TO BE DESCRIPTIVE OF CHRIST IS THE PRESENT TESTIMONY
[p. 84] TO BE DESCRIPTIVE OF CHRIST IS THE PRESENT TESTIMONY
It is a very serious question - a question of great interest to oneself, but of still greater interest to the Lord - What are we here for? He was here for us. Now we are to be here for Him. It is a great moment for your soul when you apprehend that you are here for Christ as a member of His body, that you belong to Him. Paul understood it when he said, “That I should preach .. . the unsearchable riches of Christ” - Christ and His body. We are left here to be descriptive of Him in the place of His rejection, to represent Him here as members of His body. As sons we are in the highest relationship; but as united to Christ we are in the highest position, and not only that, but we are brought into the fellowship of the counsels and interests of God.
If I look into the Old Testament history I see that God always had a testimony on earth. With Noah it was power in government; Abraham’s testimony was as the man of faith - called out; Joshua’s to bring the people of God into the land; David had the city, Solomon the temple. Christ came, and He was on the earth a complete testimony. Every effort was made to get rid of Him. Rejected here He is called to sit at God’s right hand; and what comes out now is the mystery - that His body is here. It was revealed to Paul. It was made known to him at his conversion in the question, “Why persecutest thou me?” Until Christ was in glory the truth of the body was not made known, but when He was fully rejected (Acts 9) it was disclosed. It was the most signal defeat of Satan; and if you get hold of the simple fact that Christ was refused a place here, and that His body is here, it will alter the whole complexion of your life. They send a message after Him in the person of Stephen, “We [p. 85] will not have this man to reign over us”, and Stephen delineates this new testimony for us. He says, “I see.. . the Son of man standing on the right hand of God”. That is the Man I want to maintain down here. One believer or two could not set forth Christ down here. It must be the whole body - all the saints; but the feeblest member is necessary to the full description of Him here. All may not be walking consistently, but every member of the body is necessary to set forth the exalted Man here where He is refused. It is an immense thing for the heart to get hold of it. Paul tells us that he would have all men see what is the administration of the mystery. It is a thing which should be seen here. He preached among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of the Christ - the Head and the body. I have never found a man in power who was not occupied with God’s present interest and testimony. If he is diverted from it he becomes feeble. You are not happy, and you are not in power if you are not set to be the expression, in the scene of His rejection, of the heavenly Man who is at the right hand of God. That is my chief interest. There would be no interest for me in this life if I did not know that I was a member of the body of Christ. What can affect our hearts like the fact that we are called to be descriptive of the exalted Man in the place where He is rejected - Christ in heaven, manifested on earth by His body? That is what calls forth all the opposition of Satan. If he opposed the Lord when He was on earth in humiliation, how much more now in His exaltation? What can move your heart more than that this blessed Man should be set forth in all His beauty by His members here where everything is against Him? Would you not like to be in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, testifying of Him and setting Him forth here? It is God’s purpose for you. But you cannot be descriptive of Him here if you have not been in spirit with Him where He is.