He Knew What Was in Man
“He knew what was in man.” — John ii. 25.
IHE idea of a physician, when complete and considered apart from human imperfections, con- „ tains these three things: he must know the cousiitution, his disease, and his cure. He must understand, first, what was the nature and capacity of the subject originally, and before he was afflicted wth disease; second, the ailment under which he labours; and, third, what will restore the diseased to health
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When God became man, and dwelt among us, he came
as a physician into an hospital, that he might cure the
sick Other aspects of Christ’s character and work are
also revealed in the Scriptures. He came to give liberty
to the captive, sight to the blind, life to the dead. In
these and in other capacities the Bible presents Chnst,
and believers receive him. Each representation has .ts
own place, and accomplishes its own purpose; but at
present, and in connection with this text, I am led to think of him chiefly as a Physician. The Son of God came into our world to heal the diseased.
He took not on him the nature of angels; for either they had not fallen, or could not be raised. One portion of them had no disease, and another were incurable. Those did not need salvation, and to these it could not be given. He took not on him the nature of angels, who rank above us in the scale of creation; neither did he take the nature of creatures that rank below us, for there was no point of contact between them and the divine nature, — these had not been made in God’s image, and though they remain the creatures of his hand, they could not be taken into union with his person. He took our nature. The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. When Jesus stood amongst us as a man, he was not only “Jesus in the midst,” between the lost and the saved of human kind, he was also “Jesus in the midst,” as man between the creatures who never had been partakers of the divine nature, and creatures who had constantly retained or irretrievably lost it. To us is the word of this salvation sent. “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord:” heaven needs it not, and hell gets it not.
The fitness of our Physician lies in the divine perfection of his knowledge. “This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (Hcb. vii. 24, 25).
He who has undertaken our cause knows what was in man as he came from the Creator’s hand; what is in man since he by transgression fell; and what is needed to redeem and renew the lost.
I. He knows what was in man as he came at first from the Creator’s hand. God made man upright; and that uprightness is known to Him on whom our help has been laid. The Son partook of the divine council in which the human constitution was planned, — “Let us make man in our own image.” His delights were with the sons of men before they were called into being. By him were all things created, whether they be things in heaven or things on earth.
A secular philosophy in modern times, having observed that creation advances by steps from the lowest to the highest forms of organization and life, has concluded that therefore there is not a Creator! — has concluded that either God is not, or that he has not made himself known. I do not know what kind of a world this would have been if it had contained only clods, and trees, and men. As it is, it is much more beautiful, more useful, and more like God’s work. Life rises by many steps, until it culminates in man. Worms, fishes, fowls, mammal quadrupeds mark the gradations and fill the intervals; and when at last the heir of the world is placed upon the stage, he finds servants of every grade ready to submit to his yoke. The Creator did not stop until he had reached his own ideal. When all things were ready, the purpose was expressed, — “Let us make man in our own image.” The bodily structure was perfect, and into the now completed body he breathed a living soul. The body will not now be changed: it will become a spiritual body, but it will be the same body that shall inherit eternal life and inhabit a holy heaven.
There is no profit in raising a question whether He who made man could make him cease to be. That is of a piece with the question whether God could lie. It is enough that he will not, because he is unchangeably true. So when he has made a being immortal, he will not undo or annihilate the work of his hand. Made in God’s image immortal, man cannot, cannot die.
God pronounced his work very good. In the human constitution the plan of the Omniscient was completed. This was a creature fit for being the child of God. This being could be taken into union with the divine nature. The measure of intelligence communicated to man was such, that when completely submissive and trustful, it gave the greatest glory to God, and the greatest happiness to the creature. The conception could not be improved; the execution could not be more skilful.
The Son of God knew what was in man, when man was made in God’s image. He knew that the constitution of humanity admitted of complete communion with God, as a child in a father’s bosom, and yet complete submission to God’s will, as the creature of his hand.
II. He knew what was in man when he had fallen. Knowing the character of the perfect work, the Saviour knows also the amount of damage that it has sustained.
He knows, also, the gravity of man’s sin, as an event affecting all the plans of God, and the government of all intelligent beings. As the defection of a chief carries away all that owned his sway, the fall of man affected the condition and prospects of the universal kingdom.
wSome trees are of such a constitution that if the uppermost bud is once nipped off, the tree is finally ruined. It can never develop itself into its proper shape and dimensions. Such an uppermost bud was humanity on the whole material creation. Deprived of its head, the world could not shoot up into the beauty and completeness which its Maker intended it should attain.
