THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST
By J.C.Philpot
Chapter One from the book Meditations
on the Sacred Humanity of Our Blessed Redeemer
In that wondrous prayer which the Lord Jesus Christ
as the great High Priest over the house of God, offered up to his heavenly Father
on the eve of his sufferings and death, there is a declaration which demands of
all who fear God the deepest and most attentive consideration. It is this:
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." (John xvii. 3.) These words are
often incorrectly quoted, by which much of their force and meaning is lost,
"And this is life eternal, to know thee." But the Lord's words are, "that they might
know thee." In the original the article stands before "life eternal," so
that the meaning of the whole passage is, "And this is the life eternal
which he has to give, that they whom thou hast given him may know thee."
He thus explains what this eternal life is, and that it is given to the objects
of his Father's love and choice, that they, and they only, might have the
inward and unfailing possession of it in time and for eternity. In the
preceding verse the blessed Lord had told his heavenly Father that he had
"given him power over all flesh," for this express purpose,
"that he should give eternal life to as many as God had given him."
But for the instruction of the Church of God for all time, that she might
clearly understand and know what this eternal life is which he has to bestow,
and that on a matter so vital, so essential, no mistake might be made, he
graciously adds the explanation to which we have already referred.
By this plain and decisive declaration, he would for
ever show that the eternal life which he has to give is no visionary, imaginary,
dim, and dreamy heaven; no mere deliverance at death from illness, pain, and
suffering; no narrow escape from hell, just at the last gasp; no reward of
merit, or purchase of a deathbed repentance; no fruit of juggling ceremonies or
absolving priests, got in the very article of dissolution, by a drop of oil or
a little bread and wine; no entrance for unregenerate souls into a paradise of
unknown bliss, of which on earth there had been no foretaste, and for which no
previous meetness or spiritual preparedness had been inwardly wrought. All such
carnal views of heaven, all such natural notions of a state of happiness after
death of deceivers and deceived, the blessed Lord at once and for ever cast out
by declaring with his own lips of truth and grace that the eternal life which
he had to bestow consisted in two things: the knowledge of the only true God
and the knowledge of himself as the sent of the Father.
The importance and significance of this declaration
it is impossible to overstate. Its infinite weight is determined by eternal
life being laid in the opposite scale; its immeasurable breadth by the
commencement of heaven dating from a life on earth. For eternal life begins
below, to be consummated above; is sown in grace, to be harvested in glory. Thus
Enoch walked with God before he was translated; Abraham was the friend of God;
and Moses saw the Lord face to face. These and all the Old Testament saints
"desired a heavenly country" before they reached it. Heb. xi. 16.)
But how could they desire a country of which they had no knowledge, foretaste,
or enjoyment? Can we desire that of which we know nothing, feel nothing, taste
nothing, enjoy nothing? "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none
upon earth that I desire besides thee," is the experience of every soul
that by the letting down of heaven upon earth finds earth itself the very
portal of heaven. But how can it know there is a God in heaven, unless it has
found that God on earth; or desire none beside him even here below, unless here
below it has felt and known his love?
But it is not our purpose
to open or enlarge upon this declaration of the blessed Lord
in its general bearings, or as comprehending the whole of the important truth
couched therein. The part which rests with weight upon our own mind at this
present moment is that which places the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ on
the same level with the knowledge of the only true God. How deep, then, how
mysterious, and yet how blessed must that knowledge be to obtain, to possess,
to enjoy which is to be put into possession, whilst here below, of life
everlasting. Science, learning, knowledge, general or special, mental ability,
mechanical skill, political wisdom, intellectual refinement, and every
attainment which, in a state of high civilisation, elevates men above the
slaves of drunkenness and debauchery, are well for time. Who can despise modern
wonders of science and skill, though he that fears God and trembles at his word
may call to mind the woes denounced against ancient Tyre for her riches and her
pride, (Ezek. xxvi.; xxvii.; xxviii.j and may see with fear that what she was
England is, and that the same sins may call down the same doom. But what are
all the attainments of science, all the wonders of art, all the triumphs of
engineering skill for eternity'? Yes; were all the science and art, all the
skill, wealth, and power, now divided among thousands. concentrated in one
individual, what would the whole collective array be compared with one grain of
grace, one ray of divine teaching, one drop of atoning blood in the conscience,
or one gleam of the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost?
