READINGS AND ADDRESSES ON SOME OF THE TEACHINGS OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (3)
[p. 358] READINGS AND ADDRESSES ON SOME OF THE TEACHINGS OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (3)
In these chapters witness is borne to Christ as the Son of God in the raising of Lazarus, then to Him as Son of David and King of Israel, and then to Him as Son of man. When the Greeks come He says: “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified”. In John 1 also the three titles come together; in verse 34: “I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God”. In verse 49 we get Nathanael saying that He is the King of Israel, and in verse 51 angels are to be seen ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
The Son of man is also seen in Hebrews 2. “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels ... crowned with glory and honour”. The title Son of man is generally in the gospels connected with suffering. Now He is set over all the works of God’s hands, and supremacy is the thought connected with the title Son of man, as seen in Hebrews, 1 Corinthians 15 and Ephesians 1. God’s Man is set forth in the place of supremacy, hence in John 1: 50 it is: “Thou shalt see greater things than these” — that is, thou shalt see Him as Son of man set in the place of highest authority — supreme. The Son of God is seen as the last Adam in life-giving power in John’s gospel. The promises come in with Him as King of Israel. In Luke you get more the view of Him as Son of man. In Psalm 2, where you get the expression, “Thou art my Son”, it presents Him as begotten in time, and there is the thought of authority over the nations.
In John 12: 20 there was a combination of circumstances which bring before the Lord the thought [p. 359] of the Son of man, and the glory connected with that title, and at once it is seen that all must be on the ground of His death, on the ground of redemption. You get the Son of man glorified in the end of chapter 13; suffering and glory are brought together in the thought of the Son of man. The Son of God is seen as last Adam in life-giving power in Lazarus: the sickness was “not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby”. You do not get the thought of the Son of God in the Old Testament; there the thought is of one God.
The title Son of man is connected with the world to come. It is the divine answer to the corruption of man; He is God’s Man and is the answer to all the evil that Satan has brought in. In Revelation 12 you get the man child caught up to heaven — the rapture — and the devil and his angels cast out of heaven as the result.
Then we get the Son of man lifted up; He must be lifted up; He is the only-begotten Son of God, and it is that whosoever believeth on Him, etc.; everything centres in one Person, and He is Son of God, King of Israel and Son of man, and at last all things are put under Him. When Satan is bound then the Spirit can be poured out upon all flesh.
In the case of the apostle Paul, we find that as soon as he had been blessed he preached Jesus in the synagogue that He is the Son of God; it is there that you get the full thought of God as regards man. He became Man to that end that He might express God’s thought as regards man. In the title Son of man you get the thought of complete security, because all things are put under His feet. In the title King of Israel you get the thought of God’s fidelity to the promises. In the title Word of God the thought with me is that of wisdom incarnate — the [p. 360] Word was made flesh. We are instructed in the knowledge of God, that is our education.
The existence of lawlessness down here calls in question the righteousness of God. In Romans 9 to 11 we have taken up the faithfulness of God to Israel. These two questions, the righteousness of God and His faithfulness to Israel, are taken up in the epistle to the Romans, and both are seen in Christ. He was the expression of the righteousness of God and of His faithfulness to Israel, and He preached the righteousness and declared the faithfulness of God in the great congregation. (Psalm 40: 9, 10). The world is an awful scene of lawlessness; and righteousness and faithfulness are established in Christ.
Israel is now seen entirely scattered, but they are to be gathered, and Christ in heaven is the answer to the promises to the Jews that are apparently broken; but all are established in Christ. So in Him we see the complete expression of the righteousness of God and of His faithfulness to the promises. Christ too is wisdom, He is the resource of God. Wisdom is justified of all her children. The woman of the city, who was a sinner, showed that she was a child of wisdom by making much of Christ — it is wisdom to do this. “I lead in the way of righteousness”, that is wisdom. I should not like to be without Christ. A man may be rich, or he may be a man of genius, but he really has nothing at all without Christ. To justify wisdom you must be in the path of righteousness. In verse 25 it says: “He that loveth his life”, etc.; we must be in accord with the death of Christ; the one that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal, that is present: “him will my Father honour”, that is present too; our present recompense for devotedness to Christ is life eternal and to be honoured of the Father.
[p. 361] The great thing with us is that we fail in abiding in Christ; the one who abides in Him does not sin; that is a wonderful word; in that way it is possible not to sin. People’s wills dictate their movements, but if Christ dictates your movements you cannot sin; on the other hand, the one who is just dictated to by his own will, the one who “sins”, has not seen Him or known Him, he is not a child of God at all. As to our pathway here the question is what course will give me the most liberty with Christ, what course will enable me to be most free with Christ; our view must not be limited by the present, we must go beyond the present. Christ is the real standard of right and wrong. We want wisdom, and wisdom’s ways “are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace”.
It is the state of the church undoubtedly which has made the question of eternal life so obscured; you want an atmosphere in order to enjoy eternal life, and that is dependent on Christ’s circle; so the state of the church, and Christ’s circle being so little known, must have a great effect on the question of eternal life.
In the beginning of Acts you see Christ’s circle in its blessedness; the atmosphere was good, and hence the questions as to eternal life which are raised now would not be raised then. The great preservative from the world is found in Christ’s circle; monkery does not shut out the world, but in Christ’s circle a person, as we may see in the beginning of Acts, passed from death unto life — from a bad atmosphere into a good one. In the beginning of Acts eternal life was understood and no question was raised about it; we on the other hand are painfully affected by the state of the church.
Verse 31. Christ comes in as the centre of attraction and the world is judged; He was lifted up in testimony to the love of God. In old days [p. 362] the serpent lifted up was the witness of the mercy and love of God to man. He gives living water; the cross is brought in, God taking up every liability under which man was. Man was under the curse; lawlessness came under the curse of God. Judgment does not come in till man has set up a rival to Christ. So the love of God is toward man — sin is condemned in the flesh.