EPHESIANS 1 (THIRD READING, PROBABLY AT TEIGNMOUTH)
[p. 17] EPHESIANS 1 (THIRD READING, PROBABLY AT TEIGNMOUTH)
Ephesians 1: 15 - 23; Ephesians 2: 1 - 10
CAC It is well for us to ponder deeply the things which God would have us to know. One might well ask oneself, ‘How much do I know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints?’ God would have us to [p. 19] know by the spirit of wisdom and revelation what a portion He has in His saints. It is wonderful to think of God having any inheritance at all, that there should be anything spoken of as an inheritance for God. An inheritance suggests a thought of something that has to be waited for for a certain definite time and then it can be enjoyed. Now that is the position in relation to God; He has waited a long time for His inheritance. The thought was suggested in the Old Testament of His people being His inheritance; there are a good many scriptures that give us this idea, “Israel mine inheritance”, Isaiah 19: 25. But God never got His inheritance till Christ had died and risen and gone to His right hand. When the saints are brought in spiritual power to the blessedness of what is in Christ, then God gets His inheritance in them. It is good to see that God could not enjoy what He has proposed and brought about in Christ; He must have the saints in it before He can enjoy it. That is the thought in this Scripture. Of course, He established it all in Christ in view of the saints coming in and enjoying it; the way God gets the joy and the possession of the inheritance is by bringing His saints into it.
Ques What is the thought of the inheritance?
CAC Everything which God has purposed in Christ.
Ques Is is a present thing?
CAC Yes, that is what it means when it speaks of the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the saints. God [p. 18] enjoys the inheritance in the saints of the assembly. It is just as we can take up and enter into the great and blessed thoughts that God has been establishing in Christ, and as we enter in and become possessed of them, that we become pleasurable to God as His inheritance. He gets the joy of all He has established in Christ by bringing the saints into it.
The fact of the apostle praying in this way shows how great the inheritance is; it requires the spirit of wisdom and revelation and for the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened so that we may know it. It requires the most wonderful action on God’s part so that the saints should know it. We cannot get it by reading Scripture. We might read Ephesians 1 every morning, noon and night for a lifetime and never know it; it is only known by having from God the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the eyes of our hearts enlightened; then we know these things and never till then. Then we know what the hope of His calling is, that vast scene of glory that is going to be headed up in Christ. It is possible for the saints to know it spiritually and then to know what a portion God has in His saints by bringing them into all the fulness that He has established in Christ.
If we can speak to God with intelligent knowledge of what He has established in Christ in such a way that He sees we have possession of it, He has great pleasure in us, we become His inheritance. What a thought that the saints are indispensable to the joy of the Godhead! We must pray if we want to know it; there is no other way. Having readings shows us what there is to get, and if they work rightly they send us to our knees, and then we pray and get the things spiritually. It is not simple information, we all have that because we are familiar with the Scriptures, but how much have we got in our souls in spiritual power? That is quite another thing. I only know what I know by the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the eyes of my heart being enlightened. There is the greatest encouragement in all this, because God does not put these things before us to make us think it is all over our heads. We hear saints talking about its being over their heads; what a mercy if there is something over our heads! It is a poor look-out if things are not over our heads; they are over our heads to draw us up to them. God shows us something far above our thoughts and conceptions in order that we may see that it is ours to go in for. If it is above my head the sooner I get up to it the better. We get it through exercise and the operation of divine knowledge; it is not what a schoolmaster could teach. The epistle supposes the condition of soul is there — faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints in order that there should be a proper foundation on which to work. They had been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and had the earnest of the inheritance. They had got a portion in having the Spirit, and what they wanted was a further accession. The spirit of wisdom and revelation is something additional to the gift of the Spirit. We enter on christianity proper by having the Spirit; no one could even be a babe in, Christ if he had not the Spirit, but that is the threshold of christianity; there is the further gift, the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We need our hearts to be stirred up to see how much there is to go in for — we stop with such a small measure of things.
In chapter 1 it is the pleasure of God; it is His purpose and glory, and in chapter 2 it is the power by which He gives effect to His purpose and glory; it is what God is doing for His pleasure. If we do not want to give pleasure to God we may as well shut up this book, but if we are on the line of divine pleasure we shall be very interested in it. It is the full light of the heavenly position and, of course, above our heads but it need not be above our [p. 20] hearts. God would put us into harmony with the way He is working; He is working along a certain line. The second chapter looks at what God is working for in its completeness. He has raised us up together, and we are sitting together in heavenly places; evidently that is the complete thing. We have the full light of divine purpose and divine power which can put the saints into it; it is all looked at as complete, though not complete in me. It should surely fill our hearts with the sense of the greatness of Christ. We see at the end of the chapter the greatness of Christ’s present position; it is what God has done with Him. It is a little different from Colossians; there it is the greatness of Christ personally, here it is the greatness of Christ in the position that God has given Him; it is what God has done with Christ. “Set him ... far above all ..”. (A.V.) is the place that God has given Him, so there is a need with us for knowing the surpassing character of God’s power, the great power that wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead; that is the power that operates towards us at this moment.
