THE SPEAKER, THE ORACLES AND THEIR EFFECT
[p. 217] THE SPEAKER, THE ORACLES AND THEIR EFFECT
I have read this chapter not with the purpose of expounding it, but as following the line of thought which came before us in the last lecture. My point was to show the superiority of Christ to man. You will say, of course, everybody takes that for granted; but I think it is not only to be taken for granted, but an apprehension should be gained of it. What we want is the knowledge of Christ. The apostle Paul speaks of “The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ”. We may have lost opportunities and advantages here and we want compensation. I do not think God intends us to be without compensation. I am afraid people do not always get the compensation, and have a sort of regret as to what they have sacrificed, but that is a poor thing. Paul had made sacrifices, had evidently given up a great deal, reputation, connections and associations, but he had compensation, and it was found in “The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”. Therefore, the knowledge of Christ is a very great point for the Christian.
I took up two or three points last time in connection with chapter 2, points of interest, showing the superiority of Christ to man. One was in connection with the marriage at Cana. I was pointing out that it showed how Christ could do better for man than man could for himself; then, in connection with the temple, that man does one of two things, he either corrupts or destroys. But Christ raises up. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”.
[p. 218] There was another point, that Christ knew more of man than man of himself. Man did not know his own lawlessness; Christ did. Hence the Lord speaks of the necessity of a man being born again. No man naturally knows sin. Man’s conscience does not witness to sin, but in regard to its activity. But even where sin does not come into conception, there is the principle of lawlessness. Man does not know it, but Christ did. The Lord spoke of the necessity for a man to be born again, in order that he may come under the moral sway of God.
I was saying that in the idea of the temple you have to take in the thought of the oracles. The oracles of God are most important to man. I say that much to lead up to chapter 3. The point of chapter 3 is that in it we get the oracles; as in chapter 2 the temple. In the tabernacle, and again in the temple, was the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat, and when you come to the real temple, that is Christ, you have the oracles of God. You have to distinguish between the temple and the oracles. It is a great point to know the value to us of the temple so that we may get the oracles. There are three points I take up in connection with the chapter. The first is the speaker, I contrast the speaker with man at his best; then the oracles, that is, what is spoken. Then the effect of the oracles, of the speaking. You get that brought out in the chapter very simply. One word in advance in regard to the effect of what is spoken; we have it before our eyes. People are attracted and attached to a centre so that they are recovered from lawlessness; on the other hand some are repelled.
Now I will say a little in regard of the speaker. The verses I read dwell a good bit on speaking, “We speak that we know, and testify that we have seen”. Then afterwards, “What he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth”. Then again, “He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God”. Men [p. 219] often speak, but one thing must mark all speaking on the part of man: no man can speak (I am not referring to senseless people, but to people accounted wise in this world) who has not knowledge, but then the knowledge that man has is acquired. Whatever may be the field of knowledge, whether philosophy or science, it must be acquired. Man must have observed and co-ordinated things in his mind, he must possess capability, be able to notice facts and put them together; deduce conclusions, and in that way arrive at what is called knowledge, but evidently it is acquired. There is another point in regard of man: every conclusion of man, and even his observation, may be marred or distorted to a certain extent by some difficulty in apprehension, because it is extremely uncommon to find a man entirely without bias or prejudice; if there be anything of that kind affecting the mind of man it is pretty clear that his conclusions are not likely to be absolutely correct. Now in regard to the Son of God we get a remarkable expression: “The Son of man which is in heaven”, and another, “We speak that we know, and testify that we have seen”. Christ had not to acquire knowledge; knowledge was inherent. That is the difference between Christ and any human speaker. No human speaker could say, “We speak that we know”, because man as man knows nothing; when he comes into the world he knows nothing; all he knows is acquired. Christ never had to acquire knowledge. The officers who came to take Him had to say, “Never man spake like this man”. The Jews said, “How knoweth this man letters never having learned?” At twelve years old, in the midst of the doctors at Jerusalem, “All that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers”. All serves to illustrate what we get here, “We speak that we do know”. “He that is of God speaketh the words of God”. Therefore there can be no comparison between man and Christ. There is a [p. 220] contrast, but no comparison. There is one more point, every man upon earth is affected by the fogs and mists of earth; that is as certain as possible; we know it in natural things, and in moral things there are plenty of fogs and mists. I do not believe there is any man who is entirely unaffected by them. Of the Son of man it is said, “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven”. I understand by it that He is entirely above the mists and fogs of earth. He is above the clouds, and unaffected by them, they can produce no effect upon the mind of the speaker here. There is nothing distorted, nothing out of order or proportion. He is the speaker, who speaks that He knows and testifies that He has seen. I trust I have carried you thus far, and that all will apprehend the superiority of the speaker — the Son of man which is in heaven — to every human speaker. Plenty of men profess to be seekers after truth, but their vision is pretty sure not to be perfect, because it is affected by prejudices that prevail upon earth.
