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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
July, 1936
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7 H R I S T V A Jesus . . .
humbled himself, b e c om i n g o b e dient e v e n unto d e a t h , yea , t h e death of the cross. Wherefore a l s o God h i g h l y ex alted him . . . ” (P h il. 2 :5 -1 1 )
B y WILLIAM L. PETTINGILL* Wilmington, Delaware W HEN Nathaniel greeted the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, the Lord’s reply was, “Hereafter ye shall see scending upon the Son of man” (John 1 :47-51). This statement is our Lord’s own exposition of Jacob’s ladder dream of Genesis 28. He Himself is the ladder, the way into heaven and the only way; no one cometh to the Father but by Him (John 14:6). He is the door, and the only door. By Him if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture (John 10:9). He who would climb up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber (John 10:1). F rom E arth to H eaven In his dream at Bethel, Jacob saw the ladder set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. It was not built in heaven, but on earth. And in both the dream of Jacob and our Lord’s interpretation of the dream, the angels ascended before they descended; they first went up from earth to heaven, rather than descending first from heaven to earth. The ladder had first to be built and set up on the earth before communication between earth and heaven could be possible. The Son of God as such could never have accomplished this communication. In order that the way to God might be opened unto man, the Son of God must become the Son of man. If the ladder was to be built upon the earth, the Son of God must lay aside the glory that was His before the world was (John 17:5), take upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh, and become an offering for sin, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:3, 4), and the way into God’s presence opened unto us. Job in his day longed for a mediator, through whom he might approach unto God. “For,’V]he complained’, “he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come, together ip judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both” (Job 9:32, 33), A G lim pse of th e D aysman In his terrible trials Job was true to God, saying, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13 :15) ; but he could not find Him. He wanted to write something, that God and man might see it. He cried ou t: “Oh that my, words were now written! oh that they were printed in a
heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and de
book ! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!” And then suddenly he got a glimpse of the Daysman, though it was only a glimpse by faith. “I know,” he said, “that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be Consumed within me” (Job 19:23-27). This was a wonderful revelation, but Job was not satis fied. It should be remembered that Job had no Bible, for he lived before there was a Bible. He longed for further and fuller revelation. “Oh that one would hear m e!” he cried out in his anguish. “Behold, my desire is, that t.he Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.” He thought of the Almighty as his enemy, his adversary; but he desired to know more about Him and wished He had written a book. Then he tells what he would do with God’s book if he had it. “Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me” (Job 31:35,36). • Is it not wonderful to reflect that Job himself was al ready being used of God to write the book he so greatly desired? There > no doubt that the book of Job was the first part of the Bible to be written. And is it not'still more wonderful to consider that the Daysman he so greatly desired was already,i|n God’s reckoning, his Redeemer, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8) ? How t h e G u l f was S panned In the wonderful passage of Philippians 2:5-11, the whole story is told in graphic language, showing the steps by which the Son of God became the Son of man, and how He then, as Son of man, took His seat at the right hand of God. We quote, translating literally: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form [the place, the grade, the position, the rank] of God, counted not the being on an equality [Continued on page 259]
* Author, Bible teacher, and conference speaker.
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