A CLEAN SWEEP

A GOOD NEWS BULLETIN

THE GREAT MYSTERY OF GODLINESS

-By C.H. SPURGEON

“And without controversy great is the mystery of GODLINESS: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1 TI.3:16.

The apostle had just reminded Timothy that the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth, and he had pressed it upon behave himself aright in the midst of those faithful men to whom the Lord had committed the Gospel; and, lest by any means the youthful minister should think that the treasury committed to the church was of little value, he declares that beyond all controversy it was great and precious. Every heathenish religion had its mystery, its secret doctrine revealed only to the initiated, which was held to be the essence of faith. The mystery of some religions was mere froth, foolish in nature, and if true of no consequence to any one; but even those who do not believe the facts of our religion can hold no controversy with us about the unspeakable greatness of them, if they be indeed true. Be a man what he may, if he be reasonable he will admit that Christianity does not deal in triffles. Like the eagle, it does not hawk for flies, it aspires to conquer the loftiest themes of thought. Right or wrong, the subjects with which we deal are not secondary, but wear about them an awful interest which none but the frivolous despise. Jesus sits no second place among teachers. Paul mentions what the mystery of godliness is, and declares that it concerns the manifestation of God in Human flesh, that He saved men from their sin. Now, saith he, without controversy this is a great matter, if it be received by us as true, it becomes us to act as those who are put in trust with a priceless deposit with which we dar4 not be otherwise than faithful. There is room for difference where the Gospel is concerned, it is neither the most astounding of impostures, or the most amazing revelations; no man can safely remain undecided about it, it is to weighty, to solemn to be snuffed at as a matter of no concern. Foes and friends alike confess that the mystery of godliness is great: it is no rippling rill of dogma, but a broad ocean of thought, no molehill of discovery, but an Alp of revelation, no single beam of light but a sun shinning at its strength.

I shall, this morning, first take up the apostle’s summary of our religion; secondly, I shall give a few notes upon it; and, thirdly, draw one or two references from it.

I. First let us carefully look at THE SUMMARY OF TRUE RELIGION handed by the apostle to his son in the faith.

1.The first article in this most authentic apostle’s creed declares that “God was manifest in the flesh;” this is claimed as an especially valuable part of the great mystery of godliness. My brethren, if you will carefully consider it, this is one of the most extraordinary doctrines that was ever declared in human hearing, for were it not well attested, it would be absolutely incredible that the infinite God who filleth all things, who was and is, and is come, the Almighty, the Omniscient, and the omnipresent, actually condescended to veil Himself in the garments of our inferior clay. He made all things, and yet He desired to take the flesh of a creature into union with Himself: the Infinite was linked with the infant, and the Eternal was blended with mortality. That manger at Bethlehem, tenanted by the expressed image of the Father’s glory, was a great sight indeed to those who understood it. Well might the angels troop forth in crowds from within the gates of pearl, that they might behold Him who Heaven could not contain, finding accommodation in a stable with a lowly wedded pair. Wonders of wonders! God over all, blessed for ever, because one new born babe which slept in a a manger where the horned oxen fed.

“God was manifest in the flesh.” In this Paul testifies not merely to our Lord’s birth, but to the whole of the divine manifestation in His life of two or three and thirty years. He was abundantly manifest among the multitudes, and before His disciples during the latter part of His life. He was God in miracles most plenteous, but He was man in sufferings most pitiable. He was Son of the Highest, and nevertheless, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He trod the billows of the obedient sea, and yet owned not a foot of land in all Judea. He fed thousands by His power, and yet all faint and weary He sat upon a well, and cried, “Give me to drink.” He cast out devils, but was Himself tempted of the devil. He healed all manner of diseases, and was Himself exceeding sorrowful. Winds and waves obeyed Him, every element acknowledged the august presence of deity, and yet He was tempted in all points like as we are. Our Lord’s manhood was no phantasm, no myth, no more appearance in human shape: beyond all doubt “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” “Handle me and see, saith He; a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.” “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my sides: and be not faithless, but believing.” Yet with equal certainty, God was manifest in Him. As the light streams through the lantern, so the glory of the Godhead flamed through the flesh of Jesus, and those who were His nearest companions bear witness: “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

