THE MORAL PERFECTION OF CHRIST
Psalm 22:1-3; Matthew 26:36-42;
Our recent local readings in Leviticus have drawn our attention to the perfection of Christ, and I have been thinking about that – His moral perfection. We sang at the beginning of our meeting:-
‘There from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flowed mingled down;
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet …’ (Hymn 272).
As we sang these words, I was impressed by the moral perfection that was seen in Christ in such great suffering. How much suffering the Lord went through! In His public service, there was much suffering that He endured in different ways from the various forces against Him, culminating at the cross. In each suffering, His perfection shone out. His moral perfection was always there; even at twelve years old, He was seen occupied in His Father’s business (Luke 2:49), bringing out His devotion to His Father’s will. He was the “holy thing” (Luke 1:35); that was said in relation to His incoming at the incarnation, but it was always true of Him. It was an indescribable holiness. In normal language, describing someone as a ‘thing’ would be derogatory, but in relation to the Lord it is an indescribable, undefinable holiness that was seen in His life. Through it all, what was there in His moral perfection shone out.
There is another hymn we sing which speaks of His suffering on the cross:-
‘O day of greatest sorrow,
Day of unfathomed grief!’ (Hymn 190).
His sufferings brought out what was there in Jesus, and that is why I read in Psalm 22. The perfection and holiness of the Lord Jesus was never more proved than during the three hours of darkness on the cross. The glory of the Lord’s moral perfection was proved in its greatest way during His forsaking. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou far from my salvation, from the words of my groaning?”. We cannot measure the sorrow of the Lord, and His deep feelings in relation to being made sin. We cannot take it in; we will never comprehend it. We sing:-
“Thy grace, O Lord, that measured once the deep” (Hymn 293).
He did that during His forsaking by God, when the Lord Jesus was made sin. He measured sin’s distance. Only He could have done that, and it was because of His holy perfection that He was able to do it. It is perhaps too easy to think that He was able to do it because of who He was, and of course that underlies it, but He did it as a Man. He had said prophetically, “Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do, O God, thy will”, Heb.10:7. He came in as Man to do the will of God and He did it in perfection. Every step, every test and trial, brought it out. The Lord was tried more than anyone. I sometimes feel for myself that it is easier to appear like a good Christian when things are going well, but what the Lord went through caused His perfection to shine out in a greater and greater way. That would be a test for us. David’s words, “why art thou far from my salvation, from the words of my groaning?” would refer prophetically to the deep feelings of the Lord Jesus in relation to His forsaking.
At this point, Jesus says prophetically, “And thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel”. He was thinking of God in all that He was suffering. He had come here to do the will of God and everything that He did was for God. He is the only Person who has come here to do the will of Another in its entirety. He had done so during His life in the face of such opposition and hostility, but men’s hostility did not compare to this, to Jesus being made sin and being forsaken of God. The impression that I had in relation to this scripture is that it caused the glory of His moral perfection to shine in the greatest way. It should affect us.
In Matthew’s gospel, we get some insight into His feelings in relation to what lay before Him, and His holiness in relation to the anticipation of it. He says; “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou wilt”. The Lord knew what lay before Him; He knew what He was going to be made. In His holiness, He shrank from it, but in His devotion He said “not as I will, but as thou wilt”. Then the second time He said, “My Father, if this cannot pass from me unless I drink it, thy will be done”. It is a poor way of putting it, but He knew what had to be done. Why was it not possible that it could pass from Him? If God was to secure His great thoughts for men, if you and I were to come into the good of those thoughts through redemption, through salvation and through all that Jesus has now established, this is what had to be done. He was the perfect Offering; as Hebrews says, He “offered himself spotless to God”, Heb.9:14. What perfection, what holiness there was in that Offering. God required a holy Sacrifice, and it was there in Jesus in His perfect offering, His holiness, His devotion to the will of His God and Father.
‘Sorrow and love flowed mingled down;
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet …’.
One of the unique things about the Lord Jesus is that these different moral features combine in perfection. I was impressed by that in our reading a few weeks ago when we were considering the composition of the oblation, which represents how every feeling and thought of the Lord was consistent and morally perfect. The word ‘permeated’ was used about the complacency of the Holy Spirit in relation to the Lord Jesus. There was nothing that needed to be displaced or was inconsistent; it is something for us to contemplate.
