Thou art He in whom God's first great promise to man finds its
Thou Art the Christ. What Then?
LET us suppose the Master's question put to us in these days by the Master Himself, as of old.
What would be our answer? What should we say to Him, or to ourselves, or to the Church, or to the world?
We might say, 'Thou art the Christ;' but how much would that express?
With many it would express much less than Peter meant: for Peter, as one versed in the old revelation, knew much that many, calling themselves Christians, are ignorant of. With many, however, it would express more than Peter could have implied; for 'the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.' They have seen what Peter had not then seen; the cross, the grave, and the resurrection. The light from the cross has wonderfully illuminated that name, the Christ. It was but dim to Peter; it is bright to us.
'Thou art the Christ,' we say. If so, what do we mean, and what follows from that meaning?
What do we mean? We know what a true Israelite would mean; and our meaning, though much fuller, must be substantially the same. If Thou art the Christ, then,
1. Thou art the Seed of the Woman
Thou art He in whom God's first great promise to man finds its fulfilment; true seed of the woman. Thou art the Life, because of whom she was called Eve, the life;—true Son of Adam, very man, Thyself 'the last Adam' (1 Cor. 15:45), 'the second man, the Lord from heaven' (1 Cor. 15:47). Thou art He to whom the eyes of our first parents were turned, and in whom they rested, though to them Thou wert only the promised seed, the Coming One. For it was through
man that God was to save man; and as by one man's disobedience many had been made sinners, so by one man's obedience many were to be made righteous. Through her who had been 'beguiled' (2 Cor. 11:3), through her who 'was deceived' and 'was in the transgression' (1 Tim. 2:13, 14), was the great Deliverer to come: very man,—made of a woman, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh: more truly man than the fallen sons of Adam, for sin did not belong to humanity at first, and He was without sin; the holy seed, the holy child.
Thus we have in this Christ a child of time, yet a child of eternity. He was born of a woman, yet He is from everlasting to everlasting God. The first thing we read of Him as a son of Eve, is in these words regarding His mother, 'She was found with child of the Holy Ghost' (Matt. 1:18); and again, 'That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost' (Matt. 1:20). Ages before, this song had been sung:
Behold!
The virgin shall conceive,
And bear a son;
And shall call His name Immanuel (Isa. 7:14).
And another song had been sung, very like the former, yet fuller and more exultant:
Unto us the child is born,
Unto us the son is given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulders,
And His name shall be called
Wonderful,
Counsellor,
The Mighty God,
The Everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).
And then, just before the birth of this seed of the woman, the angel Gabriel comes to His mother with these words:
Fear not, Mary,
For thou hast found favour with God.
Behold! thou shalt conceive in thy womb,
And bring forth a son,
And thou shalt call His name Jesus.
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
And the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:
Therefore also that holy thing,
Which shall be born of thee,
Shall be called
The Son of God (Luke 1:30, 35).
Then we come to the actual birth of the predicted seed: 'She brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped Him in swaddling-clothes, and laid Him in a manger' (Luke 2:7). On this we hear the glorious message from above:
Fear not!