THE Gospel of John comes in, we know, after the other three Gospels. In the first, Matthew, Christ has been rejected as King of the Jews; in the second, Mark, as Prophet; and in the third, Luke, as Son of man, where in grace He is born into this world, " a Savior, Christ the Lord." Then John comes in, and definitely sums up the result of the trial in those three Gospels. We read: " He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own [the Jews] received him not." Man would not have-aim; the darkness comprehended not the light, but preferred darkness rather than light, and death than life. Though John the Baptist announced the kingdom of heaven at hand, and grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, yet there was no conscience of sin.
John, then, comes to us at the very moment of man's moral collapse; he brings out his guilt as well as his lifeless condition before God. He gives us the revelation of the Father in the only-begotten Son, the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth. There is no upbraiding, no requiring; but " as many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God."
In the first three Gospels the Christ of God is fulfilling prophecies and promises; He is fulfilling righteousness as a man, manifesting perfect love to man and perfect obedience to God, binding the strong man and then spoiling his. goods, healing sickness, opening the blind eyes, cleansing the leper, preaching the gospel to the poor, and announcing the acceptable year of the Lord, and then, at the close, when the staves of Beauty and Bands were broken and His people " would not," yielding Himself up as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, a willing victim, when the power of darkness-Satan's hour-was come.
But in John's Gospel it is not that; it is not probation. It is the evidence of what God can do when man's responsibility has failed; it is the fruit of God's sovereign grace and electing love; it is, in fact, the way God displays Himself, and reveals His purposes towards the sinner in the only begotten Sony. The -,Lord Jesus is not here, as in the others, seeking fruit from the vine He had planted and hedged round. Man's side had failed. Here He is bringing man to His side. He is not now healing the wounded man; that had been tried and had failed. Man was now discovered to be dead, dead in sin, without conscience, without a spark of life, the will alienated from God. So here we find our God a quickener of the dead, calling out things that are not to bring to naught things that were,, taking occasion by the sin of man to bring out the virtue and the grace of Christ.
Man, thus hitherto tried and helped, would not have God in the grace of His Son; would not be cured, would not' believe himself incurable, would not be saved. The natural man discerns not the things of God- cannot be educated: " Except a man' be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God; " he has no mind for God; he is not wise. The Psalmist says, " The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Wherever there is a spark of life in another, let us treasure it. It is from above. Let us nurse it, and view it as'a precious plant of God's own planting, to be fed and nourished in tenderness with the sincere milk of the 'word. Without the Spirit of God there is no pulse, no birth: "Born not of blood, nor- of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." All man's efforts religiously to accomplish this only show out more clearly how his moral darkness can neither comprehend his lifelessness -towards God nor appreciate God's goodness towards himself.
And thus it is according to the teaching of this Gospel. The light from above, in the case of the blind man's eyes being opened in the ninth chapter, signally gives the character of John's writings. He was a man blind from his birth, not to evidence the effect of sin, but rather to manifest what light could accomplish in the world-the light of life-how God could use it to work His own work, thus making this child of darkness a child of light, and a worshipper of the Son of God.
Mark the mode of this change. It was by putting clay on the man's eyes-the very thing that naturally would only make sight worse. Why did He do this? It was to test the man's confidence in Him; and to make it manifest to him that God's ways are not as our ways. Christ in humanity is always a stumbling-block where there is no faith. The clay used here typifies the Lord come down to earth as a man; it is the sent One in humiliation working the works of God, not accrediting man's pride; it is Jesus as the Servant. God was here in man, come clown in gentleness to make man great. And this only made man worse-only discovered his condition. Clay alone could only irritate the eyes, never cure; it can only make him cry out, " Wretched man that I am!"
What made the blind man- see was his submission to the way of Jesus; his going to the pool of Siloam, and washing in obedience to His word.
Man has always refused the Son of God come, down as man, even though it be with grace and truth; man has always been ashamed of confessing Him. Peter was ashamed to be His companion; he denied Him, though he loved Him! That was the clay on the eyes of Peter, and yet it was the light of life; it was Jesus, the despised and lowly Nazarene, come down with the truth of God's love to the sinner and the lost. It made little of flesh. What a marvel of love! God come down to me as. I 'am, to convict that He might. save!
