CHAPTER I THE PRE-EXISTENT SON OF GOD "For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Malachi 3:6. "I am the Son of God." Jesus, in John 10:36. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Hebrews 13:8. The Lord Jesus Christ is the unique Personality in all history. His birth was a miracle. Before that event, He was God. In that event, He became Man. Since that event, He has been, and will ever be, both God and Man, in the two distinct natures that constitute the one Person Jesus Christ. He is the Only Begotten of His Father, the Son of God from all eternity. Since that is true, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only possible Savior, the One Hope of the world.* Jesus Christ was both Divine and Human. That is the first truth of the Gospel. Leading to the Birth of Christ, which came in the fullness of time, there were two lines of history. The one line was divine, leading down from past eternity. Before His birth, from all eternity, the Son of God was with His Father on the Throne of Heaven. The other line was human. In it was traced the lineage of Jesus Christ in human history, from the Creation to His Birth in Bethlehem. Toward His Birth, from the beginning of time, the two lines converged; and in His Birth the Divine and the Human were united in the unique Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon these facts, as they are further analyzed in this chapter, are built the Gospel Records of the LifeWork of Jesus Christ the Son of God. I. Jesus Christ the Son of God Jesus Christ was the Son of God. This was true of the Child Jesus, Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary. It was true also of Christ before His Birth. Christ was the Son of God from all eternity. He was a Divine Eternal Sonship of Person, an Eternal Son, co-equal and coChrist "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ Our Lord": the Romans 1:2-4 existent with His Father. In His Divine Nature, as the theologians say, Christ is the Son of God by eternal generation. "In the beginning was the Word," by which John meant the Christ; "and the Word was *This first chapter is as a Prologue to the Life-Work of the Lord Jesus, in the same sense that the last chapter is an Epilogue. The reader might find his interest quickened with God and the Word was God. The Same was in the beginning with God." Christ Himself spoke of the Glory which He had with His Father before the world was. His eternal Sonship is the central truth in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the foundation of His Life-Work as the Savior of the world. I. The Eternal Sonship of Christ Seen in God's Announcements to the World. In all the forward look of God's Plan of Salvation His Son always held a central position: for He was the appointed Savior. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Those words referred to an eternal purpose of God, and to its expression in an eternal Gift, which was manifested in the fullness of time. So it was with almost every great declaration that God has made concerning salvation. He has fully recognized the eternal Sonship of Jesus Christ. Frequently He has given that truth particular emphasis. "Thou Art My Son; When the Heavens and the earth were created, the Son of God was there. He was the Creator. He sent His Divine Spirit to brood over chaos, and organize it into a selor in Creation and Redemption Genesis 1:1-31 1. The Son of God world. At length God (the word is plural, as a Divine Counthe Trinity) said, "Let Us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness." The Divine Son had then a part in those deliberations, as the plural idea is so strongly suggested. Of this truth John has left the world no room to doubt. Concerning Christ John has said, "and without Him was not anything made that was made." 1. Peter 1:18-20 Likewise the Son of God had an active part in making the Plan of Salvation. This plan, when completed, involved a series of three covenants, in all of which, since their first inception in the love of God, Christ has held a central position.1 When the call was made in Heaven for a Savior to execute the divine Plan of Life, the Son of God replied, "Here am I; send Me." Again, the Son of God was quoted as saying, from past eternity, “Lo, I come in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to more readily if he should begin to read this book at Chapter II. The better way, perhaps, would be to read this chapter at first hurriedly, and then to return to it, from the end of the book, for more careful study. 1The three covenants are the Covenant of Works, the Covenant of Redemption, and the Covenant of Grace. See the analysis of these covenants in Chapter XX, Note 6. 2Compare Isaiah 6:1-12 with John 12:37-41, and note that the Apostle has referred this original passage to Christ in its proper application. do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." These are but faint echoes of those great transactions; but the evidence is cumulative and strong, that the Son of God did have an important part in those eternal plans of God, already partially reflected, whereby the world may be saved. 2. The Son of God as Appointed to His Kingdom from All Eternity The Son of God, in past eternity, was appointed to His place on the Throne with His Father. Gradually this fact was announced to the world. The curtain of time was raised upon a sovereign Christ. Jehovah, the Sovereign Administrator of the ancient covenants, was the Son of God. He declared His everlasting kingship over the world, and ruled with wisdom, power, justice, mercy, and love. An outstanding announcement of Christ's essential nature and sovereign position from all eternity was heard in His message to Israel by Moses. When the children of Israel in Egypt should doubt the authority and power of Moses to deliver them from bondage, his instruction from the Lord was that Moses should convince them by the assurance that the eternal I AM THAT I AM was back of the movement. "Thou shalt say, 'I AM hath sent me unto you.'" "This is My Name for ever." Henceforth this name was accounted very sacred among the Jews. It signified their most exalted conception of the eternal self-existent God. This accounts for the fact that the Lord Jesus so highly enraged His Jewish enemies when He, in a familiar passage of Scripture, applied this sacred descriptive name to Himself.a Christ's eternal Kingship was frequently announced by the Father to His Son. "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," was an assurance from the Father to the Son. So also were the words, "Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee." These words, which originally had a sequent assurance of universal dominion, were thrice quoted in the New Testament: once, to prove the pre-existence of the Son of God before His Birth in Bethlehem; again, to show Christ's appointment in past eternity to the office of Mediator between God and Man; and a third time, to prove that the eternal Son of God, through His Birth, had fulfilled the ancient covenant of everlasting kingship in the House of David.5 3Compare Psalm 40:7-8 with Hebrews 10:5-9, and note that this passage also was applied to Christ. 4Compare Exodus 3:14 with John 8:58. See also the following prophecies concern. ing the Christ: Psalms 93:1-2; 103:19; Proverbs 8:23; Isaiah 63:16; Micah 5:2; and Habakkuk 1:12. 5Compare Psalm 45:6, 7, 17, with Hebrews 1:8-9; and Psalm 2:7 with Hebrews 1:5; 5:5; and Acts 13:32-37. 3. The Son of God as Announced at His Birth into the World Twice at the approach of His birth God announced the Coming of his eternal Son, Who was born into the world. To Mary, the Lord's Mother, the Angel Messenger from Heaven gave assurance of a miraculous conception by the Holy Ghost; of a uniting of God with Man, as signified by the name Jesus, meaning Jehovah with us; of a Son that should be recognized as Divine, and called "the Son of the Highest"; of a sovereignty vested in that Son over the House of David that should endure for ever, and a Kingdom for Him that shall never end. This Child Jesus was to be "the Son of God," Who was thus coming into the world in His Human Nature. Luke 1:30-33; 2:10-11 Cf. Isa. 7:14 God was thus defining the true nature of His pre-existent Son as He should appear among men. The same was true in the more public announcement to the shepherds of Bethlehem, when Christ was born. "For unto you," said the Angel from Heaven, "is born this day in the City of David a Savior, Which is Christ the Lord." Jesus Christ was Divine. No God could thus begin. to be. That is impossible. So certain is it that the Son of God was before He thus became also the Son of Man. In both of the above announcements, God was plainly emphasizing that the two great antecedent lines of history were thus coming together in the Royal Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. From all eternity this "only begotten Son" had been “in the bosom of the Father." Since the creation of Adam, there had been developing the lineage of the Son of Man. These two great facts came together in the Birth of Jesus, Who was both Divine and Human. This truth God expressly emphasized when He announced the birth, in the City of David, of a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord. Thus the two lines which had diverged, as it were, from the Throne of God in the Creation and Fall of Man had come together again, with infinite possibilities of redemption, in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Incarnated Son of God. 4. The Son of God Twice again, at the Baptism of Jesus, and at His Transfiguration, the Father in Heaven gave clear defining announcements of His own eternal Son. In the Baptism, which came at the beginning of the Lord's LifeWork, the Father's announcement was in the nature of a divine introduction to the world. The Baptism also signified the humiliation of the Son of God: for he was baptized into service, into a fulfillment of all law as the Savior of Men. But the Transfiguration was different. It was private to a few chosen witnesses. It came near the end of Christ's Life-Work, on the eve of His Crucifixion. He talked to Moses and Elijah on that glorified occasion concerning His own death. He connected that experience with the faith of men during the dark hours that were soon to come upon the world. Doubtless this event was a qualifying experience, to support faith in the chosen witnesses, by reminding them that they were to enter the Valley of Shadows with the eternal Son of God. Had they only remembered that fact, they might have watched, with calm assurance, the course of events during the Trials and Death of the Lord Jesus. His Transfiguration was a foretoken of His exaltation: for He was clothed visibly in that hour with the glory that was inherently His from all eternity unto all eternity. On both occasions the Father in Heaven testified approvingly: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." Whether Christ had merely begun His Life-Work, or had practically completed it, there was the same assurance in the Father's heart. The self-consistency of the Divine in Jesus guaranteed the results: for God's eternal Son could not do other than the will of God. But with mere men the case is different. They have human limitations and uncertainties. They must be tried before approval. Even God judges men after their deeds are done. Moreover, knowledge heightens responsibility among men. Hence the Father added the command, "Hear ye Him," only after convincing experience with His Son. Thus in these two announcements, God has contrasted the merely human in men with the essential and eternal Divinity that was in His Son Jesus Christ. "My Lord and My God" (Thomas) John 20:28 2. The Eternal Sonship of Christ Declared by the Bible Writers. The pre-existence and eternal Sonship of Jesus Christ was strongly emphasized by the Men who wrote the Bible, and especially by those who wrote the New Testament. The exclamation of Thomas, quoted in the margin, was the common thought of those who expressed the faith of that day. Those who wrote the Scriptures had no question in their minds about the true nature of the Lord Jesus. They were ever ready to proclaim Him Divine. And they ever found the true source of His Divine Nature to be His eternal relations with His Father in Heaven. By reference to this truth, as will appear in the following analysis, the Apostles and other writers of the Scriptures explained the Christ Himself, and the Way of Life through Him. |