In the first chapter of John’s gospel, we have an account of whom Jesus Christ is. John brings Christ down here—He displays God upon earth. We learn in the chapter not only whom He is, but an intimation of what He effects; now, (v. 29-42) and in the future. (v. 43-51.) It is important for us to know what He greets for us; if we have not some idea of what He proposes, we do not seek for it.
Reader, what is it you are looking for, in the secret of your heart? Of what nature, I ask, is the deliverance you are seeking? Satan knows better than you what you want; and hence we read, as to the way of corruption that is in the world, “Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.” (Prov. 5:66Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. (Proverbs 5:6).) Souls have not retired into the secret of God’s presence, and pondered there, “What does God propose to do for me?” Hence we find that souls arc not seeking what God proposes to accomplish; and there is defective practice. It is not that souls are enjoying the extent and scope of what His purposes are to accomplish who does enjoy this, according to its height? but they have not glimpsed at it; and they are reducing it to the sense of their own mind. When we have tasted it in the fullest measure, we then find how meager arc the thoughts we have about it.
John the Baptist points out Christ as “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” This is whom He is. Then we find what He does, next, He “baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” Then again, there are two witnesses as to what He effects for others. “The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.”
Is the eye of your soul arrested as you hear the announcement, “Behold the Lamb of God?” How an earthly prince can arrest the eye of the multitude! Here is God’s Lamb. He calls you to gaze upon Him. He is not come to judge the world, but to save! What is your idea about what God has announced Him to do? It is not merely to discover man’s wickedness—(‘tis true He does this too;) but God announces that He has come to bear sin away,—not merely of a man, or of a person,—but of the world! Sin has caused the distance between God and man. Ile has come to bear away the whole thing; and that from God’s side. Abel takes the other side. He brought a lamb. Just as if he said, “God is righteous,—I am a sinner,—I can’t approach Him without a sacrifice; I must have one, not chargeable with my sin; and having a personal excellence when bearing the judgment of my sin,-this is what His righteousness requires.” So he brought the “firstling of his flock,” and the “fat thereof.” The fat could only be seen in death. It was the personal excellence of the victim. This only expressed that which righteousness required. It was the confession of it. It was man who offended God—He should have produced the sacrifice. He could not get one. What would it have availed me if I gave “the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” I must get a sacrifice like Abel. One presenting a personal excellence—available—before God. A life for a life merely, won’t do. Suppose I owed ten pounds, and some one came and paid ten pounds for me; that won’t do. This might free me, but would not show me what God’s righteousness required. It was the personal worth of Christ which came out in His death. The, fat of the sacrifice was only seen in death. Hence “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” God’s Son, was— God’s Lamb—He comes in and bears the judgment of God. The wonder is, and the blessedness is, that the Lamb came from God’s side. God was about to make good the offense of man in His own way, and on his own terms. The person who offends another ought to make the reparation. You find people coming to God with the thought, perhaps unconsciously, in their hearts, of “presenting Christ to God.” See some hymns too, which talk of our laying our sins on Jesus which have this thought. It is a wrong thought—you couldn’t lay your sins on Him. God did so. This is another thing. We are bound to repair the offense against God. Instead of that, God does so. His own Son comes down, from His own side, as if to say, “I will be thy Lamb.”
There are two things connected plainly with this thought: 1st. God must be perfectly satisfied with the way He has made the reparation. If I had provided it, I must ever be uncertain how it has answered; but the moment I learn that God has done it; I know that He is satisfied! 2nd. That the Blessed God did not desire that there should be a distance between us. It hindered Him revealing His love.
Suppose I have a dispute with another, and that I don’t like that it should be so; and that I repair the thing on my own terms, I can never call in question the reparation.
This shows us the heart of God. He did not like that this terrible distance should subsist; God’s Son knew this, and said, “I will go and be your Lamb.” “Lo I come to do thy will, O God.” He came, and put away sin, by the Sacrifice of Himself; and that from God’s side too, to make a clearance of sin for God. “I know His heart,” He says, as it were; “and I am straitened till it be accomplished.” Can you not imagine for a moment a father yearning, and longing, that the barrier might be righteously removed between him and his prodigal child! When we think of it for a moment—the Son of God had come, and had found the prodigal under sins—He knew God’s heart was yearning to embrace and kiss the prodigal. He only knew it. He dies, and bearing the judgment, removed the obstruction. Hence, God’s love is righteous, and consequently there must be continuity in His love; there can be no want of permanence in it. The barrier is thus removed; but only as a means to an end. What then is to come out? The love of God in all its excellence! A river of blessing, with the darn which hindered its flow, removed. It longed to get over; God’s Son only knew this,—and shared the Father’s love,—He comes and dies that it may flow out in all its blessedness!
Now what does He propose to do having removed the barrier? He baptizes with the Holy Ghost. This was a new thing. Not to leave me where I was but to change my condition. Not merely paying my debts, and leaving me in the same state. This is what He explains in part to the woman of Samaria. It was not what God required, but what God gave. A well of water springing up into everlasting life—possessing which you never thirst. It wants nothing—looks for nothing, here below.
Now see what happened to those who did receive Him. What did they when John pointed Him out? “They followed Jesus.” What happened? “Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith to them, What seek ye? “What is the object you have before your eye? The action of grace had made them follow; and now they must learn, “Where dwellest thou?” They looked out for a continuance with Him. Not merely to be saved by Him. Not merely to get relief for sin and yet remain apart from Him. His answer is “Come and see.” I find where that is in Eph. 2. Risen with Him I abide with Him,—where He is,—He is my life. I can’t belong to the thing He is risen out of. I must either belong to Him who is risen out of all here; or I must belong to that order of things out of which He is risen; and which is under judgment. Hence, if I belong to Him, I am only passing through it here. I get the tastes of the person with whom I am living-assimilation to Him with whom I dwell—in a sphere where all things are of God—all things are new. He has spread a supper for His Son, which declares His ability—and prepared a robe for me which marks His love.
The soul that knows that it is introduced into that bright scene of joy—that has responded to His “Come and see,” finds the world a darkened place. If it has never tasted it, it only shows that the world is filling the heart, and not the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. Things that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” (1 Cor. 2:9,109But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9‑10).)
The Lord give His people to ponder in the secret of their hearts, what are the purposes of His love; which He proposes to effect for them, for His name’s sake. Amen.