THE MORAL GLORY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
1 Samuel 16:6-13 (to ‘forward’)
I seek grace, beloved brethren, to say something about the moral glories of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is something that I have carried in my heart for some time, but I feel measured in my appreciation of His moral glory. We would be tested as we read this scripture, “And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel”. How often we may not have seen the Lord’s moral glory. Perhaps we have seen a different person or other features that we have naturally found attractive. Jehovah had to say to Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him; for it is not as man seeth; for man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart”. How wonderful it is that God in His grace should give us an apprehension, a view of the Lord Jesus in His moral glory.
We have been taught that we can view the Lord’s glories in a threefold way, although we would be careful in being too definite in relation to a divine Person. But we know that He has personal glory. His personal glory is that, as to His person, He is God. Even as a Man, the Lord Jesus retained His deity; how blessed that is. Then there are His official glories, the glories that belong to Him and have been given to Him. An example of that would be in relation to Israel. He will yet take up these official glories; how blessed they are. But these glories, His personal glories and His official glories, were largely hidden when He was here, except where faith discerned them or an occasion demanded it. There was a time when the Lord said, “I am”, and “they went away backward and fell to the ground”, John 18:6. There was a revealing of who was there in all His greatness and all His majesty. How wonderful it is to contemplate.
But while His personal glories and His official glories were largely veiled, His moral glory could not be hidden. Is that not beautiful? Indeed, man’s darkness and man’s sinfulness only caused the light that was in Jesus to shine the brighter. Is that not blessed? What a One He is for our affections! Mr Bellett wrote in his book that the Lord was the object of ‘willing degradation before man’1. He was that for us throughout His life and of course at His trial. You think of what it must have been for the Lord when He was in the prætorium. He was treated as a prisoner, and Pilate spoke these words “Behold the man!”, John 19:5. The moral glory of Christ could not be hidden – God gave that prophetic utterance to the whole world, although it stood united in its opposition to the Lord Jesus. We speak carefully and reverently, but He would have heard the crowd; the more Pilate spoke to them, the more they raised their voices in rejection, crying “Crucify, crucify him”, John 19:6. What majesty was there as the Lord Jesus came out before them and Pilate questioned Him. At one point it says, “And he answered him not so much as one word”, Matt.27:14. It was moral glory and majesty seen in the Lord Jesus as He moved on to the cross and to death. How blessed; what a One He is for our affections. In Revelation, He is described as “a Lamb standing, as slain”, Rev.5:6. There He is in all His regal glory, in all His moral glory. We could think of majesty attaching to His Person but there is majesty attached to His moral glory, the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But if He was the willing object of degradation before men, there was also the ‘consciousness of intrinsic glory before God’2. Think of these two features marking the Lord in His manhood here, both His degradation before men and His intrinsic glory before God. So the heavens could be opened. They were opened in that way on no other man except Jesus, and the Spirit could descend as a dove upon Him. Think of the Father’s complacency in such a One, so that the Spirit could descend as a dove and abide upon Him. That is what we have in this scripture in type. The horn of oil was poured out. The word as to David was “Arise, anoint him; for this is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon David from that day forward”. It says of David here, “And he was ruddy”. It speaks of the intensity of the Lord’s devotion to the will of God. The word ruddy has been linked with the “rams’ skins dyed red”, Exod.35:23 3. The ram speaks to us of devotion, and the “rams’ skins dyed red” of devotion “even unto death”, Phil.2:8. That is really what we have here, and such was Jesus’ devotion to the will of God. We can see that in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke’s gospel particularly presents the Lord in His dependent manhood, and it says, “And being in conflict he prayed more intently”, Luke 22:44. There were the rams’ skins dyed red, and He could say “but then, not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22:42. Think of the beautiful devotion of our Lord Jesus Christ, seen in what is described here in David as “ruddy”.
Then it says, “and besides of a lovely countenance”. The footnote says ‘beautiful-eyed’, note ‘d’. The eyes convey to us is what is inward; you may say that what is in someone’s heart or in their feelings is conveyed in their eyes. So this brings out David’s countenance and appearance, a “lovely countenance”, referring in type to all that the Lord was inwardly. Then the “beautiful appearance” speaks of all that the Lord was outwardly. It has been said that in the Lord Jesus there was a perfect combination of holiness and grace. How beautiful to think of it; a holiness that made Him ever lonely, and grace that made Him ever active. What a One He is for our affections!
You may ask, what is moral glory? Moral glory is really the character of the Person, it is the character of Jesus; that is what moral glory is. It has been described as a combination of virtues, and think of them as seen perfectly in the Lord Jesus in every circumstance by those that were around Him. In the house of the tax-gatherer He would be known as the Saviour, in the house of the Pharisee as a Teacher, in the house of Bethany as a Friend, and on the way to Emmaüs He is a Shepherd. Think of the character of the Lord Jesus being perfect in every circumstance.
And so Jehovah said “Arise, anoint him; for this is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon David from that day forward”. David is not only a type of the Lord Jesus, he is a type of the believer. That becomes a very searching question: as I appreciate the moral glories of our Lord Jesus, am I taking them on? Am I marked by them myself? We will find that there are features that come to light which go against how we think naturally. In chapter 17, we have Goliath, and at the end of verse 37 it says, “And Saul said to David, Go, and Jehovah be with thee. And Saul clothed David with his dress, and put a helmet of bronze upon his head, and clothed him with a corselet. And David girded his sword upon his dress, and endeavoured to go; for he had not yet tried it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go in these; for I have never tried them”. David could not wear this armour. Paul said to the Corinthians “For the arms of our warfare are not fleshly” (2 Cor.10:4), and “But I myself, Paul, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of the Christ”, 2 Cor.10:1. Think of the moral glory that was seen in Paul. He could say to the Corinthians “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ”, 1 Cor.11:1. What a searching matter that is. Is there a reflection of the moral glories that were seen in the Lord Jesus in how I think and how I feel, and how I speak and how I act? There is no one who could have exerted his own natural strength, you may say, more than Paul. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He had sat at the feet of the most prominent teachers in Israel and yet when he came to speak to the Corinthians, he said “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling; and my word and my preaching, not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith might not stand in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power”, 1 Cor.2:3-5. So there is a need for moral power.
These are searching matters but they are attractive as we seek to take on something of the moral glories of Christ, as we seek to have this Person before us, this One who is typified in David. May the Lord Jesus Himself in all His matchless moral glory fill our gaze, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Aberdeen Scotland
7 March 2017
J. Drummond