4. LIFE, LIGHT, LAMB . . . AND THE LOGOS

ISSN 0888-8513          Vol. 1, No. 1

It is quite in keeping with all this that in the passage before us also he gives such a turn to his exhortation as to gather up in it the gist of the whole preceding chapter in which the nature and possibility of a life of faith had been exemplified from the sacred history of the Old Covenant. The personal appeal he makes to his readers is contained in the words: "Let us run with patience the race set before us." The figure is a familiar one quite common especially in the epistles of Paul and one which would easily suggest itself to a writer who came at all in contact with the pagan athletic life of the times. And the figure was strikingly apposite to the religious situation of that time. In these early days, Christianity bore a most strenuous character; internal and external causes combined to impose upon its adherents the straining of every nerve in order to maintain their faith. To be an active, aggressive believer was more than ever essential because not to be so exposed [one] more than ever to the danger of ceasing to be a Christian at all. Still there were probably special reasons why the representation of Christianity as a race to be run was extremely appropriate under the conditions of the readers to which the writer

In the second place, these Hebrew Christians seem to have been abnormally restive under the certain trials and afflictions and persecutions that had befallen them. In the midst of these, they had failed to develop that Christian fortitude and heroism which on the whole were so characteristic of the early church in the subapostolic period. For these two reasons, it was peculiarly appropriate that the author clothe his exhortation to them in the athletic figure of the racecourse which contains the central thought of the passage. The way in which he introduces the figure and the motives which he advances for its enforcement enable us to trace to some extent the situation which it was intended to meet. Let us for a few moments look at the figure and what its implications are.

Old Testament Saints

In the first place, the writer exhorts his readers to the exercise of an energetic Christian faith by pointing them to the example of the Old Testament saints which he had depicted for them in the preceding chapter: "Having therefore so great a cloud of witnesses lying around us, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race set before us." We shall get somewhat closer to the author's meaning by observing the intimate connection in which these words stand with the

upon us when we imagine them as holding us in survey.

The next important point of comparison when the author represents the Christian life as a race to be run lies in this: its whole character ought to be prospective; everything in it ought to be determined by the thought of the future. It is a race to which the inheritance of the final kingdom of God forms the goal. Just as one who is in the racecourse running for a prize makes the attainment of this end his supreme–his only concern–so the true believer obeys but the fundamental law of his Christian calling when he concentrates his mind and energy upon the future. This is the reason why the author in the 40th verse of the 11th chapter emphasizes that the fathers received not the promise. For although this on the one hand implies that we have an advantage over them inasmuch as we have at least a partial possession of the promise already in this life, whence it is added that God had provided something better concerning us; yet on the other hand it is obviously the writer's intention to remind the readers of the resemblance which their life ought to bear in this respect to that of the Old Testament saints. They were not to be made perfect without us. We had first to join them in their looking forward to, in their reaching out after the world to come before this world could actually appear. We and they form one great assembly of believers, animated by the same thought, inspired by the same vision of the ideal life–the ideal kingdom. From this point of view the survey of Old Testament history which the author had made was peculiarly adapted to put the Hebrew Christians in the frame of mind required in those who are to run a spiritual race. The Old Testament was preeminently a prospective period, a period of anticipation, a period in which the believer was reminded at every step of something higher and better yet to appear. Enoch and Moses and Abraham and all the prophets bore witness by their whole manner of life that they appreciated this, that the present was to them something provisional.

Now just as it would have been a grave defect in them if they had lost sight of this fact and had been reconciled to these Old Testament conditions as final and adequate (sufficient), just as truly it will

Perhaps the author had specifically in mind the entanglement of the Hebrew Christians in the ceremonial forms of the Old Testament religion and regarded these as a weight dragging them down, so that they could not rise to a truly spiritual apprehension and appreciation of the heavenly realities in which Christ ministers at the right hand of God. But whether this be so or not, at any rate the words admit of a more general application in which they have their significance for every believer. We may say that the things here called "weights" embrace everything that might in any sense turn away the heart from the pursuit of heaven even though these things might in the abstract be unobjectionable or even comely. It should be remarked, however, that properly speaking, not the innocent associations or engagements with the earthly life as such constitute the weight, for that would be equivalent to saying that we must adopt the principle of monasticism.

Laying Aside Sin

But while such weights must be laid aside because they hinder the believer in running well and involve a temptation to falling, even more resolute should the Christian's attitude be towards sin as such. You will observe how the author singles this out from the general category of weights, perhaps distinguishes it as a separate category from the latter: "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us." Sin requires special, radical treatment; it must, as he says immediately afterwards, be resisted unto blood. Here again the author may have had in mind that specific sin which the Hebrew Christians were in eminent danger of committing, if some of them had not committed it already, i.e., the sin of open unbelief in the Gospel and the God of the Gospels as a consequent relapse into Judaism or into something worse than Judaism–a state of rebellion against God as such. In several passages of the epistle at least the word sin occurs with this specific connotation. Nevertheless here also the words admit of a more general exegesis. What the author says of sin is true generically of every form of sin, viz., that it must be laid aside, if the believer is to run his race with alacrity and success. Sin from the nature of the case interposes a barrier between us and the goal of our Christian striving. It not merely prevents further progress, but it throws him who commits it back to a position less advanced than

