Reading: Rom. 3:31-26.
At the outset we will try to summarise in a simple,
comprehensive, and yet brief form. On this matter Paul, of course,
is the chief teacher, and while he does not stand alone, he is far
more comprehensive and perhaps more definite in his teaching on
the matter of cosmic redemption than any other teacher in the Word
of God.
We can summarise the teaching of Paul in this connection in the
following way:
1. Two Opposing Forces in Relation to the
Government of the Cosmos
Firstly, Paul teaches that there are, back of everything else,
two opposing forces - God and Satan - arrayed against each other
in relation to the government of the universe, especially of this
cosmos. That is a simple statement. It includes a very great deal,
but that is the first step.
2. Man Involved in the Conflict
Secondly, Paul teaches that man is involved in this conflict, and
man is involved in at least three ways:
(a) As a Creature
The universe and this cosmos in it, as a created thing (that is,
all that is meant by creation - the first chapter of the letter to
the Colossians speaks of all things which have been created), was
destined to be the inheritance of God's Son. By Him, unto Him, and
for Him were all things created: "whom He appointed heir of all
things": "through whom He created the ages".
(b) Intended to Share the Government with and Display the
Glory of God
Man was intended to be in fellowship with God concerning that
intention, and by sonship through adoption (remember Christ was
never adopted Son; there is a difference in the sonship of the
believer even in its fulness, and the Sonship of the Lord Jesus)
to share the government of the cosmos, and to display the glory of
God's Son. Man was, by fellowship with God, coming to sonship by
adoption, intended to share the government with God's Son and
display the glory of God's Son; being conformed to His image.
(c) Through Disobedience Passed under the Reign of Sin and
Death
Through man's progenitor, Adam, this dual purpose was assailed;
that is, the inheritance of God's Son and man's place in it. That
dual purpose was assailed in Adam. Through disobedience, he, with
all his progeny, passed under the reign of sin and death.
In this way a new aspect of the cosmic conflict arose. From that
point God is not only found against Satan, but man is under wrath,
man is alienated from God, man in his nature is at enmity with
God. Man is found in alliance with Satan (as we pointed out in our
last meditation) through his fallen soul; and man is in bondage to
sin, to death, and to Satan. Therefore, man needs redeeming, and
with the redemption of man there must be the redemption of the
cosmos, because it is one thing. The assault upon man (Adam)
included the assault upon the Son of God and His destiny and
heritage of the dominion of this universe, and also man's place
with Him as a fellow-heir.
So you see the far range of the fall, the far range of the need
of redemption. And when you have seen that, you are near to the
point where you can begin to see the meaning of Christ and His
cross.
3. God in Grace has Provided a Way of
Deliverance
The third thing which Paul brings before us is that God in grace
has provided for man a way of deliverance from that hopeless
condition.
That way is two-fold, it has two sides; one is the Person of the
Lord Jesus, and the other is the Cross of the Lord Jesus.
They are two sides to God's provision for man's deliverance;
delivered by and in a Person; delivered by that Person through the
Cross.
The Cosmic Significance of Christ in His Person
and in His cross
We come to consider for a little while the cosmic significance of
Christ in Person, and the Cross of the Lord Jesus. We are
emphasising the cosmic nature of these things; that is, the range,
the inclusiveness, the all-embracing-ness of the Person of the
Lord Jesus and of the work of His Cross.
(a) In Creative Activity
When we consider the Person we have to go right back to the
beginning of things as the Word of God shows them to us, and see
the Person acting in a creative way, but not only creating, but
creating all things in Himself. He is not (so to speak) just
bringing things into being and starting them off on their course
as an order, a system, a universe, to go its way, just to be
watched as a matter of interest, but the created universe is bound
up with His own Person and by His Person; that is,
His Person gives the meaning and the significance, to the
universe. The universe takes its very existence, its very purpose,
from Him, and if we did but know it fully (we know very, very
minutely), we should be able to read the marks of the Son of God
through this universe when it was created.
