03.03. Part 3

Part 3 The distinctive place of the Church is set before us in the writings of Paul, and it may help considerably if we point out certain lines of truth which, though not arbitrary, may be of use to make clear the view. First, the place of our Lord in connection with Israel, but refused by them and the blessing made good in a remnant which forms, so to speak, the link between the present position of that nation and the full blessing of a coming day. Matthew, Hebrews, and 1 Peter give these things with the book of the Acts in between as showing the transition of the Israel of God from the place of the guilty nation to a new heavenly calling by companionship with Christ where all the spiritual fulness which was hidden in the types is known and enjoyed. Second, the more general place of the Lord where He is seen in relation to the whole earth. This the Gospels of Luke and John clearly bring out and go on with Paul to His rightful place in the creation. The close connection between Paul and Luke is beautifully seen in the way the latter introduces the new heavenly company in his Gospel and the former the extent of the heavenly calling. John connects with both the above, but is more occupied with the circle of love proper to the Father and the Son and the range of family relationships which are ours in that connection, things which scarcely come within the scope of our present meditation.

Apart, then, from the third line of things which is given chiefly in John, we have the circle of divine interests in regard to the Davidic kingdom which began properly with Abraham, then Christ the Centre of the ways of God in regard to all things. All that is seen in the first is the promise of the second, for just as each of the colours of the rainbow may be seen in one drop of rain so all the variety of glory seen in Israel in the past will ultimately expand and fill the whole creation. Not only does the kingdom and temple with their gorgeous array of grandeur and beauty furnish typical proof of the magnificence of the larger system, but what is seen in the divine ways with men like Abraham, Moses, David, and Solomon speaks of the system dimly foreshadowed in the head of gold and reaches out to the holy universal order as described in Psalms 8:1-9, 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, Ephesians 1:1-23, and Hebrews 2:1-18.

Having glanced in "Scarlet" at the Church as the vessel of God’s ways, in time, we may now look at that same vessel in relation to the counsels of eternity. Here let it be said that one’s feeble apprehension of this great theme is most humbling; it must be confessed with shame the want of ability to value and dwell upon that which is the richest and innermost part of divine counsel and the very masterpiece of God. Not to make much of the assembly (viewed in its proper place in Christ) is to slight that which is nearest His heart and for which He not only parted with all that He had but freely gave Himself. We are creatures of extremes, and constantly need to be balanced; may we suggest, that if a little of the time given to dispensational and prophetic truth was devoted to the grand solution of moral questions and the revelation of heavenly and eternal verities which are now brought out in connection with the assembly, in this the Spirit’s day, it would be most wholesome both for saints and servants. The ways of God in relation to the dispensations are most blessed to know; the truth, indeed, so hangs together that one cannot be known without the other, and in this way many Bible students are able to correctly place the dispensations and give the assembly her true place in relation to all the rest; but surely there is much more to be gained than this. If we could see that the assembly as united to Christ gathers up in herself all the deep moral principles of the past, combining with it what will be seen in the future, besides her own unique place in relation to Christ as the vessel of counsel, surely we would give ourselves more to the contemplation of such things. Does anyone ask proof of what is here advanced? Nothing is more simple since all that is in the head is for the body and all that the bridegroom takes up is shared by the bride. Israel will know Him as the glorious Messiah and the nations of the world rejoice before Him as the Son of Man; but, as being His royal consort, the assembly is to know Him in every way in which He is to be known. All, therefore, that the gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine-twined linen adumbrate, speaks of that which those who form the bride of Christ are being educated in today. It will not be doubted by anyone taught of God that heavenly as well as earthly things are laid out before us in the present economy of grace in a way they never were before. Let us therefore take courage and seek through grace to apprehend the favour of the moment. Though surrounded with all the evil of apostate Christendom, it is a time when the secrets of eternity are out, the motives of the Godhead are laid bare, and not only are the counsels of God disclosed, but all that He is in nature, character, and being is brought within the reach of faith with the express purpose of forming a company to be heavenly in character and conduct, though still in a bodily condition which cannot go beyond the earth. Surely there is a moral fitness in all this and a moral necessity for it which lies deeply in the nature of things, and which stamps itself upon the heart as of God, and which is right because He it is that does it.

