ACQUAINTANCE WITH CHRIST AND RECONCILIATION (1)
ACQUAINTANCE WITH CHRIST AND RECONCILIATION (1)
We need to know the Lord in order to understand Scripture - an acquaintance with Him in order to understand His sayings.
The judgment-seat (verse 10) will determine our place with Christ in the kingdom as regards earth - heaven is given to us by grace. Union is now, presentation (Ephesians 5) is in heaven; marriage (Revelation 19) is public and declares the relationship already established.
The testimony of this hour is preparedness for Christ’s coming. It is devotedness that tells on people - and that is the result of acquaintance. Look at Him! One hour looking at Him, beholding His glory, will do more for you than two hours reading the word. We need “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him... that ye may know”, etc. (Ephesians 1:17). The queen of Sheba in the presence of Solomon, and David in Psalm 27: 4, illustrate this. In an ecstasy to God; to the Hebrews it is entering into the holiest of all; to the gentile Corinthians it is “Beholding ... the glory of the Lord”, etc.
The testimony now is in waiting for the Lord. In the letter to Thyatira - the last historical church - the morning star takes the place of the candlestick. It is not a restoration of the church here, a being something in christendom, but looking out for Him in devotedness.
From verse 16 we have the reconciliation: God has [p. 21] removed the distance from His own side by death. The man is gone; the end of all flesh came before God. He has effected this by the cross and He feels about us according to it. In Exodus 12 their safety was assured, and in chapter 15 they were reconciled.
If you are in the power of the positive truth you do not need the contrasts. Worship (proskuneo) is expressive of a dog fawning on his master - you are absorbed. In the assembly we are “in Christ” and on the new ground.