That is how it will be in the end. All the marks of the Divine
Sonship will be clearly discernible throughout this universe. It
has its very reason by Him. Paul teaches us (and we are keeping
closely to Paul in this matter) that in Him all things hold
together, have their being as a cohesive whole, and you see how
cosmic the Person of the Lord Jesus is by those illuminating
flashes which have been given to us in His death. In His death the
sun was veiled, and darkness was over the face of the earth unto
the ninth hour; in His death the earth quaked. In His death the
very graves were opened. There is a convulsion in nature, and a
great silence in heaven. It is as though heaven itself and the
whole of the universe were struck dumb. The very creation felt this
thing going through it. It was as though there had been a blow
struck at the very meaning of everything.
We sometimes know in these little lives of ours how a blow struck
at some thing in our lives involves our whole life. We speak of
somebody's whole life being wrapped up in something or someone,
and when that something or that someone is smitten, the meaning
and value of life has gone with that; there is nothing more to
live for, that was inclusive of everything. That is how it is with
this universe. Strike the Son of God and you have struck the very
meaning of the universe, the very purpose of the universe, the
very life of the universe, and it is as though the universe says,
"I have nothing more to live for!" That is how it was in the
moment of His death. It is only a flash, it does not impress the
world as it ought to impress the world, but God has allowed it to
be on record, and it means a great deal.
That is why it was not possible for Him to be holden of death. If
He had been swallowed up of death, the universe could not have
gone on. It would have missed its purpose, its meaning. It would
have crashed.
It may be that is what will happen when the Lord draws His church
out of this world, and there comes a space between what is of
Christ and what is of this fallen, God-rejecting cosmos. Just at
that time it will lose its Divine meaning and will go through an
awful convulsion, and need to be recovered in a new heaven and a
new earth, the meaning of which will be Christ. We go back there,
and see that all things are included in Him in creation. He is
cosmic in His purpose in creation.
(b) In Incarnation
We pass from creation to incarnation, and in incarnation He
brings with Him that same range of Personal significance. From
birth to death cosmic forces are operative; not just human
elements at work, but cosmic forces. No sooner is He born than
hell rises up, showing that which we were seeing in our last
meditation to be very true, that the devil governs this world
towards his satanic ends, to rob the Lord Jesus of His inheritance
by reason of that complicity and alliance between the soul of
fallen man and himself.
Herod is a clear example of a man who in his soul has an alliance
with the devil. Study the psychology of Herod, and see if the
devil has not got that man in his grip through the soul,
working to defeat the purpose of God concerning His Son, and, if
it could be, at His very birth that He should be slain. The devil
will stand at nothing to manifest his utter diabolical cruelty.
Not only do we recognise the cosmic evil elements as bound up
with the incarnation, as affected by the incarnation, as
interested in it, but the incarnation carries its own
significance. Here is Man, God manifest in the flesh, God taking
the form of man; and we know it was not to redeem Israel alone,
but to redeem man; the whole race of humanity.
(c) In Baptism
We have to pass hurriedly from point to point. From the birth we
leap to the baptism, over years, and recognise that His
baptism was something very far-reaching. It was not just
conformity to some religious ordinance. We have either to dismiss
Paul and the others (particularly Paul, but the others with him)
and simply blot out a great deal of the New Testament as being
without meaning and value and necessity, or else we have to come
to recognise that baptism in the New Testament is beyond mere
ordinance, and is a thing of tremendous significance. It is not
just a rite, part of a creed; it is not just a fragment of
organised religion's programme, it reaches to a vast extent. The
Lord Jesus in His baptism uses one phrase Himself which is a very
far-reaching phrase; "thus it becomes us to fulfil all
righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). No one could possibly interpret
that as meaning that the Lord Jesus, going down into the waters of
Jordan (or any other river, or any other water) fulfilled all
righteousness by just doing that; He is setting forth something
else.
Paul gives the full explanation of baptism in relation to the
question of all righteousness. What is it? The cosmos has fallen
under wrath - sin, death, judgment. God demands righteousness, and
God will never depart from His position of absolute righteousness
and universal righteousness. He will cede nothing to
unrighteousness, to sin. He stands for complete righteousness. Can
man provide God with what He needs? No! What is the significance?
