John 5:26 “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;”
Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
Josiah Litch
Prophetic Expositions, Volume 1 (1842), pg. 14 to 18
IV. THE PERSON AND CHARACTER OF THE KING
Source link: https://egwwritings.org/?ref=en_PREX1.15.2¶=1029.64
1. The person of the king. We learn this from Revelation 11:15: “There were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” The event here described is the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet. The kingdoms of this world are the great image of the king of Babylon, to be broken by the stone, and make way for the kingdom of God. The king, then, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the stone, and “on whomsoever He shall fall, he will grind them to powder.” Malt. 21:44. {PREX1 14.2}
2. The character of the king. “And he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.” the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:32, 35. The great king is here called the Son of God, and the reason why he is so called is distinctly stated. He is the only begotten Son of God. That holy thing or creature which was born of Mary, is the Son of God. This can only refer to the humanity of Jesus Christ, not to his uncreated, eternal nature. He was also the Son of David, because the son of Mary, a daughter of David’s line. Through Mary, his mother, of the race of Adam, he partook of Adam’s blood or life, (for his blood is his life.) yet without the contamination of Adam’s nature, because brought into being by the Immediate “power of The Highest.” Thus, he was at once in his human nature, both the Son of God and the Son of man. (See Dr. A. Clarke on the sonship of Christ.) {PREX1 15.1}
As the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, he is also possessed of a self-existent living principle, distinct from the blood of Adam. “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:25, 26. That self-living principle was, not blood, such as quickens Adam’s race, but a QUICKENING SPIRIT, ESSENTIAL TO THE VERY BEING OF CHRIST’S HUMANITY, DERIVED FROM THE FATHER; but supplying the same place as the blood of Adam, and producing the same effect on its possessor. The natures were blended in one, and yet distinct. “The last Adam a quickening spirit.” In this mysterious being “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The Word or Logos which was in the beginning with God, and was God, dwelt in the Son of God, the man Christ Jesus. So that, although he is the “child born,” and the “Son given,” yet he is “the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.” “Such a high-priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners; made higher than the heavens.” “The children being partakers of flesh and blood, himself also took part of the same.” It was not altogether flesh and blood, but spirit, a self-living spirit, which he possessed, as a part of his humanity; “that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” If Christ had been entirely dependent on his self-living spirit for life, and had been only the Son of God, he could not have died; because that spirit is undying and immortal. But without the shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins, no resurrection. The penalty of the divine law was death. It was absolute and irrevocable in its nature. One sinned, and by that one sin death entered into the world, and is passed upon all men. Adam, becoming mortal by sin, could not transmit to his posterity what he did not possess, immortality in the body. They, partaking of and living by his blood, must be subject to the same late, death: cessation of life by the action of Adam’s blood. There being no provision in the law by which this penalty could be commuted, the culprit must remain forever in death, unless some atonement could be made. Such an atonement Christ made when “he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and tasted death for every man.” {PREX1 15.2}
“But,” it may be objected, “you said that the penalty of the law was an interminable death; and if so, how could the death of Christ for only three days, atone for such a sin and redeem the sinner from the penalty?” {PREX1 17.1}
The answer is, Jesus Christ laid down his life derived from Adam, eternally. When he arose from the grave, he was quickened, not by the blood of Adam, BUT BY THE SPIRIT, THAT SELF-EXISTENT PRINCIPLE DERIVED FROM THE FATHER, BY WHICH HE HAD LIFE IN HIMSELF. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18. {PREX1 17.2}
Being the Son of man, and partaking of the blood of Adam, he laid down that blood or life forever. But being also the Son of God, and possessed of that quickening spirit, he rose triumphant from the grave, spiritual; and because spiritual, immortal. His resurrection body, although though of flesh and bones, and not spiritual in the sense of etherial, but spiritual as opposed to carnal, or natural and corruptible, as is the human body while it is animated by the blood of Adam. The spirit or nature of Jesus Christ, by which he was raised from the dead, is imparted to every true believer in the Son of God; and “if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit which dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11. {PREX1 17.3}
The king, then, is a perfect human being, the Son of man and the Son of God; now possessed of flesh and bones, but not of blood, because that he shed for the race of Adam; but of an immortal, quickening spirit, by which he is alive forever-more, and will raise all his saints at the last day. In him dwells also the Logos or word; all the fulness of the Godhead. In this perfect nature he is in heaven, and will so come again in like manner as he went into heaven. {PREX1 18.1}
This being the character of the king, I shall now consider- {PREX1 18.2}
2 Responses
Amen
Josiah Litch wrote: “The great king is here called the Son of God, and the reason why he is so called is distinctly stated. He is the only begotten Son of God. That holy thing or creature which was born of Mary, is the Son of God. This can only refer to the humanity of Jesus Christ, not to his uncreated, eternal nature.” Should we understand this as he means that the human nature of Christ is the Son of God, not His divine nature?
Then he wrote: “Thus, he was at once in his human nature, both the Son of God and the Son of man.” Now he calls Christ in His human nature the Son of God.
He also wrote: “The natures were blended in one, and yet distinct. “The last Adam a quickening spirit.” In this mysterious being “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The Word or Logos which was in the beginning with God, and was God, dwelt in the Son of God, the man Christ Jesus.” I think, it proves that Litch does not call Christ’s divine nature the Son of God. But E. G. White calls (“He was pre-existent, self-existent Son of God”)!
Then: “If Christ had been entirely dependent on his self-living spirit for life, and had been only the Son of God, he could not have died; because that spirit is undying and immortal.” What does he mean by the phrase “had been only the Son of God”? Is it not contradiction to his previous statements?
“Being the Son of man, and partaking of the blood of Adam, he laid down that blood or life forever. But being also the Son of God, and possessed of that quickening spirit, he rose triumphant from the grave, spiritual; and because spiritual, immortal.” What does he mean by the phrase “being also the Son of God”? Does he now refer to Christ’s divinity?
“The king, then, is a perfect human being, the Son of man and the Son of God; now possessed of flesh and bones, but not of blood, because that he shed for the race of Adam; but of an immortal, quickening spirit, by which he is alive forever-more, and will raise all his saints at the last day. In him dwells also the Logos or word; all the fulness of the Godhead. In this perfect nature he is in heaven, and will so come again in like manner as he went into heaven.” By contrasting human being Christ he obviously does not consider (call) Logos as the Son of God.
How we should harmonize all his reasoning?