THE chapter last looked at has shown us Jesus rejected as Christ, or Messiah, confessed as the Son of the living God, and about to return in glory as the Son of man. But along with the glory in which He is to come and reward each according to his works, we have His suffering: not merely rejection, but His being put to death — raised no doubt, the third day, but still the suffering Son of man, and, as the Son of man, returning in glory. Following up the subject of His Father’s glory, in which He declares He is to come with His angels and judge in His kingdom, we have now a picture given on the holy mount: a picture most striking, and this in a twofold point of view. The glory, as we saw, of the kingdom, depends upon His being the Son of man, the exalted Man who had erst suffered, and into whose hands all glory is committed — who had, at every cost, retrieved the honor of God, and is to make effectual the blessing of man — who, by virtue of His suffering, has already brought to naught the power of Satan for those who believe, and who eventually, when the kingdom comes, is to expel Satan altogether, and bring in that for which God has been waiting — a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. Accordingly, “After six days” (type of the ordinary term of work here below), “Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart.” (vs. 1.) That is, He takes chosen witnesses; for it was merely a testimony to the kingdom — not exactly the kingdom, but the sample of it that He had referred to when He said, “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.”
The point there is the Son of man coming, rather than the kingdom itself; and what follows in our chapter is only a partial view of it, as illustrative of the glory of the rejected Son of man. But partial though it be, nothing could be more blessed, save the thing itself; and faith brings us into a very real present realizing of that which is to be. It is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The kingdom, of course, of which our Lord spoke, is not yet arrived. When it is said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” He appears to speak of a kingdom which we do enter now. For the Apostle John does not present it as a thing of mere outward manifestation, but gives a deeper revelation of the kingdom, as it is true now, into which every one that is born of God comes, and which shall yet be displayed with its heavenly and its earthly things. But St. Matthew, who takes up the Jewish part, or Old Testament prediction of the kingdom, sketches us the presentation of the Son of man coming in His kingdom.
The Lord, accordingly, fulfilling His word, takes these disciples “up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” (vs. 2.) The sun is the image of supreme glory, as that which rules the day. “And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.” (vs. 3.) Moses was the personage by whom the law was given; Elias, the grand sample of the prophets, who recalled the people to a broken law. They were thus the pillars of the Jewish system, to whom every true Israelite looked back with the deepest feelings of reverence: one of them singled out as the only Jew taken to heaven, without passing through death; the other, lest he should become an object of worship after his death, having the singular honor of being buried by the Lord.
These two appear in the presence of our Lord. They were known to be Moses and Elias: there seems to have been no difficulty in recognizing them. So, in the resurrection-state, the distinction of persons will be kept up thoroughly. There will be no such thing as that kind of sameness which blots out the peculiarities of each. Though there will be the termination of earthly relationships, and no peculiar links will survive in heaven which connected one with another, no matter how closely, on earth; yet each will retain his own individuality — with this mighty difference, of course, that all saints will bear the image of the heavenly. All men are after the pattern of the earthly now; for we all in the body resemble fallen Adam, yet are we not all lost in one common undistinguishable throng. We each have our own proper character and our peculiar conformation of body. So in glory each will be known for what he is. Moses and Elias are seen as glorified, but as Moses and Elias still; and the Lord is transfigured in their midst.
“Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias” (vs. 4); showing that he perfectly well knew which was which. “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and, behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” (vs. 5.)
Herein, I conceive, lies the depth of the whole passage. Peter, meaning to do honor to his Master, but in a human way — Peter, still savoring in a measure the things of men and not of God, proposes to put his Master on common ground with the heads of the law and of the prophets. But it must not be. The Father at once breaks silence. New revelations were about to follow, and indeed were being made. Whatever might be the value of Moses, whatever the special charge of Elias, who were they, and what, in the presence of the Son of God? The Son may make nothing of Himself; but the Father loves the Son. Peter would put Him on a level with the most honored of mankind; but the Father’s purpose is that every knee shall bow to Him — that all men shall honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. Man never does this — seeing simply man in the Son — in no adequate way honoring Him with divine homage. Faith does; for it sees God in the Son, hears God in Him, and also finds Him in the peculiarly blessed relationship of Father. For if Jesus were conceived to be simply God, and not the Son, it would be an incomparably less blessed revelation than that which we actually have. If such a thing could be, as divine nature without the blessed relationship of sonship before the Father, we should lose the very sweetest part of our blessing. For it is not barely the deity of Jesus that has to be owned — though this lies at the bottom of all truth; but the eternal relationship of the Son with the Father. Not merely was He Son in this world: it is most dangerous to limit the Sonship of Christ thus, for it is from all eternity. People reason, that because He is called Son, He must have a beginning in time, subsequently to the Father. All such argumentation ought to be banished from the soul of a Christian. The scripture doctrine has no reference to priority of time. He is called Son in respect of affection and intimate nearness of relationship. It is the pattern of the blessed place into which grace brings us through union with the Lord Jesus Christ, though, of course, there are ineffable heights and depths beyond in Him. But if we are simple about it, we gather from it the deepest joy that is to be found in the knowledge of the true God — and that in His Son.