What then will happen? If God will not move, and unrighteousness
must receive a just recompense of reward (which from God's
standpoint is death) then man and the cosmos must die in its
inability to satisfy God's requirement of righteousness. A
righteous creation, a righteous man, a righteous cosmos must be
produced to fulfil all righteousness.
The Lord Jesus, as He comes to Jordan to be baptised, enters into
that realm, and in a typical act, foreshadowing His Cross (which
He placed at the very threshold and as the very foundation of all
that He was going to say and do). Every word that He utters from
this time onward will be based upon the Cross. That is the folly
of unregenerated man taking up the New Testament and thinking that
he can constitute society upon the teaching of Jesus. Placing in
type His cross at the beginning of His public life, He said in
effect: "All My teaching will be upon the ground that the sin
question, the righteousness question, the judgment question has
been settled! In these waters I recognise the state of man and the
cosmos, and, although for Myself I have no need to go into death,
into judgment, because I have come in incarnation to associate
Myself with man's renewed state, to redeem him, I stand into the
consequences of his sin, I stand representatively into the
position that man occupies as under sin, condemnation and
judgment!" The waters of Jordan were a type of that death and
burial necessary to clear the way for something better; getting
rid of the old that is in the way of what God requires. How shall
all righteousness be fulfilled? By getting rid of the
unrighteousness and then providing the righteousness. How
far-reaching is the whole question of sin.
This universe is shot through and through with iniquity and sin
and evil. The whole three-fold question of sin, righteousness and
judgment was gathered up in His baptism in a representative way.
Oh, how far-reaching those things are! For God's satisfaction
righteousness has to garnish the very heavens, to cover the earth
as the waters cover the sea. There must be a new heaven, and a new
earth, wherein dwells righteousness. That is to be the state which
satisfies God. How can that be? By the passing through death and
judgment of the unrighteous thing. His was a cosmic baptism, a
racial baptism, an inclusive baptism, dealing with the great
questions of sin, righteousness and judgment.
Coming up out of the water the heavens opened, and a voice said:
"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." That is the
Divine attestation. The Spirit was sent, descending and lighting
upon Him in dove form. Here is the new creation representatively,
with which God is well pleased, with which God allies Himself. The
Holy Spirit is God committing Himself. When we receive the Holy
Spirit we come into nothing less than God committing Himself. That
is why it is such a terrible thing to sin against the Holy Spirit.
The heavens opened when the Lord Jesus came up out of Jordan. The
heavens had never been opened from the fall of Adam to any fallen
man in this way. Never in the same full sense could God say of any
son of Adam: "I am well pleased!" This is the new creation, and it
is a new creation in Christ Jesus. It is all included in Him, and
from the time that men began to believe into the Lord Jesus, these
things became true of believers; they come under the pleasure of
God, accepted in the Beloved One, and beloved for Christ's sake.
It is not personal, individual, local; it is cosmic, it
foreshadows what the creation will be. See the Lord Jesus at any
point, and you see the creation. You see the universe wherever you
see Him. Then, standing on the bank of Jordan, you see the
foreshadowing of the new creation, God's heaven opened, God's good
pleasure declared, and God Himself committed to it, bound up with
it. That is the whole creation in Christ representatively.
(d) In Temptation
We are already committed to a further meditation upon this if the
Lord wills, but simply to indicate as it arises in the course of
things here, we see the significance of this temptation. What is
the issue bound up with the temptation of the Lord Jesus? It can
be put into three words:
Sonship (there is no question about that: "If thou be the
Son! If thou be the Son!");
Inheritance, which goes with sonship;
Dominion, universal dominion, as showing the position as
Heir of all things.
Those are the three words which govern this temptation of the
Lord Jesus. That is no local matter: it is cosmic. There is a
tremendous range of things that the enemy was assailing when he
assailed the Lord Jesus in the wilderness. It was the old thing of
the first Adam again, with the same issues; in this One it was
sonship possessed, in Adam a sonship potential; but still it was
the question of sonship. It was a question of inheritance, it was
a question of dominion.
