July 7, 1919
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THE PERSON OF CHRIST
Study by W.W.Prescott
While Eld. Daniells is speaking on this subject (The Holy Spirit) I would like to read in connection with it just a few words. The extract which Eld. Daniels read from Desire of Ages is found with considerable other added matter in “Gospel Workers,” beginning on page 284. What I wish especially to read is found on page 285:
“We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. Through the Spirit God works in His people ‘to will and to do of His good pleasure.’ But many will not submit to this. They want to manage themselves. This is why they do not receive the heavenly gift. Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who watch for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given. The power of God, awaits their demand and reception. This promised blessing, claimed by faith brings all other blessings in its train.”
The reason why the Holy Spirit brings all blessings in His train is because He is the representative of Christ, and all spiritual blessings are in Christ. And we have only so much of Christ as we have of this Spirit of Christ. We only (sic “have”? ) Christ as we know the Spirit of Christ. So the whole matter of our experience turns right there. This intellectual knowledge, this mere presentation of a Christ to the mind, is not sufficient. It must be an experience. This knowing Him is not an intellectual experience merely; it is a heart experience, and it is a life experience.
The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ. Then only in the measure that we have the impartation of the Spirit do we have Christ. He is our life. [Colossians 3:4] The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of his life, and it is by his life that what He has done for us in His body, in His individual body, is made effective in our body. It is by the impartation of His life. The
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impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ. We are taught of God by the impartation of His life. It is the way He teaches us, not by merely imparting ideas to us, as I have tried to emphasize—these ideas must come to us as life, else we do not know Him; we merely know about Him.
He teaches us by his life, and so the impartation of the Spirit, the impartation of His life, that is the way He teaches us.
“Only those who are thus taught of God; those only who possess the inward working of the Spirit of God, in whose life the Christ life is manifested, can stand as true representatives of the Saviour.”
It goes so far beyond the mere intellectual knowledge, to teach us by His life. He imparts a knowledge of Himself by imparting His life, and it must come to us as an experience, not merely as a matter of the head.
Now we are studying here, not to find some lessons, some outlines to give to some one. We shall receive this knowledge here just in proportion as we receive His life here. That is what I would like to emphasize, that we are not spending time here now for intellectual work simply. And we shall know these things that we are studying as His life is imparted to us, because He teaches by His life. Our minds are to be used of Christ, but we must go beyond the mere intellect, and we must be taught by His life, if we really apprehend the things that we are dealing with.
Further, in the study of the Scriptures we are dealing with, what I am seeking to do is to present the foundation things of the gospel. We have only time for that. We shall not have time to enlarge and work out the whole scheme, but the foundation things, the essential things, the things we are to build upon—So in dealing with the person of Christ I have been trying to read with you some Scriptures that would show what
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this means to us—that Christ is the essential person in it all, with all, everything, bound up in Him, the person. Now let us read some further Scriptures this morning.
You remember I tried to emphasize yesterday this idea—the work of Christ is to bring man to God. Sin separated. He brings man back to fellowship with God. In order to bring man to God, he brings God down to man in His own person—Emmanuel—God with us. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.” He actually brings heaven, brings God down to earth in His own person. That is why John would say, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, because He is the kingdom in Himself—all inclusive.
Now that sin which separated is rebellion. “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me.” That rebellion is shown to be disobedience to the law, just the same as in any country. Disobedient to the law of the land, disregarding of the sovereign, that is disloyalty. If we trace out sin in its origin and to its conclusion we find that the real essence of sin means that rebellion against God, that would dethrone God, that would dethrone Christ. It is just as real a thing as any conspiracy, the same as we read of in the 7th chapter of Isaiah, where Israel and Ephraim were confederate against Judah, and were going to put off the king of Judah, and put the son of Tabeal in his place. That was a conspiracy against the kingdom, against the king. Sin is a real conspiracy against the kingdom, and the real purpose of it is to put the sovereign down from His throne and put another in His place. It is not merely doing this thing or that thing or the other thing. That is a part of the experience, that is a part of the manifestation of it. But the real purpose back of it all is to put down God and Christ from the throne of the universe, to enter God’s place.
