Here is no yawning vacuum, but a grand object to give interest to life, to fill up every vacancy in the heart—perfect happiness. All that we could add from the world would only make us poorer, by diminishing that enjoyment of God for the loss of which there is no compensation. There is one point—only one—in the universe where we can look up and cry with the saintly Martyn, “With Thee there is no disappointment.”—Bridges.
“I will fill their treasures.” This is a great promise. It is made in a kingly style. There is no limit. It will take much to fill these treasures, for the capacity of the human spirit is very large. God moulded man after His own image, and when the creature is empty, nothing short of His Maker will fill him again. Although a man should gain the whole world, his appetite should not be perceptibly diminished. The void would be as great and the craving as keen as ever. Handfuls are gotten on the ground, but a soulful is not to be had except in Christ. “In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete (i.e., full) in Him.”—Arnot.
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 22–31.
The Personal Wisdom of God.
I. The antiquity of the Personal Wisdom of God. Wisdom in the abstract must have existed before the creation of the world, because the world bears marks of wisdom. There must have been in Solomon the wisdom to design the temple before it took the form of beauty which made it so famous. There is skill hidden in the artist’s mind before it is manifested upon his canvas—the very existence of the picture proves the pre-existent skill. The world is a temple of large proportions, the beauty of which man can but copy afar off, and its existence proves the pre-existence of wisdom resident in a pre-existent person. As the world bears evident marks of great antiquity it proclaims an All-wise Cause which must necessarily be older still. There is no person known to the human race who claimed to have an existence before the world except Jesus Christ. He claimed—and it is claimed for Him by those who bore witness to Him—to have been before the world was, and to have been conscious of His divinity before the foundation of the world. He claims to have been possessor of “a glory with the Father before the world was” (John xvii. 5), a glory which included intellectual and moral wisdom. And the claim of His apostle concerning the pre-existence of the “Word of God” is most unmistakable (John i. 3). The existence of other and inferior “sons of God” before the creation of this world is implied in Scripture (Job. xxxviii. 7), but we have no direct revelation concerning them. We feel that we could not apply to them, or to any creature, the words of the text, “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way,” etc. But, in the light of the New Testament revelation, if we give them a personal application, we must apply them to the Son of God, the Eternal Word, and to Him alone. The words point to an existence distinct from God. “I was by Him,” and “I was with Him.” And yet the intimate relationship and fellowship described does not express inferiority, but finds its fulfilment only in Him who not only “was in the beginning with God,” but who “was God.” (On this subject see [note].)
II. The Personal Wisdom of God the delight of the Eternal Father. “I was daily His delight” (verse 30). (1) Likeness in character is a foundation of delight. A man who is godly delights to see his own godly character reflected in his son. The recognition of moral likeness in the uncreated Son gave delight to the Eternal Father. Nothing gives God so much joy as goodness. Hence His joy in His only-begotten Son. (2) Equality of nature is a source of delight to the good and true. Fellowship with an equal gives joy. Christ, when on earth, ever claimed this equality with the Father. He claimed an eternity of being. “Before Abraham was, I am” (Exod. iii. 14; John viii. 58). Omniscience is claimed for Him, and He gave evidence that He possessed it. “He knew what was in man” (John ii. 25). “And Jesus knowing their thoughts,” etc. (Matt. ix. 4). Divine energy. “My Father worketh hitherto and I work” (John v. 17). Independent existence. “As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself” (John v. 26). Holiness. “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” (John viii. 46). Almighty power. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. xxviii. 18). In the eternal ages, before the creation of the world, the Father looked upon this “brightness of His glory and express image of His person” (Heb. i. 3), and this Divine Equal gave joy to the uncreated God (Isa. xlii. 1).
