It is of
far-reaching importance and vital consequence to
recognize that the Person of our Lord cannot really be
known and understood apart from the Cross. It is equally
of consequence to realize that the Cross is only really
understood and adequately appreciated when the Person of
Christ is discerned. These two work hand-in-hand and are
mutually dependent.
Who Jesus Is
In the
days of His earthly life His disciples and the people
wanted a Crossless Christ. They could see no place for
the Cross. It was a contradiction of all their hopes and
expectations. Whenever He referred to it a dark shadow
crept over them, and they were offended. Indeed, they
revolted quite positively against the idea and
suggestion.
Running
parallel to this inability to discern the meaning and the
value of the Cross was, on the one hand, His continual
reference to His own essential Person as Son of God, and
on the other hand, their total inability to recognize
Him. Only in fleeting flashes of illumination did one or
two of them see Him as such, and then, it would seem from
their behavior that they lost the realization, and the
general clouds of uncertainty wrapped them around again.
The state and position in which we find them when He has
been crucified indicates how the reality of His Person
had failed to possess their innermost life. But the
interesting and significant thing is that the Lord all
the time indicated that this twofold inability would be
removed when actually the Cross was an accomplished fact.
The eighth chapter of John's Gospel is a strong example
of this. In it Jesus is concentrating everything upon the
question of His Person.
"I
am the light of the world.... The Pharisees therefore
said unto Him, Thou bearest witness of Thyself; Thy
witness is not true. Jesus answered... My witness is
true; for I know whence I come, and whither I go; but ye
know not whence I come, or whither I go. They said...
where is Thy Father? Jesus answered... Ye know neither
Me, nor My Father; if ye knew Me, ye would know My Father
also.... He said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am
from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this
world.... They said therefore unto Him, Who art Thou?
Jesus said unto them, Even that which I have also spoken
unto you from the beginning" (8:12-25).
Then
comes the statement which is the turning point of
everything.
"Jesus
therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man,
then ye shall know that I am He" (8:27). (But
read on to the end of the chapter.)
By
something more than implication Jesus had laid down the
same principle with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was groping in
the shadows as to the Person of Christ. "We know
that Thou art a teacher come from God..." Jesus
pointed out that, in order to "see," something
must take place by which a new faculty is obtained; a new
birth is necessary. Then He led Nicodemus on to the
Cross, using the same phrase as is in chapter eight:
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14).
The law enunciated is that it will be the Cross which
discloses Who Jesus is.
Union With God Secured For Man In
Christ
Within
what we have just said lies the very essence of the
significance of Christ. Let us look briefly at that
essential content. What is THE thing for which
Christ stands preeminently in the whole revelation of
Scripture? The answer is UNION WITH GOD.
That has
been the thing for which man has been in quest as long as
man has been a sinful creature. In almost countless ways
and by as many means he has sought that peace and rest
which is to be had alone by oneness with God. Somewhere,
somehow (the Bible shows us) a fellowship with God was
lost. Three things became the abiding and ever-active
marks of this rupture of relationships. One - the lie;
two - enmity; and three - death.
The Results Of The Fall
(a) A Lie Believed
Man has
not only believed and accepted a lie; but it has entered
into his constitution, and he is a deceived and darkened
soul. Of himself he neither knows, nor is capable of
knowing or being, the truth. "The heart is
deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly
corrupt; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). Man was
told that if he took a course contrary to that laid down
by God and assumed the right to use his own reason INDEPENDENTLY
OF GOD he would be "as God." He
accepted the lie, made his bid for supremacy, enthroned
his reason in independence, and was taken charge of by
the lie. The outworking of this has been - and is - a
tremendous development of human achievement by which man
has become a lord in his own right (as he thinks) and
blinded to the fact that destruction and distress are an
ever-growing fruit of his science. So much is this so
that the question has been seriously raised by men in a
position to ask it, as to whether science is a greater
benefactor than it is a curse.
It must
be remembered that most unemployment, with its many
consequent miseries and troubles, is due to science which
has supplanted men by machines, and human skill by mass
production. The same responsibility lies at the door of
science for the ability to destroy men and the earth on
such an immense scale as was unthinkable a generation
ago. Project the present course and pace into a few more
generations, and what sort of a world will it be? Of
course, the argument is not that science is in itself
necessarily evil, but our point is that man believes that
he is all the time improving, when, as a matter of fact,
there is no moral elevation corresponding to the
intellectual development.
