CHRISTIANITY AS CHARACTERISED BY MYSTERY (3)

CHRISTIANITY AS CHARACTERISED BY MYSTERY (3)

Ephesians 3: 1 - 12; Ephesians 5: 25 - 32

AJG In chapter 1 of this epistle we have the thought of the mystery of God’s will which He has made known to us. We are intended to be intelligent as to what is about to come in, the heading up of all things in heaven and on earth in Christ, and the assembly’s portion as inheriting it with Him. But in chapters 3 and 5 we have the Mystery as it is usually spoken of, that is the mystery - “the mystery of the Christ,” as it says in chapter 3, and a great mystery in chapter 5, which the apostle says is Christ and the assembly. In chapter 3 we have what the mystery of the Christ is, that those of the Gentiles, the nations, “should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings.” So, as we were saying on Friday in connection with Colossians 2, there is great importance in our being united together in love; the apostle when he introduces the thought of mystery stressing this thought of “joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus,” and then goes on to show that in the mystery the principalities and powers in the heavenlies are intended to learn at the present time the all various wisdom of God. Hence the mystery is presented in chapter 3 largely in relation to God, whereas in chapter 5 it is presented in relation to Christ, what it means to Him to have the assembly.

AHS Is the thought in this chapter as to joint heirs, a development of what there is in chapter 2: 15?

ATG Yes, I would say that; you are referring to the fact of Jew and Gentile being made one. In chapter 3 the apostle is stressing the fact that it embraces the nations, he says “that they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus.” It is a very great conception, which was entirely new. It is a remarkable thing in God’s ways that early in the history of man He separated Abraham’s seed and made it a peculiar nation, and hedged it about, and forbad it to have much in the way of intercourse with other nations, so that for centuries there was one nation on earth that was peculiarly God’s people. The revelation of the mystery, therefore, involved a complete departure in the ways of God, and the introduction of something that was entirely unknown, and in which the riches of divine grace and wisdom shine out. It is not just one nation, not simply Israel set aside and one other nation taken up, but it is a question of all nations, “they who are of the nations.”

RHG Is it in order to magnify the grace of God that He would not be bounded by one nation?

AJG I think so. God is now bringing to light what has been in his purpose, as it says, “according to the purpose of the ages, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord,” so that this is a prime thought of God. The setting aside of Israel as a nation came in in His ways. The ways of God are a very fruitful subject of enquiry as to the wisdom there is in them, but this is a question of what He has in His purpose.

JST Do you think in that way the man in Jerusalem who came into the temple and took the Babe in his arms, had an inkling of this when he said, “a light for revelation of the Gentiles,” Luke 2: 32? Did the whole thing seem to be lighting up for a moment in Simeon’s soul?

AJG It is very striking that Simeon mentions Gentiles first, showing that in the Spirit he became intelligent before his day, you might say, before the Spirit had come and before Paul had been brought on the scene. He really anticipated the mystery by saying, “a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel,” Luke 2: 32. It is a great witness to the influence of Christ, and of course to the power of the Spirit, that those who are naturally so utterly diverse can be joined together in one body; that really was what Peter was given to see in the sheet let down from heaven, it was a vessel, and it came down from heaven and went up to heaven; that is, it was heavenly in origin, as has often been said, and heavenly in destiny, and yet the constituents of it were all manner of four footed beasts and creeping things, and so on; but then the word was, “What God has cleansed, do not thou make common,” Acts 10: 15; God cleanses the hearts of the nations by faith, and then gives them the Holy Spirit, and it seems to me to be a wonderful testimony to the influence of Christ that such constituents can be bound together, united together perfectly in love in one body.

LGL So that in Acts 10 Peter says, “Can any one forbid water that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit as we also did?” Is that an introduction to the thought of what you have before you?

AJG I think so, because the Lord speaks in Acts 1 of the Holy Spirit, and speaks of it as their being baptised by the Holy Spirit, which is an important matter, bringing in the thought of the submerging, so to speak, of all that is natural, but the merging together positively in the Spirit. It is a very important thing in assembly that we should learn to merge in the Spirit; we cannot get anywhere in assembly service unless we are first in the good of having been baptised together into one body in the power of one Spirit.

