Notes of a Reading on John's Gospel

It is because of sin that wrath comes. To deny this is to deny the word. If all that is meant is, that now God is dealing with the world in simple grace, there is nothing to object. But now, sin is the occasion of all His dealings
with the world; grace, mercy, and even providence, which has the character of patience towards the wicked, all have reference to the sin of man.
In this gospel, where grace towards the Church is so fully and distinctly brought out, the gospel towards the world is also much spoken of; it is always, in fact, the world-aspect we get in John, in contrast with the Jews.
It is not here " Lamb of God," in the sense of the Lamb suited to Him, but has more the idea of relationship, God's Lamb, as Abraham said to Isaac: " My son, God will provide himself a Iamb," &c.
Ver. 31. " I knew him not." John did know Christ prophetically, hence he said to Him when He came to him to be baptized, " I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" But he did not know Him as the Son of God until the Holy Ghost pointed Him out. The fact of John sending two of his disciples to Christ to inquire concerning Him, (see Matt. 11,) is collateral proof that John did not fully know who
Jesus was. As in the first eighteen verses we get the testimony of what Christ was Himself, in 19-34 we get John's testimony to Christ, which was that He was the Son of God.
Ver. 35, &c. Here we get another thing-the gathering to Christ of the remnant of Israel. This is the present historical result of the manifestation of Christ among the Jews. First we have the gathering to Christ through the instrumentality of the Baptist, 35 -42; then the gathering of Christ Himself and His disciples, 43-51; then the third day, a marriage in Cana of Galilee. There appears to be five days mentioned here: there are two days of the Baptist's testimony in Judea, a testimony first of darkness - " there stands one among you whom you know not;" (ver. 19-28;) then a testimony of light-" Behold the Lamb of God." (Ver. 29 - 34.) These two days are preparatory to the others; in them the sphere of the subject is larger-it is the world-but there is no gathering going on. In the three days, of which the marriage in Cana is one, Christ becomes the center round which others gather. In verse 35 John begins to gather to Christ: he sends by his testimony two of his disciples to Christ. Then verse 40, Jesus begins to gather Himself. All this gathering is among the Jews-it is the remnant. In chapter ii. we have the third day, when Christ comes to a marriage in Cana.
A question was now put as to the real force of verse 29, in answer to which it was said, God is now, on the ground of the work of Christ, dealing in grace. This verse refers to the result of Christ's work. Infants are not at all concerned in it especially. It shows the value of the work of Christ, not the application of it. It is not that what people call the guilt of original sin is removed. God is not dealing with men about this, but He will take even this up at the end in judgment; but what is here meant is, that Christ is the one who will eventually remove all sin from the world, so as to make it clear of all evil, and a dwelling-place of righteousness. Now, on the ground of the work of Christ, God is not imputing their trespasses to men; and upon the ground of Christ's being the taker away of the sin of the world, we can say to all men, " Come, for the blood is upon the mercy-seat." It is not merely from the men of the world, but from the world itself, that sin shall eventually be taken away. It is important to understand that I can go to every man in the world and invite him to come to God; but I can say to the believer, " There is something more to tell you, even that He has borne your sins in His own body on the tree." " Taketh away" is a more correct translation than " beareth away." In the passage " The living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe," it is God in His providence as the preserver of all men, and especially of those who believe. It does not refer to salvation from sin at all.
It is very clear that God loved all and Christ loved all. Hence He says, " For my love I got hatred." Christ died for all, gave Himself a ransom for all. " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." He is the universal point of attraction for all. We should keep to this-it is for all. The blood is upon the mercy-seat for all. When Paul says, " I beseech you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God," I get there the action of the Holy Ghost urging men to come to God. Sinners are besought to be reconciled by Christ's ambassadors, but it is very remarkable to notice the following statement of the apostle: " For he hath made him to be.sin for us," &c. He does not say, He hath made Him to be sin for every man, speaking indiscriminately, as he besought them to be reconciled. No; he speaks of his own realization and blessing in company with other believers. It is a very important thing to keep clearly in mind the distinction between beseeching men to be reconciled to God on the ground of what Christ has done, and that special application of His work which enables the soul to say, " For he hath made him to be sin for us," &c.