Moreover sin finds such ample opportunities for barring our way of access to God and the higher world. For this reason the author characterizes it as the sin "that doth easily beset us," a statement not intended to refer to any particular form of sin, as we might be led to think from the analogy of our phrase "a besetting sin," but applying to sin generically. It is for sin an easy thing to approach us; we always carry it with us; it runs, as it were, the race with us; it is at the same time the most dangerous and the most ubiquitous of our spiritual foes. Thus the characterization of sin as that which easily besets us is meant to suggest to the readers the most powerful motive for laying it aside, for breaking with it utterly, while they bend all their energies to the race of sanctification. This is an enemy with whom no compromise should be made. Every sin which we allow to stay with us may at any moment become an occasion of falling to us. What is demanded therefore is a positive and aggressive attitude towards sin. We must not merely resist it, but lay it aside–in dependence upon the grace of God, cut ourselves loose from it. Sanctification ought to be to every child of God not a desultory matter, but an intelligent systematic pursuit.

Running with Patience

The next point upon which the passage throws emphasis is that the Christian race must be run with patience. Patience in this connection means more than perseverance, persistence; it describes the endurance of what is hard and painful. As in the figure, the striving after the prize exposes to hardship; and as in order to success, this

The manner in which patience becomes subservient to the attainment of the prize can be variously conceived of. In the case of Jesus, of whom the author speaks in the immediately following statement, there was a direct meritorious connection. What he endured in the race of his earthly life became the legal ground on which God based the bestowal upon him of all the glory and blessedness of his exalted state. The joy he received was the natural reward for the cross endured and the shame despised. It is not possible, of course, and the author does not mean to transfer this connection in the same sense to the case of the believer. No amount of patience displayed by us in our earthly trials and afflictions can give us the least semblance of a claim upon the glory that awaits us at the end. And yet the author clearly so represents it that there is if not a meritorious, yet a reasonable, logical nexus between the one and the other. As a broad supposition this view underlies everything said in the preceding chapter about the heroic conduct in suffering of the Old Testament saints. The principle on which these were crowned was a principle of free grace, but on that account it was not arbitrarily applied.

The reason will appear if we remember that in the first place these trials are endured for the sake of and in obedience to God; and

And in the second place the Christian virtue of patience is something that can spring only from true vital connection with the spiritual heavenly world. It is something entirely different from stoical apathy or resignation. If the Christian patiently endures, it is because he sees the invisible; because there is a counter-power, a counter-principle at work in his life which more than offsets by the joy it creates, the pain of tribulation. This is naught else but the power of the spiritual, heavenly world itself to which through faith he has access. Although in one sense the inheritance of this world lies yet in the future, yet in another sense it has already begun to be in principle realized and become ours in actual possession. The two spheres of the earthly and the heavenly life do not lie one above the other without touching at any point; heaven with its gifts and powers and joys descends into our earthly experience like the headlands of a great and marvelous continent projecting into the ocean.

Now it is the secret enjoyment of a real communion with this celestial sphere that is the source from which all Christian patience is fed, without which it could not exist itself for a moment. In point of fact, brethren, patience–negative as the conception may super-

ficially appear to us–is in its Christian sense a most positive thing; at least it is the manifestation of a most positive thing, the manifestation of the supernatural energy that works in faith itself. The heavenly world is to the believer what the earth was to the giant in ancient mythology; so long as he remains in contact with it, an unintermittent stream of new spiritual power flows into his frame. Is it strange that patience thus engendered should become, under God's appointment, the great prerequisite and in a certain sense the measure of reward at the end of the race? In the example of Christ which the author holds up before his readers, we can most clearly observe the manner of working of the principle in question because he was the Leader and Perfector of faith, the ideal believer, and therefore the ideal pattern of patience. What else enabled him to endure the cross and despise the shame, but that in faith undimmed he had his eye constantly fixed upon the joy that was set before him and in uninterrupted intercourse with the world of heaven received daily strength sufficient for the running of his race? The thought is the same as that expressed in the beautiful catena of Paul in Romans 5 with which I will conclude my remarks: "We rejoice in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience probation, and probation hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because (even in this present life already) the love of God (as the principle and earnest of eternal blessedness) is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given unto us" (Rom. 5:3-5).

Preached in the Chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary, April 6, 1902.

(The Vos sermon is transcribed from his personal sermon notebook deposited in the Heritage Hall Archive of Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan and is printed here with their kind permission. The editor has made minor changes in punctuation and added the subheadings.)

It is not as if the light has not shined. Magnificently, light has burst forth in the resurrection of Jesus. This light was like that which burst forth once before, at the very beginning of time. You see, the first day of the week of which John writes reminds us of that very first day in the very first week of creation. Now, as then, God performs a hidden work. At creation no one but God and his holy angels witnessed what took place. Who was there to hear the Almighty say, "Let there be light?" It is the same at the resurrection of Jesus. Here again is a hidden work and in it God brings to life this dark world's light.

You might think, however, that such a work, hidden as it is, has limited value and credibility. God sees things quite differently since it is this hidden act that focuses and proves our faith. Remember what is said about the original creation in another New Testament text. We are told, "By faith we understand that the world was made by the Word of God" (Heb. 11:3). As it was with that first creation, so it is with the new.

