CHRIST THE CROWN OF ALL GOD'S WAYS
CHRIST THE CROWN OF ALL GOD’S WAYS
Proverbs 8: 22 - 31; Genesis 3: 15; Genesis 12: 2; 2 Samuel 23: 1 - 5; Psalm 133: 3
It is much to be desired that all Christians should be observant and thoughtful readers of Scripture, and this with a view to obtaining in a fuller way the knowledge of God. It is evident that man cannot by searching find out God. God is too great for man the creature to reach up to Him; and, in addition to this, sin has come in and put an immense moral distance between God and man. If God remained quiescent it is certain that man must be for ever in ignorance of Him. But God has been pleased in infinite goodness to take certain ways of which we have the record in Scripture, and of which Christ is the crown, so that we might have the intelligent knowledge of Himself. Indeed, it might be said that the whole of Scripture is the unfolding of two things — the ways of God and His purposes. His purposes were in His mind before His ways began, and they will presently be displayed as the issue and result of His ways in scenes of accomplished bliss. The purposes of God show us the nature of His thoughts and delights — they instruct us in all that God has before Him for the satisfaction of His love. But into this vast and blessed subject I do not now enter. His ways are the theme of my [p. 19] present meditation, and in speaking of His ways I do not use the term with reference to His government of men on earth, but in the wide sense of the course which He has taken to make Himself known, and to bring about the accomplishment of His purposes. The more we consider this great subject the more we shall discover in it the unfolding of what God is in wisdom, power, grace, and love — and all this while acting for the supreme good of man — and we shall plainly discern that Christ is the Crown of all the ways of God, and this will make Him very great and glorious in the estimation of our hearts.
The first great movement of God which is presented to us in Scripture is creation.
This must necessarily be so, or there would be no creatures to observe His further ways, or to be brought into infinite good as the result of those ways. The heavens and the earth were created, and the latter prepared and furnished in every way to be the habitation of man made in the image and after the likeness of God. But we miss the whole mind of God if we regard creation as anything other than the formation of a vast scene into which Christ should, in due time, be introduced — a scene which should eventually find its fulness and crown in Him. Hence we read that “By him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or authorities: all things have been created by him, and for him. And he is before all, and all things subsist together by him” (Colossians 1:16,17). Christ is the beginning and end of all the ways of God (Proverbs 8: 22 - 31. Read the whole passage). It was in view of Christ that everything was created, and creation will never be seen or understood in its proper beauty and completeness until it is seen in relation to Christ — finding its Head and glory in Him in the day of completed reconciliation.
If I look around in creation now, I see the bondage of corruption on every side, the result of man’s sin. (Unless, indeed, I survey the heavens, and see the glory of God there [p. 20] in perfection of beauty and order — a striking contrast to all the discord and confusion found on earth.) But it was all made for Christ, and it will be seen in its true character and beauty when He becomes manifestly its Head.
When we come to the creation of man we see a very distinct foreshadowing of Christ. It is expressly said that Adam was “the figure of him to come” (Romans 5: 14). Who but Christ could really fill up all that was involved in being in the image and after the likeness of God? Who but Christ could have all things put under Him to order everything for the good pleasure of God? I do not enlarge on a truth so obvious.
The second thing which strikes me in connection with the unfolding of God’s ways in Scripture is promise.
This element was introduced as soon as man had departed from his first estate. There was no occasion for promises so long as innocence continued. Man was surrounded by every good possible to him in the circumstances of his existence as an innocent creature, and promises of a higher order of blessing neither would have been appropriate nor could have been understood by one who as yet had not the knowledge of good and evil. But when the accomplished act of disobedience had proved the success of the serpent in alienating man from God, and man had thus fallen under the power of evil and the sentence of death, immediately the element of promise appears in God’s ways. It may be said that the statement that the woman’s Seed should bruise the serpent’s head was not exactly a promise to man, but rather part of the divine sentence on the serpent. But inasmuch as it was a declaration of what God would bring to pass with a view to His own glory in man’s blessing, it certainly was of the nature of promise. And, henceforward, promises form by far the most important and blessed part of the Old Testament Scriptures.
It is impossible to go into detail on such a great subject without extending the present remarks far beyond their intended limits. But it may be said in general that the Old [p. 21] Testament promises fall into three classes: those which stand in relation to sin and death and Satan’s power in the widest and fullest way; those which stand in relation to all the confusion which sin has introduced here; and those which come in in connection with the utter weakness of man. I will give an example of each class.
In Genesis 3 we see the introduction of sin and death and Satan’s power. These three things go together. No sooner were they introduced than God appeared on the scene with a blessed declaration of His own purpose (Genesis 3: 15). It is so all through Scripture. As different manifestations of the power of evil and its fruits appeared, God met them with promises. In the case before us, the serpent had no sooner shown his head than God said, ‘I will have a Man to bruise that head’. And as the history of evil and of man’s weakness developed, God met it all by promises. He pledged Himself to remove the evil, and to put a corresponding good in its place. So every manifestation of what was evil became the occasion for a promise in which God engaged Himself to remove that evil, and to put in its place what was good, and holy, and blessed.
