Hearing The Voice of Christ

Hearing The Voice of Christ

…“You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

John 18:37b

We continue today to meditate upon the Kingship of Christ as a function of His Mediatorial Office. The words of our text for today are these, ‘Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.’ Here, we dwell upon the fact that ‘Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us unto Himself,’ as the Shorter Catechism puts it. When we think of this, we want to consider it in relation to other texts which allude to it, and complement it. David declares in Psalm 110:3, ‘Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.’  Christ, Himself refers to it when He says, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’ He refers to it again in the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’ What we want to contemplate next, is that Christ ‘subdues’ us unto Himself in a way which is more akin to a lover wooing the great love of his life, rather than a conqueror crushing subjects underfoot to bring them into subjection. We see the picture of this wooing laid forth beautifully in the Song of Solomon.  Christ ‘subdues’ us unto Himself by that warm, gentle drawing of us unto Himself by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Having regenerated us, the Holy Spirit brings us, by His effectual calling, to embrace Christ as He is freely offered to us in the Gospel. This is the process of Christ, the King, working to ‘subdue’ us unto Himself. We find in it, the fulfillment of Psalm 110:3, ‘Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.’

O, Christ, our King,
we rejoice in You, that You have drawn us unto Yourself,
by the Power of Your Holy Spirit.
We praise You, that by Your Loving Grace,
You have made us Your willing subjects.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning