THE SON OF GOD AND HIS GLORY
[p. 410] THE SON OF GOD AND HIS GLORY
John 9: 35 - 38; John 11: 4, 37; John 12: 12 - 19
What is in mind is the truth of the Son of God, and the glory, how He is glorified. Chapter 9 indicates the Son of God apprehended, and the circumstances under which He is apprehended. Those to whom He would make Himself known in this relation are persons who are outside the religious order of things in this world. The man in this chapter was cast out, and when Jesus heard this He finds him and says, “Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God?”. We have “thou” twice over here, you will notice. Then the glory of the Son of God comes out in the next sign, that of Lazarus. The Lord says of his sickness, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. Thus, the main thought is seen to be that the Son of God was to be glorified, and this involved the glory of God. These matters are pursued in chapter 12, and we see the result in others. The supper is made for Him at Bethany, and then we get how He is honoured in entering Jerusalem, as the result of the crowd having heard that He was coming. This is all connected with the resurrection of Lazarus (verse 17). Entering into this is the link between the two signs, the blind man and Lazarus; and in verse 36 the Jews say, “Behold how he loved him!”. The glory of the Son of God involved His love for His own.
Now, as has been said, those who know the glory of the Son of God are to be outside the religious order of things, as religion darkens the mind. It is very striking that it should be said the Lord finds this man; He needed him for the purpose on hand. In chapter 12 He needed the ass; it says, “And Jesus, having found a young ass, sat upon it”. There are [p. 411] always needs for special occasions. This man is ready for the truth; and truth, it may be observed, is brought out as it is received; thus, the force of it is clearly seen. The man had a previous spiritual history, and he becomes an example of how the Son of God is received. The truth is clarified as received. Things are cumulative in John’s gospel, and at the close it says, “Many other signs therefore also Jesus did before his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name”. So every sign ought to be looked into and the effect seen. Lazarus must have been a remarkable man to look at. We must see the truth applied and working out. You see the person who receives the truth; a man is found for a purpose. The colt, too, was needed to fill out the position in chapter 12.
The Lord asked the man in John 9 if he believed on the Son of God and he replied, “And who is he, Lord ... ?” meaning that he was subject, a very important element. The dominance of Christ over the soul precedes the idea of sonship. The man did not know the Lord earlier, so it is remarkable that he should call Him ‘Lord’. The works of God are thus seen to be taking form in an orderly way, then the question arises, Who is He? The Lord raised it with His disciples, “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?”. And further, “Who do ye say that I am?”. He would draw it out of us; it is a matter of enquiry. So we find Zacchaeus seeking to see Jesus, “who he was”, and again in Genesis 24, the question is raised by Rebecca, “Who is the man that is walking in the fields to meet us?”. “That is my master!”; that fitted then; it was no longer Abraham’s son, but the servant’s master. The truth of the Son of God calls for enquiry. It has been a matter of controversy; councils of old took it up and never solved it. They [p. 412] said the Son was begotten before all worlds. It is well worth looking into. Here the Lord says, “Thou, dost thou believe ... ?” as much as to say, You are a man of distinction spiritually, like Moses; the Lord said to him, “Moses, Moses!”. Paul says to the jailor, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”, there we have ‘thou’ twice over again. Here is a man fitting into a special phase of the truth. This matter of the Son of God deserves our supreme consideration; it is a question of the state of soul that makes way for it.
There are two parts in the statement, “Thou hast both seen him”, and then, “he that speaks with thee is he”. It is “with thee” here; in the woman’s case in John 4 it is “to thee”: “I who speak to thee am he”. Here it is association, a matter that enters into sonship. “Speaks with thee” — what a precious thought! It says of Elijah and Elisha, “As they went on, and talked”; in principle it was on the platform of resurrection. You get the same sort of principle when the Lord says in Matthew 17: 27, “For me and thee”.
Certain truths are made intelligible under certain circumstances. The Corinthians were not equal to receiving the hidden wisdom. It is a pleasure to hear a person say, “Lord Jesus”, because the apostle says, “No one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit”. There is something refreshing in hearing it on the lips of one and another.
One has to ask oneself, Am I findable when the Lord needs me? Someone may be needed to fill out a position at any time, and if he is not there, there will be a want. In chapter 10 we find what the Lord provides in the way of care for such an one as this man who was cast out as unfit for the place. The Lord had found him; the word ‘find’ is a characteristic word in John’s gospel. The ass was found to carry the Lord into Jerusalem. There may be a [p. 413] blank and someone needed to fill it; the position here needed a man like this. One often notices wants, a gathering without an elder, for instance, the position not filled; the apostles chose elders in every assembly. Other features, too, may be needed, and the Lord is looking for persons to supply them. You may say, ‘There is not much here; it is a small meeting’, but exercise would bring out what was required, a brother or a sister to do two or three things. Sometimes casualties in a meeting have been so serious that there are only a few left, and they do double or treble the work; that is one idea. Then there is the thought of a remnant which carries the characteristics of the original in quality. This is found in the last days. This man was wholly trustworthy.
In chapter 11, a man falls sick, and what is in view is “that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. The Jews see that the Lord loves that man. That is where His glory shines, it is not simply love to a sinner. Sonship comes out in the way He takes account of lovable people. Lazarus belongs to a family who are parentless, and the Lord loved the three, and the Jews took account of His love to Lazarus: “Behold how he loved him!”. And some raised the question as to whether He could not have kept him alive. Yes, but that would not be for the glory of God. The Lord deliberately waited till the man died, and this was in order to bring out His love and the glory that shone.
It says in chapter 11: 2, “It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick”. She has in mind the glorification of Jesus; she did the thing at the right time, six days before the passover. It is as if Mary said, I shall never get another opportunity. Her circumstances made it the right time; the historical matter brought forward. She [p. 414] would surrender her own glory to bring out the glory of Christ. Young people sometimes hang back, waiting till the older ones give thanks, and think they are humble in doing so. But they are setting aside the priestly side of things and sonship. Sonship qualifies me to take part, and priestliness to take part properly. Mary anointed the Lord when the time was ripe; she would never have another opportunity. It is as clear as possible that if it is open to you to do a thing and you neglect it, you never get that chance again. The point is your heart is touched, and you respond. The most spiritual people are apt to make blunders. The bridegroom in Canticles appeals to the bride to “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night”. She did not open. There was fragrance on the lock, but she missed the opportunity, and that never came back. Other opportunities would. So you have to control your mind and disallow anything that is unsuited to the moment, and that saves you.
Then after the raising of Lazarus, and the supper at Bethany, we have the entrance into Jerusalem. It is only in this gospel that the crowd is mentioned as taking branches of palms. They speak of victory. In Matthew it says they “kept cutting down branches from the trees”, but not here, though no doubt they did it; they were not old branches found in the sideway. It is a question of victory here. It is an opportunity for the Lord, and it must not drop. (Compare Psalm 118).
In Matthew 23: 39, the Lord says, “Ye shall in no wise see me henceforth until ye say, Blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord”. The Lord would say, I must be seen. So He found the young ass (John 12: 14), not a foal, a generative idea. That is the kind of being, the young. The Lord said, as it were, I need that; they have quoted Psalm 118 [p. 415] and this position must be filled out. Is there a want in any meeting that is not filled out, something that is needed to make the glory shine? The ass was needed to fill out this glorious position. Mary filled out the other. It sets forth what the Lord does in the assembly, not merely a suggestive thought, but variety filling out the prophetic glory.