FIRST QUARTER 2022
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #3
JANUARY 15, 2022
“JESUS, THE PROMISED SON”

 

This week we shall have E.J. Waggoner, J.N. Loughborough, and W.W. Prescott give us their insights:

 

"The Son of the Highest" The Present Truth 14, 50.

E. J. Waggoner

 

When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she should have a Son, whose name should be Jesus, Saviour, he said of Him:  

 

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1:32- 33.

 

There are many who adore Jesus as the great and mighty Son of the Highest, who do not experience the joy and blessedness that they should from the knowledge of His greatness, because they adore Him as one far off, separated from them by infinite space, and not as One near at hand, a personal companion. But while He is the Son of the Highest, He is the Son of man, and it is as such that He always referred to Himself.

                                    

Christ is not to be worshipped as the heathen worship their gods. The heathen set their gods upon a pedestal, and think of them as enjoying themselves together apart from men, and having no interest in common with them. It is true that they attribute all human passions to their gods, but all these emotions are for their own kind, and not for men. No heathen ever thinks of his god as a being who loves him or has any manner of sympathy with him; the god is to him a being whose anger is to be appeased, or at the best, whose indifference is to be overcome, and his favour bought.

 

But Christ appears among men first of all as man. His appearance in the world was as a babe in Bethlehem, "born of a woman, born under the law." Galatians 4:4, R.V. He "was born of the seed of David according to the flesh." Romans 1:3. It is "the throne of His father David" that is to be given Him. His greatness is in His humility. "Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave Him the name which is above every name." Philippians 2:8-9.

 

It was not for His own sake that Christ, the Word, Who was in the beginning with God, and Who was God, came to this earth. It was not to win anything for Himself, for as God all creation was His. But man had lost his dominion of glory and honour which he had in the beginning as the son of the Highest. So, in order to win back for man that which he had lost, He became Man, and it is now as Man, as the seed of David according to the flesh, that He is made great, and called the Son of the Highest.

 

Remember this, it is as a man, the Son of Man, as "the Man Christ Jesus," that He occupies His high position; not as a unique specimen, but as the representative Man, our Forerunner. "He died for all," and what He won is for all. He is "the firstborn among many brethren," all of whom through the grace of God have equal rights with Himself. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." Romans 8:16-17. (December 15, 1898 EJW, PTUK 785)

 

Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. He is the One Man Who is entitled to be called the Son of the Highest. But coming in the flesh as the seed of David, the Son of Man, He has in His flesh abolished the enmity that separated man from God the Father, "that He might create in Himself of the twain one new man, so making peace." Ephesians 2:15. "For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father." There is only one Man, "the Man Christ Jesus;" but in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, we who have fallen, and have lost the Divine image, may attain "unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Ephesians 4:13. Then in Him we also shall be great, and shall be called sons of the Highest, and shall reign with Him for ever and ever.

 

God, who raised Christ from the dead, "and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion," hath, because of His great love wherewith He loved us, made us alive together with Christ, "and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 1:20-21; 2:4-6. "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree." In His hand is power and might, and in His hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all. 1 Chronicles 29:12. "Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation; and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy condescension hath made me great." Psalms 18:35, R.V.

 

"With His stripes we are healed." Because He humbled Himself, we are made great; for if we accept Him as the sharer of our humiliation, He will acknowledge us as sharers of His greatness. Then let us gladly accept Him and worship Him as the Fountain of Life. (December 15, 1898 EJW, PTUK 796)

 

In These Last Days

 

