CHRIST IN GLORY
[p. 315] CHRIST IN GLORY
I have often coveted the ability to present Christ in glory to the saints. Who of us has an adequate idea of the greatness and glory of that risen Man? The first great thing is to see that He is a Man of another order, not only that He has gone to glory, but that He is from heaven: He is heavenly. And now He has gone to the Father, and we see Him no more; but He has put us in the Father’s presence; He has gone there in a condition which is the full and adequate expression of the mighty power of God in resurrection.
I would not desire anything more than the ability to minister Christ to the saints, as Paul says, “Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom”. Do you. know that you are going to be like Christ? “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly”. We are going to be perfectly like Christ. We know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. The apostle John could dilate upon the present blessing: “Beloved, now are we children of God”; you will never be more truly the object of affection to the Father than you are now, and therefore the apostle says, “Now are we children of God”; but he says, it is not yet manifested what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him. If I am going to be like Christ, in the image of the heavenly, Christ becomes the standard of purity for me down here. I would not be content with a lower condition of things; I have the blessed joy of being placed with God apart from everything that is contrary, and the consciousness that I am going to be perfectly in the likeness of the Man in glory.
[p. 316] All nations shall call Him blessed. Men are to be blessed in Him — not only the priestly company in heaven, but men upon earth shall be blessed in Him. They will be blessed under the peaceful rule of the King’s Son.
As the true David He will subdue His enemies, and as the true Solomon He will reign in peace. Moses and Aaron combined give us a type of Christ: He will come out as King and Priest and will bless the people, and men will be blessed in Him. I picture to myself the world to come as something like Israel in their tents, as Balaam saw them abiding in divinely-appointed order, in the vision of God. That will have its application, in a certain sense, in the world to come; all will, so to say, be covered by Christ under the eye of God. It will be a great thing, beloved friends, when the true Moses, the true Aaron — King and Priest — comes forth and all nations call Him blessed.
That will be a very blessed time down here, a time of peace, security, and contentment. How much are these things known now?
There are two things about the flesh which commonly hinder us, as shown us in the case of Israel in the book of Numbers: these are the reminiscences of Egypt, and indisposition for the land; all that has to be overcome in the power of the Spirit. You must get this freedom first — not but that a person may see the purpose of love, but entering into it is another thing. It is painful to think of our indisposition to be conducted into the purpose of God; no one who knows anything about himself will deny that.
People very little know what it is to be in faith — they believe the Scriptures. It is only a very few minutes in the week I am in faith, i.e., the soul is [p. 317] lighted up by what is revealed to it — this is the light of unseen things.
Ques What is the difference between the ‘inner man’ and the ‘outward man’?
FER The inner man is in touch with heaven — the outward in touch with earth. Nothing could mar or interfere with that hidden life.
Life — there is of course a starting point, and that is when God is known, when there is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — then that is the starting point of life. What makes me say this is ‘The letter kills, but the Spirit quickens’; then later in the chapter you have, “now the Lord is that Spirit”. When your soul apprehends the Lord in resurrection, you have got hold of the quickening Spirit.
Ques That is across the Red Sea?
FER Yes, exactly, that is just it. Until that point is arrived at, there is deliverance from the judgment of death, but when you come across the Red Sea and apprehend the Lord risen, you apprehend life — the Spirit makes alive — you know the life of God — you get an insight into life. Faith is what you cannot verify, but you take upon the testimony of God — I feel sure that the resurrection is the true test of faith.
If you ask what is the moment when a person lives to God, I can tell you with positive certainty — it is when the soul apprehends the love of God; when the love of God is apprehended in the soul, that moment that soul begins to live to God.
Grace acts with reference to our condition, but love acts to satisfy itself.
[p. 318] I believe a man is what his glory is. If a man’s glory is in his shame, it describes his debasement; if Christ is your glory, it describes what you are morally; a man’s glory is what he cherishes.
The spring of the (Christ’s) work was love, and are you going to allow anything to compete with that — and neglect the love of Christ which lies at your service? If you do, you damage yourself for time and for eternity, for you will remain small. The love of Christ has changed everything. God has called us to a very blessed path, to appropriate the love of Christ, and it leads to very great happiness.
Mystery is, I judge, something that is set forth in testimony before it is displayed in power.
