THE PRE-EMINENCE OF CHRIST
THE PRE-EMINENCE OF CHRIST
“And He is the head of the body, the Church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.”
One would desire, dear friends, that what is said of Isaac might be true in a distinct and definite way tonight of every heart in this room.
It is said of Isaac that he “waxed great, and went forward and grew until he became very great.” (Genesis 26: 13.)
One would desire that the experience of our hearts continually should be that the Lord Jesus Christ should wax greater and greater in the vision of our souls. Not that He Himself personally could ever be greater than He was at Bethlehem. He, Himself, as to His own inherent greatness, “is the same yesterday, today and forever”; but in our apprehension of His greatness one would like that Scripture to be true with every heart, “that he waxed greater and greater until he became very great.” The wise men of the East knew that the blessed Person Who had entered this world from Heaven had all greatness in Him, so that they came to where the little Child was, and kneeled down and worshipped Him. They said in effect what David says, as they kneeled down with a conscious sense of the greatness of Christ, “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory, and the victory; and the majesty... and Thou art exalted as Head over all.” (1 Chronicles 29: 11.) They said that in their hearts, as they knelt down in the presence of the Lord Jesus as a little child.
Upon the Cross the thief said exactly the same thing in his heart, in the midst of the utmost humiliation and dishonour. The thief discerned that all the greatness was there, and he, also, said, ‘Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the majesty,’ but one feels that we come to these things step by step, little by little. How one would prize one single thought in the heart of the greatness and the glory of Christ.
All spiritual movement, all growth and knowledge of God, springs from a conception of Christ. It does not spring from a mental ability to analyse the truths of Scripture. It springs from an apprehension in the affections of the majesty and glory of Christ, and it is on this line, dear friends, I would like to take up this passage where the Apostle says “that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.” The new translation of it is the same in effect, but perhaps clearer — “that in everything He might have the first place.” That that glorious One Whom we know as our Saviour might in everything, in every sphere of activity that it is ours to touch, might stand there first, and that we might rank behind Him. It speaks in Chronicles (1 Chronicles 12: 23) of how David received fifty thousand men who could keep rank, and it tells us why they could keep rank. They were not of a double heart. Every one of this fifty thousand men loved David, and he was at the head of them. They kept rank. That is the secret, dear brethren, of being in fellowship. The secret of being in fellowship is that we have not two hearts — one heart to love Christ, and the other heart to seek our own will — and so it says they kept rank, every one of them.
Now this passage in Colossians indicates that we have a place. While the Lord Jesus Christ has the first place it implies that we have got a place. I would like to show that in everything that has to do with God and His interests that we have the privilege to have part in, the Lord Jesus Christ, as Man, takes the lead there. He steps into the front; He is first.
The first thing I would speak of is what is general. Every creature of God can have part in one thing. There is one thing true for everything, and that is, it is open to all to serve God. The inanimate creation serves Him. David says: “The heavens declare the glory of God.”
Anyone who has any experience with God knows that everything was made to serve God, and so it is open, dear brethren, for us to serve God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, as man, steps into the front rank. He steps out right ahead of everybody, and He has the pre-eminence.
It is only said of Him, “Behold My Servant.” (Isaiah 42: 1.) God says from Heaven, through the prophet Isaiah, ‘Just look at My Servant.’ That is the secret, dear brethren, of all service for God — “Behold My Servant.” What a Servant He was. The apostles are greatly impressed by it. In their prayer they speak of “Thy holy Servant, Jesus.” Oh, what a sense they had in their hearts of how He was down here ministering to the will of God. That service was no legal service. He said, “Oh, how I love Thy law, and in it I meditate day and night.” “I delight,” says the Lord Jesus, “to do Thy will, O My God; yea. Thy law is within My heart.” So the Lord Jesus trod this world as God’s Servant, serving Him from the heart, serving Him, dear brethren, even to death, as we see in the Garden. The Lord Jesus says, “Not My will.” “Not My will!” He says, ‘I love My Master, I love Him.’ In becoming man the Lord Jesus took the servant’s place. “Taking a bondman’s form,” Scripture says; and in that place how He served! He says, “I love My Master,” and He served God right into death itself, doing His will. He was obedient, as says the Word, “Obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.” Untiring in His ministrations all through His journey. Serving, too. His own. He says to them, “I (your Lord and Master) am among you as One that serves.” How He served them in stooping down to wash their feet. Serving them, too, in every way; and now, dear brethren, He has gone up into Heaven and what is He doing there? Serving God there. It says, first of all, He was carried up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God, and the disciples went everywhere, the Lord working with them, working still from there, still working as the blessed Servant of God, and He is going on with that service until He has put down all rule and authority. When everything that lifts itself up against God is dealt with by God’s Servant what does He say then? ‘I will serve Him for ever.’ When that eternal day comes, right at the commencement of it, this is what is said, “The Son Himself will become subject” (the servant’s place) “will become subject to Him Who has put all things in subjection to Him, that God may be all in all.”