This
matter is not followed out in any measure, but from the
simple indication given it can surely be seen that
mankind is riding a lie in the form of a tiger which will
tear him to pieces. But the strength of the lie lies in
the fact that man does not recognize it, he is blind and
in the dark as to its nature and source. This is all the
Devil's spite against God.
Footnote:
Note
of a Scientist.
"Both history and science give us warrant for
believing that humanity has made great advances in
accumulating knowledge and experience and in devising
instruments of living, and the value of all these is
indisputable. But they do not constitute real progress in
human nature itself, and in the absence of such progress
those gains are external, precarious, and LIABLE TO BE
TURNED TO OUR OWN DESTRUCTION" (italic ours).
(Surely
this - a mere fragment of a whole volume - bears out the
words of the Apostle: "And so the word of the
Scripture comes true: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise, I will make nothing of the intelligence of those
who profess to know'... God makes the wisdom of the world
foolishness, for as it was in that wisdom that the world
lost the knowledge of God, it was by reason of that that
its eyes were closed, and lo! the wisdom of God now
appearing is proclaimed as a foolish thing, foolish in
the sight of that old wisdom. It does not commend itself
to the old wisdom... Christ is the wisdom of God, and the
power of God. There is more wisdom in God's 'foolishness'
than in men's cleverness" [1 Cor. 1:18-25].)
(b) Enmity Established
The same
is true as to the matter of enmity. It is never a far cry
from personal interest and self-realization to war and
bloodshed. We do not read of much history between Adam's
bid for personal glory and Cain's murder of his brother.
The two are one in principle. Whether it be in individual
cases, as at the beginning, or in the case of millions
locked in deadly destruction of each other, the root is
found to be man's desire to acquire. The name Cain means
acquisitiveness, or possessiveness. We must be perfectly
honest about this. The Christian Church is no exception
to this rule. Christians have become divided into
thousands of parties, and a very great many of these are
antagonistic to each other, or at least distantly
suspicious of one another. The enmity amongst believers
is taken account of even in the New Testament. It is the
Devil's work every time, but even the Devil must have his
ground. This he has in the old-creation nature of man.
Every division amongst the Lord's people is - in essence
- the same as the enmities of the warring Godless world.
It is traceable to some old-creation element of self
asserting itself. There never was - nor will be - a truly
Christly division among Christians. Every such division
is somewhere a denial and contradiction of Christ. The
apparent cause may not be some flaming fleshliness, but
it will nevertheless be other than the way of Christ.
Enmity is a mark of interrupted, arrested, or broken
oneness with God; there we leave it for the moment.
(c) Death
The
third feature of this destroyed union with God is death.
If life is the perfect adjustment and harmony of man with
God, then man has not got life. The New Testament assumes
this, it does not argue it. Death is not - in the Bible
sense - cessation of being, nor is it a state of
inanimation. It is just a separation from the source of
true life, with all the incapacitation which that
separation involves. Spiritual death is a powerfully
active thing, and in all the things which really relate
to God's will it works out in a mighty
"cannot."
For the
realization of all God's designs and purposes, and the
constituting of the creation which He intends, the
possession of His own Divine and uncreated life is
essential. Man, by nature, does not possess that life,
and humanism is one of the most subtle and popular - and
the most devastating - forms of the Devil's lie. Hence,
man as he is cannot see the Kingdom of God. Union with
God is a matter of possessing God's life. That provision
is an impartation by new birth. Thus we are led up to
both the Person and the Cross of Christ.
In Christ A New Humanity
While
there yet remain depths too profound and dangerous
for even enlightened people of God to attempt to explore,
the one thing that is clear as a conclusion is that the
Incarnation is intended to set forth the union between
God and man, and man and God, which is the Divine
intention. Here we have very God joining Himself with
very man. But - and let it be well understood - not with
sinful man, or with our fallen humanity. God prepared
that body - "that holy thing" (Heb. 10:5; Luke
1:35). When Christ came into this world there came with
Him a humanity which - while being humanity - was
different from all the rest. There were therefore two
humanities, one represented uniquely by this solitary
Person; the other, by all the rest of men. But even so,
His humanity was but a probationary one. Inasmuch as the
animating principle of His physical being was blood, He
was subject to tiredness, hunger and thirst, and
therefore capable of dying and seeing corruption. That He
did die but did not see corruption was due to the
sovereign intervention of God, and was due to the moral
perfection - or holiness - of His nature. "Thou wilt
not suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption" (Ps.
