Let us turn to God's Word again,
and turning to 1 Timothy 3 and verse 16. Seventh time has come
to consider this particular verse, and so we come tonight to the
concluding part, and the words concerning God manifest in the
flesh, received up into glory. Considering then the last clause
of the verse, I'll read the verse through, 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 only in the world, received up into glory. We began, of course, by considering
that statement at the beginning that the Apostle says is without
any controversy concerning real religion, great. Great is the
mystery of godliness. And he goes on, doesn't he, in
the following chapter to say something more with regards to
it. In verses 7 and 8 of chapter
4 he says, Refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise
thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth
little, or for a little time, as the margin says, but godliness
is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that
now is, and of that which is to come. Lord, this great mystery of godliness,
the godly life, it doesn't only have promise of the present life,
but also of that life that is to come. And how wondrous when
the eyes of the sinner are opened and you see something of the
wonder of those things that are laid up for all eternity in the
person and work of the Lord Jesus, the only Savior of sinners. The golden chain that we have
there in Romans 8, verses 29 and 30. though it concludes doesn't it
with glorified whom he did for know he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son moreover whom he did
predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also
justified and whom he justified them he also glorified to be
united then to this one that spoken of himself having fulfilled
all righteousness by his obedience even to the death of the cross
was received up into glory. And so we come to the final mystery
in this verse as we look and consider something of the glorification
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm dealing with just two headings
to consider how here we have the reward of Christ the reward
of all his sufferings and secondly we see him in all of this as
that one who is a representative person first of all the reward
we're told aren't we how he was received up into glory and the
verb is interesting it's in the passive voice the subject of
the verb God manifest in the flesh isn't acting here it's
not his own action that he's being spoken of but he is the
one who is being acted upon that's the significance of the passive
voice Christ did not glorify himself that's what's being said
Christ did not glorify himself but he was glorified and that
glorification was really the reward of all the sufferings
that he had endured. Now of course there is that sense
in which he is always glorified because he is the glorious eternal
son of God. He is that one who is equal with
the Father. Who is it that was manifest in
the flesh, well we're told it was God the one who was manifest
in the flesh was none other than God being in the form of God he thought
it not robbery to be equal with God we're told he is equal to
the Father the Eternal Father he is equal also to to God the
Holy Spirit The language of the creeds are
remarkable, aren't they? You are aware, I'm sure, about
those ancient creeds of the church, I think in particular of the
Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed. They were brought forth, of course,
because of those who had fallen into grievous heresies with regards
to the person of the Lord Jesus. They were forged really in the
midst of great controversies in the early church. And so they
had to make those statements concerning the doctrine of the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine of God himself,
the doctrine of the Trinity. And in the Athanasian Creed we
have words such as this, in the Trinity, 9 is of 4, or after
other. None is greater or less than
another. None is before or after. None is greater or less. The three divine persons are
co-equal, just as they are co-eternal. And the one that is spoken of
here, the one who was glorified, received up into glory, this
is that one who in the fullness of the time was manifest in the
flesh when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth
his son made of a woman and made under the law and how as he ministers amongst men the
Jews begin to understand who this Jesus of Nazareth is as he performs his miracles.
