The Son of God

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Introduction.

From the advent of the Son of God into the world His hands had made, His Person has been the object of unceasing attack by His arch-enemy the devil. Moreover, in the flesh with its unchanging enmity to God, the devil has ever found a ready instrument to wage his warfare against the One who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. On the other hand, during the long period of the absence of Christ, the Holy Spirit has been the abiding witness to the glory of the Son. Guiding believers into all truth, and showing to them the things of Christ, He has formed them into vessels fitted to express the graces and perfections of Christ.

And as "the day goeth away" and "the shadows of the evening are stretched out," as the attacks become more persistent, and the battle grows more fierce, so too it becomes more imperative that every true-hearted saint should give a clear and unequivocal witness to the glories of the Son of God. Love will not be content with any uncertain sound as to the One to whom we owe every blessing for time and eternity. Love will be very jealous of any slight cast upon the fame of One of whom each believer can say "The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Discussion upon such a holy theme we should all deprecate. Our spiritual instincts warn us that to discuss His Person is to lose touch with Himself. Who could discuss the Person of Christ in the presence of Christ?

So too may we all feel the danger of being drawn into controversy on such a holy theme, even though it be in the honest endeavour to meet and expose error. Does not history, past and present, warn us that too often those who set out to combat one heresy fall into an opposite heresy? The word is "earnestly contend for the faith," though at times it would seem as if we had interpreted this Scripture as an exhortation to earnestly combat error. We are far from saying that we are never to do battle with the wrong; but let us remember in so doing we are occupied with what the mind of man has put forth, and thus are in danger of thinking we can meet the mind of man by the power of our own minds. In contending for the faith we are occupied with what God has revealed, and the very greatness of the truth casts us upon God; and, cast upon Him, we may count upon His support. While therefore feeling the danger of discussion or controversy we should also feel the constant necessity to contend for the faith.

In contending for the truth we must of necessity turn to the Scripture of truth, remembering that it is written, "we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Cor. 2: 12). Through dullness of affection we may fail to profit by what is revealed; or through the activity of our minds we may go beyond what is written. May we then take heed, seeking with quickened affections, and minds controlled by the Spirit to enter more fully into all that has been revealed concerning the Person of the Son without going beyond that which is written. To contemplate the glory of the Son, the wonder of the Incarnation, or the perfection of His Manhood, is to enter a region where human speculation, and our own conjectures, must have no place. In the presence of His glory the very Seraphim fold their wings about their faces, the prophet wraps his mantle about his face, and Moses, the man of God, puts his shoes from off his feet. And though in this day of grace we behold the glory of the Lord with "unveiled face," let it still be with "unshod feet" that we approach the holy mysteries that surround His Person.

Among the many privileges given to the Lord's people none can be greater than to maintain the glories of the Son amid the lengthening shadows of the approaching apostasy. May we be found faithful stewards of the mysteries of Gad, and strong in that grace which alone will enable us to efface ourselves, make everything of Christ, and "CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL."

Next Part The Deity of Christ

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