I pass on now to the next point — the oracles. There I think we can see the contrast between what man speaks and what the Son of man speaks. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. In this chapter the Lord says a good bit about the light. “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light ... For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God”. All the Lord speaks here is in anticipation of resurrection. I want you to bear that in mind, the Son of man had to be lifted up. The light could not come out fully until resurrection.
[p. 221] What I understand by the light is the revelation of God. In the death of Christ we get the light of divine love. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son”. Another thing had to come out in regard of God, that was divine power, and that was seen in the resurrection of Christ. Resurrection meant that Christ was given back of God to man in the virtue of redemption. We get a beautiful expression in the epistle to the Hebrews, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant”. Therefore, in Christ the light is of the love and power of God toward man and on man’s behalf. All that the Lord said and did in the course of His ministry anticipated that. In Acts 26: 23 it says, “That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles”. He was to come out in that way in resurrection. As the Lord said in John 2, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. The temple was to be in resurrection. That is what God ordained. I am referring now to what is spoken, and it is difficult to put that before you, because when we talk about speaking, we expect to hear words; but there is a very old saying, that facts or acts speak louder than words; they do, and that is essentially the case when the facts or the acts are of God. The testimony of God has come out in facts. There are words to explain it, but the testimony is in the death and resurrection of Christ. As I said, the death of Christ is the great expression of divine love. “The Son of man must be lifted up” as the perfect expression of divine love. God saw fit Himself to take up the liabilities under which man lay by the judgment of God in order that He might show mercy to man. Hence the Son of man lifted up is not simply the testimony to what man’s condition was, but to divine [p. 222] love, in its bearing in regard to man. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. The latter part shows the consequence. I am occupied with the foundations. The other fact is the resurrection of Christ; the power of God has intervened to raise up Christ from the dead in virtue of redemption, that He might in that way be given back to man. When the Israelites carried the ark into battle, and the Philistines took it, there might justly be said, “Ichabod”, that is, the glory had departed from Israel; but God gave the ark back. He did that in the sovereignty of His mercy. So in resurrection God has given back Christ to man in the blood of the everlasting covenant. If you have followed me you will have seen that the facts of the death and resurrection of Christ speak much stronger than words. I have no doubt that all the Lord Jesus did and said was leading up to these facts. It is doubtful if the disciples understood any act of the Lord’s life — either His words or His miracles — until they understood His death; everything was illuminated by it. In contrast to that, man gives you volumes; you may get wisdom on the part of man in a way, for there are capable men of the world, with great powers of observation, large minds, having great knowledge of human nature, and acquainted with the history of things in the world; they are men of interest, and we read their works, but it is only books they give you. But I can understand anybody saying, does not that show great breadth of mind in the men themselves? Yes, but what have you got to? Only man; and they making use of the ability God gave them. There is another class of men, possessed of wealth, and bestowing on men all kinds of benefits, building institutes and libraries for the improvement of man’s mind, perhaps with the idea of improving man morally. It might be said of such, Do not acts speak louder than words?
[p. 223] Have you not witness to the liberality and beneficence of man? You have, but, after all, only man is before me. I can understand another class of men prepared to go to any extremity for the maintenance of principle — a politician, who for the sake of principle would die; again, it may be said, Do not acts speak louder than words? But you have only the man or the principle. In any case that I have supposed you have no more than the man or the principle; but in the death and resurrection of Christ, it is not that you have man, but God. You have not wonderful volumes written, great liberality shown, or a man dying for a principle, but the testimony of the love and power of God. A man may die for a principle, but there is no resurrection; the death and the resurrection of Christ are the oracles; not an exhibition of what a man could do, or where a man could go, but the revelation of God. The death and resurrection of Christ are great facts and the testimony of God upon earth. They are the explanation of the mercy which Christ shewed in His miracles, and in all that He testified to both in regard of man and of God. There are two principles which ruled in everything that the Lord Jesus said when here; one was that he would not tolerate man: there was the rebuke and the refusal of man’s pretension in all the Lord Jesus said; but, on the other hand, there was the continual bringing in of the goodness of God. So in the death of Christ, there was the complete setting aside of man, but there was the testimony, the bringing in of God in love. The facts that are brought before you in connection with the Son of God, which the Lord refers to here, are the lifting up of the Son of man, and the resurrection which that lifting up involved. “It behoved Christ to suffer and to rise again”, and those facts present to us the oracles of God. I daresay the expression “oracles of God” does not present a very definite notion to many people; what I understand by them is the testimony [p. 224] of divine love and power in Christ in its application to man. We have come unto mount Zion. That is what is spoken, and it is very different from what man can speak.
