The apostle addresses his brethren in Christ as “partakers of the heavenly calling.” (Heb. 3:11Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; (Hebrews 3:1).) This calling, in another scripture, is styled “the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:1414I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14).) And again, it is spoken of as the calling of the Father of glory. (Eph. 1:17, 1817That 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, (Ephesians 1:17‑18).) In those who are the subjects of it God is to show in the ages to come the exceeding riches of His grace (Eph. 2:77That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7)); and in them also the Lord is to be chiefly admired in the day of the presence of His power, though that is to be a day in which all His works shall praise Him, a day of clouds of witnesses to His glory both in heaven and earth. (2 Thess. 1:10, 1110When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 11Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: (2 Thessalonians 1:10‑11).)
This participation of the heavenly calling, thus bestowed on the saints, was not made known in other ages as it is now revealed. For it is only to the church that God has abounded in “all wisdom and prudence;” unto the saints only it is that “he hath made known the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself.” (Eph. 1:8, 98Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:8‑9).) In a wondrous manner it is for them to testify, “We have the mind of Christ.” His deep things God has revealed to them by His Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:1010But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10).) The mystery of God [and of the Father, and of Christ], it is for them, with full assurance of understanding, to acknowledge. (Col. 2:22That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; (Colossians 2:2).) And their title to all this high endowment stands in this-the Son is their Prophet. They have been spoken to by the Son, who is “the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of his person;” and “All things,” says the Son, “that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” (John 15:1515Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:15).) Israel never stood in such privilege as this. God, in sundry measures and in divers manners, spake to them by His prophets; but their prophets were not the Son, they came not from the bosom of the Father. They were of the earth, and spake of the earth (John 3:3131He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. (John 3:31)); for Israel were God's earthly people, having their citizenship and their place here. But the saints, or the church, are the heavenly family, and their Prophet is therefore He who has come from heaven, and testified what He has seen and heard there. He who was “full of truth” dwelt among us—the Son from the bosom declared the Father, and gave us an understanding to know Him. (1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20).) In Him and by Him the blessed God is revealed, for we get “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6).)
The prophets, who spoke of the earth, have given us many a notice of the earthly glory of the Lord, and sweet and gracious and wondrous is the intelligence. Isaiah speaks of Jehovah's reign in Mount Zion, and before His ancients gloriously. (Isa. 24:2323Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. (Isaiah 24:23).) Ezekiel, who first saw the Son of man in the glory above the firmament, afterward saw the same glory returned to the earthly city of the great King. (Ezek. 43:1, 21Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: 2And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. (Ezekiel 43:1‑2).) And Daniel is very specially the witness of the glory of Christ in the earth, taking a kingdom and dominion here. Indeed the prophets generally could speak of Christ as the King of Israel, and as such the God of the whole earth also, the heathen being given to Him for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. But all this, though to the glory of the Son, was of the earth still. The circumstances in which all this glory is to be revealed must be earthly. But the Gentiles, being “fellow-heirs, and of the same body,” was a mystery of which it was not given to the prophets to speak particularly. Co-heirship of God with Jesus the Lord-spiritual blessings in the heavenlies—the sanctified and Sanctifier being all of one-the church as the body of Christ and the fullness of Him that filleth all in all-these are “the heavenly things” which the Son of man alone has revealed, for He alone came down from heaven, and alone has thus ascended into heaven. (John 3:1818He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18).)
It is not that there is any new purpose with God; no; but there are due seasons and appointed ministries for the manifestation of His purposes. The church is nothing new as to purpose, but new as to manifestation. Jesus, the Messiah on the earth, was the proper expectation of Israel; and therefore the songs which either ushered in, or accompanied the birth of the Lord, welcoming Him to the earth, were all in celebration of good things to Israel, and announced nothing heavenly. Neither indeed did the resurrection of the Lord, any more than His birth, necessarily take Him beyond earthly glory and Jewish hopes. For the earthly people have their interest in Messiah's resurrection as well as the church. Their prophets foretold it, and the promise, grounded on resurrection was that to which the twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hoped to come. (Acts 26:6-96And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: 7Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. 8Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? 9I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. (Acts 26:6‑9).) The hopes of David's throne are identified with the resurrection. (Acts 2:3030Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; (Acts 2:30).) It is the resurrection that makes David's mercies sure mercies. (Acts 13:3434And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. (Acts 13:34).) And therefore, when the death and resurrection of the Lord were accomplished at Jerusalem, it was to Israel that the testimony was first sent. And even more than this: the ascension did not at once take the Lord Out of Jewish connection, for it put Him into possession of the gifts which He was to receive for the rebellious, that is, Israel, and which under the new covenant He is to give to Israel. And we are taught that it is from His ascension-place that He is to give repentance to Israel and remission of sing. (Acts 5:3131Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:31)) But the ascending into heaven after Him, and not waiting here on earth for His return, is beyond all Jewish hopes—that is, the new, or the heavenly, calling. Mansions in the Father's house, and the special joys and honors of the saints, as the brethren of the Son of God were before left in a mystery. But such is the high railing to which the church is called and it is made known to the saints by the Spirit sent down from the Son, thus ascended into heavenly glory and when He had be n rejected in His resurrection by His earthly people Israel. Till then the time had not come, the ministry had not been prepared, for the revelation of this calling.
