1 John 2
In, a former paper (vol. ii. p. 1,) I took up the priesthood of Christ; I now take up again the subject in this chapter, that is, the communication of divine life from the Father Himself in the Person of the Son, who comes down on earth, and by Him it is communicated to us. There, that is, in the Person of the Son, is the manifestation of all we ought to be, and a test by which we may prove what is of Christ, and detect that which is not. The greater part of the New Testament Scripture, the Epistles, owes its origin to the mischief Satan did in the Church. The mischief was only permitted that the folly of those things which corrupt might be made manifest, that the full glory of the truth might be brought out. " These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.' The things here written of are what some pretenders held. They were persons of the highest pretensions who would seduce them. Not the Gospels, of course, but the great body of the Epistles, of which those to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Galatians are examples, were occasioned by the mischief the adversary brought in. In Corinthians he attacked the resurrection; in Thessalonians the coming of the Lord; in Galatians justification by faith. Philippians is an exception, because there Paul was comforted by their love. It is the same in regard to the mischief be has done from the beginning. The fall itself is the occasion of God's introducing greater blessing than before. Whatever Satan seeks to do must ultimately tend to the divine glory, as it has done from the beginning, and to the comfort and blessing of our souls who seek to serve God. Of course man gets humbled in it, but God overrules it for greater good. If we turn to Christ's rejection by the Jews, it brings out the Church. Though he wept over Jerusalem, the energy of Satan being there exhibited against the Lord Himself, so He said, "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour." "For I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." He looked with sorrow at the evil, but it was the occasion of infinite blessing. Thus by his rejection was the greatest blessing brought out, for if Jesus had not died, we had not been saved; and though Satan thought he had triumphed over him by the cross, God raised Him from the dead. So, whatever Satan does, it always results in the bringing out, on God's part, of greater blessing. And so it is in our day; we find man spoiling that which had been committed to him, and God bringing in something much better. And what do we find in the chapter before us? Antichrist was going on, and it led to the bringing out of the workings of divine life; it is the occasion in God's hands of bringing into greater blessing them that trust Him. The history from the beginning is just that; and so it will be to the end, until Satan is cast into the burning lake of fire and brimstone. It will be then to bring in heavenly blessing.
The power of divine life first manifested in Christ is then manifested in us. We shall see the instructions He gave, guiding us by His precepts according to His life. "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked." It is not said so to be, because we have sin, and He had none; but so to walk. "Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." Here we get a very important principle of the divine life, what is our life, and whence its source.
There are two parts of the manifestation of the divine life-what He was in His own person down here, and now that He is exalted, what He manifests through and in us of the divine life.
First, Christ is the source of it for us, " The Word was made flesh," &c.; second, the manifestation through and in us. We can correct every estimate we form of our lives, because we have the perfect and wonderful model of it in Christ Himself, who is the power of it. He is the very eternal life that was with the Father, and He has given us that eternal life. I am speaking of Him before He was the Creator, as
shown in John's Gospel. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him," &c. He was eternally with God before He created. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," and it is added, "of his fullness have we all received." Two things are here, first, "the Word was made flesh, &c. and we beheld his glory." As also in Hebrews, "The brightness of his glory, arid the express image of his person; ' "the image of the invisible God," as in Colossians; the perfect representation of what God "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." We get in His Person the life itself that was with the Father from the beginning. He was the life; it was in Him. Now, it is never said, eternal life is in us; it is in Him; but it is given to us. That is a different thing. He Himself is our life, He has life in Himself. " God has given to us eternal life, and that life is in his Son;" but the Son has life in, Himself. My hand is alive, but my life is not in my hand. My hand lives by virtue of its union with my body. Take it off, and I shall live still. So the Church, or an individual soul, lives by virtue of its union to Christ, the Head.
