(Eph. 1:15-23; 3:14-21.)
Having thus briefly glanced at the inheritance of the saints, or the place of the Church as one with Christ in the coming glory, we now turn in our Meditations to dwell for a little on the third part of the apostle’s prayer — the power which puts us in possession of the inheritance.
Verses 19, 20. “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” We speak of the cross of Christ as the strongest expression of love; and of His resurrection as the brightest display of power. Love alone, we may say, is seen in the cross. There He submitted to suffering and death for our sakes and His Father’s glory. It was not the display of wisdom, though doubtless it was the wisdom of God. To the wise of this world the cross is foolishness, and to the self-righteous it is a stumbling block. Neither was it the display of power. “He was crucified through weakness” — but it was the manifestation of love. If to the worldly-wise it is the display of weakness and foolishness, to admiring faith it is the highest expression of the endurance of love. All must own this. If they cannot see wisdom or power in the cross, they can see love enduring, and enduring willingly for its object. When love can do nothing else, it can endure. Such is its nature. It may be called weak and foolish by those who know nothing of its reality or power, but it bears all. It loves on — loves on. Many waters cannot quench it, the floods cannot drown it. It will master every circumstance, and still love on; for such love hopeth all things, as well as endureth all things.
But in the full sense of the word, this could be true only of divine love — of the Savior’s perfect love. And of His love only can we say — it never faileth. The truest and strongest of earthly loves must fail, but He ever lives and changeth not. Now we know, blessed be His name, what His love is. We need no sign, save the sign of the cross. No other sign can ever now be given. All doubting hearts must be referred to the cross. It is the highest and strongest expression of His love. Even from the sunniest heights of heaven our love must ever look back to the cross, and be nourished by His, as seen and known there. The cross will be owned forever as heaven’s moral center, and the foundation of all its glory and blessedness. It was there that the depths and power of His love were revealed, and yet, we may say. unrevealed. It is in the day of adversity that the true character and the full strength of love are known. What a day of adversity was His! All refuge failed Him, comforters there were none. What grief, what sorrow, what forsaking were His! But He resisted not — He endured—“Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb. 12:2.
But, sweet as the love of the cross is, and needful for the heart of both God and man, it is not power; that we have in resurrection — there it is triumphant. Weakness is seen no more forever. Redemption is accomplished; and the might of God’s power is put forth in raising up Christ from the dead, and setting Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. But here, my soul, let me remind thee, that it is faith only that can pass through these wondrous scenes. They embrace the depths of the grave and the heights of the throne. Many stop short at the threshold, because, as they say, “We cannot realize these truths.” But how can the mansion be seen if we stop at the gate? It is not a question of realizing, but of timing. Faith follows the truth. It passes through the portals, and descends to the depths, or, as truth leads, it ascends the highest heights. The empty tomb and the occupied throne are alike easy of access to faith. Realizing has no place here, save as the effect of faith. We must believe the truth before we can feel it: we must walk over our estate before we can know it. If we really want to know the nature of the soil and the capabilities of each field, we must walk over them. So it was of old in type. “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.” (Josh. 1:3.) Art thou prepared, then, to believe the wonderful truth before us, understanding or not understanding it, realizing or not realizing it? This is the question. We pay but a poor compliment to the word of God when we fail to receive it because we do not understand it or realize it.
But, pray, what is the special truth that demands such absolute faith? It is simply this: that the same mighty power of God which wrought in Christ when He raised Him from among the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in heaven, above every name that is named, has already wrought in us, and raised us to have part in the same position and glory. Observe what the word says, “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ.” Personally it has been manifested in Him, but the same power has wrought in us who believe. It is not said that the exceeding greatness of His power was towards Christ only, but “to us-ward who believe.”
But, in what way can this be true, thou mayest inquire, seeing we are so weak, and so easily overcome with difficulties? Did we more firmly believe God’s word, we should make less of difficulties. A great many would be carrying their beds who are clinging to them. We fail to own and honor the power with which we are associated. The Man Christ Jesus is on the throne, and we, being in Christ, are associated with the throne that rules over all.
