CHRISTIANITY CHARACTERISED BY GLORY
CHRISTIANITY CHARACTERISED BY GLORY
Ephesians 1: 15 - 20; James 2: 1 - 5; 1 Peter 4: 12 - 15
I wish to speak, dear brethren, of the Father of glory and the Lord of glory and the Spirit of glory, three remarkable expressions involving the three Persons of the Godhead, and showing that each of Them is connected with the idea of glory. I hope the Lord may enable me to convey some impression that Christianity, as enjoyed down here, is a system of glory, not in any fanciful way or using in any sense extravagant expressions, but substantially it is a system of glory, and it is well that our eyes should be open to it, for the more we appreciate that it is so, the more we shall be delivered from any kind of hankering after this present world.
Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, says, “We speak God’s wisdom in a mystery”; he says this of himself and his fellow-labourers. He does not speak of the wisdom of this world, but of that hidden wisdom which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory. He evidently contrasts this world, with its princes who, in ignorance of what is truly glorious, have crucified the Lord of glory, with a system of wisdom which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory. Evidently that implies that we are to glory in it. So I think it will be agreed, if we give a moment’s thought to it, that to have some sense borne in upon us that we are having part now, by the grace of God and as drawn to Christ, and as having been sealed with the Holy Spirit, in a system of glory which God had predetermined before the ages for us, for ourselves, is something that might well stimulate us to know more about what it is that we have come into; and to be happily in it, because no one is so unsatisfied as a believer who tries to have a little bit of two worlds. A believer who tries to find a certain amount of enjoyment in relation to this world, and at the same time to have his links with the people of God and enjoy something of the privileges belonging to the people of God, I say such a believer is always unsatisfied. He has no satisfaction in the world really, only a guilty conscience, and a heavy heart, and a guilty conscience and a heavy heart are, of course, utterly opposed to any real enjoyment of spiritual things.
Now in writing to the Ephesians the apostle speaks of the Father of glory. We have in these passages I have read from Paul’s ministry, and from James’ ministry, and from Peter’s ministry, evidence to show how unified the great apostles were in appreciating that what they were having part in with their fellow-believers was a system of glory. Paul, writing to the Ephesians, says, “Wherefore I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is in you, and the love which ye have towards all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you at my prayers.” I believe that faith in the Lord Jesus as brought in in this epistle, does not merely refer to that initial faith which marks us as we believe the gospel, but rather to that settled faith which is characteristic of established believers, that their affections, and their faith as entering into their affections, are livingly and abidingly connected with Christ where He is. “The Lord Jesus” is an expression peculiar to Paul’s ministry and expresses the way in which Christ is held affectionately by those composing the assembly. It is a combination of the reverential address that is due to our Lord Jesus Christ in view of who He is, with that personal appreciation of Christ and knowledge of Him which is unique to the assembly.
The Lord, when making Himself known to Saul of Tarsus at the outset, having in mind to give him an impression which would afterwards colour his ministry, called him by name, and Saul said, “Who art thou, Lord?” and the Lord said, “I am Jesus.” He might have said many other things which would have been true, but He did not; He said, “I am Jesus.” Indeed, in one place it is recorded that He said, “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” So the faith of Saul, in the full light of the glory in which he apprehended Christ, for he saw the Lord, was to be connected with Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, indeed, one bearing the reproach connected with Nazareth. What I am stressing is that He was to be known in that personal way as Jesus. At the close the Lord, addressing Himself to the assembly through John, says, “I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies,” Revelation 22: 16. In the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as we read through their records, we find that they constantly refer in the simplest and happiest way to Jesus. I believe it is essential that we should be developed in the reverence that is due to the Lord Jesus before we can rightly speak of Jesus; but I believe there is a way in which, in the Spirit’s power, we may rightly speak of Jesus. The world will speak of Jesus as a mere man, but Jesus is a name which is particularly cherished by the assembly, indeed, I believe, cherished only by the assembly. As understanding who He is, the assembly, in speaking to Him, very often says, ‘Lord Jesus,’ and in speaking of Him uses the expression ‘the Lord Jesus.’ So Paul said, “Having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is in you, and the love which ye have towards all the saints.” Love to all the saints. They were greatly enlarged in their affections as taking in the blessedness of the assembly. How great it is! Think of the different continents in the world, and the different places in those continents where the truth of the assembly is answered to in some measure, and where there are hearts that beat true to the Lord Jesus and at the same time are characterised by love amongst themselves. Think of this, and see how great a vessel the assembly is, even if we exclude for the moment those not at present available, and the myriads who have fallen asleep, who will all be included when the Lord comes, the millions given to Him. Think how vast the assembly is, and how it enhances the glory of Christ, to think of Him as the One to whom the assembly has been given.
