We have seen that the letters to the Ephesians
and Colossians have the fulness of Christ and the inheritance of the saints
clearly in view. In both letters a very definite and positive place is given to
the fact that the reaching of the inheritance, and the coming to the fulness, is
only upon the basis of that which corresponds to Jordan having been definitely
recognised and accepted. That is, the Cross of the Lord Jesus on the side of the
bringing to a judicial end of all that is of man himself, in the simple words
that Christ's death was our death. Not only the removal of our sins, but the
removal of ourselves as related to Adam in order that there might be another
relationship brought about to the last Adam.
We have used the word "judicial", and that may
confuse some, but it is very simply explained. There is all the difference
between a judicial death and actual death. We are not, even when we have most
thoroughly and utterly accepted our death union with the Lord Jesus by faith
according to His own word and requirement, in a position to say that we, so far
as the Adam life is concerned, are utterly dead and non-existent because there
is still much of the old Adam associated with us. But that does not alter the
fact that a judicial death has taken place. A judicial death is simply the fact
that a sentence has been passed and in the eyes of the one who has passed the
sentence, the death is taken for granted as though it had already happened. God
has passed the sentence of death upon the whole race in Adam. That sentence was
carried out in a Representative and that One Who represented the race
voluntarily, the Lord Jesus, accepted the sentence voluntarily.
The sentence being carried out in the case of
the Representative, means that all who were represented have died in the eyes of
God. God says: "That is My position with regard to you; My Son voluntarily took
your place as under the sentence of death." It could not be otherwise than
voluntary, because He was not involved in our sin. He was not in any way by
nature linked with our condition. He accepted our place as one who had sinned,
yet in Whom there was no sin. God says: "In the moment in which I turned My face
from Him on that Cross I closed forever the door to the Adam race. I abandoned
the Adam race, so far as it ever had a chance of being accepted by Me or coming
into My purpose." That was an eternal moment. If ever we should know what it is
to have God forsake us for an instant of time, that instant would be like an
eternity if we were fully conscious of it. If we knew that God had utterly and
absolutely abandoned us, with all that it meant, that moment would be the moment
of an eternity; that moment would be capable of changing our hair from the
blackness of the raven to the whiteness of the snow. That is God's attitude to
the Adam race, as far as His purpose is concerned. All that He has to say to the
Adam race is: "You must be born again; there is no hope for you in your
present birth."
That is the judicial death which has been
carried out in relation to every one of us, and the point is that we have to
recognise the fact in the warfare with the flesh as wholly corrupt, even at its
best. We have to accept by faith the fact that the flesh can never come into the
presence of God, and then that God has made a provision for our giving
expression to that position spiritually. Romans and Colossians particularly
speak of that. In Romans 6 it is: "We were buried with Him in baptism."
In Colossians it is said that baptism was appointed by God as a means of openly
declaring the fact that we forever have accepted God's attitude toward our Adam
life. That makes possible everything else. The Jordan was Israel's national
baptism into the death of Christ from the standpoint of the end of the life of
nature. That is an essential and indispensable thing to coming to God's end, the
fulness of Christ. There can be no hope or chance whatever for the fulness of
Christ until there has been an acceptance of that position.
Even when that position has been taken, when we
have made that declaration and been baptized as a testimony to that, the
self-life has not gone; it will crop up, but something else has happened. We
have definitely put that thing, in an act of faith, under the hand of God. We
have said, in effect, "That whole realm and range of the self-life, of the life
of nature, of the flesh, has been put under condemnation and judgment and death;
now I count upon God to look after that." Then what happens? Whenever that thing
comes up, you find it is smitten at once. You know quite well that if you are
walking in the Spirit the uprising of any bit of Self meets with the impact of
the Holy Spirit. And you have a wretched time until you have gone back to the
Lord and said: "Lord, I have been allowing something to come up that You had
judged." That is the way of progress and development. But you see the necessity
for the judicial recognition, as giving God something to work upon.
