H. H. Snell.
Fourth Edition. A. S. Rouse, London.
"Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." — Hebrews 1:8.
Infidelity has become very bold. Taking advantage of the slumbering state of Christians, it is most active at this time. In all directions its fiery darts are being hurled, and the thin end of the wedge easily enters when an opening is presented. Its leaven has permeated almost every part of Christendom, and even true souls are being infected through its subtlety. Its one object is to undermine divine revelation; it is therefore for the most part negative in its character, and proposes nothing that can meet the need of conscience, or satisfy the heart's cravings as to eternity. It suits men's self-confidence, though its defenders manifest little more than their own ignorance and insubjection to the will of God.
Infidelity is based on the false assumption that the human mind is competent to judge the things of God. Its advocate therefore treats with scorn the divine statement that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," though he himself be unconsciously the witness that the things of God "are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14.) With equal rashness, he, who is so misguided, also rejects the truth of man's ruin by the fall, and this even when conscience accuses him of sin, and his heart quails with the fear of death and judgment, and he shudders at the contemplation of what he calls "the unknown future." Men are most active in promulgating error, and many are being entangled by it, if not fatally ensnared. Pride of intellect doubtless urges them on to this ruinous course, though they have little compensation beyond the flattery and applause of those who are not quite as daring as themselves. None but God can deliver from such blindness and arrogance. It is really the devil's antagonism to the Son of God, and in it man is the dupe of Satan. Assailing the truth of God is an old device, and so destitute even of the charm of novelty, that infidel doctrines would have become threadbare and worn out but for the enmity and insubjection to God of the carnal mind, led on by the Prince of this world. But we must not be surprised at any attacks on the truth of divine revelation; for "the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;" others "even denying the Lord that bought them, bring upon themselves swift destruction," and "mockers" too, as well as "scoffers in the last days, walking after their own lusts." We are also told, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." (1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Peter 2:1; 2 Peter 3:3; Jude 14, 15, 18.)
Infidelity assumes various forms of attack. Some men are so far deluded as unblushingly to boast of their denial of the existence of God. There are others, who, while owning God as Creator, scoff at the truth of the personal glory of the Son, and His accomplished redemption. There are many more who, in a quiet way, are so infidel as to the work of the Lord Jesus, that they flatter themselves they can approach God without blood, notwithstanding the testimonies of Scripture to the contrary. It is the fashionable form of infidelity just now. It is Cain's religion over again. Rationalists are so far infidel as to refuse the absolute and all-sufficient authority of the written word of God. Ritualists are infidel in setting up Judaism again, with ordinances and an earthly order of priesthood, to the rejection of the finished work and accomplished redemption of the Lord Jesus, which gives to all that believe present acceptance, eternal life, and nearness to God in Christ, and through His blood. By the vast machinery of infidelity now active in Christendom, the authenticity of Scripture is either wholly denied, or certain parts are selected as objects of attack by different agents. The onslaughts of opponents to the truth are made in such manifold modes, from so many points, and by such different instruments, that there is scarcely a doctrine of Christianity, or any revelation of God concerning the personal glory of the Son, His Godhead, perfect manhood, accomplished redemption, official glories, and second coming, but what, at this moment, is being sedulously undermined in Christendom by its being either denied or corrupted.
It is into the great mystery of the Deity of the Son, as revealed in Scripture, that we have now to look; and may we who love Him approach the solemn subject with worshipping hearts, and unfeigned dependence on the teaching of the Holy Ghost; for we remember it is said, "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father." It is against the personal glory of the only-begotten Son of God that the efforts of some in our day are daringly directed. Its advocates pretend to know "the Son," yet deny His Godhead, His atoning death, and the Personality of the Holy Ghost, and thus undermine the value of every doctrine of vital Christianity, But the question is, What saith the Scripture?
