How Jesus Christ Came, Why He Came,
and Consequence of That Coming
1 John 5
We believe it is of the Lord that we have a word from 1 John 1:1-4:
"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, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus, Christ.
And these thing write we unto you, that your joy may be full."
Chapter 5:5-6, 8, 20-21:
"Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood."
"And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one."
"And we know 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." (Omit "little" there; it is the whole family. "Little children" is found only twice in the epistle—babes of the family—otherwise it is the family in general.)
What brought this passage before us at this present time was the verse, "That ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). That is an important word and the faith as delivered to the saints cannot be held without contending for it. If we are holding truth and parts of truth we find no opposition to and do not have to contend for, depend upon it, it is not of God. It says "contend" and not only that, but "earnestly contend for."
The revelation of God is complete, and in a certain way, God has committed that revelation into the hands of His people, and they are responsible according to another Scripture, to maintain that truth in the face of all opposition in this world. There is another thing: God in this way tests our souls as to how far we value that wondrous revelation which He has given us.
"We know the Son of God is come." What a blessed wondrous statement that is! The passages we have read not only tell He has come, but they tell us of the way in which He came and the object before Him in coming.
The way in which He came we have in the first two verses of the 1st chapter. How did He come? He came in Manhood, a Man that men could see, hear, and handle, not see and hear with the eye and ear of faith but with natural sight men could see Him, hear Him, handle Him. That is the great and precious theme of the Spirit of God in the apostle in this epistle. One finds these elementary but fundamental truths assailed constantly in some way or other. The truth of the actual Manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ is called in question.
Turn to chapter 4:1 of this epistle: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." How are we to try the spirits? Has that been left to us to find out? No, the One who tells us to try the spirits, tells us how to try them, and the great test stone for the Christian always is Christ—Christ and His work. So here, when He says "try the spirits" (and there are spirits to try—those wicked beings), the next verse gives us how: "Hereby ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesseth Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God; and every spirit which does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God." (JND Trans.) What one calls attention to there is the way in which He came: "come in flesh." It is not the time of His coming in the first verse or the second, but it is the manner of His coming. What a great, glorious and blessed truth it is that the Son of God is come, that He has revealed Himself in His Son, but in His Son in Manhood. "The Word was made flesh"—or became flesh—"and dwelt among us." That One, the Son of God, was a Man as truly as I am a man; "come in flesh."
We learn from Scripture that there are three kinds of humanity, or, if you please, man in three conditions. Go back to the beginning. There we have man in blessed unsullied innocence. He was an innocent man as perfect as that all-glorious Creator could make him and had made him. A little later he became another kind of man, but a man. What kind of man did he become? He ceased to be an innocent man and became a sinful man, but still a man. As we know that for about four-thousand years, that was man before God, fallen, sinful man. Then all at once there was another kind of Man, and the only one of His kind. His coming into the world was celebrated by messengers from the glory above. You know what we refer to: "Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2). Those shepherds were sore afraid and those who celebrated the wondrous event bid them, "Fear not . . . for unto you is born in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." That was another kind of humanity, but humanity—born of a woman. It was a humanity that was alone. We have had an innocent man, sinful man, and now we have a holy Man, but let us mark this: a Man still and a Man forever and forever; at the same time He is God and the Son of God. It is a wondrous and blessed mystery in which our souls rejoice! "God manifest in flesh."
"That which was from the beginning": that "beginning" is the entrance of the Son of God in Manhood into this world. How blessed and full it was! We go on to the 4th of John, that chapter which every Christian loves more and more. It is a long chapter, it is true, but go to Jacob's well at midday and see a Man sitting there taking a little rest He felt the need of—"Jesus being wearied with His journey"—is not that a Man! That is very blessed—"Jesus being wearied with His journey." Then a woman comes and finds a wearied Man sitting on the well and she hears that wearied Man ask her for a drink of water. Who is that Man, and what kind of Man is He? That Man is the Son of God—God manifest in flesh—but let us stop there fora moment. Instead of that woman responding at once to His request for a drink, something strikes her. It is His grace! What does she say? "How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of Me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." She as much as says, "You are the most condescending Jew I have ever met" and she wants to know who He is. Thank God she asked a question, and He answered it! What does He say to her in answer to that query as to who He is? "If thou knewest the gift of God" (or the "giving God" in another translation), "and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." How blessed! That is "Jesus Christ come in flesh." If we do not contend, prize and contend for the truth of the actual Manhood of the Lord Jesus, we lose all that. That wearied Man— wearied with His journey—that Man athirst, was the giving God, come down to give eternal life—"Jesus Christ come in flesh."