We get the same distinction in figure under the law. There was the blood upon the mercyseat as a propitiation before God for sin, on the ground of which any soul in Israel could draw near to God; and, again, there was the high priest confessing the sins of a peculiar people over the head of the scapegoat who becomes thus a substitute for the people. The difference is between propitiation and substitution, and error is frequently connected with ignorance of this difference. We find this error in a good deal that is going on around us. It is owned by some that Christ gave Himself in devotedness and love to God for us, but directly substitution is brought in they deny it " in toto."
As to the preaching of the gospel to the world, the first fact I would present to men is, that God was here reconciling the world unto Himself. This strikes at the heart. God unmasks in the person of Christ what the sinner really is, but at the same time shows the fullest grace. Then I can say there has been a perfect atonement offered; come to God through it and you will be received. If any come, to them I can explain what the blood has done for them that believe. A great deal of what we call preaching the gospel is really speaking of the effect of Christ's work; we are really in the epistles. I think that the more we keep to the facts which display God's love, the more power there will be. God is now beseeching through His servants. He has, so to speak, humanized the means of salvation. In His own nature God is abstract. He dwells in light in which none can see Him, and to which none can approach, but He appeals to us through man and in man. But I should take care not to think for a moment that I can persuade any one to come to God. No, the work is God's alone; Ile beseeches by us.
As to the question, " How can you reconcile the fact of God's loving the world and not using His own power compulsorily to bring it to Himself," it may be answered, first-We have no right to judge God, but He will judge us. He has a perfect right to take what course He chooses. We cannot take up the question of God's justice. If the question was the result of a real difficulty in the mind, it might be suggested, that it is of more importance that God's character should be vindicated than that the world should be saved. God always acts for His own glory.
To return, however, to our chapter. When we get into the historical facts which were going on at the time, from the 35th verse, we get what did not occur before " the Christ;" for it is in Israel that the Son of God is found. This was during the first day of gathering. At verse 43 the second day commences. Philip is found by Christ, he finds Nathaniel. Here we find a difference. Christ says, Follow me. Philip gathers to Him. Christ is the center. It is not here, however, of sinners in the world, but of a remnant in Israel. Christ owns Nathaniel as an Israelite without guile. He says without guile, although his heart is full of prejudice, and he does not know Christ.
Nathaniel's being under the fig tree refers to his being in Israel. Nathaniel owns Him as the Son of God and King of Israel. The ground is completely Jewish. Nathaniel seems to have owned Him in the character in which he is spoken of in Psa. 2.
Verse 51. The word in this verse " hereafter," should be " henceforth." It is astonishing how not seeing things intelligently makes it impossible for a translator to give the true sense. There is the same mistake in the passage, " Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven;" it really should be, " Henceforth ye shall see," &c. This verse (51) means that Christ was even then the subject of angelic attendance, which those who, like Nathaniel, by faith discerned in Him the Son of God and King of Israel, should henceforth see Him also as the one upon whom heaven opens and the angels of God ascending and descending upon Him. It refers to the time of Christ's earthly life. The Son of God was, as it were, Jacob at the foot of the ladder. He is not, as is generally thought, the ladder, but is at the foot of it. Heaven is opened and angels are going up and down from and to Him. Heaven is opened upon Christ on earth as an object; until He was there there was no object on earth upon which heaven could open. In the case of Stephen in Acts 7, we get another thing. Heaven is opened to him, and he sees an object up there for us the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. When heaven opened to Christ there was no object up there to Him, but He was Himself the object of heaven upon earth. He was heaven's object here, and now for us heaven is opened, and He is our object up there. Jesus is there, an object to fix our attention in glory, even as He was the object of heaven's attention when He was upon earth. It is a very important and blessed thing to see Christ upon earth the object of heaven. Here the Holy Ghost bears testimony to Him, and also the angels. It is not man which is the object, but the new Man,
Christ. Puseyism and infidelity, and almost every system of error, look upon Christ as one who is to help the old man, instead of seeing Him as the new Man, who has gone into heaven, where He has become an object for us. The reason of this is, that Christ in heaven brings into view the ruin of the old man, and man needs to be convinced of sin in order to receive it. It is therefore the more important for us distinctly to see in these days where so much is made of man upon the earth, that the word takes up a man in heaven.