The would-be charitable say, "Why it is only one doctrine that is controverted by those who say that Jesus was only man!" Only one doctrine! So the key-stone of the arch is only one stone; but of what value is the arch if the key-stone be removed? So is the truth of the GODHEAD of the Son. If He were not God then we have no Saviour, no remission of sins, no salvation, and no gift of the Holy Ghost. As lost and guilty sinners, we needed a Saviour who could do that which would for ever satisfy the claims of divine righteousness, and so blot out our sins that God would remember them no more; One who could bring us everlasting life and peace, and make all known to us by the gift of the Holy Ghost; and we ask who could do this and perfect us for ever, but One who was Himself eternal?
One thing is perfectly clear, that if the Son be God He must have been in glory with the Father before the world was. We hear Him therefore thus addressing the Father just before the work of the cross: "I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." (John 17:4-5.) And with these precious utterances other parts of divine truth agree. When the Father is spoken of as having loved us and blessed us in Christ, we are told it is "according as He (the Father) hath chosen us in Him (Christ the Son) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." (Eph. 1:3-4.) Again, the doctrine of eternal sonship is brought out by the apostle John, when he refers to "that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." (1 John 1:2.) Father and Son being relative terms, there cannot be one without the other. Looking at this passage, then, and comparing it with other Scriptures, "that eternal life which was with the Father" could be none other than the Son who had glory with the Father before the world was. And so in this remarkable treatise, if we may so call it, on the eternal Godhead of the Son, the first chapter of Hebrews, the Son is at once introduced as the One by whom the worlds were made. (Heb. 1:2.) Nor is this fundamental doctrine of Holy Scripture found only in the passages already quoted. Speaking of Him as "the Word," which in due time "was made flesh, and dwelt among us," John emphatically declares that He not only "was with God," but "was God;" and so truly was He the Maker of all things that "without Him was not anything made that was made." In the epistle to the saints at Colosse also, where the Holy Ghost by Paul is speaking of the Father and the Son, he says not only that we are now "translated into the kingdom of His dear Son," but that in Him (the Son) "we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." So truly divine is this precious Redeemer, that He is declared to be "the image of the invisible God;" and so eternal and omnipotent is He that it is added, "By Him (the Son) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things" (observe, all things) "were created by Him, and for Him;" and lest there should be any ground to question the Deity of the One here spoken of (the Son), it is added, "And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." (Col. 1:12-17.) If an apostle speaks of the Son as the Creator of everything, a prophet declares that "The Creator of the ends of the earth" is "the everlasting God." (Isa. 40:28.) Who could be before all things, create all things, and uphold all things, but One who was eternally divine? Could any testimony more clearly set forth the Deity of the Son?
It may be asked, If the Son was in glory with the Father, and the One in whom the Father chose us, before the world was; and if by Him the worlds were made, why are we not plainly told so in the Genesis account of creation? Though plenty of evidence is there in harmony with what has been advanced, yet nothing is clearer than that the revelation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was, in the Divine counsels, not to be declared till the personal advent of the Son; though God had been before made known as Creator, Almighty, Most High, and Jehovah. We read, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (John 1:18); and so perfectly did He, the Son, express the Father, that He said, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father;" and yet the persons so distinct that on other occasions we hear Him saying, "I am come in my Father's name," and "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." Perhaps the first time in Scripture when the persons of the Trinity are fully brought before us is at our Lord's baptism, when "Jesus went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and he saw the SPIRIT OF GOD descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is MY BELOVED SON, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:16-17.)
