p. 123 | CHRIST AND THE WORD by J. H. Vincent

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 18, 1880

CHRIST AND THE WORD.

By J. H. Vincent

BY J. H. VINCENT, D. D.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.—Col. 3:16.

The Bible is the word of Christ. He is its central and all-absorbing theme. To him all the history, and poetry, and prophecy of the Old Testament point. The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles are as full of his person and work as the Evangelists themselves.

The Bible contains the mind—the thought—and love—that is in Jesus. Every fundamental principle of morals and religion which may legitimately be drawn from any portion of the Bible as its manifestly intended interpretation, finds its center in Christ. There is no contradiction between his character as portrayed by the Evangelists, and the fairly deduced doctrines drawn from any part of the sacred volume. This is a great thing to say about the Book. It is an argument of weight in its favor. Think of it! Sixty-six volumes, written by at least forty different persons; at different periods of time—the extremes measuring over two thousand years; written in different parts of the world; under different forms of civilization; under different governments; in different languages. Yet from these diverse sources come sectilia of a beautiful mosaic, which, when combined, form a unity the most perfect; a doctrinal scheme the most profound and philosophical; a picture glowing with poetic beauty, at the same time startling and enchanting the soul by prophetic visions; while in all and through all there shines forth the image of One who is above his fellows, glorious with divinity, and peerless as the ideal of a redeemed humanity. That Book must be divine.

It is the word of Christ moreover in this sense, that it is the medium of his present power. Of every author it may be said, "He, being dead, yet speaketh." So the blind Homer gives light and inspiration to-day. But Jesus more, and in a deeper sense than Homer. The Iliad and the Bible are alike and unlike. The thought of their respective authors is embalmed in both. But in the one we have a tomb, full of commemorative pictures, the fragrance of the funeral incense still lingering on the air, a place of beauty, and inspiration, and sacred memory; but, after all, in the central sarcophagus the author lies—dead. But the Bible is no tomb. Its author is not dead. Its delights are not those of memory and imagination, for the living Christ is in his word. Mystically, invisibly, but really, is he present there. The Book is his divine body. We need not ascend into Heaven to bring Christ down from above. We need not descend into the deep to bring up Christ again from the dead. Do we seek him? Would we see Jesus? Here is the gospel reply to our search, "The word is nigh thee." Rom. 10:8. Lo! here in the Scriptures is this same Jesus whom shepherds and wise men worshiped, whom the multitudes thronged in the days of his flesh, whom soldiers crucified, and Joseph buried, and the eternal God raised up from the dead. He is here in his own word, a living presence, ready to give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing to the leprous, deliverance to the demoniac, life to the dead, and pardon to the guilty—the erring Magdalenes, the troubled Marthas, the unstable, but repentant Peters. Seek ye the Lord Christ? Find him in his word.

The whole gracious work of redemption is wrought through the mediumship of this word. Life is a probation and a pupilage, in which man must be born again, and then trained for eternity. From the moment of his regeneration the processes of spiritual culture should go on. This twofold work of quickening and culture is effected by the Holy Ghost. But the Holy Ghost operates through the truth as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. This is the sharp blade that penetrates the inmost things of the soul, and lays open to self-consciousness the fearful condition which requires a gracious interposition: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Do we seek converting influence? Look not to the "glory of God" in the heavens, nor his "handiwork" in the firmament. Seek it not of the sun, though "his going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof," but turn to the word of God in revelation and learn that "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Do you seek spiritual enlightenment? "The entrance of thy words giveth light." Do you seek regenerating power? "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." Man is "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever."

What blessings in the whole range of spiritual life and experience do you seek? Preservation from sin? "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Stability? "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." Success in prayer? "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Strength of character and victory over the enemy of souls? "I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." Spiritual freedom? "If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Sanctification? "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Do you aspire to the attainment of that holy character in which you shall be "partakers of the divine nature?" Then go to the gospel of Christ, in which "are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Go through the Book, from the bold words of the first verse, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," to the blessed benediction of the last verse, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all," and learn by a precious experience that "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

Seeing that the word is so important an element in the work of grace, I do not wonder at the song of David concerning the man whose "delight is in the law of the Lord," and who in this law doth "meditate day and night." Verily he "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." I now understand why he sang: "O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. . . . The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. . . . How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. . . . My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly."

The tradition concerning Jonathan Ben-Uzziel, one of the pupils of Hillel, is in a spiritual sense fulfilled in the devout student of the word. It is recorded of him that "when he studied the law every bird that flew over his head was burned up." So glorious, and vivid, and intense is the light that falls from Heaven upon every sincere disciple of Jesus who sits before the open Book to learn of his master. So also the ancient maxim of the Jew is realized in the better dispensation of the gospel: "In whatsoever place the law is, there the Shekineh is present with it."

This is the mystery of the Book; a sealed Book to the multitude; a literary marvel indeed, a reliable history, a volume of poetry and ethics and sublime speculations to the candid, thoughtful, unilluminated student—but to him whose secret heart the Lord hath opened—lo! in the word is the Lord himself!

If this be the relation of Christ to his word there is need that the modern church of Christ in its quest of the Master be told where he is to be found. O that some apostle would cry aloud unto the churches of the age, as Paul to the elders of the Ephesian church when he met them at Miletus: "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified."—The Church School.