(Continued from page 380, Vol. VII.)
Notes of a Reading on John's Gospel
(Chapter 2,3)
In this chapter we get particulars as to the third day. In chapter 1 we have from verse 35 two days of testimony, during which we see a Jewish remnant gathered; and now in chapter ii. we get the third day, in which we get two things-a marriage and a judgment; the marriage is at Cana in Galilee, the judgment is in Jerusalem, where Jesus drives out those who were defiling the temple. In the chapter, however, we get intimation that after all the temple was only " empty, swept, and garnished," for He was the true temple. The whole of this and the following chapter comes in before John is cast into prison, so that we learn that, before the commencement of Christ's ministry in Galilee, mentioned in Matt. 4, there was a dealing of His with those of Jerusalem. The scenes in John's Gospel are mostly laid in Jerusalem, but in Galilee in the other gospels.
The miracle of turning the water into wine, in connection with the marriage at Cana, is a figure of the marriage of Christ with the Jews-His recognition of that people as His own in the latter days. Its taking place at Cana sets forth His taking up the poor remnant of His people and leaving those of Jerusalem. When this marriage takes place, He will change the water of purification into the wine of joy. Water was set there for purification. It is a figure of the word which, in His absence, is here for our purification, not as the wine of joy. We are said to be "washed with water by the word." Our way is to be cleansed by taking heed to the word.
As to the judgment, it is the Lord whom they sought suddenly coming to His temple, according to Malachi. He did not, however, present Himself thus, but coming to it He finds these things in the temple, and therefore puts them out. The cleansing is by judgment here. He puts out those who defiled the temple. Thus have we in figure the two things which characterize the third day-the marriage of Christ with the remnant, when He will turn the water of purification into the wine of joy; and the judgment, by which He will put away those that defile God's house. The Jews asked for a sign in proof of the authority on which He did this; and He refers them at once to Himself. " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
It is beautiful to see the two things in this chapter, but they are morally instructive as well as figurative. The present separation of Christ from the people is seen in what passes between
Himself and His mother. When she comes He would not have to do with her, but the hour is coming when He will have to do with her. Still we find He went down with her to Capernaum. Having really done with the people after the flesh, He says to His mother, " Woman, what have 1 to do with thee;" and yet although thus separate from her He goes and dwells with her. We have the same thing in Luke, when he was twelve years of age. When He provided for His mother at the cross, it was in a certain sense the hour when He should do so. Going away Himself He provides for His mother as a thoughtful, dutiful son would do.
In the end of this chapter (2) we get into a transition. When He was at Jerusalem, many believed on His name when they saw the miracles which He did; but now He will not have it. Man may sincerely believe many things in the flesh, but this is what Christ will not own. Come here in a divine character He will not take Israel up on the ground of the flesh. That kind of faith which can be in man naturally He will not have-in fact it was valueless, even as far as man was concerned. Jesus did not commit Himself to them, although they had an honest conviction that the man who did all these miracles must be what He said He was.
