FIFTH NIGHT.
“I am now ready for you,” said old Mrs Allan, as little Emma was waiting anxiously for the time when she might again seat herself by her grandmother’s chair. “What am I to tell you about to‐night?”
“I have been thinking,” replied Emma, “if you have no more to explain about the great work in the soul of the believer, that I should like to hear more of that glorious Being to whom the sinner owes all the precious blessings you have been telling me of.”
|Of the Person, Offices, and Work of Christ.| “I shall gladly do so, my dear child. It is a delightful subject to converse upon the Person, Offices, and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor.”
“I shall hear attentively,” said Emma, “what you have to say, as there is much about the Person of Jesus I do not rightly understand. He is called |Christ the Son of God and Son of Man.| both ‘Son of God’ and ‘Son of Man.’ I often wonder how this can be.”
“This, my child,” replied her grandmother, “is the great mystery of godliness, ‘God manifest in the flesh,’—but it is a glorious mystery; and happy shall I be to speak to you upon it.
|Son of God.| “The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He was ‘with God, and was God.’ Before this world, or any worlds were made, He dwelt from everlasting with the Father. He is equal with Him in power and in glory. If He had been an angel, or an archangel, He could not have saved us, for the highest archangel is only a creature—and one created being cannot atone for the sin of another. In one word, if Jesus had not been God, He could not have been the Saviour of man.”
|Son of Man.| “But is he not spoken of,” said Emma, “also as the Son of Man?”
“Yes, my dear; and I must add, if He had not been man, He could not have saved us. As our surety, it was necessary for Him to suffer and die in the nature which had sinned—and besides, you know, that as God, He could not have suffered, because the Divine nature is a spiritual one. Therefore it is that He says, ‘A body hast thou prepared Me.’”
“I think, too,” said Emma, “it is a blessed thought that our great Redeemer was a man. If He had been God only, He could not have felt for us in the way He can do as the ‘Son of Man.’”
“You are right, my dear child. This is one of the most delightful thoughts about the person of Jesus, that He is our ‘elder brother,’ and not ashamed to call us ‘brethren.’ He can say to all of us, ‘I know your sorrows,’ for He was Himself ‘the Man of Sorrows,’ and felt them all.”
|Titles of Jesus.| “Would you explain to me,” said the young inquirer, “the meaning of some more of the names of the Lord Jesus Christ?”
|Immanuel.| “He is called,” said her grandmamma, “by that beautiful word, which tells that He is both God and man, ‘Immanuel,’ which means, ‘God with us.’
|Jesus.| “Then He is called ‘Jesus,’ because He ‘saves’ His people—the word Jesus meaning ‘Saviour.’
|Messiah, Christ.| “Then He is called ‘Messiah,’ and ‘Christ,’ because He is the anointed of God—both words meaning ‘anointed.’ As kings, in ancient times, had anointing oil poured upon their heads when they were set apart to their royal office, so our blessed Saviour had the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit poured upon Him, to qualify Him for His offices as mediator.”
“The Offices of Jesus; dear grandmamma, I have often heard these spoken of. Will you kindly explain to me what they mean?”
|The Offices of Christ.| “The Lord Jesus Christ, my dear child, stands in different relations, and performs different acts with regard to the Church He has redeemed with His precious blood. I shall mention to you the three under which He is most frequently referred to.
|Prophet.| “Jesus is the Prophet of His Church. He is her great Teacher. By means of His precious Word, and the influences of His Spirit, He makes known to us His own will, and the will of God for our salvation.
|Priest.| “Jesus is the Priest of His Church. A priest, you know, in former times, offered sacrifices on the altar. Jesus is called the ‘Great High Priest of our profession.’ He was Himself both the Priest and the Victim, for ‘He gave Himself for us;’ and just as the Jewish high priest of old went into the holy of holies and sprinkled on the mercy‐seat the blood of the slain sacrifice, and prayed to God for the people, so Jesus has carried the merits of His own blood into heaven, and, as our High Priest, is there pleading our cause at God’s right hand. You remember, too, the high priest of old, after being within the vail, came out to bless the waiting people. So Jesus, our Great High Priest, will, at His second coming in glory, bless His assembled Church, saying, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’
|King.| “Jesus also is King of His Church, the ruler in it, and ruler over it. He protects it from its enemies; and though often, like the bush which Moses saw in the wilderness, it burns with fire, He will prevent it from ever being consumed. He will continue to reign over it as King, until all enemies be put under His feet.”
“What a wonderful and complete Saviour, grandmamma!” exclaimed Emma. “Jesus is so great, and yet so compassionate! I feel as if I can adore Him as God, and yet love Him as a brother.”
“True, most true, my dear child; He is all you need—the very Saviour you do need. It is a wonderful thought, His Godhead and His Manhood! As God, angels and seraphs worshipped Him. As Man, little children smiled in His arms!”
“I love to think of Him, too,” said Emma, “as my High Priest in heaven. It does |Christ’s Intercessory Work.| not make me afraid to approach the Great God, when I have so kind a Saviour to intercede for me.”
“You are right, my dear,” said the other; “there is no thought more pleasing and delightful, than that we have in glory ‘a Prince’ that has ‘power with God,’ and must ‘prevail.’ The Apostle Paul rejoiced much in this truth. It gave him ‘boldness,’ as he calls it, to approach the throne of grace. And the Apostle John, in his vision on the Isle of Patmos, beheld Jesus as the Angel of the Covenant, with a ‘censer’ in His hand. His people on earth put all their prayers into this censer, and a fragrant cloud ascends from it before the throne.”
“What is the meaning of that?” asked Emma.
“It tells us, my child,” said her grandmother, “that the believer’s poor, imperfect prayers, when sprinkled and made fragrant with the incense of Christ’s adorable merits, ascend with acceptance into the ear of God Himself. God hears the poorest and unworthiest of His saints, for the sake of the work and merits of Jesus.”
“I can now well understand,” said Emma, “how the Apostle Paul could say with such a grateful heart, ‘Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!’”
“Yes,” replied the other, “it is unspeakable—and the more you know of Jesus, the more wonders will you discover in His person, and the more glories in His work. Oh! seek to love him more and more every day. Let it be your constant wish, and desire, and prayer—how can I do enough for this Saviour who has done so much, so very much for me?
“But I can say no more to‐night. May this blessed Saviour, my dear child, be yours—yours now, and yours for ever!”