Beholding Christ as Christ
“For as the body is
one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are
one body, so also is Christ” (I Corinthians 12:12).
This
subject contains some of the most profound and sublime truths which in
themselves prove most substantial in times of severe trial and which provide
solid ground on which the children of God can stand in such times. For what
could provide more assuring confidence, when considering the history of men,
than to realize that our Creator was in the midst of all and directing all to
His Own Glory, first and foremost, and then for the eternal good of His chosen
(Romans 2:28-30; Ephesians 1:1-11; II Timothy 1: 7-10)? In this article we are
to consider Christ as Christ. Oh Lord our God, through the grace of the Holy
Ghost, and if you will, be pleased to guide our feeble attempt. Amen.
When considering Christ, as Christ,
we must consider the Head, Christ, joined to the body, the church (Ephesians
1:22, 23). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God (John 1: 1, 14). He is God
the Son (Psalm 2:7; 45:6; John
10:30; I John 5:7), one of the Divine Persons who are the Plurality in Unity,
the Plurality of Persons in Unity of Essence (Isaiah 48:16; Genesis 1:26;
Matthew 3:16, 17). He is the I Am (Exodus 3:14: John 18:5, 6) the First and the
Last, the Beginning and the End, (Revelation 1:8). He is the Word, Wisdom, and
Power of the Triune Jehovah (I Corinthians 1:24), He is of one undivided essence
and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and is He of the same Eternity
and Infinity as the other two Persons in the Godhead. His Deity, is the source and
principle reason of the efficacy in all His undertakings.
All that is in Christ Jesus is involved
in all His undertakings, whether we are to consider Him as the eternal Spirit
by whom His perfectly holy human nature was offered a sin offering and wherein
He accomplished redemption and brought in eternal righteousness and everlasting
salvation for His people, or whether
we are to consider His perfectly holy humanity. We must consider one Person in
whom there is extant two distinct natures, and yet still only one Person, so
that all He undertakes in that one Person is upheld by all that is in either
nature wherein lies the authority and the power for all that “shall be” as
declared by Holy Scripture. For He has made this declaration “My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10). “The Lord of hosts hath
sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have
purposed, so shall it stand” (Isaiah 14: 24).
In all that Jehovah the Son
undertakes in time and to all eternity, all things are according to the
everlasting covenant of unmingled grace for He saith, “When ye have lifted up
the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am, and I do nothing of myself; but
as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:28). And again our
Lord said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he seeth the Father do: for whatsoever
he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19). Our Lord could not
step out of Himself (in His Divine nature and in His character of God-Man Mediator)
in doing anything that was not ordered according to that covenant which is
ordered in all things and sure (II Samuel 23:5). Every thought, word and deed
that issued from our all glorious Lord was according to that eternal edict of
the covenant and provided that perfection that is required of the children of
the covenant, that our fellowship with the Triune Jehovah will be full for “In
Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in
Him, which is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9) and “who
of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption” (I Corinthians 1:30).
In beholding Christ as Christ, we
must not think of Him in His Godhead only, but as God in union with sinless
human nature. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.” “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace
and truth.” (John 1:1 and 1:14). God the Son took sinless human nature (Luke
1:35) into union with Himself in order to be the Mediator of the everlasting covenant of unmingled grace
and to be a “daysman” (Job 9:33) between God in the Trinity of His Persons and
man in sinful and ruined nature (Hebrews 13:20). So great was the undertaking
that none less than one of the Persons of the Godhead could finish the awful
task and bring the children of the covenant, the “many sons,” to final glory
(Hebrews 2:10).
The everlasting covenant of grace, wherein was
promised eternal life, was made before the world began (Titus 1:2). The persons
involved in the covenant were chosen, named, and their names were enrolled in
the “book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews
12:23; Revelation 13:8). The Lamb of God (our Lord Jesus Christ) was slain from
the foundation of the world, that is, our Lord Jesus was virtually slain which
means the slaying of the Lamb of God was as sure to be accomplished as if that
event had already occurred. The Lamb was to be slain according to the
“determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). “For of a truth
against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius
Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined to be done” (Acts
4:27, 28). The Son of God took human nature into union with Himself in order to
stand in office for men. He was and is
the Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace; He is God and man in one
person; He is the God-Man Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace (I
Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 13:20).
Christ
Jesus was chosen as the Mediator of the everlasting covenant “from of old from
everlasting” (Micah 5:2). Christ is the elect of God, or the chosen of God
(Isaiah 42:1). His members were chosen in Him before the foundation of the
world, or before the world began, and predestinated to the adoption of children
(Ephesians 1:4, 5). All of this is according to the good pleasure of God the
Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost (I John 5:7, 8). When considering Christ as
Christ, we must consider Him in eternal federal union with His people or one
with them in covenant terms and conditions (John 14: 20, 10, 11) in that order to
show the relation of unity that exists between God and His Church in Christ (John
17: 11, 20, 21, 22, 23). “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus”
(Hebrews 3:1). Those who are enabled of the Holy Ghost to rightly consider the
Christ of Holy Scripture will be comforted in the knowledge that we are in
Christ, “not of blood (not by our earthly linage), nor of the will of the flesh
(not by anything that is in ourselves), nor of the will of man (not by our own
will), but of God” (John 1:13), Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The saved are in
Christ by the will of God.
