November 27th: Friday, 10:30 A. M.
Hymn 93, L. F. Prayer
EPHESIANS 4:1-161I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:1‑16).
I would like to call attention again, that it may be definitely before us, as to what our vocation is. I believe we get it in its entirety in Ephesians, chapters 1 and 2. What I mean by its entirety is, in our individual and in our collective relationship to God as His children; to God as His household and family, and to Christ as the Head of His Church, His body. To walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, we must know what that vocation is. A brother who has long been with the Lord, used to say he thought the saints had neglected too much of what he called the "tail end" of the Epistles. Some of those tails are quite long, and that is especially so in the Epistle to the Ephesians. The doctrine of the Epistle is in the 1st and 2nd chapters: the calling, and in what follows we have what he called the "tail-end" of the Epistles, is e., the practical application of the truth of the doctrine.
The hope of our calling is what the calling points forward to; of which we are not yet in possession, but what we look forward to. The glory of Christ, and sharing the kingdom comes in the beginning of the 1st chapter.
It might be well to read the hope of our calling as it is brought before us in Eph. 1:15-2315Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:15‑23). (The portion was read). The calling covers a very, very wide range of things.
Q. I call our attention to where it says "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." How would you define that?
A. He was the source of it all; it is all given from Him in connection with His Son.
There are three points:
1st. The hope of His calling;
2nd. The riches of His Glory and His inheritance in His saints; and,
3rd. The heavenly glory in heavenly places.
In that way it all comes from God. God and the saints in that one association, where they become the complement of Him who filleth all in all.
What we have in "God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory" is God in Himself, in His own purposes, for His own glory, and the glory of His Son. He as the Father of glory, has purposed and set up in Christ a system of glory, of which He Himself is the author and source. That system of glory will never be complete until the new creation is all brought into existence; not simply the Church gathered home, but when all that God has purposed for His own glory-and the glory of Christ is brought about; when we have a new heaven and a new earth; a new Adam and a new Eve—new creation,—this is the hope of His calling. The fulfillment of all this is another thing. It is the glory of His inheritance in the saints. That is what I take to be the meaning of God as "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." He has given us that system in chapter 1:10, and in the next verse He gives us His companion in that glory,—the sharer with Him in that headship, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance; and so there is one hope of our calling, but it does not stop short of all that God has purposed in Christ—in Christ as man, of course,—the head of a new creation. That is what I take to be the hope of His calling.
Q. "That we should be to the praise of His glory" is a great contrast with what Israel will have on earth?
A. Before Israel as a nation is saved, we, believers, have a heavenly position where we are to the praise of His glory in. Christ, so the hope of His calling in the 4th chapter points forward to the glory which we shall have with Christ above.
Q. Will you explain "His inheritance in the saints"?
A. The glory of God, and He Himself inherits it in His saints. The glory is His, but the saints are the administrators of it. Consider the new creation. Whose glory is it? Who is the source and author of it all? God. In whom does God possess it? In His people.
Eph. 4:8-118Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (Ephesians 4:8‑11). Verses 9, 10 are a parenthesis. How low did He descend? Into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same also that ascended up—how far? To the third heaven? No, above all heavens. Now, the simple point is,—the height from which He came; the depths to which He went—the lower parts of the earth, and perhaps we can't locate that, but He went as low as He could go. Where is He now? High above all heavens. He is gone above them all. Range is the thought. It does not say that He ascended first, but that He descended first. That is very precious—the Spirit of God guarding the glory of Christ.
Q. The thought, then, is to show who it is that has given these gifts?
In Hebrews we are told that He passed through the heavens; the tabernacle is a beautiful picture of this. We have a picture of the universe in the tabernacle also. Christ has gone through the heavens. His blood has been carried right through, and He has gone in; not resting at all in any created place. He, as a man goes right up into the presence of God, and when He took that place at the Father's right hand, He could say, "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me... with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." What is new about His position now is, that He ascended there as a man; took a place as conqueror, and, conquering everything, has taken His place at God's right hand as a man. That could not be until once He had descended, and then ascended. And now there is a real man in the glory of God, who has won that place not only for Himself, but for us.