Then we might read it in this way: God, Who in times past spoke unto the fathers through the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us in His Son, in Whom yet He continues to speak all the time; and that Word which He spoke so long ago (as it seems to us), and which is so old as we reckon time, is just as fresh and living as ever….You know I am speaking, because you hear me; and we know God because He speaks. If we do not know that, how can we believe? Did not Christ say that the Jews knew Him not, because they could not hear Him? Yet was not that Word spoken for the purpose of causing them to believe in Christ? He said, 'This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes.' Did those get out of it what they might? Yet did they not hear the voice? Now, is this not the way that a good many read the Bible? It is a voice, an expression. You read the words and get the sound, but you have not come to the place where you hear the voice of God. There is something else besides the voice of God which you want to hear - you want to hear the Word itself. I do not know of anything in the world that has helped me more than to stop and hear God speak. I may say, God, speak; and then listen, and He speaks; and then take up the Bible and read, and thus hear God speaking. The Word of God; He speaks to the fathers by the prophets in the Son in these last days, - 'in the last of these days,' literally, - speaks to us in the Son; He is speaking. (February 12, 1897 EJW, GCDB 7.27)

 

God Has Spoken to Us By His Son

 

As we stand at the beginning of this chapter, we stand face to face with God, Who speaks to us through His Son. It is no new thing for God to speak, for He spake in times past to the fathers and prophets, and He now speaks unto us by Christ. It seems to me that the book of Hebrews represents in a striking way what we find in the whole Bible. It starts out with God, and in the whole Bible we stand face to face with God. Here we may pause with reverence. God in these last days has spoken to us by His Son. He spake once and still he speaks to us through His Word. First, God spoke and created, which in the Psalms is expressed, "He spake, and it was." He created all things in Christ, because He is the Word, and God spake in Him; therefore all things are created in Him. And further, we learn that Christ is the brightness of God's glory, the shining forth of His glory. There is no difference between the Father and the Son. The Son is the express character of God's being. (February 15, 1897 EJW, GCDB 23.2)

 

He is the Radiance of the Glory of God

 

Christ stands as the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person, just the very impress and the shining forth of the glory of God. Christ is the Word, and the Word which He speaks is spirit and life. When He speaks that Word which is spirit and life, He speaks His own life. So, when we read, He bears all things by the word of His power, we see in that not that only, but we see in that that he bears all things Himself. So, He speaks, He creates, He bears, He has purged our sins and is now set down at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. What is the force of that word "being" - "being the brightness"? He being the brightness of the glory of God has done something. Since He is the brightness, because He is the brightness of the Father's glory, because He is the very image of God, because He upholds all things by the word of his power, He has purged our sins. Does it say He will purge our sins? No, it says He has done it. He has cleansed, rinsed, washed them. He hath loved us and washed us in His own blood. (February 15, 1897 EJW, GCDB 23.7-24.1)

 

Through Whom He Made the Universe

 

Again, God is best known as the Creator of the world. This, indeed, is that for which He would be remembered, for His creative power is that which distinguishes Him from false gods. See Jeremiah 10:10-12; Psalms 96:5; 2 Corinthians 8:5-6; Acts 14:15. But if Christ and the Father are one, then Christ must have shared equally with the Father in His work of creation. And so He did. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1:1-3. Of the One through whose blood we have redemption, Paul says that "by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Colossians 1:16-17. And finally, Paul exhibits the unity of Father and Son in both creation and redemption, in these words: "God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds." Hebrews 1:1-2. Thus we learn that it was through Christ that God made the world, and through Christ that God conveyed to lost man His message of mercy. In Christ God's will is made known and executed, and thus it is that He is called "the Word of God." (November 20, 1884 EJW, SITI 698.4)

 

The apostle presents Christ as the One through Whom we have redemption,  why? Because by Him were all things created. This thought will settle the objection that is so often raised in connection with the Sabbath, that redemption is greater than creation, because redemption is creation, and it is and can be nothing else. It is the same power, and the same thing. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the word of the Lord is righteousness declared in us. Speaking this universe into existence, was an act of creation, and speaking righteousness into the heart of man that has a wicked heart is also an act of creation. Christ is set before us as the Creator that we may know His power to redeem. And the way in which Christ is set before us is by the word of His power. (March 25, 1891 N/A, GCDB 242.7)

 