But to turn for a moment to the inspired account of the creation in Genesis, it is profoundly interesting to observe the plurality of persons in the Godhead there revealed. The first time God is mentioned, "In the beginning God created," the Divine title there used for God is not in the singular number, as if merely one was the thought to be expressed, nor yet in the dual number, meaning two of any thing, but in the Hebrew plural number meaning more than two. It is not here El, the singular number, meaning God in unity; but, "In the beginning Elohim (plural) created the heaven and the earth," thus embodying the thought of Trinity in unity. And so we afterwards read, "And God (Elohim plural) said let us make man in our image, etc.; so God (Elohim) created man … and God (Elohim) blessed them." (Gen. 1:1, 26-28.) And when man sinned, "The Lord God (Elohim) said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." (Gen. 3:22.) And in Isaiah's day, after thousands of years had passed, and when the prophet had a vision of the glory of the Son, he says, "I heard the voice of the Lord (plural) saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." (See Isaiah 6:8; John 12:41; Acts 28:25.) All these statements show plurality of persons in the Godhead before the distinction of the persons is revealed. And further, a glance at the testimony of the ancient prophets is enough not only to show that the Messiah they foretold would be a sinless Man, the woman's Seed, the Seed of Abraham, and from the loins of David, but the same prophet gives us particulars also as to the eternally Divine person of the Messiah. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel" — Immanu (with us) El, God — "God with us." Is it possible that words could more forcibly set before us the Deity of the Messiah? And further, the prophet says, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." (Isaiah 9:6-7.)
The memorable passage of the Psalmist which our Lord used to silence the caviling Pharisees is also strictly in keeping with this essential truth of Christianity. David said, "The Lord (Jehovah) said unto my Lord (Adon, singular), Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." (Psalm 110:1.) The question that still confounds man's assumed competency to judge the things of God is, "If David then call Him Lord, how is he his son?" (Matt. 22:45.) The Deity of the Son is the only answer. He is David's Lord as Creator; He is David's Son as having miraculously become man through Mary. In this way He is elsewhere spoken of as "The root and offspring of David," and also as "The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David." Who but the Son could then truthfully say, "Before Abraham was I am"?
The wise man is not silent in the book of Proverbs on this foundation truth of divine revelation. Wisdom says, looking back before time began, "The Lord (Jehovah) possessed 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 … while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields. … When He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men." Nor is this all; for in another chapter where the words of Agur are given, and some of the ways of God referred to, he inquires if any could tell His name or the name of His Son. "Who hath ascended up into heaven or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, if thou canst tell?" (Proverbs 8, 30.) Can any one, who receives these Scriptures as "given by inspiration of God," fail to see plurality of persons in the Godhead? and the Deity of the Son? And, in sweeetest harmony with the second psalm, where the Anointed or Messiah, the King set in Zion, is also said to be the Son of God, have we not seen most clearly brought out that the virgin's child is also Immanuel, GOD with us? (Compare Psalm 2 with Acts 13:23; Isa. 7:14; Isa. 9:6.) We may look at another text which predicted the place of the Messiah's birth, where we find further testimony to His being eternal. "But thou, Beth-lehem 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." (Micah 5:2.) Who could go forth from everlasting but He who is Himself eternal? And as we have seen that Israel's King — Messiah — is the Son, could we possibly have more distinct testimonies than those we have been considering as to His eternal Sonship and Deity?
In turning again to Heb. 1, we may observe that the personal glory of "the Son" in His essential Godhead is looked at as from everlasting to everlasting, as well as His ways in time, in His eternally-efficacious work of the cross, and consequent sitting on the throne of God, His coming again, and millennial reign.
