The first chapter of Genesis is a history of the other day, of yesterday, compared with the first chapter of John. Christ had no beginning; it is God that is there. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
It is said the human mind never was so active as it was at this time. They said that matter was evil, that the principle of evil was the God of the Old Testament, and so on. That Satan inspired these vain thoughts and speculations, there can be no doubt. They denied Jesus Christ, come in flesh, not simply that He was come in flesh, which was something about Him, but they denied Himself, when so come. They denied that Jesus was the Christ, they denied also that He was the Son of the Father; that is, they denied Him, first, in His Person, and then in His relations, both to man and to God the Father, as Messiah — Anointed Man; and as Son of the Father; “a threefold rejection.” He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:2222Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)). They maintained also the eternity of matter.
John’s writings are a divinely given answer to all this, which was simply the expression, in man’s heart, of Satan’s enmity against Jesus Christ come in flesh, God’s Lamb for taking away the sin of the world, and only-begotten Son of the Father.
Verse 2. “The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” There is where Genesis begins; that shuts out all other beings. How exclusive the Spirit of God is here! It is Jesus who was the Creator, we shall see Him afterwards as Redeemer. As to His spiritual locality, where was He? The Spirit of God says, He was with God. If we look at Proverbs 8, we find a precious revelation — two divine Persons there together. It is a question of Persons, not Places. It is much more important that I should know all about the Person of Christ, than that I should know about heaven itself. “Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee.”
Verse 4. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” All you and I want is to get into the luminous atmosphere where Christ is. He is the eternal denial of all these philosophic and well-studied arguments of men, they have never chased the darkness away, nor stilled the groanings of a single human heart. The darkness (and it is ever true) comprehended not the light. “He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true” (John 3:3333He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. (John 3:33)). That His testimony is true, the Trinity itself bears witness. Himself utters the words, as sent of God, and “God giveth not the Spirit by measure.” The words are God’s words, and spoken by Christ, in the unmeasured power of the Spirit. Not human reasonings, but the Holy Spirit, given without measure, is the alone power of intelligence in the things of God. “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true” (1 John 5:2020And 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. (1 John 5:20)). His glory, what He was, was always coming out. Man was darkness, and could not comprehend it. “The life was the light of men,” putting out all other lights. Some years ago I heard the following remark, “It was not said that He was the light of angels, but there was one light of men especially, “as there is one Head of every man, which is Christ” (1 Cor. 11:33But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. (1 Corinthians 11:3)). It is not the same as the Head of the body. I believe it means that He is the Head of man, the relationship of man as man to Christ. The Head of every man is Christ. Having become a Man, He is the Head. God has committed all judgment to Him, not because He is the Son of God, but because He is the Son of Man.
Verse “5. “And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.” The darkness means the state of humanity, morally it was darkness, and in himself man does not see the light, his eyes must be opened. In the gospels, the side which men term Calvinistic is in John, there God gives eternal life absolutely. “He that hath the Son hath life.” “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” What they call Arminian is chiefly found in the other gospels, where man’s state, as responsible and under law, is dealt with and brought to light.
Christian responsibility is connected with our new state, under grace, not under law. “If ye are led by the Spirit [the Christian position] ye are not under law” (Gal. 5:1818But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. (Galatians 5:18)). To follow Christ, to keep myself from all evil, to maintain the testimony at all cost, that is my responsibility, as a Christian, under grace, and I shall be dealt with, in a certain sense, according to it. It is plainly no question here of obtaining forgiveness or life, but of faithfulness and service, and reward connected therewith, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward (2 John 88Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. (2 John 8)). The day of Christ will measure this responsibility. “That I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain” (Phil. 2:1616Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. (Philippians 2:16)). He will complete the work until the day of Christ; we have these two things, the fixed purpose of God to bring us to glory, and, on the other side, what we sow we reap, get chastening for, and all kinds of dealings.
Verse 8. “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” In chapter 5, the Lord calls him the bright and shining lamp. The Lord was the Light, John was the candle or lamp.
Verse 9. “That was the true Light, which, coming into the world, lightens every man.” Christ is the only true Light for any man, for every man. “The life was the light of men” (He tasted death for every one, everything). It is what people call absolute, to the exclusion of everything else that could be a light for man. “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours alone, but also for the whole world” (1 John 2: 2, JND). He is the Light for every one, but people shut their eyes to the Light, and will not look upon it. He only is the Light of men, He only made everything, and “without Him was not anything made that was made.” “The life was the light of men”; it is the same thing as to say that the Light of men was the Life — a reciprocal proposition.
In the tenth verse you get the result of all this, as Light, He was not comprehended. Light shines, the opposite to light is darkness, that is man’s state by nature. And when they did know Him externally, then they hated Him.
Verse 12. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” “Children of God,” it should be. First of all, He gives them everything, not merely saves, but He gives them the privilege of being children of God. In Judaism, they were servants, not sons. ‘Sons’ is a title of privilege and honor; ‘children’ is a much deeper thing. Where it is a question of nature and intimacy, there it is “children.” How that exclusive, absolute way of putting things runs through this gospel! “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”; they received Him, and only Him, and they were born of God. Everything else is excluded. A person who was studying the Word of God, and desirous of penetrating (or rather, of being penetrated by) the thoughts of the Spirit of God, would pay especial attention to these expressions. Again, the Spirit says, “John was not the Light, do not let the thought of John come in, he was not that Light. Then again, “He gave them the privilege.” Had not they anything to do with it? Not at all! — “which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Verse 14. It is not “was made flesh”. Christ could not be made anything, but He could become something. How could the eternal, uncreated Son of God be made anything? He became flesh. In verse 1, the Word was God, and was with God, but here you get a similarly absolute statement of His presence, as Man, with men. “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father”: it is not external glory, it is the moral thing. There is a difference between “only-begotten” and “first-born” (Col. 1:15, 1615Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:15‑16)).