The Power of God to Salvation. It is not as a matter of mere curiosity that the Scriptures set Christ before us as the power of God, the One to Whom creation owes its existence. It is that we may know His power to save us from sin. The Word of truth is the Gospel of our salvation. Ephesians 1:13. The eternal power of God is seen in the things that are made. Romans 1:20. But the cross of Christ is also the power of God to them who are saved by it. 1 Corinthians 1:18. There is the manifestation of one power by which all things were created and still exist. We have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins, through the blood of Christ, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation; for in Him were all things created." Colossians 1:14-16. Christ is Redeemer because He is Creator; the power by which He redeems is the very same power by which He creates. (October 24, 1895 EJW, PTUK 674.6)

 

Today Have I Begotten You

 

The throne of David was called the throne of the Lord. "Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father." The Lord had "sworn with an oath to him [David], that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne: he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.” And it is further said of Christ's future reign, He shall sit upon the throne of David. (See Isaiah 9:7) Again, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed. . . . Yet have I set my king upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee."  Again, "The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." (1905 JNL, GSAM 47-49)

 

The Saviour was born unto us. This was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." He gave His only begotten Son unto us. Unto us a son is given, and He was given to us, by being born into our family, by taking our humanity upon Himself by His birth. (March 10, 1896 WWP, ARSH 152.2)

 

Christ is God's Chosen, in Whom His soul delights (Isaiah 42:1), and He is the Seed of David. Romans 1:3. He is "the Root and the Offspring of David." Revelation 22:16. The tabernacle of David, that is fallen down, is to be built up by the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:14-17), and the throne of David is to be perpetuated to all generations through the resurrection of Christ. Acts 2:29-31. But by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead all who believe are begotten unto a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 1 Peter 1:3-5. Therefore, the covenant with David, unto which God swore, is the covenant that assures us an inheritance among the saints in light; and so we see that it is identical with the covenant with Abraham, to which God swore by Himself, and which gives us strong consolation and hope of salvation through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 6:13, 20. (October 27, 1898 EJW, PTUK 679.4)

 

Further Thought

 

Now, there is coming a time when that voice will be heard again, and the trump, too. Some will be afraid, frightened, and will seek hiding places. Others will say, Lo, this is our God; we will be joyful, we will be glad. Why? Because they have learned to know the sound of the trump. They know that when God speaks, it is life. It is life, and it doesn't make any difference in what form He speaks; it is life, and they know it, and are not at all afraid. If He whispers, all right; if He thunders, well. At that time the trump waxes louder and louder, and we will not run to get from the voice; we will know it.

 

(One reading the Greek original) "God thundereth marvelously with His voice."

 

Yes; God doeth marvelous things. Now I have known people, and I myself am one of them, who have at times come into places where the Word of God was spoken, and where one was present whom I knew or felt sure had the Word of the Lord to speak, a message from the Spirit of God, and yet I have been afraid. It is supposed that all present believe in the Spirit of Prophecy, God speaking through a person still to His people; but I have known people to be afraid that they have received a testimony from the Lord. Doubtless some of you have had experience in this. I have known people who, when a testimony was read, lost all heart and hope and courage, and became despondent and down-hearted. What was the trouble? Was it not that they did not know the voice of God, that they had not yet learned the joyful sound? Yet, if a person will not be in a proper condition of mind to hear the voice of God, what will he do when he hears the voice? Will he not stand afar off? In this time which is coming, will it be a good thing to stand afar off? No, we want to draw near at that time. Will not only those who know the voice of the Lord want to draw near at that time? How many ways has God of speaking? Many? Then we want to get acquainted with the different phases of God's voice. It is not enough to know just one sound, for if He speaks in many ways, we must be able to recognize all in order to be able to recognize God at all times when He speaks to us. This thought of knowing the voice of God in all its forms will perhaps come to us as we continue the study of the book of Hebrews. (February 12, 1897 EJW, GCDB 8.6-8.8)

 

~ Todd Guthrie