These features proper to the assembly were seen in the Ephesian saints, and Paul, as having heard of it, says, “I ... do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you at my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him.” It is a remarkable presentation of God, that He should be spoken of as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is clearly, presenting the Lord Jesus as Man, apprehended as such where He is, and the very expression, our Lord Jesus Christ, I believe, involves the thought that we are associated with Him in that position in which He is apprehended. But that God should be spoken of as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ; that is, God in relation to men, of whom Christ Himself in manhood is the pattern! Think of God having men before Him who take character from Christ, who will, indeed, appear before God in the image and likeness of Christ. Think what a conception it is! That is what God has in mind in regard of the sons of men, His own creatures. The subject is wonderful, dear brethren, that there should be such a Man in the presence of God, the second Person of the Godhead become Man in order that all His thoughts regarding men might be established for His pleasure by bringing into manhood an order of excellence that could not possibly attach to the first order of man. But there He is, in the presence of God, a Man wholly according to God, and we ourselves, in wonderful grace, set up through redemption in His life by the Spirit in order to be before God as in every way conformed to Him.
So the apostle, speaking in this way of God, calls Him the Father of glory; that is, He is the source of all that is true glory; there is much glory at the present time attached to this world, glory of a kind, but it will all pass away. You will remember on one occasion the devil showed the Lord Jesus in a moment of time all the kingdoms of this world and their glory. He was wise to do it in a moment of time. If they were subjected to more than a moment’s investigation, the utter worthlessness of man’s glory would become apparent, but he unfolds it in a moment of time, and that is all the length of time, according to divine measurement, for which the glory of this world will last. Already it is crumbling to its foundations, but the God of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Father of glory, the source of all that is truly glorious as worthy of God. So Paul prays to God that He would give us “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, being enlightened in the eyes of your heart, so that ye should know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe.” It means that we are to know. May I say at this point that one is impressed with this, that in the presence of the great things which Paul had in his heart as he wrote the epistle to the Ephesians, he makes no attempt to explain to them in great detail, but he prays, and he tells us what he prays. In the third chapter he tells us that he bowed his knees, meaning that there was intensity of exercise in his prayer, and I believe what is in mind in all this is, that if we would have a real apprehension of the things which God in His love has purposed for us, and would have the power to enter into them so that we touch them in some measure of power and enjoyment and reality, the great thing to do is to pray, and to pray on these lines; not, of course, uttering Paul’s words as having learned them by heart and saying them, for there is no value in that, but as having direction to our exercises by what the apostle indicates as to the lines on which he prayed. I believe the point in all this is that if there is any attempt made unduly to define what spiritual blessings are, the inevitable result will be to limit them, whereas they are in fact illimitable. On the other hand, if there is the exercise and desire to enter into them which shows itself in continual prayer, we shall find that the Spirit of God, who has first-hand knowledge of these wonderful things, will give us more and more an entrance into them, so that we realise that what we are having part in is a system of glory. Paul prays that God “would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him, being enlightened in the eyes of your heart, so that ye should know what is the hope of his calling.”
When we were first converted, for it was then that God’s calling became effective in us, we had nothing else before us than the settlement of the question of our guilt and the meeting of every question that existed in our conscience, and it may be, the settlement of the question of what we discovered in ourselves; that is, nothing else than the question of meeting our need and giving us the certainty of eternal blessing, but God had much more than that in mind. He had in mind the hope of His calling, and what God has in mind for the believer is nothing less than the character and measure of blessing in His presence which is set out in Jesus Himself as a Man there; that order of glorious manhood, great enough to satisfy the heart of God, filled out in the relationship of sonship, with the affections and intelligence proper to it. Then he says, “What the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” When we speak of glory we are very apt to think that glory refers to what is future. I quite agree that in certain connections it does, but what I want to show, if the Lord help me, is that these things are glorious now, and what God has now in the saints is positively glorious, “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” As we take account of what marks the world around, the greater part of it characterised, one may say, by total indifference to God; and then a large part of it not marked exactly by total indifference to God, but characterised, it may be only outwardly, but in some cases inwardly, by a certain acknowledgment of God; the whole of the religious systems around us are of that character, but how much is there in it to afford pleasure to God; how much of liberty in it, how much of joy in it, how much affection that moves God-ward in it, how much intelligence in it that God can take pleasure in? If you look at these things soberly, you will realise there is very little indeed in it that God can find pleasure in. On the other hand there are many of His saints, through grace, who have been recovered to God’s own thoughts regarding them and delivered from bondage and brought into peace and liberty, with the light of Christ in their souls, and some measure of understanding as to what the assembly is in the thoughts of God, and some measure of power to take these things up in the power of the Holy Spirit. What is the result? God is served affectionately in liberty and intelligence; He is praised; He is prayed to in the spirit of dependence learned from Christ; continual thanksgivings rise to Him from those in happy relations with Him, and this goes on day in and day out. Is there nothing in it for God? There is much in it for God. Perhaps we do not sufficiently take account of it, but we should have our eyes opened to see the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints at the present time. If we say of ourselves that we are very weak in these things, then we need to consider what is the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength in which He wrought in the Christ in raising Him from among the dead. That is, the same mighty power which was evidenced in raising Christ from the dead, is at present operating toward us, and if we on our part are available in faith and spiritual desire it will enable us to take up in power what is our true portion.
