THE SON OF GOD
[p. 352] THE SON OF GOD
Romans 1: 1 - 4; Romans 8: 31, 32; Daniel 3: 23 - 25
In the great gospel epistle to the Romans, Paul introduces the Son of God from his point of view. According to the Scriptures, it is Paul who first announced Christ as the Son of God. He tells us that when God revealed His Son in him it was that he might announce Him as glad tidings among the nations. John the apostle, however, speaks more about the Son, particularly stressing His eternal personality and Deity. Paul announced the Son of God as glad tidings among the nations. He reminds the Corinthian Christians that the truth of the Son of God, which was preached among them by him, Silvanus and Timotheus, does not carry with it the idea of “yea and nay”, but that “yea”, that is, what is positively of God, is in Him. “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus), did not become yea and nay, but yea is in him. For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen” (2 Corinthians 1: 19, 20). Thus He would assure us, as Gentile believers, of the fixity of things in the Son. Everything is yea, and everything is Amen; everything is operative. There is no uncertainty, for “Amen” means that certainty is attained. How very comforting!
John, who speaks, as I said, more about the Son of God than any of the Scripture writers, is not establishing the great system of truth in what he says, but confirms it in enlarging on the Deity of Christ in view of recovery in the last days; confirming what God had established through Paul. John presents the Son of God to attract us away from what is spurious, to what is genuine. He presents a great attractive Person — the greatest indeed;
[p. 353] telling us, in words from the Lord’s own lips, three times about the Son of God as lifted up ignominiously, and that as thus lifted up He would draw all to Himself. There is an appeal, therefore, in John that you find nowhere else; an insistent appeal to professing Christians, as if he inquired, Why should you be where Christ is not? How can you be there, and be an honest person? John is insisting upon our coming and seeing. Even if you left the circle of fellowship some years back, maybe conditions are more attractive now than they were then. It is worth while to come back and see. Do not deal with historical things merely, but with current things. “Come and see”. The background to those words is the Son of God.
With John the baptist, as John the evangelist presents him, it is a question, not of what he heard about Christ, but what he saw. The evangelists all present the Son of God; they are confirmatory of what the apostle Paul had announced. The synoptic gospels are engaged in that respect with what was heard at the banks of the Jordan, when heaven announced the sonship of Christ. Matthew 3: 17 tells us of the Voice which spoke: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”. Observe the pronoun “This”. In Mark and Luke it is “Thou:” the word is to Himself. John starts immediately after his prefatory remarks with, “And we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father” (John 1: 14). It was what they had seen. “That which we contemplated, and our hands handled” he says in 1 John 1: 1.
To enlarge upon the point, he says, “No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1: 18). In the matter of declaration, John the baptist is brought in by the evangelist as a ready [p. 354] witness, because it is a question not only of what is heard, but what is seen. You may hear of a thing from any distance; but to see it you must come to a certain nearness, and that is John’s point — Do not stay away. If there is anything to be seen of God, draw as near as you can. Do not be like the astronomers; they are very uncertain, because they view things at such enormous distances; whereas the Maker of the stars, of the universe, has come right near to us. “That which we contemplated, and our hands handled”, John says (1 John 1: 1), and thus he stresses, “Come and see;” not simply see; not simply, Lift up your eyes, as was said to Abraham, but Come and see. Think of what is to be seen as you draw near! “The Word became flesh, and dwelt” (or “tabernacled”) “among us, (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth”. They took advantage of the great opportunity! In this gospel John the baptist is immediately brought in to bear witness. The Jews at Jerusalem were ready to make much of him, but he answered, “I baptise with water. In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know, he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1: 26, 27}. “And John bore witness, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptise with water, he said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit” (verses 32, 33). John witnesses to Christ as operating. That is the point; “he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit”.
John the baptist then says, “And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God”. It is important for each of us, to look through John’s gospel to see the frequent recurrence of the appellation “Son of God”. The gospel is full of it, and the writer of it was the disciple whom Jesus loved; not simply a lover of Christ. I do not think he ever says that of himself specifically, but he says that Christ loved him. He designates himself in that way — “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. So that it is specially a love matter in these last days. The Lord has that man reserved in his writings by the Spirit and in the ministry for us, and it is a question of seeing, and for this we must come near.
In this same chapter, illumined as it is with wonderful titles of Christ, John the evangelist brings in Nathanael who came and saw. “Philip says to him, Come and see”, (verse 46). And he came and saw. So I would say to anybody here, If you are at any distance at all; if you are outside the circle that you once were in, Come and see. Things may have changed, and you may have changed. If you are a mere historical Christian, you will not know; are you content to continue on the lines of what is historically; it is what you are currently that is the point with God. There may be some movement, and if you move nearer you will see more. Nathanael says to the Lord, “thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel” (verse 49). A wonderful confession!
