Are We Missing Something? Hardly

Is the greater victory to be delivered physically from infirmity or to be delivered spiritually while suffering infirmity?

This is the question Chicago Bible scholar C. R. Stam asks in his classic The Controversy. He writes, "Which is the greater blessing, to be healed by a miracle, or to be able to say with Paul: 'We faint not . . . our inward man is renewed day by day,' and to be able to add: 'For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory' (II Cor. 4:16-17)?

"Which evidences the greater faith and procures the greater satisfaction, to claim miraculous healing, or to be 'anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (to) let the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus' (Phil. 4:6-7)?

"Which is the greater triumph, to be delivered out of prison by an angel, as Peter was on two occasions, or to be enabled by grace to write from prison, as Paul did later, about 'sitting in the heavenlies in Christ' 'blessed with all spiritual blessings' (Eph. 1:3;2:6), referring at least seven times in one short epistle (Philippians) to 'rejoicing'?

"Which is the higher plane to live on, that which leaves much for sight, or that which leaves all for faith? Paul, by the spirit, answers:

" 'While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal' (II Cor 4:18).

" 'For we walk by faith, not by sight' (II Cor. 5:7)."

*****

"As with the crucifixion and resurrection, the Old Testament presents Christ, the Son of God, only in veiled phraseology and in types. The Trinity is only hinted at. This is one reason why the Jew insists that there is but one God and that He did not, and will not, have a Son. True, Psalm 40:7 says: 'In the volume of a book it is written of Me,' but again, who is the 'ME'? We do not find out until some time after the Son of God has appeared incarnate.

"The glory of His person is not revealed even in His ministry on earth, for from birth to death He suffers humiliation. The stable, the swaddling bands, the weariness, the hunger and thirst. He has no place to lay His head, the multitude throng Him, the leaders plot against Him, Martha rebukes Him, Peter denies Him, Judas betrays Him. His deity is veiled by His humanity; His glory is buried under poverty and shame.

"After His baptism by water He spoke of another baptism; that of the Cross: 'But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!' (Luke 12:50).

"Thank God we 'know Him no longer after the flesh' (II Cor. 5:16) for, as one has said, how could a Christ in straitened circumstances mean so much to us as the Lord of glory dispensing the riches of His grace and the merits of Calvary?

"Even in resurrection His glory was still veiled, else His disciples could not have beheld Him. Probably the greatest display of His glory, while on earth, took place at the transfiguration when, appearing with Moses and Elias, His face shone as the sun and His raiment was white as the light. Yet Peter could say: 'It is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias' (Matthew 17:4).

"Compare this with that light above the brightness of the noonday sun, which blinded Paul, as the glorified Lord appeared to him (Acts 26: 13-16).

"Once more it is Paul--and no one until Paul--who says: 'Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more' (II Cor. 5:16).

"In his one letter to the Colossians alone he presents Christ in His glory as all the other Bible writers together do not present Him.

"There he presents Christ as the Head of all creation--not just the material creation alone, but also things invisible. 'Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
[16] For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him' (Col. 1:15-16).

"There he presents Him also as the Sustainer of all, for 'by Him all things consist [i.e., cling together]' (1:17)

"There he presents Him as the Head of the Body and the Master of death. (1:18).

"There he declares that 'in all things Christ must have the pre-eminence and that it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell;' that He should be the Fount of every blessing, the Source of all supply (1:18-19).

"There he presents Christ as the sole Medium of reconciliation to God (1:20) and unfolds 'the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory' (1:27)

"There he shows Him as the One (2:3) in whom dwells 'all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power' (2:9-10).

"Little wonder he warns us lest any man 'rob' us, 'judge' us, or 'beguile' us (2:8, 16, 18) of the appropriation and enjoyment of our position and blessings in Christ!"

(new article tomorrow)