Secondly, when Christ was down here, all his instructions were the expressions of this life. It was not like a commandment given by the law, because the law exacted from man what was becoming and what man ought to be in relation to God. It took the responsibility that attached to man's character, as man, and did not go be yond it. But we get in Christ the Manifestation of what God was to man; lave acting in the midst of evil. It was no part of the law to love sinners, but it was a part of the Lord. He Came down to love. Again in all His thoughts and tones of feeling for us, He went far beyond the mere letter of the law. The law could not say, "Blessed are the poor in spirit;" that must arise from an estimate of God. The law could not say, " Blessed are the peacemakers;" Christ Himself was the Prince of peace, showing there was peace to be made. So the duties. There was a spirituality in the law beyond what we see, but there was a power of good in Christ that went beyond the evil. The law never manifested power over evil in the shape of love. There was manifested in Christ the power of good over evil; and that was Christ's life. We get in all His actings the character and expression of what God was in man when on earth, and it is that that is so lovely. He was the eternal life with the Father.
John the Baptist, who was next to Christ and immediately preceded Him, of whom the Lord testified, "of them that are born of women, there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist," came in a way of righteousness, and therefore went away from men altogether-was in the desert, kept no company with any, was a herald before Christ to announce Him, had nothing to say to any, ate locusts and wild honey. But God, being the person that was offended, could come in grace near to them, and speak to them in the spirit of grace, which rises above and overrides the evil, and expresses what God is; and they said, " Never man spake like this man." Then it is said, "He went about doing good." In Him was found the activity of good, the suffering for righteousness' sake, the exercise of love.
There is another thing which specially characterizes the divine life of Christ, the discernment of it in those who possess this life, the power of discerning the spirit of life in another.
It has been said, there requires much race in oneself to discern little grace in another. There is an attractive power in grace which recognizes the Spirit of Christ in another. He could say, "Forasmuch as this man also is a child of Abraham." There was that which attracted in Christ. The moment a Christian recognizes divine life in another, in spite of difference, education, rank, and many other things, he will be drawn towards him. It is characteristic; he cannot help it. The moment a man discerns the Spirit of Christ in another, there is a necessary attraction to it. At once they are united together in love. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." The instant the spirit and character of Christ is manifested, there is necessarily an attraction where the Spirit of Christ is. "He went about doing good." Then there is a blessed discernment of the traits of it; it is discerning Christ. "Love your enemies," that was manifest in Christ as a man. "If ye love those that love you, what thank have you." You must be above your enemies, and love those that are good for nothing. In Christ, we see God coming down and manifesting this life in a man on the earth, so as to attract towards Him, and bring into His presence in rest. " As I have loved you, ye ought also to love one another." "Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." He overcometh evil with good. You must do as God does, love your enemies. It was that which proved Him to be God in that He could love that in which there was nothing loveable. In God, the spring of love is from Himself; but we need something to attract us. I am referring to the primary revelation, that which was from the beginning. And however much we may go on, we must come back after all to it. It is always perfect, because it is God Himself who is manifested. You never can bring me to anything where God was manifested, but to the living word of Christ, or the written Word of Scripture. We have only to ask, is it that which you have had from the beginning? If not, it is "evil seducers." If it is "that which we have had from the beginning," that is God, that must test everything, and that is the character of the word. Bring a sinner opposite to the word, and you learn what he is, as in the case of the poor Samaritan woman. The written word is the manifestation of Christ, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. A man cannot judge God's word without judging himself. If he judges it wrong he is judged himself. "He that believeth not is condemned already." He is incapable of seeing that Christ was God manifested in the flesh, and the word judges himself. You may talk about colors or light to a blind man, but if a man is blind be will not understand you. It is his non-perception of light and colors that proves he is blind. It must be so where God is manifested. If I am incapable of discerning what manifests Christ, and the word does not reach my soul, it is that which judges me. "The word which I speak, the same shall judge him in the last day." All God's ways now are presenting His moral manifestation. It will next be His judicial manifestation, if the moral manifestation is not received. "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day." The Lord did not accompany the word with judgment when it was spoken, but the word will judge him at the last day, and he will be condemned. Man still is proved by the word, and that is the profit of preaching. It brings out the sentence in that day of all the precepts He is displaying now. Antichrist will only bring out by God's judicial action towards him what He has taught all the way through. Antichrist will be brought out in full display, and God has to show what He is, and to act towards him in that character. The first way God taught them was in the Lord Jesus Christ, "whom ye with wicked hands have taken and slain." Being rejected, and having ascended up on high, and become the expression of what we should be, the Church should be the manifestation of what Christ is. Then comes the communication of the life from Him in heaven. This was a new thing. " A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another." It was not a new commandment, it was an old commandment, and yet new, because it was now given in the power of it, being not merely commanded in His word, but communicated by the power of the Holy Ghost to reproduce in us the life of Christ, and that is a new thing, and we are to manifest it. The Church of God is to be the vessel for the manifestation of Christ down here, according to the power of its Head in heaven.