“Firstborn” is in connection with the creation; but in connection with the Father, He is “the only-begotten.” There can be no other Son of the Father. The more you examine such passages, the more you feel the exclusive character of the glory of His Person. “No man knoweth the Son but the Father.” God has no other Son but Him; we become sons by adoption, you understand. He is the only-begotten Son of God.
John says, he saw His glory in this character, that is, a holy, tender kind of thing. Every soul knows how short we come, in entering into this in spirit. It is not a common Christian, a careless Christian, I mean, that can enter into this. The Spirit of God makes one feel how little one has thought of it, how little one has realized it.
“A glory as of an only-begotten with a father.” What the Lord is Himself, in His relationship to the Father, is not that higher than what you get in Revelation 19, where He is riding on the white horse, or in Psalm 45 — “Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty, and in Thy majesty ride prosperously”? That is one form of glory, and the transfiguration is a picture of the heavenly glory of the kingdom, but all that comes infinitely short of this verse 14, for all that is in His relationship to man in government, but this is His essential relationship to God the Father. There was His glory — did angels behold it? We know that it was believing man’s highest privilege: “We beheld his glory, the glory as of an only-begotten with a father”! What a revelation for man! Have I read this gospel of John in such a way, that I have got any idea in my soul of what is the beauty, the special beauty, of this Only-begotten?
I do not suppose I know myself how deeply I am (may I not say all of us are?) spoiled by the world. That is a great thing in Matthew 25 that God is waking up His saints. There is such a thing as the virgins trimming their lamps, and going forth to meet the Bridegroom. Bad as things are, that is true, and that is true now.
Verse 16. “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
It means an abundance of grace, grace piled up upon grace. In Romans 5 you get, they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness. “It is abundance of grace. How much better should we understand and realize these privileges, were it not for our worldliness and moral distance from God! May He deepen us in the true knowledge of these wondrous blessings, “abundance of grace and gift of righteousness”!
Verse 17. “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The law was given, but grace came. I was reading some of those chapters in Job, (7, and others) where we see how uncertainty, as to his spiritual relations to God, made the anguish of his bodily sufferings still more intolerable — the pardon of his transgressions was unknown, his iniquity not taken away — and, I thought, I had before me a very perfect delineation of the real state of thousands of persons, even in this our day. They are really turned Godward, yet cannot find Him; no divinely righteous ground as yet discovered on which to plant their weary feet, (the righteousness of God being practically unknown). They cannot trust in themselves any more than in God: “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me” (Job 9:3030If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; (Job 9:30)). Redemption, as accomplished in the grace that came by Jesus Christ, is really unknown. And then there is this added difficulty, from which poor Job was free, they have put themselves under law. They have not learned, any more than Job, that “he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” No Abba cry breaks forth from their sad hearts; for them God is a Judge, not a Father; nor does their personal experience go beyond the groan, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver?” No “thank God, through Jesus Christ,” as yet; the “no condemnation,” all unknown. For people in this state, it can hardly be said the darkness is past, or passing, I speak of their state; the light most truly shines, the full revelation of God, but they are not in it yet, though quickened; the light is present, but one needs eyes to see. To refer to Job 7 — never had such a state of soul as yet been revealed; the rays of light breaking in amidst the clouds and darkness, the chaos of the poor human heart. “What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him, and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him?” (Job 7:1717What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? (Job 7:17)). But then there was the “I have sinned, what shall I do unto Thee, O Thou preserver of men!” A Preserver of men, and yet He had set poor Job as a mark against Himself! No righteousness in man for God, nor, as yet revealed, righteousness of God for man (cp. Rom. 1:1717For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17) with 3:21). The Interpreter was not there, nor had the true Daysman come; “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” It says in this chapter, “the light shineth in darkness,” and the darkness “comprehended” it not. “Moral darkness, and incapacity of seeing, was man’s state. But when the Lord is seated in heaven, and had sent the Holy Ghost, then it could be said, the darkness was passing. We have not apprehended the thing! Why, I stand in the full blaze of the revelation of God! When I come to read the scriptures, I feel, thank God, I know a “little bit about it, get a little kindling. I know but little about it, but see what I have got in Christ, in God, and what a glorious thing it is to be shut up to it. We are in a better state to know the Lord now than the disciples, because we have the Holy Ghost. It must have been a wonderful sight, some one has remarked, to see the Spirit descending in this form and abiding upon Him. Yes, it was wonderful; but all that appertains to Jesus is wonderful. Was not “Wonderful” one of His names? They all “wondered” at the gracious words that came out of His lips. They were obliged to cry out at times in such language as, “Blessed is the womb that bare Thee”! and, “Never man spake like this man!”
Verse 18. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” The Spirit would say, “Do not listen to any one that pretends to reveal the Father, except the Son. “Then how are we to know about it? The only-begotten Son, in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed Him. It is a wonderful thing, the privilege of knowing, in the love and intimacy of His own nature, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have got as far as the end of “the golden preface,” as the ancients called it.
