by Octavius Winslow
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John 17:5.
It is an opinion common to the whole church of God, and involving a truth as essential to the unity of the faith, as to its great end, that the personal and official glory of the Redeemer stand or fall together. So united are they in the grand scheme of covenant mercy, so closely interwoven in all their interests, and so necessary both are to the perfection of salvation, that the one cannot be exalted or depressed, without deeply and seriously affecting the other. Different, and even opposite as the points of light may be, in which some of the external parts of the towering edifice on which Christ has built his church, there is, — there can be, — no discordance of opinion amongst those who are taught of God: here the true saints are one, and undivided. This, as a uniting principle, holds them together, and which no power can destroy. All, as with harmonious voice, whether uttered by councils, or by individuals, concur in maintaining the doctrine of the GODHEAD of our Lord as the basis of the Atonement; and the ATONEMENT as the one medium of reconciliation with a holy God.
In the present humble attempt* to set forth the glory of our Divine and adorable Redeemer, we think it proper to commence with a scriptural defence and spiritual exposition of his essential dignity, as forming the basis of every other view of this vast and comprehensive subject. The personal glory of the Lord Jesus is to the Bible, what the sun is to our planet. In the deep and dark recesses of nature, as well as scattered upon its broad surface, there are many objects of great intrinsic value, whose beauty and fitness remain undiscovered and unnoticed until, placed in a proper position, the sun’s rays are made to fall upon them, as with focal power, thus revealing both their nature and properties. It is so with the word of God. In itself of infinite worth and transcendent value, — containing no type, revealing no doctrine, enjoining no precept, unfolding no promise, and recording no fact, which does not occupy a position of importance and beauty of surpassing magnitude; yet, until the Sun of righteousness shines upon it, —until seen in the relation which it sustains to Jesus, it remains a “hidden mystery,” its worth and beauty shaded from the eye. The doctrine of an incarnate God invests with light and radiance every essential difficulty and truth of the inspired word. Infinitely mysterious itself, it explains every other mystery. It solves what is inexplicable, fathoms what is profound, illumines what is obscure, and reconciles what is discrepant. And yet, while thus irradiating every other doctrine, and elucidating every other mystery, it remains, as it ever will, enshrined in its own unapproachable light, the most wonderful, incomprehensible, and sublime of all — the great mystery of godliness. With the Psalmist, we may truly exclaim. “In thy light we shall see light.” May the Eternal Spirit of truth give a personal and sanctifying perception of the glory and sweetness of this great subject!
*This article forms part of the opening chapter of the book “The Glory of the Redeemer in His Person and Work” by Octavius Winslow.
There are those, as the reader is aware, who deny to Christ a Divine personal existence anterior to his appearing among men. They maintain that he professed and asserted no claims to a pre-eternal state of being; that he never existed before the world, in essential union with the Father; and that all the passages in the sacred Scriptures adduced in proof of a Divine and primitive state of being and glory, are to be interpreted of the foreknowledge and purpose of God, and not as affirming the doctrine of a superior, pre-existent, and Divine nature. Of course this false and untenable creed involves a total denial of Christ’s deity, which in its turn leads to an utter rejection of his atonement.
In opposition to this dangerous and fatal hypothesis, we maintain that the Lord Jesus Christ existed from eternity, as a distinct Person in the Godhead; that previous to his assumption of our nature, he dwelt in a state of Divine and ineffable glory, the fountain of life, light, and happiness to all celestial intelligences; receiving in return, the tribute of their adoring homage and supreme affection. This is the all-important doctrine we are now to establish, not by appeal to the traditions and writings of men, but by an exclusive reference to the revealed word of God.
The first passages cited in proof of the pre-existence of Christ, are found in Proverbs, chapter 8. That the eternal Son of God, as the personification of wisdom, is the speaker throughout this chapter, is clear from the 15th and 16th verses: “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.” It were absurd to predicate this of a mere attribute speaking, and it were blasphemous to suppose that he who thus speaks is less than Divine. Now mark the unfolding of Christ’s eternal existence in the 22nd and 23rd verses: “The Lord preserved me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” Let the reader open his Bible, and continue the chapter to its close, with the teaching of the Holy Spirit the result of his examination must inevitably be a deep and solemn conviction of the truth of our doctrine — that He “by whom kings reign and princes decree justice,” is no other than the “Prince of the kings of the earth.” Rev. 1:15, — that “the Wisdom” who speaks is. “Christ the wisdom of God,” 1 Cor. 1:24, — that He whom Jehovah “preserved in the beginning of his way, before his works of old,” was the same of whom it is said. “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,” John 1:1, 2 — that He who was “daily God’s delight, rejoicing always before him,” is the same concerning whom the Father thrice testified, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The prophecy of Micah 5:2, presents a lucid demonstration of the doctrine under examination: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” In this remarkable prophecy, supposed by some writers to be the most important single prophecy in the Old Testament, and the most comprehensive respecting the personal character of the Messiah and his manifestation to the world, the pre-existent God-head and the assumed manhood of Christ are set forth as written with a beam of light from the eternal throne. It is here declared that a great King would appear on the earth, and that he should be born of the nation of Israel in Bethlehem. With regard to his dignity, it is affirmed that “his goings have been from of old, from everlasting,” (marg. from the days of eternity). It is then announced that, respecting his human nature, he should be born in Bethlehem, “the City of David.” For the exact fulfilment of these predictions the reader is referred to Mathew 2:5, 6, John 1:46.
No ministry will be really effective, whatever may be its intelligence, which is not a ministry of strong faith, true spirituality, and deep earnestness.
Anon.