"NO MAN KNOWETH THE SON, BUT THE FATHER"
“[p. 281] NO MAN KNOWETH THE SON, BUT THE FATHER”
1 Peter 2: 3-5; Matthew 11: 27-30; John 1:14; John 17: 24
I think that the truth in the scriptures to which I have turned links itself very closely with what has been before us, and my thought is to pursue the subject a little.
What we have at the outset in the verses in 1 Peter 2 is first acquaintance with the Lord; that is, we have been brought to taste that He is gracious; that is where everyone begins in personal acquaintance with Him. And let me say here that what we are divinely taught is often very different from what we think we are taught. I do not know anything more valuable than to apprehend what is the line of the Spirit’s teaching. The first thing then that we taste is that the Lord is gracious.
There are three points I would notice to which Peter had previously referred, as applicable to those to whom he writes. (1) They were called; (2) they were redeemed; and (3) they were born again. Not that these things had come in that order, but they are recognised as true of those to whom the apostle wrote. It is the groundwork.
What I understand by having tasted that the Lord is gracious is the sense in the soul that He is accessible, I can come to Him; and what I judge to be the meaning of the term ‘the Lord’, is the position which Christ fills as Man according to the counsels of God. He is the One in whom God has set forth the full expression of His pleasure in Man; and He is vested with full authority as Man to effectuate the will of God. You can only learn God’s thoughts as to man through Him. So “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access [p. 282] by faith into this grace wherein we stand”. All is set forth in Him. It is the triumph of divine grace and power in the Lord Jesus Christ — He will give effect to it all.
The time has not yet arrived for us to see all things put under Him, but we have now the whole will of God set forth in Him. It was the Lord who first gave light to our souls, and the object was that we might come to Him to taste that He is gracious, and from Him to learn God’s will. If people are carried about by what men say, it is a proof that they have never got to the Lord. If you look at the religious systems around, and especially missionary effort, you find that many men, in themselves devoted, turn to men for instruction and direction as to their path of service; but no one save the Lord can give you to understand what the will of God is, you must go to the Lord, and He is gracious.
In having to do with Christ as Lord, you apprehend Him in relation to your responsibility. The apostle, at the close of his career, says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me”, etc. That plainly indicates that the title of Lord connects itself with the responsible life and service of the Christian.
I wish that every one of our hearts were more impressed with the truth that the Lord is gracious, and has pleasure in leading us into understanding in all things.
Then we have, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. Now I think that coming to the Lord as a living Stone has a different character or idea from tasting that the Lord is gracious. As “a living stone” He does not stand in relation to our responsibility, but is the foundation [p. 283] on which the purpose of God rests. The living Stone is the Son of the living God, and I conclude that we come to Him as a “living stone” when we are brought to the knowledge of the Father, and we know the Father when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that is given to us.
The apostle John in his epistle classes Christians in different grades, according to their spiritual apprehension; that is, babes, young men and fathers; and even the babes are spoken of as knowing the Father.
I should like, if possible, to give you a clear idea of what is meant by the “living stone”. As I understand it, it is the Person of the Son seen in complete identification with manhood, so that He might take the place of Firstborn among many brethren, might build His assembly.
What was brought to light in Matthew 16 could not really be made good until redemption had been accomplished; still the truth came out as to the Son of the living God, and the structure to be built on that foundation. The Lord is revealed in a character totally new — as outside of all here — but in which He could be known by and associated with men, and in that character Peter could never have known Him but for the revelation of the Father.
When we apprehend the Father, then it is that we come to Christ as the “living stone”, and I do not think that you have much entrance into divine things until you have come to the living Stone; then you are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.
Under the law the priest had not only access to holy things, but he had also discernment. Until you know what it is to approach the Father in liberty, and have discernment to distinguish between clean and unclean, I do not think you are in the reality of being built up a holy priesthood.
It is then that divine affections are in exercise in the believer according to 1 Corinthians 13, and it is [p. 284] thus that the prayer in the last verse of John 17 is realised, “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them”. You come now in your soul to the ground of God’s purpose in Christ. He is the living Stone, in order that according to the counsels of God we may be identified with Him as His assembly. It is noticeable in the synoptic gospels how little comes out as to the truth of the Father and the Son. In Matthew 11: 27 we have the solitary instance in that gospel in which the Father and the Son connectedly are definitely spoken of. In the gospel of Matthew Christ is seen as the vessel of promise; in Mark, as the vessel of testimony, the Prophet; and in Luke, as the vessel of grace; while in John we have distinctly and prominently the truth of the Person in His relation to the Father.
When we have really come to the “living stone”, and know Christ as Son of God, what we learn further is this, that He is in His Person entirely beyond our power to grasp. It is truly a wonderful thing that He should have taken a place as Firstborn among many brethren: but we have to learn that though become Man, and so known by us, the Son is great enough for the Father. Hence He says, “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father”. I do not think that in this passage there is direct allusion to incarnation. He does not say, No one knows “the Christ”, but the point is that the Person of the Son, the One who has truly become incarnate that we might be in association with Him, is sufficient for the Father; and as one with the Father, He must be beyond the understanding or comprehension of any creature.
I think the same thought is really conveyed in the verses that I read in John 1. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth”. These poor men could say by John, who was one of them, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”. The Word had pleasure in being among them; in His grace He could completely control them and govern their affections, but John has to add that there was that which was beyond them. “We contemplated his glory”. I conclude by “glory” is meant distinction, and in this sense they contemplated what was entirely beyond human grasp.
When we come to John 17, where the saints are no longer viewed as simple fishermen, but as those given to the Son by the Father, the Lord’s desire is that they may be with Him where He is, that they may behold His glory. It is the closing prayer. Here on earth, in His personal glory, He was entirely beyond His disciples: yet He comes into their company, and dwells in their midst; and they proved His grace. We are to be with Him and like Him; and when we are there, then it is that that wonderful prayer will be made good, and we shall behold His glory — His own personal distinction with the Father.
In the meantime having come to the “living stone”, we are “built up a spiritual house”, in association with the true Aaron, the Son of God, in the light of the Father’s counsels; and as a holy priesthood we too in a certain sense contemplate the unveiled glory of the Son.
It was just this I wanted to touch upon, following on the remarks that fell from our beloved brother.