But there are other parallels. The testimony of God's original great act was set finally before his creatures–the man and the woman, our first parents–whom God made as the crown of his creating work. Unfortunately, we tend to think of Adam and Eve indiscriminately, as if they were featureless, as if they weren't the consequence of God's sovereign, electing, creating power and disposition. But why them? Why those particular bodies? those brains? those specific features? I am astounded that so many do not believe in God's predeterminative ordination, since you cannot get beyond the first chapter of Genesis without being confronted by it.

Here in the new creation there are once again chosen witnesses before whom the testimony of what God has done is displayed. In the first eighteen verses of John 20, we have three: Simon Peter, that special disciple known as the one whom Jesus loved and, most importantly, Mary Magdalene. We want to look at each in turn, but see them in keeping with the fact that John says, "and while it was still dark."

Jesus has been raised from the dead! The light has come for the nations, and yet John says, "while it was still dark." The three mentioned here then will be related to that darkness, our understanding of the darkness and our understanding and comprehension of the light.

Simon Peter

Simon Peter, called a rock by Christ, followed Jesus early on. You know of his admirable loyalty and fervor when others were deserting the Savior. Jesus asked the twelve if they would leave him too. It was Simon Peter who said, "To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life and we have believed and have come to know that you are the holy one of Israel" (John 6:68).

We also know of Peter's–how shall we call it?–proud humility, best expressed when he drew back from Christ's attempt to wash his feet. "You'll never wash my feet, Lord," he says, only to be ashamed by his Lord's rebuke to such an extent that he exclaimed that washing his feet would hardly be adequate: "Lord, not my feet but my head; no, all of me, please" (John 13:8,9). There is an ambivalence in Peter, a frailty overlaid with that bold boast–that bravado. "I will lay down my life for you, Lord," he says (John 13:37), only to have that remark answered by his cowardice. "Know him? I neither know him nor revere him."

Now before you are too hard on Peter, I want you to consider him in light of what John says in verse 1 of chapter 20. "While it was yet dark [even though the light has come] . . . . " To be fair to Peter, we must penetrate him at a much deeper level than is ordinarily done. You see, he is more than a solitary figure; he is more than just an individual man. He is that disciple who strikes us at one and the same time with his amazing resilience and even faithfulness, and then amazing bewilderment to the point of offensiveness. Understanding Peter for all that he is, we are compelled to see in this one man the deep agonizing struggle for all within Israel who

are longing for their Savior, but are frightened by the prospect that this Jesus might be the one. "Shall we follow Jesus as God's Messiah," they wonder, "Or should we hold back?"

In Peter, Israel is struggling with itself because, even among the faithful, the hope of that people is bound to so many things–things like the land, and this Messiah has said, "My kingdom is not of this world." To give up the land? Palestine? "I don't know if I can do it. It has been my life!" comes the response.

But other demands are made by this Messiah. He says that when he is lifted up, he will draw all men, all nations to himself. What then of the indigenous character and purity of the Jewish people? And what about the law? Some are saying, "I don't know what Jesus is doing with the law, but he certainly isn't handling it like our rabbis. It's as if he intends a transformation–a bewildering transformation of even the law. How can I give up what I have cherished most for the sake of this Jesus and his gospel?"

So, in the figure of Peter, we encounter a desperate struggle. Even though the sun has risen, it is still dark. Peter is faithful Israel overshadowed by ambivalence.

The Beloved Disciple

Now if Peter speaks to us about uncertainty and ambivalence in Israel, what might we say of the beloved disciple? How fresh he appears in the passage. He outruns Peter. He arrives first at the tomb. He looks in and, after giving place to Peter–certainly the older–he enters; and, we are told, he believed. If Peter is hesitant, uncertain and ambivalent Israel, then in this beloved disciple we find a picture of an almost naive confidence. Here is un-hesitancy, un-ambiguity.

As we have said, he arrived first at the tomb; as we have said, after seeing what Peter saw, he believed. But yet this one who is poised,

We learn then in these two men about the nature of the true Israel of God–those faithfully waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. In Peter, we have one holding on to the old, even when the new has come. In the beloved disciple, we have one quick, poised, ready to believe and obey, yet not knowing what to do. But both are stymied. They walk and grope in the darkness as yet. They both return to their homes, holding on to life in this world as if nothing had happened (John 20:10).

Mary Magdalene

A better grasp of the magnitude of this darkness awaits us in the figure of Mary Magdalene. She will not merely take us back into the heart of Israel, to the foundation of the nation. She takes us back to the very foundation of the earth; in her we are confronted with the depth and severity of the darkness. So great is this darkness that, to be sure, apart from God's sovereign and gracious mercy, it envelopes Israel's best. But even more, it is as ominous as the kingdom of darkness and as terrifying as that kingdom's dark prince. Its history is as old as Genesis 3, as ancient as the Garden of Eden. It was Eve's seductive intruder, but it has been Mary's and humanity's life-long companion.

And now Mary, as a latter-day Eve, is brought in John 20 to a garden. If in that first garden man died, being disobedient as he was, in the second garden man is made alive. Bringing the woman into perspective–if in that first garden the woman succumbs, in the second she triumphs. If in the first garden the woman found no one–not even her husband–to stand in her place, to die for her in order that she might be reconciled to the light of the glorious knowledge of the true God, in the second she finds the resurrected Christ who

has not only offered himself up for her but now claims her by speaking her name. He elicits from her a sovereignly deposited affirmation: he is Rabboni, "teacher." No one else will instruct her in all the purposes of God. He it is then that perfectly remedies the deceit to which she originally fell prey.

