CHRIST AS SPEAKER
[p. 118] CHRIST AS SPEAKER
Matthew 17: 35; John 17: 26
What I desire is to seek to engage your hearts with Christ as Speaker. It is evident that God intended to communicate His thoughts by means of speaking, and therefore He took up different vessels from time to time in order to communicate His mind through them. So you find in the ways of God there were many speakers, as we are told, “God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets”. Hebrews 1:1. What I wish to make clear is, that now all speaking is by the Son. As we were saying this afternoon, God has recovered man in sonship, and all that He accomplishes now through man is through him as in sonship, so you will find in the New Testament that all that which God undertook to accomplish before is now taken up afresh and accomplished in permanency by the Son. There were many things that God undertook to do, such as speaking, writing and building; but, because of the character of the instruments used, imperfection marked everything that had been done, So that you find in the New Testament that God undertakes to do all these things now by the Son. Whether it be speaking or writing or building or ruling, all is by the Son. And all that the Son does is done in permanency and perfection.
So I wish to engage you with the Son as the Speaker. He is now the One through whom all communications from God to us are made, and hence I brought the passage in Matthew 17 to your attention. The Father’s voice is heard from the cloud. The cloud indicates the Father’s house, and it comes into view for the specific purpose of calling attention to the Son as a Speaker. Moses and Elias (great speakers) were there, but they are withdrawn,
and the Father’s voice is heard from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him”. Matthew 17:5. So the Speaker is One in whom the Father’s pleasure is. And it is He who is to be heard.
I wish, if I can, to show you that in the Old Testament in the typical part you get foreshadowings of Christ as Speaker; but what I wish especially to show is, that each man of faith in his closing word to men, set forth some feature of the testimony, and that feature of the testimony was the feature for which he in the ways of God stood personally. Therefore I shall refer to certain men of faith to show you that that which comes out now fully and perfectly in Christ had been set forth in individuals in the Old Testament. Now all is established permanently in Christ. When I choose to speak of the closing addresses of these men, I do so because I believe that the last words of any man embody substantially that which he represented in regard to the testimony of God.
I begin with Noah. In referring to him one must admit that the last words of Noah recorded were uttered long before his death. Nevertheless, his last speech, according to Scripture, is in Genesis 9, and it indicates what he stood for personally in the development of the testimony. That is to say, Noah stood for government. Noah is a type of Christ in other respects, but he is a type of Him in relation to government, and his pronouncement as to his sons conveys to us what he stood for; he stood for government, and his last recorded statement indicates what came to pass in the government of God in connection with his posterity. I do not dwell upon Noah, only to indicate that as a speaker he foreshadowed Christ. He had something to say which had reference to Christ. He blessed Shem and Japheth and he cursed the posterity of Ham. The speech is brief, but it [p. 120] indicate that which, in the government of God, befell his posterity.
Now I proceed to call attention to Isaac. One cannot but refer to Isaac with pleasure. His name signifies laughter. Isaac stands for Christ as the One in whom the blessing of God became effectuated. He superseded his father Abraham. He was conscious that he was qualified to bless. I take his utterance in the blessing of Jacob; he was, in type, the vessel of the blessing. This may be taken as his closing word, for it was spoken in view of his death, and it conveys to us that feature of the testimony which he represented personally. He was conscious of being the vessel of God’s blessing, and he passed it on to Jacob. So that he was a speaker, and his words conveyed what he stood for. He stood for the blessing of God. Isaac is Christ, the heavenly man in resurrection.
Now I pass on to Jacob. Jacob is the Jew: he is typical of Christ in relation to God’s earthly people, in all the trials and vicissitudes of their history. In all their sorrows and their joys Jacob represents them. When we come to Jacob as a type we descend to the level of God’s people here on earth in their responsibility, Christ with them; the Lord took a place in relation to Israel. He descended to where they were. “In all their afflictions he was afflicted”. Isaiah 63:9. Jacob represents the Israel of responsibility.
