RESPONSE GODWARD IN RELATION TO CHRIST

A. J. E. Welch

Colossians 2: 20–23; 3: 1–4; Numbers 18: 2; Hebrews 2: 11, 12; 10: 19–22

The Lord has, I would understand, made it ever plainer to us in recent time that He delights to be near to the company of those who love Him and to be among them, as communicating to that company the most cherished longings of His own heart. We gather for the Supper with a longing that the Lord should come, that the glorious Son should manifest Himself to us. I just wonder, however, whether we sufficiently enter into the delight that is His to come in among His own. They are the fruit of His own work; they have been the occasion of His sufferings, of His death. They are in view in the glory of His resurrection; they have a surpassingly great place in His heart. He would have His own with Him, we might say, in the full extent of what He Himself has in view, especially for the satisfaction and delight of the Father’s heart. I do not come to it yet, but there is something peculiarly deep, in the most precious sense, in the thought of the Lord in the midst of the assembly. That remarkable reference is not enlarged upon at that point, but it touches the depth of His own feelings and really the affinity of His feelings with what He looks for, and we can surely say what He finds in the assembly, in the midst of which He sings. I believe we have entered into that, but I get some sense that the Lord would enlarge that side to us.

Therefore I have read scriptures which have a bearing on the association of the saints with Christ, which is, and must be, beyond death.

Colossians would make that plain to us. We are speaking of something that lies, in its preciousness, in its holy character, on the other side of death, and the Lord would engage us with that in such a moment as this, the moment in which this wonderful time of the Spirit is coming to a close, the final touch of it being very, very near. Hence the second chapter of Colossians (which it is not my thought to touch in detail, and which is well known to most of us) brings in the question of baptism, and leads on in connection with baptism to our being raised with Him, “buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead” (Colossians 2: 12). We are viewed in that sense as “raised with him”. Then lower down we have the thought, precious and unique to the assembly, “quickened together with him”; we are made to live, the reference being especially to the affections being awakened in the fulness of life, but in experience of the scene which lies beyond death, where Christ is.

Dear brethren, we belong there; that is our place, according to the divine thought. Our enjoyments—and how manifold they are—are to lie not this side of death, but beyond death.

The scene here which might be in a certain sense, to a limited degree, a scene of enjoyment, is increasingly less so; that scene is mostly under death, the scene out of which Jesus went by way of death and betrayal, scorned, reproached, crucified, buried. I would like to leave some little sense of that on the youngest one here, that we are not to be here for long; this is not the scene where characteristically we belong according to the thoughts of God in His love. This scene is marked off for every true heart as the scene out of which Jesus went by way of death.

There was nothing for Him here save what was among those who loved Him,

who companied with Him; and that is still true. I believe the youngest heart here could have some understanding of that, and realize what this world is as the scene of the suffering, the reproach, the crucifying of Jesus, so that our thoughts, our enjoyments, our conversation are not here. Where are they? Where Christ is!

It is very interesting how the great point made in these early verses of Colossians 3, to which I am coming, is that Christ is there; that glorious Person is there—“Where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God”. That fixes the matter for us. We do not belong to a scene out of which Christ has gone through death. We may be sustained of God for a little time in testimony in it, according to His will, but we do not belong here. Some of us have been very near over-occupation with our secular affairs; I speak feelingly as to myself. But our interests lie where the Christ is. That defines the situation. We do not need an explanation of that, because our glorious Saviour and Lover and Head is there.

And so to come to the first scripture we read, it begins, “If ye have died with Christ from the elements of the world”. I read the verses at the end of chapter 2 to bring out the contrast with chapter 3; “If ye have died with Christ”—note that, “with Christ”—“from the elements of the world”. Are we ready to go, in that sense, as He went; to leave the scene by way of death? He went into death as laying down His precious life. He went into death as having been under condemnation by man, but that condemnation did not cause His death, He laid down His life; but the condemnation was there. That marks off everything here. But in His death we have title to move out of the scene of things out of which He has gone, repudiating, on the basis of His finished work, that which

has attached us to this scene in which for the moment we still tread our way.

But then we have in the beginning of chapter 3, “If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ”. The “if”, I need scarcely say, is not an ‘if’ of doubt, it is “if” as indicating a consequence. “Raised with the Christ”; do we know something of life out of death? Romans 8 particularly contemplates this, the life which is in Christ Jesus. Do we know something of the surging up of that life within us, through the Spirit? It is a wonderful experience, never losing its wonderful character; we experience the reality of life inwardly, and a realization that it is the life of Christ in which we live; not life in the sense of what is creational here, but life according to God, standing related to a glorious Man in another scene. Would you not be in the gain of this? It is surpassingly wonderful, life that is entered into with no element of defect, that is, as to the life itself. I might fail in the appreciation of it, but as to the life itself, there is no element of weakness or defect or disadvantage of any kind. O, beloved brethren, may we know these surpassingly marvellous things in the sense of experience! The Lord would have it so.

“Seek the things which are above”. A lovely expression that! It does not go on to detail them, but Paul goes on at once to the essential point, “where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God”. Sitting is an assured position, a settled position; in one sense all that is needed to be done has been done. He will yet come and set everything right here, and establish a scene of things in which the divine rest will be, but as to the basis of everything in redemption it is done. And He was the Doer of it, a glory uniquely His. “Sitting at the right hand of God”, is the place of

power. He is in the place of power now. He will come soon in the exercise of power, as the One who has the power even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3: 21). He will come in power. The power is there. We do not see it in public exercise, nor do we expect to see it in public exercise as to the position of the saints at the present time, but it shall soon be in public exercise, and we know immediately the One who shall wield it, whose glory it is to have all power given to Him in heaven and upon earth. Think of having such a Person within the range of your knowledge! Think of loving such a One as that, and knowing that your love is something that He appreciates and cherishes. Are not these wonderful things, young people? Could there be anything more precious?

“Have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth”. That digs very deep. “Have your mind on the things that are above”. We all know that our minds tend to wander. We often quote Mr. Darby’s verse in that respect, as to his ‘wandering mind’, but how aware we are made sometimes of the wandering of our own minds. “Have your mind on the things that are above”. We come into the apprehension of them that way. The more we turn that way, the more we want to turn that way, because what our minds by the Spirit are given to embrace is so surpassingly precious. The word is here to occupy us with the things above. What is up there is the centre of everything for the heart that loves Christ, because He is there. I come back to that point again and again, and it is right to come back to it, that where Christ is, there my interests must be. How can I find them in the scene where He is absent, absent through despising and death? Pardon my pressing this, but I feel it is vital for the dear younger ones specially to come into these things, to find that the deepest interest attaches to the things that are above, and to set their minds upon them.

It is very attractive how the Spirit of God puts the positive side, and then says, ‘ not on the things that are on the earth’. It meets, in divine skill, the tendency for our minds to revert to the order of things here, as if to say, ‘Look up; see Christ there, and let your minds be feeding, be nourished, and built up in what you see in that scene’. You—especially the dear younger ones with perhaps quicker minds in these things—may say to me, What do I see there? The main object you see is Jesus. And you find as you contemplate Him that there is a whole glorious scene of things that stands connected with the manhood of Jesus gone into heaven. Everything in that scene derives character from the Man who fills it, God’s beloved Son. If you apprehend Christ there it might be said that you will apprehend every feature that is connected with Him, because it all takes character from Him. I believe, dear brethren, that we learn heaven from the heavenly Man, Jesus. The very fact that He is there in manhood is that we might by the Spirit have that which we can apprehend in the features of the heavenly Man. Let us be built up in the apprehension of it, and let us be formed in reference to it.

One thinks of the longing of the beloved apostle that Christ might be formed in the saints. As your occupation is with Him up there, it begins to affect you more and more. The Spirit is using it to make us more like Him. If the heart is drawn to Christ, there will ever be the desire to be more like Him, and more like Him still. The Spirit is able to bring that about as our engagement is with Himself. “For ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God”; that is to say, the life is not something which is publicly in

evidence yet; in that sense it is hid, but it is hid with the Christ in God. I must leave you to think about that verse. I could not say very much about it, but it indicates that things are treasured up there, and what is soon to be ushered in, in the full glory of it, is held ready for the moment that shall soon come.

Now there is the side of things that relates to the assembly answering to the affections of Jesus. How precious! There is the side of union. We might go on to the Ephesian letter to think of these glorious subjects. But I feel impressed tonight to take up the other side of the matter, not exactly what the assembly is for His own heart, but what the assembly is as with Him for the heart of God. If we come back to that verse in Hebrews 2, as to His singing in the midst of the assembly, we will get the thought. What harmony, what volume, what melody there would be in that singing under the touch, of the One who is Minister of the holy places, as later chapters show us.

Who can set the tone and character of the song like that glorious Person who sings in the midst? I do wonder if we have sufficiently entered into it, to appreciate His delight in having the assembly, to extend the volume, to extend the wealth of the response. It is not that everything is not in Him, in the sense of what gives character to the whole scene; but there are those who reflect Himself, who are sympathetic in heart and intent with His heart and intent, myriads of them. Think of Him giving the key notes, so to speak, to the song, and the volume of it swelling out in that vessel that is divinely designed to find her place with Christ for the delight of His own heart, but is with Him in the midst as the praise is directed to the Father, to God.

So I read that very interesting verse in Numbers 18, part of what Jehovah said to Aaron as to this priestly side of things—“Thy brethren also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring near with thee, that they may unite with thee”— unite with thee—an interesting, and we might almost have said, a surprising word. It has reference back to the meaning of the word ‘Levi’, which means ‘united’. The levitical side of things is spoken of to Aaron here as being united with him. We have in this verse, so far as I can see, a remarkable presentation of the whole Godward character of what stands related to the sanctuary. The high priest, Aaron, the priests (of Aaron’s generations), and the Levites are all there, the Levites with the priests all set in relation to Aaron. Yet the uniqueness of the priesthood is carefully guarded in the way that it is set out, as if to suggest to us how the whole course of what is toward God, for the delight of His heart, is set under Christ.