It is a terribly solemn fact that sin, and death, and Satan’s power have come into the world. Men struggle in vain to get rid of these things. All civilised nations are doing their best to improve the condition of things here. They succeed, perhaps, in whitewashing the exterior a little, but under the surface there are “dead men’s bones, and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23: 27). These men try to grapple with death. People are deeply interested in medical science and hail with delight every new discovery. They are glad to think that death can be pushed back a year or two. But how impotent is man in all this! Sin is here and men cannot remove it; death is here and men cannot set it aside; Satan’s power is here and men are glad to have it so. An overwhelming majority are in favour of Satan’s rule, and prefer it to God’s. Satan says to man, ‘You can go your own way’, but if God were to rule He would necessarily say, ‘You must go My way’. Men say, ‘We prefer to go our own way, and not God’s way’. They thus choose to be ruled by Satan.
How blessed to see that God has brought in Christ to meet the question of sin, and to annul death and Satan’s power! Christ has put away sin, annulled death, and bruised the serpent’s head. In contrast to sin and death and Satan’s power, He has brought in righteousness and life and the kingdom of God. He is the Antitype of the coats of skin and the tree of life. The promise of Genesis 3: 15 finds its Yea and Amen in Him.
Then in Genesis 12: 2 we have an example of a class of promises which have relation to all the confusion which sin has introduced here. Sin and death and Satan’s power having come in, there is confusion here instead of blessing. Everything is out of order. “Let us make ourselves a name” (Genesis 11: 4) is man’s supreme ideal of happiness. Many a man would be willing to sacrifice wealth, rest, pleasure, health, natural affection, and even life itself if he could thereby make himself a name. But all this results in Babel (confusion), because it excludes God, and there is no true happiness in it. “Blessing” is happiness conferred by God. God’s answer to Babel was the calling out and blessing of Abram. “I will ... bless thee, and make thy name great” (Genesis 12: 2). God called him out of the confusion of the world to have true happiness, and to be made great in a divine way. The world has but a poor idea of happiness and greatness; it is all confusion if looked at morally. But God delights to make men happy and great by giving them the knowledge of Christ. God made Abram’s name great by bringing Christ into his family. All blessing from God is centred in Christ. Men are looking for happiness either in the Babel of sin’s confusion or in Christ. The world system often looks very attractive to the young; they do not see the emptiness of it all; but it is all tinsel and unreality. There is very little real happiness in the hearts of worldly people, with all their pleasures. They get a certain amount of gratification for their natural tastes but [p. 23] very little real enjoyment. Viewed morally all is in confusion here because God has not His true place in men’s consciences and hearts, and there can be no real happiness in confusion.
Christ was here entirely apart from all the confusion of this world. He loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, and therefore was anointed with the oil of gladness above His companions. If men are led by Christ it will certainly be in the paths of righteousness, and only in those paths can true happiness be found or enjoyed. Christ is Lord of all and Head of every man, and in confessing and obeying Him we get outside the confusion of the world, and into the sphere of true blessing. In a coming day He will have universal sway, and all confusion will be at an end. He will order everything in righteousness, lawlessness will cease, and therefore every hindrance to the full blessing of man will be removed. Inconceivable happiness will pervade the universe when everything is subjugated by the gracious power of Christ to the will of God. Every kind of misery and suffering will be set aside, and the supreme goodness of God will be the satisfaction and happiness of men. Then shall be brought to pass what is written in Genesis 12: 3, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. Every element of confusion and evil will be displaced by order and goodness, and everything will minister to the unalloyed happiness of men.
With regard to the present time, Christ is presented to men in the gospel that they may be attracted to Him, and thus morally separated from this world of confusion. It is certain that God has more resource and power to confer happiness than the world or its prince, and in believing on Christ and obeying Him we come into blessing — God-given happiness.
God gives what is worthy of Himself, and therefore the happiness of those who receive from Him is immeasurable. The promises express God’s unnumbered thoughts of blessing towards man. They are all brought to pass in Christ, and established through redemption in such a way that they can never be overturned.
[p. 24] Then a third class of promises comes in by reason of the utter weakness of man. For an example of this class I turn to 2 Samuel 23: 1 - 5. These were the last words of David. God’s gentleness had made David very great; many divine promises were connected with him; but he came to his last words — he was not suffered to continue by reason of death. Death is the utter weakness of man. The promises could not be established in a man who was going down into death. David was not strong enough to hold the promises. He had to recognise the necessity for another Person to come in who should be “as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun, a morning without clouds”. There was One who could pass through the night of man’s death and condemnation, and rise to be the Sun of an eternal day — One able to hold everything for the glory of God and the blessing of man in the power of resurrection. David had to turn from himself and his own house to Christ. He was dying, and his house was “not so before God”, but he could turn to a greater Person in whom everything should be established in the light and power of resurrection. “An everlasting covenant, ordered in every way and sure” is established in a risen Christ. Man in the flesh could not hold the promises of God by reason of death, but David, by the Spirit, was in view of One who could establish them and hold them for ever. Whatever promises of God there are, in Christ is the Yea, and in Him the Amen.
In the world to come, death will no longer be a dark cloud resting upon everything here. The blessing will be commanded, even life for evermore (Psalm 133: 3). The righteous will enter into life eternal. Men will enjoy without a cloud the favour of God; death will be swallowed up in victory. All this has been made known in the way of promise, and there is not a single promise of which Christ is not the crown. It is He, and He alone, in whom and by whom all will be fulfilled.