THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
[p. 380] THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
Luke 2: 6 - 17; Matthew 2: 1 - 11; Mark 1: 1; John 1: 18
The exercise that led me to read these scriptures is that we may, by the Lord’s help, through our consideration of them, be led on in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. One has been impressed, in what has been before us during this week, by the fact of the need of the knowledge of the Lord among the saints. The knowledge of the Lord shall in time be widespread, He is to fill all things; and, if He fills men and women, it is through their intelligence, and through their affections: so that, to this end, we have the law written in both the mind and heart, as we read in the epistle to the Hebrews.
“The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”, Isaiah 11: 9. That is a delightful contemplation for us who love Him, and who love God as revealed to us in Him. Now I apprehend that the knowledge of the Lord begins by His coming within our range. As He becomes in any little way known, the desire to know more of Him increases. The two days of revival in Hosea 6 may be applied as the gracious way in which God has come in for us. There was the binding up of the wounds, and then the revival of the two days. Two days of gracious ministry and sympathy, and then, “In the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight”. “Then”, it says, “shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord”. In the apostle we have the full expression of desire: “That I may know him” (Philippians 3: 10) — we get it indeed throughout the epistles.
I desire, first of all, to show from Luke how the [p. 381] Lord, according to the appointment of the wisdom of God, came in in such smallness as to be within the range of the simplest. Who has not got some conception of an infant? Think of it, beloved friends! It was the result of divine calculation that He should come in thus, and that He should be, in the ordinary way, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. The great majority of men and women know but little of the interior of a palace. Who is there who has not some conception of a manger? Christ was born there: God would have it so, and I connect what I am referring to now with Exodus.
God had, as He says, borne the people on eagles’ wings. Think of the flight and power of the eagle, bearing all that company from Egypt to mount Horeb. Eagles’ strength was employed in the most touching way on the part of God in the behalf of His people. And so they are before mount Sinai. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself”, Exodus 19: 4. Who is this God that so loved the people of Israel? It is He who dwelt in the thorn-bush in the wilderness and appeared to one man.
He dwelt in the bush, but is that all? Is it just that He dwells in the thorn-bush, and that He has the wings of an eagle? Look at the mount. Dwell on Exodus 19, and take note of the terrors of Sinai. Who is there? “Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel”. There had been smoke, and thunder, and a voice, so that even Moses feared. It is no less than He who dwells “in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see”, 1 Timothy 6: 16. He dwells in light. It is no less than He whom Moses and the elders of Israel go up to: “They saw the God of Israel”. Wonderful privilege! “And there was under his feet, as it were, paved work of a sapphire [p. 382] stone, and, as it were, the body of heaven in his clearness”, Exodus 24: 9, 10. All of which taken together was intended to impress Moses, to impress the elders and the people with what Moses said later on: “From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”, Psalm 90: 2. Then the Lord called Moses up into the mount alone — Moses took Joshua with him. He ascended the mount, and God opened up to him, and unfolded to him the pattern of the tabernacle.
The pattern specified measurements. Even the ark of the covenant was to be made to a certain measurement — two and one half by one and one half by one and one half cubits. We know what it speaks of, beloved; it represents no less than the One whose thunders had been heard on the mount, the One upon whose wings they had been carried. As the priests later on took that precious ark — inside of which were the tables of the covenant, the lid of which was the mercy-seat and the cherubim of glory overshadowing — they would continually meditate, according to their intelligence, on the precious vessel and its contents. It was no less than the Lord of glory.
And so the whole tabernacle, outwardly insignificant and measurable, representing in every part of it some feature of Christ, was that in which God Himself, according to the exigencies of His nature, dwelt. He dwelt there. You could walk around the tabernacle, one hundred cubits by fifty, but there was the cloud standing over it, reaching up, as it were, into heaven, the cloud of glory; as we may say, “The Son of man which is in heaven”. There was the link for faith to understand; but the ordinary Israelite could take account of that structure as it stood.
And so the Spirit of God brings before us the wonderful descent of Christ in grace. This marvellous picture brings before us the lowly circumstances into which He entered in grace.
The Lord came into the most ordinary circumstances. There is nothing said as to hostility to Christ [p. 383] at Bethlehem, the hostility was at Jerusalem. It was not an extraordinary thing that the inn should be full at such a time, when the whole country had crowded to the city and towns. The Lord is found at His birth in a manger. It took place according to divine appointment, and so the angel announces to the shepherds: “Fear not”. A wonderful thing had come to pass: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”, Luke 2: 11. Not, He ‘shall be’ a Saviour. No, the Saviour is there, but, within what compass? Within the compass of an Infant.
I may well say, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me”, Psalm 139: 6. He is brought within the range of all, so that God might touch every heart “Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people”. The shepherds say: “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass ... and they came with haste, and found ... the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child”. The Child is the subject of the glad tidings, and later He is in Simeon’s arms. Simeon came into the temple by the Spirit, having in his soul the light of God, that “he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ”. It is marvellous to contemplate Him who is God, being found as a Babe! That is how Luke presents Him.
I can only touch upon it, but it is one of the most important features for us at the present time. One is impressed with this, that if we are to make headway in the knowledge of Him that might be looked for, we must take account of Him as Luke presents Him.
Then we read of Him as a Boy. There is progress as the narrative proceeds, and it is in keeping with the progress that we should make, as we apprehend Him in the different stages of His holy life, so that our souls are nourished in the knowledge of Him.
