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“He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” —John 1:11-13
Hypocrisy and self-righteousness never probably rose to such a height as at the period when the Lord of life and glory was upon earth. The besetting sin of the Jewish nation before the Babylonish captivity was idolatry, as we find recorded in the pages of the Old Testament; but after their return from that captivity (more than five hundred years before Christ came into the world), they never relapsed into open idol-worship. The form of ungodliness in them was changed. The human heart, ever “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9), put on a new mask; and though they no longer bowed down to gods of wood and stone, nor went after the vain idols of their fathers, yet they prostituted the worship of the only true God into lip-service and “bodily exercise” (1Ti 4:8). And thus, though nominally worshippers of the only true God, and though with their lips they drew nigh, yet they were as far from Him in their hearts as when their forefathers bowed down before stocks and stones.
It was at this period, then, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, and chose at this time to fulfil all those prophecies that He before had given concerning the Messiah. Of this period the apostle John speaks in the opening of this article: “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Joh 1:9-13)…
“He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” —John 1:11-13
Hypocrisy and self-righteousness never probably rose to such a height as at the period when the Lord of life and glory was upon earth. The besetting sin of the Jewish nation before the Babylonish captivity was idolatry, as we find recorded in the pages of the Old Testament; but after their return from that captivity (more than five hundred years before Christ came into the world), they never relapsed into open idol-worship. The form of ungodliness in them was changed. The human heart, ever “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9), put on a new mask; and though they no longer bowed down to gods of wood and stone, nor went after the vain idols of their fathers, yet they prostituted the worship of the only true God into lip-service and “bodily exercise” (1Ti 4:8). And thus, though nominally worshippers of the only true God, and though with their lips they drew nigh, yet they were as far from Him in their hearts as when their forefathers bowed down before stocks and stones.
It was at this period, then, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, and chose at this time to fulfil all those prophecies that He before had given concerning the Messiah. Of this period the apostle John speaks in the opening of this article: “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Joh 1:9-13)…