That revelation of God in the flesh became yet more extraordinary when, at last, our Lord condescended to be put to death by His own creatures. Arraigned before human tribunals, condemned as guilty of the gravest crimes, He is taken from prison and from judgment with none to declare His generation; He is fastened to the accursed wood, and put to a death of deepest shame, and bitterest torture. O ye whose loving eyes have looked upon the ensanguined rills, which gush from the wounds of your bleeding Lord, and have delighted to behold the lily of the valley reddened into the rose of Sharon with the crimson of his own blood, you can see God in Christ as you behold rocks rending, the sun darkened, and the dead arising from their tomb sat the moment of His departure from the earth, behold in the writhing from of the Crucified Man at once the vengeance and the love of God, nor less behold divine power sustaining the Lord of human guilt, and divine compassion enduring such agonies for rebels so ill deserving. Truly This Son of man was also the Son of God.

Beloved, this is a mystery surpassing all comprehension. If any man should attempt to explain, or even to define the union of the divine and human in the Lord Jesus, he would soon prove his folly. The schoolmen of the dark ages were every fond of asking puzzling questions about what they called the hypostatical union of the deity and humanity of Christ. They could not cast so much as a ray of light upon the subject; they amused themselves with enigmas and lost themselves in labyrinths. It is enough for us to know that the incarnation is a glorious fact, and it suffices us to behold it in its simplicity. God was manifest in the flesh of Jesus Christ the incarnate Word.

Beloved this is a great mystery, great because it treats of God. Any doctrine, which relates to the Infinite and the Eternal is of the utmost weight. We should be all ear and all heart when we have to learn concerning God, Reason teaches that He who made us, who is our preserver, and at whose Word we are so soon to return to the dust, should be the first objects of our thoughts. Turn ye hither, ye wayward children of Adam, and behold this great mystery, for your God is here. A bush burning unconsumed would attract your curious gaze: what think ye of a man who was in union with the God who is a consuming fire? The truth of God manifest in the flesh is great if you consider the great honor, which is thereby conferred upon manhood. How is man honored in God’s taking the nature of man into union with Himself, for verily He took not upon Him the nature of angels, but He took upon Him the seed of Abraham! Whichever of all the creatures shall come nearest to the Creator will evidently have the preeminence in the ranks of creatureship, which then shall bear the plan? Shall not the seraphs be chosen? Shall not the swift-winged sons of fire be chief among Heaven’s courtiers? Behold and be astonished, a worm is preferred, a rebellious child of the earth is chosen! Human nature is espoused into oneness with the divine! There is no gulf between God and redeemed man at this hour. God is first, over all, blessed forever, but next comes man in the person pf the man Christ Jesus. Well may we say with David, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is ma, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man. That thou visiteth him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.” Man is royal now that Christ is human. Man is exalted since Christ is humiliated. Man may go up to God now that God has come down to man. This is great, is it not? A mystery, certainly but great in every way. See that ye despise it not, lest ye miss the abounding benefit, which flows to man through this golden channel.

My brethren, the mystery appears greatest of all because it is so nearly connected with our eternal redemption. There could have been no putting away of sin by vicarious suffering if God had not become incarnate. Sin is not removed except by atonement, neither would any person have sufficed to atone but one of like nature to those who had offended. By man came death; by man also must cone resurrection. Jesus appears as man to save His people from their sins, by taking the sins of His people upon himself, and offering a propitiation for them. What a wondrous sight was the dying Redeemer! The cross is the focus of all human history, I was almost going to say it is the center of the life of God, if such a thing can be. All the ages met in Calvary. Jesus is the central Son of all events. O, gaze again, and marvel more and more that God should put Himself into the place of His offending creatures, and in the person of His dear Son, should offer to eternal justice a compensation for the insults which sin had cast upon law and rule! There is no greatness in Heaven or earth if it be not here in the bleeding flesh of Jesus, the Son of God. All else is dwarfed into nothing in His presence.