Now righteousness is the reverse of that. Righteousness—loyalty
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to the government, loyalty to the sovereign, obedience to his law, everything submitted to His will—that is righteousness.
Now the purpose of His giving His Son, although the rebellion was directed right against Him and His Son, yet He gave His only begotten Son to cure that rebellion. No such thing has ever been found in the universe, such an exhibition of love on the part of the One against whom this rebellion was raised. He gave Himself in the person of His Son to cure the rebellion, to restore this harmony, and to bring back man to the loyalty of the government, and that to be shown by obedience to His law.
J.N.Anderson: Do you refer primarily to the person rather than to the law?
W.W.Prescott: I tried to emphasize yesterday that sin is in the being rather than simply in the act, that the act is simply the manifestation of the real being. Righteousness is the same.
J.N.Anderson: What I mean is, Is sin more a disagreement with the person than with the standard that he has set up?
W.W.Prescott: Both. I would not distinguish between them. Sin is lawlessness, but the law is simply the expression of His character, and you cannot separate between a person and his law, in the government of God. Of course you might with men, but not in the case of God. When we come to have the law written in our hearts, as we shall show, it is because the person is there. That is the writing of the law in our hearts. So I would not distinguish between the two.
[Prescott’s equating of the law with Christ is parallel of equating the Spirit with Christ. While the law is “expression of His character”, the Spirit is the “manifestation” of His presence. The law is not His person but a reflection of it, the image of it, even as Christ is the image of His Father, but is not the person of His Father.]
A.G.Daniells: But really the law written on the stones was the expression of the character of the Person, so that really sin is not primarily transgression against that law written on the stone, but it is rebellion against the righteous character of God.
W.W.Prescott: Exactly. That is the very nature of sin. That being the nature of sin, the only one who can deal with that is the
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person whose character is revealed in that law, and since that law is written in the heart, that is by the impartation of the life of which the law is simply the expression.
J.N.Anderson: So essentially sin becomes a conflict with the person. Fundamentally it is more resistance to the person than to his law.
W.W.Pescott: Yes. At the same time I would be careful not to separate the law and the person in the divine government.
Let us study further Scripture, in which we will endeavor to see the person of Christ revealed to us as the one in whom all blessings are found.
“Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Eph 1:3
Now that is different from saying, “This book in (sic) in my pocket.” That book is not a part of me. Now all spiritual blessings are in Him, but you cannot take them out separate from Him, because he and the blessings are inseparably united in His own person and in his life. Therefore to receive these blessings, we must receive Him, and to attempt to separate the blessings from Him is to receive simply a description of the blessings in the mind.
[The implication is clear: you cannot separate the Spirit of Christ from the person of Christ]
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It is from that standpoint that it is asking for a full manifestation of life.
Eph. 2:7: “That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
Kindness becomes a personality in that way—“his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” And we are not to separate his kindness, his mercy, his love, from the person of Christ.
Phil 3:9: “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
That was the expression of the fullness of the desire of the Apostle Paul after he had his actual experience. All flowed from that. Without that primary experience nothing else would flow from him.
Col. 1:27, 28: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
Notice in this the two things that are set before us: First, the mystery is Christ in you. The end to be sought in preaching Christ is to perfect every man in Christ. Here you have the double view.
Jer. 23:5, 6: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
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Now let us have with that the next scripture, Phi. 3:9:
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
Jeremiah 23 prophesies of that righteousness found in him, “the Lord our righteousness.” Now, isn’t it perfectly clear there that righteousness is a personality? that righteousness is Christ? Is that perfectly clear from reading the text that there is no righteousness as an abstract idea? When we have the righteousness which is of faith, we have Christ our righteousness.
