Reading: Heb. 1:1-2; 2:5-18; 3:1; 2 Cor. 4:4-5.
In our previous
meditation we were seeing the glory and significance of
Christ as the Son of God, having vested in Him the
prerogatives of God; firstly, the power of Life;
secondly, the power of Light; and thirdly, the power of
Lordship.
In this meditation we
shall spend our time with another aspect of the glory of
Christ, namely, the glory and peculiar significance of
Christ as Son of Man. It is here also that we need
spiritual sight. If men could really see from God’s
standpoint, with God’s own knowledge and
understanding, the Lord Jesus Christ as Son of Man, all
the problems of this world would be solved; for really
there is a sense in which all problems are solved when we
see. And God’s solution is His Son. Let us be found
here this afternoon in our hearts waiting on the Lord
that we might see. Let that be our attitude; to see Jesus
in an inward way with the eyes of the heart enlightened,
the Spirit of wisdom and revelation being given us in the
knowledge of Him.
If I might say so here,
I feel that the burden of our hearts should be that the
eyes of the Lord’s people should be opened first.
Oh, if only their eyes were open, what different
attitudes they would take, what great possibilities there
would be for God, what a lot of things would disappear
which are dishonouring to the Lord! If only they could
see! Let us pray much that the eyes of the people of
God may be opened. And then, to the end that the eyes of
men at large might be opened, let us pray that there
might be an eye-opening ministry like that of Paul -
"...unto whom I send thee, to open their eyes,
that they may turn from darkness to light" (Acts.
26:17-18). Let us pray along such lines continually. That by the way.
The
Arch-Type of a New Humanity
I think there are two or
three particular aspects of Christ as Son of Man.
Firstly, this is the human title of Christ, and it brings
to us at once the conception of Him as man, or as
humanity, and the thing needed to be seen about the Lord
Jesus is the Divine meaning in His humanity. As Son of
Man it is not only that He has come alongside of us,
taking flesh and blood, and so becoming a man, and just
being here as a man among men. Oh no, that is not it. Moreover, that is dangerous, and that only goes a little way.
True He is man, true He has become partaker of flesh and
blood, but there is a difference, a vast and infinite
difference. Humanity, yes; but not exactly our humanity.
The significance of Christ as Son of Man is that He is an
arch-type of a new humanity.
There are now in
God’s universe two humanities, whereas there was
only one. The Adam humanity was the only one, but there
is another humanity now, a different humanity; flesh and
bone, but without the sinful nature of this humanity,
without any of that which has estranged and alienated
this humanity from God, without any of that which brought
this humanity under judgment from God, a humanity upon
which God, in His infinite holiness and perfection, can
look with pleasure and utter satisfaction. "My
beloved Son in Whom I am well-pleased" (Matt.
3:17). It is a Man, but such a man as is not common among
men, but altogether different. The significance of Christ
as Son of Man is that God has started a new humanity
according to His own mind and perfect thought, and in His
Son there is the arch-type of that new humanity to which
God is going to conform a race - "conformed to the
image of His Son" (Rom. 8:29).
Every time you and I who are the Lord's people gather to the Lord's Table and take of the loaf, we are testifying to this great fact, that we are now all of a piece with Him as a new kind of humanity; for that loaf is Christ given for us to be our life. But to be the life of that which is to answer to God in His perfect holiness, that life must be free from everything that is corrupt, everything that is subject to corruption; it must have no element of corruption in it. And that is Christ. His humanity is incorrupt and incorruptible, and that is given, and in thus receiving Him, just as food becomes ourselves, He becomes the very basis of this new inner life, this new creation, which is within us. He is its very life and support, sustenance and energy. He becomes to us the basis of an altogether other and new life and being.
The great reality about
a true Christian is that he or she is progressively being
changed into another, is becoming different. It is not
just and only an objective matter of faith in Christ as
outward. It is more than that; it is living by Christ
inwardly.
So God has come into
this realm of humanity in the Person of His Son as
representing a new order altogether, a new order of
mankind, and, by vital union with Christ, a new race is
springing up, a new order. A new kind of humanity is
secretly growing, and proceeding unto that day of which
the Apostle speaks, when there will be the manifestation
of the sons of God; and then the curse will be lifted,
and the creation itself will be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of
the children of God.
