THE BIBLE – ITS PERFECTION.
When God has a people on earth, He is made known as Jehovah, or I AM; and when they are redeemed out of Egypt, He dwells among them, and maintains covenant relationship with them as Jehovah. This goes on as long as He can own them as His people, and when He can no longer say of them, “My people,” even then, instead of utterly giving them up, Jesus is born into the world to “save His people from their sins.” He is called Jesus, or Jehovah Savior. He is spoken of in Scripture as that Holy Thing born of Mary, Son of God, Son of Man, Son of the Highest, the Christ, Messiah or Anointed. the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ, the Word, Lamb of God, King of Israel, and each title is used with the most perfect accuracy and point. Take a few examples. Stephen full of the Holy Spirit looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God; and why did he say that he saw Jesus? Why not use another of His many titles? Because Jesus is His name as incarnate, and Stephen’s special comfort when suffering for His truth was the contemplation of Him as Man, who after suffering for the truth unto death was now on the throne of God. His confession therefore was, “Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” Though the faithful martyr beholds Him as glorified Man, yet be it also observed, that he bows to Him there as “Lord of all,” and says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” and again, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this he fell asleep” (Acts 7:55-6055But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:55‑60)). All true believers bow to Jesus as Lord.
Again, when an alarmed and sin-convicted man cried out, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul’s reply was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house;” but why does he here repeat all these titles of the Savior? Because he is presenting Him to this anxious soul as the object of faith, and in such a way as to fully satisfy his awakened conscience. Jesus is not only Son of Man in the glory, but has been there made “both Lord, and Christ” (Acts 2:3636Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)). If the question of the troubled heart be, Is He willing to save me? The answer is, Yes; He is Jesus, and came into the world for the very purpose of saving sinners. If the inquiry be, Is He able to save me? The answer is, Yes; He is “Lord of all,” and has all power in heaven and in earth; and His being the Christ, the anointed one in heaven. consequent upon His finished work on the cross, is the unquestionable proof that every one that has come as a sinner to Him the Savior, is forgiven and blessed. How perfectly accurate, therefore, was the apostle’s reply, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
Again, when the same apostle is writing about the Lord’s coming, he says, “We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;” because he is then contemplating Him not in humiliation but in power; that power as Lord of all, by which “He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself,” and yet Savior even to the changing and saving of our body.
Look at another instance, when saving faith is referred to. It is said, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus” – not simply Jesus, for many speak of Him as such who never savingly know Him, but Lord Jesus – the Son of Man in the glory in whom dwells “the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” and who is “Head of all principality and power” – “and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Could anything be more precise and pointed in the use of titles?
It is well known that the book of Psalms consists of five divisions, or books. The Hebrew Bible is so arranged; and it is very striking to see how remarkably the titles of God are used in them. Look, for instance, at the first and second books. The first book consists of Psalm 1 to Psalm 41, and the second book from Psalm 42 to the end of Psalm 72. In the first book the prevailing title by far is Jehovah, because the godly Jews are looked at as in Jerusalem, and still in association with the temple; whereas in the second book the title most commonly used is not Jehovah, but God. And why? Because the remnant of Jews are looked at there as having fled from Jerusalem, in fulfillment of our Lord’s words. “Then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains,” and their covenant relationship with Jehovah is little realized by them. Far away from their beloved city and temple, in the hill Mizar, they feel cast down, as if God had forgotten them. Take a psalm in the first book, say Psalm 34, and Jehovah is mentioned sixteen times; and in a psalm in the second book, say Psalm 41 or Psalm 42, and we find God used nearly as many times as there are verses. The accuracy is most striking.
The precision and depth of meaning with which the divine titles are used all through Scripture is very manifest. If in Proverbs we have Jehovah, is it not because those addressed are looked at in relationship with Him? If in Ecclesiastes we have God, is it not because it is for the most part man seeking on earth an object for his heart. and finds vanity and vexation of spirit? And if in the Song of Solomon we have neither, is it not because the heart has there found a satisfying Object? No doubt in its primary application it is Jewish, but who among the children of God has not delighted in our Lord Jesus Christ as the “altogether lovely,” and rejoiced at realizing that He has brought us into His banqueting house, and that His banner over us is love? By the Spirit we are able, while
“Gazing on the Lord in glory,”
to sing, “I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine,” and can surely add, “I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet unto my taste.”
(Continued from page 200).
(To be Continued).