The Church, in Relation to Christ.

Genesis 2:18,21‑24
 
WE have been meditating a good deal on the Gospel and kindred subjects, truths which affect us in our individual Christian life. Now I should like to say a little on the other side; not what the Lord is to us, but what we are to the Lord.
The first things that generally engross Christians, are the blessings they get from Christ, but there is another side, full of blessing for us too, and that is, what Christ will get from us. In our early career as Christians we are very much like babies. When a baby gets hold of anything, it always goes to its mouth, and so the, first thing we do when we get hold of the Word of God is to seize everything for ourselves.
We consider how it fits us, or how it suits our case. But there is another side. There is an objective before God, and that is that we should be brought into association with Christ, not only that we should be saved from hell, which is the initial step.
When Joseph made himself known to his brethren, he began to unfold again to them the wonderful scheme that God had in His mind with regard to them and him. He had indicated it before to them, as God had indicated it to him by dreams, and they scoffed at the whole thing and laughed him to scorn; and worse than that, their hearts were filled with hatred and envy against him. But when we find these men suppliants in the presence of Joseph, with what different ears they listened to the same story that Joseph first indicated when he told them his dreams. Having made himself known to them and set their hearts at rest, they and he were at leisure to open, we may say, the book of God’s purpose with regard to him and them.
The very first thing God does with us is to bring us to Himself. The first operation of the Spirit of God is to awaken needs within us in order to make us appreciate Christ. It is when the Lord Jesus Christ is known as the One that has met our desperate need, when all the needs of the conscience are met, when the soul is saved; when the kiss of reconciliation has been put upon our cheeks, when we find ourselves at home and at rest and at peace with God, then we are at leisure, and He is free to unfold this wonderful scheme that is in His mind with regard to us and our association with Christ. It is a wonderful thing that we should be able to say,
“That Thou should’st be so much to me,
And be the God Thou art;
Is darkness to my intellect
But sunshine to my heart.”
Yet it is more wonderful if we turn it round (with all apologies to the author) and put it in this way,
“That I should be so much to Thee
And Thou the God Thou art,
Is darkness to my intellect
But sunshine to my heart.”
That Christ in all His greatness and glory should be so much to me, is not nearly so surprising as that I, in spite of all my weakness, defilement and sinfulness, should be so much to Him.
You will have observed no doubt in reading the Song of Solomon, the advance that the bride makes. She first says, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” Then she goes on to say, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” The first thing she appreciates is the thought of what He is to her; the second stage in the growth of her soul is what she is to Him, and then she winds up with the third expression, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is towards me.” She finds out this fact, that she has become necessary to his joy. Don’t let it take your breath away, my dear fellow believer; it is enough to do it; but you and I are positively necessary to the joy and glory of Christ.
Nothing could exceed the importance of seeing the unique place that the Church occupies in the thoughts of God in relation to Christ. Angels never stood in that relationship, and never will. It is the peculiar position into which the Church is called., and let me say in passing what I mean by the Church. It is that which is called in the end of Ephesians 1, “the Church which is His body,” and it embraces in its scope every blood-washed and Spirit-sealed believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever you find a Spirit-begotten, Spirit-sealed believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will find one that forms part of the Church of God. It is the fact of his being born again, of his having trusted in Christ, the fact that he has been indwelt and sealed by the Spirit, that brings him to form part of the Church of God. That is the Church, no matter what the color of your skin, no matter what name you may have labelled yourself, or allowed yourself to be labelled; no matter what your profession, if you are a bona-fide, genuine Christian according to Scripture, you form part of that which is called in Scripture the Church of God, the body of Christ.
I am not talking about your being saved from hell and going to heaven when you die, but I am talking about what has taken place by the Spirit’s work since you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. By the fact of the Holy Spirit sealing you as His, you have not joined the. Church, but the Spirit of God has joined you to the Church, and since you form part of the Church, you could not leave it. That is the only Church that Scripture recognizes, or that I want to know anything about. Any other “church” that you may join is an organization that has no support from The Book. The Church to which the Spirit of God joins you, is the only Church that God recognizes.
That Church is destined to a very wonderful future. It is destined to be the associate of Christ, the companion of Christ throughout the ages of eternity, and as I look into your faces, though you may belong to every denomination in the town, that makes no difference to me, I think of you only as related to Christ in this way. May I say this, that in the Scriptures, the Church comes before us under various names, each name having its own significance. Sometimes it is called the Body of Christ, in ration to Himself as the Head of that Body, which brings before us the thought of unity, the unity of all the members together, and all being governed by one Head. That is the thought of the body of Christ. It is that in which Christ expresses Himself, that in which Christ’s character is to be seen. Sometimes it is called the House of God, sometimes it is called the Temple. All these terms have their own significance.
But there is another title which the Church bears, she is the “bride” of Christ. The Church as the Body of Christ is spoken of as the great mystery, that which was never revealed before. That which was hid from all ages and generations, says the Apostle Paul in the closing verses of Romans, is now made manifest. It does not say it was hidden in the Scriptures. No, it was “hid in God,” and this mystery, which was not made known since the world began, is now made manifest. The first time the Apostle Paul speaks of the Church is in the Epistle to the Romans. Romans is the Gospel epistle, where we have the great foundation truths of the Gospel. The result of the Gospel is that we are brought to partake in that wonderful structure on earth which is known as the Church, and which bears also the character of the Bride.
