FALLING OR DESCENDING - WHICH?

^[p. 19] FALLING OR DESCENDING — WHICH?

Revelation 9:1-3; Revelation 9:11; Ephesians 4: 7 - 16

My thought is first of all to show how we are to distinguish between that which falls from heaven and that which descends from heaven, and then to speak more particularly of the latter and the effect of it in us. You can easily perceive that descending has reference to Christ, while falling has reference to the adversary, Satan. A very great difference exists between falling and descending. Christ descended from heaven and the assembly descends, or comes down from heaven, whereas Satan falls from heaven. Now a fallen being, one whom God has used and owned, as falling is sure to be filled with envy. There are many persons and things said to be fallen, and what I desire is that we may never be in accord with what is fallen. The whole world is in accord with what is fallen, whereas the world to come will be in accord with what descends. You remember in Revelation 21 John saw “the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God”. The glory of God is not in that which falls, but in that which descends, that which comes down “from God out of heaven”. The city comes down! and she has the glory. All that will be seen in the world to come is to be in accord with that, in accord with that which “comes down from God out of heaven having the glory of God”.

Now the present world derives its character from that which fell, and that which fell has no glory.

One would venture to appeal to you as to that, for we have to see to it, that we are not in accord with that which falls. We know that Satan fell; we know that angels fell; we know that Adam fell; we know that Noah fell, and we know that Israel fell; and the assembly viewed historically fell; and we know that Babylon falls; so that the whole ^[p. 20] sphere that we have to do with is characterised by falling, and what falls is sure to be marked by strife and envy, and that is a matter which has the most serious consequences. The world derives its character from an envious being, and envy is the nursery of every evil work. Satan filled the scene with envy when he fell; he was envious of God and of man who was the image of God. God brought in man and set him up in His own image and glory in an environment that indicated the kindness and love of God, and Satan was envious of that; he was envious of Adam, and he brought about the fall of Adam by injecting that principle into him, or rather into Eve’s heart. He suggested to them that they should be as God.

Now the whole history of the world from that day to this has derived its character from Babel, a fallen state of things. Endeavouring to lift up its head in empire was the world’s great effort after the fall. In building the tower of Babel man would exalt himself to heaven, but every effort of man to lift up his head comes to nothing; all falls. Now, beloved friends, we should be greatly exercised lest we should be in accord with that. We want to be in accord with what descends. What falls, as we saw in the chapter I read, is a star. Stars are spoken of in the Scriptures as guides. Many men who were guides have fallen. Now this star fell. It refers to something that had place in the government of the world on earth and it fell. That is to say, it did not descend in love, it fell in envy.

Now see the effect of what is fallen! I know of no chapter that indicates the character of what falls, and the effect of a fallen being, more plainly than this. This star has the key of the pit: it is given to him. The Lord Jesus has the keys of death and hades, and, moreover, the key of David. He has full guard of all the evil, and He has the power to administer the good; hence if this star is permitted to open the ^[p. 21] bottomless pit, it is under the permission of the Lord. The flood of evil is let loose. There is every evil work; when the flood is let loose, smoke arising out of the pit becomes the evidence of evil under the control of the destroyer. Satan does not do things haphazard; he acts in military fashion. The locusts, being let loose, become the agents of evil and destruction under the control of the destroyer. And mark! that which falls has no thought of building up. Satan darkens and destroys. I touch upon that to show what has entered the world at the present time.

Now I turn to that which comes down, and it gives relief. What relief to see what the apostle says, “Unto every one of us is given grace”; there is not an atom of envy there. The apostle is speaking of Christ and tells us that “Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts unto men”. That is what we see in the Man who descends is love. All the wealth of heaven is opened out to us. Think of the Lord Jesus. He descended first in order that He might remove the oppression from the souls of His people. That descent was a descent of love; He descended in love voluntarily. The scripture says, “Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God ... emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form”. We cannot say what the form of God was; we are not entitled to say. It simply states that He was in the form of God, and being in that form He emptied Himself. Think of that, beloved friends! Think of the descending principle. He emptied Himself taking a servant’s form. He took a bondman’s form when descending in love. He descended to where the saints were. I know there are other thoughts connected with His descent. He descended in love to remove the oppression from souls; to remove all that here was an occasion of grief to God, and oppression to His own. That is His descending love, and His ascending love is equal ^[p. 22] to His descending love. He descended in love and He ascended to the highest heavens, but He is the same One. I am confining the thought to the saints for the moment. “He that descended is the same who has also ascended”. In other words, He says virtually to the saints, ‘I have done all that is possible for you on earth, and now I go on high; I can serve you better there’. He said to His own, “It is expedient for you that I go away”. They would not lose by it; He went away in love, even as He came in love. So we read, “He that descended is the same who has also ascended”.

