The faith of the believer rests on no hypothesis, but on the sure word of God; moreover he “hath the witness in himself” (1 John 5:1010He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. (1 John 5:10)). But it has frequently struck one that any thoughtful mind, starting merely with the statement that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, must see how fully and minutely all scripture corresponds with it. Nothing, it would seem, could hinder such a conclusion but the sad fact, of which the Bible also assures us, that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. For, assuming the Divine Personality of our Lord, we find every act, every word of His, to be in keeping with His claims. On the one hand there is in Christ a supreme dignity infinitely above man; on the other, a lowliness and accessibility that are the perfection of human nature absolutely free from stain.
Now not the least convincing of these accumulated evidences of our Lord's Divinity are often found in the simplest of His sayings, where the truth as to His Person is not the less palpable because it is implied rather than stated in so many words. Direct statements of His Sonship are numerically overwhelming; but not less weighty are the hidden touches, if we may so call them, as in the verse under consideration. “We will come unto him and make our abode with him.” Here the Lord couples Himself with the Father in the most striking way. He does so of course because He could also say, “I and My Father are one “; but, as remarked above, there is in the text in John 14 the peculiar cogency that attaches to implicit statements. And this is the more noteworthy when we reflect that our Lord Jesus never couples Himself with His disciples when it is a question of approaching God. When He gave Peter instructions for obtaining the stater for the temple service money, He graciously said, “Lest we offend them” (the collectors of the tribute); but after His resurrection, and when the disciples were. at the impending outpouring of the Holy Ghost about to enter a higher sphere of blessing, our Lord says, “My Father and your Father, My God and your God” —never, as has been well remarked, “Our God.” How could He?
The practical truth conveyed in this wonderful verse is well-known to the readers of the Bible Treasury. Undoubtedly the making it good in the soul is another matter. We know the condition, and that in order to it Christ's word must be cherished, not isolated fragments, but His word in all its far-reaching import. But it will be so kept, if and as we love Him. For so the Savior assures us in this very verse. However the immediate thought of the writer is the implicit doctrine of the incarnation in the word “we.” And at which shall we marvel most, the grace that led to such condescension, or the majesty of Him Who uttered these divine words? R. B.