Now, dear brethren we are to rank behind that glorious Servant. Whatever branch of Service we may look at, He is the Servant Who is in the lead, He has got the first place.
We cannot serve — our service will not be worth anything — until we come behind Him.
One thinks of Mark in that way. Mark, you know, was converted — a young man just converted — and there sprang up in his soul a desire to serve the Lord. At that time Barnabas and Paul were about, and doubtless under the influence of Barnabas, Mark decided to go with them. What a thing it would be, no doubt he thought, to go out preaching the Gospel in the Company of Barnabas and Paul. How he would be able to come back, no doubt, with laurels. How he would be able to speak of exploits. All these things would be in the heart of a young man; and so, under the influence of Barnabas — under natural influences, not spiritual — he goes out to preach the Gospel with Paul and Barnabas, and serve. It says they had John as their minister — or their servant — but Mark had not any idea of what was involved in service, as we shall see.
They sailed to Cyprus, and they went across also to Salamis, and they came to Paphos, and there at Paphos they are met by “a sorcerer,” a “false prophet,” a “Jew,” “an enemy of all righteousness,” “a child of the devil.” Mark had not reckoned on that — all the subtle resources of the evil one arrayed against them — he had not reckoned on that. After that, it says that Paul went to Perga, in Pamphylia. One can understand Mark saying, “Paul, have a rest; this is terrible — place after place, activity, conflict, service all the time,” and he gets as far as Perga, in Pamphylia, and he goes back. Poor Mark! Through natural influences he had taken service of a public character before he was ready for it.
He goes back discouraged and having failed. No laurels! No conversions! There he is, and Barnabas afterwards says, “We will take him again.” “No,” says Paul. “He did not think it good to take him who went back from the work.” Paul says, “We will not take him,” and they separated about that.
What of Mark? There is Mark, feeling his failure and discouraged. He had not read Isaiah. He had not read that forty-second chapter: “Behold My servant whom I uphold, Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth.” “He shall not fail or be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth, the isles shall wait for His law.” The Spirit of God directed the heart of Mark to these Scriptures, and as he thought of God’s Servant, the Lord Jesus, as He trod that wonderful pathway of service, the fire burned, his heart burned within him, and his heart moved out towards that blessed Servant. Step by step he followed His path, and the spirit of God came behind his pen and he wrote the Gospel of Mark. He wrote about the pathway of service, the like of which there never was, and he did not write historically — he wrote it from his heart. It was his delight to think of such a Servant as that, and later on, probably when Paul had read that Gospel, after Mark had had long years of meditating upon the pathway of the service of Jesus. Paul says to Timothy, “Bring Mark, for he is profitable to me for the ministry.” A man who appreciated Christ like that will do — he will bring profit to the ministry; he will bring not profit to himself, but profit to the ministry. That is the secret, dear brethren, of any service that is of any account in the sight of God, and so one would like to leave that point there. All service of any kind has only value and power as it is done under the hand of God’s Servant.
Now I would like to divide up the service of God in a few ways in detail.
There is one way in which we can serve — that is, as in the character of shepherds. That is one form of service.
If you were to read through from Abel onward, you would find that nearly all the great servants of God began there. They began their service as shepherds. Abel is the first. It says Abel was a keeper of sheep, and so it is right through. Amos says, “I was no prophet; God took me from following the sheep.” They all began there. David began there. Moses began there. Abraham began there. “Thy servants,” they say, “are shepherds, both we and our fathers.” One would like to commend that service to us all, but it can never be taken up unless it is taken up under the influence of the Chief Shepherd — the Chief Shepherd, the Shepherd that is right in the front, the Shepherd that leads all other shepherds. That is how Peter speaks. Peter says, “When the Chief Shepherd shall appear.” Ah! Peter’s heart was moved. These things in Scripture, dear brethren, are not simply dry statements of fact; behind them is the heart of Peter. Peter, speaking about shepherds, says, “When the Chief Shepherd.” What remembrances that would bring up in the heart of Peter. How he would think of the Lord Jesus here on earth as that Good Shepherd. How he would think of His activities of a shepherd character, how he would think of Him taking the lambs in His bosom. His mind would go back, and he would think how the Lord folded the lambs gently in His bosom. How he would think, too, of the occasion when they came out to take the Lord, and in a true shepherd character He stood in front of the sheep, and He said, “If ye seek Me let these go their way.” How he would think before that of a multitude of sheep that were gathered together — five thousand, besides women and children — and the Lord, with a shepherd’s heart, had compassion on the sheep not having a shepherd, and He says in effect — “I will be their Shepherd.” Micah prophesies, “He shall stand and feed in the strength of Jehovah,” and the Lord Jesus stood there and fed them. All this Peter has in his heart.
Then he would think of how after the Lord Jesus came up from the dead He sent that message, “Go tell My disciples and Peter.” Ah! Peter’s heart was moved. “Go tell My disciples and Peter.” Peter was a sheep that was going astray. He says, “We were as sheep going astray, but are returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.” How the Lord came after Peter again. He said, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon.” How Peter would think of that interview when the Lord showed him what a true shepherd was. Then He said to Peter, “Now, Peter, you be a shepherd; you feed My lambs. Peter; feed My sheep, shepherd My sheep.”
All Peter’s shepherd activities sprang from his knowledge and appreciation of the Chief Shepherd; and so it is, dear friends, today. Whatever shepherd work is undertaken that is of any value, is undertaken under the influence of the Chief Shepherd, and it is a most important service — never more important than today.
In the prophet Micah, after he had spoken of the Lord as a Shepherd that feeds His flock in the majesty of the Lord, we are told that, “When the Assyrian shall come into our land”
(that mighty scattering power that would break up the people of God) “we will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight principal men.” The prophet says when these mighty hordes of Assyrians, with their horses and chariots, come down to our land we will meet them with seven shepherds. That is not man’s way, is it? That is God’s way. That is what we need, dear brethren, with the scattering influences of evil coming into our land. If, in our local gatherings, there is working the influence of the wolf that would scatter the sheep, let each heart say, “We will raise up against him seven shepherds.” That will meet it. The power of the wolf is met by the shepherd spirit, and so one would just like to leave that point there, with the Lord Jesus as the Chief Shepherd at the head of all shepherds, giving character to their service.
Now I would like to come to another service which is open to the saints, and that is the service of Levites. In the Book of Numbers you see this, that all the Levites were engaged carrying everything connected with the tabernacle system. It was their work to carry it. The Ark, the altars, the veil, the curtains, the rings, the taches, the pins. They were all listed. The Levites’ work and service was to carry all through the wilderness to the Land. How could they do it? How could such a service be properly cared for? The Spirit of God says, “Eleazar, the son of Aaron, he shall be the chief of the chiefs of the Levites.” The New Translation is, “Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, he shall be the prince of the princes of the Levites.”
Right ahead of all the other Levites there would stand the prince of the Levites, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. In everything, it says, “He has the pre-eminence.” So the Lord Jesus stands as the Prince of the princes of the Levites. We may be seeking in God’s grace and favour to do Levitical work, to carry the Lord’s interests through this wilderness scene. It may be a very small part given us to carry — it may be only a pin, only a ring, just that which will help to keep things down or bind things together, but most important things. We can never carry them unless under the influence of the Prince of Levites. How blessedly the Lord carried everything through this scene for God. Wherever there was anything that belonged to the tabernacle how carefully He picked it up and carried it right to the end. Take, for instance, Luke 7. There was in the house of Simon a little piece of brass that belonged to the tabernacle (manifest in the judgment of sin in the woman’s soul), and Simon the Pharisee (he was no Levite) would have got rid of that piece of brass. Not so the Lord. He picked it up and carried it. He says, ‘That is Mine.’ He covered it, He put His wing over it, He protected it. Later on, in the twelfth of John, there was the alabaster box of ointment that belonged to the tabernacle. Judas was not a Levite — he had not a single Levitical instinct in him. He would sell it. The Lord Jesus, the Prince of Levites, says, “Let her alone.” ‘I want that.’ Now, dear brethren, we cannot take up Levitical work of any description unless it is under the blessed influence of the Prince of Levites. He has the first place. If we are not behind Him we are not in place at all. If it is not done in His blessed spirit it is not done at all.
Now I would leave that and pass on to another sphere of, service that is open to all the people of God, and that is the service of priesthood. Perhaps someone says, “Oh! I thought they were just a special class that were priests according to God.” No, dear brethren, all the redeemed say, “Thou hast made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” All saints are priests to take up the service of God, but we can never exercise priestly service rightly unless it is under the influence and direction of the One Who is called the “Great High Priest.” There is one Priest, dear brethren, stands out right in front of all the other priests, right in the lead. “In everything,” it says, “having the first place,” and so, if we are going to take up priestly service, how shall we do it unless it is under the influence of Christ, that Great High Priest, Who is over the House of God. What a Priest He is!
Priestly service has two distinct characters. One is from man to God, to draw near to God on behalf of man, to present those sacrifices in which He delights — that is one side of priesthood. Peter knew all about that. He says, “A holy priesthood.” That is the service of the priesthood towards God. Then the other part of priesthood is that the priest comes out from the presence of God, and he draws near to man. He does it in a dual capacity. On the one hand he carries to man the compassion of the heart of God. What marks a priest is that he has compassion on them that are ignorant and out of the way. The other feature is that “his lips keep knowledge, and they seek the law at his mouth.” Now the Lord Jesus Christ is that Great High Priest in both characters, the holy Priest and the royal Priest that Peter speaks of — a royal Priest towards men. The Gospel of John presents Christ as the holy Priest approaching God with the sacrifices: The Gospel of Luke presents Christ as the royal Priest coming out from God with the compassions of the heart of God for those who are ignorant and out of the way, and also as the One Whose lips: keep knowledge. How the Lord stands in the eleventh of John, and again in the seventeenth, as the Great High Priest in that holy character with the priestly garments of the twenty-eighth of Exodus — every one of them — on. The gold is there, the purple is there, the scarlet is there, and the fine twined linen ephod is there, the breastplate is there, and the shoulder pieces are there, on both of which are the names of all the people of God. The Lord stands there in full priestly garb. How clearly: we see those onyx stones and those shoulder pieces with all the names of the people of God on.
He says, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that shall believe on Me through their word.” He draws near to God at the golden altar with the incense, and speaks to God in relation to His glory amongst His people, and His garments of fine linen come out very clearly. He says, “I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” How beautiful are the garments the Lord is wearing there, those garments of glory and beauty. One would commend the seventeenth of John to our hearts as illustrating what priestly garments are. On the other hand, how the Lord stands as the Royal Priest in Luke, everywhere bringing out the compassions of God towards man. Then “they sat at His feet and heard His Word.” That is Luke. He was there teaching men for God. Dear brethren, it is open to all the saints, to take up this service — to draw near to God with the sacrifices of praise continually — the fruit of our lips — giving thanks to His name, but it can only be done according to God under, the blessed influence of the Great High Priest.
It is open to us to draw near to man with the compassions of the heart of God, but it can only be done under the influence of that Royal Priest, that King that is a Priest upon the throne — that Royal Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ — and so He stands at the head of all the Priests as the Great High Priest, having in everything the pre-eminence.
