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by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | May 1951

Philippians presents the other side of divine service from that of the epistle to the Hebrews. In Hebrews we have divine service Godward, but in Philippians it is divine service manward. Paul says, "Inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace" (Philippians 1.7). "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that, whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one Soul striving for (Gk. with, R.V. marg.) the faith of the gospel" (verse 27). The gospel, we are told in Romans 1.1-4, is concerning God's Son, and those. who would preach the gospel should increasingly desire to know better and still better the great Subject of whom they speak. Such was the desire of Paul, that preacher par excellence of the gospel of God. All gains, as men count gains, were discarded in his great ambition to know Christ. National and religious things were counted by him as refuse, as offal to be thrown to the dogs. "What things were gains to ihe these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord (Philippians 3 7 8) Christ was his gain or enrichment "That I may gain Christ" The Greek word kerdos means gain or profit. Did not the Lord ask what profit a man would have if he gained the world and lost his soul? If any one would gain Christ he must let go wordly gain. He cannot have it both ways. Some want Christ and the world both, but that is impossible If there is a longing and striving after the knowledge of Christ then there must be a letting go and a casting out of one's life all that hinders our progress in the knowledge of Christ.

The knowledge of Christ is vital to the preacher of the gospel. Painstaking study and continual meditation are necessary if our messages are to be fresh and life-giving. Re-hashed addresses arc soon detected by our listeners. There is nothing that will stir the emotions and win the hearts of the preachers' hearers like fresh discoveries that the preacher has made of the Person of Christ in the Scriptures. Such discoveries are like the prospector who perchance finds a precious gem. In the place of the find a mine may be sunk to discover other gems in the same clay. In Christ dwell the fullness of the Godhead, and in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden (Colossians 2.). It is not that in Him is some part of knowledge with a modicum of wisdom. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him. Such was Paul 5 estimate of Christ, and it was for this knowledge that Paul yearned with an insatiable hunger and thirst. This knowledge made Paul the man he was. Think of what he says of Him in Philippians 2. when he spoke of the mind that was in Christ Jesus Think too of what he says of Him in Colossians 1. when he made mention of the kingdom of the Son of God"' love Think also of what he said of the Son in Hebrews 1., in whom God has spoken in these last days and also of Him as the Son of Man in Hebrews 2. Though we know Paul wrote by inspiration and in consequence gives a perfect unfolding of Christ yet at the same time there is the human side of an enlightened mind and a heart that was altogether in love with the Subject of whom he wrote It is this enlightenment and warmth that leaves its mark, as the gospel preacher with a clear mind unfolds the treasures he has seen in Christ, and treats these treasures with a love of the tenderest kind like a husband, whose wife has died may at times bring out and look upon a brooch, a ring, a necklace, once worn by her who is no longer by his side. He handles them not as the jeweller would on the counter as he displays such things to a prospective customer, but with loving tenderness because they were hers whom he still loves. So the loving preacher as he tells of Christ deals with the treasures which he has gained from the enriching Christ. Such a preacher and such preaching will draw men because he himself has been drawn to Him. "Draw me; we will run after Thee" (Song of Songs 1. 4).

"That I may know Him" (Phillippians 3.10) was the longing of the apostle Paul's heart. Indeed it is the true meaning and desire of the new life of the believer, as the Lord said in His prayer in John 17. on the night of His betrayal, "Even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, that whatsoever Thou hast given Hirn, to them He should give eternal life. And this is life eternal (literally, the life eternal, the definite article referring to eternal life of which the Lord had just spoken), that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ" (verses 2 and 3). This new life engenders in the believer a longing and striving after the knowledge of God and of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. This great quest begin on earth will go on for ever, and beyond time, when unhindered by the flesh, the desire to know God will know an increase beyond what we can appreciate now in mortal body.

We know, who read the Holy Scriptures, and study them according to our ability, that Christ is to be found in all the Scriptures. The Old Testament is replete with promises and prophecies, with types and shadows, of the coming One. Behind the sacrifices which were offered according to the law are teachings relative to the great Sacrifice that was yet to he offered. As the believer's mind moves in and out in the instructions concerning the law of sacrifice, he seeks to find some sweet unfolding concerning Him who loved him. His spirit will pore over words, which maybe to others are as dry as dust, in the instructions given to Israel of old in Leviticus and elsewhere, because he believes that in these words lie a wealth of meaning as to Christ in His life and atoning death. It is Christ the believer is after, not bulls and goats, not lambs and turtle doves. In a sense he passes through the letter of the word to the spirit of the truth. He sees a shadow cast by Christ upon those beasts and birds and the shadow delights his soul. It is the shadow of his Beloved in whom he is accepted.

For several days now my mind has been turning again and again to the wave breast. This and the heave thigh were the portion of Aaron and his sons of all the peace offerings of Israel. The wave breast is first mentioned in Exodus 29.26, but in this verse it is not the wave breast of a peace offering, but of the ram of consecration. It was on this occasion the portion of Moses, who being a priest (see Psalm 99.6), ministered in the consecration of Aaron and his sons, in the offering of the sacrifices proper to their consecration, but ministered no more at the altar.

The word for breast in the wave breast (chazeh), means that which is seen. It comes from chazah, to view, to see. Gesenius says of the breast, "properly the front part as being open to sight." The word for waving the breast signifies that the breast was "offered with a particular kind of waving," a waving to and fro, or shaking. What, we ask, lies behind this waving to and fro before God? It seems to me that the breast not only signifies that which is seen, but in the breast lies the tenderest of feelings. It speaks of the comforts of love of the most affectionate kind. When we think of the wave breast as it typifies the Lord, we think of the joy that it gave to God to look upon One, and One only, of all the sons of men who loved God with His whole heart, soul, strength and mind, and His neighbours as Himself. When God had feasted His eye and heart on the wave breast, in all that it set forth typically of Christ, the wave breast became the portion of the priestly family; it was the portion of Aaron and his sons (Exodus 29.27, 28; Leviticus 7.31). The heave thigh was the portion of the particular priest that offered the blood and fat of the peace offering (Leviticus 7.33).

As the breast speaks of affection, the heave thigh or shoulder is the emblem of strength. We need to know One who is infinite in love, whose wondrous love constrains us (2 Corinthians 5.14), and whose strength is all prevailing. "I can do all things," said Paul, "in Him that strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4.18).

Think of John at the last supper. He was leaning back (or lying, A.V.) on Jesus' breast. What consolation of love was his! Like a baby on its mother's breast he lay, his heart feasting upon the love of Christ. Nothing else mattered but this to John the disciple whom Jesus loved. "Whom Jesus loved," not "who loved Jesus," though that was verily true. But where was Judas, Judas who had chosen to sit close to the Lord that night? Ah, he was dipping in the dish-" He that dipped his hand with Me in the dish." Judas could not get enough out of the dish, but John's portion, the portion of priests, was the bosom or breast. Where does our interest lie, the dish or the breast, the stomach or the heart?

J. Miller | May 1951
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