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“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS”

It will be obvious that these scriptures all speak of Christ, and that is what ministry is, to endear Christ to the affections of the saints—the man Christ Jesus. That hardly needed to be said in the verse in Timothy; “God is one, and the mediator of God and men one”: it could have stopped there, but it continues, “the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”. What a man He is! The scriptures bring out not only what He was, but what a man He is, the man Christ Jesus, great enough to be the mediator of God and men. Oh, what God has thought about Him! Moses was a type, but (I say it carefully) a very poor type. There could not really be a type of the Mediator, because Moses had sin attaching to him, but the man Christ Jesus was spotless, holy, harmless, a blessed Man, the One who could satisfy God about the sins of the universe. How qualified He is to be presented as the mediator of God and men! God in his holiness and righteousness could never pass by sin, yet loved the sinner; how was it all going to be met? In the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. God’s righteousness was fully met, the holiness that God’s throne demanded fully satisfied in that blessed Man. Oh, how God loves to bring Him on to view! God is satisfied with Jesus. He fills the vision for time, for eternity. It speaks about God’s righteousness “in respect of the passing by the sins that had taken place before”, Rom 3: 25. Oh, what a volume of them! They are all met righteously in the man Christ Jesus, the sins that had taken place before, the volume of them from Adam right down. It speaks too of the sins of the present time, God perfectly righteous in passing them by because of the delight that He has found in the man Christ Jesus. The Mediator would never have been adequate if He had not satisfied God about everything. Far less might have done for us, but God has found His infinite satisfaction, yea His delight, in Christ, the man Christ Jesus. He gave Himself a ransom for all. Does not that endear Him to your affections? You can speak to any Christian or anyone about Christ. We sometimes too quickly bring in other things, but the link we have with every saint of God is the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. Oh, how full that ransom price which has been paid! The very day we are living in, the fact that the dispensation is continuing, is because there is a Mediator One able to uphold the rights, the holiness of God’s throne, and yet able to put His hand upon you and me in all our need—the man Christ Jesus.

I have read of how Peter and John and Paul speak about Him. There is more in these verses than we can ever go over, and I trust the very reading of them, putting them together, may have endeared that glorious Man to our affections. John brings out His deity, the man Christ Jesus a divine Person, He says, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. It was His own action. What was there to call it forth? A history of shame. Yet think of that point in time when a divine Person, the Creator of the universe, (it says without Him there was nothing made that was made (see John 1: 3)) the Creator of all became flesh. Why? Why not an angel? Why should He come into such a condition? Just that He might be near us. He became flesh. He came within our reach. An angel would not be within our reach, but “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. What grace! The man Christ Jesus: think of Him as John and the other writers of the gospels speak about Him. It says He took His place in the likeness of men, but how different! Day by day heaven saw in Him every divine thought and desire for man perfectly fulfilled. Oh, what a fragrance for God in the man Christ Jesus! What an odour went up to heaven in those days! It says, “we have contemplated his glory”: what a glory it was, a glory that attracted persons to Him! Somebody saw Him as He walked. “The Word became flesh”. He walked in those streets of Nazareth, took His place among men in perfect submission to what was suited to that condition. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. He never took Himself out of those circumstances into which He came, however great the needs. He was wearied with the way He had come; He hungered. What He entered into in that condition is the subject of holy contemplation. Wearied with the way He had come, He sat on the well. At the call of a poor blind man He stood still. I find that a very affecting verse, a blind man calling out as He was passing by; it says, “Jesus stood still”, Luke 18: 40. Oh, what work He had to do! How much there was to be accomplished, but at the call of a poor blind man the Son of God, the Creator, stood still, ready to open his eyes. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. Oh, what grace was there! It says, “full of grace and truth”. He brought it all with Him. It was not here before, but as the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, He brought in every divine grace. In Him truth was perfectly expressed, “full of grace and truth”. “The law was given by Moses”: what did that do? It left men guilty, perishing. That is what the law did, it left them more guilty. “The law was given by Moses”; that had gone on for all these generations. Into that very area of things “the word became flesh”, and He brought in with Him all that was needed—“full of grace and truth”. It says, “of his fulness” (what fulness there was!) “we all have received, and grace upon grace”. Grace upon grace: that will never run out, never. Page after page in the gospel: grace upon grace. From man’s side hatred upon hatred; in Christ, grace upon grace.