We may notice that the relations of Christ in verse 14 are twofold: first, Godward, “We have contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”; and secondly, manward, “full of grace and truth.” The first were natural (that is, according to the divine nature). How could it be otherwise? He was, and is, the Father’s only-begotten Son. But His position manwards was altogether wonderful, He dwelt among us — the fallen sons of men — in a character which, but for sin, could never have been known, full of grace and truth. Grace, which is divine love, asserting itself, and maintaining its ways, in the midst of all that is contrary to it; truth, that brings the real character of everything to light, by showing its relation to Himself. Grace and truth were never in the world before, they are spoken of as one in verse 17. “Grace and truth came [ subsists, “New Translation] by Jesus Christ.” It is interesting, the verb being in the singular, as though they formed but one thought in the mind of God. Grace and truth had their being, in the world, only through Christ. What belonged to man was “the” e. Look at Ephesians 4::25, “Wherefore putting away the lie, speak every man truth.” The lie! that is what characterizes “man,” that is his moral state. The new man is created in righteousness and holiness of truth; the converse of the old state is thus presented in the epistle, “The truth which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.” The Lord tells us that every man who hears His voice is “of the truth.” The old man is of “the lie”; Satan its father, himself a liar from the beginning. The Spirit of God expresses it as a principle, as the “lie.” And if Satan from the beginning was a liar, man, fallen under the power of his lie, has from the beginning falsified the character of God. Like the fallen angels, he did not keep his first estate — dependence upon God, whose love and delight in the wonderful creature He had just made in His own image and likeness, and His mind about him, paradise itself could in no way measure or unfold (See Psa. 8; Eph. 1 end; Rev 21.) I have just hinted at the mind of God about man; the first expression of man’s mind about God, came out in his departure from Him. His first recorded act betrayed the love of the lie, this shut him out of paradise — the last word about him announces the exclusion from the heavenly city of him who loves and makes a lie. Man believed Satan’s lie, preferring it to God’s truth, he thought that God was keeping something from him.
Now think of the teaching of John 16 and Ephesians 1. All things that the Father has are Christ’s; this takes in the heavens (things in heaven), and the earth, to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. It was in God’s mind that His beloved people should partake with Christ in all this measureless glory; man, who was to inherit all things according to the counsel, love, and power of God, departed from Him, believing that He was withholding from him the means and sources of happiness. By the word and Spirit of God, His saints had been acted on from the beginning; but till He came, there was not in this world what God could call truth and grace; they are one in the mind of God.
There is nothing so profound anywhere, in God’s revelations, as the gospel of John — what mind that thinks has not found this out? I speak not of philosophers, but of the mind of Christ in His people. It speaks of more than the deep things of God, for it tells us of God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We were speaking of grace and truth being united in Christ; it is true, in a yet deeper way, of life and light, they cannot be separated. The life that was in Christ, expressed amongst men, was man’s proper and only light. How He shines in the light of His life, and the grace of the truth of His nature! What He measures as “Truth,” He manifests as “Light,” and so you get the truth of things from out the cobwebs of lies. Amiabilities that you call Christian, when you bring them to the light of Christ, are not the truth, nor of the truth very often. “Try the spirits whether they are of God” — he gives a test to bring out the truth, whether these spirits were of God, or of Satan. You see what a new and wondrous thing this is, grace and truth, in all their fullness, present in the world, in the Person of Jesus Christ; and where was or could there be such a manifestation of this as in His atoning death? Thus, He met man’s moral need, grace reigning through righteousness (and truth in every way), unto eternal life.
But, in the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, you get what He was Godward. He speaks of Himself, in one place, as the Son of Man which is in heaven; but, of heaven itself, it had been stated, “Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.” Could that be said of the bosom of the Father? Could creation glorified present anything like that? It is the manner of his being with God, not revealed in the first verse. He was with God, as being in the Father’s bosom. In the transfiguration, we see Him in the heavenly glory of the kingdom, His face did shine like the sun, and His garments were white and glistering. In the glory of the earthly kingdom, when God anoints Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows, His garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia. His fitness for that glory had been manifested. Fairer than the children of men, grace was poured into His lips, therefore God blessed Him for ever; He loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore His God anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows. When He comes forth on the white horse, making war, His garment is dipped in blood, glorious ,in character and ways before, as after, the war. In the last position, many crowns were upon His head, and many were the names of greatness which He bore — Faithful and True, Word of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords — all unspeakably interesting to His people. But which of these glories is like that of an only-begotten with a father, the Son in the Father’s bosom? When we reach this dwelling-place, the Father’s bosom, in thought and quickened affections, the attractions of glory seem to yield to those of love, what He is in His being, but “glory as of an only-begotten with a father,” cannot be separated, the glory from the love. Think of the Only-begotten with the Father! there could not be a second. It is love in its deepest, holiest relationship. This is what was seen in Christ, and what John’s heart was occupied with. Of His love to usward he is speaking when he says, “Hereby know we love.” Well, how do you know it? Because He laid down His life for us. Divine love and eternal life were in Him. And where is the glory of Sonship seen save in Christ? He tells us of what he had seen, but also of what we know, and the how, “Hereby know we.” All is learned in Him.
“The only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” Now is not this a wonderful way of getting at the truth? Christianity is founded on the revelation of the Father and the Son. In John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3), we read, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” When the devil has his great agent upon the earth, he denies the Father and the Son, because in the knowledge of this truth lies the foundation of Christianity. We talk of salvation as though it, and not the glory of the Son, were the great end of revelation. Peter’s blessedness consisted in the Father’s revelation to his soul of the Person of the Son. It is He who is the effulgence of God’s glory, the exact expression of His substance. He that confesses the Son has — salvation? Yes, without doubt, but that is not what the Word says here. He that confesses the Son has the Father also”! Is not that immeasurably more than salvation? And again, he that hath the Son, hath (not salvation, though that be true, but) life, eternal life, that is in the Son. A far deeper blessing, necessarily including salvation, but how much more! Beside that blessed “word of truth, the gospel of salvation, there are many other precious “words”; the “word “of the Father, the “word of Christ, the “word “of life, the “word “of the cross, the “word” of promise, and more. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The fruits of the tree of life are yielded every month, eternal freshness there. The manna, too, you remember, came with the dew. When the dew had fallen upon the camp, then it was that the manna fell also, to be eaten in the freshness in which God sent it.