We're told, aren't we, after that remarkable miracle in John
chapter 5 the man at the pool of Bethesda who receives his
feet, as it were, who is healed of his paralysis, his crippled
state, and he walks and the Lord is performing the miracle. It's
a Sabbath day. And how the Jews are so offended. And we're told how they sought
to kill him. But it says there in John 5,
18, they sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken
the Sabbath day, but said that God was his Father, making himself
equal with God. He made himself equal with God. Oh, he is that one who is equal
to the Father. And again, when we come to the
end of his earthly ministry and they lay accusation against him
before the Roman judge, before Pontius Pilate, what did they
say there in John 19, 7? They answered and said, we have
a law, and by our law he ought to die because he made himself
equal with God. by calling himself the son of
God they saw what he was saying and so the Lord himself at the
end when he comes to his great prayer there in the 17th of John
the high priestly prayer how does he address the father? Oh
father he says glorify thou me and now oh father glorify thou
me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. He wants to be glorified, he
says, with thine own self. It's the nearest personal conjunction
that there could be. It's the same glory that belongs
to the Father that he is pleading with regards to himself. Glorify
thou me with thine own self is what the Lord is saying we know
that there is one God one glorious God the only living
God the only true God Hero Israel the Lord our Lord is one Lord
and the Apostle writing there in 1 Corinthians 8 says there
is none other God but One One God and what does the Lord Jesus
say? I and my Father are One He is
One with the Father and He is that One who is the image of
the Invisible God in these last days God has spoken unto us by
His Son read through that remarkable opening chapter of the epistle
to the Hebrews and there we see something of the glories that
belong unto this one the image of the invisible God no man has
seen God at any time the only begotten of the Father the only begotten
Son He hath declared Oh, he is that one who is in
the bosom of the Father. That's what it says. He's in
the bosom of the Father. And it's really a stronger statement
than we have it in our authorized version there in that verse,
John 1.18. It's literally, which is into
the bosom of the Father. It's the most intimate of association. He is one with the Father. because
God is one, in essence, one in glory, though he subsists in
three distinct persons. This is the great doctrine, isn't
it? The great truth concerning the
doctrine of God himself, the Godhead, the doctrine of the
Trinity. And there are so many scriptures
that indicate it to us, even in the Old Testament. in Zechariah
13.7 we read of the man that is my fellow the man that is
my fellow Zechariah 13.7 equal in glory he is the fellow of
the Father he is the fellow also of the Holy Spirit Lord the Son
of God he never ever ceased to be equal with the Father. But of course, during the time
of His incarnation, the days of His humiliation here upon
the earth, how that glory was concealed, that glory was hidden
from the sight of men. There is an incident that's recorded
in the Gospels concerning those three, Peter, James and John,
when the Lord goes with them into the mounts and is transfigured. And they are able, as it were,
favored to see through the veil of his humanity. They see beyond
that state of his humiliation. And they clearly see something
of his glories. It's recorded there in the Synoptic
Gospels. For example, in Matthew's account
in the 17th chapter, We are told how after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James and John his brother and bringeth them up into a high
mountain. Now what did he said previously? At the end of chapter 16, verily
I say unto you there be some standing here which shall not
taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his
kingdom. And then it follows, after six
days, he takes these three into a high mountain apart, and was
transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter and said
unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. if thou wilt
let us make here three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses
and one for Elias while he gets back behold a bright cloud overshadowed
them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said this is
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and when
the disciples heard it they fell on their faces and were sore
afraid And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise and be not
afraid. What is it that they're experiencing?
He's transfigured. And they witness something of
the glories that belong to him. They witness something of his
deity. and the Lord comes and touches
them and tells them they're not to be afraid just as later on
the island of Patmos John will again see the glorified Christ
having accomplished his great work of redemption and John falls
at his feet as dead and again the Lord comes and puts his hand
upon him and says fear not I am he that liveth and was dead and
behold I am alive forevermore and have the keys of heaven and
of hell all this one then is the eternal son of God there's
a glory that always belongs to him but in the state of his humiliation
here upon the earth that glory is hidden from the eyes of the
people they do not see it It was God's great purpose of
salvation being accomplished in all his humiliation. God's
manifest in the flesh, veiled in human flesh. We see
something of the glory of God in the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemning sin in the
flesh how remarkable it is he was in
the form of God he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God but made himself of no reputation he took upon him the form of
a servant He's in the form of God and yet here upon the earth
He's in the form of a servant. And who is He serving? He's serving
His God. He's come not to do His own will
but the will of Him who has sent Him. And to finish His work He's
the Lord's servant. And then He is received up into
glory. he doesn't glorify himself as
I said it's a passive voice here he's acted upon and we have it
there don't we in the language of Philippians Philippians 2.9
where for God also has highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth and every tongue is to confess that he is Lord
to the glory of God the Father but how interesting it is that
ninth verse in that great second chapter of the Philippian epistle
begins with that word wherefore literally it has the force of
on which accounts on which account God also hath highly exalted
him. And the wherefore immediately
throws us back onto what has been said in the preceding verses. He was in the form of God. He
thought it not probably to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the
death of the cross and then we have the word wherefore on account
of this God also has highly exalted him he is received up the Father
receives him into glory the father as it were takes him back to
heaven where he was from all eternity as we said this morning
he is that one that we see there in the 24th Psalm the man who
descends into the hill of the Lord that hath clean hands and
a pure heart who has not lifted up his soul onto vanity nor sworn
deceitfulness who is this man? lift up your heads, O ye gay,
be ye lifted up, ye everlasting dwarfs, and the King of Glory
shall come ye." Or the Lord Jesus Christ, the
sinless man, the perfect man, or the only altogether sinless
man that ever lived. Adam was sinless, Eve was sinless
when they came, pristine from the hand of their Creator God,
but alas, Adam and Eve sinned But here is that One who is the
last Adam, the Lord from heaven, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners. And He is to receive His rewards. He is to receive His reward. We have it in that 18th Psalm
that we were reading. Again we see the Lord Jesus here.
