May 21
3
“Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh.” 1 Timothy 3:16
J.C.Philpot
A mystery indeed it is, a great, a deep, an unfathomable mystery; for who can rightly understand how the divine Word, the eternal Son of God, was made flesh, and dwelt among us? “Who shall declare his generation?” (Isa. 53:8;) either that eternal generation whereby he is the only-begotten Son of God, or the generation of his sacred humanity in the womb of the Virgin, when the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her? These are the things “which the angels desire to look into;” which they cannot understand, but reverently adore. And well may we imitate their adoring admiration, not attempting to understand, but believe, love, and revere; for well has it been said, “Where reason fails, with all her power–there faith believes, and love adores.”
Nor, if rightly taught and spiritually led, shall we find this a barren, dry, or unprofitable subject. It is “the great mystery of godliness;” therefore all godliness is contained in it, and flows out of it. The whole of God’s grace, mercy, and truth is laid up in, is revealed through, is manifested by, the Son of his love; for “it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;” and this as Immanuel, God with us. Thus his sacred humanity, in union with his divine Person, is the channel of communication through which all the love and mercy of God flow down to poor guilty, miserable sinners, who believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
If blessed, then, with faith in living exercise, we may draw near and behold the great mystery of godliness. To tread by faith upon this holy ground is to come “unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:22-24); for every blessing of the new covenant, if we are but favored with a living faith in an incarnate God, is then experimentally as well as eternally ours.
The one, precious, all absorbing theme!
from “The Precious Things of God” by Octavius Winslow
The Word of God must ever be transcendently
precious to the believer. The Bible is, from its
commencement to its close, a record of the
Lord Jesus. Around Him the divine and glorious
Word centers; all its wondrous types, prophecies,
and facts gather. His Promise and Foreshadowing,
His holy Incarnation, Nativity, and Baptism, His
Obedience and Passion, His Death, Burial, and
Resurrection, His Ascension to heaven, His Second
Coming to judge the world, are the grand and
touching, the sublime and tender, the priceless
and precious truths interwoven with the whole
texture of the Bible, to which the Two Witnesses
of Revelation, the Old and the New Testaments
bear their harmonious and solemn testimony.
Beloved, let this be the one and chief
object in your study of the Bible-
the knowledge of Jesus.
The Bible is not a history, a book of science,
or a poem; it is a record of Christ. Study it to
know more of Him, His nature, His love, His
work. With the magnanimous Paul, “count
all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus your Lord.”
Then will God’s Word become increasingly
precious to your soul, and its truths unfold.
In every page you will,
trace the history of Jesus,
see the glory of Jesus,
admire the work of Jesus,
learn the love of Jesus, and
hear the voice of Jesus.
The whole volume will be redolent of His
name, and luminous with His beauty.
Oh, what is the Bible to us apart from its
revelation of a Savior! Is there not great
danger of studying it merely intellectually
and scientifically, of reveling among its
literary beauties and its grandeur, blind
to its true value, and without any desire
to know that precious Savior who died for
sinners, that Divine Redeemer who
purchased the ransom of His Church
with His own blood; that Friend who
loves us; that Brother who sympathizes
with us, that enthroned High Priest who
intercedes for us within the veil?
Do we study the “Word of Christ” spiritually
and honestly, as those whose souls hunger
and thirst for this the bread and water of life?
Do we search it diligently and earnestly as
for hidden treasure; treasure beyond all price?
Can we say with David, “O how love I your
law! it is my meditation all the day.”
Do we read it with a child like mind, receive
it with a believing heart, bow to its teaching
with reverence of soul, and receive its
decisions in all questions of faith and
practice as decisive and ultimate?
In a word, do we search the Scriptures
humbly, prayerfully, depending upon the
guidance of the Spirit, to find Jesus in them?
Of these Scriptures He is the Alpha and the
Omega, the substance, the sweetness, the
glory, the one, precious, all absorbing theme.
Yes, Lord! Your word is precious to our souls,
because it reveals to us Your glory, and tells
us of Your love!
His master-purpose!
(Charles Spurgeon, “Christ’s Incarnation, the Foundation of Christianity”)
Let us gather with grateful boldness around the infant in the manger, and behold our God! “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins!” Matthew 1:21
The great object of our Lord’s coming here was not to live, but to die.
He appeared, not so much to subdue sin by His teaching, or to manifest goodness, or to perfect an example for us to imitate—but “to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
The modern teachers of error would thrust the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus into the background—but our Lord placed it in the forefront. He came to take away our sins. Do not think of Jesus without remembering the design of His coming.
We preach Christ—so do a great many more. But, “we preach Christ crucified!” 1 Corinthians 1:23. We preach, concerning our Lord—His cross, His blood, His death! Upon the blood of His cross we lay great stress, extolling much “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” by putting away their sin “by the sacrifice of Himself.”