God acted in government towards Israel when He dwelt in thick darkness. He acted in government according to a known law, but He was hid behind a veil; He set bounds about the mount. But now when Christ died, the darkness was passed in the cross, and there was a full display of the holiness of God. At the same moment His wrath burst forth, which fully manifested His character. "The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." The veil is rent, and we can now enter into the presence of God Himself, into the holiest, which is opened to us., " Walk in the light, as God is in the light." "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord." "If ye walk in the light, as God is in the light." Nothing is to be allowed that cannot bear the light. My fellowship is with light. Men perish for lack of knowledge. They are alienated from the life of God, which is the spirit of sin. "The true light now shineth," by Christ's death. He ascended up on high; the veil is rent; God is fully manifested in truth and love. If He had been just only, we should have perished: if He had been love only, there would have been no justice: but there was justice and holiness with love, and God has been glorified about our sins in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The light is now shining. Christ, the source of that light, is to be manifested in us, "which thing is true in him and in you." It is an old commandment which was from the beginning, Christ Himself. You cannot have a better than that. And now the manifestation of it is learned in us; and if we want it as a test, it must not be the imperfect light that is in us, but in Christ Himself. While it is given to us as the means of detecting these errors, it is also to build us up in what Christ is. In looking at these traits, we discover more and more that it is thoroughly divine. I learn in Christ such and such a trait of perfectness, and I say that is God manifest in the flesh, and thus I learn all I shall know in heaven. You have seen the Father. We learn the beauty in Jesus, and learn it is divine; and learning what God is, we are happy and peaceful. And if you have seen a saint dying, if he has apprehended the blood of Christ, he will have peace; but if you look for joy, it must spring from the affections being acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. You will sometimes see a saint, and there is joy, and by and by his peace is gone. That is where the soul is not settled. There ought to be both. The blood gives peace, but it is my acquaintance with and knowledge of Christ that gives me joy.
"He that says he is in Christ and hateth his brother." The apostle always speaks of the abstract principle. "He that loveth his brother." "He that is born of God cannot commit sin." "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him." If he stumble at Christ it is his own fault. We ought never to be a stumbling-block through not being like Christ. There is no greater snare than the fear of offending, and no greater sin than the fear of offending. If Christ is the offense, if it is Christ that offends, the offense of the cross has not ceased. You will never please the world with the cross of Christ. If I am walking in perfect love, my love will flow out to others. If I have the ' affection in myself, I shall love my brother, and shall not stumble. If I am not walking in love of the brethren, I am going all crooked myself. I may rebuke, Christ did that; but if the desire to do them good is not in me, I am going crooked myself, I have not the spirit of Christ.