Many, alas! fail in their testimony for Christ through fear of the way. The heart of the Apostle Paul was not only fixed on Christ Himself in heaven, but it was fixed on His ways on earth. He loved to trace His every footstep, whether in the depths, or on the heights. There is a striking resemblance in this respect between the Eighty-fourth Psalm, and the Third of Philippians. “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them.” The Lord give us to know more of this strength in us, that we may be true witnesses for Him. But now for the answer: —The same power that wrought in Christ and raised Him from the dead, has also wrought in us, and raised us from a state of death in trespasses and sins — it has delivered us clean out of the hands of Satan, and placed us as redeemed ones in the presence of God with every enemy beneath our feet. The second chapter is the explanation and development of this great truth. The very same power has wrought in the Christian, that has been displayed in Christ. We see it accomplished in Him. We know it will be fully accomplished in us in due time. The power abides with us. “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Nothing can be plainer to faith than these words — nothing can be more difficult to reason. Christ is faith’s object. All truth is connected with Him. We can only gain a knowledge of truth by an ever-deepening knowledge of Christ. Blessed Lord, the eye, the heart, the thoughts, must all be fixed on thee, and all our delight must be in thee. Then, learning thy word is easy. We need not that anyone teach us. The light shines — the Holy Ghost is our teacher.
Let thine eye then, Ο my soul, with all the tender sympathies of thy heart, be fixed on Him. Beneath the awful weight of our sins on Calvary, our Jesus died and was laid in the grave. For the moment the enemy prevailed: the Prince of life lay sealed in death. Death reigned over all. The first Adam was dead in sin, the last Adam dead for sin. But the mighty work was done, and the mighty triumph at hand. By the shedding of His precious blood, He had rolled away forever the heavy load of our sins, and glorified God about them. Heaven was satisfied, hell was vanquished, and man, through faith in that blood, eternally saved. “The God of peace” — “the Father of glory” — raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places; and He raised us up in Him to the same place of privilege and blessing. The Head and the members were raised together. Here God began a new thing — a new creation, of which the risen Man, Christ Jesus, is the head and center. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new: and all things are of God.” The world, sin, Satan, death, and the grave, are thus left behind. To faith, they are as far removed from the believer as from Christ Himself. All who love that blessed name are in Him and where He is. God hath exalted Him, “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world [or, age], but in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”
Clearly, then — seeing every believer is in Christ, and every enemy is beneath His feet — every enemy is beneath the believer’s feet. And this is nothing more than faith looks for and reckons upon. One word explains to the heart that loves Jesus tins wondrous mystery — Christ is worthy! He who glorified God on earth is worthy to be glorified by God in heaven. And any poor sinner that glorifies Christ on earth, God will glorify with Him in heaven.
This is the will of God — Honor my Son. Know Himself, esteem Himself, love Himself, trust Himself, think of Himself, commune with Himself, see Himself in the blood which He shed — in His lowly path of rejection and suffering: see Himself in all His invitations and promises. Ever look for Himself; know nothing apart from Him. Love is personal. A little bit, or a great deal of religiousness, is worth nothing. Most people have plenty of religion, but how few are more at home with Christ than with anyone else in the universe. Many are more at home in speaking of a kind Providence than of the heart of Christ, though the one has been fully revealed, and the other is wrapped in mystery. How long, Ο Lord, shall it thus be? Would that the Holy Spirit were less grieved by our worldliness, that He might be free to reveal to our souls more of thy glory, that our hearts might be ravished with thy beauty!
Know then, in conclusion, Ο my soul, and bear this in mind, that it is as man that Christ is exalted and glorified. As God, we know, He could be neither — the glory of God changes not. But being God He could descend. He became a man and died; and as man He is exalted to all honor at God’s right hand in heaven. The Church is united with Him there. He is the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. It is not said, observe, that He is Head over the Church; but, “Head over all things to the Church.” She is one with Him who is supreme over all. His members. His fullness, His completeness, His glory as the Man Christ Jesus. As it was with the first man, Adam, and his beloved Eve; so shall it be with the Second Man, the last Adam, and the Church, His beloved Eve. Though the dominion was given directly to Adam, Eve shared it with him, according to the good pleasure of God. Christ alone is personally worthy; and God has set Him as Head over all things, and united the Church with Him as His body and His bride.
Wondrous, marvelous, blessed place and portion for the Church! But God will have it so. It has been in His mind from all eternity. He pictured it to Himself in the first pair before sin entered. It is no afterthought. Christ speaks to His Father in John 17 about the long looked for day, when He would share all His glory as the risen Man with those He had given Him. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.”
