AN EXTRACT
THE saint now has to do with a Savior who is in heaven; and hence, through the Spirit, constituted heavenly in tastes and objects, while empowered to fill in a superior manner every claim and relationship appointed by God for the earthly man. The saint's blessing and position now is determined by the Second man. If Christ were on the earth, ruling in His might here, the man of the earth would be maintained here, as God had appointed, and this will be fully exhibited in the millennium. The man will live here in the enjoyment of every earthly blessing; nothing to mar the ordering and favor of God and man; and he himself kept through grace in accordance with the law, which defines the course and walk of a man on earth. The fact of Christ's absence involves an entirely different position for the saint now. He is not where Christ is, and Christ is not where he is; he is not of earth, but on earth; he is of Christ in heaven, but he is not in heaven. It is anomalous to find a saint where the Lord is refused, and hence possible only to faith to apprehend his true status in consequence. It is so anomalous and strange that practically souls go back to the dispensation before the coming of Christ, or, more properly speaking, to His first advent. They own His coming into the world as the Savior, and they prolong, as it were, that period indefinitely. They do not see His rejection, and while they own His death sacrificially, they adhere to the former dispensation, only adding to it the sacrifice of Christ. Now this pre-supposes the state of man to be just the same as before the death of Christ.
In current theology two things are thus really overlooked; first, that the trial of the first man is over on the cross, and an entirely new man brought in; and secondly, the fact of Christ's rejection. Now without seeing both, there can be no comprehending the status of the saint of this period.
The first point to be settled is, whether the First man is still under trial. Is God seeking or using any methods, with the view of testing man's ability to do anything for himself? Has it not been proved that the old bottles cannot hold new wine, and that there is no competence in the first man to retain, or to turn to good account, the favors and ordinance of God? Man has failed in his own condition and in relation to God, either to enjoy and secure to himself the blessings of earth, or to revere God through means of the imposing temple ritual. In the one case the wine is out; in the other, the house of God becomes a den of thieves. (See John 2)
But now there has. been an atonement in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for the man who has failed; and as the atonement has been provided by God for man, it testifies of the entire inability of man to do anything for himself; and as it is in God's hand only, He does not restore that which had ever proved itself unworthy and incompetent; but He introduces, Christ risen from the dead, an entirely new man. If man, since the sacrifice, is still under trial, one consequence or another must ensue: the trial must either be successful or unsuccessful. If successful—if man answers to the trial—then he is sinless; if unsuccessful, then there must be another sacrifice; for if man is under trial again and fails, there must be another atonement, or he is lost. Now to escape this dilemma there are in the present day two systems of theology; one (the Roman) which maintains that the sacrifice or mass is a continual one; and hence there is no room for seeing that there is an end of the old man judicially in the cross, or that the new has come in and is before God in His Son, risen from the dead. The first man is looked at as still the one under trial. The other (Protestantism set on foot by the Reformers) admits that the sacrifice is one and sufficient, but with no consistency; for they practically neither own that the trial of the first man is over in the cross, nor Christ's rejection from the earth. Hence the law is their rule of life, and the believer seeks a position on earth as if Christ were reigning. They call the sacrifice of Christ a full and sufficient atonement, but they do not see it as brought in by God in His love, when the first man was proved utterly worthless; or that the believer is risen with Christ, in whom and from whom he receives a new life. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit, and therefore everything for the saint now is determined by the position of Christ the Second man.
Nothing is more evident than that the atonement being provided by God for that which has been proved thoroughly worthless, and unfit for Himself, He does not restore it: He judged it on the cross of His Son, and, in Him risen, receives every returning prodigal in a new nature and life. To sum up, Christ's position in heaven determines ours. He is where we are not. We are where God's Son has been refused. We are surrounded by man who refused Him, and who is no longer under trial, because God has brought in a new man in His Son, who is in heaven. Hence the status of the saint now is heavenly, united to Christ in heaven, by the Holy Ghost sent down; through grace he acquits himself in a superior way, in every duty, incumbent on the first man, as God has appointed; but he has no link or place here, as the millennial saint will have; for then Christ will be reigning here, and the millennial saint will be where He reigns, instead of, as now, where He is refused.