How to Meditate on Christ

John Owen, the chief of the Puritan theologians, offered five helpful ways to meditate on the person and work of Christ:

1. Consider that the knowledge of Christ as fully God and fully man in one Person is the most useful object of our contemplations and affections.
2. Diligently study the Scriptures with the express purpose of finding the glory of Christ in them.
3. Meditate frequently upon the knowledge of Christ that you have already obtained, both from Scripture and from sermons.
4. Do not simply rely upon fixed times set aside for meditation, but think upon Christ at every possible occasion throughout the day.
5. Accompany your thoughts of Christ with admiration, adoration, and thanksgiving.

--John Owen, The Glory of Christ

HT: Meet the Puritans

Christ Was More Than a Martyr

The quote below from J.C. Ryle reminds us why Christ's sacrificial death is different than any other sacrificial death.

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not die merely as a martyr, or as a splendid example of self-sacrifice and self-denial. Those who can see no more than that in His death, fall infinitely short of the truth. They lose sight of the very foundation-stone of Christianity, and miss the whole comfort of the Gospel. Christ died as a sacrifice for man’s sin. He died to make reconciliation for man’s iniquity. He died to purge our sins by the offering of Himself. He died to redeem us from the curse which we all deserved, and to make satisfaction to the justice of God, which must otherwise have condemned us. Never let us forget this!

-- J.C. Ryle

HT: Erik Kowalker

Packer on the Obedience of Christ

J.I. Packer has a brief but excellent treatment of the obedience of the Son to the Father's redemptive will in the most recent issue of RPM, a publication of Third Millennium Ministries.

The three Persons of the Holy Trinity are eternal and self-existent, partaking equally of all aspects and attributes of deity, and always acting together in cooperative solidarity. But the unchanging cooperative pattern is that the second and third Persons identify with the purpose of the first, so that the Son becomes the Father’s executive and the Spirit acts as the agent of both. It is the Son’s nature and joy to do his Father’s will (John 4:34).

Click here for the full article.

The Silkworm as a Type of Christ

Over the holidays, I have been enjoying Douglas Sweeney's biography of Jonathan Edwards (and quoted from it earlier this week). One of the things I have found interesting (and helpful) about Edwards was his refusal to limit typology to the text of sacred Scripture; he saw divine images and patterns imprinted in all things God had created and formed. He even saw a glimpse of the gospel in such things as silkworms:

The silkworm is a remarkable type of Christ, which, when it dies, yields us that of which we make such glorious clothing. Christ became a worm for our sakes and by his death finished that righteousness with which believers are clothed, and thereby procured that we should be clothed with robes of glory.

--Jonathan Edwards, "Images of Divine Things," in Typological Writings

The Synoptic Gospels and Christ's Threefold Office

While all four of the Gospel writers seem to highlight the threefold office of Christ (Prophet, Priest, and King), it has struck me this Advent season how the synoptic Gospels each appear to emphasize one specific office in the way each introduces Jesus.

Matthew - Priest

Although it could be argued that Matthew emphasizes Jesus' kingly office by beginning with a genealogy that places him in the royal line of David, it is here (and here only) that we learn why this holy Child is to be named Jesus. "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). His name is tied to the priestly sacrifice he will offer for his people's sins - for that is how he will save them.

Mark - Prophet

The Gospel of Mark does not include a birth narrative of the Christ Child. Instead, Jesus comes onto the scene at the beginning of his public ministry. And the first time we hear him speak, he is fulfilling his prophetic office (preaching about the kingdom). "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1:14-15).

Luke - King

When Luke tells about the angel Gabriel visiting Mary, he emphasizes what Gabriel says regarding the kingly office of Mary's Child. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32-33).

As stated earlier, no one Gospel is limited to one of Christ's offices. And just because the Synoptics begin the way they do does not mean they only emphasize that particular office. For instance, Matthew goes on to emphasize the prophetic office of Christ with the Sermon on the Mount and with the five major sections of teaching included in his Gospel (reflecting the five books of Moses and showing that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of Moses' prophetic office). In addition, his Gospel has more parables about the kingdom than any other - and there is little doubt who the King is!

But it is interesting to see how Jesus is introduced in these three Gospels, and it seems that each emphasizes one of Christ's three offices - Prophet (Mark), Priest (Matthew), and King (Luke).