Turn to Psalm 2 where we read, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his Anointed (or Christ), saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” Here we find a confederacy between Gentiles and people of Israel, the kings and rulers, to reject the authority of the Lord and His Christ. Turn now to Acts 4:24-2624And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: 25Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? 26The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. (Acts 4:24‑26), where we find this Psalm quoted by the Holy Spirit as far as we have read, and the comment then added, “for of a truth against the holy child (servant) Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” He was presented to Jew and Gentile, rulers and kings and people, as king in Zion, and rejected. The Lord is represented in this psalm as laughing at their impotent rage. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.” But with all their rage and rejection of Christ, He says, “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” They could not turn His purpose aside.
Now while we are assured that the full rejection of Christ, as their Messiah, by the people of Israel, was at the cross, when they said, “We will have no king but Caesar”; still when we examine the gospel narratives we find that the spirit which showed itself in full hostility at the cross, had been exhibited in various ways, especially amongst the rulers and chief ones of the nation, during the Lord’s ministry amongst them. This caused Him, after declaring the new era that His rejection would introduce, to desire His disciples to say no more that He was “the Christ”; (there was no further good to be had by this testimony to the people, that is, as to His rights as the Messiah). He adds immediately, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.” This latter clause He adds to the declaration of His rejection and sufferings. Consult Matthew 16:20,2120Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 21From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. (Matthew 16:20‑21); Luke 9:20-2220He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 21And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. (Luke 9:20‑22), which convey, I doubt not, the truth we are about to see.
In considering Psalm 8 in connection with other subjects, we saw that there was a “Son of man” to whom dominion was bestowed over all creation, which Adam had sinned away and lost. He, we saw, was the Lord Jesus Himself as Hebrews 2 informs us, even as His inheritance will be enjoyed in an age to come. This title the Lord takes to Himself according to that Psalm, after His rejection as King in Zion according to Psalm 2 taking it in resurrection. He takes the headship and inheritance, with its load of sin and guilt upon it; and inherits it not only as His by right, but by redemption also. He takes it as the Redeemer-Heir. “We see not yet,” says Hebrews 2, “all things put under him; but we see Jesus... crowned with glory and honor.” Men said, “We will not have this man to reign over us”; God said, “Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
We turn to Ephesians 1, and there we find that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ (looked upon here as the exalted and glorified Man), had raised Christ from among the dead, and “set him at his own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things in subjection under his feet, and given him to be head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” Here we find Him raised and seated in the heavenlies, as the glorified Man, all things not yet visibly put under Him, but His title declared; and while as the expectant Heir, He is seated there, a work is going on of quickening, raising up, and seating together in Him, the second (last) Adam, in the heavenly places, the joint heirs of all his glory.
It is a work, that, the more we search into and meditate upon its depth and magnificence, humbles us to the dust at the “exceeding riches of God’s grace.” Human words can but feebly convey to us just thoughts of a work which takes up the Magdalenes, and outcasts, and vile ones, lost and defiled through sin, and sets them in the same glory as the Son of God! Not only blessing them through Him and His blessed work on the cross, but with Him! conferring upon them every dignity, every glory, and every honor, conferred upon Christ Himself as the risen, and exalted, and glorified Son of man! and yet a work in which God is glorified, and in which He will, in the ages to come, exhibit to the heavenly hosts the exceeding riches of His own precious grace!
This serves truly to level every pretension of man, to think on these things. We look at ourselves, and we are inclined to ask the question, “How can these things be?” But we look at God and His purposes, for the glory of His Son; and that we serve now to manifest to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies, the manifold wisdom of God, (Eph. 3:1010To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, (Ephesians 3:10)) and to teach them in the ages to come the meaning of “Grace!” May we learn to be silent, and to submit ourselves to Him, who does all things well!
The Epistle to the Ephesians is that Scripture which so fully brings out these things. We find there the purpose of God, and the execution of that purpose: His own counsels and the good pleasure of His will revealed; Himself the source of the blessings; His Son Jesus Christ the measure of them; ourselves by nature dead in trespasses and sins, the objects of them!