The church
in Jesus Christ is in Christ and always has been in Christ because of eternal federal
union with Christ by the decree of the Eternal Three in One (Ephesians 1:3-7;
II Timothy 1:8-10). Put in the words of the writer and according to the
weakness of his fallible understanding and in human expression which
confessedly is infinitely beneath the glory of our infinite God and Creator;
the covenant may have run in determinations such as this. The Father spoke to
the Son and to the Spirit, saying, “I have set My love upon a people (I John
4:9, 10; Jeremiah 31:3) from among what will be nations, tongues, and kingdoms
of peoples (Revelation 5:9). These whom I have loved and chosen, I have desired
to be my covenant people; my own and not another’s (I Peter 1:2; Romans 8:29).These
alone whom I have loved and chosen as Sons and Daughters, I have set them apart
in my own Son, (Jude 1) who is ‘my Fellow’ (Zechariah 13:7) in whom they are
and in whom they shall be delivered from every enemy or difficulty (Romans
3:23-26). These whom I now behold in the perfections of My own Son shall fall
in ruin, under My curse and into death, because of their natural federal head,
whom I have named Adam (Romans 5:12) who will be the natural father of that
race. From the curse of My law and justice must these be redeemed and delivered
by My own Son whom I have appointed Surety of My covenant (Hebrews 7:22) and
into whose hand I have now delivered them for that end (I Corinthians 1:2; Romans
3:24, 25). My Son shall bring My many sons to glory by His own blood and
righteousness and in bringing My many sons to glory, My only begotten Son shall
destroy the works of Satan (Hebrews 2: 10-14).”
God the Son
spoke in federal union with the elect (Ephesians 1:4, 5) saying, “I will be
Surety and a ransom for those whom thou hast given me (John 17:2) and whom thou
hast loved and whom I have cherished from everlasting (Hebrews 7:22; Matthew 20:28;
Mark 10:45). They are mine for ‘all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified
in them’ (John 17: 11). I will be ‘made flesh’ (John 1:14) in order that I may
be one with my church and people, (John 14:20) for I am one with thee My Father
(John 10:30) and therefore ‘they also may be one in us’ (John 17:21). ‘For both
he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee’(Hebrews
2: 11, 12).
I will redeem them from the curse which
they fell under in their natural federal head Adam (Romans 5: 12), for I will
be ‘made a curse’ for them (Galatians 3:13). I will endure the sufferings which
they deserve, in my own body, and pay the debt of death which they should owe
to thy law and justice (Ezekiel 18:4). Though Father I am without sin and I
know no sin and I have no sin, yet for the sake of the glory of thy grace (Ephesians
2:7) and for their pardon sake, thou shalt lay on me the iniquity of them all
(Isaiah 53:6) and I will bear their sin in my own body on the tree (I Peter
2:24) and by myself will I purge their sin (Hebrews 1:3) and once in the end of
the world put away their sin forever (Hebrews 9:26). Thus will I be made sin
for them (II Corinthians 5:21) a sin offering. And Father, because thou hast
chosen them in federal union with me from of old, even from the days of
eternity, I do own their sin as my own, though not my own by commission, but by
imputation because of federal union, according to thy sovereign council, will,
purpose, decree and covenant (Psalm 69:1-5; 38:1-4; II Samuel 23: 5). By dying
in the stead of those thou hast given me, I will honor and Propitiate thy
justice and truth (Isaiah 42:21) in order that ‘mercy and truth’ may meet
together in agreement (Psalm 85:10).
I will abide in the earth and under
thy most holy law as man in public office, standing in the stead of those thou hast
chosen in me before the world was made. I will fulfill the law to its jot and
tittle (Matthew 5:18) and it shall be charged to the credit of my members. I
will obey thy law in thought, word, and deed, in order that my obedience may be
accounted as their own who are in me as members (I Corinthians 12:12; Psalm
139:16; Revelation 13:8). By my perfect obedience in life, and in death, in the
room and stead of my members, I will ‘finish the transgression,’ and ‘make an
end of sins,’ and ‘make reconciliation for iniquity.’ I will bring in ‘everlasting
righteousness,’ ‘I will seal up the vision and prophecy,’ and I the most holy
shall be anointed Prophet, Priest, and King (Daniel 9:24) for I Am ‘over all,
God blessed for ever. Amen.’ (Romans 9:5). My members shall rejoice in my accomplishments
on their behalf, saying, ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be
joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels’ (Isaiah
61:10). My people, whom thou hast appointed mine own because they are justified
from sin in me, shall never have sin imputed to their charge ever again to all
eternity for, I ‘shall bare their iniquity’ (Isaiah 53:11). In that which shall
be called time, my members shall speak of me saying, ‘Who was delivered for our
offences, and was raised again for (because of) our justification’ (Romans
4:25).”
The Holy Ghost spoke to the Father
and to the Son, saying, “at thy word I will descend into the hearts of thy chosen
and redeemed people. There I will be to them a Spirit of ‘wisdom and revelation’
(Ephesians 1:17) in the knowledge of the God. I will break up their hard, stony
and rebellious heart for ‘the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’ (Romans 8:7) and because ‘the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, for they are spiritually
discerned’ (II Corinthians 2:14). I will give them a new heart and a new
spirit, and thereby make them willing in the day of My power (Ezekiel 36:26:
Psalm 110:3). ‘I will put my laws in their mind, and write them in their
hearts: and I will be to them a God and they shall be my people’ (Hebrews 8:10).
I will make them to be ‘partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust’ (II Peter 1:4) and thereby cause
them to walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them (Ezekiel
36:27). I will cause them to be gracious persons in their deportment and
relations to their peers, yet these things shall not be any part of their
justifying righteousness, for the Mediator, Christ Jesus alone, is to them ‘THE
LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ for they are justified by Christ’s blood (Romans 5:9).
For ‘by Him all that believe are justified from all things’ (Acts 13:39). The
ransomed, regenerated elect, shall rejoice in Christ Jesus, and though
regenerated, and having received of my grace, still they shall have no
confidence in the flesh, (Philippians 3:3) for they will gladly admit ‘we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we
all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.’
(Isaiah 64:6).”
A.J.Ison