The Father, then, interrupts the word of Peter, and answers Himself. The bright cloud that overshadowed them, Peter well knew to be the cloud of Jehovah’s presence: but the Father adds, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It is not, This is your Messiah, though of course He was so; but He brings out the grand New Testament revelation of Jesus. He reveals Him as His own beloved Son; and, further, He asserts His unqualified delight in Him. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him” — this last is also a statement of all importance. What was Moses, and what Elias now? They are entirely left out in the words of the Father. I need not say that every one who heard Jesus was the Son of God would be very far from despising Moses and Elias. They who understand grace have a far deeper respect for the law than the man who muddles grace and law together. The only full way to value anything that is of God is in the intelligence of His grace.
I do not understand myself, nor God, till I know His grace; and I cannot know His grace, except as I see it in the person of His Son. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” He was full of grace and truth.
The Father therefore directs attention to Him. He says, “Hear ye him.” It is no longer, Hear Moses, or, Hear Elias, but “Hear ye him.” Could anything be more startling to a Jew? All must give place to the Son. The dignity of the others is not denied, nor is their due position slighted. To assert the glory of the sun that shines every day is in no way to despise the stars. God made Moses to be what he was, and Elias received in like manner what He saw fit; but what were they compared with His Son? How plain and sad that men should be at this present moment making two tabernacles — one for Moses (if not for Elias), and one for the Lord Jesus! What Peter was rebuked for doing is what men have continued to do. They talk about God being the unchangeable God. But He who ordained the night made the day; and as surely as He once spake the law, He has now sent the gospel. I see there the display of the glory of God, showing out now one part of His character and now another. This is not changing. God gives us to see His different attributes, and His various wisdom, and His infinite glory; but I must see each in its own sphere, and understand the intent for which God has given each. Moses and Elias were the two great, cardinal points of the Jewish system; but now there is One who eclipses all that system — Jesus, the Son of God; and in presence of Him not even the representatives of the law or the prophets are to be heard. There is a fullness of truth that comes out in the Son of God; and if I want to understand the mind of God, as it concerns me now, I must hear Him. This was most difficult for a Jew to enter into: and, indeed, it was, if possible, more important for him to heed the call than for anyone else; because he had already a religion based upon the law and the prophets. Now the beloved Son of God, in whom the Father Himself expresses His perfect satisfaction, is commended to all. “Hear ye him.”
As Jesus, the Son of God, is the object of the Father’s infinite love, so He is the means of that same love reaching even to us. If I see Him to be the beloved Son of the Father, my soul rests upon Him, and enters into communion with the Father. “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” What is fellowship? It is our having common joy in a common object which we share with one another. Our joy now we share with the Father and with the Son. The Father bids me hear the Son, and the Son declares the Father. We have fellowship with the Father, who points out to our hearts Him in whom He Himself delights; we have fellowship with the Son, inasmuch as He makes known to us the Father. How shall I know the Father?―how know His feelings? But by one way. I look at His Son, and have now seen the Father. The Son speaks, and I have heard His voice also. I know how He acts — His love can go out to the very vilest. Such was Christ; and now, I am sure, such is the Father also. I know what God the Father is when I follow the Son and listen to the Son. It is the Father He is revealing, not Himself: the Son came to make known what the Father is in a world that knew Him not.
Even those who had faith, what thoughts had they about the Father? We have only to look at the disciples, to see that there was no answer to the Father’s heart, and no sympathy with it. Although they were born of God, up to this time it was just what Philip said, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Not that he did not divinely know Jesus as the Messiah; but he had not entered into the blessedness of what He was as the Son revealing the Father. It was only after the Holy Ghost came down after the Son’s departure to heaven, that they acquired the consciousness of the grace wherein they stood.
So, yet more, the apostle Paul says, “Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” To know Christ at the right hand of God — to appreciate what He is there — is to know Him far better than if we had heard every discourse, and seen every miracle, of His upon earth. The Holy Ghost brings it out more and more fully through His word. I am not saying now how far we enter practically into what the Holy Ghost is teaching, because this must after all, and rightly, depend on the measure of our spirituality. But the Holy Ghost is here to take of the things of Christ and show them to us — to make known His glory and His sufferings, as it is the Father’s delight that He should be known. But there were many things that they could not then bear. When the Holy Ghost was come, He should lead them into all truth.