My desire now is to speak of the Lord’s relation to death; how He had to say to it. We have had the subject of death before us today. It is not attractive to the natural mind, I know well. At unbelievers’ funerals it is covered over as much as possible, even at the grave’s mouth. Scripture does not cover it, but makes much of death; it does not hide it at all. It is wholesome for Christians, and for men generally at the present time to face it as it is. It enters into the Christian’s experience, as we have seen today in the different symbols, and it is there to affect us. We do well to consider it [p. 356] much, and to be able to say what David says of Goliath’s sword, “There is none like that”. We are to arm ourselves with it. It comes under the heading of the armour of light. That is how the Christian is to understand death; instead of overwhelming me, it becomes my armour. When David was told that there was only one sword in the house of God, and that was the sword of Goliath, he said, “There is none like that; give it me”. It is what you can use against yourself. It is the way out of every difficulty.
Paul as he presents the Son of God in Romans 1: 4, says, He is “marked out Son of God in power”, that was not from heaven by the Father’s voice, but “by resurrection of the dead;” that is, He raised dead people. He says to the disciples, “Lazarus has died. And I rejoice on your account that I was not there, in order that ye may believe” (John 11: 14, 15). There is no record that the Lord raised up persons who had been a long time dead; He could do that, and presently, He will; the dead in Christ shall be raised by Him. One wishes to be feeling in these matters. What a delight it will be to Christ to raise the first man that suffered martyrdom! He will do that; He will call Abel by name out of the grave. He brought up Samuel with his mantle upon him as he used to be, so that Saul saw him and knew him. The Lord could easily have brought up Abraham; although he links him in the gospels with the living. He could have brought up Jacob, or any of the others. The Lord could have done that, but He did not, as far as we know. It is said, however, in Matthew 27: 52, 53, that “the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints fallen asleep arose, and going out of the tombs after his rising, entered into the holy city and appeared unto many”. That is all we get; we have to leave the matter as to where they are; God looks after them. The Lord sent a message to John the baptist, “Go ... tell John ... the dead are raised”. We do not know how many dead persons the Lord Jesus raised; but doubtless there were more than those specially mentioned. We are given examples of them; and so we understand that the Lord was “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”. That is, dead persons; it is plural. He raised them, and by that testimony declared Himself to be the Son of God with power. That is the first point I had in mind as to Romans. The second is in, chapter 8. As we come to the end of this great dissertation on the gospel — the wonderful first eight chapters of Romans, we get further instruction as the Son of God; and it is that we might, as believers in the gospel, be victorious. The Lord Jesus says at the beginning of His ministry, “repent and believe in the glad tidings” (Mark 1: 15). How much there is in it! I would urge you to read carefully those eight chapters.
The Son of God is brought in very touchingly in the early part of chapter 8 and in the latter. The first is, “God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh”. How touching it is! Think of the Father and the Son — His own Son. There is here a link with Abraham and Isaac. “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac” (Genesis 22: 2); but in Romans it is God’s own Son. The first great point in Romans 8 about the Son is that, “God having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit”. God has through Christ’s death condemned sin in the flesh. It is a settled matter; the flesh has no moral right to assert itself in the Christian; it is there, but it has [p. 358] no right to assert itself, and I am responsible to see to that. The passage I want to speak about specially is the one I read; “What shall we then say to these things?” The apostle Paul is appealing to us; “these things;” they are in those first eight chapters. “What shall we then say to these things?” Let me inquire, Has each of you stopped to consider what shall be said to these things?
Well, the apostle does not leave it there; he says the things that ought to be said; he could say much more on the same line: but he says wonderful things in these verses. They are a fitting climax to the first eight chapters of Romans. “If God be for us, who against us? He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him grant us all things?” If He did that what else will He not do? “How shall he not also with him grant us all things?” It affected the Father’s heart, so to speak. Abraham took a knife, we are told, to slaughter his son. Think of the word ‘slaughter’ being used in the type — real death. Let us not resist these words; they are intended to solemnise us! Abraham lifted up his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. He tied him to the altar; his own son, according to what was said to him: “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest ... and ... offer him up for a burnt-offering” (Genesis 22: 2). Think of the heart of Abraham at that time! I wonder at it; challenging oneself. How little I am able to measure up to it. Abraham was dealing with death; the death of his own son, the one whom he loved most; his whole heart was wrapped up in his son. God knew it and did not minimise it at all. He said, “get thee into the land of Moriah, and there offer him up for a burnt-offering”. Think of the father’s heart as he walked along to that mount with his beloved son! Abraham took the knife to slaughter [p. 359] his son. He is having to do with death. God has had to do with death; He “spared not his own Son;” that is the word. I want to convey to you how God has had to do with death. He, as it were, measured what He was doing, what it meant that His Son was to enter into death for us.