We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (vs. 14). What are you thinking of there? You are thinking of the Son. But when you come to verse 18, you are thinking about God — “He hath declared Him.”
I think that is as Father. There is no way of getting at anything, except through Christ. There never was a creature who knew what grace was, without Christ, and there never was a creature that knew truth, apart from Christ. What thought of love, or of judgment, of righteousness, purpose, or glory, apart from Him? The Son of Man brought near to the Ancient of days (Dan. 7), to receive the investiture of all beneath the heavens, is a glorious thought, but what to that of Only-begotten with His Father?
What answer to the Father’s heart, and now to ours, save in Him! The inner thing, how far above the outer, and our place is with Himself within. The deepest, sweetest thought, next to this, we have in the Epistle, eternal Life with the Father. The Word was with God, the eternal Life with the Father, but the innermost of all such thoughts is expressed in, “We saw His glory, the glory as of an only-begotten with a father.”
To get the affections fed in this divine way, why, it is like being in heaven! It is the very same kind of thing we shall get in heaven. We are rarely in a condition of soul to desire this heavenly food. We cannot get into it. But take one weaned from the world, in whom the pride of life is broken, when he begins to feel what he is in nature, the character of the scene he is passing through; seeing on every side but contradiction to God, groaning in himself at life’s labor lost, weary of sin, disappointed in everything, man’s life a lie, the wine out. The longing for good, for Christ, the condition we were talking about, exists. Turning to Christ, he finds himself in the midst of new-creation scenes, where all is not only new, but “of God,” and He is Love, and revealed in Christ. Thousands of Christians are so engaged with their work even, their daily service, that they get no time to be occupied with Christ. We, through our weakness, allow of separation between communion and service, but that comes from not dwelling in love.
And yet Thy love’s unchanging,
And doth recall the heart.
Now just get into that, and you will find that He who is Love is Light also. John says, “I have seen that eternal Life which was with the Father, it is all luminous. “Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
“It is all unclouded light”, he says, “I have looked upon.” “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:66If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (1 John 1:6)). Peter says, he was an eye witness, and heard a voice. What Peter saw and heard, that he testified, so Paul, so John. If we are to be in power in testimony, we must go on what we have seen ourselves, we cannot act on the faith or intelligence of another. So it is said of the Lord Jesus Himself in John 3:3232And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. (John 3:32) “What He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth.” He was not going upon a vague report; you get, it in John, Peter, and Paul, and in the Lord Himself first. Now you see, when you look at theologians and Pharisees, that such a principle is unknown to them. Poor Nicodemus, he was theologian and Pharisee too; he had not much to say of what he had seen and heard, theologian and teacher of Israel though he was.
When I speak of our going upon what we have seen, I speak, of course, in the spiritual sense, of our individual realization of the truth, by faith and the Spirit.
We have already had the deep depths of His Person, but verse 18 gives us the deep thing of His testimony — the revelation of the Father. I have already referred to John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3), where we learn, that to know the Father and the Son is eternal life. The old writers called the first part of this chapter “the golden preface”; the gospel itself they termed “the heart of Christ.” One loves to think of our brethren of eighteen hundred years ago thus appreciating this precious gospel.
Does one inquire if there must be knowledge prior to the enjoyment of communion? Yes; but with many the relationships of the divine Persons are but feebly comprehended. People are glad to be saved, but the mind hardly takes in what sonship really means; we worship God, and cry “Abba,” by the same Spirit by which we call Jesus, Lord. The Father and the Son are so little known, it is no wonder there is so little communion. Even where there is some knowledge, the world comes in, and that hinders, and that is what John is thinking of when he says, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, . . . is not of the Father.” That is the very thing that hinders this communion. John Baptist has only one thing to say of himself, and he was a blessed man in saying it. So precious to his heart, and glorious, was the Subject of his testimony, that all of John disappeared, save the voice that rendered it. The power of glory strengthens, as much unto lowliness, as unto all patience. This is a very fine and remarkable scripture. It permits us to see the effect on one who beheld it, of the moral glory of Him who was meek and lowly of heart, even unto participation of the nature; as Peter speaks of our being partakers of the divine nature. If the promises could have that effect, how much more the presence of the divine Person, “in whom these promises are all yea and Amen.” “I am nothing but a voice,” he said, “but one thing I want, a way set up for Jehovah, the King of glory.” (The Lord is Jehovah. Very often the word translated Lord is used for Jehovah, as you will see in the New Translation (by J. N. Darby).) They had not macadamized roads in those days, you know. When a prince or a king was coming, they set about to make a road for him; a king might have a hundred thousand men making a road for him, a “royal road.” That is the idea. John uses it in a moral way. The voice that cried in the wilderness said, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” The voice that cries at midnight says, “Behold the bridegroom!” When this voice reaches the heart, one awakes from one’s slumbers, and the reproach of Laodicea rolls away.
Were His “deep perfections” only better known, there would be no lack of “adoring fervor,”in which to await His return. John was a wonderful man; like Paul, he had only one Object, and that Object governed him. Paul goes beyond all bounds in the fervor of his attachment, refusing to count his life dear to him, when compared with his Object. “I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Phil. 3:88Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3:8)). It is the power of the Object. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So Simeon, as he held the Babe in his arms, “Lord, now letest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” All these things are morally important for us, because we have all got the spirit of the world in us fearfully. Christ had all His springs in the divine nature, ours flow forth from corrupted human nature until He has become our life. The knowledge of a glorious Person who passed through a defiled scene, touching it continually, yet never affected by it, and who in the end could say, “I have overcome the world”; this it is which breaks its power over the heart of the believer.
