OH 1:16-29{VERSE 16. " Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." This is the second place where the blessings and privileges of the saints are named. In verse 13 the position of children of God was the blessing conferred on all believers. Here it is that of His fullness we all have received. This is the necessary and blessed effect of receiving Himself, and not, as many appear to do, contenting themselves with receiving some doctrinal statement about Him. It is a far different thing to receive Himself; with Himself we receive all that He is. " His wisdom, riches, honors, powers," all are ours; we see with His eyes, understand with His heart, feel with His affections. "Not I but Christ liveth in me," said the apostle. " Grace upon grace," is abundance of grace, grace piled on grace. Oh, what a God is ours, rich in grace indeed Verse 17. "For the law was given by Moses: grace and truth subsist through Jesus Christ." The law could give neither life nor righteousness, glory (inheritance) nor promise. Weak for righteousness, but powerful to convince of its absence, it dragged the guilty one into court, and left him with mouth stopped under curse. It is precisely here that God's gift in grace meets us in the person of Jesus Christ. Life eternal and divine righteousness are given to all who receive Him. Grace and truth were now for the first time in the world, in the person of Jesus Christ. They subsist by Him, so the true Light came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. How blessedly the Holy Ghost proceeds in this unveiling J A Man full of grace and truth in this world, the Light that lightens every man (is light to every man) in a Man down here. Such an One dwelling amongst sinful creatures in their likeness, yet without sin. Instead of sin it was glory, glory like that of an only-begotten one with a Father shining through the darkness, which they contemplated. No one had seen God at any time; it was through a Man that He was to be declared, but that Man was the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. (Compare 1 John 4:1212No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12).)
Verse 19. "And this is the witness of John." Nothing can be more beautiful than the prophet's testimony. He must first answer the query relative to himself; he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, " Prepare Jehovah's way." Apart from his testimony or its subject he was nothing. Never before was such a witness upon earth, nor was ever such testimony committed to man. A vessel so formed, prepared, and filled, and for such service chosen, had never been appointed before. The subject of prophetic testimony himself, the voice in the wilderness, the messenger before His face, born into the world by the intervention of divine power, which the heavenly messenger, Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, is sent to announce (" for with God nothing shall be impossible "), filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, the greatest of earthly messengers, who should go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, whom he resembled in zeal for the Lord's glory, and desire for the people's repentance. Such was John the Baptist. " Hear me, O Lord," said the ancient prophet, "hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again;" a true priestly prayer-zeal for God, and love for His people. According to Malachi, the prophet would " turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers." " Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance," said the prophet of the Highest, " and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father:... I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I... He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."
We know that it was in vain. He came neither eating nor drinking; but all they could say of the prophet of the Highest was, "He bath a devil." The day of the law and the prophets was all but ended; they hung upon the first two commandments (Matt. 12:37-4037For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. 38Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:37‑40)); but where was love in Israel when Jesus came? " For my love I had hatred." John resembled Elias, not in spirit only, but in making good his testimony in power. His head could not be taken from his body until his course was finished, his cry heard, " A highway for our God," and the Lord Himself fully upon the scene. In how few words how great a history His Nazariteship and life in the wilderness complete the record. A reed shaken by the wind perhaps in man's mind, and that was all; while in the same wilderness an awakened sinner would have heard a voice proclaiming the presence of Jehovah, of Him who would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Gabriel's was heavenly testimony, " He shall be great before the Lord." This was confirmed by the Lord Himself'. "There hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." This was the Lord's thought of him who refused to know himself, save as the voice of testimony. Such was the moral shining of the lamp which disappeared at the presence of the light. His answer to their queries, " What sayest thou of thyself?" &c., reveal his moral state. " I am the voice... but there standeth one among you whom ye know not." He answers the questions pertaining to himself that he may turn to his only object and glory. Glory indeed; but sorrow without end was connected with it. " They did not know him." " They have taken away my Lord," said Mary. " One whom ye know not," expresses the feelings of one who knew Him in deeper depths, but not more devotedly than poor Mary. " No man," he says again, "receives His testimony;" His own already rejected save amongst the remnant.
Verse 29. "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." This will be the great result, no sin left, new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. This is part of His glory as Lamb of God. It does not teach that He has done it; His work is done; the effectual testimony and application of its results before God. in due time. In a similar way it is said, "The blood of Jesus•Christ cleanses from all sin;" that is, its property, so to speak. In the Old Testament we find that the blood was not sprinkled on a person a second time, nor the oil typical of the unction of the Holy Ghost. The oil follows the blood; the water of purification, on the contrary, was to be sprinkled as often as defilement was contracted. Living water mixed with the ashes of the victim, memorial of the judgment of sin in the power of the Spirit. The order and application was blood and oil. I refer to the consecration of the priests. They were first washed with water; that is, regeneration; but that is not what God seals. It is to the value of the blood of Christ that the Spirit bears testimony. The water of purification was for failure. " By one offering perfected forever;" " after that ye believed, ye were sealed;" " He that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet." R. E.