THE GOSPEL
THE GOSPEL
What is before me in speaking at this time is summed up in the expression, “the testimony of our Lord” — not that I have any idea of attempting in the course of an hour to compass that; but I want to take up one great feature of it, that which is spoken of here as “God’s glad tidings”. I hope on another occasion to speak of the ministry of the new covenant, but at this time I confine myself to what the apostle opens with in this epistle, “God’s glad tidings ... concerning his Son ... Jesus Christ our Lord”, and desire to give an idea of God’s glad tidings, looked at not from our point of view, but from God’s point of view. It is perfectly natural for us to look at everything from our point of view; but here the gospel is looked at from God’s point of view, for it is “God’s glad tidings ... concerning his Son (come of David’s seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead)”.
Now there are three points which come before us as characteristic of God’s glad tidings: first, they are “concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”; secondly, He is “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness”; and thirdly, “by resurrection of the dead”. That is, there are in the passage three thoughts first, position or relationship; secondly, order or condition; and thirdly, what I might call (using the expression for want of a better) line or generation.
I want to show that when God speaks of His glad tidings concerning His Son Jesus Christ, it is not simply a question of what is true in Christianity, but of the basis of all God’s ways in blessing; and the [p. 35] great results which God intends to produce in blessing all really depend upon the same thing, for everything must begin from the head, and the head is God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And I think you get the three points I have spoken of in connection with Him demonstrated in and running through all.
Now, if we look at things from God’s standpoint, what God has in view is the recovery of everything, not to set things again on the old footing, but the reconciliation of all through Christ. That is brought out clearly in Colossians 1, and you get it figuratively in what took place on the day of atonement. And there is another thing intimately connected with it, and that is the introduction of life into all, because there could be nothing for God in the universe if life were not brought in. If I look abroad on earth, everything is under death. The more you know about things the more you see that. Where then is life to come from? I think this passage shows us. A great many people failing to apprehend the figurative sense in which birth is used in the New Testament, and arguing from the analogy of nature, fancy that they have in new birth the solution of the question of life. † I do not believe it. I do not think there is life without new birth, it is the beginning of all for God. If Christ is to be written in the heart, there must first be fleshy tables; but new birth does not, in divine things, solve the question of life. If you want to reach that solution, it is essential to see the conciliation in Christ of the two trees in the garden of Eden, and that is not what is effected in new birth. The two trees stood out from the beginning: one, the tree with which responsibility was connected; and the other, the tree of life. And man having taken of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the question of life depends upon the clearing of the question of
†By “life” I understand power to live before God in the position or conditions in which it may have pleased God to set me. For Christians it is in the place of children; 1 John 3:1
[p. 36] responsibility by one in whom the knowledge of good and evil was perfect. And I say that what is represented by those two trees is conciliated at one point, and at one point only; for there was only one who could meet the question of man’s responsibility, and at the same time be a source and sustenance of life to man, and that is what Christ is, and what none other is or can be. And therefore if you want to understand anything about life, or the reconciliation of all things, you must begin from the top, that is, from Christ. The last Adam is a quickening spirit. It is no use beginning from you or me; you will get no understanding at all — you have begun at the wrong end.
I will try and make the matter plain to you. When I look at Christ, the first thing I see about Him is that He is the living bread come down from heaven, and it is for man to eat; so that you have a completely new and distinct source and sustenance of life for man, as the Lord says in John 6: “He also who eats me shall live also on account of me”. He was the living bread that came down from heaven, not as their fathers ate manna in the desert and died, “He that eats of this bread shall live for ever”. But there was another thing in connection with Christ, He entered on a condition down here in which, Himself perfect, He could take up the question of our responsibility. He connected Himself here with man in becoming the Son of man, so that having met the question of man’s responsibility He could remove the judgment of death which lay upon man. Thus you get the conciliation of the two trees. And what marks the present moment is this, that the responsibility question has been met, and Christ as Man, as the living bread come down from heaven, is the source and support of life to all those who are drawn to Him of the Father.
If you come to man’s part, we have of necessity to appropriate His death before we can appropriate Him as the living bread come down from heaven: “Except [p. 37] ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life”.
Therefore in Christ, as He has met the question of our responsibility and removed the judgment that lay upon us, we get the conciliation of these two trees, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, with which responsibility was connected, and the tree of life.
I dare say some may not quite understand the point; but I want you to think over it, for I see increasingly that we have all been dreadfully obscure as to the whole question of life, because we have been so accustomed to begin at the wrong end. If you want to get a right idea of the teaching of Scripture with regard to life, you must begin where God begins, that is in Christ. For when God propounds His gospel, it is not about us, nor even simply about the work of Christ, but it is His glad tidings “concerning his Son (come of David’s seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead) Jesus Christ our Lord”. Therefore I take up those three points, because my conviction is that “God’s glad tidings ... concerning his Son ... Jesus Christ our Lord”, is the basis of all His ways in blessing for man — the germ of all lies there.
Before dwelling on the three points, I would notice this, that the necessary links according to the flesh are duly maintained in Christ. These links, in regard to Israel, are very important, and as I have said, they are maintained in Christ. Although Christ has died and risen again, yet He does not lose anything which properly belonged to Him according to promise, and therefore He is spoken of as the seed of David according to the flesh. He is not only David’s root, but He is the offspring of David, as He speaks of Himself in the Revelation, “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star”. That belongs to [p. 38] Him. The question whether Israel could trace their genealogy would not exercise me very much, because the true genealogy for Israel is traced now in Christ. There is no mistake about His genealogy. It is noticeable how careful Scripture has been to trace and record it. And it will stand good for Israel in the future, because genealogy in regard to an earthly people is excessively important. He is “of the seed of David according to the flesh”.
But the first great point now is this — He is “declared to be the Son of God with power”, because the bearing of God’s glad tidings is wider than Israel. And therefore, in the apostle Paul’s testimony, everything is placed on a much broader platform. Directly after he was converted we are told that “straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God”. In Galatians 1 we get his own account of it, “When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen”. So, too, here, it is “God’s glad tidings”, it does not say ‘about Christ’, but about “His Son”; He is “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead”.
Let me say here in order to guard it, that is not a question of the eternal relations between the Father and the Son; that is carefully enough stated in other parts of scripture, but the point here is of the relation that subsists in Christ as Man, that is, as Man He is spoken of as God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Really, the passage is the bringing into view the last Adam. It reveals that man is placed in that position now in relation to God in the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord. And mark this — everything really hinges upon it. It is not only a question of Christianity, but that all blessing for the universe hinges upon the great truth of “God’s glad tidings ... concerning his Son... Jesus Christ our Lord”. And I will tell you why. When I speak about God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord, the first thing I think of is this, God is revealed, the love of God has come to light, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”, God “spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all”. There was the proof of divine love. Divine love has come out, and having found its rest in Christ is now the basis of all. Everything in blessing is secured, because all rests on the full revelation and satisfaction of God’s love. “God so loved the world”, is the great basis of everything now for heavenly or for earthly blessing. It is not the question of how far people may enter into it, but I am looking at the thing from God’s side, it is “God’s glad tidings ... concerning his Son ... Jesus Christ our Lord”, and the first point is that God is perfectly revealed, and revealed as love towards the world.
But there is another thing connected with it, and that is, that there is now a point where God’s love has its perfect rest and satisfaction in man. This is a very great point. Not only has the love of God towards the world been manifested, but it has its adequate object in man, the Person of God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord — that is the starting point. When it comes to Christianity, we are called into the “fellowship” of God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord, to be companions of Christ; so that a Christian can say in the language of the apostle at the end of Romans 8, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
But I say that the same revelation of God in Christ will hold good for earthly blessing. All earthly blessing depends upon the revelation of God as God has revealed Himself in His Son. Earthly saints will not [p. 40] enter into the revelation in the same way that we do; but the revelation stands good for them. I have often said that what is displayed in the church is the pledge of the stability of all blessing, because all now rests on what is known in the church, that God has been pleased to reveal Himself, according to all that He is, and in the perfect satisfaction of His love in Christ — that is the real starting point of everything. Every family will not be put upon the same platform. There will be a difference of families even in heaven. The church will be one circle, and there will be other circles in heaven. There will be different families, too, upon earth. Each will enjoy what is peculiar to itself, but the basis of the blessing of all is the revelation which God has been pleased to give of Himself in the Person of His Son. Every family is named of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that every revelation of God that has ever been given will be made good, but all will be coloured by the supreme revelation. The supreme revelation is of His love in the Person of His Son, and every other revelation of His name, whether it be Jehovah, or Almighty, or Most High — all take their place, and come out in the light of what I have called the supreme revelation.