Now I pass on to the thought of the Lord of glory. I apprehend that when the Lord Jesus is spoken of as the Lord of glory, it has in mind that He is in supreme control of this system of glory which is operating here on earth amongst the saints and which He disposes of, so to speak, as He will, in order that glory may shine more and more. You will remember it says in Genesis 47, speaking of Joseph, that he moved the people into the cities from one end of the land to the other end of the land; that is, Joseph was the lord of the whole land and he was simply disposing of those under his hand to the best advantage. I am quite sure that when we take account of this system of glory, Christianity, which in its working out takes form in local assemblies, if we get an idea of the glory of it and the Lord of glory as controlling it and directing everything in relation to it, then we shall see how even the movements of the saints may be directed circumstantially from one place to another as all under the hand of the Lord in connection with this system of glory. It may be He sees that one locality needs a particular feature of glory that a brother or sister can bring into it; or sometimes it may be, that He moves to a place someone who may be testing to the brethren, because He wants to bring into that locality certain features of glory that can only be developed by having to meet the testing character of the brother or sister in question. One wants to stress that the Lord of glory has the whole matter of glory in hand; He is disposing of it; He is ordering everything in relation to it. I believe that shines particularly in Acts.
I was referring a moment ago to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus; think what glory shone there, the Lord in heaven, and the arch-persecutor of the saints was there breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. There would have been nothing amiss in it if the Lord had smitten Saul in judgment, and no one could have said it was undeserved, but instead of that He speaks to him in remarkable grace. The Lord Jesus was in heaven, setting forth in Himself as Man what the grace of God was to men; and He Himself as setting it forth would actually dispense that grace, for He is the great Dispenser of all that He has secured by His death and rising again. So He was administering to the chief of sinners the grace of heaven, administering it personally in the very tones and voice in which He spoke to him, and administering it so effectively that a man who had been the chief of sinners, and the worst persecutor of the saints, was transformed, according as the Lord said, to be “an elect vessel to me”; indeed, one who would evince the Spirit of Christ in all his movements and services, and could be taken up as a great vessel of ministry to bring out the thoughts of God. Who would not say glory was shining in that? The Lord of glory was there in charge of the system of glory.
In Acts 12 we find that Herod killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. Was the Lord of glory over that? Triumphantly He was. He could certainly have prevented it if He had chosen, but He did not choose because there is glory attached to suffering for Christ’s sake unto death. Different features of glory are to shine out, and if one apostle of the assembly is made to suffer martyrdom for the truth’s sake, then glory shines out in it. The Lord of glory was not in any sense limited in His power. We read that Herod also laid hold of Peter. Peter was put in prison to be brought out after Easter, it says, to be slain, and he is there bound with chains and asleep with guards about him, and so on. He was a kind of foreshadowing of what would come in, and has come in, in the history of the assembly when the ministry became bound. We all know the state of things over a long period of years in the history of the assembly when the enemy succeeded in binding the ministry by means of the system of clerisy. Now in the case of Peter the Lord of glory intervened. An angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the prison. He smote Peter on the side and he rose up and the chains dropped off him. The angel told him to gird on his upper garment and he did so, the Lord of glory was intervening, not intervening as in the case of James, to cause the glory of martyrdom to shine, but now intervening that the glory of the liberation of the truth should shine. So Peter represents the ministry. He rose up and the chains fell off. It was the intervention of the Lord and the gate leading into the city opened before him, it opened of its own accord into the street, like the Lord saying to Philadelphia, “I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut,” Revelation 3: 8. Peter went into the city; that is, the truth of the assembly has been opened up by the intervention of the Lord. He walked down one street and the angel left him. Wonderful intervention of the Lord of glory. In the last 120 years, after a long period of the ministry of the truth being bound, God has wrought having in mind that the whole scope of the truth regarding the assembly should be opened up to the saints, and they have found an opened door so that they have been able to move forward and provide an answer in the last days to the desires of God and Christ regarding the assembly. All that is glory. I do not know whether we take account of what is moving now amongst the saints from this standpoint, but I would urge brethren to look on these things and see the glory of them. We are bound up with the truth of the assembly and the Lord of glory is with it, and any opposition will be turned to account to bring out further glory.
