Christ’s Object in Coming to the World

The great object that brought Christ to the earth was to reveal the Father. When Moses had desired a closer acquaintance with God, and had prayed, «I beseech thee, show me thy glory,» the Lord had answered, «I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.»

«And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.» The glory of the Lord is his character that was revealed to Moses; but how different is the representation of himself from that made by Satan, the father of lies!

But who that is not infinite can understand the infinite? Christ declares, «No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal him.» It is recorded of Epictetus that when his hearers said to him, «You have uttered many excellent things of God; but we cannot as yet understand what he is,» he truly and nobly replied, «Were I able fully to set forth God, I should either be a god myself, or God himself would cease to be what he is.» The greatness of God cannot be measured or comprehended. And that doctrine that denies the absolute Godhead of Jesus Christ, denies also the Godhead of the Father; for no man knoweth the Son but the Father.

The mightiest created intelligence cannot grasp divinity. The principalities and powers of heaven are overwhelmed with the vastness of the theme of Christ’s character and the mystery of the union of divinity and humanity. The most eloquent notes of cherubim and seraphim fail to describe him; but the angels of God delight to be in his presence. They rejoice in beholding his face, and hasten to obey his command, to fulfill their commission of love to those for whom Christ died.

The sufferings of Christ for the redemption of a fallen race were a necessity, and his exaltation is a part of the plan by which his chosen shall at last behold his full and inexpressible glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ could not have become the Redeemer unless he had first been the Sacrifice. How precious is it to contemplate the faithfulness of God to his promises! After his humiliation, suffering, and death, the Son of God steps back to the position of his former glory, and is one with the Father in power and dominion. While on earth he lived a life of humiliation, toiling for the good of men. He suffered, he died, he triumphed over death and the grave, and was received up into glory. But before he takes his seat upon the throne with his Father, he prefers the request: «I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.» Jesus had represented the Father to his disciples, and before the throne of God he now represents his believing children, saying: «These have known that thou hast sent me.» «And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.»

Jesus said, «I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it.» He had represented the Father’s character to the world. When Philip had said unto him, «Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,» he had said, «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.» The Father was one with Christ in all his sufferings, in all his humiliations. The Father’s heart yearned over his Son; his love knew no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God looked upon his Son as the faithful servant of the everlasting covenant, and approved of the work he accomplished by his life of humiliation, toil, and suffering. He heard his expiring cry at the cross, as he went to the very depth of humiliation, and with his last breath exclaimed, «It is finished.» God was pledged to raise his Son, in whom he was well pleased, to the very highest exaltation as the Redeemer of humanity, and to give him a name above every name. As a servant on the earth, his life had been one of toil and faithfulness; as sacrifice, he had died a death of shame and suffering, to make expiation for the human family, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In the purity of his life he had revealed the Father, and the glory of God had beamed forth from his character. The perfection of the Father had been displayed before unfallen worlds, before heavenly intelligences, and to sinful men. In the mediatorial work of Christ, the love of God was revealed in its perfection to men and angels. Having overcome the temptation and borne the test in the wilderness, having overcome in our behalf, he bends his steps toward Calvary, and in the perfection of humanity he grasps the world, and in the fullness of his divinity he lays hold upon the throne of God, and proclaims the result of his terrible conflict with the enemy, exclaiming, «Now is the prince of this world cast out,» now is the last enemy destroyed. The usurper to the throne and kingdoms of the world is put to flight; his confederacy of evil is broken and scattered. With his human arm he encircles the race of Adam, and with his divine arm he grasps the throne of God, and unites finite man with the infinite God, and earth with heaven. He sees as a result of his victory a new heaven and a new earth, from which every trace of evil is removed, and where God is all in all to its righteous inhabitants.