By Rev. ROBERT ELDER, D.D., West Free Church Rothesay.
I.
“And behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Matt. xvii. 5).
THE Lord of Glory lived in this world, “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” But, besides the testimony of His glorious miracles, there were glimpses of His divine majesty given in His times of deepest humiliation. One of the most notable of these we have in the narrative before us. We learn from the chapter preceding that about this period of His public ministry, Jesus began to forewarn the disciples of His approaching sufferings and death. But immediately thereafter came this great event of His transfiguration, narrated by three of the Evangelists with historic calmness and precision, and bearing the full stamp of divine reality. It is, beyond doubt, an incident of great spiritual significance, designed to cheer the holy human soul of the Redeemer in the prospect of His agonies; to manifest to the Disciples, for their encouragement, the glory of that death which they deprecated; to transfigure, if I may so speak, the cross itself; to proclaim Him Lord and Lawgiver of His Church; and to foreshadow His future glorified condition.
It is not my intention to speak of the facts and circumstances in detail, but, while adverted to these, to fix your minds especially on this sublime statement of the fifth verse, “And behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.” May the Lord teach us by His Spirit, giving “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
I. Let us consider whose voice it was that spoke. We are told that while Peter was uttering his rash proposal mentioned in the verse preceding.—“behold, a bright (or luminous) cloud overshadowed them,” (namely, the three glorified ones, Jesus, Moses, and Elias), separating them from the three Disciples, proceeding out of the cloud, and uttering the testimony which is here recorded. It is significantly added in the next verse—“and when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were sore afraid.” Looking at the whole facts mentioned, we cannot reasonably suppose that this cloud was some mere natural phenomenon, or any other than the glorious Shechinah cloud, the symbol of the divine presence all through the Old Dispensation. We read of it at the setting up of the tabernacle, and again at the consecration of the temple, when, as it is written, “the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord” (I. Kings, viii. 10, 11). Hence it is called by Peter, who was one of the three eye-witnesses on this occasion, “the excellent glory,” and he casts the light of inspiration on the question before us by this clear, definite statement,—“He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (II. Peter, i. 17). Beyond all question it was the voice of God the Father.
But these facts, on which I need not dwell, convey to us important practical lessons. In our present state, even when spiritually enlightened, we are not fit to bear the manifestation of heavenly glory, with its blissful fellowships and enjoyments. The symbol-cloud also teaches us that here we cannot see to the end of the things that are revealed; while the voice from the cloud reminds us that, in this world, Christ’s people must “walk by faith, not by sight.” It is the same great and solemn lesson which the Lord taught Israel of old by Moses, “Take ye, therefore, good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire” (Deut. iv. 15). May the Lord teach us, by His Spirit, to stand in awe before Him, and restraining vain curiosity and daring speculation in things spiritual and divine, to say from the heart with true humility, “I will hear what God the Lord will speak.”
II. Of whom did the voice testify.—“This is my beloved Son!” The narrative informs us that there were three glorified persons there, and Luke particularly states, concerning Moses and Elias, that they “appeared in glory.” These two glorified saints were unquestionably sons of God, having of old received “the adoption of sons,” having been born again and sanctified by the Spirit, and having long before entered on the heavenly inheritance of sons. They were beloved of God, and pleasing in His sight, having served Him faithfully on earth, and now serving Him in perfect purity day and night in His temple above. But no doubt was left in the minds of the Disciples that this divine testimony from the cloud had reference to Jesus only. There seems to have been something peculiar in the radiance which shone, as from within, on His countenance and person, and also in the attitude of the others towards Him, which marked Him as exclusively the object of the testimony. To this Peter evidently alludes when, speaking of the scene in the passage above quoted, he says, “We were eye-witnesses of His majesty.” We have the same significant utterance, accompanied by still clearer evidence, at the baptism of the Lord Jesus by John, when, “lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting upon Him; and lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. iii. 16). You remember how John speaks of the meaning and effect of this testimony, “And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God” (John, i. 34).
The design obviously was to separate, in their estimation and in ours, between Jesus and all others, whether in heaven or on earth. This is my own beloved Son, says Jehovah, in a sense peculiar, unparalleled, divine. And so the Apostle John, another of these three chosen witnesses, declares: “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John, i. 14). It is, in short, a divine testimony to the supreme divinity and eternal Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, as it is written,” all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father” (John, v. 23). It is also written that no man knoweth the Son but the Father; and here the Father comes forth to declare Him.
