GOD’S WORK
(In connection with God’s world, and the relationship of Christ to this divine system)
John 5: 17; Hebrews 3: 2-6; 2 Corinthians 5: 16, 17;
2 Peter 3: 13; Revelation 21: 1-8
The world which God made (Gen 1 and 2) having been marred and ruined through Satan’s work and man’s sin, God being dishonoured in it, and that creation being made subject to vanity through its fallen head, God’s rest in it was broken. God being what He is, love, could not rest in the presence of sin, and all the misery brought upon the creature by it. Hence God has begun to work a second time, not to reinstate the former system of things, but to create a wholly new system: “Behold, I make all things new”. A universe will be brought about where all will be of God and according to God, in which He will have pleasure, in which everything will declare His glory, and in which He will rest eternally, and in which man will enjoy the rest of God.
When the Lord was here, He did many of His mighty works on the sabbath day; for Him there was really no sabbath, nothing which spoke of the rest of God, but the reverse, so that when the Pharisees murmured, He justified His action by saying, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”. The Father is working and the Son is working to bring about that universal system of things in which alone God can rest. All that He is now doing in souls is in view of this great result. He is dealing with individual souls, to fit each one to fill his place in this new world. It is not simply a question of meeting our need, and securing our blessing, although all that is secured; but God is building up something for His own pleasure and glory, and every saint as born of God has his place in it, and each one in the age to come will reflect some ray of the glory of God and the glory of Christ, when all will be displayed in glory. This universe of God will be God’s house, He will dwell in it, Heb 3. What is in view in this passage is the universe, the “all things”, of which God is the builder. The Son of God builds the house, and He is over it as Son— Israel had been God’s house, now the church is God’s house, and ultimately it will be the whole universe. The tabernacle was the figure of it as it will exist in the millennial age. There were the three parts, the holiest, the holy place and the court of the tabernacle. The first represents the church, the innermost shrine where the glory of God will dwell, from whence the light of His glory will be made to shine to the heavenly saints and unfallen angels, and to Israel and the nations here on earth.
Those who compose the church will be privileged to dwell in the presence of the unveiled glory of God, Rev 21: 22-24. Even now the principalities and authorities in the heavenly places are learning in the church the all-various wisdom of God, Eph 3: 10. The holy place represents the position which Israel will occupy as an outer circle in relation to God, God’s centre on the earth. Then outside this circle will be the saved nations, their position being represented by the court of the tabernacle. All will be brought into happy relationship with God, all will know Him, rejoice in Him and serve Him. But this is only preparing the way for the perfect state which will follow the millennial age, so that the millennium has been spoken of as the ante-chamber to the eternal state. In the administration of the fulness of the times, everything will be brought under the headship of Christ (Eph 1: 10), and will thereby be reconciled to God, Col 1: 19, 20.
At length—the state eternal
No bound, no end possessing,
When heaven and earth—
God all in all
Shall fill with largest blessing.
In the new creation all things are of God, and the full result of God’s work will only be reached in the new heavens and the new earth, from which all trace of evil will be for ever banished, the former things (all that has been the result of man’s will and Satan’s work) will have passed away. There will be no sea, no sign of that unrest which is the fruit of sin. There God will dwell with men, and rest from all His work in divine complacency, in a universe of bliss which He has created. There all will be according to His nature and declare His glory, all will be pervaded by the Spirit, all filled with divine love and answering to that love, a scene of life into which death will never enter. His praise will be the perpetual and joyful service of His saints; when this has come to pass it will be said, “It is done”.
Now we may consider in what relation Christ stands to this divine system, His place in God’s world.
1. He is the beginning, the origin of all as risen from the dead. Nothing which does not spring from Christ will have any place in God’s world. Saints are of Him. As of Adam, our history has been closed in His death, we have died with Him, and been buried with Him, disappeared in connection with our life in this world, and we are risen with Him, and quickened together. He is our life, such is the church according to the mind of God, all is established on the resurrection platform, hence beyond the sphere of sin and the power of death. The present world has been built up in one man, the fallen man driven out from God, supported and energised by Satan; he is the prince and god of this world. This world all springs from Adam, and takes its character from him, he fills it. Now God is building up His world in another Man, in Christ, the Man after God’s heart, all springs from Him, hence takes its character from Him, and in the end He will fill it, and therefore, as filled by Christ, God will take pleasure in it; in character it will answer to His mind, as the second Man does personally.
2. He is the Centre of God’s world, John 12: 31, 32. This world is judged, and the One who has been rejected and cast out of this world has been exalted by God and become the centre of God’s world. God is drawing to Christ. This is the result of God’s work in the believer, there is an affinity between what is of God in us and Christ, so that we are drawn to Him. We see this in the disciples, they were drawn to Christ and held to Him; when He asked them if they would go away, as many were doing, they said, “To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life”, John 6: 68. This was evidence of the work of God in them. Naturally there is no affinity between man and God, this was proved by the rejection of everything of God in Christ. Nothing which is not in affinity with Christ, and drawn to Him, will have any place in God’s world.
3. He is the light of God’s world, John 1: 4-9, 18. God has been revealed in Christ, the Son; for faith the light of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ; for faith the Sun of righteousness has arisen, the Sun of the eternal day which will never set, and those who have received the gospel of the glory of Christ are already of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness, we are the children of the light and the children of the day, we have been begotten of the light and we walk in the light; we have found in Christ, the Sun of our souls, the light of life.
Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear,
It is not night if Thou art near.
There will be no night there, and no dark spot in God’s world, every intelligent creature will live in the light of God, of which Christ is the effulgence. None who have rejected the light will have any part in God’s world. When Christ was here the light shone in the darkness, but in the coming day the light will completely dispel the darkness.
4. He is the Head, Eph 1: 7-10, 22; Col 2: 10. He is made Head over the “all things”, the universe of God: all will be put under the Son of man. There are three thoughts connected with headship: pre-eminence, derivation and direction. Christ has the place of pre-eminence in God’s world. He is placed at the head of all, that all which is under Him may derive from Him, take character from Him and be maintained in unity and harmony under His direction. The whole universe will receive its impress from Christ; there will be no discord anywhere, all will answer to God, Ps 150; Rev 5: 13, 14.
Christ is not only the foundation of God’s building, He is the chief corner-stone, the crown and glory of God’s system. None who do not accord to Christ this place of pre-eminence which God has given Him will have any place in God’s world. Faith accords to Christ the place which God has given Him, and the one who does so receives the Spirit, is brought into vital relationship with Him, and thus comes to derive from Him. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”, Rom 8: 9. If we have received the Spirit of Christ, then Christ is in us, we have come to live in the life of the last Adam. “As he is, so are we in this world”, 1 John 4: 17. “He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one”, Heb 2: 11. The church is of Christ, as Eve was of Adam. Only that which is of Christ, the Head, will have any place in God’s world. Christ is all and in all. He will fill all with what is of Himself. In Him all will be reconciled to God, hence all will be in a state of perfection and will abide for ever. Everything in God’s universe will declare His glory. “In his temple doth every one say, Glory!”, Ps 29: 9. When this is brought to pass, with what joy will God rest from His work, in that which His love has accomplished. What grace that we should have part in God’s world and enter into His rest.
From Helps for the Poor of the Flock vol 14 (1909)