CPP I was wondering what the link would be as to the place that the Christ has in our hearts with our being merged together and able to move as one? The thought of ‘the Christ’ seems to come into these Scriptures and be emphasised.

AJG Well, it is because ‘the Christ’ is Christ personally viewed as the One who is to accomplish all God’s will, and take His place as the Head of the system of glory and blessing which God has in mind to bring in. He is the antitype of Adam, set over all the works of God’s hands, and in that position the woman is brought to the man. It is important to have that view of the Christ, to get an impression of the vast system of glory that God has before Him to bring in, in Christ as the Head of it, and it is that One who loved the assembly and has delivered Himself up for it.

JE Do you feel the importance of being right in our outlook in the glad tidings, as free of all national bias? One was thinking of Acts 15 where James says in verse 14, “Simon has related how God first visited, to take out of the nations a people for his name. And with this agree the words of the prophets,” and so on. In our chapter it is a question of the glad tidings. Do you think we need help on that line?

AJG I am sure it is well to bear in mind that the glad tidings is the means by which God brings to light those who are in His purpose, and whom He is taking up for no less a thought than this thought of the mystery, so that as you say it is a good thing to have a heavenly outlook in our glad tidings, in our preaching of the gospel. It is not confined in any sense to meeting the need of man (though the grace of God comes down indeed to meet the greatest need of man, and every need) but it has in mind the securing of the material for this great thought of God.

JE Mr. Raven used to speak of the glad tidings as the means by which God effectuates His purpose.

AJG Yes, I think it is quite clear from this chapter that that is a right statement.

CPP Is the expression as to the unsearchable riches of the Christ connected with the eternal thoughts of God and His purposes, and in no way a matter of meeting our need?

AJG I would say that, and then the apostle also says, “and to enlighten all with the knowledge of what is the administration of the mystery hidden throughout the ages in God, who has created all things,” Ephesians 3: 9. We are to have some understanding as to how it works, the administration of it.

JWH Is this an advance on the thought of the administration of it as through the apostle Paul? Earlier in the verses read, it suggests the revelation to Paul, and what is revealed to the holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit.

AJG In verse 2 he speaks of “the administration of the grace of God which has been given to me towards you, that by revelation the mystery has been made known to me,” but I think when we come to verse 9, “what is the administration of the mystery hidden throughout the ages in God,” he has in mind the practical working out of it among the saints at the present time in order that now, as it says, “to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God.” What would you say to that?

JWH Yes, I think that is right. What was in my mind was in relation to what has been revealed in the power of the Spirit in relation to this mystery, involving the Spirit coming before the apostle had come to light, and whether in the coming of the Spirit there was not that inaugurated, and now the apostle having the administration of it given to him peculiarly. I am referring to verse 5.

AJG Yes, I rather question whether the mystery was known before Paul’s day, although the Spirit had come. He says “has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit.” I should imagine it was not known before Paul’s day save so far as there was an inkling of it in the light given to Peter in the sheet let down from heaven.

JWH That was what I wondered, whether that would bear upon it, seeing that the apostles and prophets are brought in.

AJG Yes, they are brought in so that the truth is now to be diffused so to speak, not only revealed to the holy apostles but to the prophets too; those would be New Testament prophets of course. The truth was to be diffused once it had come out. There was sufficient light as to it given to Peter to enable him to admit the Gentiles, to overcome Jewish prejudices, but it is a question whether Peter ever understood the truth of the mystery in its fulness until after Paul had had the ministry of it committed to him.

JST In regard to what you were saying as to the principalities and powers, this is a great advance upon the time when there were things that the angels desired to look into.

AJG Yes, they are now to see the all-various wisdom of God in the assembly.

JST Do you think in that way it is very significant that the cherubim in Solomon’s day were looking toward the house and not toward the ark?

AJG Yes, that is very interesting, but it seems to me to impress us that we ought to be greatly concerned as to how we act and move in the assembly, and seek the Lord’s help in relation to it, because principalities and powers in the heavenlies are looking on, and God intends that they should get an impression, not of confusion or of what is of the mind of man, or of weakness, but of the wisdom of God.

JE Is the assembly viewed in this chapter in its setting in relation to the universe, and for the moment the administration of God is confined really to that vessel, is it not? Could you speak of divine administration today apart from the assembly?

