6. Meditation: Chapter 5. The Full Gospel Is The Excellent Son Of God

Chapter 5

The Full Gospel Is The Excellent Son Of God

John 3

Nicodemus

Here Nicodemus represents an important principle that our old natural man have no faculty for understanding any spiritual matters. We are Nicodemus by nature, having our own best religious conceptions, good upbringings and well fame etc in the Christianity, but these are not the guarantee of perceiving the God’s things in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).The cross will always cut our proud flesh down unto the zero point where we have to admit painfully that we are the most foolish people in realm of spiritual things. And we will cry out humbly: Oh! Lord! I know nothing about You! Oh! Son of David! Please have mercy upon me and open my eyes! So that we gradually know that every inch of measure of true knowledge of Lord Himself must be obtained by the work of revelation of Holy Spirit alone (through His words). 

Furthermore by the salvation of cross we has already entered into a very wide, vast, ample and infinite sphere (in Christ) where everything (from beginning to end) is so new, unfamiliar and strange that we could no longer know them according to flesh because they are tremendously beyond our measure. And we have to be converted and become as little children to learn each lesson in school of Christ. O depth of riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable his ways!

The apostle Paul at the end of his life once said: Not that I have already obtained, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if also I may get possession, seeing that also I have been taken possession of by Christ.Brethren, I do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing - forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, towards goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14, Darby’s Bible Version). What do these three verses mean? Such a Paul already wrote his several epistles which are the major part of new testament, and travelled over numerous places for the sake of gospel, and experienced countless hardships and persecutions, and combated many good combats. No one has more qualifications for retirement than he. But Paul seemingly said: what I had obtained now is as if nothing when I behold the fulness of God in Christ, and my portion is to pursue after Him positively and earnestly. May such a divine discontent also work in us violently! May the Lord draw us, so that we will run after Him!

Be Born Again Is A Heavenly Matter

There are at least four bible translators (Robert Young, H. C. G. Moule, James Moffatt, J. B. Rotherham) whose bible translation as to be born again is “be born from above”, and that is more correct translation in the light of whole bible. Before we begin to meditate on the deeper meaning of “be born from above”, let us bear in mind a simple spiritual law: every fresh beginning of God’s action always contains all the necessary essences for continual development unto fulness in the end. Just like a small seed contains all the factors of life for continual growth unto the grown big tree. 

When we believed on the crucified Christ as our saviour and accepted the baptism, we became God’s children and had eternal life. That was the beginning of our Christian life. Meanwhile in the sight of our heavenly Father, we were born from above and owned His heavenly life (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22-23; Matthew 5:48). This heavenly life contains a kind of magnetic force to draw our entire being upward. And we will find that this force becomes more and more dominant in our being. Gradually we feel that the earthly things or joy are disfigured by heavenly joy and glory in Christ. Moreover this heavenly life would generate a mighty hunger which propels us drastically to pursue after heavenly things. And we would not be allowed to settle down unless we find the fresh supply from God to satisfy our hunger. The normal Christian life should be a spiritual and heavenly journey or progress, not a standstill. The right direction is forward and upward.

On the other hand, if we follow Jesus earnestly, we will discover that there are some obstacles and hindrances which cause us paralysed in this great journey. Frankly speaking, we are so earthbound! Do we remember the story of Abraham and Lot in Genesis? There is really an earthly Lot just dwells in our old natural man. However, blessed be our Lord! The omnipotent God determined that we will be transformed and conformed to the image of His heavenly Son (John 3:13, 31) by the work of cross. That is His great mercy! The Holy Spirit would continuously use the cross to cut off every kind of earthly bondage from us so that we could be freeman in heavenly way. But that is a process filled with tests and crucibles! Think about the spiritual history of Abraham for a moment. His is not easy! God sovereignly made use of each trial to mold Abraham into a man of heavenly measure and character.

The blue is symbol of heaven (Numbers 15:38-39). We should remember that Christians are the Abraham heavenly descendants, the sojourners and strangers in this world, and our headquarters is located in heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 11:13-16; 12:22-23). A wonderful old hymn could be our reminder:

This world is not my home I'm just a passing thru,

My treasures are laid up some where beyond the blue;

The angels beckon me from heaven's open door,

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

  (An excerpt from verse 1 of “This World Is Not My Home”)

   

   Revelation 21:2: And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The consummation of full growth of heavenly life is a beautiful bride - the glorious assembly (church). We will be adorned with the heavenly glory of our Bridegroom. That is our glorious destiny!

The Revelation From John The Baptist

John the Baptist was the bridge between the old and new testaments. He was in the transition of these two epochs. His ministry brought forth the first coming of Christ. Today we are also in the transition of the two important dispensations - the epoch of grace, and the second advent of Christ. Our ministry in the end-time should also hasten Christ’s second coming. Therefore we could learn many precious lessons from John the Baptist for our present and special hour. 

Here John the Baptist speaks forth a spiritual principle that God’s movement in the last days will be Christ-centered, and the Holy Spirit will reveal us (by the bible) more and more the absolute sovereignty and supremacy of Son of God in God’s eternal will, and the cross will be used as the means to intensify the measure of Christ in the assembly. 

In the past four hundred years of church history, numerous spiritual heros, leaders, pastors etc are greatly used by the Lord in His revival movements. They occupied the very important position in the work of Lord, and produced many spiritual influences upon us until now. Blessed be our Lord! We thank God for their faithful ministry! However, in the end-time, the Holy Spirit has only one object in view, and that object is to magnify and exalt Christ, the Son of God, alone. We could no longer boast in any men, but he that boasts, let him boast in the Lord. The Peter in the mountain of transfiguration wanted to classify the Moses and Elijah as the beloved Son. The Son of God is the matchless Christ (Isaiah 40:25). In the presence of Him, we should see no one but Jesus alone. For Christ and His words are enough for us. He is our portion and inheritance (Numbers 18:20). If we lose or miss the Son of God, we forfeit everything. Let Christ be our all in all!