02.02. Part 2.

Part 2.

If the Old Testament may be looked upon as a great picture gallery where our Lord is portrayed in sundry ways and divers manners, the New Testament takes us inside where we see God unveiled in a MAN. The holy Gospels are the areas storehouse of heavenly manna — the resource of God for a wilderness people. It is true we are made God-conscious here, but that was also true of the previous part of Scripture. There is not merely gold, blue, purple and scarlet with what they entail in that glorious Man but the majesty of Deity. It is not only glories of different variety coming out, one here, and another there, but God at one time, Man at another and more often both in one holy combination which produces praise but baffles thought. For example — see the wearied Man of Mark 4 in that holy slumber connected with the sinless condition of humanity which He had taken up. The next moment, His Godhead power shines forth in quieting the storm. The scene at the tomb of Lazarus combined both. Not only was it from human lips that the command was issued for the dead to come forth but the cheeks of Him Who did so were wet with the holy tears of human sympathy. His obedience was different from all others, even from man in innocence, since it called neither for command nor prohibition. The law of His life was such that it ever gravitated Godward. Hence, the obedience of Jesus Christ was unique. He did not serve in view of reward nor could there be any servile work, for it all sprang from a nature that knew no distrust. The joy set before Him of the accomplishment of His Father’s will, produced a life in a scene of contrariety that stands alone; treasured up before God for ever. Nothing could rival the joy, or compare with the pleasure it gave, of carrying out all that was due to the Father. "As the living Father has sent me and I live by the Father." Again. "I have set the Lord always before me." This was the law of the Man. (2 Samuel 7:19, Rev. Ver. and New Trans.). If He be viewed in relation to the moral virtues, these are in Him elevated to a new plane. Truth, integrity, patience and sincerity are all there but on the high plane of the will of God. All His actions have a charm of their own whether commanding, or obeying. He did what He did, because He was Who He was, and in doing it, He showed Who He was and IS.

See Him in command. We have already noted His way both with nature in the storm and the unseen region in raising Lazarus. With the Devil it was, "Get thee behind me," with demons, "Hold thy peace;" with the diseased, "I will;" with the woman of Samaria, "Go, call thy husband" — which had soul conviction in view; the resurrection message, "Go, tell my brethren." Whatever be the sphere, He is Master but all had in view the unveiling of God. In Luke 4:1-44 we read that the people of the village where He had been brought up sought to cast Him over a precipice but He walked quietly away as if nothing had happened. So we read again in Luke 7:1-50, in the house of Simon, He asserted His supremacy, Simon was judged, the sinner for which He came from heaven was blessed, and God was glorified. What hidden glories lie behind the scene of His temptation, yea, whether we take His service, temptation, transfiguration or, greatest of all, His crucifixion, there is that that could be written which would fill more books than the world could hold.

While the above incidents bring out each side of the Person of our Lord respectively, that is, both Godhead and Manhood, it should be noted that each side implies and necessitates the other. To illustrate this we may turn to Hebrews 1:1-14, Hebrews 2:1-18. Hebrews 1:1-14 describes the incomparable glories of the Son but in Manhood. The second shows us His incomparable greatness in Manhood but in language that implies that He is God. So it is in the Gospels, whichever side comes out, the other is Inseparable in His Person. There is therefore another class of His sayings and doings which are not so much expressive of one side but are the fruit of the combined activity of both in one Divine-Human Person, In proof, note the words, "I am the light of the world." John 8:12. "I am the resurrection and the life." John 11:25. While each of these statements came from a Man, they indicate one Who was more than a Man and not less than God. The terms Saviour and Redeemer carry the same sense, implying as they do something that only God could accomplish but necessarily by Incarnation. We have seen this at the tomb of Lazarus, but is not the same thing clearly in evidence when He walked on the sea? He calmed their fears when they thought it was a spirit by saying, "Fear not, I am." It was God Himself, not in abstract Deity, but the Man they knew as their Master and Lord. The same may be said about the feeding of the multitude for, while all the grace and compassion of the Man Christ Jesus came out, it was in the Omnipotence of creatorial power and goodness.