Before closing this paper, and our Meditations on the apostle’s first prayer, may I ask my dear reader, if he is one of this happy company? Art thou a believer in Christ Jesus? Is He precious to thy heart? Couldst thou not live without Him even in tins world? Is He necessary to thy daily peace and happiness? Is everything worthless to thee that has not His stamp upon it? And is everything empty to thee which He does not fill? A Christian is united to Christ now, and one with Him. His sins are all forgiven, he has eternal life, and is accepted in the beloved. The Holy Spirit dwells within him as the spirit of adoption, and communicates to his soul a fuller knowledge of Christ and His finished work. Thus he is enabled to live above the world, though diligently attending to his duties in it. The Lord looks for separation from the world in all who are associated by faith with Him in heaven. This is true Christianity and fills the soul with heavenly peace and joy. Is it thine, Ο my dear reader? Think not that the picture is drawn too high; it is within the plain statements of scripture; and we have no other standard. Nothing less will suit God, and nothing less will serve thy soul. True, Christ may be possessed and not enjoyed; pardon may be possessed and not enjoyed; and so may other blessings of Christianity; but the heart of a true believer, even amidst ad its darkness and unbelief, will turn instinctively to Christ Himself, under a sense of need, and cleave to Him alone. This is the surest evidence of the work of God’s Spirit in the soul.
Doubts and fears are lamentable, and dishonoring to Christ; but the grace of God will outlive them all. Is this then, my friend, more like the picture of thy state? Or!—What?—no Christ at all? God forbid! This would be awful indeed! It is bad enough to see Christ only through the errors and darkness of man’s theology, but to have no interest in Christ at all, is to be forlorn and desolate beyond all conception. No language could picture this state — no figures could sum up its misery. It is to be Christless and Godless; a hopeless wreck on the shores of the lake of fire.
Dost thou own to this state? Is it really thine? Be honest about it — if so, confess it. And think not that a little human religion can meet thy need. The work of Christ alone can meet it. He died on Calvary for sinners the chief. Blessed be His name. All praise be to Him. But, oh! do thou believe it; and be thankful for it. Love the Lord that died for thee on Calvary. Surely He deserves thy love, and the deepest devotion of thy heart. A seat, a throne, beside Himself, is ready for thee, if thou but truly turn to Him. What grace — what love! To die for us on the cross; and share His throne and glory with us forever! But, oh! what must hell be to those who reject such love and glory? The very remembrance of a Christ rejected, and a salvation despised, in that place of hopeless woe, must be the worm that never dies and the fire that shall never be quenched.
“The tick of the clock of hell,” as one has said, “sounds, ever — never — ever — never — everlasting woe — never-ending misery.” How awful — how overwhelming the thought! Imagine its dreary, monotonous sound falling on the wearied ear of lost souls. As they he in dark despair, its pendulum swinging from side to side and muttering unceasingly the doleful, heart-sinking sound, “ ever — never — ever — never.” It would be like a mockery of their agonies, which is too dreadful to think of.
Once more, my friend, look at the bright side. Jesus died for lost sinners. God gave His Son for lost sinners. The Holy Ghost pleads with lost sinners. Resist not His pleadings, I pray thee; despise not the grace of God, I pray thee; despise not the blood of Jesus, I pray thee; there is pardon for thy sins nowhere else. But hear, Ο hear, the blessed truth, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Have faith in that precious blood, and thy sins, however many, shall, the same moment, be forgiven. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Bow at His blessed feet — confess thy sins, and receive from His own lips of grace, a plenary pardon, salvation, and peace. Read carefully Luke 7:36-50.
“ETERNITY. — Count the gold and silver blossoms
Spring has scattered o’er the lea;
Count the softly-sounding ripples
Sparkling on the summer sea;
Count the lightly flickering shadows
In the autumn forest glade;
Count pale nature’s scattered tear-drops
Icy gems by winter made;
Count the tiny blades that glisten
Early in the morning dew;
Count the desert sand that stretches
Under noon-tide’s dome of blue;
Count the notes that wood-birds warble
In the evening’s fading light;
Count the stars that gleam and twinkle
O’er the firmament by night —
————
When thy counting all is done —
Scarce ETERNITY’S begun;
Reader! pause! where wilt thou be —
During thine ETERNITY?”