AJG No, I think not. There is a certain administration indirectly through government ordained of God, but the direct administration of God is in the assembly undoubtedly.

RMY Would the use of the word now confine this matter of the all-various wisdom of God being displayed to the present dispensation, or will the principalities and powers always see it operating in the assembly?

AJG I should think they would see it operating in the city, for instance, in the day to come. I think the great point is that they should see it now in the presence of moral confusion in the world. They should see a sphere in which every question could be solved according to divine wisdom, because it is a vessel which has Christ as its Head.

RHG When God created man, He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion,” Genesis 1: 26. Is that looking on to Christ and the assembly coming in in the administration?

AJG Yes it is, as I understand it.

JE Perhaps you would help us as to your thought as to the place God has in this chapter.

AJG In the assembly at the present time we see various issues raised from time to time, because we are in the presence of Hades’ gates, which would represent the counsels and wisdom of wickedness, and there is from time to time an effort to corrupt or overthrow what is of God in this world, and as the saints are held in relation to Christ, deriving wisdom and character from Him, we see that every issue that is raised is met, and met according to divine wisdom,

so that the assembly goes through, it is not overcome. Whatever attack is made upon the truth the assembly goes through, and I believe what is seen in the long history of the assembly here in meeting various matters that arise and repudiating the various influences of the world, is the working out of divine wisdom in the great variety of it.

JE I was thinking of that. In the coming day the city in its public display will be God’s answer in triumph to all that the enemy has introduced, but at the present moment is not divine administration in the assembly God’s answer to Satan’s attack?

AJG I think so. I believe it has a good deal in mind the answer to the wisdom of Satan, not that that is true wisdom, for Romans 16: 27 says, “the only wise God” which means, I think, God who alone is wise; there is no wisdom truly anywhere else. But then on the other hand, of the prince of Tyre it says, “thou art wiser than Daniel!” Ezekiel 28: 3, and the king of Tyre is said to have been full of wisdom, Ezekiel 28: 12, showing there is great wisdom of a sort with Satan, but what is to be displayed in the assembly is the all-various wisdom of God.

WHG Does that mean that the moral victory of God shines out in this day supremely? It is said it is hidden throughout the ages in God.

AJG Yes, it is hidden throughout the ages in God, but now made known. The point is that it is now made known, and it is to be seen. I do not know that it is only in the way in which evil is met, but I take it that it takes form in the response to God in the assembly, that there is seen in that way how God whose nature has been belied by Satan’s lie, has operated amongst men who were morally dead and at a distance from Him, and secured in them, in the assembly under the influence of the headship of Christ, a response to Himself that is in holy affection and intelligence; that is a wonderful display of divine wisdom.

WHG In relation to the service of God, the present day is a great one for the glory of God.

AJG It is indeed, and the more we think of these things the more we shall see that the key to everything is the incarnation, the coming into manhood of a divine Person, and then the accomplishment of redemption where the depths have come to light, and then the coming in of the Holy Spirit. I believe those three things are the great keystone, so to speak, of all that God is bringing to pass for His glory, and they are the expression in a wonderful way of divine wisdom.

Ques Would that be the effulgence of God?

AJG It would be, the effulgence of God is the shining out of what He is, which is really love, but allied with that is the wonderful wisdom in which love has acted, so as to bring to pass results which are compatible with what God is in His love.

BH Has the word in Acts 15 any relation to this in regard to building again the temple of God that was broken down?

AJG The prophet from which James quotes refers to God’s work in Israel in a coming day, but James uses it by application in order to justify what God was then doing among the Gentiles.

ABJ We read in verses 10 and 11 as to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies, that they might know through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God. What effect should that have on us? Should it stir us up as to the intelligent working out of things?

AJG Yes, I think it should greatly exercise us as to the way things are done in the assembly, whether it does express divine wisdom. There is no reason why it should not if we are really true to our position as the body of Christ deriving wisdom from our Head. The queen of Sheba not only heard the wisdom of Solomon, finding all her hard questions answered, but she saw the wisdom of Solomon in the great regime that was there under his hand, culminating in the ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah; that is what she saw, and she saw the whole system moving in wonderful order and wisdom.

