RECONCILIATION - THE SANCTUARY
[p. 243] RECONCILIATION — THE SANCTUARY
The sealing of the Spirit takes place on the reception of the testimony of forgiveness of sins; by the seal God marks us as His for His own purpose.
God spoke in times past, but He did not express Himself till Christ came. “The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. Scripture is the inspired record of what has been revealed; we have to distinguish between revelation and inspiration. Scripture is inspired, but the revelation was in Christ.
We want to get a wider sense of Christ as the Head. He has taken up all the liabilities under which creation lay, and in virtue of this is Head over all things. That is where reconciliation comes in.
The important point in reconciliation is that it brings you to God’s starting-point — to the holiest. Not only are we to enjoy the light that has come out to us where we are, but our privilege is to go in where the light has come from — that is, the sanctuary. “Send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles”. The sanctuary is where God’s secret is learnt, where all is made manifest. If you go into the sanctuary, you must be according to the sanctuary. The Head is the starting-point of reconciliation — that comes out in the passage we have read — the way God takes to reconcile all things is in the introduction of a Head. The great point in reconciliation is that God may have complacency in all, and in order for that all must be taken up in Christ. His headship rests on a twofold ground — as Creator and on that of reconciliation.
[p. 244] He is the Head of the wide creation; when God set Adam up as head He had Christ in mind; all will be put under the Son of man. He tasted death for everything; He will be Head of the wide creation. God will be glorified in all; everything will be brought into divine complacency.
God was in Christ providing for everything; so Christ is the “bread of God ... which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world”. Every family is developed from the Head, and everything will be maintained in the Head. Christ is the real starting-point of the creation of God. Every family, morally, is developed from Him, and takes its character from Him. Ultimately all that has not sprung from Christ will pass out of sight. He will fill all things. Christ has a voice to every man, and in that way becomes a test to every man. In reconciliation God is preparing things in view of the eternal state. That is not brought to pass until after reconciliation is effected. In the millennium Christ will be seen as Head of the wide creation; that is, before you come to the eternal state you have the restitution of all things. In the whole system of things which has been alienated, God will have complacency and will be glorified in all — all that paves the way for the new heavens and the new earth.
Reconciliation brings us to the fulness in Christ. If Christ is to fill all things, all the fulness dwells in Him. We are brought to the holiest; there we can see the restitution of all things. Everything is taken up in Christ; there is no failure there.
In Ephesians reconciliation brings us to God’s system of things; in Colossians you find Christ is the Centre and fulness of that.
You can see, in a way, the holiest when Christ was here on earth. You must take two things into account: one is the holy love of God — the Father’s love — and Christ. Where you get the Father’s love — and
[p. 245] Christ, there you get the holiest. At the baptism of Christ and on the mount of transfiguration, you get a pretty good idea of the holiest: the Father’s love resting on Christ the anointed Man. To enter the holiest is really to be in the apprehension of the Father’s love, and of all that Christ is, as the vessel in which God carries out all the purposes of His love. We enter by the blood of Jesus; there is every encouragement to us to go in, to enter into the apprehension of what is there — the Father’s love and the secret of His mind in Christ. Each one has to come to it individually, in the apprehension of his soul. In the holiest there were the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat. What answers to that is the Father’s love and Jesus as the One by whom all the counsels of His love are to be carried into effect. It wants courage on our part to go in; having boldness, is that you are encouraged to take up your privilege. We have to turn our back on everything here — that is the practical difficulty. God brings in a Man, and in that Man He purposes to reconcile everything. The holiest is really the holy love of God, where Christ, the true Ark of the Covenant, could abide. When reconciliation is brought to pass everything will subsist in a certain way in the love of the Father. There is the scene of the Father’s love, and the One in whom divine love rests — the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord; and that is the point of the reconciliation of all things. Everything will take its character from the Ark of the Covenant “Thy law is within my heart”; and this in order that He may give that law to the universe; hence everything will be brought into divine complacency. It was part of God’s design, in connection with the redemption of Israel, to set up His dwelling-place among them; the tabernacle was the pattern of things in the heavens. In type they had all the secrets of God in the tabernacle, though as long as God was [p. 246] dwelling among a people after the flesh, the way into the holiest was not made manifest; but now we have entrance, so that we may apprehend the secrets of God — His mind in Christ, whom He has made Head over all things; and we come into the holiest to be educated in these things. It is very much an individual matter, but it should characterise the priestly company. The company at Corinth were recognised as saints coming together in assembly; but how many of them knew anything of entering the holiest? Christ is Priest by the call of God, and we must prove our relation to the High Priest in order to enter into our place as priests.
The important thing is the appreciation of Christ, then we reach Him in the holiest; His presence is realised by those who appreciate Him. There is not a moment when a saint may not enter the holiest. The Hebrews is a general epistle to the saints, a kind of appeal to them to take up their privileges. It would be a great thing if all answered to it. We must keep the two things distinct — the holiest and the meeting.
Worship would really flow from the consciousness of the presence of Christ. The holiest is the apprehension of Christ as the One in whom the purposes of divine love are brought into effect; and entrance into the sanctuary individually would qualify us for coming together in assembly. We enter the holiest individually, but in order that we should bring the good of all that we have learned into the assembly. The priest should be well fed, so that he may be kept in efficiency. Christ will be where He is appreciated, and you really learn to appreciate Him by coming into the holiest. Many have an idea they will get into tune by coming to the meeting; if people go on anyhow during the week, they will come into the meeting according to where they are.
The apprehension of many may be very small, but they should come together in affection toward one [p. 247] another and toward Christ; and Christ engages His presence. If you come to the true idea of the assembly, it is what is typified by Aaron and his sons, every saint in priestly grace; but that is quite a different thing from the actual state of those who come together, yet it is perfectly right that they should come together as brethren; and the Lord assures His presence.