God's Purpose and Rest

In the revealed purposes and counsels of God we can look into a scene which reminds us of a family at home. We can see the Father's joy in His children, and the children's joy in their Father and in the Son in whom all is made known and bestowed. The Father will have His eternal delight and joy in His children, and in His house. Christ has His own eternal and peculiar delight and joy in the Church. These two truths are brought before us in Eph. 1.
THE FIRST line of blessing brought out is that of the Father and the children, "That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself." God, in His eternal purpose, purposed for Himself and His own delight, a family, and marked us out in Christ for the adoption of sonship.
THE SECOND we find at the end of the same chapter, "And gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all," that is, the Church.
“Christ also loved the church" refers to eternity, when the Church was given to Christ in His own eternal counsels. This was when He loved us. When He gave Himself for it was not in eternity, but was in the past. The loving and the giving are both in the past. What is the present? "That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word" is the present. What is the future? "That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.”
The Father and the Family—
Christ and the Church
What a wonderful thing it is to see these two truths, the Father and the family, and Christ and the Church. We enjoy the Father's love and delight in the children, and Christ's love and delight in the Church. When the Father has His children according to His purpose all will be complete. How long will that last? It will last forever and forever. All had its origin, not in time, but in eternity. All had its origin in the love and wisdom of God.
The Church of God is His dwelling-place. In Ephesians 2:22 it is, "Builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." Then in Rev. 21:3, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them." The Church's relationship to God is the house character and His dwelling-place; with Christ it is His body. These are two distinct lines of truth. One is relationship to God, the other to Christ.