WHERE AND HOW IS THE LOVE OF CHRIST MOST ENJOYED?

WHERE AND HOW IS THE LOVE OF CHRIST MOST ENJOYED?

There is much interest in the thought pressed by —— as to bridal affections, but I believe he is trying to reach it in the wrong way. I cannot get to London by flying; however right it may be to go there, I must go the only possible way. My great desire to get there will not make any change in the way to get there. I quite admit, “filled even to all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3: 19) is more than union. “In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14: 20); J.N.D. (Synopsis Volume 3, p. 367) says it is more than union, but surely it follows on union, and could not be enjoyed without union. It is enjoyed in heaven, and was not enjoyed while Christ was on earth. If I have to get to heaven to enjoy it, I must have union, for it is by union with Christ that I reach Him in heaven.

Now, every enjoyment I have of Christ is deeper in heaven, even though it be dwelling on the manner of His walk here on the earth. If I dwell on it, or on His death, while enjoying my union with Him in heaven, His love comes out to me in a much deeper way than it ever could before I knew that I am united to Him, and am with Him where He is. This the passover in the land typified; and in Ephesians, where we are seated in the heavenlies, the love comes out more deeply and fully than ever (chapter 3), and there we are fitted to be filled into the fulness of God. There is ^[p. 303] the knowledge of His love, and of all that He did, when I am in heaven, and lying down in green pastures; I have a much deeper sense of His love there, when it has effected its desires for me, than I could have in any intermediate stage of it. I should feel very sensible of the Shepherd’s love, when on His shoulders, where He placed me, rejoicing; but I should have a far deeper sense of it when He had brought me home, and placed me in the centre of rejoicings.

I quite admit the growth of affection, as I am drawn in heart to my Saviour, as the woman in Luke 7, or Jonathan to David, or Rebekah, from all the steward had told her of Isaac; but surely the church’s union with Christ has made all that complete and eternal; and it is after I know this that I begin to know Christ in any deep way; and any advance I make is for the body, of which I am a member, for I can never lose my corporate responsibility.

“The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Corinthians 12: 7). The bee always carries its acquisition to the hive; the wasp eats it. I really receive only to impart. Eternal life is common to all saints eventually, but to the church only “in that day”. If I had not the eternal life, I could not have the capacity to enjoy it. The saints of a former day could never enter into things as we can. We are led into things as united to Him, our Head. We are first united to Him, and then we learn Him; but all is for the body, and to help on its growth here, and this is the only sure way for having the bride ready for the Bridegroom.