Chapter 3 Then comes Nicodemus on the same ground, but with his conscience exercised. He comes apart from the world " by night." The Lord meets him with what was needed (by Israel it is true, but also) for everybody. Christ here clearly shows that He is not come to fall in with Judaism, but He brings out at once that God needed something else. Christ would not teach flesh. " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The original word is weakly translated " again;" it really means "anew," from the beginning (ἄνῶθεν, from above, from the beginning, anew). The real force of the expression is" apparent from the answer of Nicodemus, who took it to mean a new birth. Now without this new birth, the kingdom of God could not be seen. Christ could not teach the old nature, or at least would not. The flesh or old nature is never spoken of in the Old Testament as such. In Gen. 6:3 we get, " My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh;" but this striving was between the Spirit of God in the ways and words of the godly, and the evil course of the ungodly. The spiritual nature in contrast with the flesh we do not get in the Old Testament. We do not read of any such conflict as this in one man of old. The full character of the flesh in man is brought out in the New Testament.. It was in the death of Christ that sin got its condemnation. This brought the flesh fairly out-put it in its own place. Law never brought it out thus. It is true that the moment I get to know that the law is spiritual, then I get fully upset, condemned. " I had not known lust unless the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." But even this did not condemn sin in the flesh, because I am still hoping that I may do better. But when I see the death of Christ, I see that the flesh contains no such thing as good. " The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be." It was condemned by the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin, by what He bare for us, in our place. This, therefore, settles what and where it is. A true heart is often harrassed by the presence of the flesh, but there is deliverance when I find that God has condemned it by Christ's death on the cross, and that I have got another spring of life, on which the fruits of the Spirit grow. Now in the third chapter of John we get the thought that an entirely new thing is needed, and that it came down with Christ, was manifested in Him. It was with Him before He came down into the world, but it came down to us in Him, acting, it is true, in man's faculties and feelings, but still a new life. The thing is that we must have a nature capable of enjoying God. The Holy Ghost is, of course, required to reveal God, but when He is so revealed, I must have a nature capable of receiving and enjoying God and the things of God. For the character of this new life, see John's Epistles and also in Galatians. It should also be remembered that our life is not its own source, it is not the fountain, nor even a fountain, but a communication, quite derivative. It is not said that life is in me, but in Christ from whom I have it, have it in Him.
Verse 5. The bearing of this verse upon the life is, that water represents the application to us of the word of God, and that the Spirit is the divine communicator of life. Water is a common figure of the word. " Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." The word is the instrument by which the Holy Ghost works. It is that which appeals to men, and made effectual by the Spirit, purifies the person-the individual. The person is not a different one, but a new life which was not in any sense there before is put into him. We are thus begotten again, connected with which there is the washing of the person from the impurities connected with the old life. The result of the work gives us the fact of a new thing in us, but that it is not of us, but derived from another, see verse 6: " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
Verse 7, &c. All must thus be born again-not Jews simply-but all. To see the kingdom of God is to apprehend it, to enter it, is more the idea of going in, taking a place in it. One might see it before it came, but one could not positively enter it until it was set up.
Verse 12, &c. Here Christ mentions the distinction between earthly and heavenly things. The new birth belongs to both. New birth was requisite for the earthly blessing of the Jew as Nicodemus ought to have known. Still the heavenly things in principle begin with the new birth, but as to their actual historical introduction, we do not get them till after the cross. Hence, when Christ comes to speak of the cross (ver. 14) He drops the kingdom and talks of eternal life, without which there could be no enjoyment of what is heavenly; but this revelation of what is heavenly brings out the complete ruin of what is natural; for so far from man being capable of enjoying what is heavenly, he is perishing, so we get the wondrous statement of the Son of man being lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. The thought of perishing is deeper than the question of the kingdom. There was a must be that man should be born again, and there was a must be that Christ should be lifted up. Everything for man depended on this; even the Jews get their earthly blessings in connection with the heavenly man, But the Jews never get to that fullness of blessing which belongs to the heavenly people. Even in the millennium the Jews will not have the vail rent. They will not see Christ even as we now see Him by faith. They will see His manifestation on earth, but this is very different to what He is in heaven to us now, much more to what He will be to us in the glory. In the millennium the Jews do not see Christ as the light of the heavenly city, but they see His light through the city, through us. There is however, a manifestation of Him outside on earth which they will see, but this sight of Him will be very different from what we shall see of Him in heaven.