From verse 29 to 35, it is what He does; as Lamb of God, He takes away the sin of the world; this will be the great result; (His atoning death the immovable basis and foundation of all divine working in the new creation), and He baptizes with the Holy Ghost. He had Himself, alone of men, received the unction of the Spirit without blood. We have this set forth typically in Exodus 29: Aaron was anointed with oil without blood. Upon man the Spirit is not the seal of regeneration, but the witness to the value of the blood. It was announced to John that He, upon whom he saw the Spirit descending and abiding, would baptize with the Holy Ghost. “And I have seen and bear witness,” John adds, “that this is the Son of God.” He is Lamb of God and Son of God, glorious names, here announced for the first time, and in connection with what He does — taking away the sin of the world, and baptizing with the Holy Ghost. It does not say, or mean, that the sin or sins of the world have been taken away (already). The sins of His people, He Himself bore in His body on the tree, that being dead to sins they might live unto righteousness (1 Pet. 2). As to sin, Paul tells us that God, “having sent His Son . . . for sin, condemned sin in the flesh,” its dwelling-place. And if Peter speaks of believers being dead to sins, Christ their Substitute having borne them in His own body on the tree, Paul gives believers their place as dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus. But this is not taking sin out of the world, but God dealing with it in judgment in the cross of Christ. But verse 29 gives us the glorious result for the world, as such, not merely, “The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of His Christ is come, and He shall reign,” but the sin of the world taken absolutely away. In that day, it will be said, “The tabernacle of God is with men” (Rev. 21:33And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)). It is written, “He tasted death for every man, “so that any man may come (whosoever will), so also, coming into the world, He shines as Light for every man. Like the sun in the heavens,” which shines upon the just and upon the unjust. It does not mean that He enlightens every man, but simply that He shines for all; Jews or Gentiles, it makes no difference. “God so loved the world.” But the full meaning of this title or designation, “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world,” is best expounded in John’s vision of His glory on high. On earth, the cross of Christ had been accounted foolishness, the expression of His weakness, His own had hidden their faces from Him; but there all is changed save Himself. A Lamb, as it had been slain, was standing in the midst of the heavenly throne, with the symbols of the power and the wisdom of God. If any hid their faces there, it would be the seraphim while they cried, “Holy, holy, holy.” His positional glory, as seated on the heavenly throne, was the fruit of the moral glory of the path by which it was reached. The memorials of His sufferings are associated there with the power and the wisdom of God. But Paul tells us that the “called,” both Jews and Gentiles, had already seen in the crucified One whom he preached, in the midst of a rejecting world, both the power and the wisdom of God. What precious faith was that! But I refer to Revelation 5: mainly for the sake of verse 13. When the angels had proclaimed the worthiness of the Lamb that had been slain, John hears every creature upon the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, ascribing honor and glory unto the Lamb. This is anticipative, it is true, but it is anticipative of the praises of a world from which the Lamb of God will have taken away sin. As God, He had created the world, and, when ruined and lost, had. come to be its Savior, overcoming it, as Man, in its whole spirit and ways. So that when the lord of its darkness came, he found nothing in Him, save light only; as the Father found nothing but His own reflection. Finally, He takes away its sin, and thus delivers the kingdom of the world to the Father. I would just add, He has actually taken away the sins of His people, yours and mine. By the grace of God, too, He tasted death for every man, that is propitiation; in bearing the sins of His people He was their Substitute. You will note in the gospel, that when He was on earth, His deepest humiliation could not veil His glory from the opened eye; so, the glories of the heavenly throne do not conceal the tokens of His sufferings and rejection. “A Lamb, as it had been slain” — He cannot be hid, whether in the scenes of glory, or of humiliation.
In Psalm 24:88Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. (Psalm 24:8), the question is raised, “Who is this King of glory?” — here, one might ask in like spirit, “Who is this Lamb of God?” No lifting up of everlasting doors, that the King of glory might enter His earthly dominion, would be the proper reply to such a question as this; rather, through the door opened in heaven, would the answer be found, in the midst of the throne itself — in the songs of elders and living creatures — in the voice of angels, and of every creature in the heaven, and upon the earth; and then in the temple of the holy city that comes down out of heaven from God — in the light of the glory that lightens it, for “the lamp thereof is the Lamb.” According to these beautiful figures and symbols, the throne, and temple, and light of glory, answer the question, “Who is this Lamb of God?” “I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne . . . stood a Lamb, as it had been slain.” But John had seen greater things than these, and in scenes bounded only by the cross; there he had contemplated, in Jesus the Nazarene, the glory as of an only-begotten with a Father; Who such an one is, not the throne of God, but the bosom of the Father, alone can tell. The great voice from the angels who surround the throne, rolling its mighty wave of seven-fold praise, swelled by that of all creatures, and absorbing, as it were, the worship of the heavenly saints, will be the result, but not the whole result, of the taking away of “the sin of the world,” by the “Lamb of God.” It is interesting to note that this ascription of praise to the Lamb, which commenced with the heavenly saints, is closed by them also (Rev. 5:1414And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:14), JND).
Think of John, and his relations to Christ. He had known Him as a houseless, homeless stranger, a Nazarene, “despised of the people, as one having nothing, yet in His own right possessing all things. He had stood by the cross, and beheld Him in His sufferings, as God’s Lamb, had “in the Spirit” seen Him in the glorious result of those sufferings, and receiving creation’s praise. He had seen Him in the heavenly glory of the kingdom, His garments all white and glistering; and contemplated Him in that of an only-begotten with a father; and, finally, as the Lamp of the divine glory that lightens the holy Jerusalem. And all these precious revelations are now committed unto us. What advantage had the Jew?” said Paul, writing to the Romans, then, answering his own question, “Much every way, but chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God”! In the gospel it seemed to be for Christ, what the world would term, “a losing game”; but the Revelation lets us know that this “losing game” was the foundation of glories, as various as they are eternal.