1 Cor. 1:30: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”
He is made wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption: Then wisdom is a person. The wisdom we must deal with is a personality, and not mere intellectual keenness. The righteousness that we must deal with is a personality, and not a mere abstract idea about goodness. The sanctification that we must deal with is a personality. The redemption that we must deal with is a personality. He is made unto us redemption, He righteousness, He sanctification, He wisdom. It would have been impossible that we should have known such wisdom, such righteousness, such sanctification, such redemption, had not he who from eternity had been God’s wisdom (read it in the 8th chapter of Proverbs, which sets Him forth as wisdom from eternity), if he had not taken the flesh, otherwise he could not be made to us in sinful flesh, wisdom, sanctification, righteousness, and redemption. If it were sufficient simply to have a treatise on this subject, he might have sent
[The personification of Wisdom and righteousness require that they must be eternal attributes of God and if they are identified with Christ, then Christ must be as eternal as God. This is certainly true. He has all the fullness of the Godhead bodily because He came out from God. He has, in that sense, always been with God.]
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a treatise to us to tell us about righteousness, about redemption, sanctification and wisdom, and exalt us to it.
But there was an impassible gulf between us. The only way we sinful beings can enter into that experience is that he himself took our flesh and became Jesus, the man, and then he, as a man, as wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption, brought these things to us. In him we have redemption. Then, because of his taking sinful flesh, and thus bringing God in wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to the flesh, we can know that experience more than as intellectual ideas about righteousness. We know him as our righteousness, and he is made unto us righteousness. There is no righteousness apart from Him. This brings us face to face with what I talked about before—that all doctrine becomes a personality in Christ, and that any doctrine outside of him is a mere abstraction without any power or life. It is a mere theoretical knowledge of Christ, simply ideas about Christ which the mind is capable of dealing with; but that is a very different thing from presenting Christ so that the person is presented.
II Peter 1.4: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises promises (sic): that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
When we know righteousness, we know it by becoming partakers of the divine nature. That experience can only be by the impartation of the very life of Christ by the Spirit. That is why that is emphasized. That impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life. The Spirit makes effectual in us what Christ has done for us. But that Spirit makes that effectual by being that to us, not simply handing out something, but being that to us in the very life and person of Christ.
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Hebrews 12:10: “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.”
We have spoken of God as the righteous One. His Son, as revealed, is called the righteousness, because he brings that righteousness to humanity. We have spoke of the Lord as the Holy One. Christ was the holy Child Jesus. How are we to enter into this experience? By becoming partakers of his holiness, and his holiness is not to be separated from his being. That is, we are to be partakers of him. The next scripture will bring it out.
Hebrews 2:14: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
Hebrews 3:14: “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.”
Because we are partakers of flesh and blood, he partook of the same. That brought man by becoming man. Now turn it right about. We are to partake of him. You see he made it possible that we should be partakers of him by his first partaking of us. He partook of the same flesh and blood that we have. That was from his side. The door of heaven was closed. It had to be opened from the heaven side. We can not open it from our side. He opened it and came down and partook of our flesh and blood, and became man. We, by that means, became partakers of him, and that is far beyond any idea of simply hearing about him and accepting him as being in harmony with certain teachings about him. The impartation of the Spirit is the impartation of the life of Christ, and this makes effectual in us what he has done for us.
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These Scriptures I have brought together in this way to help us to see the relation that the Word of Christ bears to the very Government of God. And therefore our relation to this experience as to the question of the divine government and the divine Law.
Ps. 97:2 (Reading) “Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.” Let us read the Revised Version because it brings out the thought clearer: “Clouds and darkness are found about him: righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.”
The Government of God rests upon righteousness and justice. To interfere with righteousness and justice is to interfere with God’s government. Therefore the whole question of receiving righteousness is a question of personal relation to the divine government of God. It is more than whether we shall do this or that thing. That is simply an outward expression of an experience. But when we know the government of God is founded upon righteousness and justice and we attempt to overthrow righteousness our (sic) depart from righteousness, or in any way interfere with the experience of that righteousness (you remember the throne is a living throne—Eze. 1:— it is not like a stone foundation—it is a living righteousness)—to interfere with that righteousness is to interfere with the very life of God, which is the foundation of all things.
