THE PRESENT POSITION AND OCCUPATION OF CHRIST
R. Taylor
1 Peter 3: 22; Hebrews 9: 24; Ephesians 1: 22, 23; John 14: 2, 3
In the book of Exodus, when Moses was on the mountain for forty days, the people said, We do not know what has become of him. That largely is the position abroad today, the world does not know what has become of Jesus. They celebrate occasions such as His birth and His death; some speak about the Lord, comparing Him with others; we find in books some reference to His miracles, and other remarks; but largely they do not know what has become of Him.
I would like to speak from these scriptures of His present position and occupation. The bride in the Song of Songs could tell you what happened to her beloved. She was asked, “What is thy beloved more than another beloved ...?” (Song of Songs 5: 9). That question is very appropriate today. What is the difference between Jesus and Mohammed and others? Now she would tell you, among other things, “His mouth is most sweet” (v.16). She knew living communications. She knew where He was when He went to His garden. She knew just where He was because she was in living touch with Him. I would like to encourage our hearts as to the place that Jesus fills above; the place that He has been given, that no other will have or share either. Many glories He will share, but He has a place in heaven that is His and His alone. The Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in His hand.
Peter was writing to persons who had lost a lot. We speak about sufferings, breakdown and so on, but he was writing to persons who knew that in a far deeper way than we do; they had been driven out of their country and may well have been despondent. Peter is writing to
them about the resurrection of Jesus, saying, “who is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven”. He has gone in in the right and glory of His Person, but He is gone in too on the ground of a work completed. Peter says about Him elsewhere, “whom heaven indeed must receive”, Acts 3: 21. How welcome He was there! He is at the right hand of God, “angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him”. That is what marks the present day, however fearsome these authorities may appear, whatever power they may take to themselves, there is One who is above them all. What a comfort to our hearts! What a comfort to these sorrowing saints who were being persecuted, that there was a Man in heaven whom they knew. Jesus Christ, angels, authorities and powers being subjected to Him.
Now this was no idle story to Peter. Had he not been in prison? The authorities were against him but an angel opened the gates, smote his side, and said to Peter “follow me”, Acts 12: 8.
All the forces that men could command at that time were harnessed there against Peter, as they had been against Christ. Now Christ is at the right hand of God, acting from the place that He has in heaven to deliver His servant, to bring him out because he was needed in the testimony. So he writes these words from his experience, “angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him”. That is what reigns in the present day, the authorities are subjected to Christ, what a rest to our souls. Whatever powers they may usurp or claim, their power and authority is limited. Christ at the right hand of God is above all these things.
John too had a view of Him like that in the Revelation; Christ there controlling every authority and every power, presenting Himself to John as the One who had the keys of death and of hades. What a thing death is as it comes near to us, but the keys are in His hand. The Man who bore our sins on the cross, the Man who was here in lowly grace, despised by men, He has the
keys of death and of hades; they are under His control. It says too, “he set his right foot on the sea, and the left upon the earth” (Revelation 10: 2), the whole dominion under His power and authority. If you read through Revelation you can see the authorities of darkness are not let loose; one seal is opened after another, and everything is in perfect control, under the authority and power of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven. You can understand John being restful as he had that vision, seeing Christ controlling these authorities. One time one power may be used, but its power is limited, and under God’s will that power is set aside, and another power is used. Christ is in control of these authorities. We can see how some powers have risen and fallen in the history of man; these empires in Daniel how they rise and fall, and so it will be as time goes on, but eventually they will all be put in their place. He will bring everything into subjection.
In the meantime it is for the assurance of the saints that Peter is writing this. The Lord is for us and He has control of our circumstances; He may allow or use them to drive us closer to Himself; He would have us take His yoke upon us, to come to Him and learn from Him. He may order circumstances in your life to do that. In the course of history, we can see, when there has been persecution of the saints, how they have been driven closer to Him, and a brighter testimony has shone out. Think of the testimony of the martyrs, when the Lord allowed persecution by the authorities and it brought out something of the testimony of Jesus.
How beautifully so! He may allow these things in your personal circumstances. But Peter would assure our hearts afresh as to these authorities, their powers are limited; Christ is above them all, and He is above them all in consideration for His saints.
