The Divine Incarnation. Heb. 10:7-10. (107)
“Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God” The “will” of God which the Son came here to execute was that “eternal purpose which He had purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” Eph. 3:11. Had He so pleased, God could have “taken away sin” by taking away sinners, and so made a short work of it, by removing them both at one stroke—as Ezekiel speaks Ez. 12:3, 4. But instead, He purposed to take away sins in such a way that favored sinners should stand justified before Him. Were it an act of the Divine nature to punish sin, then whosoever sinned would die for it immediately; but being an act of His will, He oftentimes suspends the punishment. In Gethsemane: Matt. 26:39 “…not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” God had ordained that He should drink it. It was by His will that sin entered! He didn’t accept the blood of beasts as a full and final atonement for our sins. God who “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” Eph. 1:11. The Son was in perfect accord with the will of the Father from before the foundation of the world. As Zech. 6:13 tells us “and the covenant of peace shall be between Them Both”: the reference being to the “everlasting covenant” Heb. 13:20. The “counsel of peace” signifies the compact which was between the Father and the Son. His own voluntary consent the Son was made “Surety of a better covenant” Heb. 7:22. The obedience to the law which His people owed, to make reparation to Divine justice on behalf of their sins and thus discharge the whole of their debt.” Pink Arthur W
- “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me), to do Thy will, O God” (v. 7). The “book” This is the archives of God’s eternal counsels, the scroll of His decrees’ It is also the Holy Scriptures, which are a partial transcript of that record of the Divine will which is preserved on High Ps. 119:89. It is written of Christ, the God-man Mediator for He is the Sum and Substance of all the Divine counsels Eph. 3:11, as well as the Depository of all the Divine promises 2Cor. 1:20. This is a wondrous and blessed revelation: “in the head of the book” of God’s decrees, at the beginning thereof, it is “written of” Christ! In that book is recorded the names of all God’s favored children: Lk 10:20, Heb. 12:23; but at the head of them is Christ’s, for “in all things” He must have the “pre-eminence” Col. 1:18. Thus, the first name on that heavenly scroll is that of the Mediator Himself! So too in the Holy Scriptures, which give us a copy, in part, the first name in the O. T. is that of Christ as Creator Gen. 1:1 cf. John 1:1–3, and the first name in the N. T. is “Jesus Christ” Matt. 1:1! Yes, “in the head of the Book” it is written of Him. The Father say to us, “Behold My Servant, whom whom I uphold, Mine Elect in whom My soul delighteth” Is. 42:1. The Church was chosen in Christ Eph. 1:4 and then given to Christ Heb. 2:13. The Man Christ was appointed to be the Head of the whole election of grace, and they to be members of His mystical Body Eph. 1:22, 23; 5:30, Pr. 8:31, Jn. 4:34; 5:30; 6:38. Pink Arthur W
- In this we may behold the fulfillment of the Nazarite type, Matt. 2:23. The “Nazarite” was one who, voluntarily, separated and devoted himself entirely unto the Lord Num. 6:12. Samson is the outstanding illustration of this in the O.T.: the parallels between him and Christ are remarkable. 1. An angel announced to his mother her conception Judg. 13:2–3. 2. He was sent to a woman utterly barren, to show her conception was extraordinary. 3. Her son was to be a Nazarite, that is, “holy to the Lord” Num. 6:8. 4. He was to be “a Nazarite unto God from the womb” Judg. 13:5. 5. It was declared that her son should be a deliverer of Israel (v. 5). 6. Israel was then subject to the Philistines, as the Jews were to the Romans when Christ was born. 7. It was in his death that he wrought his mightiest victory!
- Let us revert to the 40th Psalm. “Mine ears hast Thou digged” v. 6. The metaphor employed is taken from Ex 21:1–6. The Hebrew servant was entitled to, “go out free” at the end of the sixth year, but an exception was allowed for: “If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: then … his master shall bore his ear through with an aul, and he shall serve him forever” vv. 5, 6. The antitype of this is seen in Christ. The Mediator in Ps. 40: “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me; I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart” vv. 7, 8. He carried all of it written in His heart. This was even more than to have His ear “bored”—to give free consent to the Father’s purpose; it was to have God’s law (the expression of His will!) as the molding principle and controlling factor of His human nature, dwelling in the very center of His affections John 4:34 i.e. to actualize what the Father had ordained.
- “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” Lk 12:50. What words were those! The Lord Jesus knew the bitterness of that baptism, He panted after it. Note His remarkable word to Judas: “that thou doest do quickly” Jn 13:27. Look at Matt. 16:21, and Peter “took Him and began to rebuke Him, Christ turned and said unto Peter, “Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou art an offense unto Me.”