Here, beloved reader, there is a point that must not be passed over. How often when servants of the Lord have been endeavouring to open out these things have we heard the complaint: "It is far too deep"; or, "It is beyond us; it is over our heads." Surely if such things are given to us of God it is meet that we should seek through grace to understand and appreciate them. But apart altogether from the danger of slighting such things, or they who seek to speak of them, is there not a mistake in the reasoning? We believe there is, and that it lies in the failure to distinguish between the intelligence and the moral consciousness in man. In acquiring knowledge we have to labour and go step by step from that which is elementary to what is advanced, but this is merely a means to an end, for to be effectual that which is taken in by the mind must reach the heart by the conscience (we speak of the children of faith) setting God before the soul in the fulness of revelation and glory. It becomes us, then, to encourage each other; God is training His people for a great and glorious position, and what He has put before us in His Word He can teach us by His Spirit so that even now we may climb the delectable mountains and behold the celestial expanse which lies spread out before the soul’s gaze, producing praise and worship to such a great and wonderful God. From this digression we turn to speak of the assembly, and would remark that there are three expressions in the writings of Paul which serve to bring out the calling and relationship of those who form that company in a very blessed way. There is first "The mystery" from which comes the place of the Church as the body of Christ, and following upon that the truth of the bride wherein she is fitted in nature and affection for Himself. All three thoughts hang together, each in turn serving to bring the other into view. The Mystery. — "The truth of the mystery," it has been said, "includes four things: 1st, the revelation of God’s counsels concerning Christ as the second Prayer of Manasseh 2 nd, the relation of the Church to Him as His body and bride; 3rd, the nature of this union; 4th, what the Head is to the body and to each individual member. In other words, it is the unfolding of the glory of the Head, the grace which has set the Church in relation to Him in that glory, and what the Head is to the body for its present maintenance while on earth" (Christian Friend, 1892, p. 68). The mystery, then, is not the person of Christ — there we have a mystery which can never be known — nor is it the Church however richly blest in the sovereignty of God. No; it is the grand secret of eternity in which the Church is seen in Christ and Christ in the Church. It is the outcome of divine counsels that the Son should become Man, taking up the whole creation as his inheritance in virtue of the Cross and form through redemption a company which should stand in relationship with Himself as helpmeet and be associated with Him in his royal sway.

We are told that this mystery was kept secret since the world began, and that it was not made known to the sons of men; it was hid in God, and before time began it was nearest His heart, for it was according to His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord. Between Christ Himself and those who form it there is complete identity of life and nature, and it is that which gives perfect finish to all the dealings of God with mankind. To the Apostle was given the revelation of it with a view to complete the Word of God. All this is seen to fit in with the protracted dealings of God with the world, and shows how that judgment could not immediately follow the crime which put the Son of God on the cross: time must be given for the call of the bride, for the MAN is not to be alone.

Having stepped into the creation by becoming Man, the Son accomplishes redemption and takes up a company which is spoken of as His fulness — the complement of the Man Christ Jesus. No words could duly emphasise this, for indeed it is spoken of as the impelling motive that governed the Creator in bringing the creation into being (Ephesians 3:9-10). "The mystery was the secret of the Creator, hence the whole creation had some reference to it, when the assembly has its place in glory it will be a blessing to the whole creation." Those brought into it had partaken of sinful human nature by virtue of their relation to Adam; that that condition might be put away Christ went to the Cross and in resurrection the Holy Ghost came to form them after Himself, whereby there might be evolved from Him that which should in this special way be eternally suitable to His own heart. The relative importance of this may be seen in Ephesians, where the saints are viewed as the House of God; there, the variety of divine blessing is marked out but the mystery is singled out for special treatment and enlarged upon by the Spirit in the parenthesis of Ephesians 3:1-21. In the latter half of Ephesians 2:1-22 we get the new man, Reconciliation, the Kingdom, the City and Temple, all the necessity of the House in Ephesians 2:22; but the mystery is taken up alone and developed by the Spirit in the following chapter. The Body of Christ. — This is part of "the mystery," and indicates the Church here in the life of Christ her Head. In 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 the body is seen as the Vessel of the Holy Ghost, in Colossians it is seen as the medium through which Christ is set forth, and in Ephesians it is the display of the all-various wisdom of God. In the first of these the saints at Corinth are viewed as a microcosm of the whole, so that what came out in Christ is continued by the Holy Ghost, that through them God might be known in the blessing of men. A sphere of life is opened up which is properly the domain of the Spirit in which the whole Trinity is seen at work; the diversity of gifts are from the same Spirit, the diversity of administrations are from the same Lord, and the diversity of operations from the same God. The chapter goes on to show the working of these things in the assembly, and all in view of the district in which the saints are located in the providence of God. There was, it is well known, the manifestation of other spirits at Corinth, but in Christ’s assembly there was the manifestation of God’s presence by the Holy Spirit. At Colosse the view is further enlarged. The greatness of Christ is shown in a full and blessed way, and then carried over into the redemption sphere to show that He, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead, is the Head of the Body. If at Corinth the saints are seen as the vehicle of the Spirit, here it is all the saints on earth for the expression of the sensibilities that are in the head. Like the colours of the sun reflected in the myriads of water drops which compose the rainbow, the moral features of Christ are to be seen in His members, which has in view the triumph of God in the continuation of His Son here, in spite of His refusal by the world.

