7. Now that the Son of man is crowned with power and glory at God’s right hand on high, we can look below to see (and with great joy of heart too) the final transfer of earthly power from the image to the Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded by Daniel in his night vision (chapter 7):“I beheld one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him before him, and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages, should serve him,” &c. In harmony with the spirit of prophecy by Daniel, which of us does not heartily join with the elders, and the thousands upon thousands round about the throne in Revelation 5 (upon that heavenly investiture of power), saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing?” Moreover, in all that is comprehended in this universal outburst of praise from every creature, we take “OUT part —with Christ,” but on another standing, and say, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”
8. Precious as it is to see our part and portion with the Son of man in power and glory at the right hand of God above, or by Daniel’s visions of the future on the earth, or by John’s revelations of Him as the Lamb that was cast out and slain, there is still a part which we, have by grace with Christ which none other than Himself could disclose to “His own.” This is the great subject in that gospel of all others, of which “the disciple whom Jesus loved” was the inspired penman, and it is to this that we are now brought.
The revelation of our place and portion with the departed One where He is, and the mode of its communication to us by the Spirit, which proceedeth from the Father and the Son, is as wonderful and peculiar as “the part” itself: “At sundry times and in divers manners God spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, but hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.” His change of place from earth to heaven, and His exaltation as the Son of man to the right hand of God, as Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all, necessitated no less a power and agency than “the Spirit of truth” for its communication to us. He also is the power for our present communion and “part with Christ” in those things which were kept secret from before the foundation of the world, and lay hidden in God till the times appointed. Therefore Jesus said to His disciples, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” This mission and present ministry of the Holy Ghost, —to glorify the Son, and to take of His things and show them to us (that we may have part with Him), is only secondary to the great object and errand of Him that came forth from God, to “make known the Father,” and Himself as “the way, the truth, and the life,” amongst the children of men. In reality the Christian economy embraces these two ministries, which are essential to present communion with “the departed One” where He now is, with the Father; and finally for the gathering together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him, in whom we have obtained an inheritance, “according to the good pleasure of His will.”
9. Besides these differences of heavenly power and agencies for the revelation of this “part with Christ,” and for our fellowship in it, by the unction of the indwelling Spirit, there remains yet for us in this gospel of John, while we are here below, the precious ministry of Jesus Himself, by the towel wherewith He girded Himself, and the water wherewith He washed the disciples’ feet. He makes us thus in every way the objects of His personal love whilst in this defiling world, where He has left us (little as they then understood it, as expressed by Peter), and yet draws them to Himself, like John, who, in the confidence and repose of that unfathomable grace, could lay his head upon Jesus’ breast, and even ask, “Who is it” that betrayeth thee?
He who so well knew what He was doing and what He had done for them, had already declared with His own lips, they were “clean every whit;” and oh, what an assurance for our souls is this! Only needing the basin and the towel under His eye and hand for our refreshment, and to keep the feet clean; and then the beloved disciple’s head upon His breast, as the closing scene below. After this manner it was, that His love to His own perfected itself in its own delights with us on earth, in view of our everlasting joy with Himself and with the Father above, when He presents us “holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.” He has part with us, as truly as we have part with Him. We may take, perhaps, John 17 as a compendium of the blessedness and blessings which are unfolded in this gospel, as our present and everlasting portion with Christ; for it is in this scripture He personally speaks to the Father “of our part” with Himself, saying, “The glory which thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one.” In this intercourse with “the Father of glory” Jesus passes into a region and range of subjects that are peculiarly His own, and of which He is also the center, as the only-begotten Son, and yet Son of man.
In the length and breadth of this precious chapter we are presented to the Father, and are taken into a “part and portion with Christ,” where He now is, according to the counsels of God. These carry us with Him (under the anointing of the Holy Ghost) far higher than the promises and covenants and prophecies, whether to Adam, or Noah, or Abraham, or Joshua and David, which have occupied us, and which still await their millennial manifestations below, when Christ comes again. All these illustrious heads of covenanted blessings (with whom we shall then take “our part” with Christ the Lord) have more to do with Jehovah as the God of Israel, and Creator of the heavens and the earth, than with the hidden counsels of the Father and the Son by the Holy Spirit, though connected therewith. The mystery of the eternal wisdom and glory in Christ, and with Christ and the Church, throughout the ages of ages, is where we who are “His own” have our place and portion, through the riches of God’s grace. But even beyond this Jesus said, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” Founded, too, on the personal ministry of His own grace, He adds, “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” What a blessed part we have in all this with Him, and by divine love, and power, and glory, in order that it may be known “what is the hope of His calling,” and to manifest “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the greatness of His power to us-ward who believe.”
10. The personal and relative glories of the Son with the Father, and with us “as His own,” give occasion for the Headships into which by redemption the Lord has passed in resurrection, as the Pauline epistles unfold, as Head of His body the Church, and in whom all things in heaven and earth are to be gathered together. The offices of Christ likewise, as Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and Priest, are the further display of the resources in His glorious Person before God on our behalf, and towards us in the exercise of sympathy and grace whilst we are in “this time of need.” Having loved His own which are in the world, He loves them to the end. Yea, more; for, as regards God, “it became, Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” And again, as to our blessed Lord and Saviour— “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same” that we might have a part with Him, where flesh and blood cannot enter, nor anything that defileth or maketh a lie.
“All the Father’s counsels claiming
Equal honors to the Son;
All the Son’s effulgence beaming
Makes the Father’s glory known.”
(Continued from page 53) J. E. B.