As He can endless glory weave
From time’s misjudging shame,
In His own world He is content
To play a losing game.
We have read through the introductory part, where the Spirit declares Who Jesus is; but now we have come to the testimony of what He does, in positions referred to in other scriptures, but here first brought fully to light — He baptizes with the Holy Ghost, and takes away, as Lamb of God, the sin of the world. This title — Lamb of God — is in connection with His atoning death; as baptizing with the Holy Ghost implies His previous ascension and glory with the Father. “The Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified “(John 7:3939(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:39)). “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men” (Psa. 68:1818Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68:18)). All this, referring to the sending of the Spirit, awaited, according to the counsels and order of God, the victory of the Son of Man over Satan, sin, and death. From the day of Pentecost onward, “Now is come salvation and strength,” could be said, for the Holy Ghost is the seal of righteousness and salvation, the power of life and holiness, the earnest of glory and Spirit of sonship. But who is this who baptizes with the Holy Ghost? Who but the One upon whom the Spirit descended and abode, and this, apart from any question of atonement or sprinkling of blood, to whom (when, fulfilling all righteousness, He had manifested, in submitting to the baptism of John, His perfect sympathy with the Spirit’s work upon sinful men) the heavens opened! The act of a Man upon earth becoming the occasion of infinite delight in heaven, the Father’s heart was touched — not that there could be change there — but there was an occasion of new delight, for it was found in man, and that Man was His beloved Son in whom He found His delight. Once before, the angel of the LORD had spoken out of heaven to man upon earth: “By Myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because Thou hast done this thing . . . that in blessing I will bless thee.” But here was the “Son of Abraham,” the Seed in whom all the nations were to be blessed, on His way to that solemn hour, when He became both offering and offerer, the true Lamb of God’s providing, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; and because He hath done this thing, and, in doing it, has, besides the sufferings of atonement, suffered at the hand of man also, Jehovah said unto Him, “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” Moreover, seeing that, at the same time, He humbled Himself to the death of the cross, God has highly exalted Him, the wondrous, lowly Man! giving Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And further, if He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, that same glory required that the Son who had glorified Him upon earth — had finished the work which He gave Him to do — should, according to His own demand, be glorified with the Father, with the glory He had with Him before the world was. Thus the call from Jehovah to a seat at His right hand, the great name above every name conferred by God, and the Son’s place with the Father in the eternal glory, must be taken together to give the divine estimate of the work, and of Him who did it. Jesus glorified by, and with, the Father, is, of course, the fullest expression of the Father’s heart in reference to His Person and work. Now we know who the “Son of Abraham” was, and understand that word, “Before Abraham was, I am.” If God was glorified in that which Jesus did, in that work finished in His atoning death, remember that taking captivity captive — annulling him that has the power of death — forms part of that glory by which God was glorified. Now see the connection of this with the truth presented in verse 33, “He it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. In the virtue, or strength, of His victory over Satan, He ascended on high. Now, that you cannot separate His ascending from His descending, the apostle tells us (Eph. 4). He first descended into the lower parts of the earth, there was the enemy overthrown with his own weapon. “By death annulled him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Henceforth you can never separate the precious truth, “Thou hast ascended on high,” from “Thou hast taken captivity captive.” That He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” It was the necessary result of His descending, as His resurrection was the certain consequence of His death (it was not possible that He could be holden by it). It was one thing (through the necessary moral connection) the ascending and descending, accomplished also by one and the same Person. “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens.” From the lower parts of the earth, to far above all heavens, to receive from the Father the promised Spirit, that He might be the baptizer with the Holy Ghost! Thus He received the Holy Ghost a second time, and as Man too — Man victorious, Man in the glory of God (See John 7:3939(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:39); read also John 14:2626But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26), and John 15:2626But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26)). Was He less acceptable, less morally glorious, in receiving the Holy Ghost at the first when He descended upon Him in the day of His humiliation, the seal of His perfection and acceptability with the Father in that wondrous path? Note, too, how, in connection with the sending of the Spirit, the three Persons are presented together, as on the former occasion, when He descended on Jesus alone. Here, He receives from the Father the promised Spirit, to “shed “on others. What a subject for the hearts of His people!
And now, before proceeding further, let me ask one question, in Jesus words, “Have ye understood all these things?” For I remember the difficulties and trials of early days in connection with the study of the Word of God, and, in particular, that but few of those from whom help might have been looked for, had searched for themselves into the meaning and application of these great and primary truths. If we had not the Holy Ghost, we should not be sealed, we should have no power; we might have the life, but not the power of the life. If I had asked beloved Christian friends about the meaning, “bearing,” and scriptural development of this most precious truth, the baptism with the Holy Ghost, how it was, and what are the consequences for us, I should have waited in vain for any satisfactory answer. Two subjects almost exclusively engaged their attention, that of the atonement, and the Psalms, which give us for the most part the experiences of the converted, but undelivered, Jewish remnant. They found comfort there, their own state being so similar, hence in their prayers they entreated that God might not be angry with them forever (it was thus evident they had not peace), and that He would not take His Holy Spirit from them — proof that they knew nothing of the doctrine or truth of the Spirit’s presence in the church, or in the individual, as either seal or earnest. They were, though converted, unconsciously on Jewish ground. How many are in precisely the same position now! Let us recall another of our Lord’s words: He that received seed into good ground, is he that heareth the word of God, and understandeth it. “Have ye understood all these things?” is a question for souls now as then. “To him that hath shall be given.” Not the quantity or range of truth is the question here, but rather, what He sends do we possess? “Gather of it, every man according to his eating.” How great, then, is our responsibility if we regard ourselves from the point of view, that from those to whom much has been given, much will be required! Think of the light given us on this very point, of the presence and power of the Spirit amongst His people, and how feebly we have answered to the grace thus shown us. It is well to have ever before us the solemn truth, that with regard to our responsibility as Christians, the day of Christ will measure everything, not of course as to salvation; it is a sadly neglected truth.