Now the point is the
tremendous significance of the Incarnation, of the Word
becoming flesh and tabernacling among us, the tremendous
significance of Christ as Son of Man, as setting up
amongst men a new kind of being, a new type and form of
humanity. There is no hope for the creation save in that
new type, that new order. If men saw this, would it not
solve all the problems of this time? What are they
talking about? What is the great phrase most common on
men’s lips today? Is it not a new order, a new
world order? But they are blind, they talk in the dark;
they are groping for something, but they see not. The
only new order is the order of the Son of Man. The only
hope for this world is that there shall come about this
new creation in Christ Jesus.
The
Truth Foreshadowed in Israel’s History
We could dwell long upon
the humanity of the Lord Jesus. There is a very great
deal more in the Scripture about it than perhaps you
realise. But do notice that God has laid this deep in the
very foundations of history. You take Israel as
God’s great object lesson for past ages - and their
history of the past still stands as the great book of
illustrations of God’s principles - and you find
that the very national life of Israel of old was founded
upon those things which set forth the perfect humanity of
the Lord Jesus.
You go to the Book of
Leviticus, and you take up those feasts; you see what a
place the humanity (the fine flour) has in those symbols
and types. You see that God has said there in
illustration that the life of a people which is to
satisfy Him is based upon a nature, a humanity; not the
old broken-down humanity of Adam, but another. Right into
the very foundation of the life of such a people, there
is laid this reality: there is a humanity that is perfect
and incorruptible; and out from those feasts must be
extricated every suggestion and suspicion of leaven,
which speaks of corruption, the ferment of the old
nature. It has no place when it is a matter of the very
basis of Israel’s life God-ward.
Well, you see, there is
much about it, but we are not going to explore the whole
ground. I simply want to point out the fact that the
humanity of the Lord Jesus as Son of Man sets forth some
new kind, some new type, some new order, in God’s
universe which does satisfy God.
Herein lies the
tremendous and wonderful meaning of union with Christ
through faith, bringing us right into what He is in His
acceptability to God. The practical outworking of that
must be that you and I more and more forsake the
ground of the old Adam, of nature, our ground, and abide
in Christ. That just means holding by faith to what He is
and letting go what we are, and so the pleasure of God is
found there. If we get on to our own ground, what we are
by nature, and take account of that and try to make
something good of that, or even spend our time deploring
what a miserable thing that nature is, we lose all the
glory of God. The glory of God is in another humanity.
Dwell on Christ, be occupied with Christ, let your faith hold firmly to Christ, abide in Christ, and the glory is there.
It is the glory of Christ as the Son of Man. What are the
most blessed and glorious hours in the Christian’s
experience? Are they not the hours in which they are
contemplating and taken up with what Christ is?
The
Redeemer-Kinsman
Then the glory of Christ
as Son of Man is to be seen in Him as the
Redeemer-Kinsman. Firstly, as the arch-type of a new
humanity; then, secondly, as the Redeemer-Kinsman. Your
thoughts will at once go to that little classic, the book
of Ruth. I need not tell you the story of Ruth in detail,
but it is from there that we draw the great truths and
principles of the redeeming activity of the Lord.
The story in brief is
this. The inheritance has been lost. The day comes when
that inheritance becomes a matter of solemn, sad, but
earnest concern to the hearts of those who have lost it.
Now the realisation that the
inheritance has passed out of their control and right has come home to them,
and they are deeply exercised in heart about the lost
inheritance. There is only one way, according to the law
of things, in which that lost inheritance can be
re-purchased, and that is that there should be a kinsman
- he must be a kinsman, he must be of their own kin - who
has the right to redeem, and who has the ability to
redeem, and who is willing to redeem. Those who lost the
inheritance, and have now become so deeply concerned
about its recovery, are looking for that redeemer-kinsman
who has the right, who has the ability, the resource, and
who has the willingness to redeem the lost inheritance.