The darkness once chased on creation's first day invaded the earth through sin, bringing with it its dreaded fruit–death. Even the best of Israel lived under the shadow of death. But now on the first day of the week in the new creation, darkness is chased again. The light shines in the darkness; the darkness will never be able to put it out. It is chased from the Israel of God; it is driven back from the borders of the nations, from those called of God as they are ministered unto by the resurrected teacher, Rabboni, the Lord Jesus Christ. He, the Word of God, brings light. All of us then with Mary must learn as she did from that teacher.

Notice how the darkness still grips her as she looks at Christ. At first she doesn't recognize him. Then she wants to hold onto him as if, in finding him, she has found a true husband, a new second Adam–as if she by holding him can bring to pass a new paradise here on earth. But his instruction to her, and through her to us, is that the paradise for which she and we long is not found in any garden of this creation, but rather is above with God, a place unthreatened by any darkness at all. And that is the place to which Christ presently ascends.

In him was life and that life was the light of men. With the instruction that he gives, based upon his resurrection, Jesus Christ chases darkness from the souls and the hearts of men who, till this time, have claimed the earth or vainly believed that the real objective of life is some kind of permanent residence in this world. It is not. His resurrection life brings to light all of the purposes of life itself and makes clear the reason why we are here. We are enlightened by him who has gone to prepare a place for us and will come again and receive us unto himself, that where he is we might be also.

In the new creation these witnesses are the eyes to our faith; they have seen the Lord. But we are by no means deprived; rather we who have not seen the Lord yet love him and believe in him are blessed by his presence in the Spirit. In the day in which the glories of heaven are revealed, we too will see the one upon whom we have fixed our hope. Without the faintest shadow to cloud our vision, we shall say at the new creation's consummation what Mary said at its beginning, "I have seen the Lord."

Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Sewickley, Pennsylvania

22

The unity of the context in which we find this verse may be grasped at a glance if we compare the cross of Jesus Christ to a knife and then to a sword. As a knife, the cross is God's instrument for dealing with the crucial problem of man's fallen nature. This is why Paul may compare the cross to the rite of circumcision. That rite was a cutting away of the flesh; as such, it was God's own illustration of his remedy for sin. Contrary to what the "philosophers" in Paul's day taught, sin could not be conquered by more education drawn from the source of man's wisdom. Instead, sin had to be radically removed by something like a surgical process and the cross was the

knife God used. In that cross, the sinful nature of man, which Paul calls "the body of flesh," was cut off and that operation was a total and complete success.

The Cross as a Sword

But the cross of Christ may also be compared to a sword by which God in Christ has conquered and disarmed his enemies. This second use of the cross is actually introduced in verse 10 when Paul says that Christ is the head over all rule and authority. It is the same rule and authority which he declares in verse 15 have been disarmed. The question is: who are these rulers and authorities and why is it necessary for us to know that they have been conquered?

Sometimes Paul adds other expressions when discussing these rulers. His full list includes "rule and authority and power and dominion." What he means by these titles is summed up in Ephesians 6:12: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." They are the forces of evil which rule this fallen world.

But when we put it this way, we tend to think of demonic or angelic powers and this seems removed from our modern way of thinking. In Paul's day, demons or angels may have been his primary reference. Perhaps he was "plugging into" the language of the gnostic philosophers and their beliefs about the powers which ruled the world. They may have believed that Christ was only one such power in a whole hierarchy of powers and they needed to understand the uniqueness of the Son of God as the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, the one in whom the fullness of deity dwelt in bodily form. Whether that was their position or not, Paul is not bound by their philosophy and uses "rulers and authorities" in a way which is applicable for every generation of believers. For him, the rulers may be identified with the consequences of man's fall into sin. In other

words, fallen man in a fallen world is under the rule of evil and the consequences of that evil.

The World Subjected to Vanity

To understand his point, we may begin with Romans 8:20 where the apostle says that God subjected the world to vanity. The meaning here is that the world seems useless and worthless because it is characterized by suffering and decay (vv. 18,21). This was not the way the world was created. It is the result of man's rebellion and sin. It is, in fact, the result of God's curse upon man and the world. Contrary to what some people may think, God is not surprised by the presence of disease, distress and death in the world, as if these things entered the world when he was not looking. Stated quite bluntly: death was God's idea. It was his idea in the sense that death was the covenant curse upon sin. It was God who warned man he would die if he disobeyed. It was God who sentenced man to return to the dust. It was God who subjected the world to vanity, to suffering and to decay because of man's sin.

Another way to say the same thing is that God sentenced man and his world to the rule and dominion of sin and death. In Romans, Paul alludes to sin as a ruler when he says "sin reigned in death" (5:21). He also says, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey" (Rom. 6:16)? His point is that sin and death have rule and authority and power and dominion over the fallen world. In I Corinthians 15:24,25, after stating that Christ will abolish all rule and authority, the apostle then identifies death as the last of those enemy powers.