JST Does not the apostle Paul use it in that connection somewhat, when he says, “Do ye not then know that the saints shall judge the world?” 1 Corinthians 6: 2. The saints shall judge angels and are ye not able to settle these small matters? Do you think that comes in there?

AJG Well it does, I think. It is a question of wisdom being seen, the all-various wisdom of God, so that there is no matter that arises that cannot be met in divine wisdom in the assembly, but the secret of that is, of course, that she is the body of Christ. That is, she has as Head One in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and therefore divine wisdom in its fulness is there in Christ personally.

JWH Does the thought of access to God enter into this? The service of God would somewhat fill it out.

AJG I think so. I think it does include the thought undoubtedly of the service of God, because as you say, it immediately says, “in whom we have boldness and access in confidence by the faith of him,” Ephesians 3: 12.

CPP We can see the importance of what you have said as to unity and love being operative amongst us as binding us together; otherwise the enemy will get an advantage instead of being defeated, will he not?

AJG Yes, he will indeed, but when we see what Satan has done in bringing in a spirit of divergence and hatred amongst men and scattering them, and belying the true nature of God, I think that to see a body, the assembly, held under the influence of Christ united together in love, and all responding with one heart to the blessed God, must be a wonderful demonstration in the eyes of principalities and powers in the heavenlies that God has wisdom that is far greater than the great wisdom of His adversaries.

CPP Not a wisdom merely that could deal with evil and judge it, but could bring out of such a state such a response to Himself.

AJG Yes, exactly. The very state that Satan had brought in in God’s creatures being found in distance from God and distrust of Him, becoming the occasion of God to reveal Himself in grace and love, so that He is known in the hearts of men in a way that He would not have been known otherwise.

JE Do we not gather the impression that God in His wisdom will hold back nothing that is good for His people? That in itself refutes the enemy’s lie originally - “hath God said?” - as if to suggest that God would hold back something that was good from man.

AJG Yes, exactly, and so the answer is found in the worship of the assembly. Worship is something far greater than mere thanksgiving for benefits received; it means that the assembly is in the presence of God, and is so impressed with what God is in His own blessedness that the only thing it can do is worship.

GH All that you have been speaking of as to the assembly is worked out in Paul himself, who once ravaged the assembly, but now he speaks of himself as less than the least of all saints, and entrusted with the administration.

AJG Yes. He was greatly impressed evidently with divine grace, speaking of himself in that way,

“To me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given.” It reminds one of David who went and sat before God, and said, “Who am I,” 1 Chronicles 17: 16. It is in that spirit that Paul says, “To me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given.”

RMY Would you say a word as to why it is God who created all things, rather than the Father, who is before us in this chapter?

AJG It is a question, I think, of what is public, not simply a question of God as He is known by those who are brought into relationship with Him, but it is a question of God, and the assembly being the vessel in which God’s wisdom is made known. It is a public vindication of God.

RHG Does God secure His original thought as to man in image and likeness in relation to Christ and the assembly thus?

AJG Yes, I think so. The very conception of a vessel that is the body of Christ is a very wonderful one on the line of what is mediatorial; that God should come out in Christ to begin with. He who is equal with God becoming Man, and thus bringing what God is near to man, is wonderful; but then that Christ should have a body which is His fulness, so that all that Christ is toward man as the expression of God, might be expanded in a vast vessel composed of those taken up from all the nations, is a very wonderful thing indeed, and is an expression of divine wisdom. It will work out in its fulness in the heavenly city.

JM What is the scope of the enlightenment in verse 9? It speaks of, “to enlighten all with the knowledge of what is the administration,” and so on. What is the scope of that all there?

AJG I should think he means to enlighten all saints. I do not see that it goes beyond the saints,

but I would think he would have us intelligent as to what there is for God in the assembly now, so that we do not think lightly of the assembly, and we do not just come to meetings, so to speak, but we really have the assembly intelligently in our minds, and are exercised that what is seen in it is worthy of it.

GH Would you help us as to why nearly all this chapter is a parenthesis?