"Which we have heard . . . seen . . . and handled, of the Word of life," a material Man, a real Man. Those wicked spirits always attack the person of the Lord Jesus, and this was the special phase of the attack which the Spirit met by the apostle John: seen, heard, and handled of the Word of life. It was no passing vision. He was contemplated by John the Baptist in the first chapter of John's gospel. He stands in absorbed silence, looking upon, contemplating Jesus as He walked. Presently, out of the fulness of his heart, he says, "Behold, the Lamb of God." It was not a momentary thing. He looked upon that wondrous, glorious Object, that lowly Man, God manifest in flesh, and speaks of Him in that glory of His, as "Behold, the Lamb of God." That is the manner of His coming.
Many years ago we had a brother among us who was holding the coming of the Lord Jesus in a mystical way. One of the brethren said to him, "Brother, was there anything mystical about that Man who sat on Jacob's well? Was He not a real Man?" (He was an intellectual man and had a little knowledge of Hebrew and of Greek.) "I thank Thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." When we read that passage or hear the Lord speak in that way, do we not say, Lord, make and keep me a babe? There are two actions of God there: that is, revealing and concealing, revealing to the simple, and concealing from the wise. May the Lord keep us simple especially in the things of God and receive them as given to us in simple language, and not as it were trying to fathom them. The apostle Paul says in another Scripture, "Great is the mystery of godliness." It does not say "of God" but of godliness. What is the secret of godliness before God? It was this: "God was manifest in flesh." That is the first thing, and if we do not have that truth, we do not have the secret of godliness in the sight of God. That is brought before us here: "That which we have seen, heard, and handled"—a Man forevermore.
We were speaking of the meat offering; that offering was Christ in incarnation. He took upon Him the form of a Servant and was found in fashion as a Man. He took upon Him that which remains upon Him forever, as it were. He was down here a living Man, a holy Man upon whom death had no claim, One who could lay down His life and take it again. He says in the first of Revelation out of the fulness of His heart, "I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore." He was not only a Man, and a Man forever, but a Man who passed through death and will never pass through it again. He is alive, but alive beyond death, as passed through death, never to die again, and with that Man you and I are linked in life. It is wonderful, blessed truth, the elementary truth of the gospel, and if you do not have it, you do not have the elements of the gospel. There is a Man in the glory, a Man who died, but a Man that will never die again. Here we are mortal, and not one of us knows but that he will be in death before tomorrow morning; we are linked with that One and have a life beyond the reach of death. That was the way of His coming.
But what did He come for? He came to die; He came to die an atoning death; He came to make propitiation for sin. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). That is what we have in this second passage. 0 blessed Saviour, Thou earnest to die! Thou hast died, and Thou livest! That is why it is said here in this second passage, "This is He that came by water and blood." On the cross, when the soldier pierced His side, forthwith there came out blood and water. That blood and water came forth from the side of the Saviour who was already dead. That spear in the hand of that Roman soldier fulfilled the Word of God. "They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced." But they did another thing. There is that Saviour in death—in death at the hands of men—a criminal's death. There He hangs with a dying sinner on either side. What a scene for heaven and God to look down upon! What place is there in the thoughts and love of God and of His people like that place called CALVARY! "And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned." May our gracious God give us to know more of that place called Calvary and that sight; that is, to let us into His own thoughts about it!
It is "blood" first in the gospel; when we come to the epistle, it is "water" first. What is that blood? It is the blood of atonement or propitiation, and Deck has well said, "The very spear that pierced Thy side, drew forth the blood to save." What a truth for God and man is the blood of Christ! What about the "water"? There is no atoning value in the water. Water is one of the most difficult symbols of Scripture. It is used as the Holy Spirit; it is used as the Word of God. We believe both are implied in the water: the Word and the Spirit of God.
The requirements of God are met in the blood, and so are the needs of guilty man. How is the truth of the cleansing and atoning blood of Christ made good to us? We would call attention to this. If we were to go to the 14th chapter of Leviticus, we would find the cleansing power of the Saviour's blood; the 16th chapter gives the atoning power. We find the one is applied to the sinner, and the other to the throne of God. For whom was that blood shed? For sinners, and to meet the requirements of God against whom they had sinned. How is that truth made good to us? The Spirit takes the Word and applies the truth to our souls.
"This is He that came by water and blood." Here it is the application, whereas in the gospel it is the historical fact of the work being done. It is twice repeated here that the blessed Lord came in this way—"NOT BY WATER ONLY." "Not by water only"—but by "water and blood." How far the truth of the blood has been lost sight of! Fellow-servant of God, "NOT BY WATER ONLY." Preach the atonement. It is true we must have cleansing, and it is by the blood of Christ; it is true God must have satisfaction and it is by the blood of Christ. "Not by water only." The Lord Jesus Christ as a Pattern could never save a soul any more than that perfect life could atone for sin before God. How wonderful that the Spirit of God should foresee a characteristic and increasingly so of this day that the blood of Christ is being lost sight of. We have noticed and observed that where the blood of Christ is not denied, it is ignored. Let us contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.