But to return to John’s testimony. “Behold,” he says, “the Lamb of God!” This is rather the meditation of his heart, than direct witness, nevertheless of all the forms of testimony such heart-utterances are often the most powerful. When asked who he himself was, he replied, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” When he opens his lips, you find that what he says is what he is, a voice of testimony for the Lord. Hitherto we have found nothing in scripture so like the Lord’s language in John 8:2525Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. (John 8:25), where, when asked “Who art Thou?” — “Altogether that which I also say unto you,” was His reply (See New Translation). His speech presented Himself. This was power indeed! And he who was greatest of those born of women was most like Him in this. His heart was welling up a good matter, and the waters, flowing over, bore the disciples from the side of John unto Jesus. Did it grieve John to be thus abandoned for his Lord? No, this was the perfection and end of his ministry. The end, as well as source, of all true ministry, is ever the Lord Himself. Paul thus expresses it, “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.” For the disciples the Lamb of God is the Teacher, whom to see in His own abode is the one desire of their hearts. “Where abidest Thou?” Strange words from the lips of man, not often heard in the dry and thirsty land through which His feet pressed on.
Verse 39. “And they abode with Him that day.” What cravings of the soul, and spiritual needs were met and satisfied as they abode with Him that day! Who but Himself could truly reveal the Lamb of God, announced to them by John, whence had He come, and whither was He going, to what end born and come into the world! How many difficulties disappeared, and what darkness was dispelled that day, while they abode in the presence of “the Light of life! With what wonder they must have listened to the gracious words that fell from His lips — the words of life, which He alone, possessed! But was He only an answerer of questions or interpreter of mysteries? Jesus was the Revealer of the deep and secret things of God, as being God Himself. He declared the Father also, as only-begotten Son in His bosom; things which eye had not seen nor ear heard. Once again, when His work was done, we find Him, as the day declined and it was toward evening, the Guest (not, as here, the Host) of two disciples, of whose thoughts, as in the former case, He was Himself the Object. Their hopes seemed about to perish, the “Hope of Israel” being no longer with them. The angels word, that He was alive, made them astonished. Then He caused them to see Himself, as presented in the Word of God, its theme and Object. Afterwards, having broken the bread, and given it to them, their eyes were opened, and they discerned Himself. Henceforth their state was changed, they had now the key to the understanding of the scriptures, and knew Himself personally. The time of slowness of heart was gone, that of burning of heart was come. But the time of power was not yet come, for that is realized through the presence of the Spirit — “the Holy Ghost was not yet given, for Jesus was not yet glorified.”
But we were speaking of the disciples in verse 39, who abode with Him that day. We may be sure that they were not there to “prove Him with hard questions,” but to “commune with him of all that was in their hearts.” And what did Jesus tell them? It is said of the wise king, “he told the queen of Sheba all her questions.” Could that be said of Jesus in the scene before us, that He merely told them all their questions? It is quite right that we should commune with Him of all that is in our heart, and this we do when in His presence; but when Jesus communes with us, He tells us of all that is in His heart (something far deeper than answering our questions) and this in turn becomes the basis of our communings with Him. “Now they have known that all things, whatsoever Thou hast given Me, are of Thee. All things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you. And Solomon told her all her questions, there was nothing hid from Solomon that he told her not.” But of what was in his heart, nothing was said, there were no communings about that. It is not imagination to say that no such truths were ever heard in the house which Solomon built, as in the place where Jesus abode that day; yet Jesus, Lamb of God, was the Jehovah whose glory once filled that house. The disciples followed Jesus, who, in replying to their inquiry by the words, Come and see, “presents Himself as Center and Way. John’s testimony could not go higher than “Behold the Lamb of God, “nor could Jesus take ground lower than the height of the glory of His Person, to meet the spiritual need of man. He was Himself the only Center and the only Way for man. He alone had the words of life, none come unto the Father but by Him. The disciples were not contented to get a passing glimpse of the blessed Lamb of God, but they want to know where He dwells. He accepts that and says, “Come and see.” The subject of John’s testimony is the Lamb of God; then we get the truth from Jesus that He (God’s Lamb) is both Center and Way. Voluntarily or involuntarily every one must think of Him. In Matthew, when He was a babe, the apostate king wants to kill Him; the Magi come to present myrrh and frankincense, and to worship Him. The priests knew where the Messiah, the Judge of Israel, was to be born; but they communicate the knowledge to this murderous king, whose only desire was to take away His life. All are occupied about Him — angels as well as men. Joseph is told by the angel of the Lord, to take the young child and go into Egypt; and, in the next chapter, He is the heavens’ Object — they open unto Him — the Father reveals Him as His beloved Son, the Spirit descending, abides upon Him. In the following chapter, He is the special Object of Satan’s enmity, on Him his wiles and temptations are concentrated. The ministry of angels, of which He is the Object, succeeds the attacks of Satan.
So, in Luke, it is with Him that the hearts of the remnant are engaged. “Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace,” exclaims Simeon, when he had taken the infant Jesus in his arms, “for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” And Anna, coming in at that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Israel. In Luke 2, we see the whole Roman world put into activity, on account of the Babe that was born at Bethlehem. On the cross, the enmity of Jew and Gentile finds its common Object in Him. “For of a truth against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together.” The cross exchanged for the throne, the Center of man’s enmities becomes the Center of man’s praise (Rev. 5).