So we read in Acts 16 how Paul and Silas invaded Europe. It was really the Lord asserting His rights to the Western world, and this country and Australia have really grown out of the Western world, and in the view of God they form part of it. The Lord was invading the Western world in Paul and Silas, in order to bring to pass what has been brought to pass in this part of the world. There was the opposition of the enemy, and Paul and Silas were cast into prison. They were beaten, and their feet put in the stocks, and this is what happened. It says, “At midnight Paul and Silas, in praying, were praising God with singing.” They sang praises to God! Was not glory shining in the midst of suffering? It was glory complete, supreme; it was Christianity known in the souls of men against all the power of Rome represented in that jailor. It was the Lord in complete victory, the Lord causing glory to shine; and everywhere, as we go on with the Lord, glory shines, for He is Lord of glory and He was causing glory to shine so that not only Paul and Silas were confirmed in the sense of the glory of that to which they belonged, but that others should get an impression of it too, and they did. The prisoners listened to them, and the Lord came in with an earthquake, the jailor was converted and his whole house secured. It is a question of the Lord of glory causing glory to shine time after time in His operations in relation to this system of glory to which we belong. The Lord is not concerned for the moment with the world or what is going on in the world save as it affects the saints in the testimony, but He is the Lord of glory; He is supreme in the dispensing and ordering, so to speak, of this system of glory to which we belong.
So right through Acts you find this. Paul later on, it may be marked by a measure of weakness, though one would speak humbly and hesitatingly of it, was in the castle, and that night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good courage; for as thou hast testified the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so thou must bear witness at Rome also,” Acts 23: 11. Think of that! There was a man, a prisoner in the hands of his enemies in Jerusalem, and the Lord says, ‘You must testify of Me in Rome.’ That would settle the matter; he would go to Rome; he would not be slain; the Lord of glory was in complete control; He had given His orders, and whatever man might do to him Paul would go on and testify of the Lord. The Lord of glory was in control. Glory is shining in all these things as we see them with spiritual eyesight, and before Paul got to Rome, at Caesarea, the Lord of glory arranged things so that he should be brought before Festus the governor, king Agrippa and Bernice, and all the grandees of Caesarea. They were all there so that the Lord, through Paul, might give testimony to the immense superiority of His system as compared with the best that this world can bring forward. The prisoner Paul bound with chains, obviously and consciously superior to all that were around him, says, “I would to God, both in little and in much, that not only thou, but all who have heard me this day, should become such as I also am, except these bonds,” Acts 26: 29. There is that man exemplifying in himself, and in the very spirit and power in which he spoke, the glory of Christianity and its immense superiority to the best this world can produce. The Lord was in control of it all, and bringing out these features of glory in one and another as He pleased.
