IT is very important for our souls to see where the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ put us, and the result of it as a thing enjoyed at the present time in our souls. Well! if we attend to what scripture says, that is to say, if we listen to the Lord's voice-the voice of God-the thing is simple and plain, but then we must do so with a circumcised ear, so to speak; it is not in any wise within the grasp of the human mind as such, whatever that may be, nor is its greatness diminished because it can be taken in by the soul of the simple. The Lord's things are for His people, each one of them-very blessed and heavenly, and divine things for every soul of His children; therefore it is of all importance that we recognize, that it is not by mastery of mind, but by simplicity of soul in God's presence, that we can make
them ours, and so enter into the enjoyment of these things now, as well as forever!
These blessed things are plain enough to faith, though they are things which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." God can, and does, reveal these things unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God-His own deep things. " Therefore being justified by faith," for our own souls, and in our own souls, " we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
And, then, you see, there is another step, so to speak, " We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." We may ask ourselves what that is? What is this grace in which we stand? Well, if one may so say, that is everything, and includes everything. It is God's divine favor; that is where the soul is introduced, and such being the case, we might say that almost everything else may be forgotten.
What a wonderful thing it is to realize that we are in God's favor, and God's abiding favor, unintermittent favor-there is no break in it; that is the thing that we are introduced into by the death and resurrection, mind together, of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was delivered for our offenses, that is to say, therefore, that everything of that sort and kind and order, is swept away forever; and that being so, besides this, He was raised again for our justification, and so we are brought into that divine favor which abides; we are in it, in it now, and in it forever.
And, then, there is another thing we might acquaint our souls with, and that is, we travel with-the soul travels with-the Lord Jesus Christ in all the journey that He has taken for us. We recognize where He came from -that wondrous history in Phil. 2, and as John tells us, from God to God, from beside the Father into the world, from the world to the Father; and such is the journey,, through God's grace, we travel with Him. We come down from the heights in which He has placed us, and where His death and resurrection have brought us, and we go the same journey, feeble enough as to apprehension we may surely say, down to the depths below, and raise up to the heights above; a continual course like that of electricity if you please, though it is not that thought so much that I have before me, but that which we have here, that is to say, His work-His death and His resurrection-is made ours; we came into all that it has clone and brought about and that is associated with it; but it is not only that, we are associated with Christ Himself all through, and therefore with whatever He has done, and whatever He is, entirely apart of course from His own personal glory and dignity, but in all the rest we are in thorough identification with Himself, and with His wonderful things above.
What power, what wonderful consolation all this is for the soul; wonderful victory, too, taking one out of the region where one can be overcome; therefore we can say, as overcomers, this is the position and portion of the Christian at the present day. This is where the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ have placed us.
We read, " if ye are risen with Christ;"-it is merely a question as to whether we are or whether we are not; if ye are, seek, or set, your mind upon those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
If one may so say, having access into this grace wherein we stand includes all this, not that it puts all this before us here in detail, but we have divine favor, and divine favor is everything for the soul.
Well, then, this carries us on naturally to the hope of glory; nothing satisfies such souls but glory-cannot; that does satisfy. I am not speaking of being there already, though as identified with Him in Spirit, we are. Whatever journey He has taken we have taken, therefore, if He has journeyed by resurrection and is up there that is our journey too.
Have our souls traveled the same journey that the Lord Jesus Christ has traveled or are we behind-hand?
We may ask ourselves, and ask each other, this question; and if we have not, we are not where we ought to be. This is our portion-what belongs to us, and that is what every Christian is in; he may be very ignorant of it, and connected with all sorts of systems, but this is the portion of every Christian, no matter where he is, and his settled portion, and there is no Christianity without it; there is no such thing as Christians being anywhere except in Christ. It is their portion and position. They travel exactly the same journey that He has traveled. Wonderful thing it is!
Does not the grace of God come out here claiming our heart's adoration, and to own that it has cost us nothing! In another sense, however, it has cost us something, and what a great many do not like, and that is, ourselves. Not a particle of ourselves can enter into that. We are slack in letting ourselves go, and the secret of it is that self is not known. If self is not left behind, and willingly, self is not known; because if we knew self in God's presence we should only be too glad to leave it behind. There is an immense lot of self in us, but it is one thing to his it sheaving itself, another thing allowing it; the question is whether it is merely cropping up, or really allowed. It will crop up sometimes when least expected or suspected, but if we know anything in a true way about ourselves we are only too glad to let self go to the winds. We must pray to God, and look to God, that it should not be allowed, for every little bit of self that is allowed is a hindrance to ourselves, and to those we are associated with.
It is, also, of all importance to see how the grace of God keeps us, and never alters, " Being justified by faith we have peace with God," and now we stand in that grace, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We have nothing else to rejoice in. In the meantime here upon earth, being reconciled, we are saved by His life-in the power that is associated with the life that has passed through death-are kept going by His life and not only so, but we joy in God. Of course we do! reconciled.
by the death of His Son, and rejoicing in hope of His glory.
May the Lord, in His infinite grace, keep our eyes open that we may rejoice in the things that belong to us and are freely given to us of God, for His name's sake.
How sweet away from self to flee
And shelter in our Savior;
Oh! precious grace, with Him's our place,
In God's eternal favor.
Jesus the goal, before our soul,
The One we know in glory;
While we're on earth, we'd tell His worth,
A saved one's sweetest story!
w. F. 11.