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Who are these "fellows", these "partakers"? Some say angels, some say kings, some
say believers. In Heb. 2: 14 Christ "took part" or "became a partaker" metecho of flesh
and blood, and because He came down and united Himself with our low estate, it
becomes gloriously possible for sinful men, redeemed by His precious blood, to
contemplate the possibility of sharing the glory that has been given Him. Should one
object and say "surely the believer cannot be ranged along with the Lord like that", we
read "He is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Heb. 2: 11), and elsewhere the believer is
spoken of as being a "joint-heir with Christ", so united with Him as to make it possible
for him to sit on His throne, even as He has sat down with His Father on His Throne; and
to crown all, we remember His words, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given
them; that they may be one, EVEN AS WE ARE ONE (John 17: 22). In some of His
offices, the Saviour was and must be "alone". None can intrude into the suffering and
death that constitute the "one Offering". The glory that was His by right and enjoyed
"before the world was", is His alone and can be shared by none; but as the One
Mediator, He is not alone, He is exalted, but exalted among His redeemed people. Let us
end this study in meditating on the wonder and the grace that can link the Saviour's
Name and glory to such as we were and are:
"Anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows."
No.13.
Jesus Christ the Same
(1: 12)
pp. 173 - 178
When we read the words "Thy throne, O God" and then go on to read "Therefore God,
even Thy God", we feel that we are facing a mystery, and indeed we are, "the mystery of
godliness", which is nothing less than God manifest in the flesh. If Christ be God and
Man, we must be sure at every step whether His Divine or Human nature is in view. The
same Person could use the extraordinary words in prayer, "Father, I WILL", yet ever
acknowledge that He came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father that sent
Him. So, with nothing to mark the transition, Heb. 1: 9, 10 passes from One Who can
have "fellows", to One Who shares an aspect of glory with none, the glory of the Creator.
". . . . . I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I
make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things . . . . . Thus saith the LORD
that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it . . . . . I am the
LORD; and there is none else" (Isa. 45: 6, 7, 18).
Here there can be no "fellows". Here we listen to the unchallengeable claim of God,
"There is none else". In the presence of Isa. 45:, we must believe that "the Lord" Who
is addressed in Heb. 1: 10 as having laid the foundation of the earth "in the beginning"
must be God, even as in the presence of Isa. 45: 23, we must believe that "the Lord" of
Phil. 2: 6-11 must be God, to Whom every knee shall bow.