beloved:
Let all the forms that men devise,
Assault our faith with treacherous art;
We’ll call them vanity and lies,
And bind the gospel to our heart! —
We will write this on the forefront of our banner, — “Christ is God; co-equal and co-eternal with his Father: very God of very God, who counted it not robbery to be equal with God.”
8. II. This brings me to the second part of the subject: HOW DO WE CALL CHRIST “THE MIGHTY GOD?” Here there is no dispute whatever; I am now about to speak of matters of pure fact. Whether Christ is mighty God or not, it is quite certain that we are in the constant habit of calling him so. Not, I mean, by the mere utterance of the term, but we do so in a stronger way — in fact; — and actions speak louder than words.
9. Now, beloved, I will soon prove that you and I are in the habit of calling Christ God. And I will prove it first, because it is our delight, and our joy and our privilege to attribute to him the attributes of Deity.
10. In hours of devout contemplation, how often do we look up to him as being the Eternal Son. You and I sit down in our homes, and in our house of prayer, and as we muse upon the great covenant of grace, we are in the habit of speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ’s everlasting love to his people. This is one of the jewels of our life, one of the ornaments with which we array ourselves as a bride does. This is a part of the manna that tastes like wafers made with honey, upon which our souls are accustomed to feed. We speak of God’s eternal love, of our names having been inscribed in his eternal book, and of Christ’s having borne them from before the foundation of the world upon his chest, as our great high priest, our advocate before the throne of heaven. In so doing, we have virtually called him the mighty God; because no one but God could have been from everlasting to everlasting. As often as we profess the doctrine of election, we call Christ the mighty God; as often as we speak of the eternal covenant, ordered in all things and sure, so often do we proclaim him to be God: because we speak of him as an everlasting one, and no one could be from everlasting except one who is self-existent, who is God.
11. Again: how frequently do we repeat over to ourselves that precious verse,
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.
We are always in the habit of ascribing to him immutability. Some of our choicest hymns are founded on that circumstance, and our richest hopes flow from that attribute. We know that all things will change. We are convinced that we ourselves are mutable as the winds, and as easily moved as the sand by the waves of the sea; but we know that our Redeemer lives, and we cannot entertain a suspicion of any change in his love, his purpose, or his power. How often do we sing: —
Immutable his will,
Though dark may be my frame,
His loving heart is still
Unchangeably the same.
My soul through many changes goes:
His love no variation knows!
Do you not see that you have in fact called him God, because no one but God is immutable? The creature changes. This is written on the forefront of creation — “Change!” The mighty ocean, that knows no furrows on its brow, changes at times, and at times changes its level. It moves here and there, and we know that it is to be licked up with forked tongues of flame, and yet we ascribe to Christ immutability. We do, then, in fact, ascribe to him, divinity; for, no one but the Divine can be immutable.
12. Is it not also our joy to believe that wherever two or three are gathered together in Christ’s name, there he is in the midst of them? Do we not repeat it in all our prayer meetings? Perhaps some minister in Australia began the solemnities of public worship today with the reflection that Jesus Christ was with him, according to his promise, and I know that as I came here the same reflection comforted me, “Yes, I am with you always even to the end of the world,” — that wherever a Christian is found, there God is. And though there is only two or three met in a barn, or on the pasture under the canopy of God’s blue sky, yet there Christ bestows his presence. Now I ask you, have we not ascribed to Christ, omnipresence; and who can be omnipresent except God? Have we not thus in fact then, though not in words, called Christ “God?” How is it possible for us to dream of him as being here, and there, and everywhere; in the bosom of his Father, with the angels, and in the hearts of the contrite all at the same time, if he is not God? Grant me that he is omnipresent, and you have said that he is God, for no one but God can be present everywhere. Again, are we not also accustomed to ascribe to Christ omniscience? You believe when your heart is aching that Christ knows your pains, and that he hears every groan; or at least if you do not believe it, it is always my satisfaction to know that —
He feels at his heart,
All my sighs and my groans.
And so he does the same for you. Wherever you are, you believe that he hears your prayers, that he sees your tears, that he knows your needs, that he is ready to pardon your sins; that you are better known to him, than you are to yourself. You believe that he searches your hearts, and tries your inner most being, and that you never can come to him without finding him full of sympathy, and full of love. Now do you not see that you have ascribed omniscience to him; and therefore, though not in words, you have, in accents louder than words, called him the mighty God; for you have assumed that he is omniscient; and who can be omniscient but the very God of very God?
13. I shall not stop to describe the other attributes, but I think we might prove that each of us has ascribed to Christ all the attributes of the Godhead in our daily life and in our constant trust and intercession. I am sure that it is true of many loving hearts of God’s own children here. We have called him the mighty God, and if others have not called him so, nevertheless the text is verified by our faith. “He shall be called wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God.” So he is, and so he shall be, world without end.
14. And now I have another proof to offer, that Christ is called “the mighty God.” We call him so in many of his offices. We believe this morning that Christ is the mediator between God and man. If we wish to understand the term mediator or daysman, we must interpret it as Job did; one “that might lay his hand upon both of us.” We are accustomed to say that Jesus Christ is the mediator of the new covenant, and we offer our prayers to God through him, because we believe that he mediates between us and the Father. Let it once be granted then that Christ is the mediator, and you have asserted his divinity. You have virtually called him the Son of God; and you have granted his humanity, for he must put his hand upon both; therefore he must put his hand upon man in our nature; he must be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and be in all points like as we are. But he is not a mediator unless he can put his hand upon God, unless as co-equal with the Eternal One he shall be able without blasphemy to place his hand upon the divine Being. There is no mediatorship unless the hand is put on both and who could put his hand on God but God? Can a cherubim or seraphim speak of laying their hands on the Divine? Shall they touch the Infinite? “Dark with insufferable light his skirts appear” — then what is he himself in the glorious essence of Deity? — an all devouring and consuming fire. Only God can put his hand on God, and yet Christ has this high prerogative, for note, there is no mediatorship established, there cannot be, unless the two are linked. If you wished to build a bridge you might commence on this side of the river, but if you have not connected it with the other side, you have not built the bridge. There can be no mediatorship unless the parties are fully
