"My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28.)
How sadly different is the measure of intelligence which men display when occupied with the things of God and with the things of man. Who, when bade study some plan proposed for the bettering or renewing of anything upon earth, is there who would not endeavor, whilst studying it, to mark the adjustment of the various parts of its machinery, and their suitability to accomplish the object proposed. Say that his intelligent sympathy and co-operation through a wearisome course of labor, were supposed by the proposed plan, would any one feel it enough, merely to have read the proposal, or would he feel that he might read it carelessly, that the having read it was enough, that he had nothing to do with the suitability of the machinery or with the object to be accomplished thereby? Surely he would rather feel that unless the object were distinctly known to him and kept, before his mind, all his study would be in vain; the whole question being, is this course capable of producing such or such a given effect? But alas! when man comes to the things of heaven and of God, he has, by nature, no intelligence to exercise; and that which he receives in Christ, the mind of Christ," (1 Cor. 2:16.) he is too prone to neglect. Satan avails himself of this; and the saints are found. oft reading the bible with preconceived thoughts of what they will or ought to find there, as opposite from what they will find as possible. Happy are the few who find grace to correct themselves and their own notions, by subjection to the blessed contents of God's scriptures. Many an infidel rejects the bible because it contains no systematic proof of the existence of a God. Surely his own existence is no great assumption for any one to make when sitting down to write a book. How much more when the living God was the party. Alas! the naughty pride of the flesh which sets man up to judge his Creator, and leads hint to count everlasting misery in his own way better than the fullness of blessing in God's. It is the same pride of the flesh and independence of mind concerning God's object, which leaves the minds of so many to be exercised upon the question of the Deity of the Son and the Deity of the Spirit. The questions are taken to Scripture, as though God's object, or one of them at least, in writing the book, must have been to advance proofs of the Divine nature of the Son and of the Spirit. And then some are stumbled because the evidence they can collect, is of so indirect a nature. Indirect! to be sure it is indirect; and this in, directness is its strength. In writing the bible God had no such thought as to make man judge of Deity. Neither was it even one of His objects to bring out proofs of the Divine nature of the Son and the Spirit. He writes in and from His own circumstances. And the Divine nature of the Son and of the Spirit, are as much assumed in what He has written, as is even the existence of a God. God's object in the bible was just to unfold the way and glory of Redemption. And they who humbly follow it out as traced in the Scriptures, will find thousands of collateral points taught them; but if they get upon these collateral points separately from their connection with the object fur which they are revealed, let them take heed: " what God bath joined together let not man put asunder." I do not say that direct proofs weighty and abundant cannot be brought forward in proof of the unqualified Deity of the Son and of the Spirit: there can be I knew; but what I do say is, that if we try to prove truth according to the good pleasure of our own minds, and net according to the way God teaches it, we are in danger as not being led by the Spirit therein. Just so is the way in which men look at the Savior; either they will look exclusively at His being the Son of God, or they will forget this and look at Him as the Son of man: but the whole virtue is lost if we regard Him in any other way than in the double nature-God manifest in the flesh. This will appear plain if we consider what Redemption is.
God's purpose in Redemption is to glorify Himself by the exceeding riches of His grace and power and wisdom shown in Christ Jesus. The substance of the Gospel was and is just this that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." (2 Cor. 5:19.) And the blessing of them that know the truth in the love of it is, they have been reconciled to God by Jesus Christ; (ver. 18.) they have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus; (4:6.) they have acknowledged the mystery of God, even of the Father and of Christ. (Col. 2:2.)
The work and object of our Lord was to reveal the Father. There were riches and glories in God most suited for man's fallen state; but how should they be made his? God could not come in contact with the sinner even to bless him, and the sinner could not come into the presence of God, as God, even for a cure. Jesus was the way of infinite wisdom, grace, and truth. His sufficiency for the work was just this, that " in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. 2:9.) The perception of " God in Christ" is the turning-point of blessing to man. To know Jesus, but not to know the Father in Him, is not faith. Unless " God in Christ" be seen and rested upon, there can be no cleansed conscience, no repose, no assurance or obedience. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon our minds, that the only place in which we can find light and truth as concerning God the Fat her,- the only place in which we can make sure of the Spirit's power and teaching, is whilst beholding by faith " the glory of God in the face of Jesus;" and that this was the object of the revelation of the Son-not to reveal Himself, but to reveal the Father. The Son is presented to us, not that we may know Himself; for it 15 written, no man knoweth the Son but the Father only.-He is presented simply to declare the Father. (John 1:18.) " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. (14:9.) In every position in which the Son is presented to us, He is presented as being the servant of the Father, and of the Church for the Father's sake. Appointed by the Father to office, fulfilling all the duties of office as the servant.