Having noted these distinctions, let us follow this wonderful Person like some of old whom He called to abide with Himself. His separation was different from His servant John the Baptist. Such was the state of the people that John was called to live in the desert but the Lord went in and out among the people. As the centre and source of holiness, He walked in the midst of the uncleanness, unstained and unstainable. The location of the servant apart, has been taken up in the church in a monastic way with sad and solemn results. The time will come when the words, "Come out of her my people" will sound forth. Revelation 18:4. Meantime, we are called to walk, "as He walked." (1 John 2:6), in a profession that is fast developing into full-blown apostasy. The servant was said to have a demon but the Master was called a gluttonous man and a winebibber. In holy simplicity, combined with divine dignity, Jesus goes into the house of a Pharisee and sits down to eat. On another occasion we see Him at a family gathering; then at a social feast in the house of Levi; and again, at the marriage of some of the friends. There is nothing stand-offish nor austere, while there is always that holy influence emanating from Him that gives character to all. Society in general was His province. He accepted the invitation of the rich; was at home among the poor; stooping to encourage what was of God everywhere but always supreme. The customs of society and the barriers which separate the classes and the masses, could be nothing to Him whose abundance was at the disposal of all. With the rich we may in general identify the official classes. Doctors; Lawyers; Scribes; Pharisees and Sadducees. Though there are exceptions here and there, these in general were opposed to Him. In fact, this class hung upon His footsteps till at last they succeeded in getting Him crucified. With the poor we may in general identify the diseased and sorrow stricken. This was the class which benefited most by His ministry. "The poor have the Gospel preached." But the national position of our Lord is a great study. It has been pointed out that while others fill their day and serve their generation, all are patriots and live for the land of their birth. In the conditions of human life this is somewhat of a necessity and indeed is counted a virtue. David was a Jew; Alexander a Greek; Caesar a Roman and so on but Christ stood in relation to all. As the vessel of covenant promise He was the Son of David and took the place of a Jew (John 4:22), maintaining carefully Jewish blessings and privileges. (Matthew 15:24). But He was a MAN and as such, He stood forth in relation to, and on behalf of, mankind. At that time the people of Galilee were simple and open-minded, while they of Judea were more sophisticated and given to petty disputations about the Law. In the bosom of both classes burned a fiery passion, ever ready to break out and throw off the Roman yoke. This led to tumults in which much fanaticism was displayed as may be seen in Acts 21:1-40, or Acts 7:1-60. There was seething among them that feeling which led to the fall of Jerusalem later. Here was one Who was fitted to be a leader. Such works of power proved beyond all doubt His ability if He would only put Himself at their head. This would ensure their place of supremacy among the nations and had not their Scriptures marked out that place for them? His refusal drew out their hatred with a violence that only His death could appease. The very position they wanted Him to take, they used against Him. The depth of the iniquity of the human heart comes out in Caiaphas when he said, "It is expedient that one man die for the people and that the whole nation perish not." Little did he think that like Balaam of old, his tongue was directly under divine control. All ended in the dark tragedy of Calvary where both Jew and Gentile filled up the measure of their guilt. As we have said, He was a MAN. Two thousand years of man’s history had run its course before there was a Jew or a Hebrew nation. His coming in relation to the race was made known both in type and promise in that age. The seed of the woman could not be limited to anything short of the whole race. Israel’s rejection of Him opened the door for all and as it were, put Him in relation to the whole race. "It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob . . . I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:6). This distinction runs through all Scripture. The Gospel of Matthew shows Him Son of David and Abraham but with Luke it is the Son of Man. The temptation also brings out both, but with a further distinction between the Man in His full moral beauty and the Son of Man in official splendour. The full question there goes back to Eden and Adam in thought but the kingdoms of the world speak of the rights and glory of the Son of Man. There is far more said of this distinction than we are accustomed to think for the glories of the Son of Man in official capacity awaited death and resurrection and go out to the whole creation but the beauty, simplicity, subjection and obedience of the Man, Christ Jesus, in the varied detail of life and the complications of man’s sinful condition morally, socially and nationally, becomes a feast to the devout heart. It is here we see His power for moral estimates. In the human race, every man is what he is, as a result of certain conditions. Heritage and environment are the leading factors. We all inherit both virtues and vices and are all, more or less, affected by our surroundings. Here is One Who is outside of all this. Why? Because He is the Second Man out of heaven.