16:10). The probationary condition of Christ wholly
related to His redemptive vocation. When that was
accomplished, He still had a human body, but no longer
animated by the blood-principle or basis of life. Now -
while a body - it is a "spiritual body," and
therefore a glorified body. It is not unto the likeness
of Christ's earthly, pre-resurrection, body that we are
to be conformed, but "like unto His glorious
body" or "body of glory!"
(Footnote:
I am
aware that what has been said above may raise a question
as to the "incorruptible blood" of Christ, but
my point is in no wise a question as to His moral nature,
simply one of His being placed on the basis of life - for
the time being - which made it possible for Him to die
physically. "Corruption" is only regarded in
this sense, not spiritual or moral. I am also aware that
physiologists have not yet ended their debate on the seat
of corruption, i.e. as to whether it is the blood. But I
think that the Bible indicates that it is.)
We are
pointing out that in Christ God and man have come
together, yet in a Man altogether other than ourselves.
This is why union with God - which is the major
revelation of the Bible, revealed consummately in the New
Testament - is always and only in Christ. Until we pass
over on to the resurrection life-basis it will always be
a faith position in Him; not an actual one in our mortal
flesh. But more on this later. In Christ God has His
perfect satisfaction, and has therefore committed Himself
to Him. The union is perfect.
The Lie, Enmity, And Death Annulled In
Christ
But this
implies or postulates that the threefold result and mark
of the broken union is absolutely ruled out and
non-existent in Christ. Or to put it round the other way,
Christ is the opposite and the negation of the lie, the
enmity, and death. So it is that the most spiritual and
heavenly revelation of Christ, as given in John's Gospel,
is in terms of life, light, and love. Light and truth are
interchangeable names. In this record Christ makes these
things far more than abstractions, He makes them
personal, and says, 'I am these.' There is no darkness,
shadow, lie, or lack of absolute transparency in Him.
There is no enmity, strife, schism, or warfare in His
nature, nor in His attitude or relationship toward men AS
MEN (only with evil in the world and in men). In Him
there is no separation from the Fountain of life. He can
say, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John
11:25). All this negation of the results of broken union
with God was because there was no self in Him. It can be
easily seen that the whole effort of the Devil - in its
many forms - was to get Him to act on some line of self.
Self-interest, self-realization, self-defence,
self-preservation, self-pity, self-independence,
self-resource, etc., etc. To have succeeded in this
matter at any point would have been to drive a wedge
between God and Man anew, and to have defeated the whole
plan of redemption. But the pure ground of utter
selflessness was maintained at greatest cost and through
most fiery trial, and the prince of the world was
helpless. The union remained intact. Life, light, love
are triumphant because self is utterly negatived. But
this is all as to Himself, and thus far it remains His
uniqueness. He abides alone if it stays there.
Christ's Humanity Shared - By The Cross
So we
pass on in John's Gospel to the point at which certain
ones come saying, "We would see Jesus" (John
12:21). To this enquiry or quest Jesus makes a reply
which means two things. One: 'To see Me as others are
seeing Me here and now is not to see Me at all; that is
to see and not perceive.' The other: 'To really see and
know Me, union with Me in an organic way is necessary;
that is, what is true of Me in My relationship with My
Father and His relationship with Me must become true in
an inward way where you are concerned.' Hence: "Except
a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it
abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much
fruit" (John 12:24). 'I did not come to
"abide alone." What is true of Me as to union
with the Father is meant to be for you IN ME.' But
at this point we are carried by the Person to the Cross.
"Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say?
Father, save Me from this hour. But for this cause came I
unto this hour" (John 12:27). And I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
Myself. But this He said, signifying by what manner of
death He should die" (v. 32-33).
The
Apostle Paul has covered this whole ground in one
comprehensive, illuminating, and explanatory statement.
We indicate the points of emphasis.
"The
love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge,
that One died for all, therefore all died (in Him); and
He died for all, that they that live should no longer
live unto themselves, but unto Him Who for their sakes
died and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:14-15).
Someone
has freely translated some of the above thus:
"I
behold the love of Christ, I see in His one death the
death of all of us already accomplished after the manner
of His death - the death of ALL THAT SEPARATES US FROM
GOD."
