---

1. As the text stands it is sometimes interpreted to mean that God gave Christ power over all flesh in order that He should impart eternal life to a certain number selected by the Father and given over to Him. In the stricter rendering, the meaning appears rather to be that God has given Christ authority over all flesh, that to all given to Him He might give eternal life; thus suggesting that it is God's plan to give Him authority over all in order that He may give eternal life to all. Then if that be the ease, if any do not receive that life it is because they resist the authority. It is their own fault. In the contrary view not only does it appear unnecessary to have given Him a universal power for a partial work; but those who do not receive the life are not to be blamed, as they never had the opportunity of receiving it. If I were to gather fifty people and say, "I have received authority from a person whom you ought to obey to offer you a gift, which I hold in my hand for those who wish to have it"; supposing some turned away, the blame would be their own if they did not receive it. But if I brought the same persons together, and said, "I have authority to offer some of you, privately selected, a gift which I have here"; you could not find great fault if some sat still and said, "We do not see why you have summoned any except those chosen favourites, and we will wait to see if we are among them." In the one we see what looks like a flaw in the perfect justice of God, which we do not see in the other.

2. But some people will say we have no right to sit, so to speak, in judgment on the perfect justice of God. Do you remember John Knox's answer when Queen Mary asked him who was he that presumed to school the nobles and the sovereign of her realm? "A subject, madam," said he, "born within the same." Birth has its rights; and one of the birthrights of God's children is to form their own judgment of their Father's dealings with them. Does God's character come fairly out of a transaction such as has been described? Why authorize Christ to say, "Come unto Me all ye that labour," &c.; when the real meaning is — "You may all come, but there is rest for the souls of only a certain number." Now, the meaning which we find in the most literal rendering of this text is most in agreement with the righteous character of God. Let us see what the statement teaches us.

I. GOD HAS GIVEN CHRIST AUTHORITY OVER ALL FLESH.

1. Authority is a higher thing than power, for it appeals to that which is within a man, while power appeals to the outward man. Though I had no rightful authority over a man, I might have such a power over him as to force him to do my will; but my power could not coerce his reason or conscience. It is to these authority appeals. It may rule these though it has no outward strength, and may be powerless and yet be none the less authority. Christ's authority over all men was the same when He hung upon the cross as when He raised the dead. For it was not an official authority such as that of viceroy, which ceases when he is recalled; such as that of the priest who claims to absolve the sinner and direct the conscience, because he has been ordained by a bishop. It was not an authority which He had won for Himself by His displays of power, and which was lost when these were made no longer. It was the authority of the Divine character of the perfect Man swaying, because of His Divine perfectness, the hearts and minds of men.

2. We are helped to understand this when we compare with this chap. John 5:27. Christ receives authority to judge men because Himself a Man, and yet the embodiment and example of the sinlessness of which they fall short. The authority which Christ has over us is the authority of love. And there is no authority like this, because you see Him to be the worthiest of your love and in whose love for you have full confidence.

II. OUR POSITION IN REGARD TO THIS AUTHORITY.

1. Had He an absolute power over us, then of course there would be no resisting. We should be forced to yield to Him. But this authority we can resist, or we can yield to it. What it expects from us is spiritual submission. In thus yielding to Him we are carrying out the desire and design of God. We are working together with Him, so are working out our own salvation; for the end for which God has planted this Divine authority in Christ is that we should have "eternal life."

2. This is eternal life — to enter into the light and freedom and blessedness of a true knowledge of God as He is revealed in Christ. It is the life of the spirit, the life which is akin to God's and can never taste of death. We enter on this through yielding to the authority of Christ. The essence of the eternal life is not endless existence. That might be a curse rather than a blessing.Let us understand —

1. That God has given His Son authority to win us by love, not to sway us by force.

2. That God does not work in order to bless any one section of mankind, but to bless the race at large. The authority of Christ is co-extensive with that dominion of God which is over all His works.

3. To trust this all-embracing love and goodwill, and do what we can to meet it, and to show in our own lives its sanctifying power.

4. To feel our responsibility.

(R. H. Story.)

---

---

KJV: These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

WEB: Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;