But to return. We have seen for a moment the work that is going on while the Head is seated in heaven — of quickening, raising up, and uniting to Him the joint-heirs. This is the work of the Holy Spirit since His descent at Pentecost. Now it is most freely admitted that saints were born again in all ages and dispensations. Sinners have been, since the fall of man, newborn by the Holy Spirit, through the word of God, and led to trust in the promises of God for salvation by a coming Redeemer, faintly seen in types and shadows of old. Still the saints were born again; they trusted, lived, and died in faith, and were saved. But individual salvation is not the Church of God. Every individual of that Church, no doubt, is a saved one; still, collectively, they occupy a place, as we shall see, beyond all that went before, and peculiar to the interval in which we live. It was reserved for the day when the Lord Jesus, rejected, crucified, dead, buried, risen, ascended, and seated at God’s right hand; not only as God’s eternal Son, but as a glorified Man, who had fully accomplished redemption in His own person, had put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, glorified God to the utmost as to sin, substituted Himself for His people on the cross, and had been thus seated far above all heavens — it was reserved for such a time, to bring out this mystery, which, from the beginning of the ages, had been hid in God, — the mystery of “Christ and the Church.”
The first notice of this work we find in Matthew 16, where the Lord declares the foundation in Himself, as Son of the living God. He speaks of the Church as that which was to come. He says, when Peter confessed Him to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” “Upon this rock I will build my church.” The Apostle afterward learned the true meaning of the foundation here declared, when he says by the Spirit, “To whom coming as unto a living stone... Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,” &c. This, however, is by the way, as to Paul’s ministry, and to it alone, is entrusted the revelation of the mystery of Christ and the Church. The Lord Himself does not reveal it. He had disciples during His ministry here, but not disciples baptized into one body and united by the Holy Spirit to a glorified Man in heaven.
In the days of Judaism, it was an unlawful thing for a man that was a Jew to have any dealings with those of any other nation. He was separated from amongst the other nations of the earth to God. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth,” says God, by His prophet to that people (Amos 3:22You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. (Amos 3:2)).
When we look upon the Lord’s life and ministry here, we find that He was constantly going beyond the middle wall of partition which surrounded the Jewish enclosure, in the outflow of His own blessed grace, to those who had no relationship with God even in an outward way. Witness the woman of Canaan in Matthew 15, and the woman of Samaria in John 4. “He was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy” (Rom. 15:8,98Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: 9And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. (Romans 15:8‑9)). Still, the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile was not really destroyed till the cross, however our Lord’s actions may have shown what was coming, We find the position of Jew and Gentile forcibly contrasted in the following scriptures: “Who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever, Amen” (Rom. 9:4,54Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:4‑5)). And again, “Wherefore remember, that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11,1211Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (Ephesians 2:11‑12)). We find in this epistle, that the apostle speaks in the first chapter of the purpose and counsels of God, and the redemption of His people, the latter being an accomplished thing; adding His future purpose to be executed in the dispensation of the fullness of times, when all things shall have been gathered together, in heaven and earth under the headship of Christ; and when those who believe shall have entered on their inheritance with Him and in Him in these things. He goes on to show that the Head, who had been in death (he sees Him only thus) was alive again, raised up and glorified, Head of all principality, &c., set there as “head over all things to the Church, which is his body.”
In Ephesians 2 he sees both Jew and Gentile dead in trespasses and sins, as children of the first Adam. In Ephesians 2:11And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1) and 2, he states what the Gentiles were, and then turns round upon the favored Jew and writes, “Among whom we also and... were children of wrath even as others.” This was the position of both Jew and Gentile by nature. We go on and find that Christ “hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the law of commandments contained in ordinances: for to make in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” There could be, and there was, salvation for individuals, as we have seen, before the cross, by virtue of what Christ would accomplish there; but the cross itself is the foundation of this unity of Jew and Gentile in one body by the presence of the Holy Spirit come down from heaven. “He came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh. For through him (Christ) we both (Jew and Gentile), have access by one Spirit unto the Father (Eph. 2:17,1817And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Ephesians 2:17‑18)). Here we learn this unity, of which the cross was the basis.
The Holy Spirit, constitutes by His presence upon earth, individually dwelling in every believer, uniting him, and all Christ’s members collectively in one body to Christ in heaven.
Now it is freely admitted that everything good, and of God, that ever has been done in this world, was by the Holy Spirit. But, dear friends, it was reserved for that day when God’s people, by virtue of an accomplished redemption, would have their consciences so perfectly purged, that God could come and dwell by the Holy Spirit in the believer’s body; and that the Holy Spirit could be given in such a sort, as in this interval, since the day of Pentecost (see 1 Cor. 6:1717But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17)).
We do not find in the experience even of a David, the possession of a purged conscience (Heb. 10:22For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. (Hebrews 10:2)). There was the most blessed and perfect trust and confidence in God known in grace, displayed and enjoyed, but a purged conscience never. That was reserved till the cross had made it possible.
We read in John 14 of the Lord, before He departed, promising His disciples the Holy Spirit, as the Comforter. He says, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (He had been that when with them), that he may abide with you forever... he... shall be in you.” “In that day [when He was come], ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” This was the knowledge and consciousness the personal presence of the Holy Spirit would bring.
The Holy Spirit had wrought before He came; He came at Pentecost. Just as the Son of God had wrought before He became a man; He came down from heaven then. The Holy Spirit never dwelt here until redemption was accomplished. His presence thus was a new thing, and although there were believers before His descent, still it was on believers, as such, that the Holy Spirit was to be bestowed. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet; because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-3937In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37‑39)). We find an example of this in Acts 19. Long after the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Spirit, Paul finds certain disciples at Ephesus. He asks the question, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” They reply, “We have not so much as heard if the Holy Ghost was come.” (Compare John 7:3838He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38)). He asks again, “Unto what then were ye baptized?” They reply, “Unto John’s baptism.” “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” He found here a company of disciples, believers as far as they had heard, but who had not yet received the Holy Spirit. Far from the center of the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit, they had not yet heard if He had come, not “whether there be any Holy Ghost.” Our English Bible is faulty here and might lead to wrong conclusions. As soon as “they heard, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them.” It is sought to show that the great distinguishing feature between the state of the individual believer, under the period of the Holy Spirit’s presence, dwelling upon earth as now, and the saint in that, which is past, is, that he now receives the Holy Spirit to dwell in him; that “in the Spirit” is his proper state as a Christian, and the power which unites him with Christ risen. The corporate blessings we shall see again.
In the instance quoted there was the laying on of the apostle’s hands; but, doubtless, God was showing to us that there is a twofold thing — the new birth and the indwelling of the Spirit, the latter belonging specially to the present time.
Not seeing this, is much of the reason for the low state of numbers of God’s children. They think that Christianity is a sort of spiritualized Judaism, and that saints are only a little in advance of those before the descent of the Holy Spirit, as to their state.
Consequently you have in the lips of many a one of the prayer of David — “take not thy Holy Spirit from me”; while others are ever praying for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them. Now the least intelligent saint who has been instructed in Christianity, as such, could not use such prayers. He knows that he receives the Spirit now, as he does eternal life, from God and by faith, and consequent on redemption (Eph. 1:1313In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13)). As the apostle asks the Galatians, who were getting under law, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” And again, “That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” A Christian may, doubtless, sad to say, by his unfaithfulness, grieve the Holy Spirit much, indeed so much so, as almost to think he had never had the Spirit at all; but he could not with the least intelligence in Christianity say, “ Take not thy holy Spirit from me.” In Romans 8 the Spirit is the principle of our relationship with God, and Christian life is life in the Spirit, which depends on redemption being accomplished.
This is a fact assumed to be the case in all the apostolic teaching to the Church. In Ephesians 1:1414Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14) He is given as the seal of redemption, and an earnest of the inheritance yet to be enjoyed, till its redemption out of the enemy’s hand, the price for its purchase having been paid.
In no epistle are the official glories of the Holy Spirit brought before us more fully than this, which reveals the heavenly calling of the Church of God. In Ephesians 1:1414Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14), He is the seal of redemption. Ephesians 2:1818For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Ephesians 2:18), He is the medium of access by Jew and Gentile, through Jesus Christ unto the Father. Ephesians 2:2222In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22), the Church is the habitation of God on earth by His Spirit. In Ephesians 3:1616That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (Ephesians 3:16), He strengthens the saints in the inner man, enabling them to lay hold of and enjoy their position and standing. In Ephesians 4, precepts are founded upon doctrines; the saint is told not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby he has been sealed till (for) the day of redemption. In Ephesians 5 he is told to be filled with the Spirit In Ephesians 6 is the power of the warfare in the heavenly places, and his prayer is to be “in the Spirit.” To multiply examples were needless.
This being established, we will now look into those Scriptures which speak of the Body of Christ and the unity of the Spirit. We saw that the Lord speaks of the Church as a future thing during His own ministry here (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)). He had disciples, but not disciples gathered into one body, constituting the “fullness” of a glorified Man in heaven, by the power of the Spirit, uniting them in one. Such, and such only, is the Church of God. It was reserved for the ministry of the Apostle Paul to bring out this grand central truth of the Church.
He tells us that he had it “by revelation,” and not therefore from others.
After the rejection of the Lord and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost we find the Church gathered in Jerusalem, and principally composed of Jews, affording a wondrous spectacle to the world around, united in one heart and soul, a dwelling-place of God by the Holy Spirit. The Lord lingered, in His longsuffering love, over His beloved, though now cast-off people, to see if even the testimony of the Holy Spirit to a risen and glorified Christ would touch their hearts. The enmity of the Jews and the religious leaders of the nation increased every hour, till it arrived at its full height, when the agents of the Sanhedrim (the great council of the nation) gnashed upon the witness of the Holy Spirit to a risen and exalted Christ, in the person of Stephen. This man, filled with the Holy Spirit, sees heaven opened, and, stoned by his murderers, is received by the “Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” The Church at Jerusalem is broken up as to its outward manifestation and dispersed. Saul of Tarsus, the young man at whose feet the murderers laid their clothes, on his journey from Jerusalem to Damascus with the high priest’s commission in his robe, and the purpose in his heart of wiping out, so to speak, if it were possible, the very name of Jesus from the earth, is struck down at midday with the vision of the glorified and exalted Jesus. He hears the wondrous truth, for the first time now proclaimed, that the poor persecuted Christians on earth were members of the body of Christ. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me... I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (Acts 9:44And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (Acts 9:4)). He arises and straightway preaches Jesus that “He is the Son of God.”
The short period of its earthly manifestation at Jerusalem having passed, the Church henceforth fully assumes its position as the Body of Christ; locally expressed by saints gathered (together) in the name of the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)). It is the habitation of God through the Spirit.
To the Apostle Paul is committed the testimony of the mystery, hidden in God in other ages, but now revealed (Col. 1:2626Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: (Colossians 1:26)). He tells us that he had it by revelation (Eph. 3:33How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, (Ephesians 3:3)). We will briefly notice some of the testimony by him as to this. The Epistle to the Romans being chiefly confined to the revelation of Christianity and the individual relationship of the saints with God and His dispensational wisdom in His dealings with the Jew, the subject is but shortly and practically referred to in Romans 12:4,54For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:4‑5). He writes, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” And shortly in Romans 16:25,2625Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: (Romans 16:25‑26). In 1 Corinthians 12:12-1712For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14For the body is not one member, but many. 15If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? (1 Corinthians 12:12‑17), this subject is brought out more fully. The bare reading of the passage should be sufficient: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit,” &c. Nothing can be clearer to the mind subject to Scripture. The Holy Spirit is the center and living power, of the unity of the body, Christians are “members of Christ” and “members one of another.”
How this overturns the ideas of men, who speak of being members of such and such a church (so-called) or religious association! This is the only unity a Christian is bound to acknowledge and own, and to endeavor with all his heart to observe, and to witness for the unity which exists by the presence of the Holy Spirit, constituting every believer on earth a member of one body, united to Christ The Holy Spirit is, we may so say, the soul which animates the whole body, dwelling not only in the individual believer, but in the whole church. When saints are thus gathered together, owning this unity, and this alone, they form the sphere for the manifestation of His presence, in the ministry of the word, “dividing to every man severally as he will”; taking up and using, according to His divine pleasure, those who have been gifted and set in the Church for the building up and edifying of the body, and for the perfecting of the saints. “God hath set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him (1 Cor. 12:1818But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. (1 Corinthians 12:18)). So of Christ, “when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men... And he gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, &c.” The assembly on earth is the habitation of God by the Spirit (Eph. 2:2222In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)). “In whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God by the Spirit.”
We are now, of course, looking at the Church as the ‘louse of God; others (other Scriptures), as we have seen, view it as the body of Christ. Both are true. Ephesians 1 speaks of the latter; Ephesians 2 of the former.
Such being the calling of the saints, the apostle founds upon it his exhortations, in Ephesians 4:1-61I 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. (Ephesians 4:1‑6). He puts their privileges first before them, and then looks upon their responsibility. “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles... beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called... Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit.” This then is the Church of God — this the unity we are exhorted to endeavor to keep: not to make a unity for ourselves, or choose one out of the many existing factions around, that best suits one’s education, thoughts, feelings, circumstances, &c., but to endeavor, with hearts subject to Jesus as Lord, to keep the unity which has been here by the Holy Spirit’s presence since the day of Pentecost — the body of Christ (actually, the unity of the Spirit).
We have in the same chapter (Eph. 4) the care of Christ for His body. “When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive.” He went into the domain of Satan and bound the strong man; but before He exhibits the results of His victory amongst men, in the blessing of the millennial earth, He does so in His body, bestowing gifts on men for the setting free of those captive under Satan, and the building up of those who have been delivered, “till 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 fullness of the Christ (Eph. 4:1313Till 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: (Ephesians 4:13)).” Then, when the last member of Christ has been gathered in; the Church will be taken away to be, in actual fact, with Christ in heaven. Then will be the resurrection of the sleeping saints, and their translation with the living saints, when all shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:15-1815For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑18)).
The Scriptures are full of this blessed hope of the Church. In the earliest Epistle (1 Thess.) we find that, however unintelligently it may have been understood, the saints had been converted to this blessed hope. “Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven (1 Thess. 1:99For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; (1 Thessalonians 1:9)).” It was the hope set before the sorrowing disciples, as they gazed up into heaven after the vanishing form of the Lord, in Acts 1:1111Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11), that He “would so come in like manner.” The Corinthians came “behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:77So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: (1 Corinthians 1:7)). In Ephesians, the saints are looked upon as already seated in the heavenlies in Christ, there waiting for the gathering together of all things in the fullness of times. Their blessing is in the heavenlies, Ephesians 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3); their position, Ephesians 2:66And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6); their testimony, Ephesians 3:1010To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, (Ephesians 3:10) and their conflict, Ephesians 6:1212For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12). In Philippians 3:20,2120For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:20‑21), the citizenship of the saints is in heaven, from whence they look for “the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body,” &c. In Colossians 3:44When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4), the life of the saints is so bound up with Christ’s, that, when He is manifested to the world, they are manifested with Him. In Thessalonians, the whole epistle is taken up with the hope. In 1 Thess. 1, it was connected with their conversion; in 1 Thess. 2, with the labors of Christ’s servant; in 1 Thess. 3, with practical righteousness and holiness; in 1 Thess. 4, the whole matter and the manner of its accomplishment is detailed. 1 Thess. 5 shows the desire of the apostle for their practical sanctification, and their being preserved blameless till the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thess. sets the hope aright in the minds of the saints, which had been disturbed by the receipt of a spurious epistle; and distinguishes the coming of Christ for His saints and their gathering together unto Him, their proper hope (2 Thess. 2:11Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (2 Thessalonians 2:1)), from His manifestation in judgment to the world, in which, we know from other Scriptures, He is accompanied by them.
I forbear to quote other Scriptures on this subject. It is almost sad to be obliged to press so blessed a hope on the hearts of the Lord’s people — a hope, of which the Scriptures of the New Testament are so full. Sad to say, it has become necessary to do so: even God’s people have imbibed so much of the character of the evil and worldly-minded servant, who said in his heart, “My lord delayeth his coming” (Matt. 24:4848But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; (Matthew 24:48)), and of the scoffers of the last days who say, “where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:44And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:4)).
In considering our first subject — “The general purpose of God” — we referred to three places in the New Testament where Psalm 8 was quoted. The first was Hebrews 2:77Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: (Hebrews 2:7), where the “Son of man,” to whom all dominion was given, is seen in heaven “crowned with glory and honor,” all things not yet put under Him — the headship to be enjoyed in the habitable earth to come. The second was Ephesians 1;2, when the body was being prepared for the glorified head. The third remains now to be quoted again. “For he hath put all things under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:2727For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. (1 Corinthians 15:27)). This will come to pass, as the chapter shows, in the day when the scriptures of Isaiah 24-26 are fulfilled, in the day of the first resurrection. “Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed... So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory (Isa. 25:88He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 25:8)) (1 Cor. 15:51-5551Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:51‑55)).” The whole chapter treats of this resurrection, of which Christ was the first fruits, it is a resurrection in power and glory. “It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.” There is no thought in the chapter of the resurrection of the wicked. We have before considered shortly, that, at that time, the restoration of the nation of Israel will take place — the veil will he removed from all nations. And it will be a period of universal judgment of the powers of the earth, and in the heavenlies, introductive of the kingdom in Zion and the renewed earth, which the saints of the first resurrection (Rev. 20:4,54And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:4‑5)) will inherit and reign over, in the heavenlies, as joint-heirs with Christ.
In short, it is the time of the “restitution of all things which God bath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:2121Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:21)). This period of universal judgment is, as we may see, synchronous with that spoken of in considering the “Times of the Gentiles” and their judgment.