This is
all saying very strongly that, to really know Who Christ
is as the One in Whom alone God and man are brought
together, we must come to the Cross in an experimental
way. We must apprehend His death as ours, and then, also
in experience - through faith - know a risen life in Him
in which the old self-life has been put away.
The Person Of Christ Illumined By The
Cross
But we
must step back for a moment. What was the real meaning of
the Cross and what did it effect? All we have said about
the Person of Christ was true of Him altogether apart
from the Cross. For Him the Cross was no necessity. There
came a time, however, when He had to be made what He
Himself was not. To redeem us, He Who knew no sin had to
be made sin in our room. In that hour He was placed in
the position of man as the victim of Satan's lie with its
darkness. So also was He made to take upon Him the enmity
of our fallen state, and in that deep experience, in that
REPRESENTATIVE position He lost the consciousness
of the Father's love. There remained but the third phase
of that responsibility - death. For one terrible, eternal
"hour" Christ was separated from - lost union
with - His God. "My God, My God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). The mystery is too deep
for us, but the fact and the reason are clear and
unmistakable.
So He
died, "He tasted death" - awful death, which is
the full and naked consciousness, awareness, realization
of utter separation from, and abandonment by, God! But in
HIMSELF He was God's sinless Son, and, as such, He
could not be holden of death (Acts 2:24). In virtue of
His essential sinlessness He survived the wrath which
rested upon what He was made for that dark hour. He
overcame and destroyed the causes, the ground, the
strength and the originator of death.
"By
weakness and defeat
He won the meed and crown;
Trod all our foes beneath His feet,
By being trodden down.
He hell in hell laid low,
Made sin, He sin o'erthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death by dying slew."
It took
more than a man to do this. "God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor.
5:19).
Thus in
the Cross all the cause and nature of separation from God
was destroyed, and in Christ risen that union is perfect FOR
US. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).
This
perfect no-condemnation fellowship with God, made actual
by the Holy Spirit taking up residence within us through
our believing into Christ, is the possession of those
alone - but is surely the birthright of such - who have
come to the Cross in realization of separation from God,
in deepest longing for restored fellowship with Him, and
in acknowledgment that sin is the cause. Thus, looking to
Christ crucified as the Author and Perfecter of
salvation, they discover that He is more than a man, even
man at his greatest. They discover that in Him - and in
Him alone - God is found.
Then it
works the other way. Can we imagine what Saul of Tarsus
felt like - he who had believed Jesus of Nazareth to have
been but a man and an impostor among men, and to have
been executed as a fraud and blasphemer - when he saw on
the Damascus road that this Glorified, Exalted One was
God's Eternal Son? It needed a time in Arabia to let the
implications of that adjust and revolutionize his whole
outlook.
When we
see Whose Cross that was it puts the Cross so far beyond
all human ideas of 'dying for ideals,' 'heroic death for
a great cause,' and all such lesser and altogether
inadequate interpretations of Christ's death.
"Ye
killed the Prince of Life" (Acts 3:15) was the
charge laid at the Jews' door by the Apostles.
So we
come back to our starting point. It requires the Cross to
really see Who Jesus is; and in the seeing of Him truly
by the Cross we see how great, wonderful, sacred, and
awful is that Cross.
No
wonder that Satan has ever sought to take from His
essential Person and make Him something less! No wonder
that he has so persistently sought to strip the Cross of
its truest meaning! Let all who do either of these things
recognize from whence their inspiration, or blindness,
comes, and with whom it is that they - though
unintentionally - are in league.
Let
Christians also realize that all enmity; lack of love,
divisions, and strife; all prejudice, suspicion, and
spiritual blindness; with all spiritual death, is because
the Cross has not been apprehended aright. Somewhere
uncrucified flesh is holding the ground. It is impossible
to be a truly crucified man or woman and at the same time
either have personal interests or be at variance with
other children of God, i.e. without love for them. The
essential basis of life, light, and love - which is
Christ in full manifestation - is the Cross as a working
reality in the realm of the old creation, and the Risen
Power of Christ in the new.
All this
is but saying in other words that the Cross of Christ
brings us into living union and oneness with God, and if
we will but live in the full meaning and value of that
union we shall be living epistles of Christ in terms of
life, light, and love. Failure in these means failure
somewhere, and for some reason, in our fellowship with
God in Christ. The measure of our walk with Him will be
the measure of these three features of Christ.