TRIUMPHS OF TRUTH: CHRIST - MEDIATOR 7...

[ed. This is the fourteenth of the 27-part-series from a pamphlet by Elder Wilson Thompson titled, The Triumphs of Truth. Or The Scripture A Sure Guide To Zion's Pilgrims.]



CHAPTER 14 THE MEDIATOR CONTINUED.
The same is plain from his appearing to Jacob in a vision, recorded in Gen. 28, beginning at the 12th verse, “And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it.” “And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread [or break forth] abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” 

In this vision Jacob saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and the Lord God of Abraham and Isaac spoke by the way of the ladder, or from the top of it to Jacob, in the language of prophecy; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on the ladder. These angels were “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation,” [Heb. 1:14]; and the ladder was the “son of man.” See John. 1:51, “And he [Jesus,] saith unto him, [Nathaniel] Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man;” this ladder was, therefore, the son of man; and the angels ascending and descending upon it; God was at the top of it; Jacob, an heir of salvation, at the bottom of it; the ladder reaching from earth to heaven as the way of communication from God to man. 

This ladder was the son of man, or the mediator between God and man; the term son of man is only applicable to Christ in human nature, and in the nature of man he is the ladder or way to the Father. By the way of this ladder a prophecy was delivered to Jacob, and the mediator under the figure or use of a ladder, was brought to view; not to show that there should be such a mediator brought into being some time subsequent, but that he then was in being, and the prophecy then made to Jacob proves that he was then in his prophetical office. We all agree that it is through the mediation of Christ alone that any communication of grace or peace is possible between God and men since the fall, and that the human nature of Christ is proper to him as mediator, or to his mediation. Then as the ladder was the way of communication, his human nature was necessarily the ladder which Jacob saw, and must have existed ever since God communed with man in a way of mercy. 

Jacob seems to have been of this opinion, for when he awoke he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; and he was afraid, and said, how dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, this is the gate of heaven.” Christ as man says, “I am the way;” “I am the door;” “No man cometh unto the Father but by me,” etc. Here the ladder was the way to the God of Abraham; and Jacob says, “This is the gate of heaven” -gate, way, and door are used in the same sense, and mean the same thing; and Christ as man is intended. Thus we see that ever since there was a way to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the man Christ Jesus has existed, and ever since he communicated the mind of God to men, he has been in his prophetical office. The same thing is plainly taught in Gen. 31:11-13. 

I might point to many places where God appeared in human form to his people of old, and spake as a prophet to them, and was called a man, as well as God, and I can see no better reason why the old saints called him both God and man, than because he existed in both the nature of God and of man, and if this be the fact, they called him man properly, because he was man; and they called him God properly, because he was God; but if as man, he had no existence, they must have called him man very improperly, and as there is a vast disproportion between God and men, it must be a disparagement to the character of God to call him a man; but if the mediator in the nature of man, without the dishonors of the fall, was in the bosom of the Father, in all the glories of his mediatorial character, and in the offices of a mediator, reveals a God of grace to saints in prophetic strains of peace and love, the name man is proper, and instead of a disparagement to God, his grace and glory is revealed to men, in the mediator as man; but as the reader [if he has ever read the Bible once through] must be convinced that God, in the form of man, and under the name man, and was by the saints called man, did appear as a prophet to teach his people; I shall take it as granted, that all who believe as the patriarchs did, will not fault me for believing the man did exist, and that they did see him, according to their word, for I dare not contradict them, and they have declared it. I shall next notice the mediator in his kingly office, and show that as man he existed in this office under the former dispensation.

This office also is connected in his character as mediator. Then if his human nature be necessary to him as mediator, it must have existed ever since he was mediator, and as we have seen in scripture language, that both as God and man, he was seen in his priestly and prophetical offices; so I shall proceed to show, that as both God and man, he existed in his kingly office under the former dispensation. God has plainly manifested himself, in the human nature, or as man, in all the mediatorial offices of Christ, and in the works and doctrine which we have upon record; as we have seen already, as well before the birth of Christ at Bethlehem, as since, and we have also seen that God did appear m the manhood long before the conception of Mary, and therefore the man in whom he was seen did then exist, or he could not have been seen, for that which is not in existence cannot be seen by men. God is a king universal, according to Psalm 47:2, 7-8. This is his undisputed right, as the creator and disposer of all things; but he is called in a particular sense, and in distinction from his universal dominion, “king of saints.” Rev. 15:3, “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints.” 

The victorious saints are singing the conqueror’s song, and it is called the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb; the name Lamb denotes the human nature of Christ, for it was his human nature that was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, [Isa. 53:7], but this Lamb to whom they ascribe their victory, was in existence when the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, and existed as man. See Exod. 15:3, “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.” The man in the text was in existence, and his name is the Lord; and as the Lord in the man conquered all the Egyptians, they sung, “the Lord is a man of war;” but as though divine power in the man had delivered them, they said, “The Lord is his name.” 

So likewise in Revelation, they sing “the song of the Lamb,” referring to the human nature which by death conquered death, and by whose blood they had overcome the Beast, but they own his divinity to be the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, and both natures in one person is King of saints. This truth is evident by comparing Rev. 19:11-16, inclusive. Here he is described as being “faithful and true” – called “the Word of God” – “clothed with a vesture dipped in blood,” etc. His being called theWord of God, a faithful and true witness, and being clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, must be spoken of him as man, and his kingly office is brought to view by the “sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth,” and from his having “on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Mark it well, this name which is above every name, was written on his human nature, that is on his vesture and on his thigh, even on the vesture dipped in blood, and it must be given up, by every discerning Christian, that his human nature is here described, and on him as man this exalted name is written in large capitals, to show that Jehovah is in the man, and so he is both God and man, but one king of saints.