"This is He that came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood." Nothing. can meet the claims of God against the guilty but the blood of Christ. Nothing can purge my conscience or cleanse my soul so I can abide in the presence of God but the blood of Christ. "Not by water only, but by water and blood." Is this not increasingly a Scripture we need? Which we have seen with our eyes, heard with our ears and handled with our hands is the One who came by way of atonement. "Not by water only"—those solemn and blessed truths of the water and the blood. What a tale they tell!—the water and the blood. Let us not forget, "Not by water only" says the apostle, "but by water and blood, even Jesus Christ."
The cloud of incense on the great day of atonement comes in, in line with what we have here. What is typified by that great cloud of incense? It is Christ in His life a sweet savor to God, and as it were the priest was buried in that incense; he went in hidden in it. Precious, glorious truth! You ask, What truth? He that dwelt between the cherubim saw that One coming with blood into His presence. Whose blood? The blood of that One whose life from first to last had been one cloud of sweet incense to God. That is what gave value to the blood the priest brought, but mark this: He does not put that incense on the throne! The life of Christ, infinitely precious as it was—the cloud of incense— could have nothing to do with meeting the claims of the throne.
Suppose that the Lord Jesus had gone to heaven from Gethsemane after all that precious life (He could have, but He could not have gone and have done all that God gave Him to do), what would have been the result? You and I could never have gone there. But suppose He had gone after the first three hours of suffering on the cross? You and I could never have gone. It was all infinitely precious in the sight of God, but it was in those last three hours of darkness, and those alone, that atonement for sin was made. There, as it were, God came upon that scene and "made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21. Oh precious, precious truth of the death of Christ! "Not by water only, but by water and blood, even Jesus Christ," How blessed to know that the Saviour came in that way—a Man—came to make atonement for man.
The first thing before the Lord in asking to be received back into glory in John 17 was the glory of God. "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." He says, "I have finished the work which Thou gayest Me to do." Another translation gives that a little differently, and looks upon what was given Him to do as an honour conferred upon Him. "The work that Thou gayest Me, that I should do it." That work was to glorify Him on earth. And now there is not a single thing more to do, and that being the case, He prays to be taken back to heaven that He may glorify Him there. He continues to glorify Him. "I have glorified Thee upon the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gayest Me that I should do it." Wondrous Saviour to be able to look up to heaven—"lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." Wondrous Saviour! but still a Man!
Can we get hold of these three things, each one of us? How He came, why He came, and the consequences of His having come? We have not considered yet the last part of the 5th chapter:
"And we know"—know what? We get these words several times in this epistle. Here we have their own blessed fulness. "We know that the Son of God is come." If you do not know that, you are not a Christian; and if you do not know that truth according to God, you are not a Christian. Some may know it better than others, but you have to know it or you are not a Christian at all, that He is come in this way, by water and blood.
"We know the Son of God is come" with results. "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 blessed knowledge in a world of darkness. Darkness in Scripture is very generally ignorance of God. "We are in Him that is true"—linked up in life and nature with God. "In Him" who is come, whom we know as the Son of God. We are in Him in life and nature, and as Christians we live in that way always growing in the apprehension of it.
This is not a special class; it is true of all. The family is classified in the second chapter: fathers, young men, and little children; but this is true of the whole family. Each knows the Son of God is come. What a wonderful thing it is to be a child of God! What has made us the children of God? We are born of God, and such "cannot sin, because he is born of God." What a wonderful life! We question if that is true of any other creature than the redeemed sinner, intimacy of relationship with God in nature. That is the grand theme of the aged and beloved apostle, "born of God." The apprehension of that truth is by the power of the Spirit of God. It is anticipated in the first chapter of the gospel of John: "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It is never said that which is born of water is water because water is the instrument used. "We are . . . in His Son, Jesus Christ." That is our Christian position and relationship in the line of things brought before us by the apostle John, or by the Spirit of God through the apostle.
The Spirit of God by John does not take up the counsels of God. It is another line of things; for that line God had a chosen vessel, Paul. That wonderful truth of the second Man and last Adam is implied but not developed in certain Scriptures in John.
The great thing with John is that we are in the Son: "We know the Son of God is come." Thank God! In a world full of darkness and untruth, the world under the dominion of the one who is the source of all evil— Satan himself—a liar and a murderer from the beginning, corruption and violence going on, here we are born of God and know we are of God.
Our place now before God is in His Son, in His Son Jesus Christ. It comes right back again, "This is the true God, and eternal life." One says again, and it will bear repeating: blessed, wondrous Saviour!
May our gracious God give us to meditate upon these three things: the fact of how He came, a Man; the fact of why He came, to glorify God and to finish that course in death, to make atonement for sin, and the consequence of that coming. "We know Him that is true and we are in Him that is true, in His Son Jesus Christ."