It is a wonderful thing, and the Lord would, I believe, just engage us with this. We are so apt to make what we are thinking about, what we may read, even in the Scriptures (absolutely right in their place) rotate round ourselves, our own place, our own joy. What a place is our place, what joy is our joy, but what is for the heart of God out of it? What is the assembly to be under His eye, not only in what is uttered, but in the whole substantial character of what is there? It is fine to think of the Levites, the three levitical families, touched on in Numbers 3, where you have the Gershonites, the Kohathites, and the Merarites, each with a distinctive area of service. Scripture presents them as to each one, their charge was this, their charge was that, their charge was another thing. How pleasing to God to see those charges taken up!

Everything is to be in function, the

priests in their place having to do with the holy things, entering into all that the most precious thoughts of God occasioned in the sanctuary, having entrance into the holy place. Then the Levites have their own assigned place. It is a great ordered arrangement of things, set up of God and having His pleasure in mind, even in the tabernacle in the wilderness. Yet, as Hebrews would show us, it looks on really to the final and eternal thing that shall be for the delight of His heart.

Dear brethren, what depths are connected with this side of things! In speaking of Numbers I am just speaking according to the type, the way in which the whole operative, active system of things is placed in relation to Aaron the chief priest. We have, as Hebrews reminds us, a great High Priest, “A great priest over the house of God”. Hebrews 8 reminds of His place in reference to the service of the sanctuary. Do we understand that service of His? Or would we like to know more of it? You can see the Godward order of things just presented to us in this verse (Hebrews 2: 12), all in due order, as if the Lord would remind us that in all these respects we stand related to Him. It is not association with Christ exactly, as in the sense of Colossians, which is characteristic of the whole position in Christianity, but it is the character of things in which what is due to God in right activity is carried forward under the Lord in the distinctive place that He fills in reference to it.

I desire that we might enter more into the singing, the harmony of it, the way in which the Lord is found amongst His own with no suggestion and no sense of distance, but—I speak in reverence I trust—mingling His voice with theirs in response Godward. Think of the echoing and re-echoing in the vault of heaven, if I could put it that way, of the melodious response that is suggested here, something which is due to God by way of answer to His own heart, not only in the quality of the song but in the quality and character of the singers. Every person in the assembly is there for the pleasure of God and is precious to Him, as indeed each is precious to Christ and to the Spirit.

Then we have in Hebrews 10, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil”. We have boldness, dear brethren, for entering in, right into the very heart and centre of things; no barrier remains anywhere. What it has cost to secure! “By the blood of Jesus”; it is touching that that comment should come in. It reminds us of the perfection under the eye of God of what He has wrought, and the way in is thus opened up. I love the urge of this scripture, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus”. You will notice the reference back to the tabernacle system, having particular concern now with what it depicts, I suppose, as to the final order of things in which we go right into God’s presence. What glory that means! Who can fitly express it? and yet the way in is there. It is that we may behold Christ, in His own unique place; His unique place in the Father’s heart; His unique place as filling out in manhood every thought of God; His unique place as securing the whole scene that is found responsive to God, who has purposed what is there. We see it all in relation to Christ and we are to go in and behold it.

“Let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water”. That is, the writer of the Hebrews would remind us of the necessity of going in suitably. How shall it be? By the application of the word by the Spirit, the cleansing power of the water, involving the death of Christ, as well as the power and efficacy of His blood. It is good to think of what John alone presents, the blood and the water flowing from His side. It has in view that we should go right in and that we should behold glory. The new and living way has been opened up. It is not connected with a legal order of things; it is connected with a living, glorious Person, out of death, having accomplished redemption, having laid the ground for the scene in which God shall find His rest. But, dear brethren, let us go in.

It impressed me today that this epistle to the Hebrews has much in it which is fundamental to what we speak of as the service of God. Yet it does not relate it to any specific occasion. We have been helped to see the place that the Lord’s supper has in reference to it. But this book does not relate the service to any specific occasion, it is rather that the saints are secured in every sense in view of that service, and what they are to the heart of God as secured for Him. I think it helps us in reading Hebrews to see that it is the scene of God’s pleasure that is in mind.

Someone has referred to this epistle as the book of the opened heavens. Is it not wonderful that the heavens are opened? Is it not wonderful that we can go right in—something to be experienced? And the experience is mine, or is yours, or is of the person who has it. We come together in the light and enjoyment of the experience, and we find how our experiences blend together. Why should that be? Because we have them in the power of the one Spirit, and central to them all is the one glorious Person of Jesus. Hence as you go in, you get a sense, in the language of the types, that the Ark is in its place. Christ in all His personal glories the Centre of all.

Address at Colchester
30 January 1982