EPHESIANS (READING AT DAWLISH, 6 MAY 1938)
[p. 135] EPHESIANS (READING AT DAWLISH, 6 MAY 1938)
Ephesians 1:13,14; Ephesians 2:18-22; Ephesians 3:3-6; Ephesians 3:16-19; Ephesians 4:1-4
LM When we take up Ephesians we find we are introduced into what is spiritual; our blessings at the present time are spiritual blessings. At the end of the book we arrive at spiritual songs, so if we can take it in we are at once introduced into a realm that is spiritual. In the verse we began with (chapter 1: 13) we come in by the sealing of the Spirit; in chapter 2 we have the habitation of God by the Spirit; in chapter 3 we get the mystery which can only be known in the power of the Spirit of God — it was made known to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit; and in chapter 4 we get one Spirit, so there is a line of thought which runs through the epistle. Do you go with that, Mr. Coates?
CAC Yes, that is confirmed by the thought that the words you read in chapter 1 are part of an utterance of worship. It is very interesting to see that from verse 3 to 14 of chapter 1 it is one sentence; you cannot put a full stop into it, and all is linked on with a note of worship: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ...”. It is a kind of sample of the worship of the assembly. The sealing of the Spirit is to be connected with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; it gives it a heavenly character.
Ques Is the sealing of the Spirit here an advance on Corinthians?
CAC I thought it was, because it is a development; it is the climax of things. In Corinthians we have it in germ, but it is fully developed in Ephesians. We cannot get beyond Ephesians.
Ques Why is it spoken of as the Spirit of promise here?
CAC It is important to connect the Spirit with [p. 136] promise;
the Spirit comes to us on the principle of promise in contrast to the principle of law. In Galatians 3 there are two principles contrasted, the principle of law and the principle of promise. The apostle takes pains to say that the inheritance is not on the principle of law but on the principle of promise. It is on the principle of what God proposes in His love to give. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of promise; He is connected with that side of things. He is connected with the things that have their origin in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 1 speaks of the promise of the Father and refers back to all that God said about the Spirit. The Spirit is connected with the Father in a direct way and belongs to the great realm of grace where all things are of the Father.
HB Is the Holy Spirit of promise in view of making those things workable?
CAC I suppose that is the thought of sealing, “Ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”. It conveys to me that there is something in the saints which corresponds to the mind of God. It is very important that we should see that thought in connection with sealing. There must be something there that the Father can approve and commit Himself to, so it is important to see that we are sealed in Christ and not in the flesh.
LM Was the Lord at His baptism in another sphere morally?
CAC The promise of the Father was received by Him when He was exalted to the right hand of God and ascended into the heavens as a glorious Man. It was not Christ after the flesh but Christ ascended to the heavens. He received the Spirit thus and it is after that pattern that we receive Him. The promise of the Father in connection with the Spirit is entirely outside man after the flesh, so those who are sealed are persons who have trusted in Christ. You have finished with yourself; trusting in [p. 137] Christ means that you have passed over to another Man who is at the right hand of God. That is the gospel! There is a glorious Man in heaven who can be trusted, and if we trust in Him there is something that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ can seal.
It is said first that we have trusted in Christ and then that we have believed; the believing is connected with the word of truth. We have pre-trusted in Christ — we have trusted in Him before His display — we gentiles have pre-trusted in Him. The word of the truth speaks of a risen, exalted and glorified Man. When Christ becomes the trust and substance of the soul God can seal that. There is in the soul of the believer that which is delightful to God. God looks at what I believe and He seals me, not because of anything in myself but because of the excellence of what I believe. What wonderful value there is to God in a heart that has trusted Christ and believed the word of the truth; He cannot withhold the Spirit of promise from that one. It so commends itself to God that He seals it.
LM It is believers who are sealed?
CAC Yes. We talk of a full gospel and I have not much confidence in an empty one! but the full gospel is brought out in Ephesians 2. The gospel of your salvation would be the Ephesian gospel; it is salvation which puts you in the heavenlies in Christ and that is a full gospel.
LM It takes us beyond Egypt or the wilderness or even Gilgal.
CAC Yes. No one is sealed until he is in Christ God does not and could not seal anyone in Adam but as we have come to be in Christ God can seal us.
HB Ephesians speaks of the truth as it is in Jesus.
CAC Yes, when that is in the heart there is something that God can seal. We now have to do with the testimony of His Son and he that has received His testimony [p. 138] has set to his seal that God is true. We have to put our seal to the truth of God first and then God seals us. He that receives His testimony has set to his seal that God is true; God can be trusted absolutely and no one is sealed until he comes to that. I can trust God absolutely in all that He has said to me; I am certain that God is true although I may not understand it. When you once put your seal you can never reverse it. There is something there that is of value and delightful to God and now He can seal you with His Spirit. The world makes God a liar and here is a poor outcast who sets to his seal that God is true and God is delighted and He seals Him with His Spirit. This brings us to the realm of divine realities. It is important to see that we are in Christ by the work of God and thus He can seal us with the Holy Spirit of promise. He seals what has value; God does not put His seal on something worthless. It is through the work of God in our souls that we trust in Christ; no man in the flesh would trust in Him.