When we hear this, we must not think that the rule of sin was simply imposed upon man against his will. Man, we remember, "presents" himself to this ruler. Having chosen sin, man's punishment from God was to receive exactly what he wanted. Here many

All this is the same point Paul made in Colossians 1:13 when he said we were in the domain of darkness. We were ruled by the forces of wickedness. To be exact, we were ruled by Satan himself. Having chosen Satan as our god-like ruler, it ought not to surprise us that he exercises his rule through the forces of wickedness. These forces have one chief characteristic or chief work to perform and we see that work spelled out in Romans 8:31-39. As the consequences of sin, they work suffering in order to separate us from God. Satan has always worked to separate. This was his work in the Garden of Eden and it has remained his work ever since. He who worked to separate man from God and consequently man from woman, man from his work and man from the earth itself, seeks to continue that separation. His forces of separation, his rulers and authorities and powers, manifest themselves as these: tribulation, distress, persecution, oppression, poverty, famine, nakedness, pain, tears, conflict, fear and ultimately death. Under these powers in a fallen world, Satan wants you to suffer and therefore shake your fist at God and feel alienated and separated from his holy love.

The Cross as Conquest

How shall these powers and authorities, these works of wickedness, be conquered? With what weapon does God overthrow them? The answer is in the cross of Jesus Christ. In the cross, we see the Son of God enduring the onslaught of the powers, doing battle with them by suffering under them and then triumphing over them. His cross is his sword by which he defeated them and hitched

In Christ, these forces have been stripped of their ability to separate us from God. Christ met Satan on Satan's own ground, as he always had, but nothing could break him. Deprived of the things we hold dear–wealth, family, health and finally human life itself–his theme continued to be, "I live by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God." "Thy will be done." He gave up everything to God the Father so that the powers had no power over him. How different it would have been if he had said, "I have come to be ministered unto, not to minister." Then the powers could have stripped him of glory and reputation against his will and made him question the love of God. But he had no such weakness. Everything had already been given to the Father.

And now by faith in Jesus Christ we die to those powers in his cross. We too crucify wealth, family, health and even life itself. Satan has nothing left in his arsenal to use against us. We have died to the forces of this age and have been raised up to new life in Christ. In that new life of resurrection strength, we too say, "Man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4). This is the conquest of the cross for all who believe: those things which Satan intended to separate us from God now only draw us closer to him. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Not distress, not disease, not even death itself. In Christ, death, which is the judgment of God against us all, now only draws us closer to him. The rulers and authorities of this age have been disarmed.

Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Asheville, North Carolina

Still further, the Prologue contains language in which the times turn the corner. The Prologue contains language which demarcates looking ahead from looking back. Moses looks ahead. The Law looks ahead. The tabernacle-temple looks ahead. The hovering glory-cloud–glory-cloud hovering over tent and stone–looks ahead. Receivers of the fulness look back. Logos tabernacles. Logos pitches his tent. Receivers of the fulness look back, for Logos dwells with us. Logos is Immanuel!

Logos unveils his glory. Logos reveals his glory. Receivers of the fullness behold the glory. Yes, receivers of the fullness possess the glory. Logos is glory incarnate!

Logos and New Creation

The advent of the Logos is the transition from the old to the new, from the former times to the last times. The advent of the Logos is the transition from old to new creation; the transition from Moses to one greater than Moses; the transition from the age of the prophets to the one of whom the prophets spoke. John's gospel is the record of the surpassing excellence of the gospel age as it unfolds relative to the age of the law and the prophets. How we ought to praise God daily that we live here in this gospel age realizing, grace and truth through Jesus Christ.

But why is a new creation necessary? because of the darkness; because of the death; because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. The created order is under the curse and men are lovers of the darkness; abiders in the realm of death; sons of the devil. So too were you and I by virtue of our union with the old man–the man of the former (fallen) creation.

But this Son of man; this man from above; this new man–this God-man–overcomes the darkness. "He who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). This new man–this God-man–is the death of death. "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes on me is passed out of death into life" (cf. John 11:25 and 5:24). This new man–this Son of God–becomes man that we who are men may become sons of God. "Beloved, now are we the children of God . . ." (I John 3:2).

The themes announced in the Prologue will be drawn out in the gospel. Again notice the themes from Moses and the law: a lamb from God–victim for the slaughter; Paschal victim–atoning victim–penal victim! In the Logos, "Behold the Lamb of God!" A serpent is lifted up; brazen deliverer from death–death with its fiery sting; a bronze serpent openly displayed. The Son of Man is lifted up, removing the sting from death, crushing the serpent as he hangs upon the tree. He climbs the tree openly triumphing over the serpentine principalities and powers who first convened at a tree to defeat the son of man.

This gospel recalls Moses and the manna–angel's food in the wilderness; bread for the Israel of God in the desert. But now the Bread of God comes down out of heaven; living Bread–Bread of Life! O Israel of God, eat, live, never die!

Moses writes, "A prophet from the midst of Israel will arise" (cf. Deut. 18:15). Moses testifies that the Lord will put his words in his mouth. This new Moses will speak the Word of God. With Moses, God spoke face to face on the mount. This one; this Logos: he is eternally before the face of the Father. He is the Word springing from the face of the Father. This one is the only begotten; the eternally Begotten! This Word–the Father's "uncreated birth!"

