"And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God..." (1 Corinthians 1:30)
Posted : 4 Nov, 2011 06:38 AM
To survey the effects of this manifold wisdom on individual character will exalt our views of Christ as the wisdom of God.
When we see a man "becoming a fool that he may be wise" (1 Cor. 3:18)�bowing his reason to God's revelation, laying his knowledge and attainments beneath the cross, surrendering his own righteousness, "counting everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:8), and receiving the kingdom of God as a little child�oh, how glorious in this appears the wisdom of God, the light of which shines in Jesus' face! See how determined�in every step of his grace�the Father is to humble the creature, and to exalt, magnify, and crown his co-equal Son as Lord of all!
We see Jesus the mediatorial Head of all wisdom and counsel to the church. "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Col. 1:19). "In whom," says the same apostle, "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3). He is the "Wonderful Counselor" (Isa. 9:6) of whom it was prophesied, "the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD" (Isa. 11:2). O divine and precious truth! How unutterably precious to a soul having no resources adequate to the great purposes of knowing self, Christ, and God; of salvation, sanctification, and guidance.
Reader, do you need the "wisdom that helps you to succeed" (Eccl. 10:10)? Acquaint yourself with Jesus, in whom are hidden all the treasures of this wisdom.
How does he speak to you? The same way in which Moses, the great legislator, spoke to the people of Israel: "The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it" (Deut. 1:17).
What a cheering invitation this is! A greater than Moses speaks it, and he speaks it to you. You find your case baffling to human wisdom, too difficult for the sharpest skill of man. Take it, then, to Jesus. How sweetly he speaks, "bring it to me." One simple exercise of faith upon his Word will remove all that is difficult, make simple all that is complex, and make lucid all that is dark in your case.
With Jesus nothing is impossible. To him all is transparent. Knowing the end from the beginning, there can be nothing unforeseen in it to his mind. By his prescience all is known, and by his wisdom all is provided for. His precious promise is, "And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them" (Isa. 42:16).
In this way, Jesus becomes to you wisdom from God, that he may guide all your perplexities, that he may solve all your doubts, that he may direct all your steps�he on whom the anointing of the Spirit of wisdom and understanding rests "without measure" (John 3:34) and who, from experience, is able to lead you, having trod every step before you. "When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice" (John 10:4).
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (Jas. 1:5). Go to Christ, whom God has set up from everlasting, "so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places" (Eph. 3:10).