We have seen how His Godhead before the world was, and His Creatorship as to all things, have been established by Scripture beyond all controversy; but His stupendous work of making purgation of sins, and then His sitting on the throne of the Majesty on high, have also set forth His Deity, as well as His perfect manhood. And here let us not fail to notice, though the Son was so verily and truly God that it pleased all fulness to dwell in Him, and so truly and perfectly Man by being born of a woman, and made in the likeness of sinful flesh; yet Scripture never speaks of God manifest in the flesh, but as one blessed Person — "God over all, blessed for ever." (Rom. 9:5.) We are elsewhere told that "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4:4-5.) And further, that Jesus, as born of a woman, is declared to be "that holy thing," and "called the Son of God." The angel said unto Mary, "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35.) If He were not truly man we have no Saviour; for man had sinned, and man must die. Moreover, we needed One to be a Sacrifice and a Substitute for us, upon whom Adam's fall had not entailed any taint, and who Himself as man was emphatically the sinless One. Such was Jesus. He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens." "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." (Heb. 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22.) After thirty years of trial in this world, the Father declared Him to be His "beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased;" man said he was "righteous," and even devils spoke of Him as "the holy One of God." Thus He was, by reason of His personal glory and moral perfections, capable of purging our sins, for God's eternal satisfaction and glory, and for our eternal deliverance and security. And who could accomplish that which could be divinely stamped as having the value of everlastingness, unless He Himself were God? Who but One having divine attributes could lay down His life and take it again, and by His own power rise triumphantly over death, the grave, and him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and take His rightful seat on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens? It is spoken of in our chapter as if it were but one step from the purging of our sins on the cross to His session in glory on the throne! Who but One who was eternally divine could give eternal life to others, and truthfully declare that He Himself was "the resurrection and the life"? Who but this One so mighty to save could abolish death? Who could He be whom it was not possible for death to hold, and whose flesh saw no corruption? Who but the Son, when He spoke of the temple of His body, was able to say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"? And this we know He fully carried out; for "He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures," and in that act the Deity of the Son was marked out. He was declared (or marked out) the Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (John 2:19; Rom. 1:4.) Is it any marvel, when the inspired writer is thus contemplating the Son of God and His accomplished work as having made purgation of sins, that he should have added, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"
In another epistle the apostle brings the Deity of the Son before us by showing the Godhead of His person, and His path here as man perfect in a servant's form, as well as His exaltation above all things, so that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (to whose glory?) to the glory of God the FATHER. Christ Jesus is first spoken of as "being in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God." Now who could be in the form of God, and have thought it not robbery to be on an equality with God, but One who was eternally divine? Then it is said, He "took upon Him the form of a servant;" and who could empty Himself and take a servant's form but He who was the creature's Creator, and not therefore a servant? All God's creatures are servants because they are creatures, as Scripture says, "All are thy servants." We do not take a servant's form because we are servants. But here was One who was pleased to make Himself of no reputation, or who emptied Himself, taking a servant's form. Who but One who was equal with God could do this? Again, we are told, "He became obedient unto death," and to such a death as "the death of the cross" — death under the judgment of God for sin as the Sin-bearer. Oh, the unfathomable suffering, the unutterable woe of "the death of the cross!" who but He could endure it?
"The cross, its burden, oh, how great!
No one but He could bear its weight;
No love but His would undertake,
To bear it for the sinner's sake."
But His session on the throne, and the future homage of every knee and confession of every tongue to His name for the Father's glory, plainly declare the Deity of the Son. Who but He who is equal with God could have "a name which is above every name" given to Him, and could have universal homage rightly ascribed to Him? But it will be rendered to Jesus the Lord, not merely because of His essential Godhead, but because as man He so infinitely and perfectly glorified the Father in finishing the work that He gave Him to do. Hence we read; "Wherefore" (let the reader solemnly ponder this word "wherefore") "God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things (beings) in heaven, in earth, and under the earth [infernal]; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:6-11.)
Let the Christian reader seriously ponder the Scriptures of divine revelation we have thus far glanced at, as most plainly and repeatedly revealing the personal glory and Deity of the Son. We are well aware that it is not by a course of reasoning on this most glorious subject that the natural understanding of man will be able to perceive this great mystery of godliness, "God was manifest in the flesh." When Peter was closely interrogated by our Lord as to His own Person, and he replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus not only pronounced to his having been the object of divine blessing, but also to his having been under the ministry of a divine revelation, in thus discovering that "the Son of man" then addressing him was also "the Son of the living God." "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 16:15-17.) Blessed indeed are those who have had the Son revealed to them and in them; for Jesus also said, "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him;" and "every man that hath heard, and learned of the Father, cometh unto Me." (John 6:44-45.) We have no hope therefore of convincing the natural man of the truth of the Deity of the Son by argument, or by any proof whatever apart from the action of the Holy Ghost; for not only did Jesus say to an apostle, "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee;" but we are also told that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God."