That which the text ascribes to Jesus is an attribute of omniscience. This knowledge he possessed not as man, but as God. Man does not know what is in man. He cannot comprehend either the blessedness of his first estate, or the loss that he has sustained by sin. Precisely because we are in a low estate, we do not understand either its lowness, or the height from which we fell. Take an example that bears an analogy close enough for our present purpose. Suppose a man, through some accident or disease, has lost the use and the command of reason. The remnants of the faculty continue in a certain kind of activity, and throw off many wild dreams; but no two things hold together in the workings of that disordered mind. This man does not know either what he formerly possessed, or what he has lost. Because he has lost the command of reason, he cannot estimate what he has lost.
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Now, although it is in the first instance mainly a moral derangement that has happened to humanity, it cannot be denied or concealed that the moral blight incidentally carries along with it an intellectual obtuseness. Who shall tell what advances might have been by this time made in mere knowledge, if the conscience had never been defiled by guilt? There is no branch of knowledere that man has failed In so much as the knowledee of himself It is easier to find out the law of gravity that guides the spheres, than to find out the law in the members that wars against God, and against the right instincts that still make themselves felt among the roots of our being.
When one has been renewed in the spirit of his mind, — when, through the gospel, a sinful man has been reconciled, and admitted to God’s favour again, — he obtains some glimpses both of his loss through sin and his gain in Christ. Those discoveries, however, that a renewed man makes in the secrets of his own nature are few and feeble compared with the knowledge that the Son of God possessed. The sin, in all its deformity, was open in his sight. The corruption was brought out, in full relief, aG!”ainst the Hq-ht of his inherent holiness. He felt that the allegiance of man was broken, that his love of God and holiness had died out; and, instead, there had sprung up a disttiste of God and an appetite for evil. Especially, instead of the child’s loving trust, there was the suspicion and the terror of combined wickedness and weakness. The human heart was no longer the home of m
the Spirit of God; the human h’fe was no longer a track that marked on earth the holiness of heaven.
III. Knowing the original constitution and the subsequent disease of the patient, the Physician knew also what would restore him, and was able to apply the cure. Knowing the worth of man as God had made him, our Physician would not abandon the wreck; but knowing how complete the wreck was, he bowed his heavens and came down to save. He united himself to us, became bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh, that he mieht raise us up. He so knit himself to his own on earth, that if he should rise, so must they.
When a sound and well-found ship goes to the relief of a wreck, and makes herself fast to the object of her care; — if she succeeds, well; but if not, she heaves off, and sees to her own safety. It was not thus that our Redeemer came to us in our low estate. He united himself to man. He threw himself into this wreck, so that if he should come away, he should bring the outcast with him.
I rejoice in the omniscience of the Holy One, on whom our help was laid, both on account of the good that he knew in man, and the evil. A counsellor who understood less fully what our nature was, and our constitution fitted us to become, might have advised abandonment. It often becomes a question of great importance in human affairs, whether a stranded ship should be left to her fate, or brought off and repaired. Sometimes an erroneous judgment is formed and acted on. On one side, an effort is made to save the wreck, when it would have been better to abandon it, and construct another. Again, she is sometimes weakly abandoned, when it would have been profitable to have saved her.
I confess it is only in our view that this conception has place at all, regarding the purpose of the Saviour not to abandon fallen man, but to save. In the wisdom that is infinite, the end has been seen from the beginning, and there is never any period of doubt. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Yet we are permitted, from our own view-point, to scan the ways of God in the light of Scripture, and in the exercise of our own faculties. A helper who understood less of our original nature and capability might have proposed to cast us off as hopelessly damaged..
Some profound inquirers believe that they see marks of successive destructions and successive re-creations of life on the crust of our globe. Earlier races seem to have been wholly abandoned and engulfed. Afterwards, and above the debris, new organisms have been created to people the renovated earth. It is further noticed, that while the new species are similar to the extinct, there is over all a rise into higher styles of life. Now, one who did not perfectly know what man was in his creation, might naturally have supposed, that by allowing the wreck to be wholly washed away, a new and higher degree of intelligence might have been called into existence. But the Saviour knew what was in man, and therefore undertook to save him from going down nz
to the pit. He knew that already the work was perfect; that this work could not be annihilated, like earlier stages of creation, for God had now breathed into the creature a living soul. He knew, moreover, that no other and different being could be made, who should be more capable of enjoying God’s favour, and showing forth God’s praise. Thus, because he knew what was in man at first, he knew how to deal with him when he fell, — knew that it would be more for God’s glory to redeem and sanctify the fallen, than to cast them away and create another race. Because of their worth unfallen, he will undertake the rescue.
And although he knew all the evil that .was in them by sin, he did not disdain to undertake the rescue. Although, knowing the curse that lay on them and the corruption that was in them, he knew what was necessary to redeem and save, he yet said, •’ Save from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.”
