In examining the commission and work of the Apostles and Evangelists we find that testimony was meant to center itself in the first place on the person of Christ; and this it actually did. “Ye shall be witnesses of Me,” said Christ before ascending on high. And this holds true to the last Epistle of John, where we read of those who “went forth for the Name.”
So Peter's address on the day of Pentecost is all about the Lord; and the apostles in general ceased not to preach and teach Jesus Christ. A later chosen apostle dealt specially with this object, subject, and aim; but it characterizes the message of all. So Philip the evangelist went down to Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. Later on, when sent to the Eunuch, the question was mainly concerning the person. “Of whom,” asked the Eunuch (not “of what”), “speaketh the prophet thus? of himself or some other man?” And Philip “began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.”
We have seen in scripture already referred to that Paul was to bear Christ's name to the Gentiles. In Galatians the apostle makes it specially clear that the person of Christ was the absorbing theme of his preaching. He tells us that God revealed His Son in him, “that he might preach Him among the heathen.” At Corinth the apostle tells them that, when he entered that city of pleasure, he determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. In 2 Cor. 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4) should be read the “gospel of the glory of Christ,” not the “glorious gospel of Christ.” It is Himself in heavenly glory, where He in fact was seen Him the god of this world is careful to keep from the minds of the lost.
From this scripture reference and quotation, and it might be far more, it is certain that Christ Himself was the theme, ever true and fresh and blessed in the preaching of those He sent forth; and thus their message was something very different from the advocacy of abstract principles of goodness, benevolence, ethics, and philanthropy. Those who live merely to proclaim instincts of morality are on natural or heathen ground. Such as preach Christ know that, whether men accept or reject Him, the service is not lost, because it is done to Him; and His Father honors it. Again, we find that Christ made believing God and love to Himself, not principles of human excellence, the test of discipleship. The majesty of His person is purposely in view, before all earthly relationships: “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
So it is that the language of Christian devotion, and the hymns of Christian praise, like the sayings of Christian martyrs, testify that Christianity is just devotion to the truth and will of the Son of God. Christ's love, Who had spoken to him from heaven in tones tender and true with a power he never forgot, with a soul-winning and conquering voice that made Christ always more and better to him than anything or anyone else, constrained the great apostle of the Gentiles to say, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Our best hymn-writers would agree in this that
“Christ's glory fills eternity-
Eternity which was and is,
And all eternity to be
Shall shine with His undying praise.”
Further, we find that Christ Himself is the center of Christian worship and joy. To those who are gathered to His name He promises His presence, no matter how few there may be. It is in “the Lord” that the apostle instructs us to rejoice; and surely the bulk of proper Christian teaching is to set forth the Lord's divine and varied glories, so that hearts may be drawn out to Him in worship, thanksgiving and praise. But in relation to no subject is this question of the person of the Lord more important, than in its bearing on Christian hope. Both for the Lord and for the Christian the question becomes simply and exceedingly personal. For we read, “I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” The consummation of Christian hope is His coming and our being with the Lord in glory. How could those who “love not our Lord Jesus Christ” find any joy or rest in being “forever with the Lord?” They are anathema. The songs and services of His saints would be insufferable weariness to such.
Enough light on that blessed future is given to know that heaven will be filled with praise of Christ. The elders are seen to have crowns on their heads, they wear white robes, they sit on thrones. In the midst of divine power and glory, they sing, “Thou art worthy, for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed to God by Thy blood.” The glory of Christ's person gives eternal efficacy to His atoning work, which is everything to His saints even in heaven; as it makes Him unspeakably precious to them now and forever.
Hsin Hwa, Chinkiang. T. H. (Concluded).