I will endeavor to show this,-that Jesus is presented in Scripture as the servant of the Father, first, from those Scriptures which present to us the works and offices proper and peculiar to Himself; and then, secondly, by quotations exhibiting the posture of His heart and mind while found occupied therein.
His High Priesthood was service, and Jesus received it at the Father's hand. " Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was FAITHFUL to Him that APPOINTED Him. (Heb. 3:1, 2.) " Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.' (4:14.) " No man taketh this honor unto himself, (i.e. High Priesthood,) but He that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made a High Priest;. but He that said unto Him, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee. As He saith also in another place', Thou art a Priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec called of God an High Priest after the order of Melchisedec." (v. 4-6, 10.)
Can anything be clearer than that our adorable Lord was the Father's servant for the Church's sake in this High Priesthood?' And if called to, instated in the High Priesthood by the Father, and faithful in it to Him that appointed Him, then all its duties and offices present Him as the servant also. And thus accordingly we are taught to look at Him while entering into heaven itself, now to appear before God for us: (ix. 24.) having appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, (26) we are taught, I say, to look upon Him as the servant of the Father, and of the Church for the Father's sake. For as it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins, when He came into the world He avowed this, saying to His Father, (and therein bearing witness before all, of His being the Father's servant,)
" Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin, Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O GOD by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all." (Heb. 10:4-10.)
The blood that He presented, when by His own blood He entered in once into the Holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us, that blood (needed in our case, at once both as to the heavenly things themselves to which we are called, and for the purging of our consciences from dead works to serve the living God,) that blood, I say, He presented to us in the character of the servant of the Father. More than this, both the glory and the weakness which are presented to us in the first two chapters, as being His in connection with the office of Daysman, to stand between God and us, and between us and God, are represented as taken upon Himself in sympathy with and subjection to the Father's will.
That which commends Him to the Church, as a sure resource in every time of trouble, is, that He is such an one as can be touched with the feeling of their infirmities; one who knows what temptation, and crying, and tears mean; one that " learned obedience by the things which He suffered." But the provision of this suitability in Jesus we find attributed to the Father, " For it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings:" (Heb. 2:10.) and from ver. 11, I judge that it was the perception by the Son of such loving union in the mind of the Father to these sons, that led Him, as it were, to greet them as " my brethren," and then associate Himself with them in all their circumstances of misery.
" Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil; and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their life-time subject to bondage." (14, 15, ver.)
But not only was it the Father's will which guided Him into that which meets our minds, and gives us liberty of soul in drawing near to God through Him, but also the Father's good pleasure which conferred upon Him the glory proper to Him a Mediator- the rank, estate, dignity, and glory, in which He should Bland in the courts of the Lord's house as the Mediator provided and appointed of the Father. Let me not be misunderstood, His fitness for the office was one thing; the glory and estate proper to the office in order that its duties should be fulfilled, was another. The fitness of Jesus for the Mediator was just " that He was God manifest in the flesh," essentially one with the Father, Jehovah, Lord God of Sabaoth, from before all worlds. This and this alone could. suffice; this and this alone could give virtue, and character, power, weight, and value to the blood. It was the blood of God's own Son. Of whom else could the blood speak from the mercy-seat of God in the Holiest of all? Whose blood else could silence Satan, or still the accusing consciences of ten thousand times ten thousand, whose robes were to be washed in the blood of the Lamb? Such alone was His qualification for the office. But when ushered into it by the Father, He found a new glory in it, proper and peculiar to itself. This glory is opened to us in Phil. 2:6-11, Eph. 1:10, as what it shall he hereafter: the blessedness of it we know in that by faith we see Jesus in the midst of the Father's throne as the Lamb once slain, but now alive again. There He is, all things under His feet, and Himself given to be the Head over all things to the Church; heaven opened and we in Spirit and affection gathered there unto Him and the Father. A study of the ten last verses of the 1st chapter of Hebrews, in connection with the Scriptures whence the quotation is made, opens much of the riches of the glory appointed unto the Mediator; as also other Scriptures. And furthermore I would observe, that on ourselves all this is pressed. in detail, by the Holy Ghost, with peculiar emphasis, in the Scriptures, so that we are taught to read our Father in the works and doings of our blessed Lord. See this as to
1.-PROPITIATION FOR SIN. (Rom. 3:24, 25.) Christ Jesus " whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood." (Rom. 8:32.) "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." (Gal. 4:4.) " God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law," &c. &c.
2.-THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. (Acts 13:33.) God
has fulfilled... the promise made unto the fathers... in that He has raised up Jesus again; And as concerning that He raised Him from the dead, &c., (Rom. 4:25.) if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was raised again for our justification. (Eph. 1:20.) The Father is represented as having raised Christ from the dead, and His object in so doing is stated 1 Peter 1:21, " who believe in' God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God, &c. &c.