Ps. 47:8 “God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.” Righteousness is the foundation of his throne. His throne is a throne of holiness. Now anything that interferes with the holiness and the expression of
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that holiness. Keep these two ideas in mind—righteousness and holiness. Anything that interferes with this expression, is striking at the very government of God. Is not that plain from these scriptures?
Now the gospel—this whole experience, is not simply that you and I may be saved from doing a thing that is wrong, or that you and I may get into heaven. The only way we can be saved from doing that which is wrong or get into heaven is by being in harmony with the divine Government. That is the very character of God. His throne is involved in that government. Sin would take away the very foundation of his throne. The gospel recognizes the foundation of his throne—his divine government—and the gospel is to bring us into right relationship with the very foundation of his Government.
Ps. 48:1 “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.” These ideas of righteousness and holiness I want to connect with the person of God—the very foundation of his throne.
Isa. 6:1-3: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah saw the King—the Lord of Hosts. He saw him on his throne, and when he saw him on his throne he heart these voices proclaiming the holiness of the King of the Universe. Now that vision Isaiah saw was the foundation of Isaiah’s prophecy.
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Isa. 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Isa. 8:10: “Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.”
What is that word in the Hebrew?—God is with us? Immanuel. Now Isaiah saw the King, the Lord of Hosts on a throne. He saw him as the Ruler. He saw him in his holiness. That idea of his Sovereignty and Holiness—his character—Justice and Righteousness also.
Now in the seventh chapter you find a conspiracy against Government. (Notice how much force there is in the connection of Scriptures.) The Syrians had conspired to put another king in the place of the king of Judah. That was rebellion. Now what is the cure for that rebellion? Isaiah says, “It will not stand. It will not succeed. The Lord will give you a sign. Immanuel. It is because of Immanuel—God with men—that the conspiracy against the Government of God does not succeed.
Now comes the eighth chapter. (You must not separate this prophecy, because the sixth is connected with the seventh, the seventh with the eighth, and the eighth with the ninth. Because when we come to Isaiah 9:6 it says, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given”, and that takes us back again to the sixth chapter for the connection.) In this eighth chapter we find this conspiracy. And Isaiah says it will not succeed. Why? Immanuel—God with us. Now this is but a picture
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presented in this connection where Isaiah saw the rightful king on his Throne in his holiness, and was so deeply impressed that he regarded himself as undone. Then the very next picture presented was this rebellion to put another king in God’s place. This is the whole picture of sin. Now what is the cure? Immanuel. That became Isaiah’s watchword; and therefore he prophesied that Jerusalem should not be overthrown, even when Sennacherib himself was facing the city, and his captain made that insulting announcement to the people. Isaiah said, “Jerusalem shall not fall.” Going back to this sixth chapter we get the connection. That is the picture presented. It is a conspiracy against Government. It is a question of putting down a person from his throne. And the whole cure for that is Immanuel. This is a Person. It is God coming in the Person of his Son in holiness and righteousness, to become a man, that the conspiracy will not succeed, and the divine Government will stand in spite of sin, and that we may be restored to perfect harmony with God and swell with him.
Romans 7:12: “Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” What is the word of “just?” Righteousness. Now here is where the law comes in. He is holy. Now the law is righteous. He is righteous. The foundation of the government of God is righteousness and holiness. Now we come to the question of the relation of the law to this matter. We find he is righteous—that is, the child Jesus—the righteous One, his holy One. Now the law is holy. The law is righteous.
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Ex. 19:5,6: “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
Now this was the Old Covenant. This was a covenant of loyalty, as shown by obeying the law. That portion of it is all right. The question is what did that covenant of loyalty involve. It contains the record of the giving of the ten commandments. Then what would loyalty mean? Conformity to that law. And it is that law that is holy and righteous and spiritual—not simply as a code. It involves our loyalty to God. And our covenant is simply a covenant of loyalty. And our loyalty will be revealed in our conformity to that law which is the very expression of the being of God—holy, righteous and spiritual.
Psalms 119:142, 151, 172 “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth…Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth…My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.”
