We Have Seen And Do Testify

"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."
1 John 4:14

It is a sweet thought that Jesus Christ did not come forth without his Father’s permission, authority, consent, and assistance. He was sent of the Father, that he might be the Saviour of men. We are too apt to forget that, while there are distinctions as to the persons in the Trinity, but there are no distinctions of honour. We too frequently ascribe the honour of our salvation, or at least the depths of its benevolence, more to Jesus Christ than we do the Father. This is a very great mistake. What if Jesus came? Did not his Father send him? If he spoke wondrously, did not his Father pour grace into his lips, that he might be an able minister of the new covenant? He who knows the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit as he should know them, never sets one before another in his love; he sees them at Bethlehem, at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally engaged in the work of salvation. O Christian, have we put our confidence in the Man Christ Jesus? Have we placed our reliance solely on him? And are we united with him? Then believe that we are united unto the God of heaven. Since to the Man Christ Jesus we are brother, and hold closed fellowship, we are linked thereby with God the Eternal, and “the Ancient of days” [Dan.7:9] is our Father and our friend. Did we ever consider the depth of love in the heart of Jehovah, when God the Father equipped his Son for the great enterprise of mercy? If not, be this our day’s meditation. The Father sent him! Contemplate that subject. Think how Jesus works what the Father wills. In the wounds of the dying Saviour see the love of the great I AM [Exo.3:14]. Let every thought of Jesus be also connected with the Eternal, ever-blessed God, for “It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he has put him to grief [Is.53:10]”