Surely He is at the end of the Psalm. He is the Anointed. spoke
of in the very last verse, great deliverance giveth he to his
king and showeth mercy to his anointed to David and to his
seed forevermore who is speaking here at verse 20 of the psalm
the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness why David
said I will make mention of thy righteousness even of thine own
This is greater than David that speaks. In this 20th verse and
the following verses the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness
according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed
me for I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly
departed from my God for all his judgments were before me
and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before
him, and kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore hath the
Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according
to the cleanness of my hands in his sights. All ye shall see
of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justified manner. He is the Lord's righteous
servant, the Lord's righteous servant and he will receive his
reward. He will see of the travail of
his soul. He has not shed his precious
blood in vain. He is glorified, received up
into glory as that one who is the great Saviour of sinners. What can he say as he addresses
his father there in that 17th chapter, that great high priestly
prayer in John? I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. He pleads and He pleads in terms of that
glory that was ever His. All God exalts Him. He does not
pray in vain. The Father hears His prayer and God exalts Him at every step
of His glorification. Think of the various steps as
they are unfolded to us. It is, of course, by the cross
that he comes to the crown. It's by the cross. But then on
the third day we're told, aren't we, Him, God, raised up the third
day. And again, look at the language
that Peter is using there in the house of Cornelius in Acts
chapter 10. He speaks of the Lord Jesus,
Him. Who raised Him up? God raised Him up. God raised
him up the third day. And this morning we were thinking
of his ascension. And again, who is it who receives
him? He was received up into heaven,
we're told. Mark 16, 19. He is received up. It's a passive voice. He's received
up into glory. he is acting upon and then as he is glorified in
resurrection glorified in ascension so he is glorified in heavenly
session God we are told set him at his own right hand in the
heavenly places that's where God sets him or the man Christ
Jesus And then we see what the consequence of all this glorification
is. Who is it that bestows the Holy
Ghost? Why, it's His glorified One,
the Man, Christ Jesus. Him being by the right hand of
God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost. Who has received the promise?
and he sheds forth the promise there upon the day of Pentecost
and he is that one who is exalted to the end that he might give
repentance to sinners there in Acts 5.31 him hath God
exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour to
give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins all the
glories that belong to this person the rewards that he receives
the consequence of all that he has endured of the contradiction
of sinners against himself all that he has endured of the wrath
of God that that was visited upon his person or we die as
the just, the just one for the unjust, to bring sinners unto
God. And in all this exaltation, you
see, we must recognize that he is ever a representative person. And so turning to consider him
in that capacity a representative person, he is a surety of the
elect, What does the Apostle say in
Hebrews 7? We read of Jesus made surety
of a better covenant. Surety of a better testament
is the rendering that we have but it's the same word, covenant. He is the mediator of that new
covenant. and it's all undertaken as one
who is not only God but also man and so is exaltation you see as a man when we think of the
human nature of the Lord Jesus that human nature was never in
heaven until his resurrection from the dead and his ascension. As I said, when we think of him
in terms of his deity, the eternal son of God, he is always in heaven. But now here we're reading of
him as that one who has been received up into glory as God
manifest in the flesh joining the beginning of the
verse with what we have at the end of the verse God was manifest
in the flesh it said and he was received up into glory and that's
a most important point that we have to recognize he is now in
heaven as the glorified man how the eternal Son of God first
of all descended and then having descended He
ascended Paul speaks of that doesn't he in Ephesians 4 where
he makes reference to the language of the 68th Psalm but in Ephesians
chapter 4 Verse 9 we read, Now that he
ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into
the lower part of the earth? He that descended is the same
also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill
all things. Is the eternal Son of God, is
ever there from all eternity? he is one with the Father, one
with the Holy Spirit in the fullness of time he descends into the
lowest parts of the earth he descends into the womb of the
Virgin and there what is conceived in her womb, that holy thing
is to be united with this person, the eternal Son of God and It's
there, isn't it, in the 139th Psalm? Remember the language
that we have. That psalm does have a messianic
content in it. It's David's great psalm in which
he rejoices in the omniscience and the omnipresence of God.