Ques Would Christ have inherited apart from the fall?
CAC I do not see how He could have. The coming of Christ and His going down to death was part of the divine counsel, though the occasion of it was the fall of man, and so the wisdom of God is seen in all He permitted to transpire in connection with Satan’s power and with death. It provided that on which God could work out His own counsel and purposes; that is where the greatness of God’s power comes in. None of us has a connection of it apart from the spirit of wisdom and revelation. No one can get an idea of resurrection apart from that, for resurrection is outside the scope of the human mind. Everyone in christendom professes to know what it means but they do not; man’s mind is not capable of taking it in. Man [p. 21] can understand the immortality of the soul, but he has no idea of resurrection; it is the mighty power of God. The power of His resurrection is wonderful. There was a Man in death — Christ — and the surpassing greatness of God’s power has been seen in the fact that He wrought in that dead Man; the might of His strength wrought there and He raised Him from the dead. It was the greatest act of divine power that ever took place or ever will take place. There was never such an act of divine power as the raising of that dead Man. We get the ground cleared by His death — sin is judged, death annulled, Satan’s power broken, principalities and powers spoilt, God glorified, man redeemed, everything is settled in the death of Christ, and now we get the power of God beginning an entirely new sense so there is a Man raised out of death. That is the power that operates towards the saints; the power that began operating in the raising of Christ has gone on and never ceases to act towards the saints. The power is always working towards those who believe to bring them into the sphere where divine power is working.
The apostle’s prayer ends in the middle of verse 20, “In raising him from among the dead” — that is the end of the prayer. Then the apostle goes on with his teaching, “And he set him down at his right hand”; he goes on to tell them what God did with Him after He raised Him.
Ques Is it anything like “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power”, Psalm 110: 3?
CAC That shows the power of God put forth to make His people free-will offerings. God’s power is put forth that His people may move freely in relation to Himself. That is what we get here, the mighty power operating towards the saints that they may move in light towards God and become free-will offerings, a glad surrender to God for His pleasure.
[p. 22] Quickening means we are made to live together with Christ — what a wonderful thing to think of! One longs to know what it means. One sees the wonderful place God has given to Christ, and that same power that raised Him and set Him in such a lofty position is operating in the saints to bring them up to the same level — the saints are to go up to the same level.
Ques Is it in a subjective way with us?
CAC Yes, exactly.
Rem It used to be looked at as purpose that we are quickened and set there.
CAC It is more than purpose, it is purpose carried into effect. It is purpose in chapter 1, “Chosen us in him before the world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love; having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself” (verses 4, 5). All that is purpose, and it is absolute before the foundation of the world. But the saints being quickened in power is not purpose. If I am quickened, there has been an operation of divine power in me. We ought to take in the thought of it; God brings it before us. God shows us the wonderful place He has given to Christ, He has placed Him at this present moment “above every principality, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name named, not only in this age, but also in that to come”. That is Christ’s present place, that is where He is at this moment. The only Christ there is is the One there. There is no Christ in humiliation or resurrection now; the only Christ there is is ascended and seated at the right hand of God. We could not sit with Him in the heavenlies if we were not quickened. The very fact that it is presented as what God is effecting ought to move our hearts. I cannot quicken myself, but it is something to let the light into our hearts. God is operating in the way of quickening power. It is difficult to get hold of [p. 23] because it is presented here in its completeness as actually accomplished in Jew and gentile.
Ques What does quickening imply?
CAC It means being made to live. If I have been made to live together with Christ it is a blessed reality brought about in my affections. The only way we are quickened now is in our affections, our bodies are not quickened yet; when the Lord comes they will be made to live in spiritual life on account of the Spirit dwelling in them (Romans 8), but before that the affections of the saints are quickened so that they can live together with the Christ, who is a glorified Man at the right hand of God. The saints in affection are made to live in that scene and association. Practically we touch it a bit now and then but there is no reason why it should be only a momentary thing.
Ques Do you make the quickening of the body entirely future?
