RIGHTEOUSNESS, LOVE AND POWER
[p. 503] RIGHTEOUSNESS, LOVE AND POWER
I want to show you the light which God has been pleased to give of Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the second thing God has made known is His thought in regard to man. As to the revelation of God, I see three great points coming out in Christ.
All our blessing and happiness is bound up with the knowledge of God. I very much doubt if you will find any one placing real confidence in God, until He is known as He has revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. The three characteristics that come out in the revelation of God are — firstly, righteousness; secondly, love; thirdly, power. Going back to chapter 4: 22, God first makes Himself known to us in righteousness. Then from chapter 5: 5, we get love. Then at the close of the chapter we get the triumph, grace reigns; power comes in; it is the reign of grace — the triumph of God. Grace reigns “through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
We can thank God for this light about Himself, because it suits us perfectly, and stands in contrast to what man is. There are certainly three things that mark man; sin, hatred, and weakness. Where is the man who is not marked by these three things? I know it in myself, and you know how true it is of you. I do not speak of what man has done, but of what he is as departed from God. He is marked by sin — a will antagonistic to God. The full expression will be in the lawless one. Thank God it is hindered and restrained by government and by the truth, but in its full development the whole world will be in rebellion against God. It began in a very small way — one small act, but in the Revelation we get the climax, the whole world in rebellion against God and the Lamb.
It is equally true that man’s heart is full of hatred. If any one does not know that, he does not know himself. Circumstances may not have occurred to make it very apparent, but if you knew to the bottom of your heart, you would know that the principle there is hatred against God. It is the effect of the fall. Man hates God because he has a will of his own.
Thirdly, man is weak. The proof is that he dies. Where is the man that can maintain himself in life? He has to die. I cannot conceive anything more sad; man in sin, in hatred, and in weakness. When God makes Himself known, He makes Himself known in contrast to all that man is, in order that man might be able to trust God, that he might know Him as He has revealed Himself. I can trust Him because He is righteous, I can trust Him because He is love, I can trust Him because He has power. This revelation is the glory, the effulgence of God — “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”. It has come to us in the gospel, that our hearts being in the light of God as He has revealed Himself, we might be able to confide in Him. Christianity is a very practical matter, and if we have not learnt that the heart can trust God because it knows Him, we have not learnt the first principle of christianity. We cannot trust a person we do not know. I have long since learnt that in this world man is not to be trusted, he will fail you at some point; the only One who will never fail you is God.
As to the way in which God has made Himself known — the blood of Jesus is the witness of His righteousness. Eternally, God will make Himself known as the righteous God in judgment. In the lake of fire He allows an eternal witness to exist to His righteousness, but the witness to us is the blood of Christ. It is the great witness that God has given as to what He thinks of sin. But if sin has been removed by the blood of Christ, God has given [p. 505] unmistakable witness of what it is to Him. He is the Justifier, but the first thing is, He is just. The blood of Jesus is the witness of both.
The proof of love is that He gave His Son. When Christ died the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. God has come out in the revelation of Himself in love, and man can go in to God. Nothing tells us more that we are privileged to be in the light in which love is shown out perfectly than the death of Christ; by it He has made known His righteousness and His love. The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin, but that very One was the Son of His love.
In the resurrection God has been pleased to make known His power. The power of God comes in at man’s weakest point. He has proved His power in raising again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ. God has found in Him a Vessel in which He could display Himself. I put it to every one, Do you know what it is to be in the blessed light of God that has come out in our Lord Jesus Christ?