Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Jan 1952

Great indeed is the contrast between the prayer of the Lord, as recorded in John 17., and that which is given in the first three Gospels, the thrice repeated prayer in Gethsemane. That prayer, "Father; if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but mine, he done" (Luke 22.42), had Calvary in view. The whole nature of the Lord shrank from the ordeal of the cross, with the unutterable abandonment of any feelings of pity for the holy Sufferer who was "ridding His life in complete resignation to God's will

"Reproach hath broken My heart; and I am full of heaviness:

And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" (Psalm 69.20).

He saw it from all eternity with the eye of omniscience. His course and sufferings are outlined in the Psalms and elsewhere in the Old Testament Scriptures with unerring accuracy by the Holy Spirit, who writes with clarity, "sing tenses as though it were history and not prophecy. But as the Sufferer drew near to the horror of those scenes of human cruelty, the whole being of the Man Christ Jesus was convulsed. He shuddered as a vessel struck by a mighty wave, as the billows of Calvary overwhelmed Him. The mental anguish of the Lord is described by Luke

"And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground" (Luke 22.44).

The prayer of Gethsemane is that of the Man Christ Jesus in His weakness, He who is the Creator, and Upholder in being of all angels and of all creation, which consists (holds together) in Him (Colossians 1. 17; Hebrews 1. 2, 8), was so weak that an angel appeared strengthening Him (Luke 22 48) His weakness arose from the fact that He who is the Word, and who i~ God, had become flesh and human flesh is essentially ever a weak thing

In the Lord Jesus there is almighty strength and weakness - strength which can deal with sea and wind, with disease, demons and death, and weakness which is shown in His weariness, His hunger and His thirst He was very M in yet very God, the Son of God who took to Himself through Mary the virgin the betrothed wife of Joseph, our common humanity, and so He became the Son of Man. His weakness and weariness did not arise from His having any share in the consequences of sin, but because of that which is associated with the weakness of human flesh, and by putting strains upon weak flesh which were beyond its power of endurance.

In the prayers of the first three Gospels and that of John 17. we have the weakness of the Lord's manhood, and the equality of the co-equal Son with the Father, exhibited. For while weakness is seen in the prostrate Man in Gethsemane, there is not a sign or word betokening weakness in John 17. Here He speaks as Son to the Father, who shared His glory and enjoyed the love of the Father's bosom before the world began.

The prayer of John 17. closes the Lord's ministry to His disciples following the institution of His remembrance in the breaking of the bread. Judas had gone, and the Lord begins at John 13.81 to speak to His disciples words fall of love and tenderness. Here is a pattern for all who would minister to the heart's need of saints after the keeping of the Lord's commandment on Lord's day morning. When the hearts of God's people have been moved by the love and suffering of their Lord it is not a time to assault the tender sympathies of saints by some diatribe on their faults, or failings or a review of world events, or some other theme far removed from both the spirit and character of what is contained in those chapters in John. Ministry of the kind that the Lord gave will ever be as a sweet reviver to the heart's affections; it will draw us nearer to Him who loves us so dearly, and will prove a comfort, consolation and means of edification to assemblies where it obtains (1 Corinthians 14.8).

In John 17. 1 the Lord as in that He, the Son, may be glorified that the Son may glorify the Father. He who was to glorify God was to be first glorified by God. This glorification is not here associated with the subjugation of all things to the will of God by the irresistible power of the S9n of God, but is associated with God's purpose in this dispensation of grace; for the Lord goes on to say,

"Even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, that whatsoever Thou hast given Him, to them He should give eternal life" (John 17.2).

Christ has universal Lordship (Acts 10.36; Romans 10.12, 18), hence He can be and is a universal Saviour. In the coming day, the day of judgement, His universal Lordship and authority over all flesh will be seen in all being manifestly subjected to Him, which time is not yet (Hebrews 2. 8); but now His authority is shown in John 17.2 to be in connexion with the giving of eternal life to all believers, of whatever tribe or nation, whom the Father has given to Him. The glorification of the Son of God was vital to this work, for the Holy Spirit, who was sent to bear witness of the Son (John 15.26) and also to indwell and empower the men who were left by Him to be His witnesses (John 16. 27; Acts 1. 8), could not come until He was glorified (John 7.89).

The gift of eternal life would introduce such as received it into a new sphere of things, for whilst in man there is a consciousness of a Divine Being, God having never left Himself without witness in respect of this (Romans 1.18-28), there is in man no competence to know God. Satan has used man's ignorance of God, the while he has played upon that consciousness of a Divine Being in man, to substituting in man's worship images of men and beasts in blatant and rank idolatry, and that through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies and hold down the truth in unrighteousness. But the imparting of eternal life to those who were dead through trespasses and sins opens up a vista of light and glory, for eternal life has within it the competence to acquire a knowledge of God and of the Son of God, Jesus Christ

"And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ."

The veriest child of years or the darkest aboriginal to whom Christ has given eternal life has a competence to know God and His Son which the most learned theological professor who has not eternal life has not got. Life then is the first necessity for man in the knowledge of Gad. No life, no knowledge.

J. Miller | Jan 1952
Jottings