AJG Well, it is clear from the beginning of chapter 4 that when the apostle commenced writing chapter 3 he had in mind to proceed to the exhortations that we get in chapter 4, but then his heart is so full of the mystery. He has it in his soul, and because of the deep feelings he had he is compelled, so to speak, by the Spirit to enlarge on this thought of the mystery, and then to show us how he prays, bowing his knees; I believe in order to encourage us to do the same. We cannot exactly get into these great things even by speaking over them with one another. We may get a certain impression of them which would induce desire to understand them more, but the great thing to do is to get to our knees. Paul did that, and he did it in secret, in private, because he was in prison, and I believe his intention in recording it, there is to encourage us to do the same.

JM Does it seem evident that Paul always had in his mind the great truth of the mystery? I notice in the close of the epistle to the Romans he gives a hint as to what is to follow where he says, “according to the revelation of the mystery, as to which silence has been kept in the times of the ages, but which has now been made manifest,” Romans 16: 25 - 26. Do you think that the apostle ever had this great thought of the mystery as a goal before him, and where he was able he would speak of it?

AJG Yes, I do, because it was revealed to him and given to him as a special ministry, so that just as Moses had the whole pattern of the tabernacle given to him in the mount, and laboured with that pattern in his mind, so Paul would have the mystery given to him, and then would labour among the saints with that pattern in mind. In chapter 5 we have what the assembly is to Christ specially emphasised, and the apostle at the end says, “This mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly.” We get the great love of Christ for the assembly, “as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it, in order that he might sanctify it, purifying it by the washing of water by the word, that he might present the assembly to himself glorious.” I think the idea of presenting to Himself involves that He has in mind a vessel that should correspond in every way with Himself, and therefore it fits in with what we have in Genesis 2, where, as the woman is brought to the man. Adam says, “This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man,” Genesis 2: 24. Now he has something that exactly corresponds with him, though in feminine features.

RMY How does the thought of sanctifying and purifying fit in with what was before us previously, as to no previous history and the thought of redemption not attaching to the assembly?

AJG As far as I understand it I think it refers to the present service of Christ, and would a good deal take form in the intelligence of the saints. It is the washing of water by the word; the word I think brings in the thought of an intelligent setting out of the truth.

CPP The expression is used, “we are members of his body,” Ephesians 5: 30. Would you say a word as to that? Does that view the saints individually, as to our part in this vessel? Would it be in that relation that the cleansing and the sanctifying is needed?

AJG Yes, I would think that. I have wondered whether this sanctifying and purifying that is spoken of here links with what we get in John 17 where the Lord says, “I sanctify myself for them, that they also may be sanctified by truth,” John 17: 19. He had in mind as setting Himself apart as Man in the presence of God, that we might learn in Him our true place or status, and I am just wondering whether this sanctifying and washing of water by the word has not something of that kind in mind; that is, the truth as it is to be learnt in Christ is to be continually brought before us, and then the import of His death as that which enables us to detach ourselves from all that is connected with past history.

LGL Are these thoughts connected with the thought of Moses receiving the pattern? Are the saints while here on the earth walking in relation to the full thought that it will be a glorious church?

AJG I think that is what we should have before us. Hence Christ is presented to us as about to present it to Himself glorious, that should be before us too, the thought of there being no element of disparity, we are to be found in complete correspondence with Christ. That has to be kept before our hearts.

RHG Although the assembly as such has no past history, the death of Christ was a necessity, was it not, in order that it might be brought to light?

AJG It was indeed. The moral import of the death of Christ enters into the process of building because the vessel which is secured by Christ and for Him is a holy vessel, that is to say it must be capable of having Christ’s own knowledge of good and His own perfect abhorrence of evil, and I think the death of Christ is the expression of love supremely, and also that in which all evil has been dealt with according to God. I think the import of that enters into the building, although it is not viewed as standing related to any past history on the part of the assembly.

GMcK In that connection it speaks of the edifying of the body of Christ in chapter 4, “until we all arrive at... the full-grown man.” Has that any connection with what you were speaking of?

AJG I think so. That corresponds with the building of the woman, it is going on now I understand, the work of God by means of gifts; the work of the ministry has in view the building of the woman, the edifying of the body of Christ.

CPP Would the light of these activities of Christ’s have a liberating effect so that He might have something of the joy of possession as in assembly, even now?

AJG I think that. I think “present the assembly to himself glorious” might be anticipated in the spirit of it in the assembly.