(Ver. 12.) " I write unto you children," not little children, but all saints, "because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake." That was a settled thing. You are not Christians at all if your sins are not forgiven you. The poor jailer wanted salvation, and that is what he got. He cried out, "What must I do to be saved?" That is what he wanted. If I come to hear the testimony of God, what I want is to be saved, to get life. Nicodemus came by night, with his questions. The Lord said, "You must be born again." "He that is in Christ is a new creature." The jailer did not know what being in Christ meant, but he believed. What is the consequence? He was saved, saved by a work that was accomplished before he ever asked to be saved. Believing in Christ, he was saved, he got eternal life. That is what he got. If the light gets into the souls of sinners, they cannot be happy until they have peace with God. This is the difficulty now as to Christians having peace. Before Christianity became a profession in the world, a Christian was counted and understood to be saved; but now all pretend to be Christians, and they who really are so want to know if they are true Christians, whereby the simple fact of redemption is very much lost sight of. "Your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake." God's judgment is passed already on your sins in Christ. If I look to Christ to be saved, as bearing my sins, His judgment is, you have eternal life. That is just as much the judgment of God, as if Christ had pronounced it on the great white throne. He knows the value of the work of His Son; He is judge, and not you.
"I write unto you, little children." He can add a great deal to the little children, but to the fathers he has only one thing to say, "you have known him that is from the beginning." Whatever else it might be, it ends all in this, "known him that is from the beginning," that is Christ. If anything is brought to me that is not Christ, I reject it. If I know a person, it is himself that I know. I am to know that my sins are forgiven me for His name's sake, but I am to know him that was from the beginning also. "No man knoweth the Son but the Father." What is the object of all this knowledge of Christ? All the promises are in Christ. He is the object of the Father's delight. The apostle distinguishes growth. The fathers have known Christ from the beginning, the true Christ. That guards the soul, knowing Him perfectly. There is no ambiguity, no uncertainty, and all the exercises and experiences of the Christian, which are often so much dwelt on are but the scaffolding of the soul to get at this, "known him that is from the beginning."
The young Christian is full of the joy, and is thus taken up with himself; whereas the old Christian speaks less about the joy, but says, it is Christ Himself possessed makes me happy. His heart trusts in the Lord; the things of the world, even the things of the Church, do not disturb him. He counts on the love ever watchful and certain in its eye, and is not afraid at any evil tidings. He knows, though heaven and earth were to dissolve and crumble into pieces, and the Church itself, which is impossible, His throne remains. There is a steadiness in the man's soul, because he knows Him that is from the beginning; knows a manifested Christ: one whom he bath looked upon with his eyes, and his hands have handled. He was speaking of a Christ he had known, and seen, and handled, and which was from the beginning, and says, there is the Father's character, and he has nothing to add. How far have your souls found steady rest in Christ? or how far are they satisfied with Christ? Forsaken of friends, are you stilt satisfied with Him? or how far are there things that you crave and have to resist? Have you done with the world? Not as tired of its vanities and wearied with its pleasures, but because your souls have found something in Christ that satisfies for all. Is He found such a manifestation of God to your souls that you rest in Him, having found such a richness in Christ that the soul is satisfied so as not to want other things? Then if you have, you can say, " none of these things move me."
The two points to young men and children are, first, that they have over-'come the wicked one, the prince of this world; secondly, that they have known the Father, through believing in Christ, and have known the spirit of adoption, and no doubt of the Father's love. The young men overcoming the wicked one is connected with their having the word of God abiding in them, and overcoming the world. "Love not the world," &c.
Then the little children are warned against the seductions of false doctrines, &c. "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."
I would remark that which especially characterizes the young men is conflict with the world. And if we would be satisfied with the knowledge of Him that is from the beginning, there must be overcoming the world. "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." If the soul is to grow up into Christ in all things, there must be the giving up of the world. " They are not of the world." May we see the excellency of Christ, and so know, in the ways of that lowly man, the full expression, unfolding, and manifestation of the character of God, that our hearts may be knit to Him, and then, when we shall see Him face to face, "we shall know even as we are known."