THE SPHERE OF CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGE
The Lord, in going back to His Father and God in heaven through death and resurrection, has created a new sphere and conditions of life for His people, for those whom He recognises as His brethren. Being established in resurrection, it is beyond the power of death; it is outside this present world, it is outside the reach of the natural man, and even outside our present flesh and blood condition. It is a spiritual sphere, and can only be apprehended spiritually and by faith. It is the sphere into which Christ has entered as the risen and ascended Man, the Son of God, the One who has gone to the Father. It is not exactly heaven as a place, but a spiritual sphere characterised by the words, “my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20: 17. It is all new to man, there had been no intimation of it previously in God’s communications to men. But it is the sphere of our present privilege in association with the Son of God, as those quickened together with Him. He would lead us there, and it is our privilege in spirit to follow Him, that we may share His joys and praises. “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Heb 2: 12. What characterises this sphere is
(1) peace, “Peace be unto you”, John 20: 19. It is not only that He has made peace, but He leads us to a sphere into which nothing can enter which can disturb the peace; there are no disturbing elements there, it is outside the sphere of sin and death and Satan’s power. We may not always be enjoying peace, but in that sphere there is always peace.
We have to do with another sphere where evil abounds, in which we have to encounter the power of Satan and the lawlessness of men. Yet even in view of that the Lord says, “Peace be unto you”. “My peace I give unto you”, John 14: 27. But when we have the opportunity to retire in company with the Lord and His brethren to enter this heavenly sphere we find ourselves in a scene of perfect peace and repose.
(2) It is a scene of holy joy, a joy which nothing can touch, and which none can take from us; there we find a deep, abiding satisfaction which is indescribable, a rest which nothing can disturb. “In thy presence is fulness of joy ... pleasures for evermore”, Ps 16:11. In our life in this world, we find ourselves in a scene of sorrow on every hand. “In the world ye shall have tribulation”, John 16: 33. We may often be in heaviness through manifold temptations; we are still in bodies subject to suffering and death. But there are times when we can retire from all that is connected with our life here, and entering that heavenly place where Christ is, we find ourselves in a scene of heavenly joy.
(3) It is a sphere of constant praise, where Christ sings and maintains a service of perpetual praise in the midst of those whom He associates with Himself as His brethren. “I will declare thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Heb 2: 12. We may not always be able to join the singing, but the service is always going on. We may ofttimes find ourselves in circumstances of sorrow and weeping, and groan, being burdened. Then we need the grace of the great high Priest to lift us above these things, and to enable us to join the service of the heavenly priesthood.
(4) This new sphere and conditions of life are eternal. “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal”, 2 Cor 4: 18. Here we come to the beginning of the new day—the day of God, the day which has no night. When the blessed Son of God arose and ascended on high, the Sun of that day had arisen never again to set. And we are of the day, the sons of light. We may not always be enjoying the light, our way here may sometimes seem dark; but when in spirit we are able to rise up and enter upon our true place of privilege as the companions of Christ, then we find ourselves in the unclouded light of the Son of God, in a scene where darkness can never come.
It is only the new man, in the new power, who can enter this new and heavenly sphere. This is indicated in the Lord breathing into the disciples and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, John 20: 22. A spiritual man is a heavenly man; that is, he is formed in the life of the heavenly Man. It is as thus formed that we have taste for heavenly things and capacity for enjoying them. But it is only as we are in the power of an ungrieved Spirit that we can take up these precious privileges. Life in such a sphere is altogether outside the reach and capabilities of the natural man. The carnal man would speak of it as transcendental and impracticable, and to such it would be. Yet this is the sphere to which we as Christians belong. “Your life is hid with Christ in God”, Col 3: 3. We are made capable for it in being quickened together with Christ. This represents the fulness of present Christian privilege, which through the grace of God we are called to in Christ.
Blest Father, infinite in grace,
Source of eternal joy,
Thou leadst our hearts to that blest place
Where rest’s without alloy.
From Helps for the Poor of the Flock vol 19 (1914)