Part 4 (1/2)
Never before had such an announcement been made. But now the great work was done, the battle over, the victory gained, the foundation of the new edifice laid; and Mary Magdalene was made the herald of the most glorious tidings that ever fell on mortal ears.
Wonderful words! let the reader ponder them. Let him specially note the vast, yea, the immeasurable difference between these two words ”Sanctifier and sanctified.” Such was our blessed Lord, personally, intrinsically, in His humanity, that He was capable of being the Sanctifier. Such were we personally, in our moral condition, in our nature, that we needed to be sanctified. But--eternal and universal homage to His name!--such is the perfection of His work, such the ”riches” and the ”glory of His grace” that it can be said, ”As He is so are we in this world”--”the Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one”--all on one common ground, and that for ever.
Nothing can exceed this as to t.i.tle and standing. We stand in all the glorious results of His accomplished work, and in all the acceptance of His Person. He has linked us with Himself, in resurrection-life, and made us sharers of all He has and all He is as man--His deity, of course is incommunicable.
But let us note very particularly all that is involved in the fact that we _needed_ to be ”sanctified.” It sets forth in the clearest and most forcible manner the total, hopeless, absolute ruin of every one of us. It matters not, so far as this aspect of the truth is concerned, who we were or what we were in our personal history or our practical life. We may have been refined, cultivated, amiable, moral, and, after a human fas.h.i.+on, religious; or we may have been degraded, demoralized, depraved, the very sc.u.m of society. In a word, we may have been morally and socially as far apart as the poles; but inasmuch as all needed to be sanctified, the highest as well as the lowest, ere we could be addressed as ”holy brethren,” there is evidently ”no difference.” The very worst needed nothing more, and the very best could do with nothing less. Each and all were involved in one common ruin, and needed to be sanctified, or set apart, ere we could take our place amongst the ”holy brethren.” And now, being set apart, we are all on one common ground; so that the very feeblest child of G.o.d on the face of the earth belongs as really and truly to the ”holy brethren” as the blessed apostle Paul himself. It is not a question of progress or attainment, precious and important as it most surely is to make progress, but simply of our common standing before G.o.d, of which the ”First-born” is the blessed and eternal definition.
But we must here remind the reader of the vast importance of being clear and well-grounded as to the relations.h.i.+p of the ”First-born”
with the ”many brethren.” This is a grand foundation-truth, as to which there must be no vagueness or indecision. Scripture is clear and emphatic on this great cardinal point. But there are many who will not listen to Scripture. They are so full of their own thoughts that they will not take the trouble to search and see what Scripture says on the subject. Hence you find many maintaining the fatal error that incarnation is the ground of our relations.h.i.+p with the First-born.
They look upon the Incarnate One as our ”Elder Brother,” who, in taking human nature upon Him, took us into union with Himself, or linked Himself on to us.
Now such an error involves most frightful consequences. In the first place, it involves a positive blasphemy against the person of the Son of G.o.d--a denial of His absolutely spotless, sinless, perfect manhood.
He, blessed be His name, was such in His humanity that the angel could say to the virgin of Him, ”That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of G.o.d.” His human nature was absolutely holy.
As a man He knew no sin. He was the only man that ever lived of whom this could be said. He was unique. He stood absolutely alone. There was, there could be, no union with Him in incarnation. How could the Holy and the unholy, the Pure and the impure, the Spotless and the spotted ever be united? Utterly impossible! Those who think or say they could, do greatly err, not knowing the Scriptures or the Son of G.o.d.
But further: those who speak of union in incarnation are most manifestly the enemies of the cross of Christ; for what need was there of the cross, the death or the blood of Christ, if sinners could be united to Him in incarnation? Surely none whatever. There was no need of atonement, no need of propitiation, no need of the subst.i.tutionary sufferings and death of Christ, if sinners could be united to Him without them.
Hence we see how entirely this system of doctrine is of Satan. It dishonors the person of Christ, and sets aside His precious atonement.
And in addition to all this, it overthrows the teaching of the entire Bible on the subject of man's guilt and ruin. In short, it completely sweeps away the great foundation-truths of our glorious Christianity, and gives us instead a Christless, infidel system. This is what the devil has ever been aiming at; it is what he is aiming at still; and thousands of so-called Christian teachers are acting as his agents in the terrible business of seeking to abolish Christianity. Tremendous fact for all whom it may concern!
But let us reverently harken to the teaching of Holy Scripture on this great subject. What mean those words which fell from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ, and are repeated for us by G.o.d the Holy Ghost, ”Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and _die_, it abideth alone”? Who was this corn of wheat? Himself, blessed be His holy name.
He had to die in order to ”bring forth much fruit.” If He was to surround Himself with His ”many brethren,” He had to go down into death in order to take out of the way every hindrance to their eternal a.s.sociation on the new ground of resurrection. He, the true David, had to go forth single-handed to meet the terrible foe, in order that He might have the deep joy of sharing with His brethren the spoils of His glorious victory. Eternal halleluiahs to His peerless name!
There is a very beautiful pa.s.sage bearing upon our subject in Mark viii. We shall quote it for the reader: ”And He began to teach them, that the Son of man _must suffer_ many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He spake that saying openly. And Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him.” In another Gospel we are told what Peter said: ”Pity Thyself, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee.” Mark the Lord's reply; mark His att.i.tude: ”But when He had turned about and _looked on His disciples_, He rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind Me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of G.o.d, but the things that be of men.”