But let us not overlook the fact that this testimony was given to the Son of God incarnate. The veil which hid His divine glory was drawn aside for a moment, and God the Father bore witness to Him, and to these chosen disciples, and through them to us and to the world, that this same Jesus is very God. “Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh” (I. Tim. iii. 16). Oh, to have a clear apprehension, by faith, of the truth and spiritual significance of this great mystery,—Jesus, our Brother and Kinsman-Redeemer, and yet “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person!” This is the grand foundation of our hope, the secret of His people’s peace. “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. iii. 8).
III. Consider the scope or burden of the testimony, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”—There are two parts in this divine testimony,—the one pointing to Jesus, personally, and the other, mainly, though not wholly, to His offices and work. 1. As to the former, the Father says,—”This is my beloved Son,” or literally, “my Son, the beloved.” This word of Jehovah expresses infinite, eternal and unchangeable love, illustrating not only the divine glory of Christ, but the unfathomable depths of divine grace toward sinners in and through Him. From eternity He was the Beloved of the Father, “the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father,” “daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him,” one with the Father in nature counsel and working. Like the Father Himself, He was infinitely worthy to be loved, and was, therefore, infinitely beloved of the Father and of the Holy Ghost. But, as mediator now incarnate, we are here specially called to regard Him as the object of the Father’s love: “Behold, my servant whom I uphold: mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth” (Isai xlii. 1). God the Father loved Him (if we may say so) with a peculiar love, for consenting to the scheme of redemption, and freely entering as Surety into covenant bonds, in His zeal for the Father’s glory, and in love and pity for the sinful and perishing, given Him by the Father. He loved Him when He mixed for Him that cup of wrath which the people had deserved to drink and laid on Him the awful chastisement of their peace—”Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.” “Therefore” said the Lord Jesus, “doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again” (John, x. 17). So now, the Father proclaiming it to the joy of the Redeemer’s soul, and for strengthening the faith and hope of His people. But what an affecting view is thus presented of the marvellous grace of God in the redemption and salvation of sinners! “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.” “He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” How blessed to be partakers of this love of God in Christ, and, by living faith uniting us to Christ, to be “made accepted in the Beloved!” How heinous the sin, and how aggravated the condemnation, where this glorious exhibition of God’s love is treated with indifference, and this rich provision of His grace is refused in unbelief!
- The second part of this divine testimony, says, “in whom I am well pleased; and this I apply mainly, though not solely, to the offices and work of Christ. The Father is “well pleased” or divinely satisfied with the person of Christ as the God-man, the grandest manifestation of His glory to the world. He rests also with supreme delight in His entire qualification for all that is implied in His mediatorial work, His divine sufficiency combined with perfect human sympathy, together with the crowning fact that “God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” Here is found one to whom God can confidently entrust the interests of His cause and glory, and to whom poor perishing sinners can look with assured hope for the salvation of their souls. Accordingly, when this great device of divine grace and wisdom was revealed, the heavenly host praised God saying, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke, ii. 14).
But again, and especially, God is “well pleased,” because, in and through Him, all the conditions of the covenant of grace, and all its promises, are gloriously fulfilled. The eternal Son of God came, and assumed man’s nature into union with the divine, that, as the Surety and Substitute of His people, He might “make His soul an offering for sin” and “fulfil all righteousness,” that God “might be just and the Justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus.” When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. iv. 4); and the Father, anticipating the glorious success of the undertaking, here proclaims, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” In Him I see my holy law fulfilled in all its just demands and threatenings; in Him I recognise the substance and fulfilment of all my gracious promises. In witness of this, Moses, the great lawgiver under God, and Elijah, the great prophet of Israel, appear with Him in glory, and, as Luke informs us, “speak of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke, xi. 31). That great event, they testify is the perfect fulfilment of all the law, and the prophets. They proclaim the fact of a perfect dying Messiah to be the grand fundamental doctrine of the Old Testament, as well as of the New. They honour Him as their own Saviour and Lord, and, with adoring gratitude, declare that His cross is their crown. It is as if they hereby joined in the testimony of His forerunner, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” A bright and heavenly illustration this, of the truth, “that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (II. Cor. v. 19). And once more, God is “well pleased” because, in and through Him, the richest revenue of glory rebounds to Jehovah’s name. There never was so far as revealed to us, so grand a display of the moral attributes of God, all in harmonious exercise. Never was there such service rendered, nor such a sacrifice presented on God’s altar. And then, what glorious fruits, in the justifying of sinners by God’s grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the coming forth of the Holy Ghost to quicken dead souls, to sanctify believers, and to prepare those who had been heirs of hell for heavenly and eternal glory! God is well pleased, not only with but in Christ, and, therefore, in all who, by living faith, are found in Him; and He rejoices in and over them for ever as His purchased possession and peculiar treasure.
(To be continued).