THE SAYINGS OF JESUS: A REVELATION OF HIMSELF
Each saying of Jesus is a ray of divine light. The sun can only be seen by the light which itself emits. So Jesus, the Light of the World, can only be understood by "the sayings concerning Himself."
I. THE SAYINGS OF JESUS REVEAL THE DIVINITY OF HIS OWN CHARACTER.-He manifests Himself-
1. AS THE FIRST AND THE LAST (Rev_1:8). A striking declaration of the eternity of His Being.
2. AS HAVING POWER OVER DEATH AND HELL (Rev_1:18). The keys are the emblems of authority. He carries them, because through dying He has purchased the right.
3. AS THE FULFILLING OF PROPHECY (Rev_22:16) As David’s Lord, He is the Root; as David’s Son, He is the Offspring; as the predicted Messiah, He is the Bright and Morning Star.
4. AS THE SACRIFICE OF SIN (Joh_12:32). The lifting up of the brazen serpent was typical of the lifting up of the bruised Son that wounded ones may be healed.
5. AS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (Joh_8:12).-He will be better understood as our Light, when we have received Him as our Life.
6. AS THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE (Joh_14:6). He is the Life to save, the Truth to satisfy, and the Way to walk.
7. AS THE BREAD OF LIFE. HE IS THE BREAD OF GOD (Joh_6:33), satisfying all the claims of God. He is the Bread of Life, to satisfy all the wants of man. Also, angels’ food.
8. AS THE SOURCE OF FRUITFULNESS (John 15). Everything the branch needs may be found in the Vine- Abide.
9. AS THE SOURCE OF POWER (Mat_28:18). The power is in Himself; abiding in Him we abide in power.
10. AS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE (Joh_11:25). He alone can resurrect dead souls into life. He will resurrect the bodies of His saints into the glorious image of His own eternal life.
II. REVEAL HIS OWN RELATIONSHIP TO THE FATHER.-
1. HE WAS SENT BY THE FATHER (Joh_8:29). He who sent Him was with Him. He who sends us has also promised to be with us.
2. HE IS LOVED BY THE FATHER (Joh_5:20). This love is manifested in the Father showing Him all things. Is not Christ’s love to us exhibited in a like fashion?
3. HE HAD THE AUTHORITY OF THE FATHER (Joh_5:22). Those who honour not Him honour not the Father. The Father’s authority is despised when Christ is despised.
4. HE POSSESSED LIFE LIKE THE FATHER (Joh_5:26). The life of Christ, like the Father’s, is a life-imparting life. He is the author of life.
5. HE WAS INDWELT BY THE FATHER (Joh_14:10). The Father’s works were wrought out in Him. "It is God who worketh in us."
6. HE WAS SUBMISSIVE TO THE FATHER (Mat_26:29). The evidence of an indwelling Christ is a will entirely yielded to Him.
7. HE ALWAYS PLEASED THE FATHER (Joh_8:29). He pleased not Himself. If we can truly say, "I seek not mine own glory," we may please Him too.
8. HE MANIFESTED THE NAME OF THE FATHER (Joh_17:6). "Ye are the epistle of Christ."
9. HE FINISHED THE WORK GIVEN HIM BY THE FATHER (Joh_18:4). The finishing of the work is to us as it was to Him, the gaining of a victory.
10. HE YIELDED HIS SPIRIT TO THE FATHER (Luk_23:46). Home is sweet when the will of the Father has been done, and His name glorified. Surely now those longings expressed by the loving, suffering Son will be fully satisfied (Joh_17:1).
III. REVEAL THE NATURE OF HIS OWN MISSION.-
1. HE CAME NOT TO BE MINISTERED UNTO (Mat_20:28). The great ones of the earth love to be lionised and feasted. He came to give what the world needed- "His life."
2. HE CAME TO GLORIFY THE FATHER (Joh_17:4). The goodness of God is made to pass before us in Christ His Son. He magnified the Father’s name in the presence of the people.
3. HE CAME TO SHOW US A LIFE OF FAITH (Joh_5:30). He could say, "The words that I speak, I speak not of Myself." His faith was in His Father, and so the Father acted through Him. May Christ so dwell in our hearts by faith.
4. HE CAME TO REVEAL A LIFE OF SELF-DENIAL (Joh_8:50). So truly human was Jesus Christ that he might have sought His own glory, but He did not. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.
5. HE CAME TO MANIFEST PATIENCE IN POVERTY (Mat_8:20). Godliness, with contentment, is great gain. Gain won through faith.
6. HE CAME TO SUFFER AND TO DIE (Mar_8:31). This was a necessity laid upon Him, because of the love He had for us. "He bore our sins in His own body."
7. HE CAME TO OPEN A NEW WAY (Joh_10:9). The Good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep, that He might become the Door into the pastures that are ever green.
8. HE CAME THAT HE MIGHT BECOME THE HEAD OF THE CORNER (Mat_21:42). Despised and rejected of men, God hath highly exalted Him. Among the ten thousand stones in the building He is the chiefest.
9. HE CAME, AND HE WILL COME AGAIN (Mat_25:31). His promise is, "I will come again" (Joh_14:3). It will be a personal appearing. "This same Jesus" (Act_1:11). He comes in His glory to raise the dead, to change the living, to take vengeance on them who obey not the Gospel, to destroy Antichrist, to restore His people Israel, to rule the nations, to reward the faithful, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
Autor: James Smith