In Hebrews He has not only gone into heaven in control of these powers but He has gone
“into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God”. If the
scripture had stopped there it would have been very blessed, but it adds, “for us”—how precious! Think of Him going in on your account and mine. I can understand Him going in in the glory and majesty of His Person, but think of Him going in “to appear before the face of God for us”. These words are very beautiful, “into heaven itself”. He has gone to a place that He fills, great antitype of the holy of holies as these Jews would understand, but He has gone in as a Man. How blessed to think of that Man in heaven—“for us”. Maybe you are not so bright today as you were another day, maybe you are brighter today than you were another day, but Christ appearing before the face of God for you never changes.
What a favour to enjoy, to retire into, that whatever your state or condition (and the enemy may engage you with that) here is a verse to quote to him. I believe it is right to do so, because the enemy is a very real one, he brings challenges into your heart, as he does to mine, and it is good to quote scripture to him as the Lord quoted scripture to the devil. This verse would be one to quote as he brings these things to bear upon us in our histories. There is a Man in heaven whom I know, who loves me, and He is there before the face of God for me. It speaks of Satan being an accuser of the brethren, but he never reaches in this far. He has his own limited sphere, and he works and sows discord and tries to bring confusion among the saints, but he never gets in here. How blessed to think of Christ’s present occupation before the face of God! Do you know what has become of Him? Do you know Him there for you?
Do you know the love that represents you before the face of God? Think of your name on that breastplate! He says to the disciples to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. You could never write your own name there, but there He is with your name on His heart—“now to appear before the face of God for us”. I say again, that is never to be changed.
May our hearts rest in it in the troublesome days that we are in. There is a Man there, the Son of man in all His glory, before the face of God. In the typical scriptures, we have the table of shewbread with two rows of six loaves, representing the saints before God, supported by Christ. That is your present place. It is not something only to look forward to in a day to come when you will be there in actuality, but now in the present time He has gone into heaven itself. Look at that word “now”—“now to appear before the face of God”. Do you know a God like that? Do you know a Father like that? He does not raise questions but looks on you with cloudless favour as you are there before Him in Christ. That is the place of every believer in Christ, and Christ is there for every believer. What a triumph it brings into any circumstances of the testimony when we are living in the light of the place of favour that we have before God in Christ.
The scripture speaks too in Hebrews of being there as our Forerunner. Soon we shall be there in actuality, but now, while in the wilderness circumstances. He is there as our great Forerunner. He has opened a door in His going in, and He has opened up the home of love.
Do you know what it is to explore the realm of love where He has gone for us? Think of the way He spoke to the disciples in John 17! Written over that chapter is, Christ’s place is our place. He is there for us. He spoke to the Father about those who were left in the world, saying, “I sanctify myself for them” (John 17: 19). It was that they should be maintained in the freshness and the glory of their place above.
Where we read in Ephesians, it says, “and gave him to be head over all things to the assembly, which is his body”. What service is going on towards His assembly! The head is the great source of supply, and He is serving as Head to sustain us with resources that are to be found in Him. Do you refer to Him in that capacity, Head over all things? There is not a thing that He cannot meet.
What resources He has and they are exercised today towards the assembly. He will soon take up other matters, but His great occupation today is as “head over all things to the assembly, which is his body”. What resources and wealth are flowing from the Head to the body in view of Christ being in expression. It is wonderful to see, in some measure, the Man above reflected in His body down here.
In a day to come, the graces of Christ will be displayed to a wondering universe through the assembly. When Israel sees what has been formed in the assembly through the operations of the Head, they will be filled with wonderment. They will see a glory that they had never seen before; a glory of which they could have had something. It says that Israel had the glory, the promises, the covenants; but it will then all be seen in the assembly, His fulness, as deriving from the Head. But then it is to be known by us, individually, as we are part of this vessel, through divine grace, if we have been brought to know Christ as our Saviour, and have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are to come into the wealth that is flowing from the Head to the assembly. The hymn-writer says.
