. If we get
on to our own ground, what we are in ourselves - our
miserable, wretched self, that God regards as a corpse
and a stinking corpse - forgive me for me for saying that
- because it has been dead for two thousand years (that
may sound amusing, but really it is exceedingly serious):
if you get off the ground of "Christ in you" on
to what you are in yourself, God says, 'I am going no
farther'. All Divine operations cease. We can only
continue as we began. We began in faith that Jesus Christ
was our substitute, took our place with God and answered
to God for us. That was our faith that brought us into
Christ. We have to go right on to the end with the same
faith in the Lord Jesus, and no faith in ourselves, and
God will go on if we go on on His ground. The good news
is that God is ready to go right on with increasing
blessedness if we will only keep on His ground. His glory
is in His Son, and He has no glory in man apart from His
Son.
So Christ is out
sphere, Christ is our centre, and Christ is our model,
and we are being conformed, says the Apostle, until
Christ is fully formed in us. Simple, basic: God's glory
in Christ being manifested in believers, in the Church,
because believers are resting upon God's satisfaction
with His Son. That and that only is the way of the glory
of God and the expression of God's blessedness, God's
happiness. That is the gospel.
You see, it all comes
at last to focus upon this. What is the gospel? When you
have said all that you can about it, it is included in,
and compassed by, this - God's perfect satisfaction,
rest, tranquillity, concerning His Son, made available to
us. Oh, that you and I might live without conflict
with God, because we abide in Christ! Brother, sister,
when you begin to feel miserable about yourself,
repudiate it. 'Yes, I know all about that. If I do not
know all about that now, it is time that I did. I know
all about what I am; I know where that will lead me if I
begin to take that into account. I set that aside. It is
a fact - God has done it - that, so long ago, in Christ I
was crucified, in Christ I died, in Christ I was buried,
in Christ I have been raised. It is all in Christ. That
is where I stand.' Maintain that position; abide in
Christ. Get out of that on to any other ground, and the
glory departs, the blessedness, the happiness, is
arrested.
Good
News for Young People
Paul was speaking to
Timothy about the gospel, and Timothy needed good news,
good tidings. To begin with, Timothy was a young man. A
young man who is a Christian has his own personal
problems - he has many difficulties and problems in
himself. A young man represents the sum of a life at its
beginnings: all the problems of life are resident there.
Timothy was a young man. To such a young man, the Apostle
says: 'It is all right, Timothy: you may be beset by all
these problems and these difficulties, you may be having
all this trouble spiritually in these different ways, but
Jesus Christ is equal to the whole situation!' Do
remember, young man, young woman, that the Lord Jesus is
God's answer to all the problems of youth. That is good
tidings, is it not?
Timothy was not only a
young man, but he was a young man in difficulties of a
specific kind by reason of his position in Christian
work. Difficulties were coming at him from three
directions. Firstly, there was the pagan world. What a
challenge that must have meant for a young man in those
days! It was a world that had no place for God, no place
for the Lord, no place for the things of God, and all the
opposing force of that world must have seemed
concentrated upon this young man. Secondly, there were
all the difficulties of the Jewish world. Paul hints at
them here. These Judaizers were pursuing Paul over the
whole world, with the determination: 'This man shall be
brought to an end - this man's work shall be utterly
wiped out!' By every means these Judaizers were set upon
destroying Paul and his work and his converts, and
Timothy was associated with Paul. Paul says: "Be not
ashamed... of me". Association created a good many
difficulties for Timothy. The answer is: 'All right,
Timothy ; there is good news for you! The Lord Jesus is
equal to that - He will see you through it all'.
And then Timothy was a
young man in great responsibility in the work of God - in
the Church of God. If you know anything about that, you
know that you need a fairly sure ground of confidence. He
came up against some very difficult Christians. But Paul
said: "Let no man despise thy youth." There
were certain wiseacres - people who thought themselves to
be something - who were inclined to say, 'Oh, Timothy is
only a young fellow, you know - you must not take too
much notice of him.' They were despising his youth. That
is rather a difficult thing to endure. It takes the heart
out of you if you happen to be in that position. I
remember so well, when I commenced ministry and became
responsible for a church, where most of the church
officers were old men, one of them was heard to say, one
day, 'He is so young, you know!' But I had a champion
among them, and he said, 'Don't worry about that - he is
getting over that every day!' Well, that is very kind and
nice: but that sort of attitude among fellowworkers may
well take the heart out of you, when you have to carry
the responsibility. Timothy was in that position, but
this is the gospel for Timothy: 'It is all right: the
Lord Jesus is equal to that situation - He can see you
through that too'.
After all, it is really
just this. It is what the Lord Jesus is "made unto
us... from God": God's satisfaction. Oh, thank God
that the Lord Jesus covers our faults and weaknesses and
defectiveness. I once read a story - I think it was true
- of a certain hotel on the Continent, where people used
to go and stay for rest and quiet and detachment. One day
a mother arrived with her little girl, and that little
girl was just beginning to learn the piano. Every
morning, first thing, she went to the piano and strummed
and strummed, and all day long she strummed. Morning,
noon and night she strummed, until those people became
almost distracted, and they were counselling together as
to what they should do, when a famous pianist arrived to
stay at the hotel. He at once sensed the atmosphere, took
in the situation, and when the little girl went to the
piano, he went up alongside and sat down, and put his
hands over hers and guided them, and there began to come
forth the most beautiful music. The people came down from
their rooms into the room where the piano was, and sat
down and listened. When the recital was over, the pianist
said to the little girl, 'Thank you so much, dear; we
have enjoyed it so much today' - and all the trouble was
over.
Yes, the Lord Jesus
just puts His hands over ours. We might make a mess of
things; we do, if we are left to ourselves. We upset a
lot, do a lot of harm; we are so imperfect, so faulty:
and then the Lord Jesus comes, in this blessed way, and
corrects our defectiveness, answers to the Father for us,
makes good our deficiencies - how? - with Himself, just
Himself.
That is the answer;
that is the good news - "the gospel of the glory of
the blessed God".