Those are three things which are tremendous because, as Paul
points out to us in Romans 8, the creation itself is in
bondage, groaning, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of
God. And with the manifestation of the sons of God the creation
shall be delivered. Here is sonship, and the whole creation bound
up with it. The devil said: "All this will I give thee, if you
will forsake the position that you have, and come down!" That is
not how the devil put it, but that is what it meant. Imagine the
Son of God worshipping the devil; God incarnate acknowledging the
dominion of Satan! How far he will go! To speak of it like that
makes us see how mad the devil must be, how ridiculous. That only
says to me how real this temptation must have been, for quite
clearly it would have been preposterous and foolish for Satan to
make an assault upon Almighty God, but here is God in Man-form. It
is the Man-form that is being assailed. To say that Christ never
really did suffer from temptation is to miss the point altogether.
I know the old difficulties and questions as to whether a Perfect
Being can be tempted. Leave your intellectual problems and come
down to the fact that Christ was not just acting a part, making
believe. All this about being tempted is not mere words; there is
something desperately real about this.
Let us take this one thing as we go on, and let us recognise it.
If you and I have, by faith, with any spiritual discernment,
perception, apprehension, come to take our place in Christ, buried
with Christ, crucified with Christ with very great cosmic
consequences; and if through that position we have come into the
anointing with Christ, let us remember that by that very position
we have become doubly involved in the conflict of the universe.
The more you stand into the meaning of union with Christ in His
death, and burial, and resurrection, the more you stand in the
meaning and value of the anointing, and the more terrible will be
the assault of the enemy. If we want any proof that Christ's
temptation was a real temptation, and that He suffered
being tempted, our own experience is a proof that never has a
child of God yet, with real spiritual understanding, come into
this position of union with Christ in death, burial and
resurrection, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit really and
truly, without experiencing very soon that the devil was more
against them than for them. As we go on he never relinquishes his
attempts for our overthrow. This is because of this relatedness of
which we spoke at the beginning, that man is to be in fellowship
with the Son of God in the inheritance, in the dominion, in the
glory. We need no other proof that Christ's Person is cosmic.
Whenever we come into a spiritual position that He took up, we
come into exactly the same experience as He did from the enemy.
(e) In Transfiguration
We pass finally to the transfiguration, and, so far as He in
Himself in a representative way is concerned, the course is
finished. The incarnation, because it was cosmic, was assailed at
its very beginning; His baptism, when He took up His public,
official work in relation to the race, saw the cosmic forces at
work: heaven, and earth, and hell. His anointing, His temptation,
His life and teaching, all reached out beyond mere earth, beyond
flesh and blood to the ultimate ranges of the cosmos. Then such a
course can be consummated, and the Mount of Transfiguration is the
completion of that which has been victorious to that point. Here
is humanity glorified, that is, for Himself. If He comes down from
the Mount of Transfiguration it is not for Himself, it is to
actually do what He has been typically doing; and in His Cross He
gathers up everything that has preceded. He gathers up His
baptism; it was a foreshadowing, now it becomes a reality. We
shall see that after His Cross, as He rises through an opened
heaven and receives of the Father the promise for the church as in
a new way God becomes allied with Him in glory, His members will
become the object of the hatred and antagonism of the enemy, and
He is suffering with them. "We have not a high priest that
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities". He
is suffering with us in our temptation. He cannot Himself in the
same way be tempted again, but He is suffering with us in our
temptation. So that in His Cross, His coming down from the Mount
of Transfiguration, He gathers up everything that has preceded.
While, on the one side, it was a sin offering, on the other side
it was a meal offering; that is, He offered a perfect humanity to
God as well as brought sinful humanity under judgment in a
representative way. Everything is gathered up in His Cross. He in
resurrection is in possession of the consummation of the curse, a
resurrection Body; "Like unto His glorious body" Paul says.
We are going the way the Master went. The consummation of all is
secured in Him. As He is, so are we to be, because He is a cosmic
Person, He is an inclusive Person in redemption.
May the Lord make redemption to us a far more glorious thing than
it has been, and show us something more of the fulness of that
word of the apostle: "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus".