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Jesus Christ, Who is the Word, and the Image, God manifest in the flesh, is the living
example of God's gracious Condescension to poor frail mankind.
Dr. Bullinger sub-divides this figure into nineteen sections. We cannot stay to
tabulate these divisions, or to give examples of each, but the passages below are fairly
representative of the figure as a whole:--
"I will guide thee with Mine eye" (Psa. xxxii. 8).
"Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications" (Psa. cxxx. 2).
"At the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils" (Psa. xviii. 15).
"Jehovah hath made bare His holy arm" (Isa. lii. 10).
"Through the bowels of the mercy of our God" (Luke i. 78, Margin).
"It repented Jehovah that He had made man on the earth" (Gen. vi. 6).
"They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods" (Deut. xxxii. 16).
"Where art thou?" "Where is Abel thy brother" (Gen. iii. 9; iv. 9).
"And God remembered Noah" (Gen. viii. 1).
"I even I, will utterly forget you" (Jer. xxiii. 39).
"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh" (Psa. ii. 4).
"Years" and "days" are attributed to God (Psa. cii. 24; Dan. vii. 9); and weapons of
war, such as bow and arrow, sword, spear, shield and chariot. The Lord is spoken of as a
lamb, as a lion, and as a vine. God is spoken of as a light and a fire, as a rock, a hiding
place, a "portion" and a shade. In all these and many other ways has the Lord
condescended to our low estate.
The two figures that remain need not occupy much space.
Antimetathesis (or Dialogue).--A good illustration is found in Rom. iii. 1-9, where
the Jew is represented as asking a series of questions, which are answered by the apostle
Paul.
Association (or Inclusion).--This is a figure in which the speaker, after addressing
others, turns and includes himself.
"And you hath He quickened . . . . . among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past" (Eph. ii. 1-3).
This concludes our study of the Figures of Change involving persons. We must next
consider those figures that deal with subject-matter.