But isn't the mystery of the incarnation, the virgin birth,
described here in verse 15 of the psalm, my substance was not
hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth. Curiously wrought in the lowest
parts of the earth. And then that language that the
apostle is using in Ephesians 4 that we just referred to he that ascended, what is it
but that he also descended first into the lowest parts of the
earth? Now he has humbled himself in
becoming a man but now the God-man is the one who is to be exalted
as the eternal son of God he was always in heaven But now,
as man, he has entered into heaven, he's glorified as the God-man.
This is the great mystery of the glorification of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Every one of these statements
that we have in this verse is full of mystery. how He was manifest
in the flesh, how He was justified in the Spirit, how He was seen
of the angels, how He was preached unto the Gentiles, how He is
believed on in the world, how He is received up into glory.
It's mystery upon mystery upon mystery. It's all part and parcel
of the great mystery of Godliness. It's that religion that we profess. It's that Lord Jesus Christ that
we believe in. all this glorified man in heaven
and there for a purpose there he is a representative of his
people he is there as their great high priest he is there as their
advocate he is there as their shorten and think of it forever he is
now bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh that's the wonder
of what he is, where he is oh we have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities not our sinful
infirmities but the sinless infirmities of our human nature he's touched
with all of that because he's there in heaven as the God-man
and how careful he is to have the disciples to understand that
that body that he's raised in is the same body that he bled
and suffered and died in those words that we have in that
24th chapter of Luke where we've been the last Three Lords' Day
mornings. Remarkable words that he speaks when he says to the disciples,
Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself. It's so emphatic. He doesn't just say, Behold my
hands and my feet that it is I. No, he repeats the word, It
is I myself. Handle me and see. for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have and when he had thus
spoken he showed them his hands and his feet and then he asked for a piece
of a broad fish and a honeycomb and he takes it and he eats it
and he eats it before them and they look on in amazement they
see the reality of his humanity This is the resurrected Christ.
And as I said this morning, as we're told there in the opening
chapter of Acts, they beheld Him as He was received up into
heaven. They see that same glorified body that had visited them there
in the upper room, they see that same body being taken up into
heaven. And as we said this morning,
what is He doing as He departs from them? he led them out as
far as to Bethany and he lifted up his hands and blessed them
and he came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from
them and carried up into heaven all consider then what it all
means for us poor needy helpless sinners these are the ones for
whom he is exalted he is a representative person and he is made higher
than the heavens God has highly exalted him and
given him that name which is above every name all power, all authority is given
unto him in heaven and in earth God's put all things under his
feet given him to be the head over all things to the church
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Ascended. Receiving gifts for man. Always
still mindful, you see, of man here upon the earth. Rebellious
man. Sinful man. He's received gifts
for these men. And what does he do? He bestows
them. God has exalted him as a prince and saviour. to give
repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins what there
is for us friends even in the four words that we're considering
tonight that this one God manifest in the flesh was received up
into glory for us poor, weak, sinful men and women and is able
to save to the uttermost them that call upon Him. Why? Because He ever lives to make
intercession for them. His continual presence there
as the God-man, it's a plea on behalf of His people. And what does the Apostle say?
And it really caps it all. Ephesians 2 verse 6 hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus that's where we are we're in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus with those who can know the blessing then
of boldness of access with confidence by the faith of Jesus Christ O He is a glorified Saviour He
has received the reward of all His sufferings Remember how that great 53rd
chapter of Isaiah concludes Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he
was numbered with the transgressors and he bared the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors. Oh, he has a spoil. He has obtained a glorious victory
and there is a spoil and he divides that spoil amongst his people by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify all of this, all of this and he's done it
for his people even those that were given to him by the father
in that eternal covenant he is the surety of that better testament,
the mediator of that new covenant, 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. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to bless His words in every part of it. Blessed to our souls.
Amen.