I SHALL take it for granted that my readers are thoroughly interested in our great text, and that they will wish to consider further the One who is spoken of in it as God’s “only begotten Son”―the One whom God has given, and in whom they are to believe. The title is of the highest glory, there does not seem to be any higher. It is used five times, in John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 1814And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18); and 1 John 4:99In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9). I should like to quote a paragraph from an old writer that has impressed me. He points out that John, the beloved disciple who leaned on the Lord’s breast at the Supper, is the only one of the New Testament writers that speaks thus of the Lord; and the reason for that may be that he being the last of the New Testament writers, was inspired by the Holy Spirit to give special emphasis to the full Deity-glory of Jesus, and of His eternal relationship with the Father in Godhead, which even then was being challenged. He says: “When he would impress the minds of his readers with a deep sense at once of the inscrutableness of the divine nature, and the certainty and perfection of the manifestations of God in Christ, he declares, ‘No man’―no being of created mold― ‘hath seen God at any time; the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, who exists in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.’” When, again, he would exalt to the utmost glory of the Word in flesh, he styles it, “the glory as of the ONLY BEGOTTEN from the Father.” When he would illustrate the benevolence of God with the highest splendor, he says, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON into the world, that we might live through Him.” With a similar purpose is the epithet used by Christ Himself, “God so loved the world, that He gave His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And, finally, when our Lord would represent unbelief as the last extreme of human guilt, and as anticipating the judgment of a future world, He finds no stronger argument than that conveyed in this appellation, “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the NAME OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.” And this is He whom God hath given and in whom we are to believe unto eternal life.
There have been and will still be many antichrists in the world. Men who will challenge the unique place that the only begotten Son of God fills. The devil will see to that, for the one thing that he hates above all others is that the Son of God, the One who has stormed his stronghold of death and mastered him, should be magnified and praised. And the devil’s work is clearly manifested in the fact that in these last days there are those who call themselves Christians, who put Confucius, and Mahomet, and Buddha, and other historical figures, on the same platform as the Lord Jesus Christ. Our ship put in to Colombo for a day for coal and supplies, and we all were glad to go ashore after three weeks of ship board life. When we returned at night everybody was full of the day’s adventures. One lady told me that she had been to a Buddhist temple, on the walls of which were paintings depicting scenes in the life of Buddha—they had all been explained by the priest in charge, “And,” said the lady, “they were so much like what we read about Christ, that I have come to the conclusion that there was no difference between Buddha and Christ, and if these people believe in Buddha that is all that is required.” “And what about your believing in Buddha, too, if there is no difference between him and Christ?” I asked. “Well, of course, I belong to the West, and so believe in Christ, but I do not see any difference between them,” she replied. “In those pictures depicting incidents in the life of Buddha,” I asked, “did you see one of Buddha lying on a cross for sinners?” “No,” she said; “there wasn’t one like that.” “Then, of course, there would not be one of Buddha, having died, rising again from the dead.” “No,” she said, “there was not.” “Then,” I said, “Buddha cannot be like Christ, for the two great facts of Christ are that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” I was glad that the lady finally agreed that Buddha was not like Christ.
I proclaim the unique glory of the only begotten Son of God. In Time and Eternity He has no rival. “There is none other Name given under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved,” for He only could die for sinners, and rise up again from the dead. O that men would understand this and turn to Him wholly!
It is 6,000 years since Adam opened the door for sin to enter into the world and death came in with sin (Rom. 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)). At his surrender to Satan in the Garden he became a sinner by nature and practice, and he has transmitted that nature to his posterity, and death has passed upon them all, “for all have sinned.” Great men have arisen in the world’s history, who have dominated other men, like Nimrod, and Buddha, and Mahomet, but they have all died, because, like Adam, they were all sinners. Not one of them, even if he had desired to, could stand up as the substitute for others, and bear sin’s penalty so as to take from death its dominion. The dark tide of death has rolled on and risen up against every man, sweeping away the great and the small, the rich and the poor, the wise and the fool. There was no hope or help for men in any of Adam’s children. Then it was that God intervened by giving His only begotten Son.
His coming was predicted of old. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel.” This was the sign. It was the sign of man’s utter impotence for his own redemption, and that God would undertake his cause, and that this should proceed from Himself and be entirely apart from any aid that men could give. “A virgin shall conceive.” “It is impossible,” cries the infidel. Yes, it is impossible with men; that is the very lesson that God would teach us by the manner of His intervention. It is impossible that men should devise or evolve any scheme or system of redemption, or deliver and uplift themselves from the damning effect of sin; they cannot set themselves free from the law of sin and death, with men it is impossible, but not with God. He stepped into the scene of man’s utter ruin, and said, “Stand still, stand aside, and see the salvation of God,” and so, in due time, Mary brought forth her firstborn Son, “And His Name was called JESUS.” He was Immanuel―the only begotten Son― “Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” The Son of the Father’s love by whom all things were made (Col. 1). “Who is over all, God blessed forever.” “How do you know that Jesus Christ is God?” asked a scoffer of a man who had confessed the Saviour’s Name. “How do I know that Jesus Christ is God? Why, He saved me,” was his simple, yet conclusive, answer.
It is He, the Son in the Godhead, who came forth from the Father in whom we are asked to believe. The epithet “the only begotten Son of God” tells us how eternally near and dear He is to the Father who sent Him, and He sent Him to be the Saviour, and being who He is, His mission cannot fail.
Of every other child born into the world there was a doubt as to his career and destiny. What will he become? was the question that sprang to the mind in respect to every one of them.
One might have been born a king, but who could tell whether he would ever be enthroned, or that accomplished, whether he would not be dethroned again by a more powerful rival. But Jesus came into the world to fulfill a great purpose, He came to die and rise again, and to become by His death and resurrection the Saviour of men. He has accomplished the work that God gave Him to do: It is finished; and He has gone back again to heaven, that from thence He might give everlasting life to all who believe in Him. “Now He that ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.” Of which of the great names in human history could that be said? Buddha means the Enlightened, but those who follow him grope in impenetrable darkness. Jesus is the Light of the world, and He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and to dispel the darkness, and reveal what God is in the fullness of His love. He is the eternally worthy object of the Father’s love, He is the worthy object of every sinner’s trust.