Enough has been said to show that the "Deity of the Son" is the vital and fundamental truth of the gospel. The faith of God's elect thus knows Him. This reminds us of a young man for whose conversion we were much interested. We had had repeated conversation with him on the momentous matter of his soul's salvation; but he seemed almost wholly indifferent, and made no response. But one night we were told he desired to speak with us; and, on approaching him, he exclaimed, "I'm saved, I'm saved!" He said he had been that morning to an ecclesiastical establishment, but took little or no notice of what was being read and said. In the pew where he was sitting he espied an old book, and on taking it up he read, "The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God, yet not three Gods but one God." Light immediately flashed in on his soul. He pondered the sentences well. He was struck with the truth of the Deity of the Son. After a while he saw another book; and, taking it up, opened it at John 3:16, and read, "God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He pondered the amazing gift of God — "His only begotten Son"; then the marvellous blessing on simply believing — "should not perish, but have everlasting life;" then the freeness, of the grace to "whosoever believeth on Him" whom God gave and sent. The more he meditated on those precious words the more hope sprang up in his soul, until he was so quietly and peacefully assured by God's word as to enable him truthfully to say, "I'm saved." Years have passed, and we have no reason to doubt the reality of the work as of God in this young man's soul.
But Jesus is coming again. He sits on the throne Son of God and Son of man, "in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," until His enemies be made His footstool. When He came last it was as the ONLY BEGOTTEN; when He comes again it will be as the FIRST-BORN, or FIRST-BEGOTTEN. "When He bringeth in the First-begotten into the world He saith, Let all the angels of God worship Him." (v. 6.) How could all the hosts of holy angels worship Him according to the command of God unless Jesus the First-born from among the dead were verily and truly the Son of God? Could any thing more clearly set forth the Deity of the Son? He is called the only begotten because He is the only and essentially begotten Son of God. He is called First-begotten because others are, at His coming, to be taken to glory from among the dead — "they that are Christ's at His coming." His word must be fulfilled that "He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:26.)
Again, in the eighth verse, the Holy Ghost presents to us the Deity of the Son, when He will be reigning in righteousness, and manifesting that power "whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." (Phil. 3:21.) And who can subdue all things unto Himself but God? Quoting from Psalm 45, "Unto the Son, He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom: Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." (vv. 8, 9.) What language could more plainly testify of the Divine glory of the Son? What can be more distinctly expressive of His Deity than "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever"? And yet in the same passage have we not His manhood, and His fellows or companions associated with Him, in the remarkable words, "God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows" He has, and shall, "in all things have the pre-eminence." In keeping with this same point, the apostle, who had seen the Lord Jesus, and heard His voice, says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;" for, looking at Jesus as man, God is the God of our Lord Jesus; hence He cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" but when looking at Him as Son, He is the Father of our Lord Jesus; and, as we have observed, according to the Divine counsel and eternal purpose, we were "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world." (Eph. 1:3-4, 17.)
It is a mistake to suppose that the Son has done with this world because He was hated without a cause, and despised and rejected by men. Scripture says that "all things were made by Him, and for Him." But as yet He has had nothing, according as the prophet had foretold. (See Dan. 9:26, margin.) But "He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet." (1 Cor. 15:25.) Now He is preaching forgiveness, giving eternal life to every one that believeth on Him; but when He rises up from the Father's throne, on which He is now sitting, and takes to Himself His great power and reigns, then He will "subdue all things unto Himself;" then He will establish His earthly people Israel in their promised inheritance; for though they are now not willing in this day of grace, His people (Israel) "shall be willing in the day of His power." A moment's reflection for any God-fearing soul seems enough to make clear to the mind that He who "is Head of all principality and power," who was before all things, who made all things, who upholds all things, and has power to subdue all things, can be none other than God. Another Scripture conclusively says, "He that built all things is God." (Heb. 3:4.)
