(Notes of Lecture by G.V. W, Priory, Jan. 1870, on " John 17")
" FATHER.... glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." When I think of this in connection with Phil. 2:88And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8), " He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." I say what a wonderful mind was that of the Lord Jesus Christ! But first let us consider for a moment the position we take as believers; we have "put, off the old man," we have "put, on the new." We have put off the old coat, as it were, and come out in this new 'livery. It is all in the past tense (see also Eph. 48Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Ephesians 4:8)) God's statement is, that we have put on the new man, that is life, not the Holy Ghost. We get the question of life in 1 John 1, the eternal life which was with the Father. In Corinthians we are seen as having the mind of Christ, we are looked upon by God as having done with the old life—and having life in the Son, who is with the Father—that life, having a mind of its own, and we have got it. I 'find in Christ, the mind of the Son coming out in the sent one. What I am afraid of in us, is, that we try to get rid of ourselves in ' divine blessing; it is not the right way. All that He is become our shelter; but besides this, if we have this life in Him, we want to get His mind coming out in us down here, and by the Spirit working in us, it is the power “to walk, as Christ walked." How entirely I get the secret that was in Him—that “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." We see Him, as the Son of the Father, leaving divine glory, standing in the place of obedience. He can say, “I am King of Israel, owned as a King, riding upon an ass's colt. Head, too, of the Gentiles when they come up: but if I am to bring to me the thought of my cross: Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone." That had a secret in it, which those standing round about Him did not understand, that He from whom He came was God, who " would have compassion on whom He would, have compassion " and who " would have mercy on whom He would have mercy " That His heart yearned to have many sons brought out of a world of sin, home to Himself, who should be able to say, what no angel or archangel could say, " I have tasted of a mercy which guided Him down to death and that, the death of the cross." No one was His counselor, no one understood His mind; but He knew all that was in the Father's heart, knew every thought in the Father's mind, every joy the Father had in that perfect intelligence. He knew all that the Father wanted to have done down here, and that one thing guided Him down here. If the Father wants to bring many children to glory it cannot be, save by my death. Oh, how beautiful, the fellowship with the Father's mind! How beautiful the comprehension of the largeness of the Father's heart! His heart took up all, and the mind of the Son, came out in His course down here; not in perfect service merely, but in seeing how the whole mind of God the Father, governed everything. Another has said, “He did not ask His disciples to take the lowest place, because He had taken it Himself." You may go down after Him but He has gone before you. This was not abstract service, but perfect fellowship, with the Father's mind, which brought Him down, lower than any one else could go; but down to the very point where all the Father's counsels could find' their complete unhesitating expression, where it never could be said that God had not expressed fully His mind about Satan; about man's independency, it was all fully and perfectly declared in that cross, and we see how His fellowship with the Father's mind came out there.
Directly the seventeenth chapter doses, we see Him going out into the sorrow, the hill cup of unmixed judgment deserved by us. He is about to take it. What is His thought? The Father's glory—what was His mind? He raises His eyes to heaven, sees the whole arch of God's counsels, all that was in the mind of God, all the germinating at that glory which would come out of His death, and 'in that quiet way, He could say, " Father, the hour is come." What complete clearness of all question about, self; we are unable to turn from one set of circumstances to another; we lose our temper, because we are subject to circumstances. He never was. He was always in that mind; that had no self to think of, no self to take care of. See also verse 5, and remark here what was the effect of walking in that mind! Alas! to have the mind, and to walk in it, are two very different things! Christ, having the mind, walked in it; there was no contrariety in Him to upset the perfect calmness of His soul. He could; say " Father, the hour is come," as reverently reminding Him knowing all that He had done, as carrying out the volume of S.S. treasures in His soul, and, as His eye glanced round on the cross, He sees one thing not fulfilled, and says, "I thirst." Oh! what an immeasurable thing that mind of the Lord Jesus Christ: no rolling back of the thoughts upon Himself. If He spoke to Peter or John, they would say, “What does that mean? " They could give no response to His thoughts, but this blessed outflow of thought to His Father there, was perfect response, full communion, and I do feel for ourselves that it is avery important question, whether really we have got that mind, and that only to form the power and expression of our whole walk down here.
If He has given us the mind, we have to walk before God in Him. God looks upon us, as not in the old Adam, but in the new. Was it bondage to Christ, to carry out His mind? Is it bondage to the child to walk like Him? It was no bondage to the Son.
If I have the mind of Christ, it is no bondage at all; if I have not, it is, most surely.