Now when you come to the closing words of Jacob that is exactly what you find. In Genesis 49 we have recorded from his lips an outline of the history of God’s people. He calls his sons together and he says, “Gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days”. Genesis 49:1. And he faithfully outlines, in a prophetic way, from beginning to end, the history of the people. There was much wickedness; that, for instance, of Reuben; and as to Simeon and Levi, instruments of cruelty [p. 121] were in their habitations, and in their anger they slew a man. Then you get apostasy in Dan; and Issachar was a strong ass, couching down between two burdens. Now these things communicate to us what the people were as in responsibility, but there are the relieving features, especially seen in Judah and Joseph. Judah had the royal sceptre, and Joseph was a fruitful bough whose branches went over the wall; so that, whilst it is the people in responsibility, they are not without hope. Christ is contemplated. Shiloh should be the gathering centre, and in speaking of Joseph, Jacob says, “from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel”. Genesis 49:24. There are bright gleams of hope in the outline of responsibility, but nevertheless it is the responsible people.
We come to Moses next. With him it is not the responsible people. He did have to do with the people as in responsibility, of course, but the great end of his ministry was the deliverance and blessing of Israel. In this respect he represents Christ. He also typifies Christ as over the house of God. Here his personal greatness shines. He was the man who had to do with the house of God. If there is anything that puts us to the test, it is the house of God. And what came to light in regard to Moses is this, that although he had to do with the perverseness of the flesh, he was the meekest man in all the earth. I think he may be said to be the greatest man in the Old Testament.
He rises to the full height of God’s thought in Deuteronomy 33. I can only touch upon it. It is his closing utterance. The chapter records the dying words of Moses. I judge that a man’s deathbed is the moment of his weakness, but you will find with men of faith that their dying words are most pregnant with victory. So it was with Isaac and Jacob. And so it is with Moses. The man of faith is never [p. 122] discouraged. The darker the day the brighter he shines. Moses began to speak of blessing when he was about to die. It is only in the light of Christ that he could thus speak. He is not now dealing with the people he had led through the wilderness. That people had departed in the brazen serpent. The brazen serpent had terminated that people for ever. A new generation had appeared as the effect of the Holy Spirit (the springing well), having come in typically, and that generation was blessed. So that you will find as Moses takes up each of the tribes he has nothing to say about any of them but what indicates blessing. He begins with Reuben: “Let Reuben live and not die”. Deuteronomy 33:6. He was worthy of death, but death had come in already. It must be remembered that Moses’ last words were spoken in the land of Moab. They were not spoken in Egypt, nor strictly in the wilderness, but in the confines of Canaan, after the brazen serpent and the springing well. Therefore this chapter has reference to a people who have the Spirit. God loves such a people — “Yea, he loved the people”. Deuteronomy 33:3.
Next I come to David. His closing words are recorded for us in 2 Samuel 23: “these be the last words of David”. I take it that the few words recorded from David’s lips here convey to us what he stood for in his testimony. Jacob had spoken of the people in responsibility. Moses has blessed them. David does not speak of the people at all, but of the King. David’s closing words therefore embody what he stood for. What did he stand for? He stood for the kingdom. Things had gone to the bad in Israel. The ark of the covenant had been taken captive; David comes forth, the anointed of the God of Israel, and he recovers the ark and establishes it in Zion. So he speaks of the King: “And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds as the tender grass springing [p. 123] out of the earth by clear shining after rain”. 2 Samuel 23:4. I desire that your hearts should be engaged with the King. God told David that the Man that ruled among men should be just and that He should rule in the fear of God. Who is that One? That is Christ. I think that every Christian heart can testify to the justness of Christ. Every one that has come into contact with Christ as a Ruler, and we must come in contact with Him as a Ruler, can say, He is a just Ruler. He rules in the fear of God. We may well commit ourselves into His hands. I have no hesitation in committing myself into the hands of Christ. He rules with perfect discrimination. That comes to light in His rule. It is a serious question for each Christian as to whether you are directly under the rule of Christ; and to be under the rule of Christ is to be happy. He is as a morning without clouds. I only speak of these things because David speaks of the King. Thank God, there is such a Ruler among men. Now what is He to you? Is He as a morning without clouds? If you want the sunshine to beam into your soul bow to that Ruler. Did you ever bask in the sunshine of a morning without clouds? that is, in the presence of Christ. Submitting unqualifiedly to the authority of Christ, you discover a morning without clouds. It is genuine and abiding happiness to be under the rule of Christ. I do not enlarge on what David says, but it certainly bears examination. He proceeds to speak of what is the effect in our souls when subject to Christ: “As the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain”. 2 Samuel 23:4. I only speak of the King, and the importance of being subject to Christ as the Ruler among men.