But though it were thus, as to express revelation, kept secret, yet from the beginning God had been pleased to signify and shadow it, and the saints are now able, in the light of the full revelation of it, to trace out and read such signs and shadows. They see themselves thus as the heavenly family kept in remembrance, even in the midst of the Lord's dealings with the earth and the earthly people.
And I will not refrain from stating here what has lately impressed my own soul with some fresh comfort—that, amid the increasing anxiety of these times, and the deepening of the world's darkness around us, the light of our God shines pure and steady as ever. This is comfort. The pillar was the same to Israel through whatever part of the desert they passed: that land of the shadow of death might have been gloomier to them in some stages of their wondrous march than in others; but the pillar of God was the same. On it went, the same steady, sure, unvarying guide. It gathered none of the gloom of the desert around it; and I can believe that the more lonely the wilderness became to them, the more steadily did Israel eye it as their abiding companion and friend. And so now with us, beloved. The way to the saint may become lonely, very lonely, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. There is no darkness there, no uncertainty there. This would he our sorrow indeed, if any of the present darkness of which we complain were in Jesus; but it cannot be there. The candle shines on the candlestick; God has not put it under a bushel; it gives light, as ever, to all that come in. The darkness is only in the world that surrounds us, and in the evil eye of our own body. (Luke 11:33-3633No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. (Luke 11:33‑36)) And therefore, though the night be dark and lonely. there is light to guide us and to cheer us, and the simple obedient saint finds it so. (2 Peter 1:1919We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (2 Peter 1:19).) The foundations may be destroyed, but the righteous still know what to do, for the light of God remains undimmed. (Luke 11:3636If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. (Luke 11:36)) This, brethren, is our comfort-the word of our God endureth forever; and may the gracious hand that gave it to us ever control and guide us in using it!
It needs not to be observed, that the different typical persons in scripture set forth the Lord only in certain features of His glory. No one stands out as a full exhibition of Him. Indeed the limited sphere in which they severally moved, under the hand of God, would allow of nothing more than this. In each of them we may get traces of Jesus, but that is all; one after another takes up the wondrous tale, but the half is not told us. (1 Kings 10:77Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. (1 Kings 10:7)) But still we learn, and learn much from them; and something, as I would now show, of the deep things of God, which the Spirit alone searches out, and which God has revealed to us by the Spirit, are made known, as in figure, by them.
In the union of Adam and Eve, and in the law of marriage, in Eden, the oneness of Christ and the church was from the beginning declared. In the dominion of all things there, Eve being the associate of Adam in his lordship, the joint inheritance of all things on earth by the Lord and His saints was set forth. In the structure and combination of the parts of the tabernacle, much of the same purpose of God was exhibited. The holy places, with the outer courts, were all according to heavenly patterns, presenting the union, and yet distinctness, of the heavens and the earth; as that same union and distinctness had been previously revealed in the vision-of the exiled patriarch of the ladder set up on the earth, but whose top reached to heaven? And much like this will be seen in the structure and combination of certain typical persons: for in the laying of them together, the one after the other, as the parts of the tabernacle, it will be found that that order of heavenly and earthly things, which in the end is to he displayed, has from the beginning been foreshewn. Of this I have lately been strongly assured. And indeed it is the duty of the saints, as it should be their delight (ever looking to God for wisdom) to discern the ways of God under His works-to see His mind and purpose under the moldings and fashionings of His hand-to speak of “the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world.” (1 Cor. 2:77But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: (1 Corinthians 2:7).)
I would notice this combination of typical persons first in Enoch and Noah.
The earth at the first was given to Adam; “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth.” (Gen. 1:2828And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28).) But in, his hand the earth became corrupt, and thus corrupted it passed into the possession of Cain and his family, as will be seen in Gen. 4. They buy, they sell, they plant, they build, they marry and are given in marriage. They stamp their own name upon the earth, and furnish it with all that was good and pleasant in the judgment of the flesh. They were “the world” of that day, and “the things that are in the world” they loved and cultivated. But in the midst of this Cain-earth there was gathered from Seth (appointed to Eve instead of Abel, whom Cain slew) a household of faith, who “call upon the name of the Lord.” (Gen. 4:2626And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 4:26).) This is their only record. The world knew them not, for they were not of it. They died, generation after generation. (Gen. 5) They had no inheritance here; they toiled at the cursed ground, as submitting to God's righteous ordinance, and only looked for a new earth and a future rest. (Gen. 5:2929And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. (Genesis 5:29).) They lived by faith, and they died in hope; of whom it may be said, “the world was not worthy.” They were the heavenly family—they acknowledged God in the midst of that world which had willingly estranged itself from His presence to seek out its own inventions.