He was told by Jesus to go and wash. He was conscious of his blindness, he listened to the word, and sight was there. Faith comes by hearing. And it is just so in the conversion of. a. Saul. " For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind.".
'Thus in the Gospel of John we get the eternal life that was with the Father manifested there on earth, and communicating itself when the. Spirit of God had awakened the ear to hear the words of the Son and to believe Him that sent Him— that soul thus passing from death to life and escaping from condemnation. But the epistle of John carries on this history and character of eternal life, and shows it us as now dwelling in the saints, and to be manifested here in them during the absence of Christ, who is the eternal life. The eternal life, that was eternally with the Father, in John's Gospel came down in the person of the Son; and in John's epistle is described as dwelling in the saint, first having been here' in, Him who is the eternal life.
"'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness." The Word became flesh, and dwelt on earth for thirty-three years, exhibiting in His walk, ways; and words, in His daily history and intercourse with man, what this eternal life was; and, wherever there was conviction of sin by the Spirit; faith opened the eye to discover virtue in Jesus. Nature saw nothing but the carpenter's son, but faith's perceptions could exclaim, "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten' of the Father."
Wig, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God-to them that believe on his name." We must remember all things were given to Him of God. He made Himself of no reputation, and took the form of a servant to become obedient unto death, the death of the cross, and yet " no one knoweth the Son but the Father." He came down in humanity to reveal God. " No man hath seen God at any time," and yet this Son of God, through His word, reveals the Father to the humblest believer. And He not only reveals God to us, but brings down in Himself eternal life to as many as receive Him through the word; so that we are not only born again and become sons, but we have got by this eternal life in us the capacity to know God Himself as the true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.
But this blessed One, to fit us for this heavenly association with Himself in glory, had to vindicate the claims of God's righteousness against sin and the evil that Satan had brought in. He had to be made sin, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And, taking this place of sin, He had to meet and suffer all God's righteous wrath against sin, even when He Himself was most obedient in doing the will of God-and, still more, had to go through in submission Satan's power and his hour of darkness before He could in victory bring us with Himself as brethren to His Father's house, where we learn all the depths and heights of the Son's and the Father's love; and learn too what an eternal harvest of glory and delight God has reaped from this Son, who became man in the very scene of sin and blight where Satan had for a moment seemed to triumph, but where God found in Jesus, the Lord from heaven, a sweet savor and fragrance that will be precious incense to His heart forever.
We know, when this blessed One came from heaven with the truth and goodness of God for man, how He was despised and rejected. Not a house in Bethlehem open to Him. This was man's reception of God! How different God's reception of man-of the sinner! " As many as received him! " Even the thief was to be with Him that day in Paradise. Those who through grace have let the Savior into their hearts are made sons, and left for awhile here in that relationship to walk as vessels having in them this eternal life, to shine before men, as sons walking in the obedience of Christ before God, and Christ so dwelling in their hearts that the fruit will be Jove, not in word but in deed; and in truth " He that loveth not knoweth not God."
God is the giver and source of this life, but it is in the Son we get the life, and, though there be different degrees of its enjoyment, as in children, young men, and fathers, the character is the same in each-lowliness, love, and obedience; a beautiful plant, and still more beautiful blossoms from it, and being of the Father's planting it cannot be rooted up.
It is true the Father knows us down here as His children; and we know the very hairs of our head are all numbered, and He bids us, " Fear not, little, flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom; " and He tells us we are " of more value than many sparrows."
All this is most precious and needful to us as we pass through this evil world; it enables us, in the confidence of such care, to cast all our care upon Him, for He careth for us. But the moment` we take our place in Christ Jesus-before God: in the intelligence of death and: resurrection, and in the power of the Holy Spirit come down from a glorified Christ, uniting -the believer to Himself there, and showing us the things that are His as ours, that moment we get a hold of deeper treasures. and new resources of the Father's love to feed: upon in the One who is now our-life; and whom God has raised from the dead and set over all things, putting all things under His feet, and giving Him to be head over all things to the church, which is-His body.
We find that God's thoughts about us, and His affections towards us, are now measured by what is due to the love and obedience of Christ. It is not merely God’s care as Creator and Preserver over His people in mercy, but it is as His Son would know such a- Father's love; and " as the Father hath loved- me, so I have loved you." In the purpose of God we are now before Him in Christ in love, for. His own complacency and delight in us. " If a man love me he will keep my words: and my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." This is knowing the love of Christ that passeth knowledge and being filled to all the fullness of God. It' Makes us outside ourselves when we look at it!