In point of fact, the Church did not exist until Pentecost. When the Lord Jesus Christ was here, He said, “I will build My Church” (Matt. 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)), and He began to announce that fact when John the Baptist had been murdered. If His harbinger met such a cruel death, what could He expect? Hence He began to intimate to His disciples that they should no longer speak about Him publicly as the Christ. Why? As Christ, He had the title to the Kingdom; but what was now before Him was the Church. There was another title He was going to be known by— “The Son of the living God.” That is the rock upon which He was going to build His Church. It was not Peter. Peter was not the one upon whom Christ was going to build His Church. No, He was going to build the Church upon that solid, impregnable, invulnerable rock—Himself, as the Son of the living God. He was the living Stone. He was going to be taken by. God out of the ground into which man threw Him, and to be raised up again, the living Stone, and on that, foundation He was going to build His Church, which is His Body. That building began at Pentecost.
In the Old Testament are found wonderful analogies, illustrations and figures of the Church. Genesis, which has been described as the seed plot of the Bible, in its second chapter, gives us an indication of this very truth. It is not a little remarkable that in Genesis where the Spirit of God is using types or figures of the Church, He nearly always uses the figure of the bride. Not the body, not the house, not the temple, but the bride.
In Genesis 2 we have God taking the initiative, in bringing Eve to Adam. It says, “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him,” that is, a counterpart. There is God taking the initiative.
I need not tell you that Adam the first, was only a figure of Him that was to come—Adam the last, who was alone. There was a time when the One we know and love as Saviour and Lord, was alone. He was alone in the glory He had with the Father before the world was. Then there came a time when He stepped from the glory throne to the earth, and He was yet alone. There was never a man on the face of the earth like Him. He was alone, when every other man was built differently. Every other man was bent on doing his own will, going his own way, doing his own pleasure and gratifying his own wishes. Here was a Man that was bent upon going God’s way and doing God’s will and gratifying God’s wishes and accomplishing God’s pleasure. This Man was the Lord out of heaven; the other was of the earth, earthy. We, as the children of Adam’s race had come one way; He had come another way. He was a Man of an entirely different order, and you find Him here on earth alone.
You remember the Mount of Transfiguration, when it always seems to me that the very glory of God stooped to imprint upon His brow the kiss of Divine satisfaction; there, at the close of His earthly career, the glory came down and He was glorified. Peter, who was with Him, ignorant of what He was saying, said, “Let us make three tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses and one for Elias,” that is, let us put them all on a dead level. What happened? A cloud came and Moses and Elias disappeared. And then there came a voice from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, hear Him.” What was that? God the Father, protecting the distinctive glory of God the Son. Peter, in his ignorance, would fain have put him on a level with those two wonderful, servants of God. But God would not have it so. When the cloud was gone and Moses and Elias had gone too, it says, “Jesus was left alone.” If He had gone from that mountain top to heaven’s glory, He would have gone alone.
The Lord Himself said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.” Had He not died, He would have been alone forever. But He would not be alone. In order that He might have His companion He left the glory Mount for the Mount of suffering. He wended His way straight up to Jerusalem, in order that He might have companions through the ages of a coming Eternity. He did not seek for them in the serried ranks of angels. No. He sought for them amongst the simple of Adam’s fallen race.
I want you to notice that Eve was taken out of Adam. She was not a separate creation. God did not create something new. He did not create a fresh being. No. She formed part of Adam himself. It was out of his rib that God formed the woman. She derived her origin from him. Don’t overlook that fact. She had his life and nature, you may say, for she was derived from him. God’s purpose with regard to Adam having this bride was one thing, but how this purpose was to be realized was another thing. When we come to the realization of that purpose, we find Adam has to fall into a deep sleep, and out of the side of Adam when he was fallen into this deep sleep, God built this woman, and when he awoke out of his sleep, she was presented to him.
There could not have been any Church of God on earth united to Him had there not been that deep sleep into which He fell—the sleep of death. But He went down into death and the result is, that God is now able to present to Him one, who is destined to be His bride and to share with Him the Father’s love, to share with Him His throne, and to share with Him His glory. She is of Him as to origin. She is in Him as having the same life and the same nature. She is united to Him, bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, part of Himself.
Hebrews 2 puts it in this way, “Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one.” John 12 puts it in this way, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit” — many grains, but of the same order and character as that which falls into the ground. If you sow wheat, you will not get oats. If you sow wheat, you will get a crop of wheat. We are told in the Epistle to the Ephesians, which speaks of this, “Husbands, love your wives; even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Churchapter” That is the mystery, he says. He was not speaking about man and wife, but of Christ and the Churchapter The close union of the bride and bridegroom is that which God by His Spirit has used to show the union that exists between the Church and Christ.
This is something more than being saved from hell, something more than going to heaven when we die. The full display rains for the future but there is a Bride on earth today and she is in the company of the Holy Ghost for the moment. Christ presents Himself as the Bright and Morning Star. There is a response in the heart of the bride to the Lord Jesus Christ as He is presented to her as the coming Bridegroom, the Bright and Morning Star. “The Spirit and the Bride say, come.”
Art. Cutting.