‘Great source of wisdom, power and food,
All riches from Thee flow’. (Hymn 199)
Now that is all available for us as part of this glorious vessel. How should we be put to the wall? How should there be matters that are unresolved that we are unable to meet? It is His prime occupation today, to serve the saints in His love with the resources of wisdom that are needed. It says about Him, “Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption”, 1 Corinthians 1: 30. He was that for Corinth; and Paul was saying. There you are content with something far short of assembly life, while so much is available for you in Christ, wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption. These things cover whatever we may need at any time,
He has been made that to us. Paul would have the Corinthians to feed on Christ, as Israel did when they came into Canaan and ate of the old corn of the land. What I am speaking of is the old corn of the land. It is very blessed to know Christ in the circumstances of the wilderness pathway, to learn how He was in those circumstances is food for our daily life. When they came into the land the manna ceased, and they ate the old corn of the land. That is to know Christ in His own domain, to feed on Him now in the way that He is serving His assembly.
The manna had to be gathered daily, but the old corn of the land was there from the year before; the land was full of it. As you go into these courts above, you find that Christ Jesus is everywhere, in His own domain, in His own glory. He is no longer having to take up the matter of sins or sin; no longer having to meet the liabilities of all that has come into the race; but there He is in His own glory and personal worth as the food for the saints.
To the overcomer at Ephesus He says, “I will give to him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God”, Revelation 2: 7. What a food for our souls! What a food, in its plenitude, to be eaten, varied fruits of richest flavour, every month yielding something fresh, something precious, there to sustain the saints. That all comes into this—“and gave him to be head over all things to the assembly, which is his body”. How He loves it! He said to Saul on that Damascus road, “why dost thou persecute me?”, Acts 9: 4. There you see the Lord defending His body. What an impression Saul had about it from those saints in Damascus. It seemed as if there was nothing going to protect them, did it not? Saul had letters from the high priest, but there was the Head operating. He stops Saul from going further, saying, “why dost thou persecute me?”—How He loved those few saints in Damascus. How He loves His body, nourishing and cherishing it, what a service He is carrying on today! That is a view of Christ where He has gone. It is a view that is to be known by the saints, in their experience and
in the circumstances of life today.
John, I think, enjoyed it; he lived in that area, and he writes these words with fresh experience in his soul. Maybe he did not understand them fully when he heard them from the lips of Jesus at first, but when he wrote his gospel they must have had wonderful meaning as he wrote them down. It says, “In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you”. There is a wonderful touch of His confidence in those words. He would not keep anything back from His loved ones; He would not deceive them by nice platitudes nor lead them astray by strange words. He says, “In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you”, and because of the fact of it being so He says, I am going to tell you more, “I go to prepare you a place”, that is, by His going into heaven now to appear before the face of God for us. That is our place. We are here in these circumstances today as away from home; soon we shall be home in actuality. The hymn-writer says—
‘And can we call our home
Our Father’s house on high?’ (Hymn 64)
Is that your home? If someone asked you to describe your home, where would it be? Well, we would have a lot of descriptions, but here is John’s home. It has been true too about others in the testimony. Mr. Darby, a man in flesh and blood condition like you and I are in, wrote—
‘And oh! how all that eye can see
To others now belongs!
The eternal home’s so nigh to me—
My soul’s eternal songs’ (Spiritual Songs p.3).
You can see in his writings that he had a sense of his place above. He had troubles with his eyes, troubles in his body, he knew what it was to be tossed in the storm on the sea, but he had a rest above—
‘Rest of the saints above,
Jerusalem of God!’ (Hymn 74).
Such men were not apostles, but men who were in the practical circumstances of life that we are in, but they lived in the sense that they had a home above and so could write about it.
So the Lord here is encouraging the saints. He says, “for I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself”. Not only to a place, but “receive you to myself”, what a reception it will be! How we look forward to being folded in His arms; to the embrace of His love in all its blessed sweetness.
We know where He has gone, but He says, “that where I am ye also may be”. My friend, He does not want to be in heaven without you. He will not be content until He has the whole ransomed host in heaven with Him. The fact that He has gone in has assured our place for all eternity. What a place it will be to be in heaven; with those tears wiped away, those sorrows for ever gone. Not only to be in the place, but He says, “and shall receive you to myself”.
May these words encourage our hearts to know something about Him where He is. Paul in writing to the Philippians says, “our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens”. I believe it was true of them that they were drawing their resources from the commonwealth above, and so defeating all the resources of man’s imagination and hatred, and the devil’s resources too against the brethren. May our hearts be encouraged to draw from it for Christ’s name’s sake.
Address at Dundee
6 December 1997