Let us now turn to the 2nd of Acts, the 36th verse, and endeavor to advance a stage in our consideration of this subject—
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
There we get two other names in a new setting. Here is Peter speaking after the rejection of Christ, after His ascension into glory, declaring that God has made Him both Lord and Christ.
You say, “Was He not that before?”
Yes; I suppose He was. The woman at Sychar’s well thought He was at least; she thought He was Christ because she said so; and no other was Lord by right and title, for He was Jehovah; He was Jehovah our Saviour.
But this is something new. It marks a new step in the consideration of our subject and in God’s dealings with His beloved Son. What does it mean, “that God hath made Him,” the rejected one, “Lord and Christ”?
Does it not mean, That to this Man, the lowly Jesus, rejected by earth and cast out as though not fit to be here, heaven opens wide its portals and straightway puts upon Him every mark of divine approval?
Does it not mean that as Man, the title refused Him on earth, is bestowed upon Him there? If earth would not own what He was, would not have Him as Lord, nor own Him as Christ, heaven will so own Him, and God bestows upon Him as Man these dignities afresh.
What a moment! and what a scene is presented to our hearts as we gaze there!
Did earth not give Him the place that was His due? No; then God will. Earth cast Him out as not fit to be here, but heaven receives Him, and as Man—as the rejected Man once, but as the glorified Man now—He receives the stamp, as it were, of divine approval, and as Man is made both Lord and Christ. This is exceedingly blessed.
What does Christ mean? It means the “Anointed One.” Christ is the Greek equivalent for Messiah. Messiah is Hebrew and likewise means “Anointed One.”
When the Lord Jesus came into this world, He was prepared to offer Himself to Israel as their Messiah—as the one anointed for blessing to them. Therefore, we frequently read in the gospels about Him as “the Christ.”
For instance, take the one we have referred to—the woman at the well: She goes into the city, and says to the men, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
I am under the impression that the term “the Christ” is usually official, and in a Jewish setting. It is the Lord presenting Himself to Israel as the Christ, and that term is used largely in the gospels, and occasionally thereafter too.
We notice, however, that after the event spoken of in the 2nd of Acts, after the Lord ascended, after He is made both Lord and Christ, in the epistles quite frequently the prefix is dropped, and Christ becomes more a personal name. The thought is I believe, that God is not now pressing the Jewish claims of His beloved Son. For the moment, they are in the background. His beloved Son is anointed now for a wider sphere of blessing than a Jewish one, and He has entered upon dignities and relationships now, such as were not His before His resurrection and ascension into that glory.
Beloved saints of God, our blessings, and our position before God, are connected with Christ, the Anointed One—anointed and appointed for blessing not now particularly to Israel, not now so limited, but as embracing the whole sphere of the redeemed. He takes the place now as head of the new creation. Men now are either in Christ or in Adam. It becomes a question of the two headships.
We might turn on and observe how Scripture puts us in connection with Christ as to our position before God.
There we get it, do we not? We shall find as we survey the subject further, that all our privileges and blessings as a redeemed company, are connected with “Christ,” —Christ the exalted and glorified Man! It is with that exalted and glorified Man we are connected. What a blessed and immutable connection is this! Observe in the 2nd chapter of Ephesians, 4, 5, 6, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
One remarks again that our position is connected with Christ. In these scriptures we get the correct usage of the phrase spoken of earlier. We are not positionally in Jesus, but “in Christ.”
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
You are either in Adam or in Christ; under one headship or the other. Which is it with you this afternoon, dear friends? Are you Christ’s? If you are, there is no difficulty as to the headship you are under. If not, you are included under the malign headship of Adam. Thank God for the transcendent grace that has linked us with Christ.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Never in Scripture are we associated with that blessed one short of His death, resurrection and ascension.
There are many scriptures we could look at in connection with this line of things.
Our position is that of being in Christ. Our blessings and privileges flow from our connection with Christ as the risen exalted one. While our privileges and blessings are connected with our being in Christ, our responsibilities are connected with Him under the third title—as Lord. So these three things are attached to the blessed one we are considering.
Jesus tells us of His pathway of shame and woe down here.
Christ tells us of His present exaltation and glory at the right hand of God.
Lord tells us of His authority. All power is His.
(Continued from page 48)
To be continued