JE It is interesting, referring again to John 17, that while on the one hand those men were sovereignly given to Christ by the Father, yet on the other hand they were all the direct product of His own service, and He continues that service in setting Himself apart for man, does He not?

AJG Yes, quite so. And hence the assembly on the one hand is given to Christ by God, it is the result of God’s own consideration for man, “It is not good that Man should be alone; I will make him a helpmate, his like,” Genesis 2: 18. But then this Scripture shows that she is the object of Christ’s own personal service from His position on high.

JM In what way does Christ nourish and cherish the assembly?

AJG I think we are conscious of it sometimes in the ministry of Christ to us. Nourishing would bring in the thought of food, that would build us up, and cherishing is more a thought bringing the sense of endearment to our heart.

RLH The first faculty brought into play in Adam after the deep sleep was the power of speech was it not? Adam said, “This time it is bone of my bones,” and so on. Here the apostle says, “I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly.” Are we being encouraged to speak of these great thoughts now?

AJG We are, but Adam speaking in that way shows how his feelings were moved as he saw the woman being brought to him; “This time,” he says, evidently implying that he had looked for something that would correspond with himself before, and had not found it, but now this time his desires and affections were to be gratified as he saw the woman being brought to him. Hence I think we can rightly take that up in assembly, that the Lord finds great pleasure in the saints as they come under His notice, and additional pleasure not only because of what they are, but because they represent God’s own consideration for Him; just as Rebekah brought to Isaac represents the consideration of the father for the son, because it was the father who set in motion that the servant should go and find a wife for his son Isaac.

CPP Would you think in that way the Father has a special pleasure in taking account of the movements of heart assembly-wise towards Christ?

AJG I would.

LGL In relation to the thought of what is going through, does it help us to get the encouragement from the scripture in Matthew that Hades’ gates shall not prevail against the assembly? Here we have the thoughts of God going through to the completion of the vessel in which there will be no blemish of any kind, and the saints at the present time in the presence of evil are moving in the light of this.

AJG Yes, that is so. The end is reached here as the result of the service of Christ.

TRY Do we get the thought of union in chapter 5?

AJG Well I think it is implied, because after speaking of these things, the Spirit through Paul says, “Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh,” so that I think the Spirit of God is really leading up to the thought of union, and it is entered into, so to speak, from Christ’s own side; Rebekah is from the other side, the question is, “Wilt thou go with this man?” and she says, “I will go,” Genesis 24: 58. And then it says, “she became his wife, and he loved her,” Genesis 24: 67, so that the movement towards union is on Rebekah’s side in Genesis 24, but in Genesis 2 it seems to be from the side of the man, a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, as though the Lord greatly rejoices in having this vessel secured for Him, that can now be united to Him, and derive from Him, and be moved under His impulse, in all that that will mean, both in the service of God and in the representation of God.

JM Would both phases that you referred to, Rebekah in Genesis 24 and also the reference in this chapter, find expression in assembly service, that is Rebekah moving typically towards Christ and Christ moving towards the assembly?

AJG I think so. We get in fact both sides in Genesis 24, because Isaac went out into the field to meet her, and he lifted up his eyes, and “behold” it says, “camels were coming,” showing that he was stirred as he saw the movement of the camels.

JM Does this call for spirituality? The apostle says, “This mystery is great.” What is the force of that?

AJG Well, I think it is just to impress us with the fact that it is mystery; that is, our natural minds cannot enter into it. It is really, I think, to cast us upon the Spirit of God, and our being conscious that we are cast upon God would show itself in prayer. It is a mystery, but then it is not a mystery that is beyond us, because the Spirit searches all things, yea the depths of God.

CPP Might I ask what is implied in the thought of the assembly being glorious?

AJG The impression it conveys to me is that she corresponds perfectly with Christ. I do not think there could be any greater glory than that in moral features and intelligence, she should correspond perfectly with Christ. To answer perfectly to His desires seems to me to be the acme of glory for the assembly.

RHG The nourishing and cherishing is because she is His own flesh.

AJG Yes, quite so.

JWH “Glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages,” would be the consummation of all this, would it? If He presents it to Himself glorious, it is of that character that can go through eternally.

AJG I think so, and then it is as entirely with Him and with no disparity between her and Him, she is available under His hand for the ascription of glory to God.