Through The Speakings Of The Son

by Martin Dyer; Edinburgh, Scotland | Category: The Eternal God Revealed | May 1994

In approaching our subject of the Son revealing the Father and the Holy Spirit through His speakings, we recognize that we are on holy ground - we

draw near with unshot feet. We are brought face to face with deep mysteries of the Eternal God, the glorious equality of the Son of God blended with a lovely subjection to his God and Father.

This is indicated to us in John 12:49,50 where the Lord shows that all His words of teaching had their origin in the Father, in their substance and in their arrangement. Every utterance upon every subject conveyed exactly the thoughts of His God and Father. There is therefore no doubt that what he said about the Father was absolutely true and stands for ever. A careful consideration of Luke chapter 4 will show that all this is equally true with regard to the Holy Spirit. The Lord, we are told, "full of the Holy Spirit" (verse 1), and after overcoming the Devil's temptations, "returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee" (verse 14). Then in verse 18 He says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because he anointed Me to preach good tidings" showing the origin of the words of grace which proceeded out of His mouth (verse 22). In John 15:26, the Lord refers to the "Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father". In all this we see the circle complete, the marvellous harmony of divine testimony expressed through the Son of God.

In Matthew 7:21 is the first recorded use by the Lord of the expression "My Father which is in heaven". This is a distinctive term which in few words tells us of the relationships between Father and Son although the Son is on earth and His Father in heaven. By the use of the personal pronoun the Lord is claiming personal relationship. In John chapter 6 the Lord develops the heavenly presentation of Himself as from the Father, against a background of the Jews disputing His claims. As the manna had come down from heaven to sustain Israel in the wilderness, so He the true Bread, had come down to give life to the world. In verses 37 to 40 the Lord draws aside the curtain and reveals the mechanics of salvation how individuals are saved. The sovereign will of the Father is exercised and He gives to the Son. The sinner in responding to the gospel call comes to the Saviour, not knowing that in the Father's will he or she is being given by Him into the hands of the Son. The Son receives in perfect subjection to the Father's will and the Son exercises His will in not casting out and in raising from the dead on the day of resurrection. What an unveiling of the sovereignty of God balanced by his boundless grace! So we are delivered "from going down to the pit" (Job 33:24).

In John 8:28 the Lord declares, "I do nothing of Myself but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things". This matter of the Lord being "taught" is illustrated by His words in Matthew 11:20 to 29. Verses 25 to 27 are of great interest:

At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.

Note the words "At that season Jesus answered". The phrase "At that season" throws us back to verses 20 to 24 where the Lord refers to past judgement on Tyre, Sidon and Sodom and to future judgement on Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. Here, as in all His speakings, the words of Isaiah 50:4 are applicable, "The LORD God hath given Me the tongue of them that are taught ... He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as they that are taught". The Lord had heard His Father's voice that day with regard to these events and the words, "Jesus answered" show His acknowledgement in a note of praise and thanksgiving. "Lord of heaven and earth" - these words are simultaneously a title and description of the Father. They bring before us the majestic, absolute God, in whom is vested all power and authority, who had intervened in the affairs of men and nations in the past and would do so again in the future to effect His purposes. There is a profound contrast between the exalted place that Emmanual gives to His Father and the lowly place that He takes for Himself. He describes Himself as being "meek and lowly in heart". Well it is that we should learn from such a gracious Lord.

In John chapter 15 the Lord reveals a relationship between the Father, Himself, and the disciples in the matter of fruit bearing. The Lord shows Himself to be the Vine and integral with Himself are disciples likened to branches that He has first cleansed by His Word. In this scene His Father is declared to be the Husbandman, the one who controls and directs the vineyard, with the object of increasing the fruitfulness of the branches. The hand of the Father is seen in verse 2, pruning in judgement and cleaning in grace to promote the yield. In such fruitfulness the Father is glorified. In these verses we see the great interest that God takes in the spiritual lives of all who have found a place in His Son.

We have an interesting contrast in terms used by the Lord when praying on behalf of His apostles in John 17 immediately before Gethsemane, and His prayer in Gethsemane for Himself (Mat. 26:39; Mark 14:36). In John 17, the Lord in praying for the apostles and for those who would believe in Him through their word, uses the terms "Holy Father" (verse 11) and "0 righteous Father" (verse 25). Here is language that brings before us the absolute purity and integrity of God. His Name is "Holy" (Luke 1:49) and "He loveth righteousness" (Ps. 33:5). The Lord was praying for men who were in a sinful world, praying that they would be kept in the holy Name of His Father and express on earth that unity seen in heaven. In the midst of a world that knew not the Father, the Son had revealed Him and His righteousness, so that these men had come to know His love and His name. How complementary to all this are the words of 1 John 2:15: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him".

In the darkness and sorrow of Gethsemane the Lord in His prayer uses the expressions, "0 My Father' (Mat. 26:39) and "Abba Father?' (Mark

14:36): the intimacy of "Abba" as from a dear Son; and the pathos of "0

My Father'.' from the depths of 'the Saviour's soul, as He stretches out to his God and Father in all the extremity of the hour. Words that indicate to us the nature of the love that the Lord knew and enjoyed. To all the Father's love the Son responds with howbeit not what I will, but what Thou wilt (Mark 14:36); So the subjection of Gethsemane leads to the sacrifice of Calvary.

In considering the Lord's references to the Holy Spirit we should see that what is true of the Father with regard to personality and character is equally true of the Holy Spirit. The personality of the Holy Spirit is demonstrated by the Lord in John 16:13,14; for eight times in these two verses the Lord uses the pronoun "He" - the deity of the Holy Spirit is underlined by the Lord in John 14:16 where He states that "I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter". The word "another" used by the Lord indicates in the original language that the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, would be in all respects like unto Himself. The Holy Spirit has a heavenly origin, as shown when the Lord refers to "the Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father" (John 15:26). The Lord reveals to us the gracious attitude of the Holy Spirit in that "He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak" (John 16:13). So we see that the declaration of the Holy Spirit and the utterances of the Son spring from a common source. Note the inter-relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit revealed in verse 15:

All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He (that is, the Holy Spirit) taketh of Mine, and shall declare it unto you.

The words of the Lord in Matthew 10 bring before us the persons in the Godhead working through the apostles, and the principles we have seen operating in the divine sphere we see working with men. The Lord was sending these men forth to preach and to heal, which would arouse opposition and persecution. They would be brought before tribunals, but in their hour of need were not to be anxious, how or what to speak. "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you" (verse 20). Here men who had taken on the character of their God were working for Him, subject to Him and speaking His word as He gave them utterance.

Martin Dyer; Edinburgh, Scotland | May 1994
The Eternal God Revealed