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ks that he did and greater works than these should be wrought through us. These Christian sins, Miss Vaughan insists, must be confessed and cleansed in the blood of Jesus before the fulness of the Spirit can be enjoyed. To have these commandments fulfilled in us is the Victorious Life. And only when this root-condition of unlove and unbelief is dealt with shall we know freedom from lust and covetousness and pride.

HOW JESUS LIVED THE VICTORIOUS LIFE

Is it true after all that the Lord Jesus was a man as I am?

Was not the real secret of his victory over sin the fact that he was God?

Is not the secret of my defeat the fact that I am just a man and not God?

The answer to these questions reveals one of the richest secrets in the Word concerning the real meaning of the Victorious Life. For we shall find this startling truth, that if we are to live the Victorious Life at all we must live it by the same rule as Jesus of Nazareth lived it.

If we wish to know what God is like there is but one thing to do: look at Jesus. So there is no way of discovering what a true man is like except by looking at Jesus. He is the only "man," in the true sense of the word, who has lived since sin entered the human race. Through the fall man lost the image of God, and from that day until our Lord came there was no example of man as God intended him to be.

A mistaken notion, encouraged by the poets, prevails quite commonly, that to sin is human; to forgive, divine. Whatever the measure of truth in the little sentiment, the error in it is more dangerous. To sin is not human; it is devilish. Sin is no part of man as God planned him to be. And so our Lord represents in himself what God intended a man to be, and he lived according to that plan.

The One True "Man"

The name for himself most often upon the lips of our Master was "the Son of man." A notable Greek scholar has recently pointed out that this expression means far more than a son of a human parent. It rather suggests that gathered up into this Son of man are all the qualities of what "man" is. So, may we not say that as the fulness of God dwelt in him bodily so did the fulness of man dwell in him?

Some one has suggested that God did wonderful things through the Lord Jesus not because Jesus was God, but because he was perfect man. What does this really mean in terms of our everyday life?

Nowhere in Scripture is there such a remarkable setting forth, first of the deity of our Lord, then of his humanity, side by side, as in the first and second chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. "God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in a Son."

"Very God of Very God"

In this first chapter of Hebrews the Holy Spirit, when he seeks to attest the truth that Jesus is God, calls the Old Testament to witness, and two groups of three quotations each are made, each time the words being put in the mouth of God the Father. In the second chapter when the Spirit seeks to press home the parallel truth that Jesus is a man, one with us, he uses a group of three quotations from the Old Testament. In these quotations we shall discover something of the preciousness for us of the truth that the Lord Jesus was a man, one with his brethren. "For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying ..." .

Then there follow in the twelfth and thirteenth verses of the second chapter of Hebrews the three quotations from the Old Testament.

This is the first:

"I will declare thy name unto my brethren, In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise."

One With Our Lord in Resurrection

This is the twenty-second verse of the twenty-second Psalm, the Crucifixion Psalm. But the twenty-second Psalm is more than a crucifixion Psalm; it is a resurrection Psalm as well. This twenty-second verse that the Spirit uses to prove that Jesus is one with us is the first verse of the resurrection half of the Psalm. When our Lord rose from the dead he said, "Go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God" . This was the first time that our Lord linked those words "my Father and your Father." For in his resurrection he was in a new way "the firstborn of many brethren." "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee," was not spoken of the eternal generation of the Son of God, the living Word who was not begotten on a day but was before all time. Neither do the words refer to the glad day when the babe was born of the Virgin. They refer to that glad resurrection day when in a new way he declared God's name unto his brethren. This is made clear in Acts 13:32, 33: "And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."

We are one with our elder Brother, then, in death and resurrection, and here is the death-blow to Satan's lie of universal brotherhood and universal fatherhood. The firstborn of many brethren is brother only to those who share in his death that they may share also in his new birth.

One With Our Lord as Witnesses

The third word from the Old Testament quoted in the second chapter of Hebrews which attests the humanity of our Lord is this: "Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me." These words from Isaiah 8:18 were originally from the lips of Isaiah, who said: "Behold, I and the children whom God hath given are for signs and for wonders in Israel for Jehovah of hosts." Dr. W. J. Erdman once remarked that when Isaiah's two sons walked along the streets of Jerusalem they were living sermons for the children of Israel to read. The name of one was "Mahershalal-hash-baz," and whenever an Israelite looked upon this son he heard God saying to him "the spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth." If he believed God he knew that this was a prophecy of the terrific judgment of God that was to fall on a sinning nation. Isaiah's other son was "Shear-jashub," or "the remnant shall return," and the discerning Israelite who could read this sermon aright saw in it the glad hope of God's grace in the day of judgment saving a remnant of those who put their trust in him. The name of the father of these two sons, "Isaiah," means "the salvation of Jehovah."

Evidently the thought is that our Lord and we, his brethren, are still for signs and wonders in setting forth the salvation of Jehovah in its two phases, of terrific judgment that is to come upon a disobedient world and the glad message of salvation to the remnant who shall believe.

The second quotation from the Old Testament used in the second chapter of Hebrews to prove our Lord's true humanity is in these remarkable words: "I will put my trust in him." How can this quotation have any bearing on the fact that he is our brother and that he lived down here as a man?

The Heart-Throbs of Our Human Lord

The quotation is from the second verse of Psalm eighteen: "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust." These originally are "the words of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul." But, as a noted Bible teacher has pointed out, the Holy Spirit put into the mouth of David words that went infinitely beyond his own experience, words that could only be fulfilled in their true meaning when the greater Son of David came and met the forces of evil that were faintly foreshadowed by the enemies David met.