Now just a few more words. There is another service that is open to all the saints, and that is the service of song. What a blessed service that is. That is one of the greatest of all. How shall we sing? Where shall we get the note from? Habakkuk is thinking about that. He has got a song in his heart. He says, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail,” and further on he says, “There shall be no herd in the stalls.” Though there is nothing that would make him outwardly happy, he says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” He has got a song, but he feels that he cannot, he is not adequate, to bring it to the heart of God, and so he says at once, “To the Chief Singer on my stringed instruments.” He hands that song that is in his heart over to the Chief Singer. That is the place of the Lord Jesus — at the head of all singers. All singing that reaches God’s ear reaches Him through the Chief Singer. It is led by Him; it is controlled by Him. It comes up to the ear of God from Him. You look over the headings of the Psalms and you will find that is the bearing of a good many of them.
David writes the Psalm — it is a song — and then hands it over to the Chief Musician — that is, Christ. He takes that song and renders it to the heart of God. Dear brethren, the Lord delights in that service. That is a service that is going on for ever. There are a great many songs to sing. One could not speak of them tonight, but the Lord leads them all. You remember when God laid the foundations of the earth it says, “The morning stars sang together.” They sang creation’s song, celebrating God’s greatness. When the Lord Jesus became man He takes the lead in that song, as He takes what the Creator gives in the loaves and fishes, and He lifts up His eyes and blesses. That is the song of creation. The Lord leads it.
We have all followed what the Lord started then, as the Chief Singer, and so with every song; He leads all the singing that goes up to God’s ear, and He is called the “Sweet Psalmist,” and He is going on with the singing, conducting the service of song until we come to the last two or three Psalms, and what a song it is! The Chief Singer calls upon the heavens to praise God. It says, “Praise Him, ye heavens; praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars of light”; and then He comes down and says “Praise the Lord from the earth, fire and hail; snow and vapour, stormy winds fulfilling His word, mountains and all hills, fruitful trees, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes”; and He goes on leading every part of the universe into song to God until he reaches the end of the one hundred and fiftieth Psalm, and the Psalms are finished. He says, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” This is done under the hand of the Sweet Psalmist of Israel. He is the Chief Singer.
He says, “In the midst of the Church will I sing praises to Thee.” If we have part — and we can have part, and we do have part — it is under the influence and direction of the Chief Singer or the Chief Musician.
One delights to think of eternity, and what fills eternity is song. The whole universe, under the hand of Christ, is singing to God responses as they know them, and then it says God joins in it. It says, “He will rest in His love, He will joy over them with singing.” What a contrast to what is here. It says in Genesis that God looked down upon the earth and it grieved Him at His heart. Under the blessed hand of the Chief Singer the end is this, that everything is singing. God is singing, and the whole universe; under the hand of Christ, is singing. That is the thing that goes on for ever.
There is one more word I would like to leave, and I cannot say much about it. There is another service the greatest of all — that is open to every believer, and that is the service of Sonship, which, dear brethren, is infinitely great. “Let My son go that he may serve Me,” said God. There is a service connected with Sonship that the Lord Jesus gives us part in, but how one delights to come back to this — that in everything He has the first place, and so He is spoken of “as the firstborn of many brethren.” It speaks of “being conformed to the image of His Son” in order that He might be the firstborn of many brethren. The Firstborn of this family is in the lead. He stands at the head, but there are many others. What a word it is: “Many brethren.” The brethren of Christ are the sons of God, and they share His part and place and relationship to the Father, but they do so with the Lord Jesus as the Firstborn. That wonderful service to the heart of God is under the influence and direction of the Son of God.
It is a service that is connected with relationship. “Go tell My brethren that I ascend unto My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.” What God will get for ever is the service of sons. What marks sons is that they enjoy relationship with the Father, which implies the enjoyment of Divine affections on the one hand and intelligence as to the mind of God on the other.
The sons of God, in Scripture, always are intelligent and sympathetic in whatever God is doing, and they are able to minister to His heart — they joy in His love. “That the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” That is the love of Sonship. One can only say as to that, that the measure in which we enter into it is the measure in which we are under the direction and influence of the Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn of many brethren. May the Lord grant to us all that we might be able to touch these wonderful, Divine, eternal realities, as having our hearts more and more brought into attachment to Christ.
The secret of Christianity is that Christ has His place in our hearts, and that He is waxing greater and greater. That keeps us, and that alone fits us to take up the service of God in any way whatever.