Q. Would you say a word with reference to Eph. 4:88Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Ephesians 4:8), in regard to the idea one finds coming up again and again, of the Lord going down somewhere, and unlocking a prison, and taking a lot of prisoners with Him?
A. There is no idea of the Lord Jesus going to any prison, or preaching the gospel in any prison. He went into the grave purposely, and before He went there, He prayed to the Father with strong crying and tears unto Him Who was able to save Him out of death; and then He broke the chains of death, and rose triumphant from it. He Himself quickened that body again. As He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three day I will raise it up."
You have God glorifying His name (John 12:2828Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. (John 12:28)): "I have both glorified it"—that was with Lazarus, "and will glorify it again" that is in Christ's resurrection. Referring to John 13, if God glorified Him in what He did on the cross, God shall also glorify Him in Himself. There He goes the whole distance from the depths He had gone (down to the lower parts), until you find Him above all heavens.
When the Lord Jesus died, He said, " Father into Thy hands I commend My spirit". He said to the dying thief, "Verily,... To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise", and there His spirit was till the moment came. That same body—spirit, soul and body—a perfect man, is glorified at God's right hand. But to no other place did His spirit go, but to be with God the Father.
In 1 Peter 3 we have the Spirit of God preaching through Noah to the ante-diluvians who were drowned. It is Christ, by the Spirit, i. e., the Spirit of Christ in Noah. It is not the Spirit of God spoken of as such but it is the Spirit of Christ that tells, them the good news' that there is an ark prepared for them. "Therefore the gospel was preached to them that are dead", but it was preached to them while they were living (1 Peter 4:66For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (1 Peter 4:6)).
Q. What do you understand by this captivity that Christ led captive; is it persons that have been redeemed in this dispensation?
A. Well, I love to think that I am one of them.
Q. I didn't know that persons were in it at all.
A. All who are brought into judgment, the judgment of God, the judgment of the dead, will have heard and rejected some gospel. The passage just referred to (1 Peter 4:66For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (1 Peter 4:6)), tells us that. The object was that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit. What that gospel in the providence of God, and the dealings of God may have been in this dispensation or that, is not the question. I think 1 Peter 4:66For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. (1 Peter 4:6) is a very important scripture in connection with the judgment of the dead. All have had some kind of gospel, and are judged because they did not receive it. Christ preached a gospel in the days of Noah by the Spirit. It is remarkable that the first mention of the person of the Holy Spirit is in Gen. 1, where He brooded over the face of the deep. The second mention is, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man."
It is assumed that there is a captivity; and what was it that brought us into captivity? Sin; man's will. Satan led man to assume a will apart from the will of his Creator. If I own a will apart from my Creator, that is sin; and it began in the Garden of Eden. The Lord Jesus died to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The Lord burst the bands of death, and came out victorious over everything that held Him; He went down there under the power of death, and sin, and Satan, and apparently, He was absolutely defeated; and then He comes out victorious over it all. It is the victory of Christ over every enemy that held man captive.
Col. 2:13, 1413And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; (Colossians 2:13‑14) is in our own sphere, our own realm, here on earth; verse 15 goes out of our realm. It takes in the whole glory of God in connection with sin. Sin came in, and sin has been met in the person of Christ. As a man Her did it; an angel could not do it. So it is quite true it is a multitude of captives, and that He led captivity captive. Everything is subject to Christ, and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly. We are already delivered, though; we are already set free; we are already associated with Christ in glory —faith claims it, faith own it.
Satan has no rights over us.
"Led captivity captive." Satan that held man captive, is now a captive himself, and is only let loose for a little while, finally to be cast into the lake of fire. Satan is not chained down yet; but God purposes to use, him in the future to display His glory.
It is important to us—we perhaps overlook it—what a marked place, an essential place, the resurrection of Christ has in the purposes of God. They an center in Him, not in incarnation, not in death; they center in Him in resurrection, and it is only in resurrection that He takes His place and becomes the head of a new creation. Don't overlook the place that the resurrection of Christ has in the ways of God,—in the purposes of God. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"," I will do it", "I lay it down", " I take it again." It depends on what line of truth is before the Spirit of God when He speaks of the resurrection of Christ in different connections.
