“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee: as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.” (John 17:1, 2).
Power, or authority, over all flesh! Such are the words which we overhear. It is the Lord who speaks. He is about to leave this world, and in His hands the Father has put authority over all humanity. Whether the merest babe or the greatest of kings, all men are subject to His power. Let us consider well these words: God, the Father, has given over to His Son Jesus the human race. Let infidelity assert itself as it will, or vain reasonings argue as is their wont, here stands the immutable fact—every human being is under the absolute authority of the Son of God.
It is power, not salvation, of which the Lord speaks; and when we consider Him, set at naught by sinners, despised and spit upon, and at length nailed to the accursed tree, there is something in this certain knowledge that authority over all men is His, which rejoices the heart. Let us ask, What does man generally say to this? What is the response of the heedless and the pleasure-loving to it? what the voice of the proud, and of the self-confident? We would say to each of our readers, “You are absolutely, And for time and eternity, under the authority of the Man, Christ Jesus. You are at His disposal. Your present and your future lie with Him. You are shut up to Him. You cannot break away from under His sway. Should you defy His authority for your lifetime, you must yield thereto forever when your last breath leaves your mortal frame.”
We have heard of the death of a notable modern infidel. He was dying, he said, in perfect calm. He was, according to his assertions, leaving this life to be no more—to become nothing, so far as thoughts and feelings, so far as responsibility and personality, are concerned. But the borderland of this life being passed, the limit of human disbelief is passed also, and the calm contempt of infidelity is gone forever. In life beyond death, is the Lord—a Man in heaven, and He has authority over all flesh. Having become a Man, God has given into His hands the human race. He may permit men to use even the very reason He has given them in opposition to Himself, but when death comes the limit of man’s wilfulness is reached.
Now, this authority over all is not merely universal; it is for a special purpose, and the purpose is one of perfect grace: it is that the Lord may give eternal life to as many as God the Father has given to Him. He who has power over all, is the giver of life to all who come to Him. All whom the Father gives Him come to Him, and him who comes to Him Jesus in no wise casts out. The power is absolute, and the grace is perfect.
We must have to do with the Lord in His power, if not in this lifetime, then in eternity. But if we go to Him, owning our natural state of spiritual death, He is the Life-giver, and will give us life. The life becomes ours by gift. “I give unto them eternal life.” It comes to us from the Son of God. “He that believeth on the Son hath life.”
Now, as those who must very shortly meet the Lord, let us inquire in what way have we had to do with Him. Have we had to do with Him as the Life-giver? Have we believed on His name? He came to this earth to give sinners, dead in their sins and in their state of nature, everlasting life. He gives this life to all who believe on Him, and His Father, who sent Him. Are we connected with Him in life, or are we merely part of the human race, all of which must submit to His authority?