New birth depended, for us, on the death of Christ. All blessings come to us from that death. We get life through a Christ that died and was raised again, and we get it in the power in which He is risen. This is that which distinguishes the saint of the present dispensation. We are blessed in and with Christ. Death and resurrection are our portion, even His death and resurrection. We are not simply blessed through His death and resurrection, as the Jews will be at the latter day.
From verses 14-17 we have, as it were, the two sides of truth. Verse 14 brings out the necessity on man's side for Christ's being lifted up, " The Son of man must he lifted up, that whosoever believes might not perish." In verse 15 we find the other side, even that God in the greatness of His love has given His Son for us. 'These are the two sides of truth, necessity in man and love in God. Eternal life is precisely the same as everlasting life. The difference is one instance of the bad habit in the translators of the Authorized Version in using different words to represent the same word in Greek. The literal meaning of the word translated perish is utterly marred.
Verse 17, &c. Here we get this great truth that God did not send His Son to condemn the world, but to express His grace towards man. Hence is brought out man's sad condition, for the world would not have Him. The word condemn here is very unhappy; it should be judge the world: " He that believeth on him is not judged, but he that believeth not is judged already." The thing is that Christ did not come to judge the world, yet in one sense He did judge. He was light, and the fact of His coining was necessarily judgment. But still His purpose was grace. If a man do not believe he is judged already, for his very rejection of Christ manifests his condition, proves him utterly lost; hence
Verse 19. " This is the judgment, that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light." His presence had the effect of judging, although He did not come to judge. There is a difference between condemnation and judgment. Judgment supposes an action of judging, but condemnation is simply telling out the sentence. It is here that if God judges the result must be condemnation, for man is a sinner. If I were the maker of this table, and I examine the table for the purpose of judging its real character, I am in reality judging myself as a workman; so if God had judged man as He made him, He would have been judging Himself. But if man has departed from God, then God judges him, and it must be condemnation. This principle goes further, explain- in.. why it is God will not judge the new life, because it is of Himself, and He cannot judge Himself.
All these verses up to verse 22 are addressed to Nicodemus, although, as John generally does, he gets into great general truths.
Verses 22.-36. Here we get John the Baptist giving place to Christ, and rejoicing that he has to do so. He especially testifies that Christ is from above-from heaven -and hence that no man receiveth his testimony. A very solemn statement. John's spirit here is very beautiful-the Bride is Christ's. To see gathering to Christ going on was a great joy to John, but there are some interesting details here.
The question arises about purifying between some of John's disciples and the Jews. It was a question about Christ and John, and, with a very low thought of the case, many went to Christ and left John. But John answers those who come to him about it, by showing that he is not the Christ, yea, never pretended to be. It was the One who came from above who was above all; but if this is so, there remains another solemn thing, and that is, if Christ came from above, no man receives His testimony. We have here also John's abdication, he gives up to Christ in solemn contrast with the Jews, who give up Christ. How different the spirit of the two! The Pharisee and John's disciples both seemed stirred up at the thought that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John. Not that He Himself baptized, but His disciples baptizing gave currency to the report. This John met by giving way to Christ with joy, although, as to man, none will receive Him. But while no man naturally receiveth the testimony, yet it is said, " He that hath received his testimony," showing us that divine grace has come in. Merely human belief Christ would not have. (See close of chap. ii.) To receive Christ's testimony, evidently supposes something quite new in the heart, and in connection with it we have the words of God and the Spirit given. And further, the Father having given all things into the Son's hand, Christ as the Son appearing on the scene alone, life in Him, but wrath abiding on those who believe not.
Christ did not begin publicly to preach until John was cast into prison. (See Matthew and Mark.) Christ was teaching and working miracles, but still He did not offer Himself' as the Messiah, saying as He does in Luke, " Now is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."
It is John the Baptist that speaks in these closing verses. It was not John's every-day preaching, but so to speak, his dying note. Some have said that the language of these last verses is that of the Apostle and not of the Baptist, and have grounded upon it an objection to the gospel. But the notion of such is that man is the author of the gospels and not God.
(Continued from, page 380, Vol. VII)