Such is the object of the Father. He takes advantage of the very glory of Jesus, seen as Son of man, to make known that a still deeper glory attaches to Him. The kingdom of Christ by no means exhausts the glory of His person: and it is as connected with His deeper glory that the existence of the church is brought out. So the confession of His Sonship elicited the word, “Upon this rock will I build my church.” This is the pith of the New Testament revelation — it is the Father revealing His Son, and the Spirit enabling us to receive what the Son is, both as the image of the invisible God, and as introducing us into fellowship with the Father. It is not God merely known as such, but the Father in the Son made known by the Holy Ghost. Hence it is, then, that here, in a Gospel especially written for Jewish believers, the Holy Ghost takes particular pains to mark this. (Compare the close of chap. 11.) When Peter would have put the Son of God on an equal ground with the most exalted and favored servants of God, a higher object is brought out. When before Him, Moses and Elias rejoice to take the place of mere servants. The Son is commended of God to us as the One whom we are to hear.
This is a truth of all importance, in order to a soul’s getting thoroughly settled on Christian ground. Christians are often afraid of distinguishing between the ways of God, and shrink from accepting the full place of our Lord. But to give Jesus His rightful glory is the first duty of the soul; even as the Father Himself proclaims it. He spoke of Jesus as God the Father speaking of God the Son. We want more singleness of eye, a more fervent spirit, and greater intelligence, to give increasing honor to the Son of God. All heresy has for its root the slighting of Christ. So, one man makes doing good his object, another the Gospel, another the Church, each rising perhaps above the other; but he is practically nearest to God who makes everything a question of Christ. This is the highest spirituality, because it is the most simple reproduction of God’s own mind, feelings, and word.
The disciples, confounded by what they hear, fall on their faces and are sore afraid. There was no communion with it yet. For the present they enter into it but slightly, though it was afterward recalled to them by the Spirit of God, “And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when, they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.” (vss. 7, 8.) The heavenly vision had passed away for a time: they were on the mount alone with Jesus. What a joy that, if it vanish, He abides!
Let us just refer briefly to the account of this scene as given in the other Gospels. In Mark 9 we have this same vision of glory, and it is opened in a similar manner. I am not now going to enter into all the points of difference, for there are several. But what was chiefly on my mind was this: In what the Father says about Christ, the words “in whom I am well pleased” are left out. The emphatic point, forgotten nowhere, is that He was the Son; and in Mark, as in Matthew, He is the Son (not a servant only, though truly such) who is to be heard. But the Holy Ghost by Matthew adds “in whom I am well pleased.” The satisfaction of the Father in the Son is given as the ground why He should be heard, as the full expression of His mind. In Luke we have another thing. “Behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias.” (Luke 9:3030And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: (Luke 9:30).) They are called “men” here in a distinct manner, this Gospel having been written more particularly in view of man at large. These men “appeared in glory, and spike of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” There we have the subject of their conversation — a thing of the deepest interest for us to learn. The death and sufferings of Jesus are the great theme on which men in glory converse with Himself, the Son of God. And Jerusalem, yea Jerusalem, would be the place of His death instead of welcoming Him to reign! But then we find the sad traits of human weakness: Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep. There again we find the Father’s affection for His Son. The highest glories of Judaism wane — the Son is to be heard. The moral features are prominent throughout.
Now there is another thing to be observed. John leaves out the transfiguration altogether; because his proper work was to dwell, not upon Christ’s outward manifestation to the world as Son of man in His kingdom, but on His eternal glory as the only-begotten Son of God; or, as he says himself, “We beheld his glory, glory as of an only-begotten with a Father.”
In 2 Peter we have a most interesting allusion to this scene. It is said there, “He received from God the Father honor and glory” (2 Peter 1:1717For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (2 Peter 1:17)) — confirming the remark, that this scene does not show us so much His essential glory, as that which He received from God the Father — “when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory” (or the cloud, which was the known, external symbol of Jehovah’s majesty), “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” But, mark, “Hear ye him” is omitted here. This is very striking. In the three Gospels, not one of them omits the words “Hear ye him.” In the Second Epistle of Peter they are omitted. Matthew gives us the fullest account—All that God the Father said — “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” But the others, that is, Mark and Luke, give “This is my beloved Son: hear him”; while Peter himself, who was an eyewitness of the scene, omits the words “Hear him.” Matthew shows us the complacency of the Father in Jesus, for the purpose of specially raising the hearts of the Jewish disciples above His mere place as Messiah to the Father’s peculiar delight in Him as the Son; and this as a ground for valuing His word above all. Peter leaves out “Hear ye him,” because now (the revelation of Jesus having come out) the point that remains is the Father’s delight in Jesus. I do not pretend to say how far the inspired writers knew all the mind of God in such a thing: they wrote as moved by the Holy Ghost.
