The obedience
of Christ was marked by the unvarying character of perfect uniformity with the
Father’s will; the manner of His compliance with that will was always
unhesitating and unquestioning. Thus His obedience was of the very highest
order. There is an obedience among men that is the result of persuasion or even
fear, as when an adverse will is overcome by tender entreaties or powerful
reasons or a superior will. But the Lord’s obedience was not of any such
nature. It was His very meat to do the will of Him who sent Him (John 4:34). “I
delight to do Thy will, O My God” (Psa. 40:8; Heb. 10:9). His own will never
asserted or exercised itself but in one direction alone, and that in faultless
unison with the Father’s. In connection with this thought, it will be observed
that the Spirit of God, in witnessing of the obedience of Christ, uses a term
highly expressive of its character. The Greek word employed is always hupakoe
(literally, “to hear under”), or its cognate forms, indicating how completely
He was governed by what He heard from God. So the prophet had testified
beforehand, “He wakens morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as the
learned” (Isa. 50:4). This position of continual dependence the Lord never
left. “I can of My own self do nothing:as I hear I judge” (John 5:30). “The
Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19). In
contrast to the men around Him, self as a ruling motive was obliterated and the
spring of His actions lay without Himself in the Divine Will. “If any man wills
to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether
I speak from myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory” (John
7:17,18).

Never had there
been or could have been such obedience on earth, nor even in heaven. For
although the will of God was and is perfectly done above, the angels only
fulfill the purpose of their creation in “hearkening unto the voice of His
word” (Psa. 103:20). But this obedient Man, scorned for that very reason by all
the disobedient, was the beloved Son of God in whom He was well pleased. It was
the transcendent dignity of His Person that elevated the obedience beyond
compare, to say nothing of the adverse and afflicting circumstances in which it
was rendered up to death, and what a death! As the eternal Son, He was the
ruler over all. From the lowest creature on earth to the archangel on high
nothing stirred but at His bidding. Yet “He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). What a marvel
was this that the divine Son should become a bondman and learn
(subjection being foreign to the Lord of all) “obedience by the things that He
suffered” (Heb. 5:8). The lesson was learned perfectly. From first to last not
a single exhortation was needed; without exception, He invariably did those
things that pleased His Father.

This obedience
was unparalleled, and gave infinite satisfaction to God. By so much as He was
displeased by the disobedience of Adam, by that much, and far more, was He
pleased by the obedience of the Second Man. His obedience was not primarily on
man’s account, nor in any strict sense vicarious; but therein God found a
perfect answer upon earth to the divine mind in heaven. Christ alone, as being
ever the dependent and subservient One up to the death of the cross, was worthy
to be Head of the new creation. In the very particular wherein Adam failed,
Christ perfectly glorified His Father and His God upon the earth. Therefore all
who are Christ’s are bound to exhibit the same moral attitude toward Him who
has called them. For as surely as we are elect, sanctified, and sprinkled, so
surely are we called unto the obedience of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:2). This not
only refers to outward action but we are to bring into captivity every thought
even to “the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). The significance of this
phrase is not so much that we are to obey Christ as our Master—which, of
course, is in itself true—but rather that the peculiar kind of obedience that
characterized Christ should characterize us. There had been obedience of old.
“By faith Abraham … obeyed” both in leaving his father’s country and in
offering his son (Heb. 11:8,17; Gen. 22:18). Again, the allusion seems to be to
Israel’s obedience of the law under the sanction of death set forth in the
victim’s blood sprinkled on all concerned. But the obedience of the Son
transcended all and afforded an example beyond all. He lived upon every word
proceeding out of the mouth of God. His life, as a Man, was the prompt and
joyful response below to the divine will above. He obeyed as a Son, while we
also are privileged to obey as children. This is in entire contrast with legal
obedience in view of a threat or a reward. No less than this is what God looks
for in His saints.

When the Spirit
portrays in detail the incomparable stoop of grace, He precedes it by the
exhortation, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil.
2:5). Conformity to Christ commences in the heart and mind. The mind of the
saint, like that of his Exemplar, should ever be open for directions from
above. Obedience is implicit subjection to that which is heard. This principle
marks even the initial stage of the believer’s life. The obedience of faith was
the aim of Paul’s preaching (Rom. 1:5; 16:26). No saint, however advanced, gets
beyond dependence on the Word of God. The most obedient child is the one whose
words and ways are most influenced by the Scriptures. Our obedience is not the
dull, wearisome, legal-minded, external conformity to His Word, because such
and such is known to be His will, and therefore must be obeyed; but
rather it is a running in the way of His commandments, a saintly alacrity in
divine things, a holy anxiety to know His will and to do it. Such a cheerful
obedience to His revelation will be a savor of Christ in His people, well
pleasing before Him. And is not this worth seeking? Thank God, He has made us
“partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4) and given us of His Spirit in
order that the task may not be in vain.

(From The
Bible Treasury, Vol. 19.)

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FRAGMENT  The
will of God was the only law of Christ’s life. He was never governed by human
considerations or affections. Are we set upon this—that the will of God should
be our only law?