But He who is looked at here as from everlasting is also traced to everlasting in further proof of the Godhead of the Son, according as it is written, "From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." (Psalm 90:2.) When the created heavens and earth shall have done their work, He who made them will fold them up, and lay them by, as men do a threadbare garment; for when the stream of time shall have fully run its course according to the Divine counsels, eternity goes on. Then it will be manifest that Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Quoting from the prophetic testimony concerning Messiah in Psalm 102, the inspired writer says, applying it to the Son, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the works of Thine hands. They shall perish but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." (vv. 10-12.) We cannot forbear pausing here to ask the question, Can any language possibly convey to those who hearken to God more fully and distinctly the Deity of the Son?
And in perfect concord with these Scripture-proofs of the Deity of the Son, the testimony given in the gospels, from His miraculous conception and supernatural coming into the world to His ascension into heaven, most fully agrees. The miracles wrought by our Lord in the days of His flesh abundantly testify of his Godhead. Others, in ancient times, had wrought miracles, and even raised the dead to life; but such ascribed their power in thus acting to God being with them, and that they thus acted for His glory, to show that there was a God in Israel; whereas Jesus by His miracles showed forth His own glory. When He turned the water into wine, we are told, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory." (John 2:11.) The apostles also wrought miracles, but that was through the power Jesus gave them; and their power was in His name. This was equally true both before His death and resurrection, and after the descent of the Holy Ghost. In the gospels, we find the apostles saying to our Lord, "Even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name" (Luke 10:17); and in the Acts, the power of the blessing conveyed is ascribed to the name of Jesus Christ. As a proof that the kingdom would be ushered in by miraculous acting, and that He, thus acting, was the God of Israel come to save them, we have only to refer to Isaiah 35:4-6.
The authority too with which He spake is compatible with no one who was not verily and truly God. When we hear Him saying to the palsied man, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee;" or telling a sin-convicted woman, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace;" or comforting a dying thief, by assuring him that he should be with Him that day in paradise; we cannot wonder that some said He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Again, who but the Son could dare say to broken-hearted and sin-oppressed people, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest;" and, "Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out;" or, "This is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day"? What mere creature could truthfully utter such authoritative language? Again, He speaks of Himself as "the way, the truth, and the life," "the bread of God," the "bread of life," "the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die," "the living bread … if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." He says, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." Is it to be wondered at that the officers sent to take Him should have said, "Never man spake like this man"? Quotations from Scripture of a similar character might be multiplied; but it is sufficiently clear that those we have just given manifest an authority only becoming Him, who was verily "the Son of the living God."
Is omnipotence an attribute of Godhead? Then how could it have been more fully manifested in the Son than by His creating all things, upholding all things, and being the One who is able to subdue all things? Did He not raise the dead by His word, stop the raging billows, and calm the tempestuous winds in a moment? Did He not feed thousands with a few loaves and fishes, and yet have baskets of broken meat more than enough to suffice them? Did He not cast out devils; and, more than that, give His disciples power to do the same? Is He not now "Head of all principality and power" And will not all that are in the graves hear His voice and come forth?
Is omniscience an attribute of God? We read that "He (the Son) knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man." (John He knew the people's thoughts — knew that they were desirous to ask Him; He knew that the Father had given all things into His hands, and knew all that should come upon Him. He knew that in a certain place in the city as the disciples entered they would meet a man bearing a pitcher of water, who would show them a large upper room furnished, which they were to make ready for the Passover. (Luke 22.) On another occasion He told His disciples that in a certain village they would find an ass tied and a colt with her, which they were to loose and bring to Him; and He knew that the owner would straightway send them if they said, The Lord hath need of them." (Matt. 21:1-3.) He knew there was a piece of money in a certain fish in the sea, and He could so direct the casting of the hook that it should be the first to come up, and the money be found in the fish's mouth. On one occasion His disciples cried out, "Now we are sure that Thou knowest all things;" and after His resurrection Peter said, "Lord, Thou knowest all things."