Now James, in the verses we have read, says, “My brethren, do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of glory, with respect of persons.” It is a question now of having a right view of things. If we are marked by respect of persons, paying regard to the man with the gold ring and fine apparel because of his gold ring and because of his apparel which speak of material wealth, we are not looking at a system of glory at all; we are entirely out of keeping with the Lord of glory. We know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was rich, supremely so. It was not a question of a gold ring or goodly apparel with the Lord Jesus Christ. “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he, being rich, became poor,” 2 Corinthians 8: 9. Glory shone in that. You will remember when the mother of Zebedee’s children came to the Lord and said, “Speak the word that these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand and one on thy left hand in thy kingdom,” Matthew 20: 21. Why should her two sons sit there? A mother wanting a place for her two sons in this system of glory. Sometimes we find that sort of thing working amongst the saints, a mother, may be, wanting a place for her son amongst the saints. Has that any place in the system of glory? The Lord says, “Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink the cup which I am about to drink? They say to him. We are able.” Undoubtedly there was affection there for Christ and the Lord says, “Ye shall drink indeed my cup.” That obviously does not refer to the cup of wrath, the atoning sufferings of the Lord Jesus, for no one could drink of that cup save the Lord Himself, but it does refer to tasting the reality of suffering for the truth’s sake. So the Lord says, “Ye shall drink indeed my cup, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but to those for whom it is prepared of my Father.” The Father is going to decide in regard to Christ’s kingdom as to who shall sit on the right hand or the left. The ten were indignant; their pride was touched by the fact that the mother of Zebedee’s children should have asked this for her two sons, leaving out the rest. The Lord has to speak to them too, and he says, “Ye know that the rulers of the nations exercise lordship over them and the great exercise authority over them. It shall not be thus amongst you,” Matthew 20: 25. It is a question of having our eyes open to what is truly glorious, and that has to be learned in Christ, and so He adds, “the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” He came to serve, and to serve in self-sacrificing love, not to be ministered to, but to minister. So James warns us against this idea of looking on things as the world does. It is a question of seeing the saints in their glory and value as subjects of the work of God. Does it matter if they are poor as regards this world’s goods? Not at all. If God has wrought in them there is new creation there. “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation,” 2 Corinthians 5: 17. It is the work of God, and the work of God is glorious, and that is how we are to regard one another. So James says, “Hear, my beloved brethren: Has not God chosen the poor as to the world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to them that love him?” It is a question of seeing what is truly glorious, and appreciating Christ as the Lord of glory.
In closing, I would say a brief word as to the Spirit of glory to which we have referred in the first epistle of Peter. The apostle is contemplating testing conditions in the world; they were existent at the time he wrote, and there, is much that is testing at the present time to those who desire to be true to Christ. All down the ages there have been tests, at times more marked than at others, but at the time the apostle wrote things were extremely testing, and he says, “Beloved, take not as strange the fire of persecution which has taken place amongst you for your trial, as if a strange thing was happening to you; but as ye have share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, that in the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exultation.” Suffering for Christ’s sake is glorious; it will be seen to be glorious in the day of His glory. It is a question of being patient, as James says, “Have patience, therefore, brethren, till the coming of the Lord.” Endurance is the order of the day, and it has in mind the coming of the Lord, and with the coming of the Lord all that is truly glorious will be displayed in glory, and the whole world will see what is truly glorious, but we are to have our eyes open to see it now. “If ye are reproached in the name of Christ, blessed are ye, for the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you.” The Spirit of glory! “If ye are reproached in the name of Christ.” I suppose the idea is that Christ is seen in the saints, because He is seen in the saints they are reproached, they are reproached in the name of Christ. It is the opposition to Christ that is poured out upon the saints. You will remember the spirit of Christ in the Psalms said of the Lord when He was here, “The reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me,” Psalm 69: 9. He was here for God and for God’s name, and all those who hated God vented their hatred of God upon Christ. We are in a similar position in regard to Christ. Christ personally cannot be reached by those opposed to Him, but Christ in the saints can be reached, and as Christ is seen in the saints the hatred that the world feels in regard of Christ is brought to bear upon the saints. “If ye are reproached in the name of Christ, blessed are ye, for the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you.” It is not that glory is actually displayed, but the Spirit of it rests upon us. We bear all the features, dear brethren, as we are taken account of as in any way like Christ, of the anointed system that is before God to which Christ Himself gives character. The Spirit of glory rests upon us. Every element of suffering for the name of Christ now, or in His name, will find its answer soon in glory, and the Spirit of glory already rests upon the saints. “The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God.” The Spirit of God is not ashamed of those who are reproached in the name of Christ. He identifies Himself with them; we become conscious of it if in any degree we are reproached in the name of Christ. The Spirit gives confidence to our hearts that we are linked with a system of glory. “The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you; on their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.”
I do not know that one can say more as to the Spirit of glory, but I have been impressed with these three references: the Father of glory, the Lord of glory, and the Spirit of glory, as indicating that Christianity as it is known now is a system of glory, and one would desire for oneself and for one’s fellow-believers that our eyes might be open to it more and more; a system with which divine Persons Themselves are not ashamed to be identified; the Father the great source of it all; the Lord the great upholder and dispenser of it all; and the Spirit as the One who attaches His own dignity and His own support to those who, in a hostile scene, bear the reproach that is connected with Christ’s name.
May the Lord stimulate us to go in more wholeheartedly for these things, and find in them that which is satisfying, and which will make us infinitely superior to all that is connected with this world.