“HE WAS THE TRUE LIGHT.”

As he was the Father’s Word or Messenger, he was also the Father’s Light, whose mission it was to reveal, to make known, the Father’s love, that thereby those who had eyes to see might be attracted, drawn, blessed. Alas, how many were blind! Eyes had they but they saw not, and understanding had they and appreciated not. Those who did see, who did appreciate, what a blessing they received! – not only those who saw the Lord personally but those who have since seen his glory, his light, through the words of his faithful messengers under the guidance of his holy Spirit. “Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear.”

What a blessed thought lies half hidden in the Apostle’s words – in the declaration that this true Light shall enlighten every man born into the world! What a ray of hope this lights up in the sympathetic and Christian heart! All who have the Spirit of God, who so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son to be its Redeemer, are sure to be sympathetic with the world in its lost and blinded condition. To such this promise is a reassurance of all the glorious privileges and messages sent by the Lord through the prophets telling of the age of glory, when the Messiah shall be the Sun of Righteousness to scatter the darkness and miasm of sin and death and to bring in everlasting righteousness and life to the world – to whomsoever will accept the same.

Nothing is plainer than that our dear Redeemer has not yet enlightened those born into the flesh four thousand years before he was made flesh and died for our redemption. It is equally clear that not more than one in ten of those born into the world during the past two thousand years since he redeemed us have ever heard of that great transaction or had the opportunity of thus being enlightened and blessed. This, then, is the glad message, the good tidings of great joy which shall yet be unto all people – our dear Redeemer is not only the Redeemer of the Church and the light of the Church, but the Redeemer of the world, the light of the world, that shall ultimately enlighten every man born into the world, every son and daughter of Adam. In this connection we are reminded of the words of the Apostle to Timothy, “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all – to be testified in due time.” – 1 Tim 2:5,6.

“TO BE TESTIFIED IN DUE TIME.”

Ah, yes! there is a due time for every feature of the divine plan, and not until all of these various features have been developed will its glory and beauty fully appear. For two thousand years the world was left practically without hope of any kind; during the next two thousand years Abraham and his seed alone of all the families of the earth enjoyed divine favor and a partial knowledge of the glorious plan of salvation which would be outworked by Messiah, who according to the flesh would be of the seed of Abraham; during the last two thousand years the knowledge of Messiah has been largely hidden from the Jews and from the majority of other nations, but has gone nevertheless hither and thither, selecting a peculiar people, a Royal Priesthood, a holy nation – spiritual Israel. Each of these features has its due time: in due time God revealed the outlines of his plan to Abraham; in due time Christ died for the ungodly; in due time his second coming will usher in his Kingdom and with it the blessing of all the families of the earth, when the true Light shall lighten every man.

“He was in the world; the world was made by him and yet the world knew him not. He came unto his own [nation] and his own [people] received him not.” Thus, briefly the rejection of Christ by the blind world and blinded Israel is recorded. But this blindness, which God foreknew and had left provision for in his plan, did not hinder our dear Redeemer from accomplishing the gracious purposes intended. He came not to reign, not to be ministered unto, but to serve Israel and the world as their Redeemer – to purchase them with his own blood, and to draw them out from under the condemnation that rested upon all because of disobedience to the divine law. Grandly he finished the work that was given him to do.

But not all rejected him: a small remnant as compared with the whole nation believed on him, trusted him and obeyed him, and were blessed by him in a special manner. These were the apostles, and other faithful brethren to the number of about five hundred. (1 Cor 15:6.) To these by divine arrangement a special favor or blessing was extended – the privilege of passing from the house of servants to the house of sons. Moses was the head of the house of servants – natural Israel; Christ is the Head of the house of sons – spiritual Israel. This the Apostle points out, saying, “Moses, verily, was faithful as a servant over all his house; but Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence of our rejoicing firm unto the end.” – Heb 3:5,6.

JEWS NOT SONS OF GOD.

The Jews never claimed to be sons of God, neither are they referred to in the Scriptures as such. No greater dignity than that of being servants of the Most High God could possibly have been dreamed of up to the time when our Lord himself announced the privilege of adoption to the new nature. In evidence of this we remember that the Jews sought to stone our Lord simply because he claimed to be a son of God.  (John 5;17,18.) The place and time of adoption for these believers was in the upper room at Pentecost, when the spirit of adoption was granted unto them – the holy Spirit, the anointing: and similarly, the spirit of adoption is granted to all the followers of the Lord during all the centuries since, although not accompanied by the same miracles and manifestations granted and necessary in the beginning. It is this begetting of the spirit to a newness of life on the spiritual plane to which the Apostle refers, saying, “Which were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” The word born, as used both in the Common and Revised Versions, is erroneous and misleading; begotten is the proper translation of genao in this case. We note also that Westcott bears out this thought, saying, “Literally begotten, as in 1 John 2:29; 3:9.”

The Apostle is very particular to show that this begetting to the new nature is as necessary to the new creation as begettal of the flesh is necessary to human generation. Furthermore, he hedges the subject all around to prove that the begetting power is not of heredity, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh directly or indirectly, not of the will of man in any sense of the word: God alone does this begetting, God alone accepts to membership in this new creation, God alone imparts the seal of his adoption; and hence those so begotten, when born in the resurrection, will be in the highest sense of the word children of the Highest, “heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Coming back to our original topic to view our Lord’s advent amongst men from the standpoint of the faithful disciple, he says, “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.”

Note first the statement that he was made flesh, a totally different thought from that expressed in some of the creeds when they speak of the Lord as “incarnate.” To be incarnate would signify to get into flesh as though the flesh were merely a covering or garment. This is not the statement nor the significance of the Scriptural testimony, which is very explicit, “made flesh.” The Revised Version, following the original still more exactly, if possible, gives it, “The Word became flesh.” This is in accord also with the statement of Rom 1:3, that our Lord was made “of the seed of David according to the flesh;” and again, the statement of Gal 4:4, that “God sent forth his Son made by a woman.”

Continued with next post.