Read through the eighteenth Psalm as the words of the Lord Jesus. It is an inspired description of the awful conflict of the powers of darkness against the Son of man, when he tasted death for every man. Have you ever wondered why there were not given to us in the four Gospels more intimate glimpses of the human heart-throbs of Jesus? Have you wished that you might enter somewhat into the meaning of Gethsemane, rather than to have him go into the garden alone? Read in the eighteenth and other Messianic Psalms the human heart-throbs of the Son of man.

"I love thee, O Jehovah, my strength. Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from mine enemies. The cords of death compassed me, And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The cords of Sheol were round about me; The snares of death came upon me."

HIS Secret of Victory

The Holy Spirit made no mistake in his selection of Old Testament passages when he wished to show that it behooved this Saviour of ours "in all things to be made like unto his brethren," and that "in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted" .

Jesus lived the Victorious Life, not because he was God, but because he was perfect man; he lived as God planned that man should live. In a very true sense , our Lord took to himself no more advantage in the matter of winning victory over temptations than have we, his brethren.

Why He Emptied Himself

He emptied himself of that which would have prevented him, in the days of his suffering on earth, from being a true Son of man.

When man fell, his sin was a declaration of independence of God. He thus made impossible the living of a true man's life, for an essential part of a man's life is to live moment by moment in utter dependence on another, his Maker.

The Son of Man's Watchword

The secret of the Son of man, plainly written across the record of his earthly conflicts, is surrender and faith. "Not I, but the Father." And "as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you" .

The Son of man's watchword is, "I will put my trust in him." Only man can say that. Glorified God cannot say that.

Whenever man says, "I will put my trust in Him," and means it, all the omnipotence of the risen and indwelling Lord of resurrection life is available for him, and victory is certain.

SERVING WITH "THE MIND OF CHRIST"

"Truly he was the servant of all," said a friend of J. Hudson Taylor's as he concluded a narration of some incidents in the life of the great missionary in China. Hudson Taylor was like his Master. Only in so far as the service of any of us Christians is after the example of our Lord is it real service.

It is not primarily the acts in the life of Jesus that furnish us our example in service. Many of the recorded activities of Christ, the things he did and the things he said, are by their very nature,--their uniqueness,--deeds and words that we cannot imitate. It is the mind of Christ we are to have. Then shall we have the secret of the spirit and the power of his service.

The great passage in the second chapter of Philippians on the humiliation of our Lord deals with profound mysteries of the eternal world, yet it touches in the most vital way the everyday life and service of the Christian. It concerns the sending of Christ Jesus out of Glory with the Father into the world of men and sin. How startling, then, that our Lord should take such a sublime event, which goes too deep for utterance, and bring it to our very doorsteps, when he says: "As the Father hath sent me into the world even so send I you into the world."

"Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus," the Apostle enjoins. What is "this mind"? How are we to have it? Paul goes on to describe it: "Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross" .

The Mind of Satan

Something of the significance of this sublime passage and the verses that immediately follow, will be seen if we place beside it another picture which also concerns the mysteries of the eternal world and the throne of God. It is found in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations! And thou saidst in thy heart, I WILL ascend into heaven, I WILL exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I WILL sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north: I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds; I WILL make myself like the Most High" .

This is a portion of "a parable against the king of Babylon." In it we have undoubtedly the picture of the great Adversary of the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan, the highest of created beings; here is a glimpse of his fall and the secret of it. So striking is the contrast that it is hard to escape the conviction that the Spirit intended this to be related to the passage in Philippians that tells of our Lord's emptying. This contrast is one that runs from beginning to end through the Scriptures, which are, indeed, the record of the conflict between these two beings, the Son of God who became also the Son of man, and the "son of the morning," who became the son of uttermost darkness.

Pride Incarnate and Humility Incarnate.

The Son of God was the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and was God. But though he possessed that equality he did not esteem it a thing to be grasped after, but he emptied himself of the glory that was his own. The other glorious being, exalted though he was among the hosts of God, was not in the form of God; he was but a creature of the Most High. But he essayed to grasp the equality that was not his: "I will make myself like the Most High." Mark now the terrific climax in each of these descriptions. The Son of God in becoming the Son of man took step after step in his humiliation, lower and lower, until he touched the bottom in the cursed death of the cross: "becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross." Then immediately follows this word: "Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Satan sought to climb higher and higher until his ambition reached after the Godhead: "I will make myself like the Most High." Immediately follows this word: "Thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the uttermost parts of the pit."

There is more in the passages, however, than these two tremendous contrasts of humiliation and attempted exaltation, and then of exaltation and uttermost destruction. Jesus told his followers that he was sending them into the world as the Father sent him. His great Adversary likewise sends men into the world to carry out the spirit of his ambition. So he came to our first parents in the garden, and the temptation was that they should imitate him in seeking to be like God. They fell before the temptation and the sin was, essentially, a declaration of independence of God. From that day on every sin, whether the sin of an unbeliever or the sin of a born-again Christian, has resulted because of this independence of God. The conflict of that eternal world has thus been projected into the world of men. The Son of God and the Prince of demons are contending for this world, and the principles underlying the conflict are clearly set forth in these passages that have been before us.

Satan's Coming Man

This conflict is to have a climax. The sin of man will head up in the Man of Sin. This is he who shall come in the spirit and power of Satan, the false Messiah. Jesus forewarned of his coming, when he said: "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" . The Isaiah passage describes not only the scene in heaven when Satan reached after the throne of God, but it foreshadows the Man of Sin on earth, "the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God ... even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie" .

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