Lecture III
It was not my thought to go through the Epistle; but as we were lingering last week on the intercession of Christ, I take up the subject again 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 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 (the Epistles), owes its origin to the mischief Satan did in the ChurcL The mischief was only permitted that the folly of these things 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, that would seduce them. Not the Gospel 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*) the coming of the Lord m GciaSasKoa tion by faith; not Fhilippians, because there Paul was comforted by their love. It is the same in regard to the mischief he has done from the beginning. The fall itself is the occasion of God’s introducing greater blessing than before. Whatever Satan seeks to do, as it has done from the beginning, must ultimately tend to the divine glory, and the comfort and blessing of our souls, who seek to serve God. Of course man gets humbled in it; but Gt)d 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 was 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, will draw all men unto me.” He looked with sorrow at the evil; but it was the occasion of infinite blessing. And 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 is always the bringing out on God’s part of greater blessing, and so it is in our day. We find man spoiling that which has been committed to him, and God bringing in something much better. And what do we find here? Antichrist was going on, and it led to the bringing out the workings of divine life. It’s 3aft oca&QtL ydl
God’s hands of bringing into greater blessing them that trust Him. The history from the beginning is just that, 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 accordto His life. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself so to walk, even as He walked.” Not 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 points of the manifestation of the divine life. What He was in His own person down here, and now what He is as exalted — what He manifests through and in us of the divine life. 1st. Christ the source of it for us. “The Word was made flesh,” &c. 2nd. The manifestation through and in us. There 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. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word wa& Go3i. Twb “kcm was in the beginning witYi C3fod. iiX^ >Ccax^ “st made by Him,” &c. He was eternally with Grod before He created. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us;” and he adds, “Of His fulness have all we received.” Two things. 1. “The Word was made flesh,” as also in Hebrews: “The brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.” “The image of the invisible Grod,” as in Golossians, the perfect representation of what God was. “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 vdth 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 ELim. But it is given to us; that’s a different thing. He Himself is our life; He has life in Himself. “God has given us eternal life, and this 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 imion with Christ, the Head. It ’s in Him the reality of the life is.
2. When Christ was down here, all His instructions were the expression of this life. It was not like a commandment given by the Law, because the Law enacted from man what was becoming, and what man ought to be in relation to God. It took the responsibility tliiat «>W^li^ t moa’s “TJirst^Scter as man, and did not go beyond it; but we get in Christ the manifestation of what God was to man — love acting in the midst of evil. It was no part of the law to love sinners; but it was a part of the Lord to come down to love. Another thing — in all His thoughts and tones of feeling for us He went far beyond the mere letter of the law; for the law could not say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” that must arise from an estimate of God; the law could not proclaim, “Blessed are the peacemakers:” Christ was Himself 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 that is so lovely. He was the eternal life that was 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 woman there has not been a greater than John the Baptist” — came in the 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 t ^3c^ locusts and wild honey — but GfOd,>eli^^ 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 Ood 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, and for “His name’s sake;” the exercise of love in the activities of grace.
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, “It requires much grace in oneself to discern a little grace in another.” There is an attractive power in grace which recognises 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 recognises divine life in another, in spite of difference of education, rank, and many other things, he will be drawn towards him. It ’s characteristic; he can’t 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 Chriat is. “Ee went about. fliOAng %oo4.!’ Tlvu there is the blessed discernment of the traits of it — its discerning Christ, “Love your enemies, and those who are good for nothing.” In Christ we love, see God coming down, and manifesting this life in a man on the earth, so as to attract towards Him, and to bring into His presence in rest. “As I have loved you, you 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 proved Him to be God, in that He could love that in which there was nothing lovable. In God, the spring of love is from Himself; but we need something to attract us.