There are two ways, I would observe, of looking at these differences in the accounts that are given us: the one is the infidel view, and the other the Christian. The infidel way is to suppose that Matthew, Mark, and Luke did their best as men; but that they sometimes made mistakes. Now infidelity is always the most foolish thing in the world. It is not only unworthy of God, but also, I repeat, as absurd as possible when the facts are quietly looked into. How came it to pass that the man who wrote the first Gospel gave this scene the most fully? If he had written after the others, I could conceive his remembering and registering what the others had forgotten; but Matthew gives both the first and minutest account. Mark and Luke leave out some parts, and Peter leaves out what they had all put in — “Hear him” Such criticism, therefore, is not merely pride of heart, but it is the folly of spoiled children against the word of God.
But, again, let us look at it in the believing way. We are ignorant; we know nothing as we ought to know. Let us believe that what God says is perfect — that everything He has given us in His word is perfect; and that in the very differences there is a divine object. Matthew, writing to those who were under Jewish prejudices, brings out the Father’s good pleasure in Jesus as His Son, which is the grand means of lifting up the soul from earth. And as it was the Evangelists who were the first to bring out this new and blessed truth, they all put in “Hear him.” But Peter, writing long after, makes the person of the Son to be the prime object, and not His revelation. What does Peter mean to teach us, when he says that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation? You cannot understand prophecy if you take it merely piecemeal, and by itself. A prophecy confined to particular circumstances and persons loses its chief value. Christ is the substance of prophecy. It is His glory that the prophecies bring out. They are not connected merely with England or France or any other country you may fancy; but one must, see the connection of the prophecies with Christ: when you do, you have a sure light. God is thinking of His beloved Son, and commending His Son to us. He wants to have our hearts filled with His Son, and not with thoughts about our country, or great men. The Son of God is the object of the Father. This is what the Holy Ghost is insisting upon here. He says that prophecy is a lamp which shines in a dark place, but not when it is severed from the object of God. Take it in connection with its due aim, and all is bright; but connect it with self, and you turn the very prophecy of God into a false light which will lead you astray. Let me, therefore, settle it for my soul, that I am to trust in every word of God; to lay up and consider each word and thought, confiding in the Holy Ghost to lead me into all truth. I must wait upon God to see what the particular design and object of the Holy Ghost is: God is faithful who has called us unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And if He has called us into fellowship with His Son, what will He not tell us about His Son? The Son is before Him; and the Lord grant that He may be before us.
As the disciples came down from the mount, the Lord charges them, saying, “Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.” (vs. 9.) It was no longer a question of testifying to the kingdom of Christ. This was rejected. The vision was for the disciples, for strengthening their faith in Jesus. The Lord was occupying Himself with the souls of believers, not with the world. There is always a period when testimony of an outward kind may close You may remember the time when Paul separates the disciples that were at Ephesus from the multitude, and leads them into what more particularly concerned them. Now for the present time till the Holy Ghost was given, till the Lord was risen from the dead, and power came from on high to make these things a fresh starting point, it was of no use to speak of them any further. “His disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.” (vss. 10-12.) He shows that to faith Elias was come. If the nation had received the word, Elias would have come in person, according to the prophecy in Malachi; but the nation refusing Jesus, the disciples were instructed to regard the testimony of John the Baptist as being virtually that of Elias. This accords with the statement that we have in chapter 11, where it was said, “If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come”; showing that it was not Elias actually and literally, but the spirit and power of Elias in the person of John the Baptist. The Messiah is coming in glory by-and-by, and Elias is coming too. But the Messiah was come in weakness now, and in humiliation; and His forerunner had been put to death. It was Elias who was come in the person of the suffering John the Baptist, and his testimony was despised. The disciples are let into the secret of this: “Elias is come already, and they... have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.” (vss. 12, 13.)
But now another thing is noticed. The working of Satan is in no wise put aside by the effect of the glory of Jesus being revealed upon the mountain. At the foot of that same mountain where the Lord displayed the glory of the kingdom, Satan displayed his power. It was not broken yet. The kingdom was only a matter of testimony. The disciples failed to draw on the resources of Christ to put down the power of the enemy. It came out thus: A man comes to the Lord, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed; for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.” (vs. 15.) The most opposite trials were thus brought together. “And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the demon, and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.” (vss. 16-18.) When the disciples wanted to know how it was that they could not cast him out, He tells them, “Because of your unbelief.”