Having thus saved us and called us with a holy calling, given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, and raised us up together with Christ, we should now be here a manifestation of God through the Holy Spirit. Hereafter in the ages to come He will show forth the riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus; but He leaves us here now, as individuals, to learn lessons of His love and patience with us as saints 'which we could not learn as sinners; to teach us more of our own bearts; to form our spiritual affections by His word and Spirit, so that we may be able to enjoy our privileges as kings and priests to God and His Father more fully when we shall be in His presence in that day. He leaves us here in the Wilderness as members of His body, not merely for our own rich and precious privileges as indwelt by the 'Holy Ghost, but also that we, as the temple of God by the Spirit, may let and hinder the power of Satan, till the time come for God to call us home. Peter says as strangers and pilgrims; John says as sons; Paul, as the body of Christ. But all these are dignities and titles belonging only to those who have eternal life and are conscious that they are not of this world, even as He is not of this world, who have passed in faith with Christ beyond resurrection.
The line of teaching in Peter is plainly shown out if we contrast the opening of his first epistle with that of Paul to the Ephesians.
Peter says: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." He puts us as going on " to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us."
Here while the hope is brightly before us of the grace at the end, and the inheritance before us to be entered upon, and Him whom having not seen we love, and who will then be manifested, yet we are thus while waiting kept by the power of God through faith, even, if need be, in manifest trial, like the Forerunner, for the joy that was set before Him, enduring the difficulties of the path; but, unlike Him, learning in our souls what suits this pilgrim path, and, stranger-like, not fashioning ourselves to our former time of ignorance, but holy in all manner of conversation like Him we are waiting for, building ourselves up on that living stone chosen of God and precious.
But when we turn to Ephesians it is: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." It is this verse in each epistle which gives the character of the whole. In Ephesians, as we all know, the blessedness, and the portion, and the place at the right hand of the Father are first reached by Him-the One who descended from thence into the lower parts of the earth to put away sin, abolish death, and destroying him who had the power of death, to bring in life, a new life with Himself. And then, raised from the dead by the mighty power of God who quickened us together with Him, He brought us with Himself into the same redemption glory to share this new position as the second Adam, head over the new creation, which, as man, God has set Him over according to the value of the redemption He has accomplished, but which, as God, He also fills with His own glory.
This is the position in union with Christ in resurrection we are now set in, and fitted for, in the counsels and love of God. And, all is provided in grace for the carrying of this out in the saints on earth. The quickened ones have the nature of Christ-He is their life; they are united to Him by the Spirit, and when there is faith there is the power of the Holy Ghost to make good in them this fullness of the Head, and, by bringing their souls into the enjoyment of these heavenly privileges, to keep them in a condition worthy of this vocation wherewith they are called.
The characteristic of our position in a glorified Christ is that, not so much of being occupied with the difficulties of the -wilderness, though we know them, as, being in union in life and the ‘Spirit,-with the already glorified Son of man, each (lay making us more fully able to recognize What God has given to Christ as our own, and thus able more clearly, to set our affections on things above. Through the word we -make ourselves more conscious of (the treasures already won by Christ as our own, and -the trials we 'have to go through as already passed 'through and overcome, the old man having been put off and the new man put on. The ungrieved Spirit will now be able to make the ways and joys-of Christ present to the saint; the walk will now be not as Children of darkness, 'but-light in-the "Lord, walking in love, imitators of God as dear children, as Christ gave Himself a "sacrifice and sweet savor to God for us. What a sphere of life and love, and truth! But it flows from-the position He has -set us in,-and will be carried out only in proportion as His might strengthens the inner man, and, rooted and grounded in love, Christ gets His place in the heart by faith, and -thus the soul learns to comprehend something of that love that passeth knowledge-that love that has named us and begotten us sons of God to the praise of the glory of His name.