3.-HIS PRESENT POSITION IN HEAVENLY PLACES FOR THE
SAINTS. (Eph. 1:20-23.) "According to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when lie raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and bath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." See also (Heb. 2. 5-9. Col. 3:3.) " Fur ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
4.-THE DISPENSER TO THE CHURCH OF BLESSING. (Acts 1.
4.) " Wait for the promise of the Father, which ye have heard of me." (2-32.) " This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear," arc. &c. &c.
5. THE SECOND APPEARING OF JESUS which is the Church's hope. (1 Tim. 6:14.) " Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, &c." (1 Thess. 4:14.) " Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."
Secondly.-I will now endeavor to quote a few Scriptures exhibiting the posture of our Lord's heart and mind while found on earth occupied with these works, as presenting Him in the same most blessed position of the servant of the Father for the Church's sake.-As the One who, though the Son, and not thinking it robbery to be equal with God, yet emptied Himself, made Himself of no reputation, took on Him the form of a servant, and put His trust in God, and all this for the Church's sake, to show her the Father. The gospel of John, as it opens to us more than the other gospels, the glory of the person of Jesus as the only begotten Son of the Father from before all worlds, so likewise is more full of proofs of His subjection to the Father. From it and it alone will I now quote a few of the many passages adducible on this most deeply interesting subject.
Chap 1:18. He is presented as the revealer of the Father. " No man bath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him."
The names of the Lamb of God Chap 1. 29-36. The Messias or Christ (ver. 41.) both present Him, if considered attentively, as in subjection to the Father. So also will He appear in the 3rd Chapter, when considered as the One given " to be lifted up." (ver. 16.)-" The One sent not to condemn but to save. (ver. 17.) (" The One whom heaven had honored above John. 27.) The One of whom alone it could be said." He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.-The Father loveth the Son, and bath given all things into His hands." (ver. 34, 35.)
In Chap. 4. We find Jesus speaking of Himself thus, as the gift of God (ver. 10.)-Again, " my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." In Chap. 4. ver. 19
He says distinctly to the Jews-" The Son can do nothing. of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth; these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth and He will show Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them: even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man, but bath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all should honor the Son; even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which bath sent Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life." (Ver. 26.) "As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." ( Ver. 30.) " I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge,: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which bath sent me." (Ver., 36.) " I have greater witness than of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father bath sent me." (Ver. 38.) " Whom He bath sent, Him ye believe not:" (Ver. 43.) " I—am come in my Father's name and ye receive me not; if another shall come in His own name, him ye will receive."
Again.-CHAP. 6. He speaks of Himself as the One sealed by God the Father. (ver. 27.) Sent by the Father. (ver. 29.) Given as bread from heaven by the Father. (33.) " All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me, And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." (37-40.) " As the living Father bath sent me, and I live by the Father: se he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." (57.)
CHAP. 7. "My doctrine is NOT MINE, but His that SENT me (16.)... "be that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true." (18) " I am not come of myself, but He that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know Him; for I am from Him, and He hath sent me." (28, 29.) " I go unto Him that sent me." (33.) CHAP. 8. "I am not alone, but. I and the Father that sent me:" (16.) " the Father that sent me beareth witness of me." (18.) " He that sent me is true; and I speak those things which I have heard of Him." (26.) "I do nothing of myself; but as my Father bath taught me, I speak these things. And He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him." (28, 29.) " I speak that which I have seen with my Father;" (38.) " neither came I of myself, but He sent me." (42.) " I honor my Father, and ye do dishonor me." (49) " I seek not mine own glory." (50.) " I know Him (the Father) and keep His saying." (55.) CHAP. 9:4. " I must work the works of Him that sent me." CHAP. 10. " This commandment have I received of my Father;" (18.) " the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me." (25.) "My Father which gave them (the sheep) me, is greater than all." (29.) " If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not." (37.) CHAP. 11. " Father I thank thee that thou hest heard me. And. I know that thou Nearest me always: but because of the people... I said it, that they may believe that thou hest sent me." (41, 42.) CHAP. 12. " What shall f. say? Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour: Father, glorify thy name;" (27, 28.) " Him that sent me." (44.) " For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak;" (49.) " whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." (50.) CHAP. 13. " Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God and went to God." (3.) " He that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me." (20.) CHAP. 14. " The Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." (10.) " I will pray the Father:" (16.) " the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." (24.) "My Father is greater than I." (28.) " As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." (31.) CHAP. 15. " I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." (1.) " I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love." (10.) " All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." (15.)
I have quoted the words illustrative of the subject, just as they occurred, without regard to their connection; in conclusion, let any one read carefully the 17th chapter of the gospel of John, and it cannot but be observed how prominent and important a place this same truth held in the mind of our blessed Master at the time of His prayer. His whole desire seemed to be to mark Himself as the one who was the sent Servant of the Father and of the saints for the Father's sake.
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