Loud and far each tongue partaking,
Rolls around the endless song.
Thus, in infancy, in His life down here, on the cross, in the midst of the throne, in the new Jerusalem, He is everywhere the Center and Object.
Verses 40-42. Then Andrew, one of the two disciples who had been with Jesus, finds first his own brother Simon, and telling him they had found the Messiah, leads him to Jesus, and there, standing in His presence without the intervention of priest or apostle (for as yet there were none), law or ritual, church or temple, saints or angels not being so much as named, Simon the sinner hears the words of grace: “Thou art Simon “—his name in nature — thou shalt be called Cephas, “a stone, or Peter, his new name in grace, in connection with Himself the Rock; Petros, a stone; Petra, a rock.
Verse 43. “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.” Here we get the other thought, He was the Center before, now He is the Path. He is the Lamb of God, the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost, the Center of all from God towards man, and the Path for man. In the wilderness there is no beaten path, we find in a spiritual sense Christ’s footsteps. How often questions arise as to the true character of the path of life, while it is forgotten for the time that all is summed up in that word, “Follow me.” There and there only this path is found. We find the same truth in the history of Israel in the wilderness, they had to follow the ark, that is, to follow Christ. This is always the path of the sheep; “My sheep hear My voice, “said the Good Shepherd, “and I know them, and they follow Me.” How often, in neglected passages, and expressed in simplest language, as from One too great to despise the least, principles of the utmost importance are unfolded, but overlooked by the careless reader. In the last chapter of this gospel, we find these words again. He said to Peter, when he asked about John, “What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” How weighty a word, yet unweighed and forgotten by many! That path is only found in following Him, the light of life ever shines upon it, the Spirit’s power, too, is realized there. They might have marched in that path, the ark leading (following Christ), straightway from the land of darkness to the pleasant land, eleven days journey. How different would their experiences have been from those of their forty years journeyings in the wilderness, but “they turned back in their heart, they understood not his wonders in Egypt, they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, they despised the pleasant land.” Thus Egypt, the wilderness, and Canaan, alike witnessed against them. The flesh never follows Christ, one must walk in the Spirit to do that. In the beginning, before the path is trodden at all, how grateful to the opened ear are His own blessed words, “Come to Me, and I will give you rest . . . learn from Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.” Has He no word, of equal sweetness, for those on the way? “I am the way. I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” It is always Himself; “Come to Me”; Learn from Me”; “I am meek and lowly in heart”; “I am the way”; “Follow Me.” It is only in following Him, that we accomplish the will of God. Have you found another way of doing that? “My meat,” He said, “is to do His will and to finish His work? I do always the things that please Him.” Is it so with us? How often one rises in the morning, without one thought of Christ in the heart! But with the returning tide, the flowing of the waters of Shiloah, that go so softly (Isa. 8:66Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son; (Isaiah 8:6); John 9:77And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. (John 9:7)) the consciousness of the presence of the Sent One, that He had kept us, in those hours when we could not keep ourselves, awakes in the heart. “I laid me down and slept; I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.” That was the truth, the Lord sustained him, and He comes in Himself with the truth. Now one is ready to “follow Him.” I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. It is a good thing to commune with one’s heart upon the bed, in the night watches, but prayer comes with day; when the conflict begins, then the time of communing with the heart is passed, the time to pray is come. “My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee.” Thus one renews one’s strength, walks in the Spirit, follows Christ.
Verses 45-51. Now we come to Nathanael. He was a simple saint of God. The Lord bears him witness: “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” In saying, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” it is plain that Nathanael already, through grace, was a lover of righteousness, and a hater of iniquity; and the Lord, in grace, recognizes it in “the Israelite indeed, and without guile.” This character, in its perfection, is seen in Christ Himself with God’s appreciation of it. “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows” (Psa. 45). Nathanael says to Him, “Whence knowest Thou me?” a very different question from that of the two disciples, “Where dwellest Thou?” and belonging to a different character of thought or state of soul. The desire to know about the Lamb of God from His own lips, is not the same thing as to find that we are known already by One whom we know not — Him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth. “Such knowledge is too wonderful” for him, He can only be God who knows him in this way (when Thou wast under the fig-tree I saw thee ), and he is in His presence. “I will praise Thee,” seems then to have been the language of his soul (Psa. 139). There is a sound of worship in his words, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the king of Israel.” A beautiful answer, through grace, to the words spoken in grace, “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” The Savior and the sinner bear testimony to each other. Surely it was a day of grace! That was a fine outburst from a heart prepared, by the sweet energies of the Spirit, for the reception of the new testimony, for the reception of the Lord Himself. Of redemption, or of divine righteousness, or of the Spirit’s presence as its seal, Nathanael as yet knew nothing; but a new nature was there already, with its feelings and capability of answering to the formative action of the Holy Spirit. “Because I said, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou?” Nathanael had owned Him, according to the glory of Psalm 2, as Son of God and King of Israel. The Lord told him he should see greater things than these, he should see Him in the glory of the Son of Man, over all the works of creation, according to the testimony of Psalm 8, the angels of God ascending and descending upon Him, a glorious and wondrous position for Man (Eph. 1:2222And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22)). In the day of His lowliness and humiliation, the heavens had opened to Him personally, and He saw the Spirit, as a dove, descending and coming upon Him. He received the Spirit as Man, as sealed of God in the position He had taken. Again, the heavens open to Him that angels may ascend and descend upon the Son of Man. If in the day of rejection He received the Spirit from the Father for Himself; in the day of His ascension He receives, a second time, the Spirit from the Father that He may send Him to others (Acts 2:32, 3332This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. (Acts 2:32‑33)). When His Person simply is in view, glory can add nothing to, nor humiliation take aught from it.