A CIRCLE OF WHICH CHRIST IS THE CENTRE
[p. 270] A CIRCLE OF WHICH CHRIST IS THE CENTRE
The great bulk of christians today cannot be said in any true sense to have eternal life. You get a description of the people in whom it abides in this chapter. They are also spoken of in the gospel, “He that believes on the Son has life eternal”, and I do not think that it is characteristic of all christians that they are believing on the Son. The apostle writes these things that they may know that they have eternal life, and you must therefore give attention to what comes out in the epistle.
Believing on the Son is faith in a kind of way in the Son of God, who has been disallowed of men and chosen of God. You get an idea of it in John 9. In chapter 8 Christ Himself had been thrust out, then in chapter 9 the blind man is excommunicated, and there in the outside place He found the Son of God. The great bulk of people at the present day are all entangled in a worldly christianity which is a complete falsification of things. In John 17 the Lord says, “For their sakes I sanctify myself”.
There is a difference between apprehending Jesus as Lord, and as Son of God. In 1 Peter 2 you get both: “If indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good”. Then, “To whom coming, as a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious” — there is a step in advance.
If one was challenged as to whether he had eternal life he should be prepared to meet the challenge — otherwise he would not help others much. I think to a certain extent some deceive themselves. They credit themselves with having something which they really know nothing whatever about. That is not the [p. 271] idea of christianity, christianity is intelligence — it comes out very plainly in this epistle; and in the last chapter we read He has given us an understanding to know Him that is true. Verse 20 would be a very good illustration of what you would expect to find in a person who has eternal life.
In chapter 3 there is a circle in association with Christ marked by two things, namely, the practice of righteousness, and love for the brethren, and in that circle I should say eternal life abides. One great point in regard to eternal life is that you have passed out of death. What is characteristic of eternal life is Christ — He is the true God and eternal life. I think eternal life is really Christ coming into the world, and bringing in all the light of God, and setting aside the power of evil. The apostle begins the epistle by referring to what they had witnessed in Christ Himself.
This first epistle is written that they have intelligence: “He has given us an understanding that we may know him that is true”. In Ephesians also you get the full knowledge of the Son of God and the riches of the full assurance of understanding, and in chapter 3 the apostle prays, that ye “may be fully able to apprehend ... and to know the love of the Christ”.
You can only come into contact with divine Persons as you are formed by divine Persons. You cannot come into contact with Christ by mere natural understanding. No one can really know God except he loves — every christian loves if he is formed in the divine nature. I do not think you get the knowledge of Christ until you enter the sanctuary, that is, the knowledge of what Christ is to God. On that I think depends the knowledge of eternal life.
Whatever has come out by Christ or in the death or resurrection of Christ is for every man upon earth, but if you are going to apprehend what Christ now is for God, you will have to “go in” — with that eternal life is connected. There is many a real believer who [p. 272] believes in Christ and what Christ is to them as He is presented to them, but I do not think they have any apprehension of what Christ is for God. That is a matter of growth and progress, and the soul would be put upon another platform. God would not only have men to enjoy the light which has come out by Christ but would have them to enter into the sanctuary to see what His thought is in regard to the world, because eternal life is God’s thought in regard to the world. It involves that you entirely break with the present world, the lifting up of the Son of man brings that thought in. There are three steps in God’s approach to man: (1) reconciliation; (2) new covenant; (3) proclamation; but men must of necessity take up these things in the inverse order. Yet God really begins with the point of reconciliation. If there is purpose and energy on the part of man to go in, he must take things up in which God has come out.
The knowledge of divine Persons which we have now is morally greater than anything that will be known in the millennium. It is impossible that you could confer a greater privilege upon me than that of entering into your friendship.
If you get a person who practises righteousness and loves the brethren, that man is in conditions in which he will most surely live for ever. It is entirely dependent upon moral consideration. That is what you get borne out in this chapter — “he that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous”, and love of the brethren is a proof that he has passed into life. Christ is life, and this chapter really contemplates a circle of which Christ is the centre. He is presented as Son of God, and “he that has the Son hath life”. Eternal life is connected with “not perishing” (John 10: 28) because the sheep are given into the hand of the Father and will never become apostate. I do not think it goes further than that. A person who apostatises [p. 273] is lost for ever. No true christian would do that. There is a sin unto death — God takes him away in discipline. It is death of the body. In chapter 2 the apostle has dealt with the saints in different stages; now he contemplates them (chapter 3) on another ground — in association with Christ. There is a circle here upon earth composed of those who are born of God, but their privilege is association with Christ. It is in that circle where eternal life abides. Chapter 3 brings out the circle, and the next chapter brings out the light in which the circle abides. In John it is more children instead of “sons” (verses 1). It is a term of endearment and the thought is that we may be brought morally into association with Christ; “now are we children of God”.
It is a wonderful thing to be able to say “He that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (verses 7). It is clear that you come on the ground of life. What the world wants is righteousness; it has lawlessness. When you get righteousness established as the law of the moral universe then you can understand that death and Satan’s power will be completely abolished. When in Psalm 90 they desire that the beauty of the Lord may be upon them, it is consequent upon righteousness having been established.
With regard to becoming God’s righteousness in Christ, Christ was made sin that the sons might be to the satisfaction of God in regard to righteousness. They are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.
When you contemplate what Christ is for God as the Centre and Head of the divine system it helps you wonderfully, because you get an idea of that which Christ is going to establish as the law of the universe of bliss. In regard to us, it has begun in a way, because we have the apprehension of Christ as Head, and we are righteous as He is righteous. Grace has put us in relation to Christ, like the earth has been put in relation to the sun. Hence we are righteous [p. 274] even as He is righteous. It all depends upon the apprehension of Christ as the Head and Centre of God’s system. Christ is the expression of God’s righteousness and at the same time He is our righteousness.
It is a wonderful thing to take into account that there is a circle here upon earth properly composed of all christians in which eternal life abides. I think that is a great point to apprehend.
We shall not get on a bit unless we see that it is the privilege of saints to enter the sanctuary to apprehend that which Christ is for God — the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat. All that demands exercise because the going in must take place through exercise. A man may leave all that is outside in a kind of way, but he must be more or less morally in the thought of God if he goes in. You come under the influence of the love of God; you are formed in the divine nature and that prepares you for going in. Christ attaches the heart to Himself and so you are encouraged to go where Christ is. You will find Him there as the Mediator of the covenant and the Minister of the sanctuary and the great Priest — as the One who is competent and ready to establish everything that is for God.