All these testimonies pointed to Him personally. Noah spoke, Isaac spoke, Jacob spoke, Moses spoke, and David spoke, but none of them spoke about the Father. You get testimony rendered to many things,
[p. 124] but the appearance of the Son was needed so that men should hear about the Father.
I just wish to dwell upon that for a moment in closing. The Father was there in the cloud in Matthew 17, indicating that He had a place of abode. He calls attention to the Son: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” Matthew 17:5. Now all I would hope for is that your heart would be interested in the Son. One finds that believers are interested if you speak of government, or blessing, or responsibility, or the kingdom, but when you come to the ground of divine relationships, and the abode of divine Persons, one has to admit that the interest weakens. But these last mentioned should interest us most, for they involve the peculiar privileges of the assembly. What these men of faith had to say they had to say to a people that did not belong to heaven. Now it seems to me that the Spirit of God would speak to our hearts as to the full height of the calling of the assembly. It remained for the appearing of the Son so that the full thought of God should be made known. The Father says, Hear Him. “This is my beloved Son ... . hear him”. Matthew 17:5. Now Moses had said a great deal, and also Elias; they were both great men, but the Father indicated that there was a greater Speaker, and hence that there was more to say, and that is what I would endeavour to impress upon you.
The Holy Spirit would lead us to listen to Christ, and therefore I read the closing verse of John 17, because I take it as conveying to us the very highest part of what the Lord had to say. Beginning to speak publicly, the Lord said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”. Luke 4:18. He stood up in the synagogue to read, and having read the roll from the prophet Esaias He gave it the minister, and the eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. There was the Man of God’s pleasure. The [p. 125] Spirit of God was upon Him, and He was about to speak on the part of God. He proceeds: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears”. Luke 4:21. And what do you get next? It says, “They wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth”. Luke 4:22. That gives you an idea of the kind of Speaker that Christ was. They marvelled. Not exactly at what He said, but at the way He said it. He was the Speaker. What is recorded in John 17 was spoken to His Father. In the chapters immediately preceding He had been breathing out His closing words to the disciples, and now He turns to the Father about them, and in His closing sentence to Him He discloses substantially all that gave character to His life. In that closing sentence to His Father He gives expression substantially to what, in a sense, marked the whole of His ministry: “I have declared unto them thy name”. John 17:26. How much does that cover? It covers, we may say, that ministry of which the apostle John tells us. He says, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written”. John 21:25. The infinite magnitude of the ministry of Christ is traced by the beloved disciple in these words. He had listened to Christ and had seen His deeds, and his estimate is, that if all were written the world itself could not contain the books. Have you such an estimate of Christ? It is the estimate of one who loved Him and had witnessed His words and works. It was not a revelation, but John’s own estimate of Christ and His ministry. There was one man that had a true estimate of Christ’s ministry. That ministry could not be other than infinite, for in it the Father’s name was declared. “I have declared unto them thy name”. John 17:26. The name of the Father! Is not that infinite? Yet it is [p. 126] declared so as to be apprehended and enjoyed by us. In coming out to speak the Lord took up every moral question, and nothing could be added to what He had to say on any point; but the declaration of the Father’s name was in a special way to the disciples. Here it is covered in one sentence. I spoke about others; their whole ministry and all that they stood for being contained in their last words. Here Christ’s ministry is put into that short sentence, and yet it was infinite! Now who could do that but the Son? The Lord had brought the Father into the light. The Son had made the Father known. Moses and David spoke according to their apprehension. No one could go beyond that. But the Lord is a divine Person, and He speaks in all the infinite knowledge that He possesses of the Father.