Paul interprets the witness of the Spirit, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit”, etc. When Christ ascended up on high He sent down the Spirit, the promise of the Father, and it was in order to make our hearts conscious of the love of God. This is the witness of the Spirit, you have the heart of the believer assured of the love of God by the Spirit. The effect is that you are consciously in the sense of holy love. The Son has revealed to us the Father: you know the Son and are conscious of being in the Son by the Spirit. You have thus come into the scene of holy affections in the power of the Holy Spirit, and if you are come there you are outside of the death scene, because you are introduced by the Spirit into the scene of holy love.
[p. 319] Ephesians 1:3 - 5 — Three things in these verses: the calling, the state that befits the calling, and the proper scene of the calling. I thus refer to them in the reverse order to that in the passage.
Sanctified and perfected (Hebrews 9) must not be confounded; sanctified is by far the greater thought of the two — set apart for God.
Children — sons: the idea that children of God conveys to me is that we are partners of Christ’s rejection. Sonship is that we are the companions of Christ in glory. Sonship and priesthood are intimately connected in Scripture, because the great idea connected with priesthood in Scripture is access, and it is sons who have access. A further privilege of sonship — intelligence of the mind and will of the Father.
Matthew brings in the truth of the kingdom of heaven, Luke gives us the truth of the kingdom of God. I think you will find that the truth of the kingdom of heaven centres round the Person of the exalted Christ, who has been rejected here; the truth of the kingdom of God in its present aspect centres round the Spirit given. The kingdom of heaven centres round the great fact of the exalted Man, the One who is in heaven is exalted to bear sway over the earth. You will find the first part of the gospel of Matthew goes on the [p. 320] ground of the presentation of Christ after the flesh to His people here; from chapter 16 and onwards all goes on the ground of His exaltation.
Union is not the thought in connection with the body. Union brings in the thought of the bride. The idea of union is that the church will share in the glory and exaltation of the Head. In Romans and 2 Corinthians it is the one body; in Colossians, His body because the Head is brought in.
When Christ was down here, He was the hope of glory — the pledge of all the fulfilment of the purposes of God. Christ in the saints is now the pledge of all the fulfilment of the purposes of God — the counsels of God — Christ in the gentiles, the hope of glory.
We live with Christ exactly in proportion as we realise we are dead with Him. We must accept death, then the acceptance of death is deliverance from it, that I might live where Christ is and live to God. Galatians 2:20, our link with Christ is Christ risen. It is not in everyday life I bring forth fruit to God — it is as married to Christ raised from the dead that I bring forth fruit to God. We are married to Him — joined to Him that we might bring forth fruit to God. There is a link between Christ raised from the dead and the christian.
Luke 24: 47 — “In his name”. I believe ‘name’ in Scripture to indicate that which God is pleased to set forth in any person. If God gave a name to David, to Abraham or to whoever it might be, the name indicated what God was pleased to set forth in that person.
Apart from the knowledge of God, I do not think you can understand grace. The first principle of grace is, I think, God’s adaptation of Himself to man in man’s state of sin and weakness. Grace is not exactly the thought of love — love works for its own satisfaction.
In Genesis 17 there are three things: first, God reveals His name to Abram — a name characteristic of Himself — His relationship to Abram. Second, He gives Abram a name, a new name, characteristic of what his position and relationship with God would be. Third, circumcision, separation from all to God. In application to us — God reveals Himself to us as Father — then our new name is Christ, anointed — then complete separation even from ourselves to God.
Christ came down here to reveal, bring down the Father’s love — but when He went back to the Father, He did not take away the love He brought down, but left it here with objects suitable for it and capable of enjoying it; John 17:25.
[p. 322] John 13 Christ is the beginning; everything originates with Him. The world is worn out, it is all gone for God — everything as to the world was gone for God at the death of Christ; now if there is to be anything for God it must originate with Christ.
You may find people very good, upright and charitable, but if it has not its origin with Christ it is nothing at all. Like Mary, who anointed the Lord, they thought it waste; they might have been a charitable kind of people, but it was all nothing — Mary appreciated Him.
Here in this chapter the origin of feet-washing is with the Lord Himself, “I have washed your feet”. They were to wash one another’s feet because He had washed theirs. Feet-washing is not so much removal of defilement, though it is that undoubtedly, but it is a grateful and refreshing service which we are to render to one another: it had its origin in Christ. We are to refresh one another with spiritual things, that is, with things which have Christ for their origin and centre, and by this the defilement which we have contracted will be removed.