THE GLORY OF THE GLAD TIDINGS
P. van den Berg
Joshua 3: 1–4; Hebrews 2: 9, 10; 10: 19–23
In the light of what already has engaged us these three days together in relation to the glory of Christ, and what through grace we have been called into, we may have a touch of it in the glad tidings as flowing out from it. When the glory of Jehovah filled the house in Ezekiel there was a river flowing out from it, from the right side of the house, south of the altar (see Ezekiel 44: 4; 47: 1, 2). It was a river bringing in life and healing. The glad tidings are going forth from the house and there is nothing less in mind than that you should be brought into it, that you might be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. The assembly, the house of God, is the pillar and base of the truth.
We have been impressed with the glory of Christ and that He should go into death. God has come out in the person of Christ and it was determined in love before the world’s foundation that He should go into death. “Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do, O God, thy will”, Hebrews 10: 7. Think of the glory of the incarnation, the way God has come out in Christ—“the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”, John 1: 14. It is one of the greatest statements in Scripture. It was the Lord’s own act. It is greater than the work of creation, great as that was. All things have been created by Him and for Him and He upholds all things by the word of His power. John tells us that “the world had its being through him, and the world knew him not”, John 1: 10. John was one who had contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth. God has come out in declaration. The whole mind of God has come into expression. God at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son who is the effulgence of His glory, and God is speaking now.
May we have a sense in our hearts of being attracted by the love of the Christ. Think of the Lord’s movements in John’s gospel. The corn of wheat had to fall into the ground and die in order that God’s purpose might be effected through His death. God had said that it was not good for man to be alone and caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam. It refers to the death of Christ according to divine purpose. What was in mind was the assembly. She is the bride of Christ and nearest to divine Persons, the greatest vessel in the universe, the tabernacle of God where He will dwell with men eternally. Other families will be there but the assembly will be God’s tabernacle and the other families will be in relation to it. There will be the outshining of God in a world of blessing, where the assembly will be as filled with the knowledge of God, in nearness to Himself, and men blessed in a scene pervaded by the Spirit where Christ is the centre. There will be glory to God in response, glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus, the God who made Himself known in revelation. What a scene eternity will be where God will be all in all.
In Joshua we see the ark moving into Jordan. In Numbers 10 the ark went before the people to search out a resting place. Here we come to the Jordan, and it says that Joshua rose early in the morning and they removed from Shittim and came to the Jordan. It was only through death that God’s people could be brought into the inheritance. The officers went through the camp and said, “When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then remove from your place and go after it”. Dear friends, may we be affected by it! May we see the movement of the ark in this way and move. Christ in John’s gospel is thus presented to us as the centre of attraction in order that we might be drawn after Him. Eternal life is in view, that we might enter into the inheritance, that we might enter into the great thoughts of God for us in purpose. The ark and the priests carrying it represent Christ in death, the priests’ feet stood firm in the Jordan.
There was a distance of two thousand cubits between the ark and the people when the ark moved into Jordan. Think of what it meant for Christ to go into death! None could follow Him there. Think of what He was going to face, what was before Him to do the Father’s will!
John shows us how the Lord moved into death in virtue of what He was in Himself. Think of the glory of the Person by whom the worlds were made, how He came into manhood and had the power to lay down His life and take it again. Death had to give way when Christ moved into it. He did it as submitting to the Father’s will. It was grace when He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23: 34), when God hearkened to the voice of a man. It is the day of grace. The cold night of judgment is coming, but God gave His own Son for you and for me in order that we might be brought into blessing. Think of what He endured on the cross for you and for me when He was forsaken by God in those three hours of darkness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15: 34), when He who knew not sin was made sin for us. Sin was dealt with on the cross in Jesus. God spared not His own Son. The relationship remained but the communion was broken until He could say, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit”, Luke 23: 46. He bowed His head and delivered up His spirit as going into death. The Lord bowed His head in triumph. It says of Samson in the type that he “bowed himself” (Judges 16: 30), when he brought down man’s system in his death. The two pillars there would speak of the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, what makes up Satan’s world. There was nothing of that in Jesus. The temptations brought out the perfection of what was there in Him. There was One there the enemy could not touch, and there is an order of things in the assembly which the enemy cannot touch either, the gates of hades will not prevail against it. There is one body and one Spirit.
So the Lord went into death triumphantly. God did not suffer His holy One to see corruption, He entered death’s domain, He had laid down His life and He had authority to take it again.
He ever was who He was in His person in subjecting Himself, and the Father has given all things to be in His hand. What a Saviour He is! He is able to save completely those who approach by Him to God. The One in whom God came out to us is the One by whom we can draw near to Him. He has met every requirement of a holy God, He has terminated the man of sin and shame, and He has broken the power of death. Atonement has been made, His precious blood has been shed, He was buried and He rose from among the dead. Death could not hold Him, He broke its power, a power man could do nothing against. He broke it and rose triumphantly out of the grave; in resurrection He declares the Father’s name to His brethren. The work of Christ secured everything for God’s pleasure and the eternal day will declare what He has done. John says that if all that Jesus did was written the world could not contain the books.
When we come to Hebrews we see how God has come out in Christ. The ark in the tabernacle speaks of the One in whom God has come out, the gold and the acacia wood speaking of the glory of His Person and His manhood. The table of shewbread is our association with Him. To be associated with the Son of God is the greatest privilege we have and the gospel has in view that we might be with Him in the liberty of sonship. Christ is the Firstborn among many brethren. He is the Head of the assembly, His body, a vessel through which the all-various wisdom of God is now made known to heavenly principalities and authorities, according to the purpose of the ages. The purpose of God was not only in relation to the eternal day—that will be final—nor was it only in relation to the world to come, where there will be the glorious display of what God has had here in the mystery in this wonderful dispensation, but it also stood in relation to the present time, in which, in this very scene. God has a vessel through which there is the expression of the manifold wisdom of God. Think of the glory of the assembly, that there should be such a vessel that is united to Christ where He is, and that there should be the practical working out of this glorious mystery now!
So in Hebrews we see Jesus, who was made some little inferior to the angels on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour. We see Him there in the light of the world to come. We see Him coming into His rights. In the Supper we announce His death until He comes. He will soon take His rights publicly that have so long been refused, and the saints will come out with Him when He appears. Paul says that the crown of righteousness was laid up for him, and not for him only but for all those who love His appearing (see 2 Timothy 4: 8). Are we amongst those who love His appearing? Would we love to see the Lord Jesus take His rightful place? “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness”, Isaiah 32: 1.
It says here, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings” (Hebrews 2: 10). Jesus has been made both Lord and Christ. Ah the glory of it! He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Beloved friends, what is the world in comparison with what we are speaking of? Is not all that fading into oblivion in our spirits? We must have common sense for we are still here, but we should be conscious of what our place is, as seated with Christ in heavenly places.
It speaks of the leader of our salvation. He is the One who begins the matter and sets it on. Not only did He begin it, He set it on to completion. What a great salvation! It says, “how shall we escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation” (Hebrews 2: 3). We have One who is carrying matters through to completion, a Priest ever living to intercede for us.
We may not always be conscious of it, but the Lord Jesus loves His own to the end, and He is serving us in His priestly service and in His shepherd service and in the washing of water by the word.
In Hebrews 10 the new and living way has been opened.
‘He’s gone within the veil,
For us that place has won;
In Him we stand, a heav’nly band,
Where He Himself is gone’. (Hymn 12)
Is that not wonderful? To have a place with Christ where He is? He said to the Father, “as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”, John 17: 24. What a glory to behold! In verse 22 He says, “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them”. That is a conferred glory. Christ and the church in the same glory, a glory we share. It involves our place in sonship, the many sons brought to glory. What a dignified place that is, to be associated with Christ in the presence of the Father! In accordance with the parable Luke 15, we are brought into the liberty of the Father’s presence. The best robe is there for lost sinners like you and me. Think of the wonder of God’s grace, the riches of His grace, able to meet every need, and the glory of His grace that will be displayed to a wondering universe in a coming day. God will display through sinners like you and me what the glory of His grace is. It is not only that He met our need down here, but that we are brought into His own presence through reconciliation.
So we have boldness to enter. The way has been opened up, the work is complete. Christ has completed the work that His Father gave Him to do, and the Father’s heart and the Father’s house are open for you.
Oh that you might have a touch of divine grace! A sense of the grace of God, shining out in this wonderful dispensation! “Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water”. We need the water as well as the blood. The Holy Spirit bears witness for the Spirit is the truth. They that bear witness are three—the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree in one. The blood is available to us for cleansing us from our sins. If we walk in the light as God is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. And then there is the moral cleansing of the water.
The Lord knows our weakness. The priesthood of Christ is for our infirmities. We may feel nothing but weakness in ourselves. Let us go to the Lord about it and seek His priestly grace.
He sympathises with us. He feels with us. We have a Priest who has been tempted in like manner, sin apart, and He is able to help us in all our need. Such a Priest we have, to serve us in the light of our heavenly calling. Let us then have boldness for entering the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way. Let us approach! The work has been completed! He was delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification; and we being justified have peace towards God and have access by faith into this favour in which we stand. We need to be walking in faith, and we will have the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to put our bodies on the altar for priestly service to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, a consecrated people.
The Lord sanctified Himself for us in order that we might be sanctified and He is not ashamed to call us brethren. It is our privilege to be in the holiest,
‘In Him we stand, a heav’nly band,
Where He Himself has gone’.
God has in mind that we might have the joy and happiness of our eternal place with Him in His purpose towards us, as having believed in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and being sealed by the Holy Spirit. The ark has made its way into the inheritance as a type of the way Christ has gone, in order that we might have eternal life, that we might be brought into the enjoyment of all that God has prepared for those that love Him. We come into it through faith, but it is by the Spirit we know it, not just because of what is in the Bible, but by what is livingly wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Preaching at Ormond Beach
1 January 1994