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THE KING’S BUSINESS
a murderer” (Acts 3:14). They said, “This is the heir, come let us kill Him” (Matt. 21:38). V. 12. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power (rather, the right or authority) to become the sons (rather children) of God, even to them that be lieve on His name.’’ We here step out of the deep darkness into the bright light. While the world as a whole knew not “the Word,” “the true Light,” while even His own when He came to them receiv ed Him not, still here and there were individuals who did receive Him, and great and marvelous and glorious was their reward. No matter who they were, or what they were, no matter whether they belonged to His own, His chosen people who had heen so wonderfully dis ciplined of God for the reception of their Messiah when He should come, or wheth er they were of the Gentiles, no matter whether they were men and women who had lived moral and upright lives or whether they were publicans and sin ners, outcasts and vile, “as many as re ceived Him, to them gave He the right to become the children of God.” We are so accustomed to the phrase, “the chil dren of God,” that we have largely lost sight of its amazing and stupendous sig nificance. We do well to stop and pon der deeply as to what these words mean and all that they involve. To be a child of a king may seem something great com pared with being a child of an ordinary man, but to be a child of God, how can we ever fathom all the depth of meaning that there is in it, or comprehend all the .height of glory. And yet we are here told that that is what every one has a right to call himself, and a right to become, the moment he does one thing— receives the Lord Jesus, who is the Word of God and the true Light. The word translated, “power,” in the Author ized Version and “right,” in the Revised Version, “does not describe mere ability, but legitimate, rightful authority, deriv ed from a competent source which in cludes the idea of power.” It is a favor ite word with the Apostle John. It is the same word used in ch. 5:27 to de scribe our Lord’s authority to exercise judgment, and in 10:18 to describe our Lord’s power (or authority) to lay down His life and take it again. It is the same word that is used in ch. 17:2 of our Lord’s power (or authority) over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. It is the same word again that is used in Rev. 22:6 to describe the power or authority
over the nations which those who over come and keep our Lord’s words unto the end shall some day have. It is a strong, meaningful and majestic word. The Lord Jesus bestows great dignity upon those who receive Him. The 12th verse has more to do with our adoption into the family of God, our obtaining a place as sons. The 13th verse has more to do with regeneration, our ob taining the nature of sons. In these words we have set forth both the divine and the human side in our obtaining a position as sons of God. It pll origin ates with Him—It is His to give; what we have to do is simply to take what .He offers—to receive. It rests with the individual to say whether or not he will obtain a position as a child of God. It depends upon whether or not he will receive the Light which God offers him The Jews as a whole did not receive Him. He was not the sort of Messiah for whom they were looking and whom they desired. They were looking for and desiring a temporal king who should deliver them from their external foes. Such a king they would have welcomed; but a king who would lay bare and de liver them from their sins, they did not desire. They would have been glad to have had the Roman yoke broken but not the yoke of sin. And many today desire a Saviour who shall save them from the miseries of life rather than a Saviour who shall save them from the shame and guilt and power of sin. The word translated, “receive” in this verse differs from the one so translated in the preceding verse. The word used in the preceding verse is a stronger word, implying a welcome reception such as the Jews owed to their Messiah, and which would naturally be expected of them; the word used here simply denotes a per sonal acceptance of a proffered gift. “To receive Him,” is simply to accept Him to be to us what He offers Him self to be to any one. Here in the context He is represented primarily as offering Himself to us as “the Word,” that is the perfect revelation of God of Him who is to become our Father, and as “The Light,” the One who will illu mine all our darkness and make clear to us the truth of God and our duty. Elsewhere He is represented in many aspects—First of all as our sin-bearer, (Gal. 3:13; I Pet. 2:24; Is. 53:6). Then He is represented as our risen Saviour who has power to deliver us from the power of sin, (Heb. 7:25). Then He is represented as our Lord and King
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