We will not deny, or conceal, or depreciate His master-purpose—lest we be found guilty of trampling upon His blood, and treating it as an unholy thing.
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am chief” 1 Timothy 1:15
Fixed and fastened by an Almighty hand.
J.C.Philpot
Truth, as it stands in the naked word of God,
is lifeless and dead—and as such, has no power
to communicate what it has not in itself—that is,
life and power to the hearts of God’s people. It
stands there in so many letters and syllables, as
lifeless as the types by which they were printed.
But when the incarnate Word takes of the
written word, and speaks it home into the
heart and conscience of a vessel of mercy,
whether in letter or substance—then He endues
it with divine life—and it enters into the soul,
communicating to it a life that can never die.
Eternal realities are then brought into the soul,
fixed and fastened by an Almighty hand.
The conscience is made alive in the fear of God;
and the soul is raised up from a death in sin, to
a heavenly, new, and supernatural life.
This baffles all our comprehension!
(John MacDuff, “Clefts of the Rock” 1874)
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us!”
John 1:14
What a transition!
What a stoop for that Infinite Being who proclaimed
Himself the Alpha and the Omega — for “The Ancient
of days” to assume the nature and take the form of
a cradled infant, sleeping on a virgin mother’s bosom!
We have no plumb line to sound the depths of that
humiliation. We have no arithmetic by which it can
be submitted to any process of calculation.
If we can entertain for a moment, the shocking
supposition of the loftiest created spirit in Heaven
abjuring his angel nature, and becoming an insect
or a worm — then we can, in some feeble degree,
estimate the descent involved in Jesus’ humiliation.
But, for the Illimitable, Everlasting Jehovah,
Himself to become incarnate . . .
the Creator — to take the nature of the created;
the Infinite — to be joined with the finite;
Deity — to be linked with dust;
this baffles all our comprehension!
We can only lie in adoring reverence, and
exclaim with the apostle, “O the depth!”
“Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth!”
A wonderful text!
The following is from Spurgeon’s, “Christ’s
Incarnation, the Foundation of Christianity”
That is a wonderful text in Galatians 1:4,
did you ever meditate upon it?
“Who gave Himself for our SINS…”
Jesus never gave Himself for our RIGHTEOUSNESS,
but He did give Himself for our SINS!
Sin is a horrible evil, a deadly poison, yet
it is this which gives Jesus His title of Saviour
when He overcomes it. What a wonder this is!
The first link between my soul and Christ is-
not my goodness, but my badness;
not my merit, but my misery;
not my standing, but my falling;
not my riches, but my need.
He comes to visit His people, yet not to admire
their beauties, but to remove their deformities;
not to reward their virtues, but to forgive their sins.
Fully, Entirely and Perfectly!
The following is from Spurgeon’s book, “Christ’s
Incarnation, the Foundation of Christianity”
“You Shall Call His Name Jesus: For He SHALL SAVE
His People From Their Sins.” Matthew 1:21
JESUS is nothing at all if He is not a SAVIOUR.
He is anointed to this very end. His very Name is a
sham if He does not SAVE His people from their sins.
This Jesus of Nazareth, the King of kings, and Lord of
Lords, is the one and only Saviour. He, and none but He,
shall save His people. He, and not another, shall save
them by His own act and deed. Singly and unaided, He
shall save His people. Personally, and not by another,
in His own Name, and on His own behalf, He shall, by
Himself, purge away His people’s sins.
He shall do ALL the work, and leave none of it undone;
He shall begin it, carry it on, and complete it; and
therefore is His Name called Jesus, Saviour, because He
Shall Fully, Entirely, and Perfectly, Save His People
from Their Sins!
Jesus Christ has come to seek and to save those who were
lost. If He does not save, He was born in vain, for the object
of His birth was the salvation of sinners. If He shall not
be a Saviour, then His mission in coming to this earth has
missed its end, for its design was that lost sinners might
be saved.
Lost one, lost one, if there were news that ‘an angel’ had
come to save you, there might be some good cheer in it;
but there are better tidings still. God Himself has come!
The Infinite, the Almighty, has stooped from the highest
heaven that He may pick you up, a poor undone and
worthless worm!
Personal, spiritual, experimental
knowledge of Jesus
J.C.Philpot
It is our dim, scanty, and imperfect knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ in His eternal love—and in
His grace and glory—which leaves us so often cold,
lifeless, and dead in our affections towards Him.
If there were more blessed revelations to our soul
of the Person and work, grace and glory, beauty and
blessedness of the Lord Jesus Christ—it is impossible
but that we would more and more warmly and tenderly
fall in love with Him—for He is the most glorious object
that the eyes of faith can see!
He fills heaven with the resplendent beams of His
glorious majesty—and has ravished the hearts of
thousands of His dear family upon earth by the
manifestations of His bleeding, dying love. Just in
proportion to our personal, spiritual, experimental
knowledge of Him, will be our love to Him.