In the wilderness there is not that work, but
in the promised land there is. Achan was a survival of something and there is an
instant reckoning with that by God. Everything is held up and a terrific crisis
is precipitated by one thing. Before the Jordan the Lord witnessed against it,
but this is a different situation. After Jordan you are in a new position: in
the heavenlies. And here the thing cannot be tolerated for a moment. It is the
position that makes the difference. There must be a judicial end to Self; that
is, an acceptance quite definitely of the end of man's own life by nature, so
that there may be a commencement, growth and continuation of God's life, with
only God's life in the ascendant.
See how clear this is in the historical
illustration. Joshua represents the energies of the Holy Spirit in relation to
God's end; that is, the inheritance, the fulness of Christ. Do you remember
where Joshua first came into view? It was at Rephidim, where the waters gushed
from the rock - the type of the Holy Spirit becoming the basis of the life of
the believer. In the wilderness you are getting patterns; in the land you are
getting realities. The pattern is given in the wilderness. In the land there is
a working out of the pattern. So that in the wilderness there is the type of the
Holy Spirit being the indwelling life of the believer. That is God's thought
made known. You do not get that as the living reality until you get over the
Jordan; that is, in its full expression.
Joshua came in at that point; where the waters
gushed from the rock. Joshua is one with the Holy Spirit, as the inner life and
energy of the Lord's people. The two come together at Rephidim. But immediately
that happens, Amalek comes out. And it is Joshua who is appointed to meet Amalek.
Joshua - the energy of the Spirit - in connection with the water at Rephidim,
called upon to meet the activities of the flesh. And through Joshua, Amalek -
the activities and energies of the flesh - was overcome. It is the Spirit making
war against the flesh and getting the mastery. That can never be, in its abiding
reality and in its full expression, until that judicial thing has been
accepted: that the flesh is under a ban. God's attitude towards Amalek was one
of uncompromising antagonism. "Smite Amalek (that was God's attitude)
and utterly destroy". The attitude of the Spirit towards the flesh is
uncompromising. That has to be made very real when we come into the realm of
spiritual, heavenly life. That is the normal course of experience when you come
to the place where you have accepted the end of the self-life in the death of
the Lord Jesus.
Having recognised the necessity for this
judicial end to Self, the next thing that is essential as a basis upon which God
will work to His end, is a resurrection life with the Lord. "We were
buried... with Him through baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness
of life"; "If you then be risen with Christ..." It is the
completeness in every way of our separation and detachment from the world. You
cannot fail to see that in the case of the Lord Jesus.
Relationships are
entirely changed on resurrection ground. Mary would gladly have touched Him in
the garden, would have embraced Him, but He said: "Touch me not..." In
effect: "Things are changed; the holding of before is no longer. A different
realm has been entered, a different relationship. Yes! still your Lord, still
your Saviour, still your Friend, but a difference. I am not to be held as though
I belonged to this earth; I am not to be taken hold of, as though this were My
place." "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father".
The first thing in resurrection is the recognition of our heavenly relationship,
not our earthly relationship. All that is heavenly now makes first claim and
what is earthly, even in a religious way, has to be put back. (There is a good
deal of earthly religiousness, and religious earthliness. There is a good deal
in religion, that is earthly and of this world: earth bound and of man).
Resurrection union cuts clean and clear of everything that belongs to this
world, even though it may be religious. What is only of God has a testimony in
this world; it has no other relationship. Its business here is merely to testify
in the world, but to have no other kind of tie.
Resurrection represents the completeness of our
separation from the world. "If then you be raised together with Christ, seek
the things that are above..." In other words, to all that is here: "Touch me
not; My Father has first claim." That is a most elementary thing, but it is
true. It means that heaven has first and primary claim upon everything, because
now all relationships are heavenly, all interests are heavenly.
That is a position essential to God's
end. We know quite well, in the practical outworking of this truth, that in the
degree in which any believer has a voluntary relationship to this world, or is
held by anything of this world, that believer is stunted in his spiritual
development. The world is an obstruction to the fulness of Christ. It is
impossible to go on if there is a bit of the world holding. Putting that round
the other way; it is just wonderful, amazing, and blessedly joyous to notice how
those who really do go on with the Lord spontaneously drop the world. That is
the effect of spiritual growth. Habits, in which there seemed to be no harm
whatever at one time, now have an element of controversy about them. Things,
which in earlier stages even of the Christian life, never provoked any
concern, now, because there is growth, raise the question in the heart and the
very going on with the Lord solves all the problems.