There is another point which I only touch upon now, and that is that every family derives its character from Christ. What is peculiar to Christians, as I hope to show when speaking about the new covenant, is this, that it is not the law, but Christ written in the heart, as the apostle says, “Ye are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read of all men, being manifested to be Christ’s epistle ministered by us, written, not with ink”, — referring to the two tables of stone — “but the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tables” — like the law — “but on fleshy tables of the heart”. That is, that what had come to pass so far in the Corinthians was that there was a writing of Christ in their hearts as plain as the [p. 41] ten commandments upon the two tables of stone. That is the ministry of the new covenant in Christianity. The tables of stone given to Moses were hard enough, and what was written upon them was written with ink by the finger of God; but in Christians, the tables are rendered soft and fleshy by the power of God, and then it is they take an impress of Christ, Christ is written in the heart, that is, the heart comes to know and welcome and delight, in some little degree, in what God has revealed in Christ, how that every question of responsibility has been met, the judgment that lay upon man completely removed, and the will of God established, and further, the living bread come down from heaven is placed within the reach of faith’s appropriation, so that the believer eats and lives. All the good of heaven has been brought into manhood in Christ, and the soul becomes familiar with the grace that meets it there. I have no great pleasure in man as he is here in this world, for I see that he is bent on exalting himself; I do not see any thought of going down in man. And I find other elements there, such as lust, the desire to use all to gratify himself, a violent will which would carry everything before it, and hence man does not please God. But when I look at Christ, I see the very contrast to all this. I see One who is divine content to become a man, because that is what coming down from heaven meant for Him. And instead of lust, the very principle of His being was love. He came down here full of love. He did not come down for His own will, but to do the will of Him that sent Him — everything just the contrast to man here. That is what has come down from heaven, and that is what the soul of the Christian feeds upon: we eat Him, and we live by Him.
I have so far spoken of two things — one, God’s revelation of Himself in Christ, and the other the satisfaction of His love in man in the Person of Christ. All blessing starts from that point, and the more I [p. 42] have to do with that point the more conscious my soul is made of blessing.
Now I come to the second point, namely, the order or condition — for I do not know what better expression to use — “according to the Spirit of holiness”. That is in contrast to the “according to flesh” in the previous verse. “According to flesh” Christ was of the seed of David. “Flesh” is constantly used in Scripture to denote an order or condition, and Christ entered upon that condition, and in entering upon it He was of the seed of David. But now we get another condition fully revealed in Christ risen, and that is “according to the Spirit of holiness”. Now what I want to make clear is this, that every family in blessing, whether in heaven or upon earth, is to derive from the Head, from Christ, for He is Head over all, and that the Spirit of holiness is that by which they derive from Him. In a Christian, the Spirit of holiness is an indwelling Spirit. That is peculiar to Christianity; it never was true before; the power of the Spirit came upon men, but there was no indwelling Spirit in Old Testament times, nor will there be in the millennium, though there will be the pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh. It is perfectly certain to me that every family in blessing in heaven and upon earth is going to live by Christ in greater or less spiritual power, and every family will present some feature, some trait, of Christ. The earthly family will bear this trait, the law written in the heart. That was true of Christ, “Thy law is within my heart”. But what is peculiar to the church is this, it is the fulness of Christ; every feature of Christ is written there, and everything proportioned. That is what the Spirit is effecting in you and in me. He dwells in us and feeds our souls with Christ, and in that way He practically forms Christ in the heavenly one; and then by being occupied with Christ we grow up into Him in intelligence as to all things. Every feature of Christ is reproduced in the church.
[p. 43] But I want to call attention to the connecting link, “the Spirit of holiness”, the great subduing power in blessing. Power is connected here with Christ; He is “marked out Son of God in power”; He has power to subdue all things to Himself. But in the administration of blessing, the immediate subduing power is the Spirit of God. We have the Spirit as an indwelling Spirit; and that is of the greatest importance, because in connection with it is the forming of Christ in the believer. It is the Spirit of Christ in the Christian that forms Christ in him. The apostle says to the Galatians, he travailed in birth as to them until Christ was formed in them. They had the Spirit indwelling, the power was in them that could form Christ in them, but Christ was not yet formed in them. The truth of an indwelling Spirit in the Christian is of the last moment, for in connection with it is the renewing of the Holy Spirit. With an earthly family, as Israel in the millennium, the Spirit of God is upon them, but there is no question of forming them at all. What will be effected in them by the power of the Spirit is that the law will be written in their hearts; that will be their measure; not only will they consent in mind to the law of God that it is holy, and delight in the law of God after the inward man, but they will have a nature which is really according to and therefore capable of fulfilling the law. Thus they derive from Christ, from the Head, but not in the way in which the church does. He is the Head of everything, and the Spirit is to be poured out upon all flesh. What I want you to consider is this, that if you desire to understand things aright, you must see things as God sees them, and measure things from the top; you must get to the point where the questions of responsibility and life have been conciliated, that is, in Christ, and every thought must start from there. There are families which are nearer to the Head than others, like the church, which is united to Him, there [p. 44] are other heavenly families, and there are earthly families; but in God’s ways in blessing, they all derive from the Head, from Christ. And therefore it is “God’s glad tidings ... concerning his Son”, which is presented to us.
There is one point more, “By resurrection of the dead”. That is in contrast (and the contrast helps greatly in understanding it) to “of David’s seed according to flesh”, or — using the expression for want of a better one — it is the lineage or genealogy, the line on which we trace our descent. The point to my mind is this, though I dare say some here may find a difficulty in understanding it — we trace our descent really from the dead. Even Christ is declared in resurrection to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness. He begins again in resurrection in connection with man. It is not at all a question of His divine Person, that is not the point for a moment; but that as Man He starts again from the resurrection; He is the last Adam and the second man. But He does not come out in that way until the resurrection, until the judgment had been removed that lay upon the first man.
Now as regards ourselves, we trace our lineage from death. If I understand that the judgment of God once lay upon me, how can I attach importance to my genealogy in this world? A man may have a long pedigree in this world, and be able to trace back his ancestors for many generations, but what is the use of attempting to trace my pedigree when I see that I was under death? Scripture traces it back as far as death, and if I have come out of death, that is the proper beginning of my real existence for God; I have passed out of death into life in the resurrection of Christ; and that is where every one of us began with God. And if that is the case, you cannot make very much of genealogy. As I said before, the true line of genealogy for God in this world is maintained in [p. 45] Christ. Our genealogy is resurrection from the dead. I was a sinful man upon earth, with the wrath of God upon me, I lay under judgment of death. But what now? I have found life out of death; by faith I have found Christ; God has given to me the light of life, and now I am linked with Christ by the Spirit of life. In regard even to Israel hereafter, the principle on which they are reinstated as a nation is revival from the dead.
All these great principles are brought to light in the glad tidings of God’s Son, and I have sought to show their application to us, and not only to us, but to every family which receives blessing from God. But the point of the passage before us is that all these principles are demonstrated in God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The resurrection of Christ according to the Spirit of holiness, is the starting point of all God’s ways in life, and reconciliation, and blessing; and that is, I judge, the reason that Scripture speaks in the way it does here of “God’s glad tidings ... concerning his Son ... Jesus Christ our Lord”. I want you to see what God has substantiated in Him, not what God has effected in you; because if you are looking at that, you are looking at the wrong end. If you see what God has effected in Christ, you will understand what your part is to be in it.
In John 20, when Christ was raised again from the dead, the first thing He did was to send an announcement to His disciples by Mary Magdalene that they were on a completely new footing before God, that He ascended to His Father and their Father, to His God and their God. Later on He comes into the midst and announces to them “peace”, that every question of responsibility had been settled and judgment completely removed from them, so that there was peace towards them. And then He breathes on them, and by the gift of the Spirit livingly connects them with Himself, so that it might be true of them, “not I live, but Christ liveth in me”. Everything was solved, the two trees were conciliated, the question of man’s [p. 46] responsibility had been met, and Christ was the food of life to all those who were drawn to Him of the Father. That is what came to pass in John 20.
And if you want to get right thoughts of things according to God, and rightly to understand God’s glad tidings, you must not look at yourself or the effect in yourself; but you must see what God has brought to pass in His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Then you will learn the application of it to yourself — that the platform upon which each of us stands is the revelation of the love of God, and that we have a living link with the One in whom the love of God is satisfied. Now, is that true of everybody here? Is your soul conscious that the love of God is revealed? I trust that is the case; but are you conscious, too, that by the Spirit you are eternally and livingly linked with the One in whom that love has its perfect satisfaction, and that nothing can “separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”? And if you want to trace your genealogy, you can trace it back just as far as death, and no farther, because you are linked with Christ as risen from the dead.
I wish I had been able to bring it more distinctly before you; but the point here is to see how in the ways of God these two great principles of responsibility and life are conciliated in Christ, and God delights to bring under the attention of saints the truth of what He has brought to pass here in His Son, and that all these principles which are true in Him are true now in those who believe in Him, and they indicate the ground upon which we are with God.
Another time, if the Lord enable me, I shall have a little more to say as to the ministry of the new covenant, which enables us to see not only the great principles which have come to pass in Christ Jesus our Lord, but the application of them to us — not the law written in the heart, but Christ in the heart, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.