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make that peace, and restore that life shall be sent from God too. Therefore we see that in
this office, as the Man Christ Jesus, He has the pre-eminence.
We have given unstinted precedence in these pages to the claims of the apostle Paul,
but never to the exclusion or the eclipsing of the One who Paul so lovingly and so
faithfully represented. He who is King of kings and Lord of lords; He whose Priesthood
transcends Aaron's; in all things He has the pre-eminence.
The Apostle and High Priest.
These two titles practically cover the record of the Gospel according to John. Most
readers know that this Gospel is divided into two parts. The first occupying
chapters 1:-12:, and the second 13:-21: The first section is concerned with the outer
ministry of the Lord; the second is occupied with the Lord's more private ministry
among His own. The first section manifests the Lord as the "Sent One"; the second
prepares us for His return to God. The Gospel that so strongly emphasizes the Lord as
the "sent", records the passages which reveals that the Lord "went to God", long before
the visible ascent from the Mount of Olives: "Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not; for I
am not yet ascended to My Father" (John 20: 17). Eight days after the same Lord could
say to Thomas: "Reach hither thy finger . . . . . and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it
into my side" (John 20: 27).
The double title of Apostle and High Priest is suggested in the opening of
chapter 13:, the second section of the Gospel:--
"When Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world
unto the Father . . . . . and that He was come from God, and went to God" (John 13: 1-3).
Seeing therefore that the office of Apostle, or the "Sent One" is so important, and
takes precedence over all other aspects and phases of His ministry, let us turn to the
Scriptures to learn something of this neglected but vital feature.
The Sent One.
The Gospel according to John contains more occurrences than any other of the two
words translated "to send", viz., apostello = "to send forth", and pempo = "to send".
From chapter 3: to chapter 20: it is safe to say that every section speaks of the Lord as
the Sent One in some vital sense, and directly connected with the argument. Let us
follow this and learn as we go. John 3: 17 focuses the Lord's words to Nicodemus, and
runs on as an immediate extension of John 3: 16:--
"For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through Him might be saved."
Here is the first object stated, Salvation. Not condemn but save, or, as John 3: 16
teaches, not perish but have everlasting life. This connection with John 3: 16 moreover
reveals that the word "sent" embraces all those passages where the Lord is said to "come"