And, besides these characteristics of our present place, there flows another from it which is not known by 'the pilgrim in the wilderness history our place as soldiers. There are battles to be fought—there is conflict; 'but these battles 'are not our own; -they are not such as humanly meet us when in the Wilderness condition. They are the battles of 'those who, at liberty from themselves not conferring with flesh and blood, have been enabled to put on the whole armor of God with a view to the glory of His anointed One, giving -Him His rightful place in everything they do, instead of acting for or from self, owning Him, in their wills as well as affections, 'Lord and 'Master, trusting Him in the warfare as Captain of their salvation, Willing to be as the Lord's host, going on before the ark in dependence and unbounded confidence in His name, doing as He did.
It is a solemn and glorious position for the Lord to put any of His saints into, and yet this is the way His name and word "are kept, feebly indeed as it is. How much do we need the simplicity and forgetfulness of self that would set us free for this service, and ready for the Master's use, whole-hearted and strong in the power of His might to maintain the grace and dignity of His name. These victories can only be won in simple dependence of soul on the I word and guidance of Him, who has already led captivity captive.
But Peter never saw Christ, in glory; he was a witness of His sufferings only. So he guides the believer on in his path of pilgrimage on earth-having got life in Christ, but not knowing union with Him in heaven-to have fellowship in those sufferings, waiting for the grace to be revealed at His appearing, having received already the salvation of their souls, holy as He is holy, as obedient children. Peter thus meets us as walking on earth, having the difficulties of nature to hinder us, so, in the power of faith, he guides us along by the word of God, and leads us, in the efficacy of redemption, from our vain conversation to this new life; we, being born again, feeding on the word, tasting the Lord to be gracious, and coming to Him as the living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
John, too, will have us as born again, but as feeding on the bread from heaven, the Word made flesh, eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
How rarely do we find the virtues and qualities of these two lines of truth manifested in the one saint, unlike the blessed Master, who, going about, had not a place where to lay His head -truly a stranger-and yet whose meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him. How beautiful and effective is the harmony of the grace and the glory blended together in the one saint, the knowing how-to-abound and how to be abased, having the heart so full of Christ glorified as to set it free from self, and thus humble enough to bring others to the same joy.
We are, indeed, pilgrims and strangers here, the cross gives us this character; but it does not constitute us pilgrims so that we may be loitering ones, nor merely religious ones either. Nature sometimes credits itself by taking up the appearance of a pilgrim, and is satisfied with the piety of it, rather than with the dignity and joy of being a, son.
The true pilgrim has his conversation in heaven, where his altar is too, though his tent be here. It is a home above that makes a stranger and a pilgrim here. But it is only as we behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, that we become changed into the same image from glory to glory.
This eternal life brings us into the family. " Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons (or children) of God." How sweet it is every morning to look up to that love beaming down upon us from the Father, to receive into our souls afresh the breathings of it. How sweet to trace it to its source, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And how truly we feel it is bestowed gratuitously as well as undeservedly. God's heart thus working in His Son for the riches of His own glory, making us fit objects for His own delight according to His own nature. For: His love, and reverently we would say it, though His Being be sufficient-for itself, His love seeks an object outside Himself to `,delight in, and this object He has found through His Son becoming man, tasting death for every-:thing, and then bringing many sons to glory that the Father's house may be filled. His goodness and love find delight in their own activity towards others.
" Behold what manner of love! " What a secret spring of intercourse with God to a soul peace is into have the Spirit rehearsing day by day this precious word to the heart, in the midst of this evil and unloving world, and giving it the deepening consciousness of its truth, and that -because it is according to the good pleasure of His will. " What manner of love! "
And how it introduces us to what follows in the next verse: " When he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." And this to be forever! It is emphatic here "Now are we the sons of God." Our sonship is a fact that there should be no question about. Faith, and the word, and the Holy Spirit bring into our souls the truth, and sense, and joy of it; but surely many of us may bow and confess how long were our hearts without the reality or power of it. How little did we follow the Son from the cross, where we first, tasted grace, to the Father, where, the same grace immediately, introduces, those as brethren who prize the Savior as well as the salvation.
It is-not a future relationship, but a, present: known one, and- the Spirit of adoption making us-cry, " Abba, Father:" And this so much so that, because we are such, "the world knoweth us not." It knew Him not and the Sanctifier and the sanctified are " all of one." May, we vindicate this likeness, to Christ; and, failing to do so, feel how much it grieves His Spirit, and humble ourselves, that He may exalt us.
Two things hinder this enjoyment of our, privileges. One is that we do not walk in the do not dissociate our thoughts from the habits of flesh and nature. And the other is- that we do not abide in the place, of love where God has set in Christ near to Himself.