But in process of time they also corrupted themselves, and the Lord had to testify of their apostasy and loss of heavenly character, and to say of them (as giving them up), “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” “Then did it repent him that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart, for he saw that the wickedness of man was great, and that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” (Gen. 6:1-81And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:1‑8).)
But ere this Enoch had been found among them faithful to his high calling. In the power of the heavenly hope of this Seth-household, “he walked with God,” and, according to the end of that hope, “God took him.” “By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” This is a simple record of this holy and honored patriarch; but it is large enough to warrant us to say that in his day Enoch was the witness of ascension glory and of the heavenly calling; in him death was abolished, and life and immortality were for a passing moment brought to light; he was not found on earth, for God had taken him. The mansions in the Father's house, as it were, were already prepared, and he was seated in them; and the saints were seen in him as caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
And, in perfect character with all this, Enoch prophesied of the coming of the Lord with His saints to the judgment of the earth. Delivered in spirit out of the evil of the world, he was delivered afterward in person out of the judgment of it; and he beheld from his elevation-like Abraham in such a case-(Gen. 19:2323The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. (Genesis 19:23)) the smoke of the country going up as the smoke of a furnace. “Behold the Lord cometh,” said Enoch, “with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment.” (Jude 14, 1514And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14‑15).)
But Noah, on the other hand, is not taken away from the judgment, but carried safely through it. The same hand which had raised Enoch out of it conducts Noah through it. (Heb. 11:6, 76But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:6‑7).) He prepared an ark to the saving of his house; the waters rose around him, wave upon wave; the end of all flesh was shown to him, but he lived to rise up the inheritor and lord of a new earth, and with him the covenant that to this day establishes the earth was made, and God set His bow in the cloud for a token of it.
But this was not Enoch glory. Noah was left on the earth still. God remembered Noah assuredly, but it was only to open the door of the ark, and let him forth upon the earth again. He was found here again; for God had not translated but only preserved him. His faith carried him through the flood into a new world, while Enoch was carried above it up to God.
And such are the divers glories of the church and of Israel; such, the several callings of the heavenly and the earthly families; such, the children of the resurrection and the children of the circumcision; and such, too, are the several seasons ordained for the revelation of these glories. Enoch came before Noah. Enoch was translated to heaven before Noah condemned the old world, and inherited the new. So will the saints be caught up to meet the Lord in the air first, and then will come the judgment of the nations and the manifestation of the Lord in His Noah character, in His glory of earthly rule and inheritance.
But this Noah-earth quickly became corrupt, as the Adam-earth had before it; and within a little while “the children of men” became again vain in their imaginations, following the pride and naughtiness of their hearts to the very full. Flesh again proved itself to be flesh. Man was the same still, the waters of the flood had not cleansed him, but, big with the old desire to be as God, “the children of men” were now for making themselves a name, and building themselves a city and a tower, whose top should reach unto heaven.” (Gen. 11)
But, as before in the person of Seth, the Lord had raised up a heavenly man in the midst of the Cain-world, so now did the God of glory raise up, in the person of Abraham, another heavenly man in the midst of this Noah-world. Government of the earth had been given to Noah, but Abraham is called away from the earth, away from his country, his kindred, and his father's house, to walk with God; like Seth or Enoch, a stranger and sojourner here. Abraham, like them before him, got no part in this corrupted earth. God gave him none inheritance in it, “no, not so much as to set his foot on.” His tent and his altar accompanied him wherever he went, and marked him as a stranger on the earth with God. He had, in the character of his calling, done with the world. He dwelt here with his children in tabernacles, and died in faith, desiring a heavenly country. He took no part with “the children of men” in their building of cities, and getting themselves a name; but he looked for a city whose builder was God, and waited, according to promise, to have his name made great by Jehovah. But God was eminently with him; his candle, as Job speaks, shined upon his head, and wondrously and blessedly indeed may it be said, the secret of God was upon his tabernacle. This was all his present glory, but it was holy glory. The Lord told him of His ways, and promised him everything. By the hand of Melchizedek heavenly and earthly treasures were pledged to him, and by the word of the Lord heavenly as well as earthly mysteries were made known to him. He was to be the heir of the world, and the father of many nations. He was admitted to the divine presence, and walked on earth as “the friend of God.” The judgment of the world was made to pass before him, but it did not come nigh unto him, only with his eyes did he behold and see the reward of the wicked. The smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace, while Abraham looked down from on high upon it, and that too from the very place where he had “stood before the Lord,” that is, where he had been in intercession with the Lord (Gen. 19:2727And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: (Genesis 19:27)), and which ever is, in principle and character, heaven itself.
He was thus, like Enoch, the elect one-drawn out from the world before the judgment came. In the crisis of the earth he had nothing to do. But Lot, his kinsman, his inferior and younger kinsman, is left as a remnant in the world after the judgment. He was sent, with sure purpose of love, out of the midst of the overthrow, when God overthrew the city of destruction, in the which he dwelt; but he did not stand on Abraham's elevation. He and Abraham never met afterward; for he was found, as it were, on the earth still, the remnant that survived the judgment, like Noah before him, while Abraham was above it and out of it altogether, like Enoch.