What I want to call attention to is that the person of Christ and the law are spoken of in the same terms. The commandments are righteousness—the commandments are truth. Now this is dealing with the law, not simply as a word but as the very expression of his being in the person of his Son. And this is the only way he can be such to us.
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Romans 8:3 “For 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.” (second verse also) “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Now the law must become the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, for the law is righteous as he is righteous, and the law is truth as he is truth. So it becomes personal. We deal with the law in Christ as a personal expression, not simply an expression in words.
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Brother Lacey spoke about emphasis in reading. Contrast this between the person and the sacrifice. “Lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” “I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness.” This is the gospel of righteousness by faith. The good tidings of righteousness. I have not his that righteousness within my heart, I have let it out. I have declared thy faithfulness and salvation by being that. I have not concealed thy loving kindness. I am the truth. I am come for what purpose? The ceremonies don’t avail for the things. No outward act can avail. I am come. In the volume of the book it is written of me. A person is the center of it. I have presented righteousness in the great congregation. I have not refrained my lips. I made known thy truth by being that. I, the person.
Hebrews 10:4-9: “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh in to the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”
What is the first? Sacrifice and offering. What is the second? The Lord himself.
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It is the whole question of the difference between outward things and the person. Isn’t that clear? The Psalm is quoted here in Hebrews. You will notice quite a difference in the reading, but I do not want to dwell on that now. I wanted to call attention to the fact that in the Psalms and in the Hebrews the contrast is between outward forms, ceremonies, things that man can do, and the person. I am come. It is when we know the person that we are able to establish the fact by doing the will of God. If we don’t know the person, we are simply back under forms and ceremonies, something outward. The thing of importance is doing the will of God apart from that system of ceremonies, just as was prophesied in the Psalms, spoken of in Hebrews as the fulfillment, and has great force where it comes in the epistles. That will begin to emphasize to us the fact that I am trying to bring out, and that is that all doctrine must be personality, and that we must deal with a person and not with abstract ideas about a person.
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W.T.KNOX: I would like to ask Professor Prescott a question. I am
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sorry I was not here this morning, but I conclude from what he has said this afternoon that he has brought us up to the place in his study where the law of God is written in the heart individually. That is one way of speaking of perfection of character. There was a time when it was the nature of man to reveal the character of God. There came another time when it became the nature of man to reveal Satan. We are taught by the Scriptures and by the gift of prophecy, that the time will eventually come when it will become the second nature of man to do the will of God; and I suppose that has been brought out in Professor Prescott’s lesson. I would apprehend that in his lesson he showed of course the work of the Spirit of God, and I would like to ask how that is to be accomplished. Is it by the constant, daily work of the Spirit of God that he is doing for us now? Is it through the daily development of character that each of us must be engaged in either for God, or is it by some special operation that the Spirit of God is to perform for us in that great outpouring to which we all look forward?
W.W.PRESCOTT: You mean the latter rain, Brother Knox?
W.T.KNOX: I understand that before God takes us over into the kingdom by translation, that is, those who will be translated, they will come to the place where it will be their nature to do righteousness, not that temptation cannot be presented, but they will come to the place where they will say, “Thy law is within my heart. I delight to do thy will.”
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W.W.PRESCOTT: I would ask what power is available at any time in the future which is not available now for any work of grace? What power is available that is not available now? What about looking forward to a time when we shall thus be transformed; when is that time? Is there a sort of definite time for which we must wait, to look forward to before there must be the fullness of revelation of character of God in the individual? Will there be any change in God’s arrangement or plan to accomplish his purpose in us?