The primary revelation is 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*s God Himself 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? K not it ’s evil seducers. If it is that which we have had from the begining, it is of God, and that must test everything, and that ’s the character of the Word. Bring a sinner opposite the Word, and you learn what he is, as in the case of the poor Samaritan woman. The written Word is the man.fest.loxv q!1 ^otti^ and 13 a discemer of the tliolxlia «aA li*^li5^ “the heart. Man cannot judge God’s word without judging himself; so if he judges it to be wrong, he is judged himsel£” He that believeth not is condemned abeady.” He’s incapable of seeing Christ, who was God manifested in the flesh, and the Word judges him. You may talk about colours or light to a blind man; but if a man is blind he won’t understand you; it is his non-perception of light and colours 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 don’t reach my soul, it is that which judges me. “The Word that I speak, the same shall judge you in the last day.” AH God’s ways now are presenting His moral raanifestation; it will next be His judicial manifestation. If the moral manifestation is not received, “the Word which I have spoken shall judge him at the last day.” The Lord did not accompany the Word with judgment when it was spoken; but that Word will judge him at the last day, and he will be condemned; and man still is proved. The first way God taught them was through the Lord Jesus Christ, “whom ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified 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 the new thing: A new commandment I vo uii.o om, Xia.. “love one another.” It was not a new command* ment to love one another; it was the old commandment, and yet new, because it was now given in the power of it, being not merely commanded in His word, but communicated to you by the power of the Holy Ghost, to reproduce in you the life of Christ; and there is a new thing, and you are to manifest it The Church of God is to be that vessel for the manifestation of Christ down here, according to the power of the life 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, “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 against sin the light burst forth which fully manifested His character. “The darkness is passed, 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 sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.” “If ye walk in the light as God is in the light.” Nothing must be allowed that cannot bear the light. Men perish for lack of knowledge, alienation from the life of Gk)d. “The true light now shineth,” Tha N<»L^a» rent God ia fully manifested. la ,3l>Jcl^AVs^’
If He ‘d been only just, we should have perished. If He ‘d been only love, 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 Loi-d Jesus Christ. The light now is shining. Christ, the source of that light, to be manifested in us, which thing is true in Him and in you. It’s an old commandment which was from the beginning, Christ Himself. You can’t have a better than that; and now the manifestation of it is learned in us. 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 errors, it is also to build us up in what Christ is. In looking at these traits we discover more and more that they are thoroughly divine. I learn in Christ such and such a trait, and I say, ‘’That’s God manifest in the flesh;” and thus I learn what I shall know in heaven. “You’ve 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 ‘ve seen a saint dying, if he has faith in the blood of Christ, he’ll have peace; but if you look for joy it must spring from the affections being acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ You’ll sometimes see a saint, and there is joy, and by-and-by his peace is gone. That’s where the soul’s not settled; there ought to be both. The blood gives peace; but it ’s my acquaintance with and knowledge of Christ g|ivea me y>^.
Three characters are presented here. He says, ‘’ He that saith he is in the light, and hatdh his brother.” The Apostle always speaks of the abstract principle, “He that loveth his brother.” “Whosoever is born of God doth not 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 s his own fault. We never ought to be, by not being like Christ, a stumblingblock. There is.no greater snare than the fear of offending, and no greater sin than the fear of offending, if Christ is the offence. If it’s Christ that offends, the offence 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 myseli 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
(Verse 12.) “I write unto you * children *” (not little children, but all saints) “because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.” A settled thing — you are not Christians at all without your sins are forgiven you. The poor jailor wanted salvation, and that ’s what he got. He cried out, “What must I do to be saved T That’^ ^W^ be wanted If I come to heat tlift XfexKscLWi
God, what I want is to be saved, to get life. Nicodemus came by night with his question. The Lord said, “You must be born again.*’ He that’s in Christ is a new creation. The jailor did not know what being in Christ meant; but he believed. What’s the consequence? He was saved by a work which was accomplished before ever he asked to be saved. If he believed in Christ, he was saved; he had eternal life, that ’s what he got. If the light gets into the soul men can’t be happy until they have peace with God. There is difficulty now with Christians having peaca 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 are really 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 ‘ve eternal life.” That ’s just as much the judgment of God as if Christ had pronounced it on His judgment-seat. He knows the value of the work of His Son. He is the 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.” Whaterer else it might be, it ends afl. m JcLla, ““K-tlwiix
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 ’s 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. “No man knoweth the Son but the Father.” What’s 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 — no ambiguity, no uncertainty; and all the exercises and experiences of the Christian, which are often so much dwelt on, are but the scafifolding 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’s Christ Himself possessed that makes me happy.” His heart trusts in the Lord. The things of the world, even the things of the Church, don’t disturb him. He counts on the love ever watchful, and is not afraid of any evil tidings. He knows that though heaven and earth were to dissolve and crumble into pieces, and the Church itself, which is impossible, God’s throne remains. There is a steadiness in the man’s soul, because he knows “ffim that is from the peimii%^* — -“Nkok^ ^k»^ manifests Christ; one whom John had looked upon with his eyes, and his hands had 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 firiends, are you still 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 weary of 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 ripeness 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,
1. That they have overcome the wicked one, the prince of this world.
2. That they have known the Father through believing in Christy and have therefore the Spirit of adoption, and have 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 Uttle children are warned against the seduetiona of false doctrinfca, &^. li »la anointing ye have received of Him.... Abide in Him.”
I would remark that vrhich specially characterises the young men is conflict with the world, and if we would be satisfied vrith the knowledge of Him that is from the beginning, there must be the 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.” There must be conflict with the world if the soul is to grow up into Christ in all things; thete must be the giving up of the world. “They are not of the world.”
May we so 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 soon we shall see Him face to face, “and know, even as we are known.”
4t IDCIUllS