It is both for the glory of the Lord Himself, and for the comfort of the soul of the believer, to know how all the purposes of God were laid in Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ was, as one has said, the foundation of all the divine counsels-the first idea, if I may so speak, in the mind of God-the Alpha, the Beginning of the ways of Jehovah. (Prov. 8:2222The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. (Proverbs 8:22).) He was given, it is true, in due time for the church, but the church from everlasting had been given to Him, and not He to the church. “The man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man” (1 Cor. 8); and therefore we hear Him saying (if the application be allowed), “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.” (Psa. 139:1616Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:16).) So also we read of “the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord;” and again, of “His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began;” and many like passages. So, as to the Savior Himself, His sorrows and glories were all prepared of old. His sorrows, as the Lamb of God, were written “in the volume of the book;” and it was by “the everlasting covenant” that all His glories were secured; for by it, as the pledge of them all, was He brought from the dead, the Great Shepherd of the sheep. (Psa. 40:77Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, (Psalm 40:7); Heb. 10:7; 13:207Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (Hebrews 10:7)
20Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (Hebrews 13:20).)
But these, His sorrows and glories, were not only thus in covenant from the beginning ordered and secured, but they were also presented in types and shadows before the faith of His elect, when ages and dispensations had begun their course, and as they were rolling onward. Thus the sacrifices which have been offered continually since the fall of man, as is commonly known, set forth His sufferings. The tabernacle and temple, with their furniture and services, variously exhibited Him. There was no speech or language in them, but faith heard in all the wondrous tale. And it was this which made “the house of the Lord” the scene of the ancient believer's sweetest joy; for he there beheld, as in a glass darkly, “the beauty of the Lord.” (Psa. 27:44One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4).) In the temple he inquired after Jesus.
But not only in things like these was He set forth, but persons, from time to time, were raised up of God to present Him in different features.
In Eden, Adam, as lord of the creation, as the sleeping man, as the husband of the woman, set Him forth variously. After the transgression and loss of Eden, the promise of the Seed of the woman made Him known in a general way as the great object of faith and hope; and then the different glories which were prepared for Him as this Seed, this Bruiser of the serpent, were gradually and successively unfolded in various persons.
But I would here turn aside for a moment to inquire how we are to trace out and search for the Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, in the scriptures. We know He is to be found there abundantly, and indeed this is the formal reason for searching them: as He says Himself, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me.” (John 5:3939Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39).) “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.” “He wrote of me,” says the Lord, speaking of Moses; and again, in company with two of His disciples, “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” The scriptures, as the Jews judged, were the depository of life (John 5:3939Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39)); and in this they judged rightly. Their error was, that they mistook the place in the scriptures where the life lay; they thought that it lay in the law which had been given to them, so that life was theirs exclusively. (Rom. 9:3131But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. (Romans 9:31).) But we know that it rather lay in “the testimony of Jesus,” who is the Life. (John 5:40; 17:340And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:40)
3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3) 2 Cor. 3:1717Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17).)
Where, then, it may be asked, in the scriptures are we to find Jesus? By what rule are we to trace Him? To this I would say, there is a special gift to teach conferred on some (Acts 13:11Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (Acts 13:1); Rom. 12:77Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; (Romans 12:7); Eph. 4:1111And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (Ephesians 4:11)), and their duty is to stir up that gift for the common profit. But besides this, the scriptures are given for the learning of all the saints, and the mind that is most spiritually exercised will be the ablest and most skilful in searching them, and Jesus in them, so as neither to lose a trace of Himself, nor to mistake any other for Him. (Heb. 5:11-1411Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:11‑14).) I would say also, we are not told beforehand in every place where He is, but are commanded to search; but we are told beforehand in some places where He is, that our further search may in some measure he graciously and divinely directed. And, above all, we should remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a single eye, the surest pledge of a successful search (1 Cor. 3:1-3, 14:20; 1 Peter 2:11Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, (1 Peter 2:1)); for he that does the will shall know of the doctrine, and “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.”
But let us know this first, that God the Spirit, the witness of Jesus, must be trusted supremely in the search to keep our feet and guide our eye. When a sight of the distant land was given to Moses, it was given to him by the Lord Himself, from the mount to which the Lord Himself had previously led him. He neither chose his point of observation, nor directed his own eye-it was the Lord who did it. (Deut. 32:49, 34:1.) And so with us now, through the Spirit; He it is who shows us things to come; His guidance of our feet, His direction of our eye are needed, while in spirit we search out and survey the great and excellent things concerning Jesus and His glory in all the scriptures. Had Moses stood on lower ground than Pisgah, where God had guided him, he would not have seen all the land; had not God Himself directed his eye, he would not have distinguished Gilead from Judah, or the city of pales-trees from Zoar; and so, as the Lord the Spirit now graciously leads and teaches us, in such measure shall we, to the profit of our souls, behold the glory of the Lord in the scriptures. (2 Cor. 3)
“To look upon the works of nature, and to look into the ways of nature, are very different things.” So, to take up merely the materials of scripture, and to enter into its hidden wisdom, are different; the law has its shadows, prophecy its spirit-the mysteries their wisdom, and history its allegories; but we may miss these things. Moses looking from Pisgah on the distant land, would not have looked on it aright, had he not seen it as the inheritance of Israel, though it was really then the possession of the Gentiles: as to its condition at that time, it was the Amorite's land, but in the counsels of God it was Immanuel's land, and so Moses surveyed it, and so is scripture to be surveyed. To the eye of faith the victories of David and throne of Solomon are the victories and throne of Christ. “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.”
It is little to say to Him, “The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver.” We can know but little of the sweetness of that true honeycomb, should it cost our soul an effort to join in that utterance with the psalmist. But we should learn also to say, May thy testimonies, O Lord, be my counselor, as well as my delight! By these may thy servant be warned, and in the keeping of them find great reward!
For my present purpose, then, in searching out the glories of the Lord in the scriptures, I would begin with Noah, who manifestly was His type in one very glorious character. The prophecy that went before upon Noah was this-” This shall comfort us concerning our word and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.” (Gen. 5:2929And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. (Genesis 5:29).) This introduced Him as the remover of the curse from a corrupted earth, and as the rest, consequently, of those who had been doomed, with pain of sorrow and sweat of brow, to eat of it and to till it. Now what sweet unfoldings, by way of type, of the still hidden glory of Christ have we here! Here is shown to us a pattern of beautiful things yet to come, but which in their day shall be fashioned accordingly. Here we see Christ, the true Noah, Heir of the new earth, when, as we read, “there shall be no more curse,” having all things therein delivered into his hand-the cattle upon a thousand hills; the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea owning Him as Lord, and His name as Governor made excellent through all the earth. For thus it is to be when the gates lift up their heads to Him, and the earth and its fullness shall be His. (See Psa. 24)
(To be continued.)