If, then, this spiritual and saving knowledge of
Jesus Christ whom God hath sent is a free gift, and yet is only bestowed upon
those whom the Father has given to his dear Son, how precious the possession,
but O how exclusive the boon! How as with a two‑edged sword this word out
of the mouth of the Son of God (Rev. i. 16) cuts both ways;
how, as a key worn on his shoulder and wielded by his divine hand, it shuts as
well as opens; how, whilst with one hand it raises millions to hope and heaven,
with the other it sinks millions into despair and hell. As a healing word from
the Lord's lips it brings rest and peace to prayerful hearts, wounded
consciences, and contrite spirits; but, as a word of truth and righteousness it
for ever seals the doom of the ignorant and unbelieving, the self‑confident
and the selfrighteous, the dead in sin and the dead in profession.
As all true Christians believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ is God and man, this spiritual, saving knowledge of his Person and work,
his love and grace, his blood and righteousness, divides itself into two
branches: a gracious acquaintance with his Deity as the eternal Son of God, and
gracious knowledge of his humanity as the Son of man.
As we have reason to believe that what we were
enabled to write upon the eternal Sonship of our blessed Lord has been received
with a measure of acceptance by those who know and love the truth as it is in
Jesus, we have felt encouraged now to bring before them some reflections on the
sacred humanity of the blessed Redeemer. To know him as God, to know him as
man, to know him as God‑man, and this by a divine revelation of his
glorious Person, blood, and love to our souls ‑ this is, indeed, to have
eternal life in our breasts. Nor can he be savingly known in any other way but
by divine and special revelation. "For no man knoweth the Son but the
Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him." (Matt. xi. 27.)
The Apostle, therefore prays for the saints at
Ephesus, that "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would give unto
them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, the eyes of
their understanding being enlightened." (Eph. i. 17, 18). He prayed for
the same blessing for them as he had enjoyed for himself, as he speaks,
"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me." (Gal. i. 15, 16.) He
knew, therefore, in himself, in his own blessed and happy experience, what it
was to be "filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding;" (Col. i. 9;) and to be blessed with "all
riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment (or
knowledge) of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. ii. 2, 3.) Thus he
travailed in birth again for the Galatians until "Christ was formed in
them;(Gal. iv. 19;) and prayed for the Ephesians, that "Christ might
dwell in their hearts by faith." (Eph. iii. 17.) He speaks also of their
having "learned Christ," "heard of Christ," and "been taught of Christ," (Eph. iv. 20, 21J all
which expressions point to a divine discovery of his Person and work to the
heart. The blessed Lord also assured his sorrowing disciples that he would
"come to them," and that they should "see" him, and
"live" upon him; that they should "know that he was in
them," and that he would "manifest himself to them and make his abode
with them." (John xiv. 18‑23.)
Nor were these blessings and favours limited to the
Lord's own immediate disciples. As "the precious ointment which was poured
upon the head" of our great High Priest "went down to the skirts of
his garments," (Psa. cxxxiii. 2) so there is "an anointing which
teacheth" the lowest and least of the members of the mystical body of
Christ "of all things, and is truth. and no lie." (I John ii. 27.) By
this unction from above every one that hath heard and hath learned of the
Father cometh unto Christ; (John vi. 45;) and knoweth for "himself that
the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know
him that is true." (I John v. 20.) If, then, we are favoured with this
teaching, and "a man can receive nothing unless it be given him from
heaven," (John iii. 27) we shall see by the eyes of our enlightened
understanding "the great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the
flesh," and what we thus see we shall believe, love, and adore.
Should we not, then. with all holy awe and godly
reverence, seek to approach this mystery of wisdom, power and love'? for all
salvation and all happiness, as well as all grace and glory, are wrapped up in
it. Right views are indispensable to a
right faith, and a right faith is indispensable to salvation. To stumble at the
foundation is, concerning faith, to make shipwreck altogether; for as Immanuel,
God with us, is the grand Object of faith, to err in views of his eternal
Deity, or to err in views of his sacred humanity. is alike destructive. There
are points of truth which are not fundamental, though erroneous views on any
one point must lead to God‑dishonouring consequences in strict proportion
to its importance and magnitude; but there are certain foundation truths to err
concerning which is to insure for the erroneous and the unbelieving the
blackness of darkness for ever.
Please direct your comments to Mike
Krall.