The Incomparable Son

The person of our Lord Jesus Christ dominates and unites the entire Scriptures as the sun dominates the Solar System.

As the Eternal Word, John 1.1, He speaks in divine counsels to express His perfect obedience to His Father, Psa. 40. 8, so filling the counsel chamber of a by-gone eternity with one mind, pervaded by the Father’s love which was mutually enjoyed in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In counsel deep, they consider the hour, John 17. 1, of greatest crisis, together with the greatest onslaught and the greatest victory that necessitated the employment of God’s dynamic power. This power was “wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all”, Eph. 1. 20-23.

As the Eternal Son, He reveals His creatorial sovereignty and power in that He spake and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast as a profound reality, Psa. 33. 9. The creation will so remain until in the exercise of the power of His eternal Godhead He folds them up as an old garment and vesture and they shall be changed, Heb. I. 11-12.

As the Son of man, He is God manifest in the flesh, 1 Tim. 3. 16. He is the complete revelation of God’s glory and the express image of His person, Heb. 1. 3. He is the One ordained before the foundation of the world to be the Destroyer of the devil, 2. 14; the Vanquisher of death, 2 Tim. 1. 10; the Redeemer and Head (by His vicarious death at Calvary and His glorious and triumphant resurrection) of the Church, which is His body, Eph. 1. 22-23 > and the King of Israel and the Prince of the kings of the earth, Rev. 1. 5.

Moreover, He is the Testator and the Executor of His own will. He is the alone Administrator of the sealed book revealing the secrets of the eternal counsels of the Triune God both in grace and in judgment, Rev. 5. 5-7. He is the Heir of all things, Heb. 1. 2, and He is the Sovereign Lord of God’s universe; “extol Him that rideth in the infinitudes of the universe”, Psa. 68. 4 Newberry marg. All these offices, which He is so abundantly qualified to fill to God’s glory and pleasure, He has held and will hold throughout the eternal ages as Man -glorified Man!

In considering further the hour of John 17.1 and Philippians 2. 8, one can almost feel the tenseness of the counsel chamber as, with all its ominous implications, it is contemplated and planned. In the face of such fearful issues, how exquisitely wonderful and precious is the Lord, the Incomparable Son, in His total submission to the mind and will of His Father in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Heb. 9. 14. The Father’s unbroken delight in His Son is proved in that He has raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, giving Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as His Father had given Him, John 17. 2. Furthermore, His Father has given Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the Son of man, 5. 27. “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand”, 3. 35, and has decreed that every knee in heaven, in the earth and under the earth shall bow before Him and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, Phil. 2. 10-11.

In the consciousness of the present increasing darkness in the world (darkness that can be felt, Exod. 10. 21; Isa. 60. 2), how thankful we are to be able to say, “we see Jesus”, Heb. 2.9, the Mighty Conqueror with all power and authority in heaven and in earth, Matt. 28.18. Truly this is a most comforting and satisfying sight for His redeemed people today, in contrast to all the disappointment and lawlessness that abounds here on earth. The Governor among the nations, Psa. 22. 28, and the One to whom angels, authorities and powers are subject, 1 Pet. 3. 22, is the only One capable of dealing with the present conditions in the world, 2 Tim. 3, conditions which surely indicate the imminence of His return.

We rejoice in the knowledge that the Lord is now at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, Heb. 8. 1, as our High Priest and as the Father’s Companion: “A wise son maketh a glad father”, Prov. 10. 1. Moreover, He has willed that we also shall be there with Him in the Father’s house, John 17. 24 – the glorious place of our origin, 3. 3. We are homeward bound! And “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand”, Rom. 13.11-12. May we, as members of His body, find (also like His Father) our ever increasing delight in Him in the sanctuary as found in His Word, so that when He calls us to Himself it will be a case of changing our position rather than our condition.

Our earnest desire is that He (the alone worthy One) may be glorified, and His dear people comforted and edified until the day of manifestation, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad”, 2 Cor. 5. 10. “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be”; “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus”, Rev. 22.12,20.