Logos and the Age of the Prophets

And the Old Testament prophets? Their testimony is summed up in the witness of the last one of their number. "Are you the Christ?" they asked him. John replied, "I am not the anointed one. I am not Messiah." The one whom the Spirit anoints; the one baptized with the Spirit; the one drenched with the Holy Ghost, he is the Christ. This one upon whom the Spirit of God rests, hear him! His Spirit is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and

might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (cf. Isa. 11:2). Not a bruised reed will he break, not a dimly burning wick will he quench (cf. Isa. 42:3); not one of those who mourn will he leave comfortless. "Not I," says John. This one–this one is the Son of God.

The Old Testament prophets? They speak of a great marriage feast. They speak of a day on which the Lord will betroth his Israel unto himself in faithfulness. They project a day on which the Lord will rejoice over his people as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. On that day the Lord will clothe her with garments of salvation. The Lord will cover her with robes of righteousness. The Husband of Israel will marry her unto himself in a covenant of everlasting love.

The last of the Old Testament prophets–John the Baptist–declares: the bridegroom has come for his bride. The friend of the bridegroom rejoices, for the voice of the bridegroom is the voice of love–love for his bride. The preparation is over; the making ready for this day is done; bride and groom have come to the wedding feast. The friend of the bridegroom withdraws (cf. John 3:29). Let the marriage begin!

John maps out other prophetic motifs. The eyes of the blind are opened (cf. John 9 with Isa. 35:5). The lame man leaps as an hart (cf. John 5 with Isa. 35:6). The dead are raised up (cf. John 11 with Isa. 26:19). The King of Israel comes riding on a donkey (cf. John 12 with Zech. 9:9). He has salvation and speaks peace unto the heathen. Yes, the heathen–Samaritans and Greeks–hear him gladly (John 4; 12:20). The spirit of grace is poured out upon the house of David. They look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn–mourn at the foot of the cross (cf. John 19:37). Indeed, the true Israel mourns at the foot of the cross.

The Logos and You

You have heard the Prologue of John's gospel. From creation to the prophets; from Moses and the law to John the Baptist: all bear witness to the Logos. He fills them full! Logos fulfills the Scriptures! John's focus is Christ; for Christ is the heart of the law and the prophets. "These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" (John 20:31).

How will you preach?–you who preach. Will you preach yourself: your experiences, your finesse, your program, your successes? John's focus is Christ. From beginning to end, from Prologue to Epilogue, John's focus is Christ Jesus.

How will you preach?–you who preach. Will you preach yourself: your personal anecdotes, your family incidents, your accomplishments? "Moses wrote of me," Jesus says (John 5:46). Moses preached Christ. Whom will you preach?

How will you preach?–you who preach. Will you preach yourself? "We have found him of whom . . . the prophets wrote," cries Philip (John 1:45). The prophets preached Christ. Whom will you preach?

How will you preach?–you who preach. Will you preach yourself? "He must increase, but I must decrease," says John the Baptist (John 3:30). The Baptist preached Christ. Whom will you preach?

The final scene in John's gospel finds Peter before Jesus (John 21:15-17). "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me . . . ?" "Yea, Lord: thou knowest that I love thee." "Feed my lambs." The Good Shepherd says, "Feed my sheep." Feed them from the streams of living water; feed them on the meat that never perishes; feed them on the bread which will cause them to hunger no more. You undershepherds of the Lamb, feed his lambs.

What will you possess?–you who stretch forth your hands. John's gospel invites you to possess life. There is no more death for you in him.

What will you receive?–you who reach out in faith. John's gospel assures you of sonship. There is no more illegitimacy for you in him. Rather he delights in naming you sons and daughters of God.

When you believe the witness of John, you possess the Lamb of God; Living Water; the Good Shepherd; the Son of God.

You are part of a cosmic drama–a new creation! You have turned the corner of the ages. The Prologue of John's gospel is yours–the Logos is yours!

Westminster Theological Seminary
Escondido, California

36

In the gospel according to Matthew, the writer's purpose is to press the question, "Who is Jesus of Nazareth?" "Who is Jesus?" is the great question to be decided in the courtroom of God's covenant lawsuit against his people Israel. It is this question which will be prosecuted against the Jewish nation. Jesus himself says, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations and then the end shall come" (Mt. 24:14). The desolation of the temple and the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70 are the result of covenant wrath fallen upon the nation of Israel because of their rejection of the gospel. It is the prosecution of this covenant

In his gospel, Matthew is especially concerned for his own countrymen before time runs out for the Jewish nation. He longs for them to see in Jesus of Nazareth the long-promised, the long-awaited deliverer and King of Israel. Matthew wants his readers to see Jesus so as to recognize him and receive him by faith and, as a result, to find life in his name. Matthew longs for his people to join Mary and Joseph and the pagan wisemen from the east. He yearns for them to recognize Jesus as the Christ and believe in him and thus join the ranks of all those who, like Peter and the disciples, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt. 16:16).

For Matthew, the evidence in this court case was abundant. The evidence was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. This evidence could not be received on the basis of appearance however; it had to be received on the basis of faith. The failure of the Jews to recognize Jesus was not because there were no signs. It was not because the Jews were unprepared to receive them or were uninformed. The failure was due to the fact that they had their own ideas about what those signs would look like when they came. When the wisemen inquired into the birth of the King of the Jews, the chief priests and scribes knew the answer. They knew the Micah prophecy, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet" (Mt. 2:5). But for the birth of the King of the Jews to occur without their knowledge was unthinkable. After all, they were the aristocrats of Israel for whom the coming of the Messiah would be payment for their righteousness in keeping the law. That the Messiah might be born and they be left

Peter's classic confession of Jesus as the Christ comes when others are uncertain about Jesus' identity. Jesus the Messiah, who will save his people from their sins, is not recognized and received by sight, but only by faith. "Blessed are you Peter, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Mt. 16.17).

The Church's Position

The position of John the Baptist is strategic for the Jews in order that they might recognize Jesus as the Messiah. In Matthew 3, the author records another sign by which Jesus' true identity might be understood. The Jewish nation was well aware of the prophecies that the promised deliverer-King would be preceded by the promised herald. In Matthew 3:1, the evangelist introduces John the Baptist. "Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea . . . . " The word "preaching" means to proclaim as a herald. The herald's job was to announce the arrival of the king and to make sure everything was in readiness to receive him when he came. His job was to prepare everyone and to focus everyone's attention upon the coming king. The Old Testament promised that when the Christ came, he would be preceded by the herald. The Jews were well aware of these prophecies. The last book of the Old Testament speaks about the herald and the coming of the Lord. Malachi states that there will be a final appearance of two messengers of the covenant (the "my messenger" and the "messenger of the covenant" in Malachi 3:1). These two messengers will deliver an ultimatum to Israel. An ultimatum is a final message and warning that time has run out and that judgment is about to come. John the Baptist refers to this ultimatum when he says to the Pharisees and Sadducees that "the axe is already

The Jews were well acquainted with the promise of the herald who will precede the coming of the Lord. It is clear from the gospels that public opinion in Israel was seeking to discern the identities of John and Jesus. Is John the Messiah? Is Jesus Elijah or a prophet? In the gospel of John, the people ask the Baptist, "Are you the Christ?" John answers, "I am not the Christ" (John 1:20). They ask him if he is Elijah (the forerunner) and John's answer takes us by surprise. He says, "No" (John 1:21). What do we make of this, especially in light of Matthew 11:14 where Jesus explicitly calls John, Elijah?

In John 1, John the Baptist is denying that he is Elijah in the sense held by the Jewish expectation. The Jews expected the prophet Elijah, who never died but was taken directly to heaven, to reappear. John denies being Elijah in that sense. He affirms however that he is the herald, the forerunner that was prophesied. "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord" (John 1:23).

Matthew directs his Jewish countrymen to the long-promised and long-awaited Messiah. The promised Messiah would be preceded by the promised herald. In Matthew 3:3, the apostle quotes Isaiah 40, one of the great scripture passages dealing with Messianic hope and expectation. The passage announces the end of Israe1's bondage and captivity in Babylon. But beyond Babylon, it also foretells Israel's liberation from their deepest need, their deepest slavery: namely liberation from sin and death. The accomplishment of God's redemption of his people is preceded by the announcement of it. "A voice call-

Throughout this New Testament age, the coming of Jesus and the great kingdom of salvation that he brings continues to be heralded in the preaching of the gospel. The church now stands in the position of the herald. The Lord Jesus is coming again in a final demonstration of salvation and judgment and it is the preaching of the cross that alone heralds his coming. If anyone in this age is to come to know Christ and the gift of God's grace revealed in him for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life, they must come to that knowledge by means of the proclamation of the gospel. It is this proclamation of the gospel which is the only sign that is given by which men might believe in him. The preaching of the death and resurrection of Christ is the sign to our whole age whereby men might recognize and receive Jesus as the Christ and find life in his name.

As the church of Christ, let us give ourselves diligently and wholeheartedly to this task of proclamation. Let Christ–and him crucified and risen–be lifted up as a signal to the nations, a rallying point seen all over the world, to which people from every tongue, tribe and nation will be gathered. Let Christ–and him crucified and risen–be lifted up for all to see as the sign of the coming of the Kingdom of God.

The Church's Project

The church is in the position of the herald to proclaim the coming of the Lord. It has before it a challenging project. It is not coincidental that both the ministry of John and the ministry of our Savior begin

In the Old Testament, when Israel was captive in a foreign land, under the oppression of an enemy and shamed by them, Israel was experiencing, in those times, the covenant wrath of God. Because of their departure from the covenant, they were exiled from the land and held captive by foreign nations. They were abandoned and they are pictured as those who languish in a wilderness. They have been cast out of the garden, the land flowing with milk and honey, the place where there is communion and fellowship with God.

It is to those who sit in the wilderness that deliverance comes. When John and Jesus come on the scene to announce God's salvation, they inaugurate their ministries by rising up out of the wilderness–the symbol of captivity and abandonment of the Jewish nation. Just as Moses appeared out of the Sinai wilderness to captive Israel in Egypt to deliver them from their captivity, so also Christ's public ministry is inaugurated from out of the wilderness, to lead God's people out of their bondage to sin and Satan, and into a life of blessing and glory. Later in Israel's history, the prophet Elijah comes across the Jordan River from out of the wilderness where he had been hiding. He comes to Israel which had been turned into a desert by a three-year drought. He comes to lead the people out of their captivity to Baal worship. After the prophets of Baal were slain, it rained again in Israel and the land experienced redemption and the renewal of life. It was Moses and Elijah who appeared with our Lord when he was transformed on the mountain in the presence of Peter, James and John. In Luke 9:31, we are told that they spoke together of the "departure" or the "exodus" that he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Moses

And so it is that the heralding of the gospel takes place in the wilderness. It takes place in a land which is barren in terms of fruitfulness to God. The church has its existence for now in the midst of the wilderness. We minister among the nations of the earth, among people and cultures that sit in darkness and the shadow of death. The work of the church is therefore difficult. We know how difficult it is to get anything to grow and come alive in a desert. But we are encouraged by the understanding that God's redemptive purpose specializes in turning deserts into fruitful places of worship and service to him. It is God who can make the desert blossom, who can also turn the wilderness of our hearts and lives into fruitful service to himself. The mighty power of God can make what is dead alive. God will come again in his Son Christ Jesus through the wilderness of this world and someday make a whole new creation that blossoms in a rich harvest to him.

Though the church finds itself with a difficult project, we have the promise of God. The desert will bloom again by virtue of the outpouring of God's Spirit. In fact, it already has. The Spirit has been poured out, the new creation is already underway in the church which offers the fruitfulness of its worship and service to God throughout the age and until Jesus comes again.

The Church's Privilege

The ministry of John the Baptist helps us to see the way in which

In their history, the Jews knew that the periods of their slavery and captivity were periods of indignation. God's righteous anger had fallen upon them on account of their disobedience. Israel knows that when they are captives of another nation, it is due to their unfaithfulness in the covenant and that they are being punished. Furthermore, it was understood that what paved the way of the Lord's coming to deliver them from their bondage was repentance; their crying out to God in the fiery furnace of their affliction; their confession of their sin and turning to rest and trust in him.

We remember Daniel's prayer from Babylon recorded in Daniel 9. The Jews are in exile and Daniel, from his reading of the prophet Jeremiah, understands that the 70 years of exile must be about over. Daniel 9 records the prayer Daniel offers as a result. It is a prayer of confession of sin and repentance on behalf of the nation. We read in verse 20, "Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel . . . came to me . . . ." It is in conjunction with Daniel's prayer of repentance and confession of sin that Gabriel appears with the message of deliverance from the exile. Repentance is the path unrolled in the wilderness over which the Lord will come in deliverance.

John the Baptist is the promised herald who prepares the way of the Lord by calling for repentance. He proclaims, "Repent for the

This repentance must be genuine and accompanied by the demonstration that our lives have changed. We read in Matthew 3:5,6 that "Jerusalem was going out to the Jordan and that they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sin." In verse seven however, we read that the Pharisees and Sadducees were also coming to him to be baptized. These were the aristocrats of Israel, the people with circumcision in their flesh and with Abraham's true blood in their veins. They were the people who were ready to break their bodies and shed their blood to give heaven a little peace. But they were the people who were unwilling to recognize and receive heaven's peace–the peace of Christ's body broken for them and his blood shed for them. Since they are unwilling to humble themselves, their desire for baptism is nothing but a pretense of virtue while at bottom nothing would ever change in their lives. Therefore, "when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with your repentance" (Mt. 3:7,8).

The day of the Lord is a great and terrible day. For those who genuinely repent, whose confession of sin is adorned with fruitfulness of life to God, it is the day of salvation. For those whose baptism is a sham, who in baptism confess that the old man has died and the new man has come alive, and yet nothing really changes, it is a day of wrath and vengeance. John the Baptist refers to this sifting and sorting out of the genuine and the false, the wheat and the tares in

Always remember that the call to fruitfulness is not a contradiction of grace, but rather a confirmation of it. Fruit does not call attention to itself as the basis of its life. It doesn't produce itself. Fruit is the result of a good tree, good soil and a wise and skillful gardener. If the wilderness of our lives and of the world we live in is ever to blossom again, it will be the result of God's grace at work. Fruit never points to itself, but rather always points to the source and creator of it. Fruit shows that a tree is alive but it does not point to itself as the basis of its life. So also our confession of sin and our repentance must be adorned with fruit. But we never point to that fruit as the basis of our life; we point only and always to Christ and his work–the work he has done for us and continues to do in us.

It is the church's privilege to prepare for the Lord's coming. It is our privilege to prepare the hearts of men to receive him and our privilege to prepare the whole world for his coming again and the establishment of the new heavens and the new earth. It is our privilege to be a part already of the new creation, blooming with worship and praise to God both with our lips and in our lives. It is our privilege to encourage one another in our journey through the wilderness and to provoke one another to hold to that path that leads to eternal glory.

The church also awaits the arrival of the Lord Jesus from heaven. Our waiting is not one of inactivity, but rather we wait by seeking to order our lives to please the King when he comes. To Matthew's fellow countrymen and to our world also, signs are given that men might recognize Jesus as the Messiah and that in answer to the question, "Who is Jesus?," they might reply, "He is the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Our desire for our fellow man is that he will recognize and receive

Christ by faith by the means of the proclamation of the gospel. The question now before every man is, "Do you recognize Jesus?" The day is coming soon when the question will no longer be, "Do we recognize Jesus?" but rather, "Does Jesus recognize us as his disciples and claim us as his people?"

Reformation Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Morgantown, West Virginia