As to the first, it makes us blind, and we forget what manner of spirit we are of We would be, if walking, in the truth, strangers, and pilgrims, as Peter says; or, as we have it here, the world would not, know us, because. it, knew Him not.
The' world, that crucified our Lord ought to be shunned by-the saint, as was the deluged world by the dove that found no rest in it. We are untrue to our- Father when we touch it. Our life, our. ways, our expectations, are all linked with the holy Father. The moment you are a Christian you must be known in Satan's world as a child of God bearing the impress of Christ. When the Spirit is in activity there is " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" down here; "singing and making melody in the heart " up there.
As to the second hindrance—not abiding where grace has brought us in righteousness as to our union with 'our risen Head. It is ",where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." In our epistle the Spirit is the communicator of life, and then the believer is transformed by the renewing of the Spirit; he gets his character from being indwelt by the Spirit, and gets this power to witness for Christ.
In John, if you notice, the hope of the Lord's appearing is that we may be like Him in outward appearance, and even now the hope of it purifies as He is pure. In Peter, the appearing has a wider scope, and the hope is linked more with the grace that is to be revealed in setting aside the trials and difficulties of faith which are then to meet their rewards in the kingdom, the Lord taking His manifested place of glory over all that man and Satan now usurp. In Paul's epistle to the Colossians, when 'Christ shall appear we shall appear with Him in glory at the same time. But here it is similitude-similitude to Himself; the Son and the sons the same, and that forever, not only in nature and outward display, but the same as objects of love to the Father's heart.
It is not manifested what we shall be as to appearance, " but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." In John 14 it was the place that was made known to their troubled hearts: " Where I am, there ye may be also." But, oh, the perfection of God's new creation and the deeper affections of His heart! He has vouchsafed to delight His own heart and goodness, not only by bringing us to be with Himself in the Father's house, but to be divinely in nature and spirit one with Himself now, and in actual, appearance to be conformed to Him in that day. The Father's home must be filled with beings, not only redeemed, but lovely to look on, and so one in holiness and love, that God will find His rest, and pleasure, and satisfaction, in the perfection and purity of His new creation, all its rays centering in Christ.
"Even as he is pure? " Who can tell such purity! The Holy Ghost that begat in the believer this hope of being like Him, can alone, as we steadily gaze in hope at the coming of this lovely One, make the inner man conscious of what that perfect-purity will be. All divinely pure, and good, and transparent; light, and truth, and love characterizing everything.
We' cannot- understand it yet; but even now we get a wonderful idea of what the spirit is when we think of what a scene of purity those have already entered' who have left this scene to be present with the Lord-how entirely apart from all' that is material except the person of the blessed Lord; the risen Man, in whose presence they abide in all the divine experiences of rest of that untold existence.
Is it' not wonderful to think of heaven now?' Only one Man there the-glorified Son of man. Only' one Man in heaven all these 1800 years, and myriads of spirits with Him while He is waiting for the presentation of the Bride. And there is not a man on earth at all. As' recognized by God, and viewed' by faith, all are dead. "If one died for all, then were all dead." And the saint too is dead: " Ye are dead, and: your life is hid with Christ in God:" In God's sight there is but the one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ: How, this separates, one from mere flesh and sense, and makes one realize-that, except as an instrument to serve with; spiritual existence is God's way with saints now; as it will' be in unhindered power throughout eternity.
We see-thus how John rehearses our oneness in character; as well as in nature and life, to God and the Son, who are so constantly spoken of by' him as the same person; and how he shows that this our eternal life in the Son makes us the same as the Son in all our ways here, and in our fellowship with the Father there. The new commandment of love is true " in him and in you." Again: " If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him." And again: "The world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." Very precious to the faith of the saints is this in these days of lukewarmness, when Satan would try to bring in something between us and our Head.
But our God and Father has richly provided for our weakness as well as for Satan's devices. He has given us His Spirit-an unction by which we know all things and need not that any man should teach us. " We know (have conscious knowledge) that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children keep yourselves from idols." (W. W.)
If my sins are great my Savior is greater. If Satan is great, Christ is greater. If Satan brought in a great ruin, Christ brought in a greater salvation—such a salvation that, I think, if Satan had had any conception of it he would never have ruined me. (C. F. SH.)