III. The delight of the Personal Wisdom of God in the creation of the home of man. “Rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth” (verse 31). The artist has joy in the thought of his completed work while it is in progress. He joys in that which is not as yet in outward form, but which is, in the completeness within his mind. The architect, who sees day by day the building being reared which he knows will be the wonder of coming ages and the means of yielding comfort to thousands, rejoices in the thought of the blessing that is to come out of his work. He experiences an emotion, with which a stranger cannot intermeddle (Prov. xiv. 10). And so Eternal Wisdom is here represented as regarding the future home of man. He saw its adaptability to the wants of the creatures who were to inhabit it—its inexhaustible resources for the supply of all man’s physical and many of his intellectual wants, and the thought of the missions to whose happiness the earth’s riches and beauties would minister throughout the ages gave Him joy. The best natures among human-kind delight when they are able to produce what will increase the happiness of their fellow-creatures. The poet rejoices when he feels that his thought will cheer the hearts of other men. The inventor is glad when he has made a discovery which he knows will be a boon to his race. And so the Eternal Wisdom of God looked with joy upon the earth which He had called into being for the habitation of the race whom He was about to create. The joy that would be theirs gave Him joy when He looked upon creation with their eyes.
IV. The special delight of Personal Wisdom in man himself. “My delights were with the sons of men.” 1. His delight in man would arise from the fact that he was a creature different from all pre-existing creatures. Man is a link between mind and matter. He is a compound of the animal and the angel, of the dust of the earth and the breath of God. The material creation was called into being before man. The angelic and spiritual creatures existed before man. Man was, as it were, the clasp which united the two, and his unique character, we may well believe, made him a special object of interest to his Creator. New combinations give joy to those who, by combining forces, or material, or thoughts for the first time, bring about a new thing in the earth. They create a power or an idea which would not have existed if these elements had remained separate. Man, as he came originally from the hand of God, was such a perfectly balanced compound of mind and matter, of body and spirit, that his Creator had joy in the contemplation of His work, and declared it to be “very good” (Gen. i. 31). If we apply the words of the text to the second person of the Godhead, we know, from Scripture testimony, that He was the Creator of man, for “without Him was not anything made that was made.” He is as rich in invention as He is in goodness. 2. The delight of Christ would be especially with men, because in His own nature God and man would meet in an eternal combination. The commander who can pluck victory out of the jaws of defeat, by the combination of certain forces not yet brought upon the field with others which have been already defeated, is allowed to give evidence of the highest military skill. The statesman who, anticipating the defeat of one measure, reserved another method of tactics in the background which he knew would ensure an ultimate success, and who used the very means by which he had been defeated as a lever to establish a better law and a more lasting benefit, would be considered to display ability of the first degree, and to be a benefactor of his race. And the contemplation of such a victory beforehand must be an occupation of the deepest interest to the mind which originates the plan and carries it into action. Christ is, beyond all comparison, the leader of men. He saw beforehand that human nature would be defeated in its first conflict with evil. He knew that Satan would enter in and spoil this new principality of God. But He had already made preparation for this defeat, and He purposed, by means of the very human nature which would be thus defeated, in combination with His own divinity, to spoil the spoiler and lead captivity captive. By the eternal union of His own nature with the human He purposed to place man on a firmer standing ground, and gain for him the power of an endless life. Christ becoming the head of the race has defeated sin in the human nature that was itself defeated, and the grace which He has thus imparted to man has lifted him to a higher level than that in which he was created. And if the first edition of man, which was “of the earth, earthy” (1 Cor. xv. 47), gave joy to his Creator, how much more must He have rejoiced in the prospect of that second edition which was to be made after His own likeness, and to be the reward of “the travail of His soul” (Isa. liii. 11), although even then He knew at what a cost this work would be accomplished (1 Pet. i. 20).
Note on the Relation of the Son of God to the Father. (Verses 22–30, John i. 1). On this subject Dr. John Brown says, “That the Son is essentially and eternally related to the Father, in some real sense, as Father and Son; but that while distinct in person (for ‘the Word was with God’), He is neither posterior to Him in time (for ‘in the beginning was the Word’), nor inferior to Him in nature (for ‘the Word was God’), nor separate from Him in being (for ‘the same was in the beginning with God’), but One Godhead with the Father;” this would seem to come as near to the full testimony of Scripture on this mysterious subject as can be reached by our finite understanding, without darkening counsel with words without knowledge.
outlines and suggestive comments.