In his unconverted condition, walking by sense and not by faith, man has no knowledge of this divine love and care. He lives, morally, outside God, "having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in" him. (Eph. 4:1818Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (Ephesians 4:18).) We say, morally outside God, because actually it is "in him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:2828For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:28).) It is the darkness and ignorance that is in man that shuts God out of his thoughts, and this was, in the incarnation of the Son of God, brought fully to light. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not; he came to his own, and his own received him not." (John 1:10,1110He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1:10‑11).)
Out of this condition of moral death and alienation from God grace quickens us. “Born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:1313Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13)); we " believe on his name," and receiving Christ personally, He gives us "the right to become the sons of God." We enter into the knowledge and enjoyment of divine love and care as having received Him on whom it abidingly rests.
The righteous ground of our thus coming under divine favor is the cross, but it is as in Christ Himself, the Son of God, we possess and enjoy it. On the footing of creation, in the first Adam, we are "children of wrath," and under death and judgment. On the ground of redemption, in the second Adam, we are children of God, and divine love and care is our only portion, and our enjoyment of it depends upon our walking as "He walked" in faith and obedience. Our standing in divine love and care is unchangeable, depending, as it does, solely on the grace of God, but our enjoyment varies with our state, and is regulated by the government of God.
One side of the truth is our receiving Christ, and thus having the right bestowed on us by Him to take the place of children. (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12).) The other side is God receiving us, and our thus coming under His government as a Father. (Heb. 12:66For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Hebrews 12:6).) Whilst standing firmly on salvation, and holding tightly that we are, once and for all, "children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)), we are apt to forget "the exhortation that speaketh unto us as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." (Heb. 12:5,65And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Hebrews 12:5‑6).)
Sovereign grace never sets aside human responsibility, and divine grace but opens the door to divine government. They are parallel lines that run concurrently, but that never coalesce or intercept one another. To be "without chastisement, whereof all are partakers," is to be " bastards and not sons”- it is to be under divine judgment as lost sinners. To be the subjects of chastisement is the proof given to us of God that we are His children, and thus the objects of His love and care; but we should ever remember, that to keep in the enjoyment of this divine favor, we must be "in subjection unto the Father of spirits."
In Jesus the enjoyment of divine love and care was perfect and uninterrupted, because His walk was perfect, and obedience was the principle upon which this enjoyment was dependent. He says, "As I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." (John 15:1010If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. (John 15:10).) Nor was this obedience without that which put it to the proof, for we read, "though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." (Heb. 5:88Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (Hebrews 5:8).) Consciously to His own soul, His walk, not His Person simply, as being Son of God, formed the ground of His Father's presence with Him, and this He declares to those that watched Him- "He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone: for I do always those things that please him." (John 8:2929And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. (John 8:29).) Nor is the Father's own testimony lacking in proof of the ground on which this approval rested. Twice, once at the beginning, and once near the close of the earthly ministry of Jesus, does the Father's voice come from heaven saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:1717And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17), and 17:5.)
True, as it is, that "the life of Jesus" is our life, and that the expression of it is simply a question of the faith that lives, as He lived, in the abiding enjoyment of divine love and care, unless the principle that governed His life, and in connection with which His faith was ever in exercise, is recognized and adopted, our enjoyment of the love and care, of which we are always the subjects, is impossible. We may speak of, and aim at, "bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (2 Cor. 4:1010Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:10)); but unless the will is broken, and there be in all things practical subjection to the word of God, and "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," that life will not be displayed, nor divine love and care enjoyed.
Peter speaks of our being "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto [the] obedience and [the] sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," adding, "Grace unto you and peace be multiplied." (1 Peter 1:22Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1 Peter 1:2).) We are sanctified by the Spirit to obey as Christ obeyed, and the multiplication of grace and peace depends upon this obedience. The obedience of Jesus, or as we say, "a humbled Christ," is a sweet and holy thing for our souls to dwell upon. It is the manna of our wilderness life, that nourishes and keeps our souls with God in the simple sense of His favor. It is the fine flour of the meat offering, "a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire” (Lev. 2:33And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire. (Leviticus 2:3)), and of which none but the priests could eat.
The humanity of the Lord Jesus was perfectly natural and simple in its development. He grew up amid the relationships and circumstances of human life in a manner entirely like our own. Still there was a character to it that morally separated Him from those in the midst of whom He lived and moved. His life unfolded itself like a flower beneath the genial rays of the sun, its beauty and its sweetness, alike, attained without effort and without aim. We read: "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." (Luke 2:4040And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. (Luke 2:40).) As years went on, He but "increased in wisdom and in favor with God and man."
The secret of the life of Jesus lay within, deep hidden from the eyes of man. God was His Father, and beneath the fostering love and care of that Father He consciously grew, while one only motive gave its character to all He did and said, "In the volume of the book." It had been written of Him, "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." (Psa. 40:7,87Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:7‑8).) "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" He says to His parents, and then passes down to Nazareth, and is "subject to them." His relationship to God, as His Father, and His absolute subjection to His will, did not take Him out of His human relationships and the duties that attached to them, but, on the contrary, it was in those relationships and duties He glorified His Father, and perfectly met His mind and will.
In the life of Jesus the spring of everything was absolutely divine, though the expression of it was perfectly human. It was in the humble home at Nazareth, beneath the parental roof and discipline of His father Joseph, yielding to the wishes and gentle control of His mother Mary, and working at His lowly task as a carpenter, that Jesus, the Son of God's love, and ever mindful of His "Father's business," lived for thirty years. It was here He tasted, in all its sweetness, that divine love and care of which we have been speaking. His subsequent public ministry and prophetic service made no change in the life of Jesus. His Father's will, as before, governed everything in Him, and His Father's love and care remained the same throughout. The storms of public life altered nothing as to this, they did but give occasion for His faith and obedience to display themselves in different ways. Through all He lived by His Father and for His Father.
This He expresses in words, when laying the basis of our blessing through and in Himself, in John 6: "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." We enter into and enjoy eternal life- the life of God, by feeding on Christ; and living, as He lived, His portion becomes ours. The depth and fullness of that portion, with its present and intelligent enjoyment, is the subject of His prayer and desire for us in John 17:25,2625O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26And 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. (John 17:25‑26). "Oh, righteous Father," He says, "the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And 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." It is the constant and unceasing aim of the Lord's present ministry, by revealing the Father to us, whilst in all the circumstances of trial and sorrow in this world, to give us the knowledge and enjoyment of divine love and care as known to Himself when on earth. C. W.