2.03.14. "Christ in you the hope of glory"
XIV. “CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY.”
"But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” — 1 Peter 1:25.
N contrast with the fleeting life of man, “the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” Every creature after its kind. The life that springs from the word will, like its origin, be immortal. But we cannot reach the full meaning of the message here, if we think only of the written word, or even of the mind or meaning which the Holy Spirit expresses thereby.
These are only the clothing: it is Christ himself that is wrapped therein, and presented to us. It is from John that we learn most fully the relation of the Scriptures to Christ. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” The corn of wheat which must fall into the ground and die is the speaker himself. He was at once the sower and the seed; he was at once the offerer and the sacrifice.
Nowhere else does the prophecy of the text find its full meaning. The Word that endureth for ever is the Word that was with God, and was God. This comes out with great clearness and force in the example of his own preaching in the synagogue of Nazareth recorded in the Gospels (Luke 4:16-21). When he had read the text from the Scriptures, he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant. As soon as the book had delivered its message, it was laid aside, and he presented himself to the congregation as the fulfilment of the prophecy. His sermon consisted in permitting the prophet to pronounce the promise, and then exhibiting himself as its fulfilment. No other preacher, either false or true, ever acted thus. To do so would in any mere man be a measure of pride and arrogance that even the boldest has never attained. Only He whom the Father sent into the world could stand in that breach. The weight would crush emy creature. This alone is proof of his divinity. If any should dare to assume that position, the height would make him giddy, and his life would reel into all manner of extravagance.
Again, referring to the ostentatious assiduity with which the Jewish doctors searched the letter of the Scriptures, he tells them that in so doing they allow the kernel to slip through their hands, while they vainly strive to live upon the shell: they — the Scriptures — “ are they that testify of me; and ye will not come unto me that ye may have life.’* From the beginning to the end the Scriptures are the vehicle which contain and convey and deliver Christ.
Christ in the Scriptures revealed is the Word of God, — the mind of God toward lost men, expressed and embodied. The same central truth is taught in many places and in many forms by the Lord: thus, “ He that eateth me shall live by me;” “I am the vine, ye are the branches.”
“ And this is the Word which is gospelled unto you.” It is not so many doctrines, and so many precepts, logically strung together and intellectually understood. It is the ever-enduring Word that is given by God, and accepted in faith by man. When the Lord articulately on appeal decerned between the sisters Martha and Mary, the distinction he drew was between the many not needful and the one needfvl. His judgment is, “ Of one there is need;” and Mary had fixed her choice on the one when she sat at his feet. In the case of Paul, too, it is made marvellously clear that what God gave, and he accepted, was the Word in person. Taught by the Spirit at length, he flung away all his long-cherished righteousnesses, naming them one by one, and casting them away with loathing as filthy rags. But when he comes to tell of the new portion for his soul that he obtained instead of his cast-off merits, he does not give a list of many good things that took the place of the evil; he counted all loss for Christ (Php 3:7).
It is this that constitutes the “ gospel “ — the good news. No number of good things would serve our turn. “ There is need of one.” But that one is enough. It is finished, He hath done it all. All things are yours, if ye are Christ’s. But the gospel is preached “ unto you.” Unless we personally, one by one, appropriate for ourselves “ the gift of God,” there is no transaction. It is not Christ in heaven, Christ in the Bible, Christ in the confession, but Christ in you, that is the living hope of glory. The expression here is parallel with that which is employed in the report of Philip’s address to the Ethiopian treasurer — “He preached unto him Jesus.” On both sides the parallel holds good; both subject and object are identical. What did Philip preach? Jesus; that is, as represented by Peter, the ever -enduring Word. How did Philip preach that Word? “ Unto him.” So here, “ unto you.” This is a great and pressing point. It is, indeed, the turning-point. In the sphere of life it is the article of a standing or a falling man, as in the sphere of doctrine justification is the article of a standing or a falling Church. In some countries and at some periods there has been a disastrous divorce of these two whom God hath joined.
Sometimes there has been much preaching of Jesus — of the Word — without the application of the truth to persons. It seems to have been the gospel poured into the air, and not “ unto you.” The expression conveys the conception of a human soul being the vessel into which the eternal Word is poured. Now, though the Word be preached truly and abimdantly over all the land, it will save only those into whom it is poured. Though much water be poured out, it will not benefit the vessel that stands shut, and empty, and dry. It is the old, plain truth: “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” The two essentials are the Christ and thou; that which saves is Christ unto thee.
It is parallel with the Lord’s own word to Peter, “ Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thov, me?” The spiritual quickening which is spreading over the land, and arresting the regard both of the Church and the world, touches mainly this point. It is not a greater or a better gospel, but the old gospel more specifically pressed home upon persons. It is the gospel unto you. In as far as there is an advance, I think it lies very much in this, — that Christ is brought into contact with the individual soul, and these two are left to wrestle, like Jacob and the angel. The Christ “ apprehends “ the lost man as the shepherd grasped the lost sheep when at last he found it, — apprehends him, and will not let him go: the lost man, conscious that the Christ is “ apprehending “ him, conceives from that fact a new hope, and, in turn, “ apprehends “ his Apprehender, with the life and death cry, “ I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” The King suffers this violence, and delights to suffer it; and the violent gain Him by this force. Hence the frequent glad announcement, as the wrestler emerges from the conflict, ’’ I have found Christ.”