Now what was it that characterised Christ here upon earth? He says, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father”. John 14:9. He had brought into evidence what God was. He had presented Him here before men in His words and works. He presented Him so perfectly that He could speak of Himself in that way — “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father”. John 14:9. The testimony was perfectly presented. But then He had instructed the disciples. The testimony of the Father was public. He was publicly the presentation of the Father to Israel, and the result was that He had to say, “Now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father”. John 15:24. That was their estimate of Him. But then there were the disciples, and I trust that we are all in that position. We are disciples of Christ, and it is to disciples He makes known the Father’s name. Now I do not know whether you have dwelt on the Father’s name, but it signifies what the Father cherishes, what His renown is. That which specially represents the Father’s heart is embodied in His name. All that was opened out and made known to the disciples. Christ [p. 127] opened it up in His ministry to the disciples. They listened to Him. I think Mary of Bethany may be taken to be representative of the disciples. Whatever else may have marked them, they were attentive to Christ. I would press on everybody here the importance of paying attention to Christ. We are living in days when the commandments of Christ are being transgressed. They are being transgressed by His people and therefore the importance of paying attention to what He has to say, and I take it that Mary of Bethany represents that element in the disciples. She sat at His feet and heard His word. What do you think He told her?
Suppose you open your ear to Christ, what will He speak to you about? He will speak about the very greatest things. If you require forgiveness He will tell you all about that, if you need the Spirit He will give you the Spirit, but when your responsibility is met and you are free, He will tell you about the Father. He will open up the Father’s heart and the Father’s things to you. He will tell you all about what is inside that bright cloud. That is what He did for the disciples. “I have declared unto them thy name”. What for? “That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”. John 17:26. How little Peter understood that on the mount. To think that what was in God’s mind was that that voice should actually have application in the principle of it to Peter. That Peter should be to the pleasure of God as in identification with Christ. Still there was nothing less in God’s mind. God had expressed His delight in His beloved Son; and Peter and the others were sons, and so they were to be for God’s pleasure. The love wherewith the Father loved Him should be in them, and He in them. Did it ever occur to you that the Lord Jesus seeks to have a place in your heart? He does. It may be the world has got a place there — some ideal, some object,
[p. 128] but the Lord wants a place in your heart, and to that end He opens up to you the Father’s name. The Father’s name made known, the love of the Father is known in the heart, and the next thing is, that there will be a place in your heart for the Son. Then you will become a speaker — you will speak of Christ I refer for a moment to Psalm 45. The psalmist says, “My heart is inditing a good matter”. Psalm 45:1. I do not know whether you have considered the word that is here translated, “inditing”. It is a remarkable word. It means to spring or bubble, as you will notice in the margin. The heart was spontaneously welling up a good matter. Now what was the good matter? “I will speak of the things which I have made touching the king”. Psalm 45:1. And then he proceeds to enlarge on the beauty of the King. So I think as we apprehend Christ in that light, as the Speaker, we cannot fail to speak about Him. He is not here on earth now to speak, but I think we should bear in mind that the Holy Spirit came in the character of cloven tongues. What I understand by that is that the Lord Jesus Christ intended to speak. He intended to speak everywhere. I think we should bear in mind that if God has given to us a tongue He has given it to us for a purpose, and that purpose is to speak of Christ. The psalmist says, “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer”. Psalm 45:1. It was the ready member to convey that which the heart welled up by the Spirit. God grant that as the subject of divine speaking has been engaging us, we may not be slow to speak about divine Persons and divine things. As unconverted, you remember what your tongue was engaged in: “With their tongues they have used deceit”. Romans 3:13. But now as under the power of the Spirit, these members are converted into vehicles for making known Christ, and the things of Christ. May God use these thoughts in that direction!
Pages 129 to 262 “Notes of Readings and Addresses, Indianapolis” 1908 (Volume 7).