LM There are very few believers in christendom who see that there is no good in man.
CAC I believe there are a vast number who have faith in Jesus as the Saviour who died for them, but they do not see Christ before the face of God for His delight and there is no delight for God outside that Man. If I have gone through Romans 7, I trust in that Man and delight in Him and that delights God and He seals me with the Holy Spirit of promise.
HB Is the Spirit here the earnest of the acquired possession?
CAC It looks on to the full result for the blessed God in glory. Suppose I have for five minutes a sense of the blessedness of what is going to be secured for God, that is the earnest of the Spirit. The Spirit gives us a sense of the whole realm of glory; He can give it to us [p. 139] for two minutes or for five minutes.
H.B. What is the earnest?
CAC It is a bit of the real thing. If I buy a house for a certain sum, I pay a deposit; it is the earnest, part of the full payment. So the Spirit is a substantial part of the scene of glory in our hearts now. We have come here tonight to get enriched in this.
HB The thought here of the Spirit is that we may realise the possibilities.
CAC It helps to see that this which is said of the Spirit is an utterance of worship; it is not simply doctrine but worship. If we do not worship God in connection with the sealing of the Spirit we have not got much good from it. This is an utterance of worship; things are put before us as a model of how we should speak to God the Father. Our worship is to be on this line; this is the proper line of the worship of the assembly. Abraham built an altar to God who appeared to him; it is how God has appeared to me that gives character to my worship. We do not get sufficiently familiar with the high level; we are more on the low level. The Lord says at the end of Luke, “the promise of my Father”; that is a lower level. The low level of worship is grace. The whole of Luke is really the unfolding of “I ought to be occupied in my Father’s business”. The dealing with sin, the great supper, the younger son being received into the house, and so on, were all connected with His Father’s business. That is the low level, how grace comes out to poor sinners here. The high level is the taking of the subjects of His grace to heaven in the heavenly Man. How He meets us as dead in sins is the low level, but we must not forget that that is not all, there is the high level.
LM A habitation of God in the Spirit?
CAC That is the low level; it is down here in the sphere of responsibility that God dwells in [p. 140] His people.
LM What about access by one Spirit to the Father?
CAC Ah! that is the high level! Access by the Spirit is not simply that you have a right to go but that you go. Many feel that they have boldness to go into the holiest who never go in. I may have a ticket to a show but it is no use to me unless I go.
LM Do we go in individually first?
CAC When you touch it individually you have the consciousness that you are not by yourself; it is the privilege of the whole company, the assembly. We used to be told that we could not say ‘Father’ individually, but the Lord tells us differently.
LM Is access to the holiest into the presence of God the high level?
CAC There are three steps in approach to God: (1) On Peter’s line, to offer up sacrifices acceptable to God; you offer there at the altar; you are not inside; (2) In Hebrews you draw nigh to God in liberty to enter the holiest, so you are inside, yet it is to God, not the Father; questions of holiness and righteousness are settled so we come to God without fear; (3) In John’s gospel you have access to the Father, that is further still: “No one comes to the Father unless by me” (John 14: 6) and the Lord speaks of “My Father and your Father”. All these enter into the worship of the assembly but we cannot cover all the ground at any one meeting. Perhaps at one time we are more on the line of spiritual sacrifices, that is more the Supper; the holiest is where you have liberty to go as in the love of the new covenant, but we may go that far and not have access to the Father. In that we all move by one Spirit, what a unifying effect that would have! If all were merged in one Spirit we should move together most beautifully. As we get on to these lines we learn more and more the reality of the Spirit as the power to bring us into the greatest nearness to [p. 141] the Father.
LM Is all this before the development of the mystery?
CAC Quite so. God is dwelling here; that is a permanent thing. Access to the Father is not always enjoyed; we are not always having access. God dwells by the Spirit in a gentile company so that His character may be known to the world by those in whom He dwells. So all our ways and demeanour are to be expressive of God dwelling in His people. We are privileged to worship God as well as the Father. ‘God’ is a more comprehensive title; ‘Father’ stands connected with the economy of grace.
LM God has secured His eternal habitation at the present time.
CAC His tabernacle will be with men eternally. It is particularly said of the gentiles that they are builded together by the Spirit. God dwells by the Spirit; it is a spiritual character of things and should affect us in all our ways. God dwells in us by the Spirit. We are never out of it. When the temple was built Solomon asked Jehovah that there might be a testimony going out from that centre. Heaven was God’s dwelling but the temple was like an extension of heaven. The house of God is like that. Solomon prayed that strangers should hear of the great Name and the glorious things done in this house. Such testimony is to go out that people should see some representation of God in us. I heard of a man and his wife who were converted by seeing two sisters pass their house on the way to the meetings. They liked their ways and enquired where they went, came to the room, were converted and are now breaking bread. It was their sober demeanour and tranquility on their faces that arrested them.