Free Amazing Grace by Watchman Nee Page B

all quite familiar with this passage of Scripture.
In the days of His sojourning on earth the Lord Jesus was clothed with flesh.
He is the Son of God, and He now becomes the Christ of God—that is, the
Anointed of God sent to earth on a mission. How can we explain this? As to His
person He is the only begotten Son of God; and according to His work He is also
the Christ of God. Matthew 16 tells us that He is both the Son of God as well
as the Christ of God (v. 16), for the Son of God alone can be the Christ of
God. He originally is the Son of the living God, full of glory, position and
authority. But when the Word became flesh (John 1:14a), He came to the world as
it were in disguise; and in His flesh people could not see Him as the Son of
God. They only saw Him as a sibling to his half-brothers in the flesh named Simon,
Judas, Joses and James (Mark 6:3). Furthermore, John the Baptizer was His flesh-and-blood
cousin. So people could only see Jesus in the flesh and thus they could never
understand the other reality which lay behind His flesh. Men knew Him only as
Jesus of Nazareth and even questioned whether anything good could come out of
Nazareth (John 1:46a). Therefore, unless people receive revelation of the Holy
Spirit, they cannot more fully see Jesus.
    Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God in disguise. What, in
this context, does disguise mean? It means taking upon oneself another fashion or
appearance than what one originally is. The Word becoming flesh was a disguise
of the Son God. By taking on flesh, God the Son disguised himself. Hence,
people saw the disguising flesh and did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God.
People could see Him, touch Him, hear Him, eat with Him, and even preach and
cast out demons with Him; yet they could not recognize Him as the Christ. They
even could call Jesus, Rabbi, as in the case of the rich young ruler and the
religious teacher Nicodemus (Matthew 19:16-22, John 3:1-12). They could witness
His personal relationship with God, yet they could not discern who Jesus really
is.
    Moreover, when Jesus asked His disciples who did men say
that He was, they answered that some said Elijah, others said Jeremiah (Matthew
16:14). Why did they not say He was Daniel or Zechariah? Most likely it was because
among all the Old Testament prophets, there was no one stronger than Elijah: how
he had condemned all who opposed God: how he had battled with the ungodly prophets
of Baal and overcame them all (I Kings 18:16-40). How about Jeremiah? He was a
most tender person whom people called the weeping prophet, for whenever he
confronted situations beyond his power to cope he cried.
    So on the one hand, people said that Jesus was Elijah,
for He hated sins so strongly; but on the other hand, other people saw Him weep
for sinners, the poor, and Jerusalem—and so they said Jesus was Jeremiah.
Though they seemed to know Him as the One who was better than the rest, yet all
they could recognize Him to be was a prophet like Elijah or Jeremiah. Men knew
only the outward appearance, they having seen Jesus’ relatives, His daily work,
and something of His human character; nevertheless, they did not in the least recognize
Jesus for who He truly is.
    There came a day, however, that Jesus took Peter, James
and John up a mountain and there He was transfigured before them: His garments
became white and His countenance shone as the sun. What did this mountain-top
experience signify for these disciples? It was Jesus revealing His original
self to these men. He at this moment was divesting himself of that outward
disguise which had prevented people from recognizing His true nature. Moreover,
when Jesus was transfigured atop the mountain, He was not changed into what He
was not but was changed into what He originally is. Thus people could recognize
Him as He really is—the eternal Son of God.

The
Church Is Built on the Knowledge
of
the Revelation of Christ
    The Bible tells us that the church is built on what Jesus
termed