Our crystallization-study of the humanity of Christ is to show us how much Christ is to us and how much we can enjoy Christ. Our circumstances in our living can be like a blowing wind, and sometimes they can be like a tempest with heavy rain. Christ is a refuge from the wind and a covering from the tempest (Isa. 32:2). When China was invaded by the Japanese army during the Second World War, the military police of the Japanese army arrested me twice. That was a real tempest. During the war, it meant nothing for the Japanese army to put a Chinese person to death. They imprisoned me for thirty days, and that was a real test to my family and the church. But I can testify that Christ was my covering to protect me from that tempest. The New Testament alone does not tell us how to enjoy Christ as a refuge and a covering.
The Brethren taught the prophecies in the book of Daniel, but we need to see that the book of Daniel is also full of the enjoyment of Christ, the Son of Man. The three friends of Daniel were thrown into the fire, and Christ as a man was walking with them. Also, in Daniel 10:4-19, we see that Christ is our stability, but we do not have such a thought pointed out in this way in the New Testament.
If we had only the New Testament without the Old Testament, our enjoyment of Christ would not be adequate. I have given many messages on the types and prophecies in the Old Testament to show people Christ and the enjoyment of Christ. In Luke 24:44 the Lord Jesus pointed out to His disciples that the three sections of the Old Testament, the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, reveal Him. This shows that the entire Old Testament is a revelation of Christ and that He is its center and content.
Some teach that the whole Bible unveils Christ, but they understand this in a very shallow way, which can be compared to skating on a layer of ice. All the deeper truths are in the depths "beneath the ice." By the Lord's unveiling in His mercy, we have an interpreted Bible, revealing the deeper truths.
In the outlines for this message and the next one, we have extracted all the New Testament verses which speak of the Son of Man. In Matthew 18:11 the Lord said, "For the Son of Man has come to save that which is lost." He did not say, "I have come," but, "The Son of Man has come." I refers simply to the man, not the Son of Man. Changing the Son of Man to I or Me in any of the verses in these outlines makes them much less meaningful. If we read these points again and again, we will enter into them and enjoy Christ as the Son of Man. It is the Son of Man who has the authority to forgive sinners, who can be the Lord of the Sabbath, who gave His life as a ransom for many, who gives the food which abides unto eternal life, and who was glorified with the Father's glory.