It’s a serious consideration, but nothing can be more sure, than that unbelief is at the root of the difficulties Satan foists in. He has lost his power over those that have faith. A believer could never, if walking with the Lord, fall under anything of the sort. We must distinguish a slip into sin from falling into the power of Satan; which latter I believe to be his influence in sapping all confidence in the goodness of God. Hence, when a man is put away from the church, he is delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, though the aim be that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Whenever a person is really, and rightly, put away from the table of the Lord (until there is a restoration of spirit, which can only be when the snare of Satan is defeated), exceeding power is acquired over the soul.
But here we have it as to the body. This child is described as a lunatic, and sore vexed. But unbelief entirely misses the power of God, which ought to have been at the command of the disciples. “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place.” (vs. 20.) The very least working of faith in the soul is so far available for present difficulties. The power of the world, the settled power of anything here, which is what the mountain sets forth, would completely disappear before the faith of the disciples. “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (vs. 21.) There must be dependence in the conflict with the power of evil. It was Christ’s moral glory it is our secret of strength. The assumption of power because of association with Jesus simply fails and turns to shame. There must also he self-emptiness, and self-denial, that God may act. When Jesus descends, all Satan’s power is broken and vanishes.
Then comes another declaration of His sufferings, but I will not dwell upon this now, beyond remarking that, as in chapter 16:21, we had His suffering through the Jews (elders, chief priests, and scribes), so here it is rather Gentile rejection: “The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men.” This follows the manifestation of His glory as Son of man, while the other followed the confession of His still deeper glory as Son of God.
In conclusion, let us look at the instructive tale of the piece of money demanded for the temple. Peter there answers quickly according to his usual warmth of character. When the tax-gatherer came, who was connected with the temple, and the usual fee was demanded, Peter answered very hastily, that of course his Master would pay the tribute. His mind went not beyond their Jewish position. But our Lord anticipates Peter when they come to the house, and says to him, “What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute, of their own children, or of strangers?” It was not that any king of the earth was demanding tribute now of them; here the payment was for Jehovah’s temple. Peter answers truly enough, Of strangers. Then Jesus says to him, “Then are the children free.”
Nothing can be more beautiful. For the truth taught us here is that, whatever be the glory of the kingdom which is coming, whatever the power of Satan which disappears before the word of Jesus, whatever the faith which can remove mountains, nothing can take the Son of God out of the place of grace. It may be that there is no claim, no right to ask — the children are free. It would be an absurdity to suppose that among the kings of the earth, the children would come under the same circumstances as strangers in the payment of tribute. They are exempt. Jesus takes that place, and most sweetly too He puts it in a general form. The principle of it would be true of others, as well as of Himself: the children were to be free. He puts it in the broadest form, in order to give an idea of the place of blessing into which the children of the kingdom would be brought — the children of Him in whose name this demand might be made. “Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money; that take, and give unto them for me and thee.” (vs. 27.)
This is the great wonder of Christ, and the practical wonder of Christianity, that while we have the consciousness of glory, and ought to pass through this world as sons of glory, as well as sons of God, for this very reason the Lord calls us to be the humblest and meekest, taking no place upon the earth: I do not mean claiming no place for Christ. It is our business to live for nothing but for Christ and the truth: but where it is a question of ourselves, to be willing to be trampled on and counted as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things. Flesh and blood cannot like it; but it is the power of the Spirit of God raising us above nature. It is not hastiness of feeling; still less is it persons talking about their rights or anything of the kind. Here we have the consciousness that the children were free — fullness of privilege their portion, but at the same time, “lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea.... thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.” This is the place of a Christian: not contending for anything that pertains to ourselves, yet earnest for what pertains to God; but in what concerns ourselves, the willingness to suffer, See the manner in which our Lord provides for all demands for this tribute. He directs Peter how to find the piece of money, and says, “That take, and give unto them for me and thee.” What a joy to think that Jesus associates us with Himself, and Himself provides for everything if we would only let Him; that Jesus, who proves Himself in this very thing to be God the Creator — displaying divine knowledge, having the command even of the restless deep — and, as such, working this most extraordinary miracle (making a fish to provide the money needed to pay the tax of the temple), should thus give us a place with Himself, and undertake for all our need. Nothing can more beautifully show us how, with the consciousness of glory, our place should ever be that of the bending and lowliness of Christ. How blessedly the Son stooped to be the servant, and leads the children into the same path of grace!
The Lord grant us to know how to reconcile these two things. We can only do it so far as our eye is upon Christ.