Our desire is to contemplate here, by the help of the Holy Spirit, that lovely perfection of the Lord Jesus which was the very and beauty of His mediatorial holiness. His obedience was the absolute conformity of His entire spirit and soul to the will and mind of His Father; His ready and cheerful performance of every duty and every thing which God commanded Him. This obedience He performed perfectly, amid the greatest and sorest trials, with infinite respect unto Him whose “Servant” (Isa. 42:1) He had become. The laws which He obeyed were, first, those to which He was subject considered simply as man (Gal. 4:4), namely, the Ten Commandments or moral law. Second, those to which He was subject considered as Son of David (Matt. 1:1), namely the ceremonial law of Israel. Third, those to which He was subject as Mediator, namely the fulfilling the commandments which He had received from the Father to preach the Gospel, perform miracles, call disciples, and die upon the cross.
The closer the four Gospels be read in the light of our present subject, the more it will be seen that obedience to the Father was Christ’s supreme mission on earth. As He Himself declared, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me” (John 4:34); and again, “For I came down from Heaven not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 6:38). Familiar as are these verses to many Christians, few have seen the fullness of His obedience, or perceived that every act of Christ during the thirty-three years He tabernacled among men was distinctly and designedly an act of submission unto God. Limited space will not allow us to attempt much more than an outline of this blessed fact and truth as it was realized in the life of Him who always did those things which pleased the Father (John 8:29).
Christ’s birth was an act of obedience. This will be more evident if we recognize that every prophecy of God concerning His Son was for Christ a command and the fulfillment was a designed act of obedience on His part. [His being born of a virgin, being born in Bethlehem, being raised in Nazareth were all acts of obedience to the decrees of the Father.]
[Even His baptism indicates a heart of obedience to the Father.] “And Jesus answering Him said unto him, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness“(Matt. 3:13-15). Here it is distinctly said that Christ’s baptism had to do with the fulfilling of righteousness” or right doing, measuring up to the required standard. His words to John signified, “Neither you nor I can do the will of the Father except I submit to baptism, and you baptize Me.”
The perfect obedience of Christ appears next in His resistance to Satan’s temptations. There we see the great Enemy seeking to turn aside the Savior from the path of complete surrender to God’s will; but in vain. Christ unhesitatingly refused to perform the Devil’s bidding, meeting each assault with an, “It is written,” which was the same as though He had said, “I decline to go contrary to the Divine precepts, I refuse to disobey My Father.”
His miracles of mercy were wrought in obedience to the Father’s revealed will…. Christ was tender, sympathetic, and full of compassion, yet the first and deepest motive which moved Him to heal was that the will of God might be done. Beautifully does this come out in John 11. Though Martha and Mary had sent a message unto Christ that their brother was sick, He responded not to their appeal till the Father’s hour arrived: see verses 4-6. [Also consider John 5:19].
His saving of sinners was in order to render obedience unto God. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out; for I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” What a view does this present to us of the redemptive work of Christ! How it magnifies His blessed submission unto the One who had sent Him into this world!
The Redeemer’s preservation of His people is in obedience to the Father. “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39). Thus, the security of the saint depends not only upon the Savior’s love unto His own, or His all-mighty power, but is as well His act of subjection to God.
His very death was itself an act of submission to the Father, for He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). As He Himself declared concerning His life, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10:18)…. How blessed it is to perceive that through and by His Son’s obedience God has been more honored upon earth than He has been dishonored by all the disobedience of all the sons of Adam!
In seeking to make an application of that which has been before us, let us point out, first, that this perfect obedience of Christ is reckoned to the account of all and each of His people, being that “righteousness” which is imputed by God to them; as it is written, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made (legally constituted) righteous” (Rom. 5:19). Second, Christ has left us an example that we should follow His steps: “he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself so to walk, even as He walked” (I John 2:6). Third, obedience is to be the one aim and mission of the Christian. To us Christ says, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15); and again, “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love” (John 15:10).
Excerpted from A.W. Pink’s Studies in Scriptures, November 1932. All bracketed notes are the editor’s summaries.
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