Christ, the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and who was God, in whom all things were created,--as the life and the light of the world, "was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:10-13)
Worldly Ignorance
"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." (John 1:10) "The world by wisdom knew not God." (1 Corinthians 1:21)
The wisdom of this world does not reveal Christ, but conceals Him. No man can ever learn of Christ by worldly wisdom. It is Mr. Worldly Wiseman that turns Christian out of the right way. [A reference to The Pilgrim's Progress, "The First Stage," by John Bunyan] "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." (1 Corinthians 3:19)
The Depths of Ignorance
"The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not consider." (Isaiah 1:3)
Therefore the wisdom of this world does not rise to the level of the intelligence of brutes. Yes, it sinks men below the level of brutes, when it is given full chance to develop; because when men "became vain in their imaginations, ... Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things." (Romans 1:21-23)
It is impossible that men should rise above the object which they worship, and the description which follows the scripture just quoted shows that the worshipers of beasts and creeping things did actually fall below them. But all that was simply the full development of worldly wisdom.
True Wisdom
The Bible does not discredit wisdom or science. It is only "science falsely so called," (1 Timothy 6:20) and the boasted wisdom of the world, which is not wisdom at all, but only foolishness, that is spoken against. "The Lord gives wisdom; out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous." (Proverbs 2:6-7) "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." (Job 28:28) "If any man wills to do His will, he shall know." (John 7:17)
It is by faith that we understand. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:3)
The Cross and Knowledge
Wisdom comes from God alone. To know Him embraces everything that is worth knowing or having. "Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me." (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
But by the Spirit of the Lord, Paul said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Galatians 6:14)
Since we can glory only in the knowledge of God, and only in the cross, it follows that it is only in the cross that we can learn to know God. The world knew not Christ, because they wanted glory without the cross. Whoever shuns or rejects the cross, refuses to know God.
Whenever in anyone's Christian experience a cross presents itself, and he refuses to accept it, he thereby says, "I know as much of the Lord as I wish to," and then he begins to lose even that which he has.
His Own
"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." (John 1:11)
In the Greek there is a clearly marked distinction between the two expressions, "His own," the first being neuter, and the second masculine. The "His own" to which He came is distinct from the "His own" who did not receive Him. The English does not show this difference, except by a more full rendering, as is given in the Revised Version: "He came unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not." (John 1:11)
He came to His own inheritance, but His own people rejected Him. Jesus set this forth most clearly in the parable of the vineyard which was let out to husbandmen, who killed the heir when he came. See Matthew 21:33-44.
The Inheritance
"The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein." (Psalm 24:1)
The earth was given to man in the beginning, for a possession. But it was given to a perfect man, not to a fallen man. Man lost it when he fell. But Christ has purchased it. "Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:14)
We see Jesus, because of death, "crowned with glory and honor," (Hebrews 2:9) just as man was when the dominion was given him. It is His by right, although those to whom it has been entrusted for a little while cast Him out when He came to it.
Rejected of Men
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (Isaiah 53:3)
Mark this, He not only was despised, but "He is despised and rejected of men." It is a thing still going on. Multitudes of those who delight to be called by His name, are rejecting Him. How? In rejecting His cross. They are willing that He should suffer, but they are not willing to suffer with Him; and in rejecting the cross, they are rejecting Him.
The World Unchanged
The world is not converted, and never will be. There is an everlasting difference between Christ and the world. "The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4) "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof; but he that does the will of God abides for ever." (1 John 2:16-17)
Therefore the world ever rejects Christ. The world is as much opposed to Christ today as it was eighteen hundred years ago. His people are chosen "out of the world": "If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15:19) "Who gave himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." (Galatians 1:4)
Believing and Receiving
"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." (John 1:12)
And who are they who receive Him? "Them that believe on His name." (John 1:12)
Whoever believes, receives. Whoever receives Him becomes thereby a son of God. Therefore everyone who is not a child of God is rejecting Christ.
What Infidelity Is
What is infidelity? Many people think that it consists in a railing against God and Christ and the Bible. But there are thousands of infidels who have never said a word against Christ, and who would be shocked at the suggestion that they do not believe the Bible.
The word "infidelity" is the Anglicized form of the Latin infidelitas, through the French infidelité, meaning unfaithfulness. Infidelity is simply lack of faith. Now whoever has faith has Christ, for the text says that those who believe Christ receive Him: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." (Ephesians 3:17)
Therefore that man in whose heart Christ does not dwell as "the hope of glory," (Colossians 1:27) is an infidel, even though he be a professed Christian. "Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates?" (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Instead of reviling those who do not profess to be anything except infidels, it becomes professed Christians to keep the exhortation of the Spirit, "Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith." (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Waiting to be Received
Jesus, "the faithful and true witness," says, "Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)
How shall we open the door? Simply believe Him. If we believe Him, we receive Him. How often He has knocked, and we have sent word that we were "not at home." Let us no longer be false to our most faithful Friend. Let this day be our day to receive. "Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." (Hebrews 3:15)
From Servant to Son
When we receive the Lord Jesus, then He dwells in us. His presence transforms us. Remember that we receive Him by believing Him. We feed upon Him by taking the Word. "By the exceeding great and precious promises, [we become] partakers of the Divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4)
Thus it is that receiving Christ makes us sons. "If children, then heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:17)
In the parable of the vineyard (Matthew 21:33-44), the servants slew the heir, in order that they might seize on the inheritance, and thereby they lost it and their own lives as well. If they had only known the day of their visitation, and had received the heir, they might have received the adoption of sons. "Wherefore you are no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." (Galatians 4:7)
How little those who reject Christ, in order to win the world, know what they are losing! In rejecting Him that they may win all, they lose all.
Born of God
Those who in simple faith receive the Lord thereby become sons of God. Not only are they called sons, but they are actually sons, since they are made "partakers of the Divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4) "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13) "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever." (1 Peter 1:23)
This receiving of the Word makes God our Father as actually as is the father by whom we were begotten according to the flesh. Just as our earthly parents transmitted to us their nature, so in the new birth God transmits to us His nature, and this is "renewed day by day," (2 Corinthians 4:16) while we believe it.
We are heirs of God himself, and therefore all that is His. With what joy, then, the true believer may sing:
Blessed assurance--Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God;
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
--Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), Hymn: Blessed Assurance.
--Present Truth, December 12, 1895--John 1:10-13.