CAC There may be a moral sense in which the body is quickened so that it can be presented a living sacrifice. In that sense you can speak of it as quickened for the service of God so that instead of the body being a vessel for the deeds of the flesh it becomes a vessel for the will of God. But Romans 8 contemplates the full result in the mortal bodies of saints; they will be quickened when the Lord comes. Quickening gives one the idea that christian blessedness is not in relation to things on earth but in relation to a glorious Person who is above all principalities and powers and every name that is named, and He is Head over all things to the assembly. He has that character in the eyes of the assembly, it cherishes Him as Head over all things.
Ques What is the thought of sitting together?
CAC It indicates the perfect repose in which Jew and gentile can occupy the heavenly position. It is a definite [p. 24] position, not what we have to move from; any other position we occupy on earth, even risen with Christ, we have to move from. We do not sit as risen with Christ; we have to move from that position. It does not represent the full thought of God and hence would not be an abiding place for us. It is not ascension; it is not like being in the full light of the heavenly position. When we get to that there is no movement so we sit, it is an abiding place for the saints; there is no further stage in their journey; they have reached the terminus. In Colossians you have not reached the terminus. It is blessed to be risen with Christ; there is nothing more blessed on earth, but in Colossians you are looking up to heaven. The assembly has a position as risen with Christ, but that is not the full thought of God, so you do not sit as risen with Christ, you stand as gazing up to heaven, “Have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth” (Colossians 3: 2), but when you get to heaven you sit. The Lord is very particular in John to call their attention to Himself as the ascending One. He does not say, ‘I am the risen One, go to my brethren’, but He says, “I ascend”. That is His character. It is not that He is going to ascend but He has ascended. That is the full light of the position, as the ascending One He comes into the midst.
The body comes in in verse 23 as the body of that glorious Person who is in such an elevated position; it is the fulness of Him who fills all in all — it is inconceivable! If God did not bring it before us we should think it incredible that there could be such a thing. We see the immensity of this Person and the elevated position He is in, and then we find there is a company which is His fulness, a company of persons adequate to the setting Him forth as His body — it is stupendous! One cannot wonder that so many christians do not enter into the thought of [p. 25] the assembly. We do not, though it is constantly brought before us. We get a dim thought of it occasionally, but rather as light. Think of the assembly as the fulness of Him who filleth all in all! Jew and gentile both one body in Christ, a company of persons adequate to set Him forth as His body! It makes one feel that nothing but the quickening power of God could bring that about; it could not be by human power, so the assembly is a divine formation. There is no natural or human thought in the assembly as viewed in Ephesians; it is purely of divine formation.
Ques What is the thought of filling all in all?
CAC That the whole universe is going to be filled out of the blessedness of Christ, and it is not only going to be characterised by what He is actually but by what He is internally, so He fills all in all. It is not only the character of Christ that will be expressed externally in every part of the moral universe, but it will be there internally; the spirit of everything will be derived from Christ. Fancy all the sensibilities in the universe made like Christ, every intelligent being in God’s moral universe thinking like Christ, feeling like Christ, having emotions and sensibilities like Christ! What pleasure to God! That is the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ, and God will never be satisfied until He has brought it about. It is going on feebly on our side now, but tremendous divine power is working to bring it about, and the assembly will come out in glory as the fulness of Christ. Think what it will be for God; one can hardly imagine it! God has had a universe in which sin has come in; Satan’s power and death have come in too. He has another universe where everything will carry an impression of Christ. Ephesians I gives a sense of what there is for God, and chapter 2 goes on to show how His power works so that He can raise the saints as quickened to the same [p. 26] elevation as Christ. Then they come at the end of chapter 2 to be “a habitation of God in the Spirit”. If we do not get away from the thought of blessing for man, we shall fail to enter into these things; we are very slow to take in God’s side, what is for Him. Nothing but God’s quickening power will take us away from ourselves.
What a contrast this is to what we were, “dead in your offences and sins — in which ye once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience”. There is a moral atmosphere in the world and it is marked by disobedience and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind. That is the atmosphere of the world, we lived there once and we know it is true because living there we were children of wrath. We were of such a character that nothing but wrath could attach to us, creatures that did their own will and world not give God a place at all, “children, by nature, of wrath ... (we too being dead in offences)”. What was there on God’s part? He was “rich in mercy” and He has “great love wherewith he loved us”. The old woman was right when she said that she knew God loved her before she was born for there had been nothing to love since!
“Ye are saved by grace” — what a wonderful salvation! “Quickened ... with the Christ” is the complete thought of salvation. There is always a tendency with us to revert to our old history but in the light of Ephesians it would not be possible.