These writers, John and Peter, are writing about a Man they knew here, but they are writing about Him as now in His place in glory, the Spirit giving them insight into who He was. They hardly apprehended it when He was here, but as they look back they say that was grace upon grace. Oh, what a flood of it! It has been likened to the waves of the ocean; they roll in one after another, the one breaks and spreads itself, another comes and fills it up—grace upon grace. It has never run out because of who He is—the Word. The law and the prophets all exhausted themselves from one point of view, but in the man Christ Jesus the whole matter is filled out. It is never exhausted—grace upon grace. It did not set aside the truth, but it was able to hold these things in perfect balance and, since the Word became flesh, grace is in the lead. You could not put truth before grace. If you did, we would all have stood condemned, lost; but grace is in the lead. You go to chapter 8, with that woman: grace and truth perfectly upheld in the man Christ Jesus, the woman told to go and sin no more. Grace and truth prevails through the dispensation. You say, I thought it was righteousness. No; righteousness is the foundation, but grace is the operating principle. The law did not accomplish these things, but it says that grace reigns through righteousness (see Rom 5: 31). Righteousness is the foundation that has been laid, the righteousness of Christ; the righteousness of the man Christ Jesus has made way for a reign of grace that is going on through the whole dispensation.

Well, these things are set out from John’s point of view. He is bringing out the glory, the majesty, the deity of the Person. Peter is speaking of Him as a holy sufferer. Peter is speaking of sufferings that even we in some measure are called to have part in. He says about Him that He has left us a model. Who is your model, may I ask? When we are younger we have heroes. Maybe as we get older we have some too, but who is your model? It says He has left us a model. You need to look at it; may I say you need to look at it oftener. We are so apt to get accustomed to things that are short of the divine ideal. “The mediator of God and men one”. One and no other, the man Christ Jesus. He has left us a model. Well, let us look at Him. Peter knew Him, perhaps, better than any, and he was writing here as looking back by the Spirit, and the Spirit illuminating certain things before Peter’s vision. You could go through the gospels—a very interesting contemplation—and identify these things about which Peter speaks. “Neither was guile found in his mouth”: Oh, how often He was upbraided, how often He was maligned. “Neither was guile found in his mouth”; He was full of grace and truth. What cutting words He could have said. “When reviled, reviled not again”. Had He not a reason? Could He not have just corrected them? Could He not have just presented His case? I think of the Saviour in Pilate’s judgment hall when I read this. It says, “he opened not his mouth”, Isa 53: 7. Oh, what He could have said! Where were the ten lepers that were cleansed? Where was the widow who had her son raised? Where were the five thousand indeed that were fed? Where were they when He, the holy sufferer, was maligned in Pilate’s presence? Did He call any of them for witnesses? No, “he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter”, the man Christ Jesus. Oh, how different! We ought to open our hearts more often, beloved brethren, to the intrinsic uniqueness of that holy Man. It says something else—He “gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously”. I would commend that to you. He did not answer Pilate, He “gave himself over”.

Have you ever been upbraided? Have you ever thought, Well, what they did to me was not quite right? Have you thought that? He felt that more than any creature could ever feel it. What He felt in the scorn and the shame that was heaped upon Him! By the Jews? Yea, by the whole world. Luke, writing about that scene, says that the whole world was there, see Acts 4: 27. There was Herod, there was Pontius Pilate, there were the Jews, the nations, all there, heaping ignominy and shame upon Christ. It says He “gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously”. Oh, what a model! What a model when you feel that you have been wronged. There is Someone who judges righteously. That was Christ, all through His path the righteous One. His resource, His retreat, was in the Father. You wonder where His resource was. It says in Luke “by night ... he remained abroad on the mountain called the mount of Olives”, chap 21: 37. John says they went to their own home, “But Jesus went to the mount of Olives” (chap 8: 1)—the man Christ Jesus, the holy sufferer, committing Himself into the hands of Him who judges righteously. Beloved, these verses are infinite, because of the Person about whom we are speaking. I only commend that one touch to you—He gave Himself over. He was at no disadvantage for that. It meant the cross. Yes. It meant the crown of thorns; it meant His being crucified between two robbers. But what is the answer? God has highly exalted Him. That is the effect of giving Himself over into the hands of Him who judges righteously. We will be at no disadvantage. Oh, what grace it needs, but may we be assured of the outcome as we look at the model. You will never get this in other books. No books of man in their education will tell you to proceed on this way, but here is the model, the man Christ Jesus.