[p. 384] You apprehend Him as a Man, at the age of thirty, and the Holy Spirit comes upon Him. He has arrived at the full age of manhood: “The man Christ Jesus”. The soul follows Him until Luke presents Him as the vessel of grace to men, so that His words are gracious: men “wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth”, Luke 4: 22.
I turn to Matthew. We have also an account of His birth, but there is no manger here. We have a house, and instead of shepherds there are wise men from the east — men who were accustomed to read the heavens; they saw His star. We cannot say how they knew it was His star. Those who look into the heavens are impressed with the thought of rule.
However much men may assert the democratic idea, God never gives up His thought of rule. These wise men recognised that; it is the height of folly to deny it. It is folly to look elsewhere for rule. These wise men were accustomed to the heavens, and they saw His star. Whose star? The star of the King of the Jews. “Where is he that is born king of the Jews?” The wise among the Gentiles will recognise that instead of asserting their supposed rights, they must submit to God’s rights, and His place of government among the Jews. “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” (Psalm 2: 6) and, as the Lord said: “Salvation is of the Jews”, John 4: 22. These wise men followed the movement of His star until they arrived at the spot where the little Child was. It is not here a “Babe” in swaddling clothes. He is more mature now. He is with His mother, and He is in the house.
I dwell on this for a moment because it runs alongside of Luke. There are many who enjoy the grace, who are not subject. This is another side of the “Babe” — the rule and the grace run together; it is the rule of grace, for grace is on the throne. The [p. 385] rule is exercised by none other than the Babe presented to us in Luke. We are told in Acts that God gives the Holy Spirit to all those who, “obey him”, chapter 5: 32.. There are many who accept the grace, who are not subject; and we do not progress if we are not subject.
Herod’s inquiry brings to light what this Child was to be: “And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel”, Matthew 2: 6. That is the side we get in Matthew, and I would urge on all, the importance of getting around and looking at the other side, and further round, and still further, so that you may see the four sides in which Christ may be known — the universal or general appearance of the Lord. The rule is in His hand. God has placed it there; it is not the least of the features. The evangelists are perfectly blended, their teaching becomes blended in each believer, as he progresses, until he becomes a “father”, to whom it is said: “Ye have known him that is from the beginning”, 1 John 2: 14. They knew the grace in the Babe, in the Boy, in the Man, and they knew the rule; they knew the service of God as seen in Him, and the only-begotten Son, as revealing God.
These wise men arrived at the spot where He was: “And, when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him”. You notice it is the house, not a manger or stable. We are now in the presence of royal dignity; and these wise men, in coming into the house, “fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh”. What a wonderful testimony to the work of God among the Gentiles! God brings forward these wise men from the east as a testimony to [p. 386] the Royal Child that was born in the city of David — Bethlehem.
As knowing the grace and rule of Luke and Matthew, we may look at Mark for a moment. You will observe he says nothing about the Babe; he does not even speak of Jesus Christ, come in flesh. He opens his gospel abruptly. One has to be developed in one’s senses — as we read in Hebrews, one’s senses have to be exercised — to have things presented abruptly, and yet to know the meaning of them.
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. Who is prepared in the intelligence of his soul to stand before that? It is a man, one who is developed. Not that I would exclude anyone, but it is “the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. One has to be ready for any call. Not that the gospel is an emergency measure; it is not, but the Levite has to be ready for any call. The gospel is not an emergency measure, as I said, for immediately the Spirit goes back to the prophecy of hundreds of years before. He is careful that no one should think he could improve on the divine way. Mark refers back to Isaiah at once; it was not a matter of yesterday, it had been thought out. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. The Man that was here for God’s will: “Jesus Christ”, and “the Son of God”.
Mark presents the servant. One has to know the grace and rule, and be subject, to be a Levite.
Many have taken up levitical work before they were subject. Levites must be subject. Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was “Prince of the princes of the Levites”, Numbers 3: 32. That is what the Levites have to understand; there is no room for the exercise of their own wills. Mark presents that side.
Just a word as to John. John presents the Lord from the standpoint of affection. He is the last writer. I have no doubt his is the last gospel. I would [p. 387] advise that all the gospels should be read together. If one is to arrive at a clear knowledge of the Son of God one has to understand the gospels. John had before him the dwelling-place, the family abode. The subject is so big that I can only mention it; it calls for most profound attention. The thought of dwelling comes out in John more than anywhere else: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. Not now the ‘Babe’, but “the only begotten Son”. The heart is arrested in the presence of that — as in any little measure you come to admire the Lord, to know His love — to think that He is the “only begotten”, and that He has “declared” God, and that, as in His bosom.
The Spirit of God uses words with the greatest accuracy and intent, and as He speaks of the bosom of the Father, He would touch our bosoms. He would create in us intelligent affections — the affections of grown men. “The only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father”. He dwells there in immeasurable love, and we may taste that today. We come under the influence of it as dwelling in love.
John dwells much on the love of God. Love radiates, so to speak, from the blessed sphere in which the Son lives. How many of us can say: “We have known and have believed the love which God has to us. God is love, and he that abides in love abides in God, and God in him”, 1 John 4: 16. That is what John brings in, and so in this respect John 1: 18, is the key to the gospel. It is the great end in view, that God should bring about the knowledge of Christ as “the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father”. You apprehend Him there, and the effect is wonderful. Paul says, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20.