To the believer and the diligent student of Scripture, the statement that God Himself is and must be the Spring and Fountain of all blessing is so obvious a truth as to amount to a truism. This truth is taught by nature and by creation, but it awaits the revelation of Scripture to retranslate these facts into evangelical experiences, and to teach that even though the Ultimate Source of all being and blessing is God, these blessings are mediated to their unworthy recipients through the Person and Work of the Son of His love. Gospel grace does not come to man straight from God, as God; it comes to man as a sinner seeking salvation through God manifest in the flesh. As we read the words of John i. 16 we are reading a N.T. version of the acknowledgment, “All my springs are in Thee”. The passage reads: “And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
To appreciate the rich grace here indicated we must go back to the opening of the chapter in which the words occur. Even there, “in the beginning”, when the purpose of the ages was planned and when the redeeming Lamb was foreordained (I Pet. i. 19, 20) we are not taken into the presence of God in the absolute sense, but into the presence of the Mediator, “The Word”, “The Image of the invisible God”, “The express Image of His substance”, of Whom it is written, in the contexts of these several statements:
“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John i. 3).
“By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible” (Col. i. 16).
“By Whom also He made the worlds (ages)” (Heb. i. 2).
The fabric of creation is the work of His hands, and the ages, during which the Divine purpose shall be attained, are all vested in Him.
Immediately following the statement of John i. that all things were made by Him, come the words of so great import to us, “In Him was life”. Of no creature can it be said that such has “life in itself”; inherent life is the prerogative of Deity. John goes on to say that this life “was the light of men”, revealing that in the beginning, even before man was created, it was Christ (in Whose “image” he was later formed), Who was the Fount and Source of Life, even as, in fullness of time, Christ was revealed to be the Spring of all the graces of redeeming love. But not until the Deity took another step in corresponding love could the Fountain flow in all its fullness to the sons of men; and so we read:
“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 i. 14).
Here is the “fullness” out of which we all have received; here is the “grace for grace” that describes its nature.
However, before we further pursue this aspect, let us fortify our understanding by reading what is written concerning this One Who became “flesh”. Was such a descent accompanied by the loss of inherent life? Could it be said of Him Who was found in fashion as a man and Who had actually come to die for sin, that He still had “life in Himself”? Yes, blessed be God, it is so written; we are not left to inference, however sound may be our reasoning.
Because the Saviour had cured a man on the sabbath day, the Jews sought to slay Him, and, instead of placating, He added to their wrath by saying, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”. “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God” (John v. 16-18).
Then follows a series of stupendous claims, any one of which is a wonder, and any one a proof of His Deity. He saw what the Father did, and did “likewise”. He quickened the dead, even as the Father raised up the dead and quickened them. He was the appointed Judge of all men, the Father judging no man. All men were required to give equal honour to the Son as to the Father.
“For, as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself” (John v. 26).
When He made Himself of no reputation and became man, He necessarily laid aside the insignia and the associations of Deity and, unless it had been revealed, we might have felt that although as “The Word” it could be written “In Him was life”, yet, when He became flesh, this mark of Deity would be absent. For our peace it is not so. As the “Son” and the “Word became flesh”, He possesses “life in Himself” and so is the Author and Fountain of life to all who believe. When therefore we read: “Of His fullness have all we received”, we know that once again we are at the Source of all life and blessing.
The confessed purpose of John in writing his Gospel is “life” (John xx. 31), and this last reference is the last link in a chain of thirty-six occurrences of zoe, “life”, in his Gospel. If to these we add the thirteen occurrences of the word in the first epistle, we have a total of 49, or 7*7, for perfection is indeed found here.
As we trace the use of zoe throughout John’s Gospel we find that the goal of the gospel there preached is everlasting life (iii. 15, 16), and that this life is ours only by virtue of the sacrifice of “His flesh, which” said He, “I will give for the life of the world” (John vi. 51). Further, this life is essentially “resurrection life”. Those who receive it “pass from death unto life” (John v. 24), and hear the voice of Him Who said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John xi. 25).
As we become conscious of our sin and consequent death, and as we perceive the fullness that dwells in Him, can we not, with a full heart, look up to Him Who is Himself “The Way, the Truth and the Life” and say, “All my springs are in Thee”.
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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 34, page 27).
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