John 2:25

CHRIST’S KNOWLEDGE OF MAN

‘He knew what was in man.’

John 2:25

No greater proof could be given of our Lord’s Divine nature than His marvellous knowledge of men’s hearts and ways. To know the secrets of men’s hearts is the prerogative of God alone, as it is written, ‘I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways” (Jeremiah 17:10). But the Lord Jesus had this power: ‘He knew all men.’ Every one of those who lived in Judæa or Galilee, yea, even to the uttermost parts of the earth, were known to Him. ‘He knew what was in man.’ The most secret aim or imagination cherished in the recess of the soul, unknown and unsuspected even by the most intimate relative or friend, stands out before Christ plainly and distinctly without the least veil or covering.

I. What a help and encouragement to the sinner is the thought on which we are dwelling? Christ knows every secret of my heart. He knows every failing, every temptation, every root of mischief that is working in me. He knows each wrong desire which it is so hard to check. He knows the cause of that depression of spirit which sometimes overwhelms me. He knows those tendencies to anger, murmuring, envy, unbelief, which cause me so much distress. Moreover, He knows those longings for a higher and nobler life, those sighs over the sin that cleaves to me, those prayer-thoughts that arise to Him continually even when beset with temptations to evil which I abhor. The whole case lies open before Him. The evil that has been, that evil that is now, the evil that might yet arise, and whatever better thing His grace has given, all is perfectly known to Him. Is this no ground of confidence to the soul that would be saved, or to him who would rise to a much higher level than he has yet reached? The Saviour has come, and come close to you. He comes to give life, and to give it more abundantly. He comes to break down every barrier, to heal every disease, and to save even to the uttermost. And His perfect knowledge of you is one great element of hope. If He knows all that is amiss, you may be sure in His power and love He will heal and save you.

II. But Christ is coming again as the Judge of quick and dead. As King He shall sit upon the great white throne, and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. And it is in this aspect that we see the solemn importance of Christ’s perfect knowledge of man. For, as He knows all, so will He reveal all. ‘We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad’ (2 Corinthians 5:10, R.V.). ‘In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel’ (Romans 2:6). Imagine the man whose whole life has been given to accumulate wealth, and who has practised unnumbered acts of deceit and secret fraud in doing this. There has been an utter disregard of the claims of the workman, or the need of the widow, or the vast responsibility of his position. To get rich, to add thousands to thousands, has been the one aim, and all else has been sacrificed to this. How will such a man stand the test and answer for the utter neglect and abuse of the talent committed to him? Imagine the man who has borne a fair character in the world, and perchance has been regular in church and passed for a Christian, but yet all the time has been the slave of some hateful vice, and perhaps has drawn many others into the vortex of evil. Hidden now beneath the veil of a respectable exterior are multitudes of such as are but the grossest hypocrites in God’s sight. Like the Pharisees of old, they are as whited sepulchres. Outwardly they appear righteous before man, but within are full of corruption and iniquity.

—Rev. George Everard.