THE LIVING ONE AND THE HEAVENLY ONE

Revelation 1:17,18; 1 Corinthians 15:46-50

If there is to be any comfort for us, dear brethren, on an occasion such as this, it must surely be as having our hearts directed to our beloved Lord. I read these two scriptures having in mind to draw attention to the references to Him as “the living one” and as “the heavenly one”.

In this first scripture we have His own words. I have often thought that there is something particularly sweet and precious, something specially distinctive, about those scriptures where we find the Lord Jesus drawing our attention to Himself. He says, “I am the first and the last, and the living one”. John was overwhelmed at this moment. With this emphatic “I” it is as if the Lord would indicate that the answer to the weakness on our part – and how we feel our utter weakness in the presence of death – is to fix our eye unvaryingly on Himself.

He refers to Himself as “the first and the last”, an allusion, no doubt, to His deity. I would suggest that often when the Lord Jesus refers to Himself in this way He particularly has in mind to give assurance to His own. There are a number of instances, for example in the prophet Isaiah, where He says very distinctly, I am the first and I am the last. In Revelation chapter 2, in addressing Smyrna, those saints who represent the suffering church, He presents Himself in this way. No one could come before Him; and when everything is over, when everything is finished, He will be there. As this very book brings out, He has in Himself the grace and the wisdom and the power to see everything through to glorious completion. How great He is! I think in reading such words as these we are to be impressed with the greatness of the Lord’s person and the greatness of His accomplishments.

Then He refers to Himself as “the living one”. This is one of two references to the Lord Jesus as the living One. Both of them are after He had died and risen again. The words which follow in verse 18 indicate what is involved in that. Firstly, He says, “I became dead”. What a touching word that is. As we often remind ourselves, it was His own act. The One upon whom death had no claim entered into it willingly. We are to reflect on that: that the Lord Jesus actually died, and He was actually buried; the three days and three nights bringing out how fully He entered into it. But think of the irresistible power with which He disposed of death by rising from it triumphant. As we have sung, He is ‘beyond death now’ (Hymn 152). How blessed for us, even in the presence of death, to be in touch with a living Man who is beyond it for ever! May the power of that enter into our souls afresh.

Then He utters these words, “I am living to the ages of ages, and have the keys of death and of hades”. The Lord Jesus has acquired rights, precious rights. By going into death and rising from it triumphant the Lord Jesus has acquired authority. I think that is what this reference to “the keys” implies. He has acquired authority which none can challenge because no one else could do what He has done. He has the right to put persons into death, which He has done to our beloved brother. Let us remember that whatever the circumstances of our brother’s death, the Lord has had to do with him personally. Our brother has experienced the Lord’s personal touch in that way. But then too, He has the right to bring our brother out of death. That is what we are holding on to at this moment. The Lord has acquired the right to bring our brother out of death; as He will bring out of it all who belong to Him. What a blessed hope that is! How precious to think that the Lord Jesus entered into death to win this right. The Lord went into death Himself to win the right to bring out of it all those who belong to Him. How He stands apart as the living One! ‘Chief in thy Father’s heart’, we sang together; may He increasingly be ‘Chief to us now’!

John says, “he laid his right hand upon me”. Think of what the Lord would impart in that way. John says that He laid His hand ‘upon me’: it was the Lord’s personal touch. I suggest that in these verses we are to get an impression of the greatness of the love of Christ, and the greatness of the power of Christ. I trust we may all have the sense, our dear sister and the family especially, that the love of Christ and the power of Christ are available to us in the way of present support. Think of having laid upon you the right hand of the mighty conqueror of death Himself! Then He says, “Fear not”. Who can say “Fear not” as He? Who more qualified to say that than the One who has defeated every enemy, the One who has overcome every obstacle, to reach the highest place of glory; and from that unassailable position He says to us, “Fear not”. He is on our side, dear brethren. Let us allow that into our souls at this moment, that He is on our side, and His love and power are available for present support.

In the second scripture the Lord Jesus is referred to as “the heavenly one”. It says, “the first man out of the earth, made of dust; the second man, out of heaven”. It does not say the Lord Jesus was ‘from’ heaven, but He was “out of” heaven. He is in every way heavenly! We need to understand not simply that Jesus was more pleasing to God, more committed to the will of God, than everyone else, but He is a Man of a different order altogether. He is the heavenly One. The first man, as created by God, as fresh from God’s hands, was as perfect as only God could make him, but he was made of dust. Even if he had never sinned, even if he had for ever remained in innocence, he would never have been a heavenly man. But think of One who is “out of heaven”; and how that was manifested in the supreme moral excellence that shone out in all His blessed walk and ways. He stands apart from every other as the heavenly One.

Then, as a consequence of going into death and rising again, the Lord Jesus has become the glorious Head of a heavenly race. Paul says, “such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”. That is what we are, dear brethren. How we need to be reminded of that constantly, that we belong to a heavenly people. Our only link to this scene is a body of humiliation. It is in our bodies that we have borne the image of the one made of dust. But we are a heavenly people. We do not belong here. It was never God’s intention that we should remain here. We are destined for another world. In that sense our brother has only gone before us. Not that he has reached final conditions yet, for it says, “we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one”. Not only are we going to be glorified, but we are to bear His image! Each one of us, and all believers together, will bear the image of the heavenly One. How blessed to think of a world where everything speaks to God of one glorious Man! That is what we are destined for.

‘Like Jesus! Grace supreme!

Like Him before Thy face;

Like Him, to know that glory beam

Unhindered, face to face!’ (Hymn 72)            

That is what is before us: Christ and the glory! May it hold our hearts even at a time like this.

Richard M Brown