In Philippians Paul speaks about Him as a bondman. Paul here is seeking to further unity among the saints. We speak a lot about it, and generally we mean other persons coming round to our point of view. That is what we think would be unity. He says here, “that ye may think the same thing”, and then he presents the Bondman. He says, “let this mind”, not your mind, my mind, or so-andso’s mind, but “let this mind”, the mind that was in the man Christ Jesus. What a mind it was, what an attitude! I only say, Is it ours? Do we really want unity? Or do we want, as I said, people thinking the same as me? Paul says, “let this mind be in you ... subsisting in the form of God”, all that true and unique about Him, but it says He “emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form”. That is the way to unity, beloved, take a bondman’s form, go down. Indeed, I think you will find that, even in practical matters, a way out of a tight situation is to go down. There is usually room to get out at the bottom because everybody else is at the top trying to get out. Go down. He took a bondman’s form, “taking his place in the likeness of men”. I remember someone asking about a way out in a crisis. A beloved servant said, Well, you can always die. And that is the solution, you can always die. That is what the Bondman in principle did, He laid aside what belonged to Him, He “emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form”. The way out for Him was that He went to the cross. Disunity comes through each striving to project themselves and their own point of view, and the man Christ Jesus has gone this way, taking a bondman’s form. “Let this mind be in you”. He emptied Himself. Again you get the idea of giving Himself over into the hands of Him who judges righteously. His God has highly exalted Him, the Bondman. May we be exercised to take on His features.

In Revelation He is speaking about Himself. It is not now a Paul or a Peter or a John speaking about Him; He is calling attention to Himself—may I say, the only Person who has a right to speak about Himself, “I Jesus”. Very beautiful that He reverts to that name! Would it not have an echoing chord in every redeemed soul? “I Jesus”. What a book it has been, a book largely speaking of agencies being used—angelic and others—but here, ere the book closes, He speaks Himself about Himself to appeal to the heart of His lovers—“I Jesus”. Then He says, “I am the root and offspring of David”. What a man He is! The scriptures we have read are very full about Him, but they could never exhaust who He is, the root of David, the beloved of the Old Testament, the man who was most attractive as he came in. It says, “he was ruddy, and besides of a lovely countenance”, 1 Sam 16: 12. Everybody loved David. They were drawn to him in their need. He was always there, a great drawing centre. They went to him, “and he became a captain over them”, 1 Sam 22: 2. Now here is the Root and Offspring of David. It refers to His deity, His majesty, and yet He is saying, “I Jesus”. Beloved, the One who became flesh, the One who has come within our range, is a divine Person, the man Christ Jesus. There is nobody like Him. He is the Root; He was there before time began. He knew all about the happenings in this book. Then He says He is the offspring of David, come of that beautiful line. All that was attractive was set out in David. Here is his Root, here is his Offspring. But then He says something finer than that; He says, “the bright and morning star”. Oh, what a man He is! “The bright and morning star” is shining amidst the darkness, shining there a great beacon, a token that the day is very soon to come. Nobody could put the morning star out, could they? “The root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”. Have you ever looked to Him like that? What does it mean, you say. It means that the day is very soon coming. It means that the day will soon burst upon our vision, and on those who are looking. And seeing that Morning Star. It says, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. What a word! Persons looking, and seeing Him, seeing Someone arising there in His majesty, amidst all the darkness, amidst all the breakdown, amidst all the depression, see Someone shining there in His own brilliance. It says, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. Someone has said about that that a divine Person and a creature vessel use the same language at the same time. How precious! Think of the Spirit looking at that Morning Star too, strengthening the affections of the saints, and there is only one cry—Come, come Lord to reign. Oh, the man Christ Jesus, no longer in humiliation, but He will come out to reign, He will come out to put everything in its place, He will come out to be displayed. It says He will be “wondered at in all that have believed”, 2 Thess 1: 10. Oh, all that is conveyed now in the Morning Star. It speaks about the morning star elsewhere but only here it says the bright and morning star. The length of the dispensation all that has come in, has not obscured the brightness and the shining of the man Christ Jesus. May the Spirit of God keep Him before our affections, for His Name’s sake.

LONDON

19^th March 1988

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