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After writing what we have given extracts from, Law goes on to prove how m the Church of Christ the gifts of human learning and wisdom speedily asserted themselves, instead of that entire dependence upon the Holy Spirit, of which Christ had spoken. And with that learning came, as a natural consequence, the exaltation of self, and the whole difference became the question between Pride, in the power of human learning and wisdom, and Humility, in the absolute dependence on the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
"Mans intellectual faculties are, by the Fall, in a much worse state than his natural animal appetites, and want a much greater self-denial. To realize this we only need to know two things: 1. That our salvation consists wholly in being saved from ourselves, or that which we are by nature; 2. That in the whole nature of things nothing could be this salvation or Saviour to us, but such a humility of God manifested in human nature as is beyound all expression. Hence, the first unalterable Term of this Saviour to fallen man is this, Except a man deny himself, forsakes all that he has, yea, and his own life, he cannot be My disciple. And to show that this is but the beginning or ground of mans salvation the Saviour adds: Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart. What a light is here for those who can bear or love the light: Self is the whole evil of fallen nature; self-denial is our capacity of being saved, humility is our Saviour."
"All the vices of fallen angels and men have their birth and power in the Pride of self, or I may better say, in the atheism and idolatry of self, for Self is both Atheist and Idolater. It is Atheist because it has rejected God, it is an Idolater because it is its own idol. On the other hand, all the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues of humility. Not a joy, or glory, or praise, in heaven, but is what it is through humility. It is humility alone that makes the unpassable gulf between heaven and hell. This is the most plain and capital truth of the Gospel, namely, that there never was, nor never will be, but one humility in the whole world, and that is, the one humility of Christ."
In the life of faith, humility has a far deeper place than w& think. It is not only one among other virtues, but is the first and chief need of the soul. It leads us to know our absolute and entire impotence as unable of ourselves to do any good. It leads us to look to the humility of our Lord Jesus, as being what He has prepared in His life for us, and will most surely work in us in response to our faith.
Am I in the light? Then Thou, O LORD, art my lamp. Take Thee away and my joy would be gone; but as long as Thou art with me, I can do without the torches of time and the candles of created comfort. What a light the presence of God casts on all things! We heard of a lighthouse which could be seen for twenty miles, but our Jehovah is not only a God at hand, but far off is He seen, even in the enemys country. O LORD, I am as happy as an angel when Thy love fills my heart. Thou art all my desire.
Causes for disquietude there are none so long as this blessed sentence is true. On earth the Lords power as readily controls the rage of the wicked as the rage of the sea; his love as easily refreshes the poor with mercy as the earth with showers. Majesty gleams in flashes of fire amid the tempests horrors, and the glory of the Lord is seen in its grandeur in the fall of empires, and the crash of thrones. In all our conflicts and tribulations, we may behold the hand of the divine King.
The rainbow, the symbol of the covenant with Noah, is typical of our Lord Jesus, who is the Lords witness to the people. When may we expect to see the token of the covenant? The rainbow is only to be seen painted upon a cloud. When the sinners conscience is dark with clouds, when he remembers his past sin, and mourneth and lamenteth before God, Jesus Christ is revealed to him as the covenant Rainbow, displaying all the glorious hues of the divine character and betokening peace. To the believer, when his trials and temptations surround him, it is sweet to behold the person of our Lord Jesus Christ—to see him bleeding, living, rising, and pleading for us. Gods rainbow is hung over the cloud of our sins, our sorrows, and our woes, to prophesy deliverance. Nor does a cloud alone give a rainbow, there must be the crystal drops to reflect the light of the sun. So, our sorrows must not only threaten, but they must really fall upon us. There had been no Christ for us if the vengeance of God had been merely a threatening cloud: punishment must fall in terrible drops upon the Surety. Until there is a real anguish in the sinners conscience, there is no Christ for him; until the chastisement which he feels becomes grievous, he cannot see Jesus. But there must also be a sun; for clouds and drops of rain make not rainbows unless the sun shineth. Beloved, our God, who is as the sun to us, always shines, but we do not always see him—clouds hide his face; but no matter what drops may be falling, or what clouds may be threatening, if he does but shine there will be a rainbow at once. It is said that when we see the rainbow the shower is over. Certain it is, that when Christ comes, our troubles remove; when we behold Jesus, our sins vanish, and our doubts and fears subside. When Jesus walks the waters of the sea, how profound the calm!
When a shipwright builds a vessel, does he build it to keep it upon the stocks? Nay, he builds it for the sea and the storm. When he was making it, he thought of tempests and hurricanes; if he did not, he was a poor shipbuilder. 
The supply of oil to the lamps was constantly replenished by the priests. By this means, the lamps burned continually. In the same way, we need a constant supply of oil in our lives. This is the supply of the Spirit of Christ, enabling our light to ‘shine before men’. We read in the book of Ecclesiastes, ‘Let not oil be lacking upon your head’.
