WWP
W. W. Prescott
We have seen how by birth Jesus took upon himself our nature. The object of bringing this point very emphatically before the mind is that we may see the nearness of Jesus Christ as our Saviour. He has become one with us, and joined himself to us by ties which will never be broken, because to-day and for eternity Jesus Christ is one with us in humanity, still bearing this human flesh. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5. He thus connected the human family with God once more. ARSH March 17, 1896, page 168.1
Our God is a consuming fire. The manifestation of God himself is a glory before which sinful flesh cannot stand; but God gave Christ, who did not exchange his divinity for humanity, but clothed his divinity with humanity, in order that the human family might through his humanity and divinity be connected with the Father in heaven; so that we are brought nigh in Christ Jesus. This is set forth very strikingly in the dream of Jacob. The topmost round of the ladder reached up to heaven, where God was, and the bottom rested on the earth. Christ is the ladder reaching from heaven to earth, connecting sinful humanity with sinless divinity. This it the work of Jesus Christ. In its fallen condition, humanity is weak and bruised, and has no power or strength at all. It is unable to lift itself one inch toward heaven; but we find the divine Saviour right where fallen humanity is. There is none so weak that he cannot reach Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ has come down. Our work is not to lift ourselves up, but it is simply to lay hold of Jesus Christ where he is, and he will lift us up to God. ARSH March 17, 1896, page 168.2
Jesus Christ established a new family, of which he became the head. “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and after ward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaves. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall bear the image of the heavenly.” 1 Corinthians 15:45-49. So Jesus Christ the Lord from heaven, the last Adam, in entering into this relationship with the human family, became the head of this family just as Adam was the head of the divine-human family originally. Jesus Christ was God in heaven, and he came to this world, and was born of the flesh, and thus he who had been born of the Spirit, was afterward born of the flesh, and by this double birth this family was established,-the divine-human family of which he is the head,-in order that we who have already been born of the flesh, may by his grace and the power of the same Spirit, be born of the Spirit,-that is, every member of this divine-human family is twice born. And Jesus Christ took the same relationship to this family that the first Adam took in the beginning, in whom were found all the members of the family. As in Adam every member was created, when he was given the power to reproduce, so in Christ every member of the family which he established, of which he is the head, was in him, and ns gathered into himself the whole family. The same relationship is sustained toward him as was sustained toward the first Adam. As what we receive by birth from flesh is the flesh of sin, with all the tendencies of evil,-for that which is born of the flesh is flesh,-and as by birth of the flesh we enter into all the experiences of Adam, by having his nature; so by this new, this second birth, we enter into the family of God and the nature of Jesus Christ our Saviour, becoming partakers of the divine nature. Jesus Christ identified himself so fully and completely with us in his humanity as our divine Saviour, as well as our brother in the flesh, that he said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” ARSH March 17, 1896, page 168.3
Now let us consider what the mission was on which he was seat to this world. We may say that his mission was to reveal God in such a manner that man could understand and comprehend him. “God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by drivers portions and in drivers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:1-3, R. V. Let us notice especially the thought that Jesus Christ is the effulgence of the glory of God, the pouring forth of his glory, the outshining of his glory, the very image of his substance. The relationship between God and the things outside of him, especially the human family, is such that God reveals himself only through his son, Jesus Christ. So complete was this revelation, that he says of himself in John 12:45, “He that seeth me seeth him that sent me.” He came in the flesh on a mission to this world, sent as an apostle to his brethren. He came that those who saw him might see the Father. Jesus Christ was God revealed and manifested in the flesh. When man so completely lost sight of the true character of God, his loving, divine, and compassionate character, even those divinely appointed sacrifice because an offense of him. Christ came in the flesh, and revealed God, that the human family might comprehend the true character of God. While he was human, he was also divine, and he revealed the true character of the true God “Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:8-10. His whole ministry of three and a half years, which was just closing, was for the express purpose of showing the Father to the world; to reveal God in such a manner that the human family, fallen and sinful, might comprehend him; and Jesus Christ revealed the Father not simply in his words, but his life was a revelation of God’s life. When he healed the sick, it was but showing forth the character of the great Healer. When he was lifting up those who had fallen down, he was showing forth the willingness of God to be the mighty Helper. That was the way Christ was revealing to the world the character of God. One purpose of his mission was to reveal God to the world in human flesh, that humanity might have a correct idea of the true character of God the Father. ARSH March 17, 1896, page 168.4
Christ came as the outflowing of the love of God. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” It was because God loved the world that he gave Christ to die. One purpose of his mission was that he might reveal humanity God’s idea concerning humanity-not simply that he might reveal God, but that he might reveal the image of God, as God intended it should be revealed in man. So Jesus Christ, the Christ of Judea, was the ideal man; he was our example of what man should be. In the beginning God said, “Let us make man in our image,” and Jesus Christ was the one through whom this was carried out; for “without him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus Christ was the agent of God in creating the nature of man, which he himself was afterward to bear in this world. ARSH March 17, 1896, page 169.1
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(Concluded next week.)