I suppose we are to distinguish between justification and sanctification. Justification—just as soon as one accepts really the good news concerning the Son of God for what it means, just as soon as he accepts that good news from God’s standpoint, God looks upon him in a different way, treats him in a different way. He then is looked upon, dealt with, is one in Christ, and then what God affirms concerning his Son he counts concerning those who are in His Son, and He is well pleased with us, not because of our perfection, but because of the perfection in Christ, and we are hidden in Him, and we become members of his body, and he treats us as he treats his Son, and looks upon us in his Son. That to me is the key to the explanation of what is said in the epistles of Paul, and is repeated so many times in the Ephesians. That experience comes by our accepting the good news concerning his Son. We are studying that good
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news. The good news concerning his Son is first, that he is God manifested in the flesh; 2. that he died for our sins; 3. that he was raised form the dead; 4. that he ascended into heaven; 5. that he is our High Priest in heaven; 6. he will come again.
Now these facts are involved in the good news concerning his Son, but they are to be more than historic facts; it is the interpretation of these facts in their relation to us that constitutes for us the good news, so that they shall not be simply matters of fact about a person who lived and died and rose again. You will remember when that case came before the Roman ruler, he said he was surprised at what they were disputing about; we find it in the 25th chapter of Acts. This is what Festus is explaining to Agrippa about the case of Paul concerning “whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed: but had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.” The simple question as he looked at it here is, the man was dead, but Paul’s anxiety was that He was alive; that was the vital point in it, that he lived, and died, and arose, and will liver forever more.
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Now it is these facts and our relation to these facts, that puts us on a solid foundation with the gospel. We are looked upon and counted righteous in Him. The problem of the Christian is that that shall become fact in him. Whether that is a sudden experience or a growth. I think it is a growth.
KNOX: In other words, that is something that we are not to expect to be accomplished by and by, for us, but is to be a daily struggle for us to attain it.
PRESCOTT: Yes, I think we can use that word, and yet there was with me for a long time a misapprehension as to what it meant by the struggle to attain it. We can use that, but I don’t think I comprehended it rightly for a long time. I think the struggle is not so much in our effort to conform our lives to a certain pattern that is set before us in the ordinary sense of the word; that is, Christ must be more than an idea. He is an idea and an example, but must be more than that to us, else we shall fail in our effort to reveal that example. The struggle that comes, as I have come to look upon it, is the struggle of submission which is bound up in fiath. It is the good fight of faith. When we know what the word “faith” really means, it involves absolute surrender to the will and means the absolute submission to another life. The struggle is between those two, whether the old nature shall be revealed or be held in absolute abeyance; crucified; dead, and the new life reveal itself. Faith is more than the word; belief is more than the idea of assenting that something is true. When we take the Scriptural meaning, there can be no faith without submission; self-surrender. Faith involves the whole idea of death and the acceptance of the new life and submission to that life constantly. That is intelligent faith, not blind submission. WE learn how to do that through the Word;
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learn more and more how we are hindering that life and how to take hindrances out of the way. We differ from inanimate creations. We have the choice constantly before us and can exercise the will and say no to God himself.
BOLLMAN: Then it is not so much living according to certain rules, but yielding according to a life to be reproduced in us.
PRESCOTT: Yes. Then why do we have so many instructions as to how to live? Take in Ephesians, you will notice after he has told of that fullness of revelation and power, he turns right around and applies it in actual experience. Do not walk as the Gentiles, who walk in the darkness of men in the blindness of their hearts. This means that as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.
We are taught these specific, definite things in order that we shall not allow those things to hinder the revelation of this life. We are not to be hindering but to be in fellowship with this life. It is not our business to hinder that life. If that life is manifested in us as it is in Christ and in His body, we shall reveal that same character, and these specific things teach us what it means to love. There is one word involving our whole experience. Love is the expression of the law. God is love. If one believes the law as God means the law in its fullest spiritual sense, he is revealing the character of God. But after man became blind and had gotten away from God, it became necessary to tell him specifically how to love, and what it means.
I have a mental picture of it as to love and law. Law is L-A-W, love’s active way. Love is Him L-O-V-E, law obeyed voluntarily eternally. Before man sinned and his mind was
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darkened, he could love in accordance with all those specific precepts and would reveal it just that way, but now that his mind is darkened, he has to be told how that love will reveal itself, and then if there is any tendency to reveal itself contrary to that way, the love must disregard it and have some power that will check that and allow the other love to reveal itself in that channel.