Christ in death—death had no claim upon Him. How came He, then, to be in death? He had gone there in obedience and love to God His Father. Well, how could God be true to His own character, and leave Him under the power of death? His glory was in question.
A. Part of these glories are what we call moral. The moral glory of Christ as Son of Man, and the moral glory of God, we see in the death of Christ. There we see the personal glory of Christ, that He should glorify God in death. What I mean by moral glory is the righteousness, holiness, truth, and the love of God. We find it in all its fullness, in the death of Christ. We want to know what we call the moral glory of Christ. The Son of Man maintained and vindicated God's glory; where? In death, and only in death. God has glorified Him; but how? He raised Him out of death. Now there is a man in resurrection, never to die again.
Q. While you are talking about glory, will you say a word on John 17.24 "that they maybehold My glory which Thou hast given Me, for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world"? What glory does He mean, "My glory"?
A. He means that glory that He has as the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. This is His personal glory; and we shall forever, at it were, be hearing God tell us of His delight in Christ. But then, go a little further John 17:2626And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26)),
"And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
In eternity the Father will declare His delight in His Son, and will be doing it to our delight, too; and there the Son will declare His delight in the Father—the One declaring the Father, and the other declaring the Son.
Q. What was the glory the Father gave Him?
A. Everything He received. In John everything is given to Him by the Father. "Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world"—Christ as the object of God's love. It is personal, not acquired, though He says, "given Me". That is characteristic of John—everything is looked at as given; God has given Him the place of being His beloved Son. The voice came out of the excellent glory, and said, "This is My beloved Son." We shall hear, as it were, of the excellent glory forever and forever, God telling us what Christ has done. Christ is an inexhaustible subject with God.
Q. Returning to Eph. 4, how many ones are there in the first part of the chapter?
A. Seven.
Q. What is seven in Scripture, as a typical number?
A. Completeness, or perfection, in things spiritual; good or bad. Take, for instance, "seven spirits"; and "seven devils". Whether good or bad, in spiritual things seven is the number of fullness; so it is not merely divine completeness. What is the thought of one? The first thought is of unity, "one body", "one Spirit", "one hope of your calling". The portion of the Church is a common portion to all who compose the Church.
Eph. 4:44There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (Ephesians 4:4) takes in all who are believers—sealed by the Spirit; the 5th verse takes in all professors, all who were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; the 6th verse includes all the world, with God as the supreme Creator of all. So when we came into this world, we were born, into the 6th verse; baptism put us into the 5th verse: salvation put us into the 4th verse.
Q. Could we say that the 6th verse includes the universal kingdom of God; the 5th, the kingdom of the Son of Man-of heaven; and the 4th verse, the Church?
A. I wouldn't define it that way. We need to be careful in defining the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of the Son of Man. The kingdom of God is spoken of from different viewpoints, i. e., "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"; "The kingdom of God is like to a grain of mustard seed", etc.
We should refer to the particular passage when we speak of the kingdom. Never say, the kingdom of heaven means this, or the kingdom of God means that, because it is spoken of in several, to say the least, different viewpoints; it means in one place, what it does not mean in the other at all.
Q. Would you say, in some instances the kingdom of God, and of heaven, are interchangeable?
A. Well, not exactly. "The kingdom of God is like to a grain of mustard seed", and "the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking" are two aspects, each quite different. The kingdom of heaven is dispensational, and the kingdom of God is not, but the same parable is used for both sometimes, i. e., the parable of the sower, and of the mustard seed.
What was called attention to was, "one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all." That is the Creator God, and all are in Him as His creation. When we come to "one Lord, one faith, one baptism", we come to a circle of worship within that kingdom of God; and what brings us into it? A certain profession made; a certain ordinance brings us into it, and that ordinance is Christian baptism. Then we come into another sphere where all is blessedly vital, "one body, one Spirit,.... one hope of your calling." These circles are inside of each other. "The kingdom of heaven" is one; and when seen from that same viewpoint, "the kingdom of God" is one; but there are two parts to it; the upper part of that kingdom of heaven is called the kingdom of the Father; the lower part is called the kingdom of the Son. "I drink it,.... with you in my Father's kingdom"-the upper part. There is a heavenly part and an earthly part.
Hymn 99, L. F. Prayer.