This is perfectly beautiful. It not only presents a truth to the understanding, but lets in upon the heart a bright ray of the moral glory of our adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, eminently calculated to bow the soul in wors.h.i.+p before Him. ”He turned and looked upon His disciples.” It is as though He would say to His erring servant, ”If I adopt your suggestion, if I pity myself, what will become of these?” Blessed Saviour! He did not think of Himself. ”He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,” well knowing what awaited Him there. He went to the cross, and there endured the wrath of G.o.d, the judgment of sin, all the terrible consequences of our condition, in order to glorify G.o.d with respect to our sins, and that He might have the ineffable and eternal joy of surrounding Himself with the ”many brethren” to whom He could, on resurrection ground, declare the Father's name. ”_I will_ declare Thy name unto _My brethren_.” He looked forward to this from amid the awful shadows of Calvary, where He was enduring for us what no created intelligence can ever fathom.
If ever He was to call us ”brethren,” He must _all alone_ meet death and judgment on our behalf.
Now why all this if incarnation was the basis of our union or a.s.sociation?[6] Is it not perfectly plain to the reader that there could be no link between Christ and us save on the ground of accomplished atonement? How could there be a link with sin unatoned for, guilt uncanceled, the claims of G.o.d unanswered? Utterly impossible. To maintain such a thought is to fly in the face of divine revelation and sweep away the very foundations of Christianity; and this, as we very well know, is precisely what the devil is ever aiming at.
[6] We do not mean that union with Christ as Head of the body is taught in Heb. ii. 11. For the unfolding of that glorious truth we must look elsewhere. It comes not within the range of the epistle to the Hebrews. See Eph. i. 22, 23; v. 30. But whether we view Him as Head of the body, or as the First-born among many brethren, Scripture most distinctly and emphatically teaches us that His death on the cross was absolutely essential to our union, or a.s.sociation, with Christ. _No death, no union._ The corn of wheat had to fall into the ground and die, in order to bring forth much fruit.
However, we shall not pursue the subject further here. It may be that the great majority of our readers are thoroughly clear and settled on the point, and that they hold it as a great cardinal and essential truth. Still, we feel it of importance just now to bear a very distinct testimony to the whole Church of G.o.d on this most blessed subject. We feel persuaded that the error which we have been combating--the notion of union with Christ in incarnation--forms an integral part of a vast infidel and antichristian system which holds sway over thousands of professing Christians, and is making fearful progress throughout the length and breadth of Christendom. It is the deep and solemn conviction of this that leads us to call the attention of the beloved flock of Christ to one of the most precious and glorious subjects that could possibly occupy their hearts, namely, their t.i.tle to be called ”holy brethren.”
We shall now turn for a few moments to the exhortation addressed to the ”holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” As we have already observed, we are not exhorted _to be_ holy brethren: we are _made_ such. The place and the portion are ours through infinite grace, and it is on this blessed fact that the inspired apostle grounds his exhortation, ”Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus.”
The t.i.tles bestowed on our blessed Lord in this pa.s.sage present Him to our hearts in a very wonderful manner. They take in the wide range of His history from the bosom of the Father down to the dust of death; and from the dust of death back to the throne of G.o.d. As the Apostle, He came from G.o.d to us; and as the High Priest, He has gone back to G.o.d for us. He came from heaven to reveal G.o.d to us, to unfold to us the very heart of G.o.d, to make us know the precious secrets of His bosom. ”G.o.d, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
What a marvelous privilege to have G.o.d revealed to us in the person of Christ! G.o.d has spoken to us in the Son. Our blessed Apostle has given us the full and perfect revelation of G.o.d. ”No man hath seen G.o.d at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” ”G.o.d, who commanded the light to s.h.i.+ne out of darkness, hath s.h.i.+ned in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of G.o.d in the face of Jesus Christ” (John i.; 2 Cor. iv.).
All this is unspeakably precious. Jesus has revealed G.o.d to our souls.
We could know absolutely nothing of G.o.d if the Son had not come and spoken to us. But--thanks and praise to our G.o.d!--we can say with all possible certainty, ”_We know_ that the Son of G.o.d is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true: and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true G.o.d, and eternal life.” We can now turn to the four Gospels; and as we gaze upon that blessed One who is there presented to us by the Holy Ghost, in all that lovely grace which shone out in all His words, and works, and ways, we can say, That is G.o.d. We see Him going about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; we see Him healing the sick, cleansing the leper, opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, feeding the hungry, drying the widow's tears, weeping at the tomb of Lazarus, and say, That is G.o.d.
Every ray of moral glory that shone in the life and ministry of the Apostle of our confession was the expression of G.o.d. He was the brightness of the divine glory, and the exact impression of the divine essence.
”Thou art the everlasting Word, The Father's only Son; G.o.d manifest, G.o.d seen and heard, The heavens' beloved One.
”In Thee most perfectly expressed, The Father's self doth s.h.i.+ne; Fulness of G.o.dhead too; the Blest-- Eternally Divine.”
How precious is all this to our souls! To have G.o.d revealed in the person of Christ, so that we can know Him, delight in Him, find all our springs in Him, call Him Abba Father, walk in the light of His blessed countenance, have fellows.h.i.+p with Him and with His Son Jesus Christ, know the love of His heart, the very love wherewith He loves the Son--what deep blessedness! what fulness of joy! How can we ever sufficiently praise the G.o.d and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for His marvelous grace in having introduced us into such a sphere of blessing and privilege, and set us in such a wondrous relations.h.i.+p with Himself in the Son of His love! Oh, may our _hearts_ praise Him!