You never have to say to one whose heart is
wholly set upon God: "You must give up this and give up that." Leave such a one
with the Lord, and you will find those things go. It is a very blessed thing to
see a heart set upon the Lord. You need have no worries in that direction. All
the anxiety lies in the realm where the heart is not wholly for the Lord. The
apostle's two letters to the Thessalonians are full of joy. He thanked the Lord
on every remembrance of them. He could not speak too highly of them or in terms
too glowing, simply because they turned from the world unto God, "to serve
the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven", and he
had no anxiety about them. When you turn to the Corinthians... there is a good
deal of trouble. It is the wilderness situation again - a divided heart.
A resurrection basis gives God a chance that is
right out to the Lord from the world. All that that means we have to learn. We
shall come to things we never expected if we are going on with the Lord. Things
on which we were so clearly settled as things being of God, and never for one
moment expected to have a question about, become challenged. Not that they were
not of God, but they were only of God up to a point, and now there is something
more beyond them. And unless we go on to the something more, the good becomes
the enemy of the best. And so, because of comparative values, we have to leave
what is good for the better; and then later the better for the best. It can only
come about as we are really going on with the Lord. But that requires, first of
all, that we have made a clean cut and have said: "I am out on resurrection
ground. I am out with the Lord utterly."
Another thing that is basic to the Lord's
purpose is the necessity for an apprehension of the inclusiveness of Christ as
to the church which is His Body. In those parts of the revelation given to us in
the Word of God, such as the letters to the Ephesians and Colossians where the
fulness of Christ is brought into view most definitely, the thing that is right
before us is the church which is His Body. The ultimate thing, the great end, is
the fulness of Christ but, unto that, the church His Body is brought into
view. Does Ephesians bring in the vast dimensions of divine fulness in Christ? "Filled
unto all the fulness of Christ"; "The fulness of Him that fills
all in all". What is connected with that? "The church, which is His Body".
The church is essential for the expression of the ultimate fulness of Christ.
That means that unto the fulness of Christ we must have an apprehension of the
inclusiveness of Christ in His church. That is the collective nature of the
instrument, the vessel, which is to express the fulness of Christ. Over against
that is the impossibility of an individual, or any number of individuals as
such, ever expressing the fulness of Christ. The necessity is for a life
of corporate relationship unto the fulness of Christ.
We must recognise this right at the outset as a
law of the book of Joshua. What is that book working toward? It is the fulness
of Christ; the whole inheritance. Is the inheritance going to be given to one,
two or three? No! Is it going to be given to unrelated, detached fragments? No!
The inheritance is going to come to all in fellowship, in relationship, and it
can only come on that basis. That is laid down as a law, and that is the
explanation of what took place in the case of Achan. When Achan sinned and took
of the devoted thing, the whole nation was brought under arrest, and the Lord's
uncovering of the thing was after this manner: "Israel has sinned". It is
a terrific enforcing of a law. It is not: One man has sinned; let him be judged
and put away! All Israel must come and be exercised about this matter.
All Israel is involved; and therefore all Israel must judge it. All Israel was
involved in the arrest, and all Israel was involved in the necessity for judging
the sin.
This is God's way of illustrating what we have
in the New Testament: "The body is one". There must be an apprehension of
the corporate, the collective life of the church, the Body of Christ, before we
can go on to fulness. We demand this fellowship for fulness; it is
essential. Limitation is always brought about by separation. The defeat of God's
end is always accomplished by breaking up the Lord's people into fragments.
Schism is a real device of the devil to frustrate God's end concerning His Son,
the Lord Jesus. He has pursued that course from the beginning. It is very
impressive and very significant that when the fulness of Christ is brought into
view in these letters, there is such a tremendous emphasis laid upon the
relationships of the members of the Body one to another.