You know how Ruth comes into touch with Boaz, and
thinking him to be the redeemer-kinsman, recognising that
if he has the will, he has the resource, she discovers
that he has not the right, because there is another who
comes first. An appeal has to be made to the one who has
the right, and it is found that, while he has the right,
he has neither ability nor resource: and he passes over
his right to Boaz. Thus at length the one wholly fitted
for the business is found in Boaz. He has now the right,
he has the resource and the ability, and he has the will
to do it.
But then there is one
other thing in the story. According to the law of things,
the redeemer-kinsman has to take to wife the one for whom
he redeems the inheritance, and the way has got to be
cleared for that. The other kinsman could not do it
because the way was not clear for that, but Boaz has a
clear way to do it.
There are the elements
of the story. I am not going to take up every little
detail, but just the broad outline. You see how God has
placed there such an exquisite illustration of the glory
of Christ as the Redeemer-Kinsman. The inheritance has been lost. "What is man, that thou are mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet" (Heb. 2:6-8). But where is that man? Well, that inheritance has
been lost, and all that God intended for man has been
forfeited. Man now, through Adam’s sin, has lost the
inheritance. In Adam, no longer is he heir of all things,
the inheritance is gone. The tragedy of this humanity in
Adam is just that: once an heir, made to inherit, but now
bankrupt, hopeless, having lost all. That is the tragedy
of this humanity. That is where we are by nature. We have
it written in our beings. Our very nature witnesses to
the fact that there is something lacking, something
missing, something that ought to be and is not. We are
groping for it. It is in the very nature of things to
crave, to long for that. Every ambition of man, every
quest, every passion of man, is man shouting out of his
nature that there is something he ought to have but
cannot get. He accumulates all that this world can give
him, and dies, saying, No, I have not got it, I have not
found what I am after! He is an heir with a lost
inheritance.
The
Right to Redeem
And into a world like
that, into a race like that, God, in His Son, in terms of
manhood, comes from the outside as the Redeemer-Kinsman.
He has, first of all, the right to redeem. Why? Because
He is the Firstborn of all creation. He has the First
Place. This is no second-place kinsman. "He is
before all things" (Col. 1:17). He is the Firstborn;
He has the right because of place, the place He occupies,
the first place. Oh, think again of all that there is
about the Lord Jesus as coming first, as being in the
first place, as being the Firstborn, and you will see
that constitutes His right, for in the very nature of
things in the Bible, it is the firstborn, who carries the
rights with him always. Here is Jesus, Son of Man, the
first by appointment and placing of God. He has the right
to redeem.
The
Power to Redeem
He has also the power to
redeem, that is, He has the resources for redeeming.
Well, let us ask what is in the nature of things required
for redeeming? The inheritance has to be redeemed not
only for us but unto God. We in turn are God’s
inheritance, we are God’s possession by right, and
not only have we lost our inheritance, but God has lost
His inheritance in us, and what we might be satisfied
with as a return, God can never be satisfied with. If God
is to get back in us that inheritance which He Himself
has lost through man’s sin and wilfulness, its
redemption must be according to God, something that
satisfies God: and God cannot be satisfied with just
anything. It must be something that wholly answers to
God’s own nature. So let us say at once that "we
were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver
or gold, from our vain manner of life... but with
precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish"
(1 Pet. 1:18-19). What is it that satisfies God? It is an
incorruptible something. That which can alone bring back
to God His satisfaction must be incorruptible, undefiled,
without spot or blemish. These are words which always
relate to Christ in type, we know: a Lamb, without spot, without
blemish. That is the redemption resource, the
redemption power. Redemption means to recover the lost
inheritance, and He has redeemed by His Blood, because
that Blood represents His life which is an incorruptible
life, a sinless life, a life which wholly satisfies an
utterly righteous and holy God. That is the price of
redemption. Can He do it? Oh, to see the humanity of the Lord Jesus in
its incorruptibility, is to see the mighty power to
redeem. Set aside the Lord Jesus and you set aside the
whole power of redemption, the whole right of redemption;
there is no hope of redemption. We can never be redeemed
unto God with such corruptible things as silver and gold.
To be redeemed unto God means that a life must be
forthcoming which is according to God’s own nature.
Have you got that, have I got it? If we can find that in ourselves, then we can be our own redemption, our own redeemer: and who will say it?
Oh, this is where all
the blindness is. We spoke in our previous meditation of
the terrible blindness which is seen in evolution. But
here is the awful blindness of that terrible gospel,
which is not a gospel at all, which is being preached,
namely, humanism; that it is in man’s own power to
become like God. The roots and seeds of perfection are
deep down in man’s own being if only he will dig
deep enough for them; there is no need for intervention
from the outside at all; it is not necessary for God to
intervene, for Christ to come into this world. It is in
man to rise, he can improve himself. He is a wonderful
creature deep down in his being. What blindness! You say,
Amazing thing in the light of present happenings and
present world conditions; amazing thing that any man can
believe it, let alone preach it; amazing thing that with
one breath they talk about the awful atrocities which are
worse than those of the dark ages, and with the next
breath they say it is in man to be godlike! Blindness! With all that we may say about the courage of men; the great courage of our men in the Services, for example, and all their readiness to suffer hardship, and much more - and we do not detract from that one whit - the real point is this: are men more noble morally
today?
I was speaking a little while ago to a man who has a very responsible position amongst seafaring men in the Marine Service, and he said, I have been in the Marine Service all my life, and I thought I knew how bad things could be, but things as I find them today in the Services almost shock me! The awful state of life morally in those Services appalls him. There is a hardened man of a lifelong seafaring career saying that. Are men morally rising? Well, who can say
Yes! in the light of what we know today.
And yet they are
preaching this gospel of humanism, that man is steadily
rising and Utopia is on the horizon; because man has it
in himself to rise! That is blindness, terrible
blindness. But oh! To see God’s Son, the Son of Man,
is to see the hope, the direction in which redemption
lies; because redemption lies in the direction of another
kind of humanity, and in a power to redeem, because there
is something there which satisfies God, and anything
which does not satisfy God up to the hilt can never be a redeeming
power. Has the Lord Jesus the power? We here all cry with
one voice, Yes, He has the power, He has the resource for
doing this.
The
Liberty to Redeem
But another question
arises. Is He free to redeem? One thing is taken for
granted in this matter of the redeeming kinsman, and that
is that he can only have one wife. If he is already
married he is disqualified, because he cannot marry the
person for whom he redeems the inheritance. That was the
trouble with the other kinsman, in the case of Ruth. He
was not free; he was married and had a family. But Boaz
was unmarried, was free, and he could take Ruth to wife;
the way was perfectly clear.
Now we come into the
realm of sublime things spiritually. "Christ loved
the church and gave Himself for it, that He might redeem
it from all iniquity" (Eph. 5:25; Titus 2:14).
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church, and gave Himself up for it." The
redeemed is to be joined to the Lord, and the Lord Jesus
- may I say it reverently? - is only going to have one
wife. There is only going to be one marriage supper of
the Lamb. The Church is His only Bride. His redeemed are
the only ones to be brought into such a relationship with
Himself; and the way is clear. He is not committed at all, He stands perfectly free
to redeem, and to take the consequences of redeeming,
even of marrying the one for whom the inheritance is
redeemed.
Does not redemption
bring us into a very sacred position with the Lord Jesus?
That is the true significance of the title that attaches
to Him as our Redeemer-Kinsman, that we should be joined
to Him. Not redeemed as a chattel, not redeemed as a
thing, but redeemed to be joined to Him forever in the
holiest of all bonds. Married to the Lord. That is the
meaning of the Son of Man. Yes, He is free, He can do it.
The
Willingness to Redeem
Only one question
remains. Is He willing? He has the right, He has the
resource, He has the liberty. Will He? Oh, how Ruth and
Naomi must have waited with bated breath and thumping
hearts while that final question was being met and
answered. Will he? Ah, but there may be no thumping heart
here this afternoon, no bated breath. Will He? Is He
willing? Well, what do we say to that? He has done
it, and that answers the question. All that
remains, if we are not in the enjoyment of it, is for us
to accept it, believe it. He is willing!
May the Lord just
ravish our hearts and enlarge our seeing of Jesus, the
Son of Man.