The apostle Paul understood that the Spirit of Christ is produced in the midst of trial and affliction. For this reason, He spoke of ‘always carrying in our bodies the dying of Jesus’. In the worldly sense, affliction produces nothing but death. However, when we commit our lives to the Lord, all our suffering becomes a participation in the ‘dying of Jesus’. We join the sufferings of Christ. This is full of meaning. Our affliction begins producing oil and we find the capacity to reveal Christ in our flesh.
If we have a supply of the Spirit of Christ, we have something to give others. This is why Paul spoke of ‘death working in us, but life in you’. Offering and prayer become the two ways that we tangibly supply the Spirit of Christ to others. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul described the body of Christ being held together and growing ‘by that which every joint supplies’. He also rejoiced that the Spirit of Christ was being supplied to him by the prayers of the Philippian church. By the offering and prayers of this faithful group, Paul knew abundance and was amply supplied. We could say that he had no ‘lack of oil’ upon his head.
When we read our Bibles, we are indeed reading the counsel of God. Paul did not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God to the Ephesian church and elders. This is a remarkable thought. We might read the Bible and appraise it with intellectual and critical eyes. No doubt, it will be concealed and we will not understand it. The language of the symbol is the language of the Bible. How else could we understand the magnitude of the
Son of God coming in the flesh? Those who saw Him, most certainly did not
observe Him in the attire of the high priest of the former tabernacle. And likewise, they did not understand His ministry in the true tabernacle. The tabernacle, or temple, was the venue or context in which the priest served
and fulfilled his covenant duty. Of course, this duty was the presentation
of offerings. The Lord commanded the Israelites of old, ‘None shall appear before Me empty handed’.
What a perplexing statement: ‘Behold the Lamb!’ This Lamb and His blood was the offering of the Eternal Covenant. These symbolic pictures have no practical relevance to a modern society. Unless their meaning is revealed to us, we have no capacity to understand the coming of Jesus according to the counsel of God. The Eternal Covenant is the bond which substantiates the counsel and will of God. All subsequent covenants are simply types and shadows of this ‘so-greater’ Eternal Covenant. In that sense, each covenant was a symbol of that which was made or cut ‘before the ages’. The priesthood of Melchizedek is the right of participation in the Eternal Covenant. And of this order, Jesus is the great High Priest. No one takes this honour to himself. Even Jesus did not appoint Himself. Because He was willing to empty Himself, He was appointed a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
John the Baptist came to turn the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers. He was also to turn the disobedient back to the wisdom of God. There was about to be an awakening, a rediscovery of the covenant given to the fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It would be as if these fathers would once again recognise their offspring in the covenant. Men and women were to turn their hearts back to the fathers, and fathers were to turn their hearts to their children coming after them. Seeing, hearing, and turning, they were to learn the way of God Himself – giving to one another, and receiving from one another. This was the birthplace of fellowship. This was the preparation for the revelation of the Lamb. John the Baptist was preparing people to believe the testimony of God that would be revealed by His coming messenger, Christ. This is exactly how the Baptist prepared the people. By hearing him, they were learning to receive the One who sent him. We must be prepared in the same manner: hearing, believing, receiving. The ones who are sent to preach the gospel are revealing Christ. We must hear them, and we must believe their testimony. If we do not first receive the ones who are sent, we will not be able to follow the Lamb. Many did believe John the Baptist, the messenger who was sent to precede the Messiah. Many were prepared. Many pressed in with ‘violence’ to enter the kingdom. Others did not believe John’s word; his testimony about someone else. So when Jesus came, sent by the Father, testifying about the Father, they did not believe Him either.
As you go to work today, will you pray this prayer? ‘Father, I am Your son because You sent Jesus Christ to gather me and bring me back to Your house. I can now fulfil the works that You have foreordained for me before the foundation of the world. You are my Father. You not only begot me, or caused me to be brought forth, but You also planned the works that I am to do in this world and in the age to come. You grant me power through the blood of Christ, and through the fullness of the seven Spirits of Yahweh, to proceed to be what You have called me to be.’ ‘I pray, Lord, that my heart will be stirred in faith right now. I pray that I will be able to move past my own sense of failure, my own incapacities according to the flesh, and that I will be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Cause me to stand and meet the word, the word of my name, the word that You have given to me to obey. I want to fulfil Your will for my life today, and in all the days that You have laid before me.’ ‘Lord, I pray that I will be obedient to You. I pray that I will come out of my “room”, as it were, of my own condemnation and come and meet You. I ask for Your forgiveness where I need cleansing, and Your help to walk in the light and be relationally connected in everything that I do. I pray that I can stand up to be a son of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Lord, You have appointed me to be a light in the midst of this world today.’
