THE first main design of the life and conversation of the Lord
Jesus, was that thereby God, the Eternal Majesty, according to his
promise, might be seen by, and dwell with, mortal men. For the
Godhead being altogether in its own nature invisible, and yet
desirous to be seen by and dwell with the children of men, therefore
was the Son, who is the self-same substance with the Father, clothed
with or tabernacled in our flesh, that in that flesh the nature and
glory of the Godhead might be seen by and dwell with us. "The word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory;" what
glory? "the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth." Again, "The life"--that is, the life of God in the
works and conversation of Christ--"was manifest, and we have seen it
and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with
the Father and was manifested unto us." And hence he is called the
image of the invisible God; or he by whom the invisible God is most
perfectly presented to the sons of men.
Did I say before that the God of glory is desirous to be seen of us?
Even so also have the pure in heart a desire that it should be so.
"Lord," say they, "show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." And
therefore the promise is for their comfort, that "they shall see
God." But how then must they see him? Why, in the person, and by the
life and works of Jesus, When Philip, under a mistake, thought of
seeing God some other way than in and by this Lord Jesus Christ,
what is the answer? "Have I been so long time with you," saith
Christ, "and hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me,
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself; hut the
Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I
am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the
very work's sake."
See, here, that both the words and works of the Lord Jesus were not
to show you, and so to call you back to the holiness we had lost,
but to give us visions of the perfections that are in the Father.
"He hath given us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ." And hence it is that the apostle, in that brief
collection of the wonderful mystery of godliness, places this in the
front thereof: "God was manifest in the flesh"--was manifested in
and by the person of Christ, when in the flesh he lived among us;
manifest, I say, for this as one reason, that the pure in heart, who
long after nothing more, might see him. "I beseech thee," said
Moses, "show me thy glory." "And will God indeed dwell with men on
the earth?" saith Solomon.
Though Adam be called the image or similitude of God, yet but so as
that he was the shadow of a more excellent image. Adam was a type of
Christ, who only is the express image of his Father's person, and
the likeness of his excellent glory; for those things that were in
Adam were but of a human, but of a created substance; but those
things that were in Christ, of the same divine and eternal
excellency with the Father.
Is Christ then the image of the Father, simply as considered of the
same divine and eternal excellency with him? Certainly not; for an
image is doubtless inferior to that of which it is a figure.
Understand, then, that Christ is the image of the Father's glory, as
born of the Virgin Mary, yet so as being very God also: not that his
Godhead in itself was a shadow or image, but by the acts and doing
of that man, every act being infinitely perfect by virtue of his
Godhead, the Father's perfections were made manifest to flesh. An
image is to be looked upon, and by being looked upon, another thing
is seen; so by the person and doings of the Lord Jesus, they that
indeed could see him as he was, discovered the perfection and glory
of the Father. "Philip, he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father;
and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?" Neither the Father
nor the Son can by us at all be seen, as they are simply and
entirely in their own essence. Therefore the person of the Father
must be seen by us through the Son, as consisting of God and man;
the Godhead, by working effectually in the manhood, showing clearly
there through the infinite perfection and glory of the Father. "The
word was made flesh, and" then "we beheld his glory, the glory of
the only begotten of his Father"--he being in his personal
excellencies, infinitely and perfectly, what is recorded of his
Father, "full of grace and truth."
When Jesus Christ came down from glory, it was that he might bring
us to glory; and that he might be sure not to fail, he clothed
himself with our nature--as if we should take a piece out of the
whole lump instead of the whole, Heb. 11:l4--and invested it with
that glory which he was in before he came down from heaven. Eph.
2:6.