Coming to Ephesians there are certain peculiarities which call for careful consideration. Here the ground is enlarged so as to take in all creation. It is the prerogative of the Book of God to speak as no other book could, and in this Epistle what is not yet accomplished is spoken of as having come to pass. This is not uncommon in Scripture, as every student of the Word knows (see Romans 8:30 and many other passages). Here the assembly is seen as complete, taking in all the saints between Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47) and the coming of the Lord for His own (1 Thessalonians 4:1-18). This should be noted, for it leaves room for a freedom of language about the assembly both regarding time and space which otherwise we could not understand. Mark well, then, that in this Epistle the assembly is seen in her own place all through the present age, then in her place of glory in millennial scenes, and lastly as the vessel of God’s glory in God’s eternal day. In the combined view we recall that in Corinthians the Body is seen locally as the vessel of the Spirit, in Colossians it is the whole company in relation to the greatness of Christ; but in Ephesians it is even now the expression to heavenly intelligences of the all-various wisdom of God. In the first we see the supernatural, in the second what is cosmopolitan, and in the third the supramundane. At Corinth it is supernatural because of the manifestations of the Holy Ghost to be seen in them in relation to their life here; at Colosse it is cosmopolitan because the whole Church on earth is in view looked at as risen together with Christ but still on earth; at Ephesus it is supramundane because it is not only risen together with Christ but seated in the heavenlies in Him. Out of this latter, which refers to space, arises the threefold view in regard to time and eternity, viz., the place of the Church to-day, then the position in the age to come, and lastly, the dwelling-place of God in eternity. In Ephesians 3:9, the celestial intelligences read in her now the all-various wisdom of God; in Ephesians 2:7, the exceeding riches of His grace will be seen there in coming ages; but, in Ephesians 3:20-21, she will be the resting-place of the divine glory by Christ Jesus for evermore. The Bride of Christ. — If the truth of the mystery has shown us the Head and the Body, we now come to the Bridegroom and the Bride. The first thing we ask the reader to note is that in the truth of the body it is the singular but here it is the plural. In the former it is ONE; a whole Christ, the body seen in its completeness in the head, but in this we have two, the man and the woman. But if on different ground with the ascended man and His bride before us the truth of the bride depends upon that of the body, and we would make clear the connection. It was said the other day that "possibly the Holy Ghost had waited for these last days before the Lord returns to give greater prominence to this the bride-aspect of the Church." We heartily endorse this, believing that at this moment the Holy Spirit is producing in many bridal affections that nothing can satisfy but the Bridegroom Himself.