Coming to Daniel, chapter 3, there are three witnesses, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and these afford us the next feature of our subject. Their names being mentioned so often in the chapter, the Spirit of God seems to say, You should look into these names. They represent faithfulness, in the saints, involving suffering; these men faced the terrible ordeal of a furnace seven times heated. Think of the terrible countenance of the emperor enraged against them! He must have the furnace heated seven times. Even those who did his command and threw them into the fire were consumed themselves. The world itself suffered, but “these three men ... fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace”. The previous verse says, “because the king’s commandment was rigorous, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that had taken up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego”. Let us not forget those names! They should be household names, keeping martyrdom for the truth before us. Why should there not be martyrs now? Is the time past? No. It is a question of learning how to die for the truth, and if we do, God gives us the opportunity. In saying that, one is saying much; for if we say such things we may be tested; and I am not immune from feeling that. God would bring it home to us in the recurrence of these distinguished names — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. It says, these three men “fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace”. To speak rightly of this scene would almost require a Stephen. I mean it requires a [p. 360] Christian in the true sense to speak rightly of such a scene. Indeed, it requires the Son of God; He alone can teach us how to experience death. He leads for us in everything; so that Paul, at least the writer to the Hebrews, says, “who in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross, having despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12: 2). He is “the leader and completer of faith”. The word translated “leader” here is used four times in the New Testament; it always refers to Christ; the heavenly One who leads, and shows us how to go through; how it should be done; how to meet death in its worst forms.
The Spirit of God omits nothing that would enhance this scene and -He goes on to tell us, “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste; he spoke and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire”(verses 24, 25). Four men loose — who loosed them? Were the chains burned off? No, they were loosed; a complete change. Who has brought in the change? The Son of God. So that Nebuchadnezzar says, “And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of God” (verse 25). The Son of God comes in amongst His own; that is the point that God is stressing in these last days. He has brought out the glories of Christ, the Son of God, in these last days, so that He might have His full place amongst us. That is what I pray for for our dear brethren who are suffering, that the Lord, as it were, will be the Fourth among every three of them, and that will change the whole matter. That is changing it. If we are not in it, corporeally, we are, at least, to be in it in spirit. It is an assembly matter for us, and the Son of God has come into view [p. 361] according to the ministry of the Spirit. John the baptist says, “And I have seen, and borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1: 34). You see Him at the right hand of God, but you may see Him also with His suffering people on earth. The Son of God changes everything. The king is now at the bar of God, we may say, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego are “loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt;” says Nebuchadnezzar. They are alongside the Son of God; He is supreme in everything; He must be. The very title means that.
Hebrews begins “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son, whom he has established heir of all things” (Hebrews 1: 1, 2). The apostle is dominated by the presence of the Son of God, and that is the position. Hebrews is a restorative epistle, and we are living in recovery times. It is not simply the light of the Son of God, but He Himself coming in and standing by us, to teach us how to go through death. It is victory! Here Nebuchadnezzar is the first to be affected. See how God can do things in the governments of this world; how He can affect them! Whatever power they may seem to have, God can affect them and change the whole position. That is what I want to impress us with. Nebuchadnezzar says, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire;” walking — they could have a meeting there! In speaking thus I am seeking to make the truth simple and practical. What is the fire? The Son of God has annulled death, put it into our hands as a servant. There were four in the furnace, and they were loose, they were walking. You say, it does not say they had a meeting; but they could have had. I am not saying that they had converse, but no doubt they did. It is a victory [p. 362] scene, a wonderful scene. The king himself, the one guilty of the whole matter, says, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come hither”. He is the first to see what God had done, and God can bring something to the attention of the leading men of today to change the whole present position. He can. The king was the first to see it. What a chapter this is! What a change it brings over the whole position!
May God help us, dear brethren, to take in these things and be affected as those who have to do with death, and are not afraid of it! The fear of death brings torment, but death is ours; 1 Corinthians 3: 22. As David said, Goliath’s is the best sword, and it typifies death. Each of us must use it against himself, if he is to be victorious.