These, indeed, are the two elements that constitute the lost estate of man. The curse is on them, and the alienation is in them. The Healer, knowing the ailment, yet undertakes the cure on both its sides. He will remove both evils by becoming man and taking his people’s place, that they, partakers again of the divine nature, may enjoy his place before God. By assuming the nature of the fallen, and meeting the law in their stead, he received the curse into himself; and in him it was exhausted. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. The hand-writing that was against us has been blotted out: it is nailed to his cross. He became sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
On the other side, the ailment was an indwelling enmity against God. This also he takes away by the blood of the cross. When we realize that in Christ God is reconciled to us, we become reconciled to God. These two can walk together now, for they are agreed. He is our peace.
Some lessons. — i. Speaking now of the individual and of the unconverted: He knows what is in man, and yet he does not cast out the unclean. Lepers were not allowed to dwell among the people; but He who is holy, harmless, and undefiled, welcomes the leprous to his bosom. Nay, more; this Man receiveth sinners into a much more intimate relation. He ingrafts them into himself, like branches in the vine. It is true, indeed, that the nature of the strange vine is changed in the act of engrafting: but how changed .? Changed by getting all its evil drunk up by the Good Vine. When Christ proclaims, “Whosoever will, let him come,” he invites the leprous to be joined to his body as members, and cleanses them by receiving their sin and imparting to them his holiness.
2. Speaking now of his own disciples: he knows what is in them; and, with that knowledge, it is because he is God, and not man, that he does not shake them off. Even when a church of his, or a disciple, becomes to him like water neither cold nor hot — a taste that is naturally and necessarily loathsome — he does not spue them out of his mouth. He does, indeed, hold that threat over them; but it is not in order to execute it — it is in order that it may never be executed. He who intends to cast out does not so proclaim his purpose. That purpose is proclaimed, that it may never be fulfilled. They are in that loathed condition. It is not conditional; it is an actual, indicated fact. But his casting them out is not a fact at all; it is a terror thrown out to stir the slothful into activity, the worldling into living faith. He hates putting away: his threat of putting away is his method of keeping closer in.
3. He knows what is in man, and therefore can make his word and providence suitable. All things are for your sakes. Some are piercing words — they make the children tremble; but ye that are the children, these words have awakened many slumberers who might not otherwise have been awakened — “Then shall he say, Depart from me, ye cursed.” Some are tender and comforting — “Fear not, for I am with you.” His providences, too, aUhough for the time they may seem mysterious, all work together for our good. All power is given unto him, in heaven and in earth.
4. He knows what is in man — in each man — in the secret chambers of every heart. We do not know what is in each other. We could not afford that-we could not endure it. We could not endure that a stranger should search our thoughts; we could not afford to open all to our nearest. If our thoughts were suddenly revealed — as through a glass in our breasts — to one another, there would be shame and confusion. This assembly would scatter like the con-recfation of Pharisees from the temple when Jesus said, ‘’ Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone at her.” But be of good cheer. Our neighbour does not know what is in us; our brother does not. The wife does not know what is in her husband; the husband does not know what is in his wife. It could not be. Life would be intolerable on these terms. One only knows what is in man: He knows it. To those who remain at enmity this is the terror of the Lord within them. But when we are at peace through the blood, it is the sweetest of all things to know that He knows what is in us.
Nothing that defileth shall enter heaven. Those who shall be admitted to the mansions of the Father must be pure, as he is pure. Here is ground of unspeakable fear. What if, after I have examined myself, and put away every evil that I have discovered, there should remain remnants of corruption that escaped my notice, and will keep the gate shut against me in that day y True, we may miss some corruptions in our search. We do not know what is in man — this man, this self. But it is not left to depend on the completeness of our search. One knows all. He knows what is in man — in this man. He knows everything that is defiling. He will not pass over any spot. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin. He who has pledged himself to make them pure and bring- them home, knows all the plague-spots in his people.
Why should any disciple close any corner of his heart against Christ? He searches all the chambers for the evil spirits, to cast them out.
Sometimes one’s life is placed in danger through poison; notably and chiefly through poison from the bite of a rabid dog. Great care is taken to draw the poison out; and after the utmost efforts have been applied, they cauterize and close the wound, hoping yet fearing, — hoping that the deadly poison may have been all taken out, but fearing lest some remnant may still remain in. From day to day, from week to week, the patient remains in agony, lest some microscopic atom of the evil may be still in the blood. What peace there would have been if an infallible physician had looked into the wound and applied the remedy!
Fear not, sin-poisoned but blood-redeemed soul. He knows what poison was injected into your being by sin: He knows — he saves — he saves to the uttermost. By dying, he destroyed death. He has taken that poison into his own heart — taken it all. There is now no condemnation.