CHAPTER XV.

THE MISSION OF CHRIST CONTINUED.

"As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent, them into the world."-JOHN xvii. 18.

In addition to the Saviour's mission to our world as a Teacher, His vicarious sufferings and substitutionary death, it was necessary to man's actual deliverance from captivity, and the power and bondage of sin, that the benefit of His atoning work should be applied. To accomplish such an important object it was necessary that Christ should be raised from among the dead, that He should ascend into heaven and carry on His work as Mediator and Intercessor at the Father's right hand. It was also necessary that the Holy Spirit should commence His mission, as He afterwards did on the day of Pentecost, and that men should be enlightened and assisted by Him to preach the gospel both to the Jews and Gentiles. The teaching of these words, examined in the light of other Scriptures, appears to be that, not only the apostles, but that believers in all ages stand upon the same line of work as Christ, if not on the same level with Him

We are all, as believers, in a certain sense the successors of Christ. Moses received his authority as the leader of Israel from God, and passed it on to Joshua; Aaron received his appointment to the priestly office from the Lord, and left it to his sons; Elijah received the gift and office of a prophet from God, and by the same appointment his mantle was afterwards found on Elisha; David received the kingdom from God, and bequeathed it to his son Solomon.

The Saviour received a commission from God the Father, relative to the great work undertaken by Him, before He came into this world, and through the whole of His life on earth He was to be seen acting in accordance therewith. Before He passed away to His Father's right hand He handed the commission over to His apostles, and through them to His Church in all ages, for the purpose of its being carried out to completion.

"As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world."-As the tense points out the definite moment of Christ's mission, it might be rendered, "As Thou didst send Me." In John x. 36 He asks, "Say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest?" or 66 as it should be, Whom the Father sanctified, and sent into the world." Reference is made in these words to the time of Christ's consecration to His Messianic work, and to the incarnation, when the work commenced. A careful examination

of all the passages in John's Gospel leads to the conclusion that the form of the fulfilment of Christ's mission was now to be changed, but the mission itself was still to be continued and effective. "The general result of the examination of these facts seems to be, that in this charge (John xx. 21) the Lord presents His own mission as the one abiding mission of the Father; this He fulfils through His Church. His disciples receive no new commission, but carry out His. (Compare Matt. xxviii. 20; Heb. iii. 1.) They are not (in this respect) His envoys, but in a secondary degree envoys of the Father." Both in this charge and also in the prayer Christ is represented as standing in the same relation to the Father as that in which His disciples stand to Him. He declares to them, and they in His name are to declare to the world, the fulness of the Father's love, and the peace between man and God, witnessed to in His life and death. He and they are represented as standing in the same relation to the world. Thou didst send Me into the world, but the world hates Me and My teaching; I now send these My servants to carry out the commission with which I have been entrusted. "I send them into the world," or, if applied to the apostles only, "I sent them into the world." The name implies this, and Matthew x. 5, Luke vi. 13 lend force to it.

The words, as applied to believers in all ages, must

1 Westcott.

not be understood as meaning that we have exactly the same part of the work to do as Christ was entrusted with, or that we have to do over again that which was done by Him while on earth. That is not possible, seeing that He offered Himself, once for all, as a sacrifice for sin; and that by the same offering sin was put away, and righteousness established and brought in. In that department of His important mission He stood, and will for ever stand, alone. He finished the work so far, which was given into His hands by the Father. He alone is the propitiation for the sin of the world, and the trespasses of His people to the end of the age.

In order that we may understand the Saviour's words, we must remember that He came into our world to serve, as well as to suffer. Hence He is spoken of in prophecy as God's servant and messenger. "Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; Mine Elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" (Isa. xlii. 1). "Who is blind, but My Servant? or deaf, as My Messenger that I sent ? who is blind as He that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's Servant" (Isa. xlii. 19). This can refer to no other person than the Messiah, for He alone was blind to everything excepting the accomplishment of His Father's will, and deaf to all other voices but His, to whose voice His ears were ever open. Christ came to reveal or make the Father known, as we have already

seen. As it is not possible for any person to know the Father, except through the Son, it remains with us to make Jesus known to our fellow men, as the Christ, the Lamb of God, slain, in so far as God's purposes were concerned, before the world, but made manifest in the fulness of time. To us also is committed the delightful service of proclaiming the good news and glad tidings to anxious souls, that "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. 16). "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. v. 19–21). The fact that Christ sends us does not prove that He Himself no longer works. On referring to various portions of the New Testament, we find Him spoken of as the active and successful worker, even after His crucifixion and ascension. When the apostles and evangelists went forth preaching everywhere, the Lord was seen to be working with them. God the Father is still working; Christ the Son is still working; and the Holy Spirit is also working. Alas for the condition of the world, if for one moment They