We have, it is well known, a number of women in the Old Testament which foreshadow the assembly as the bride of Christ. If we turn to these a moment we shall see that none completes the picture like her who was taken out of Adam to be presented to him. Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, and Zipporah the daughter of Jethro, the wives of Joseph and Moses, were lifted by their marriage to the rank of their husbands, a thing which could not be possible in the case of Eve. With her there was equality before the presentation simply because she was part of himself. These other women supply an important part in the type as showing how sinful creatures have been lifted from the dunghill and exalted to such a wonderful position; but with Eve it is the type of the assembly as in the purpose of God taken out of Christ to be presented to Him. Rebekah would not even fit here, for though she was kindred with Isaac and supplies a most important point as to our being one with Christ (Hebrews 2:11), she could not supply that part which the first woman does. As Eve came from Adam when he was in a deep sleep, the assembly is taken from Christ in death to be made a suitable companion for Him. Our Lord stood alone in the Gospels, but by going into death it became possible for the assembly to be taken from Him, so that she owes her existence to Him, but by way of death, and having gone on high He is made "Head over all things to the assembly which is His body" (Ephesians 1:22). The transition is made from the thought of the body to that of the bride in the verse just cited (Ephesians 1:22), and we can clearly see that the figure used goes back to the divine operation upon the man in the garden. We pass in thought from the body to the bride in the verse in Ephesians in much the same order as we reach the man and his wife by the operations of the Lord God in Genesis 2:21-23. The explanatory clause, "The fulness of Him who filleth all in all," transfers us in thought from the assembly as His body to the assembly as His bride. This should be attended to, for it is impossible to connect the idea of union with a single personality. All our members are part of our bodies as one whole, and cannot be rightly spoken of as united to our bodies, but when we come to the assembly as the bride, we are immediately prepared for the truth of Ephesians 5, where the institution of marriage is shown to have had from the beginning Christ and the assembly in view. Such thoughts would not fit in with what we have seen in Corinthians or Colossians, simply because there is no bride equal in rank with the bridegroom, but grasping the thought of the duality of persons in Ephesians 1:22, in relation to Genesis 2:21-22, we immediately see the suitability of Ephesians 5:32 with Genesis 2:24. It is in the latter that union can be rightly spoken of, and we are led with deep delight to see in the light of a glorified Christ that God had before Him from the beginning the procuring of a bride for His Son.

All this is connected with the before-time purposes of God, and is undoubtedly before the mind of the Lord in the parable of the goodly pearl, which we may further connect with His words to the Father in John 17:1-26 : "Thine they were and Thou gavest them Me." In the great parable chapter (Matthew 13:1-58), the Lord sets before us the beauty of the assembly in His eyes — the one pearl of "real price. For this He would part with all that He possessed. In doing so He obtained the whole world (a point which bears on His place as Son of Man), but it was that He might have the pearl for Himself. She is here viewed in the purpose of God in her inherent beauty as fitted for Himself and in the incorruptible blessedness of His life and nature before God.

Both the passage in Matthew 13:1-58 and Ephesians 5:1-33 take account of the state which called for the Cross and the work of His grace in us by the Spirit forming each individual in a new order, so that in the aggregate He might have an helpmeet suited for Himself. During the time He is on high there is the calling out, the sanctifying and cleansing by the washing of water by the word, and the nourishing and cherishing, which produces that unfading youth and beauty in His sight where there is neither spot nor wrinkle. We have the Cross and the motive for it in regard to that company which is taken out of the "all things" to be the consort of Him into whose hands all things are put.

What a marvellous unfolding of heavenly light and blessing is brought to us in these last days, and to know too that the issue of it all will be the marriage of the Lamb when the glorious nuptials shall be celebrated in a scene of heavenly festivity which passes beyond all words to describe. Here again let us note another threefold description, recalling what we have said about the body; she stands today in the scene of the bridegroom’s rejection, espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ; tomorrow she shall be seen in the plenitude of glory identified as the city of gold, the vessel of divine administration, in the sunny days of creation’s glory, when all shall adore the King her glorious bridegroom; and, beyond all that, she is seen at the entrance to eternity as a bride adorned for her husband, going on into the calm of an unruffled eternity of bliss, "Where God shall shine in light divine and glory never fading." Shall we ask again the question, Is it possible to make too much of this wonderful masterpiece of God? One said in our hearing lately, "This picture of the Church as the bride of Christ comes into view before the fall brought sin and death into the world. That is to say, the instant creation was completed. God says, as it were, I will tell you the great secret of my heart, I will tell you why I have brought this creation into being. I am going to secure out of it an object to satisfy the heart of Christ."

Thus we can trace her portion in relation to God — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; in regard to time, the present age and the age to come; then pass on to God’s eternal day, and placing ourselves there, in thought, look back over the bridge of time in all its wonders and see her place in the heart of the Deity in the eternal past; all now perfectly effectuated to God’s eternal delight. Being the bride of the Lamb she takes her place at the centre of the creation with her glorious bridegroom; today, the display of God’s grace and wisdom; tomorrow, of His grace and glory; but in eternity the vessel of His glory alone. "Unto Him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all the generations of the age of the ages. Amen."