Is unchangeableness a characteristic of the Godhead? Did not the prophet say by the Holy Ghost, "I am the Lord (Jehovah), I change not"? And is it not also true of Jesus Christ that He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever"? (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8.) In the portion before us also we are taught, that when heaven and earths shall have passed away, "Thou remainest … Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." Did not Jesus say to John, "I am the first and the last"? and is not that one of Jehovah's titles given to Israel? "Thus saith the Lord (Jehovah) the King of Israel, and His Redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first and the last, and beside me there is no God." (Compare Rev. 1:8, 17, 18, and Isaiah 44:6.) From a consideration of all these testimonies of Holy Scripture to the personal glory of the Son, is it surprising that prophets who testified of His sufferings and the glories that should follow should have spoken of Him as "Immanuel," "the mighty God," "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting"? or that apostles during the days of His flesh should have welcomed him as "the Christ, the Son of the living God, that should come into the world?" or that another after His resurrection from the dead should have cried out on seeing Him, "My Lord and my God"? Can we wonder that Stephen should have been so sustained in a martyr's death when he tells us he saw Jesus the Son of man in the glory of God? or that wicked Saul should have been struck down to the earth, and blinded with a glimpse of the glory of Jesus in the heavens, and for ever attracted to Him? And do we not enter into our Lord's own testimony of Himself as Son of God, sent of the Father, Son of man unto whom all judgment is committed; the risen One, unto whom all power in heaven and in earth is given; the ascended One, who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty; and the coming One who will change our vile bodies, and who is "able to subdue all things unto Himself?"
We might profitably trace the titles given to our adorable Lord, and ponder His moral glories and excellencies, as recorded in Scripture, which were always a sweet savour to God, did our space permit; as well as look further into the inspired testimonies of prophets and apostles as to the Deity of the Son. We must, however, before closing, notice that the apostle, having in Hebrews 1 fully asserted and established the doctrine of the eternal Godhead of the Son, he instructs us as to His humanity in Hebrews 2. The incarnation of Jesus, His life of sufferings, and His tasting death, in grace, for others; His triumph over death, and him that had the power of death, the devil; His glorification, and His having all things set under Him as Son of man, are here blessedly unfolded. Though we now see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, yet in matchless grace He took flesh and blood, was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. The apostle also, after looking at the grand subjects of atonement and eternal redemption, instructs us in the following chapters as to the infinite and eternal efficacy of the one offering which was once offered. With men the glory of the office gives honour to the person; but with the Son of God it was the dignity and eternal glory of His person which gave the value of everlastingness to His work. We read, therefore, that by the eternal Spirit* He offered Himself without spot to God to purge our conscience, having obtained eternal redemption for us, that we might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Such was the infinite value of that "one sacrifice for sins" that it needs never to be repeated. Therefore He "sat down for ever (in continuance) on the right hand of God … for by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified;" the believer so cleansed, the conscience so purged by the blood of Christ, that the Holy Ghost is given to witness to us of these marvellous blessings, and to raise in us the thoughts and feelings of children, as well as the cry of Abba, Father. Thus sins are for ever taken away, so that believing souls are assured by God in His word, "Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more." Precious words, "No more."
"However tried by sin and fear,
In Christ they stand completely clear."
How could it be otherwise, if God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all? if He were delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification? Blessed be God, "that when it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins," Christ once in the end of the world (or the consummation of the ages) hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. What a sacrifice! (Read Heb. 9:10.) And what further proof could be given of this perfect work than God's rending the veil of the temple from the top to the bottom, to show that there was now no longer a barrier to man's coming at once through the rent veil (that is to say through the flesh of Jesus) into His most holy presence? What fuller attestation to the finished and God-glorifying work than the raising of Him up from among the dead, crowning Him with glory and honour, and sending the Holy Ghost to indwell us? Is it any marvel that the heathen soldier who had been looking at Jesus on the cross should have said, "Truly this man was the Son of God"? (Mark 15:39.) We are told that what "the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His OWN SON in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." What a sacrifice for sin! We read that "we have a Great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, JESUS THE SON OF GOD." What a Priest! And when the Son comes to judge the quick and the dead, and His saints are with Him, He will have "on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." "Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." What a King!