It has often been said that the Lord is incomparable, and that is right of course, but as we contemplate Him, it helps us to appreciate Him more. I read in Song of Songs, where the question was put to the spouse; “What is thy beloved more than another beloved, That thou dost so charge us?” (v.9), as if her beloved could be compared. Of course the Lord is beyond compare, but her response to the question brings out these different features. She starts with “My beloved is white and ruddy”, which sets the tone of everything that follows as we apply it to the Lord Jesus. His being “white” would refer to the Lord’s perfection and purity, and would be related to His holiness. His being called “ruddy” might speak of His devotion to the will of His God, but also, I was thinking, of His devotion to us, and His devotion to the assembly. Paul speaks of “the washing of water by the word”, Eph.5:26. That is an active, present service of the Lord Jesus to His assembly. There have been Christians who, in an attempt to be holy, have hidden themselves away from the world, and of course we are passing through it and we do not want to be part of it. But the Lord was put through the greatest tests and was not hidden away in that way. He was active in serving men. He served His God and Father but He was also serving men, in contact with all sorts of people. Because of who He was, because of His holiness, “in him sin is not” (1 John 3:5), He “knew not sin” (2 Cor.5:21) and He “did no sin”, 1 Pet.2:22. All of that was in a scene that was against Him. It would draw out our affections to Him all the more – as it says here, “he is altogether lovely”. In a scene that was against Him, His loveliness shone out.
Then she speaks of her beloved’s eyes, which would perhaps refer to the countenance of the Lord Jesus, which was how what was in Him was expressed. It was true that there was nothing outwardly remarkable about Him, but the holiness of the Lord was expressed and seen by those who would take account of it. His features would be difficult to take account of if you were not near the Lord Jesus, especially, perhaps, His eyes. At a distance, you might be able to understand what someone is communicating if they are shouting, but you would not get a sense of their feelings or their attitude towards you unless you were near to them and you could look at their eyes. I think this is perhaps drawn out by these words, “yea, this is my friend”. The Lord as a true Friend would be One you would keep company with. I feel tested about that, but if we are going to appreciate the moral perfection of the Lord Jesus, we need to keep company with Him, and keep company with others who are like minded.
There are three features here that speak of gold. “His head is as the finest gold” and “His hands gold rings, set with the chrysolite” and then “His legs, pillars of marble, set upon bases of fine gold”. Gold would speak of glory; in relation to His head it speaks of “the finest gold”. The Lord came in as Man and there was no one else who was able to bring before men God’s glorious thoughts for them, His great thoughts of glory in purpose for men. And then as to His hands, all things have been given into His hands and He is able for them. It speaks of His hands as gold rings. There is much that comes in that might discourage us, but the Lord is able for it and all things have been given into His hands (John 13:3); He is able to bear us in them. And then “His legs, pillars of marble, set upon bases of fine gold”, which would speak of the stability that is in the Lord Jesus. It says of Him that “he shall be the stability of thy times”, Isa.33:6. Of course, there was glory in every movement of His while He was here. While it does not speak of the feet of the beloved, but refers to “bases of fine gold”, every step in the life of the Lord Jesus glorified God and brought out fresh moral glory and perfection.
The readings that we have had recently in Leviticus have caused His moral perfection to shine out for us. I find it hard to really take it in. Of course, our minds are not able to take in the perfection of the Lord Jesus in its fulness. Yet these impressions come to us and they are food for us and they sustain us. We can see in the Lord Jesus all the great thoughts of God for us and how He is able to bring us into them and keep us in them. And this scripture is encouraging for us because the backdrop to it is that the spouse could not find her beloved. I was reading Mr Coates about that; he said that impressions of Christ cannot be obliterated1. We might not remember them and we might need to be recalled to them, but if we rely on the Holy Spirit, then an impression of Christ, if we have had one, has an effect for ever. That was a great encouragement to me, because in the world in which we live, it is so easy to become distracted. You may receive an impression and then something takes your mind off it and it might take you some time to come back to it. It was an encouragement to me that the background to this scripture was that she could not find her beloved, and yet she is recalled to think of these features of his. The first thing she says is, “My beloved is white and ruddy”. She had an impression of his perfection.
Well, may the Lord use these thoughts for our blessing.
Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
5 March 2019
M.B. Grant