I come now to John 3: 19 - 21 and 35, 36. There are two effects of light coming in, which I have referred to already. One effect is to expose; and light often repels because it exposes. You see that in a house or in an office. If a Christian is brought into an ungodly office he will find that the light will have two effects, on the one hand it will expose and repel, but on the other it will attract all except the lawless. There is not a doubt about that. I admit the need of a man being born again, but whatever there is of truth or doing truth here would be attracted to the light. He that doeth evil does not come to the light, it repels. You must not be astonished at that; all in the world are not going to be attracted by the light; undoubtedly there are those in the world who are repelled by it. They do not like the light. The mind of man hates an absolute standard of right and wrong. He prefers right and wrong to be in measure mixed up, so that there may be no absolute standard for his practice; but if God is light and in Him is no darkness, when the revelation of God has come in, there is bound to be an absolute standard of right and wrong. It is said of the Lord Jesus, “Thou hast loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness”. The one hated, the other loved; hence, undoubtedly, the effect of the light will be to attach to itself, on the other hand it will repel. Men of the world, and very intelligent men, too, refuse revelation because they will not allow an absolute standard of right and wrong. Now everything was brought to an issue when Christ came; because there was now a centre, a point of attraction. The Lord speaks here about being lifted up, and in chapter 12, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”. That passage involves resurrection.
[p. 225] A centre has come in to which everything for God can be attached. In connection with that we get, on the one hand, the thought of everlasting life for the one that believeth in Him — but, on the other, he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. What has become of the world that existed when Christ was on earth? That world had Jerusalem for its centre, but has been broken to pieces and has come under Gentile domination. The world has become Babylonish. The effect of Christ coming in was this, he that believed came into everlasting life by the Spirit; but “he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” has been exemplified in the case of the Jew. They were not subject to the Son; when presented to them, they said, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him”. Then He was presented in resurrection and they would not have him; and the Jew has been under the wrath of God from that day to this.
But there is another point. Christ was to suffer and to rise again from the dead and to show light, not only to the people but to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are being tested by the light. We get the thought of eternal life in Christ presented to the Gentiles. It is an accepted time and a day of salvation. Scripture speaks of the reconciliation of the world, the testimony has gone out to the world, and a great result will be brought about in regard to the Gentiles by the light. The apostasy will in due time be manifested, but God is accomplishing His purpose, and a great many have been attracted. The atoms that were floating about in lawlessness have been brought into attachment to the divine centre. But it is perfectly plain that the end of things, so far as man is concerned, will be the setting up of antichrist. Man will exhibit himself perfectly lawless, every principle of evil will be brought into combination. There will be the revival of the [p. 226] Roman beast, and the actual antichrist will appear, and the devil, cast out of heaven, giving his throne and authority to the beast; and the harlot will ride the beast. Scripture makes plain enough what things are coming to, what all is going to culminate in. Then there will be the great final test, the coming of the Lord. Men are being tested morally at the present time; there are principles at work which will be headed up in the man of sin. One evident proof of lawlessness in the world is in the disintegration of society. There are two reasons which bring Christ again into the world: one is, that He appears the second time, apart from sin, unto salvation; but the other is that he will appear “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”. When everything is ripe, when the vintage is ready and the harvest is ripe, He will come in to gather up the harvest — not one grain will fall to the ground — but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. The Lord will come at the appointed moment, and everything will be brought to an issue; He will appear for the salvation of His people, but He will appear to the destruction of the lawless. The issue is already here. Plenty of people have been attracted to Christ. He is the blessed centre presented to man in the way of testimony. We have been attracted to Him by the testimony. God has taken that way to deliver us from this present evil world. We have been attached to Christ by the Spirit, and are to keep ourselves in the love of God. We are in the good of revelation. “He that believeth in him hath everlasting life”.
I suggest these things to you to furnish you with food for consideration. I want you to contemplate the greatness of the speaker, what is spoken and the value of the oracles, all the light of God shining upon you upon earth. “Herein is love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because [p. 227] as he is, so are we in this world”. It is wonderful to be in the light, in attachment to Christ, and to abide in Christ. When you are brought into attachment the point is to abide, and if you abide in Christ you get the benefit of the sunshine: we “walk in the light as he is in the light” that we may have the light pervading our hearts.