{*Let the reader not fail to notice here the Godhead and personality of the Holy Ghost — "THE ETERNAL SPIRIT." So truly is He a Divine Person that in Acts 5:3 He is called "God" — "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." In other Scriptures His divine attributes are frequently set forth, a few of which can only now be referred to. His omniscience — "He searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1 Cor. 2:10.) His omnipresence — "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?" (Ps. 139:7.) His power — "He shall guide you into all truth." "He shall teach you all things." His sovereign actings — "Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia, and when they assayed to go into Bithynia "the Spirit suffered them not." (See Acts 13:2; Acts 16:6.)}
Brethren in the Lord, it is high time to awake. The enemy of souls is busy; the adversaries of Christ and His cross are indefatigable. Let us boldly stand for the rightful claims of the Son of God. Let us contend for His glory, His truth; yea, let us "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." It is a delusion to suppose that any really serve and honour God who do not honour the Son; for it is His will that "all should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him." (John 5:23.) It is equally delusive to suppose that any will be saved from the coming wrath, who have not believed on the only begotten Son of God. Scripture is most decided on this point. "He that believeth not is condemned already, because He hath not believed in the only begotten Son of God." "He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son" [is not subject to the Son] "shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:18, 36; 1 John 5:12.)
As we have before observed, almost all kinds of infidel doctrines are negative. They do not propose to give rest of conscience in life, or triumph in death. Opposition to God's truth is the channel through which their energies flow. We need only know them to be assured of the fact. We well remember a servant of Christ, a working man, speaking of a dying woman who had associated herself with free-thinkers, as they are called, to whose death-bed he was summoned one night. As he went up stairs to her bedroom, he heard one of these infidel teachers say, "Hold fast, Mary;" to which she replied, as well as the death-rattle enabled her to articulate, "You've given me nothing to hold." Upon this our friend entered her dying chamber, and said, "Mary, I'll give you something to hold. Jesus is the Saviour of sinners, believe in Him, and thou shalt be saved." "But," said she, "I've been such a sinner, have so hated good people, and would not have God's truth." "Never mind, Mary, Christ Jesus will save you. You are this side of death, this side of hell. As a sinner, look to Him, come to Him, believe on Him, and His blood will cleanse you from all sin." There was reason to hope that in her dying hour she was saved by the Son of God, through faith in His name. What a Saviour He is! How can He but be precious to those who have to do with Him! Blessed indeed for ever are those who now bow to the Son of God as their Saviour, and know Him as the Object of faith! Such rejoice in Him in life, and can triumph in death if called to meet it, as well as day by day look for His coming again, according to His gracious promise. The thought of being "caught up to meet the Lord in the air" is the bright, comforting, and purifying hope of our hearts.
"We wait to see the 'Morning Star' appearing
In glory bright;
This blessed hope illumes with beams most cheering
The hours of night."
But how very solemn is the thought, that those who despise the Son of God and His truth will be left behind for judgment when He is revealed from heaven in flaming fire. Oh, how soon it may be! No one then will question the Deity of the Son, for they will see Him come in the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory. How utterly confounded the holders and defenders of infidel doctrines will be then! What a time of bitter anguish, what weeping, what wailing! Where will the Unitarian be then? How the bright glory of the Lord's appearing will in a moment chase away the puny efforts of men to undermine the glory of His person! "Despisers" will then "wonder and perish," and "mockers" and "scoffers" smite their breasts with bitterest remorse and despair! May God savingly reveal the glory of His Son to all who read these pages! Well hath the prophet said in the second psalm, "Kiss THE SON, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him!" H. H. S.