Yet, while rendering to every one their dues, He had not come to take up politics. God was glorified; the covenant people owned and Caesar allowed his rights but He did not come to divide to men their inheritance. Luke 12:13-14. His work had to do with eternity and eternal realities. Man’s condition and his petty rights accounted for the state of vexatious confusion existing and in his ignorance, he applies his moral standard to everything. What must it have been for our Lord to move about in a state of things like that? Knowing where He came from and where He was going and with sensibilities unimpaired by sin, He trod a path which was all His own and which in the nature of things, must inevitably lead to the cross. None can know fully what he must have felt, beholding the race around Him in all its stages of degeneration, grovelling in disease both physical and moral, with little knowledge of God, less of themselves, and without any moral objective because dominated by sin. The same perfection of touch is seen in His ways with the Ecclesiastical order in Israel. The Tabernacle stood as a system of visible and sensuous worship, which could only be temporary and indeed was permitted as a type for the time then present of the eternal order, which was to be set up in the power and glory of redemption, which meant for Him the cross. He had not come to destroy but to fulfil and in the midst of the ruin of the dispensation in man’s hands, it was necessary to disentangle certain great principles and put them in order. Marriage; the Sabbath; Circumcision; all were put in their proper setting as belonging to the ways of God in a time prior to Moses. As God’s great centre standing in time with all the weight of the divine glory resting upon Himself, He adjusted all in relation to the past — right past kingdom days — to God’s eternal day. The law was honoured in all its claims; the ritual owned by sending those Whom He had cleansed to the priest; the Calendar in all its enactments was answered to, while strewing on account of their state that the feasts had ceased to be Jehovah’s. In a system where the word of God was set aside for tradition, He honoured that Word in a life which was its reflex to the most minute detail. In this way our God has set Christ — the object of His own delight, before our hearts for our delight and adoration. Ought we not with a devout heart to dwell on the walk, ways, words and actions of that Holy One in the clear sunshine of His presence as glorified and thus acquire riches for eternity without putting the hand on the Ark, or entrenching on that which must abide in its own sacred majesty for ever? In this way, the very theme that infidelity seeks to make capital out of, becomes the food and delight of the believer’s soul. Again, note another striking feature of that life. Christ drew attention to Himself in a way that would be sin for a creature but is a proof of Who He is. "Follow me" were His words. And again, "Come unto me." But further, "He that loveth father, or mother, more than me, is not worthy of me." Would not language like this be enough to produce distrust in any other and to cause us to mark him off as one to be avoided? But we may go further, for there are words of His which would be blasphemy on the lips of any other. "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." Who else could speak in such a way? To give one more example, who else could say in reference to holy Scripture, "Ye have heard that it hath been said . . . but I say." (Matthew 5:21-22)? So far we have thought upon our Lord in His perfections in the precise adjustment of moral qualities, every one of which was in full accord with every other and all in due proportion, whether in activity or at rest. But says some one, Why make so much ado about it all? Who that knows Him we answer, can keep from singing His praise and spreading His fame? "If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." "What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou cost so charge us?" "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand — or, as in another translation, ’He is conspicuous among myriads’ (Youngs Trans.) — His countenance is as Lebanon. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." How well it is when words fail us that we can turn to the holy book where He is well known and find there language which fitly describes Him. "Ye that stand in the house of Jehovah, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise ye Jehovah; for Jehovah is good: sing psalms unto his name for it is pleasant." There we may behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his temple. "Now will I sing to my beloved, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard." "O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth." He is well known throughout the height and the depth of the universe, adored by His own, though feared and dreaded by demons. "Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee." "Thy countenance is as the sun shineth in its strength." "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad." "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" Thou art greater glorious Saviour than the Temple, or Jonah, or Solomon; Lord also of the Sabbath day. "In the greatness of thine excellency, thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee." Before John the Baptist thy forerunner; before Abraham; before all things. God, co-equal in eternity with the Father and the Spirit in majesty and splendour, albeit a gracious, tender, lowly, and lovely Man. We love to think of thee, adore Thee, own Thee, and glorify Thy name. Like a favoured one of old we can say, "The king hath brought me into his chamber and his love is better than wine." My beloved reader, what thinkest thou of these glorious words concerning thy Lord and Master? "Hast thou seen Him, heard Him, known Him; Is not thine a captured heart? Chief among ten thousand own Him; Joyful choose the better part." Blessed Lord to see Thee and be like Thee is our joyful hope but Oh ! how sweet it is to be brought by the Spirit into all this to-day during the time of Thy rejection, when all that which lies before us in the day of Thy displayed glory, can be entered upon, and enjoyed on the principle of faith. To us Lord, these are, "The precious things of heaven," — things that, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. Yes, we love thee blessed Lord and however feeble we are, we can be in the same measure of blessed at-homeness with Thyself and God our Father. Made in infinite grace Thy companions in the blessed stability of redemption’s glorious worth, we render unto Thee the homage of which thou art so worthy, both now and ever more. Can there be any wonder then — we may ask — if one is beside oneself in the contemplation of such a lovely Person? In reality we have to bow and admit that the wonder is the other way about. Nothing could prove the lack of moral refinement and depth of spiritual feeling, than the callous way we all speak of Him who fills the Father’s heart. This raises another question to which we must turn, namely, Why should such a life have to come to such an inglorious end in this world? Yea more, Why should it have to cease and not be perpetuated in the earth? The answer to this covers a vast range of Scripture, bringing in the counsels of God and the deepest things of divine revelation all of which leads to another part of our theme to which we now turn.