The Lord Jesus stands to suffer loss in the
expression of His fulness when the saints are out of fellowship with one
another; and we can strike the greatest blows at the adversary by a solid,
determined stand, when on no ground save apostasy, will we be divided in spirit
from our brethren. To fight for fellowship, to stand for fellowship, to refuse a
break in fellowship, is the way of defeating some of the forms of Satanic
activity. It is quite easy to take the other line. It is the most difficult
thing to refuse spiritual division, because all the power of hell is out to
bring that about. It is only as we see how much is bound up with fellowship,
with relationship and the fulness of Christ, that we shall be able to move on
toward that fulness, for the Lord counts upon it for His ends.
This is no organised one-ness. This is not the
unity that is outward. This is not anything that can be brought about by
agreements externally. This is not the uniting of the churches. This is not
consenting to a common agreement of credal expression; this is the uniting of
the Spirit. This works two ways. It is necessary for us to go on in the Spirit
in order that we may have the fullest measure of fellowship. We do not mean that
fellowship is impossible between the mature and the less mature. We must be very
careful that we do not allow any larger measure of light (as we may conceive it)
to interfere with our fellowship with those whom we think have not so much
light. There ought to be fellowship between children and adults spiritually, but
any kind of refusal of light, of the revealed will of God, is bound sooner or
later to limit fellowship, so that unto full fellowship there must be a walking
according to the light given. The other way round operates, of course, that as
we walk in the light we have fellowship one with another. Going on in the light
means an increase of fellowship, and that makes the measure of Christ to
increase.
The Necessity for Spiritual
Illumination
This comes up quite clearly both in Joshua and
in Ephesians. "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you a spirit of wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge of Him;
having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know..." and then
there is given a list of things to know. And you find that list moves out into
the dimensions of the knowledge-surpassing love: "...that you may be filled
unto all the fulness of God". Spiritual illumination leads on to being
filled unto all the fulness.
Spiritual illumination, therefore, is a basic
thing to God's end. We can never come to the fulness of Christ by the mere
enquiry and investigation of our own brains into spiritual things. There must of
necessity be the Holy Spirit giving revelation concerning Christ. The Testimony
of Jesus has as its essential law: spiritual illumination and revelation -
through the Word. The Testimony of Jesus can never be something static,
something that you take up and say: "This is the Testimony of Jesus" and then
put it into a formula. The Testimony of Jesus is something that has been
revealed. The Testimony of Jesus is: "I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of man standing on the right hand of God." Stephen died for that Testimony.
"At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the
brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them that journeyed with me.
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice..." The inner
meaning of that is not something apart from the Word, but something that comes
by the Holy Ghost through the Word. That is more than the letter; it is life. It
is something that makes you say: I have read the Scriptures on that for a long
time, but I have really never seen that before.
The Holy Spirit's illumination concerning the
church is a thing so difficult to explain to any who may not have experienced
it. But to those who have seen it, it needs no explanation. It makes such a
difference on all these matters. You will be able to preach Ephesians,
Colossians, Romans; preach all about the church as the Body of Christ; you may
read it all in books, and still there may be no real expression of it. Then one
day it is as though the heavens opened and the thing broke upon your spirit, and
you saw it; and all kinds of adjustments became necessary in life. You
can say, "I saw that the church was no denominational or national thing; I
believed in the oneness of all believers..." yes, you can say all that! And yet
there is something more. That something can only come by revelation. You can
have the other, and it will just take you so far. But get that something more,
and it will take you a long way ahead. It brings you into the realm of the
conflict and cost, but you are out in an altogether new realm. It is necessary
to God's end.
It is one thing to say these things and point
them out and emphasise them; you say: "How do you get it? We see what you mean,
it is all quite clear, but we have not got it!" Well, if you really are of the
undivided heart, if your heart is wholly set upon the Lord and you see as far as
you can see these things, and have very definite dealings with the Lord
about it; it may not be in a day, it may be slowly, steadily, quietly you
begin to move into a new realm of understanding. And you find that your point of
view changes; your standard of values changes; your insight changes. It may take
months, but at the end of the time you say: "I am changed! Something has
happened to me. I can no longer accept what I used to accept!" It may be like
that, or it may come in a flash. How it comes does not matter very much, the
fact is the importance of this thing - spiritual illumination. The apostle
prayed that these to whom he wrote might have it. Let us pray that we might have
it, and that all the Lord's people might come into that.