I want to emphasise the manifestation of the Lord’s love in both the descent and the ascent. He was governed by love when He descended into the lower parts of the earth, and He was governed by love when He ascended up into the highest heavens. The One who descends is the One who loves, and the One who ascends is the One who loves. Now I desire to show you the contrast between the one who falls and the One who descends and ascends. The result of the former is darkness; that is the spirit of the world, but love marks the One who descends, and it is He who has moral title to ascend. He is the same, He goes up far above all heavens. Why? That He might fill all things; the Man who loves fills everything. Think of the whole created universe filled by the love of a Man, the love of God, but love in a Man. He ascended above all heavens that He might fill all things. But He is not doing that yet. What He is doing now is filling the saints! We need to be filled by Christ. He is filling the saints now. In order to do that He gives the Spirit and He does it in wisdom. God acts in love and wisdom. Wisdom is the handmaid of love. Christ fills the saints, dear brethren. What a wonderful thought! He fills us. He ascended up above the heavens that He might fill all things. He is capable of doing that, and now for the moment ^[p. 23] He is filling the saints; the saints are to be filled with love.

The apostle begins, “unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”.

That is to say, the measure that we have received is the measure of Christ. We cannot improve that measure, it is wisdom. Everything we get we receive from Christ, and He gives it in wisdom. The Lord descended and He ascended, and He is seated above all heavens that He might fill all things. Now the assembly has the first place in Christ’s affections.

In Psalm 68 we learn that in a day to come He is going to dwell with Israel; as it is said, “that the Lord God might dwell among them”, but the first consideration with Christ as having ascended is the assembly. As having ascended on high He thinks of the assembly, and “he gave some, apostles”. That was in divine wisdom, for He gave them for the protection of what belonged to Him upon earth; it was that authority might be established. He also gave the Lord’s supper for the saints. It is true that as He instituted the Supper the twelve apostles only are in evidence in the record, but they were not the only ones who loved Christ. There was Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Bethany and others, but the apostles were to be the representatives of the Lord’s authority. Hence the Lord gave the apostles first, and He gave them from heaven. What I want you to see is that everything in Christianity comes down, and the apostles in that sense come down. Now bear in mind that Peter, James and John and all the apostles were the companions of Christ here; in fact their apostleship depended upon the fact, that they were the companions of the Lord, that they were with Him here. But the exercise of their apostleship was in the power of what came down, for as having ascended “he gave some, apostles”.

That was what the Lord gave first, and what He gave ^[p. 24] was in wisdom. It was what was required. It was imperative that the Lord’s authority should be established on earth, while He was in heaven.

Then He gave “some prophets”, and that too in wisdom. It is one thing to be established in the sense of the authority of the Lord, but it is another thing to be brought in your soul to God. The prophet brings God to you. The apostle emphasises the authority in the hands of Man, in the hands of Christ. The prophet brings God to you, brings His mind to you. Then He gave “some evangelists”. If the authority of Christ is established, if God is here, men will be brought in. Evangelisation was to all the world, to the four corners of the earth. It carries the good news to the four corners of the earth. It is like the four-cornered sheet let down by the Lord to Peter in Acts 10; that was really the beginning of universal evangelisation. We are to be evangelists in the light of that. The Lord gave “some evangelists”, and then fourthly He gave “some shepherds and teachers”; there are four kinds of gifts; the shepherd and teacher being one.

I only touch upon that to show how great the contrast between Him who descends and him who falls, but I wish to touch also upon the great effect of what descends, and what is in view in the gifts. The perfecting of the saints, and not the darkening of the saints is the end in view. The latter was found in the man who falls. There are no darkening influences in the gifts given by Christ, they are “for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”. That is where the disciples erred when they wanted to know who should be the greatest; there arose a strife even amongst them as to which should be the greatest. The apostles have gone, and the prophets have gone, but their work remains, as the Lord said, “I have chosen you, and have set you that ye should go and that ye should bear fruit and that your fruit should abide”. The full result is “until we all arrive at the unity of the faith”. Mark how what is of God remains. There was unity between the Jewish apostles and Paul, the unity of faith, and this continues “until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”. That is the great result, beloved friends, of Him who descends and ascends. We see brought into this world an order of man entirely after Christ. What an achievement! I would, in closing, just appeal to our hearts as to whether we are in accord with what fell or with what descends and ascends. The assembly is formed on the principle of descent; we descend in love. You will never go down otherwise. Love enables us to go down; we belong to what goes down and what goes down in love ascends. The assembly is formed on that principle and hence goes up. It is morally suited to ascend through the work of Christ. In Ephesians, the work of Christ is for the perfecting of the saints, until we all arrive at the full divine end. There is, therefore, that in the assembly which is suitable for ascension, and nothing more will be added. It will go up as belonging to heaven and suitable for it; how marvellous it is when it comes down! It will come down after it goes up.

We are here now but for a moment, we shall soon ascend, and then there will be that great coming down, “coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”. The assembly comes out in grace, and in glory; she does not fall, she descends. It is her own act, and a great mark of her liberty as formed after Christ. The fact of her being in accord with Christ is seen in that she has the glory of God. She has the glory, and she comes out in glory; she will give character to the world that is to come. Fallen beings give character to the present world.