THE COMPANIONS OF CHRIST AS THE TRUE ISRAEL
[p. 136] THE COMPANIONS OF CHRIST AS THE TRUE ISRAEL
Isaiah 8: 13 - 18; Luke 22: 28 - 30; Hebrews 3: 1 - 6
I desire to draw attention to the place of christians as companions of Christ, for it is a point of the greatest moment for us to apprehend. I shall be able to shew you that a very great deal depends upon it, not only for us, but for God. A very important place is filled by the companions of Christ in the course of divine dealings, in that in them the continuity of the ways of God is maintained. If I judge for others by myself, this has a great effect in establishing our souls in the truth.
It is evident that there can be no lapse in the ways of God. Everything must be maintained for Him, and He has His own way of maintaining all. Things may appear to us to go to the bad, for if God takes up a people and they do not answer to His mind, He will set them aside. This is what He has done, and will do, but for all that He preserves the continuity of His ways.
There are two principles of God which underlie the whole of Scripture: that is, He works out His purpose, but never gives up responsibility on the part of man. His purposes are not dependent on the responsibility of man. He has His own way of working them out; but, at the same time, He retains man in responsibility, and, so far as I understand things, the wisdom of God is apprehended in seeing these two most important principles maintained by God in His ways.
We all see the lapse of Israel after the flesh, but the Israel of God is maintained in the companions of Christ, so that there is really no lapse. God had His own way before Him, and, if there was an apparent lapse in the ways of God, He knew how the continuity was to be maintained; I am going now to shew how the Israel of God is maintained in the companions of Christ.
[p. 137] That we are companions of Christ is a truth of profound moment to us. The Lord said to His disciples, “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations”. Now we are the companions of Christ in the time of His rejection. Whatever may be our position and connections in this world, if they are of the most exalted kind, nothing can compare with the idea of companions of Christ, “For we are become companions of the Christ if indeed we hold the beginning of the assurance firm to the end”.
It is very evident that if Christ has companions they must take their character from Him. In a family where the eldest child has brothers and sisters, they are his companions, and will be very largely influenced by him, the first-born. And so, too, in companies on earth, there is commonly a leader who influences and gives character to his companions. Now that is the case with us when we take Christ into account; Christ has ability, not only to influence His companions, but to make His companions answer to Himself.
It is important for us to see that everything must in result be for God, and that is assured in the fact that Christ is the Head and centre of the moral universe which is of and for God: the universe of bliss. From the position He occupies in the ways of God, of necessity everything must be for God. You may test that as you like. There is no principle of truth with which we are familiar but has its first application to Christ Himself.
I will take up one or two points in connection with that. I do not, for the moment, refer to what is moral, but to what is more material. I take up the thought of the world — all is for Christ. Every part of the creation was for Him. He was the Creator of all things, and in that connection we get the statement: “All things have been created by him and for him”. He is the “image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation”. Creation was for Him. God placed Adam in the midst of it in the first instance, with dominion over it; but [p. 138] all things were created not only by Christ, but for Him. It was ever in the divine purpose that Christ should become Man, and all was formed in view of His becoming Man and occupying the place, as in the counsels of God, of the Head of the universe of bliss.
This is confirmed in Revelation 4 and 5. In chapter 4 all creation is taken up by Christ as Creator, as having been created for Him. All were created for His pleasure, and He takes up creation on that ground. In chapter 5 He takes all up on the ground of redemption. He is the Lamb, that was slain, in the midst of the throne.
Christ is the Heir of all things. God created the worlds by Him, and, in order that He might take up the inheritance, redemption was accomplished, and has its application thus to Christ Himself. The same thing is true with regard to the accomplishment of righteousness. It was accomplished for Christ that, the lawless man having been removed from under God’s eye, He might be the Sun of righteousness.
But I come to a narrower circle: Israel. The point with Israel was, that they were God’s house. You get that thought in Exodus 25: 8: “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them”. Also in 2 Corinthians 6: 16: “for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”. These thoughts evidently had reference to Israel. God took them up to dwell among them and walk in them. Until you get the figure of redemption you do not find the thought of God dwelling among men. He visited man, like Abraham, to communicate with Him; but there was no indication of His dwelling until there was the figure of redemption. Israel was taken up provisionally in order that the purpose of God might be accomplished. God did not dwell among them nakedly, that is, without a temple, because they were taken up after the flesh. Israel had a national calling,
[p. 139] and the highest point of it was, that God would dwell among them. All the material of the tent of meeting was taken from the people to construct the tabernacle; that is, God came as close to them as it was possible for Him to come under the circumstances, and it was intended that they were to be affected by that.
I have no doubt that Israel was really called out for Christ: just as creation was made for Him and by Him. They were God’s inheritance, which was to be taken up in due time in Christ. Christ came to His own, but His own received Him not, and hence we get the end of Israel after the flesh, but not the end of Israel according to the purpose of God. All connection with Christ after the flesh terminated in His rejection. Israel lost the place they had provisionally, because they did not receive Christ. That is referred to in Isaiah, and whilst there is a lapse as after the flesh, yet God has taken care that there is no real lapse. What was lost in Israel was secured in the companions of Christ, the children given to Him: “Behold I and the children which Jehovah hath given me;” they were for signs and portents, they were given to Christ in the time of the hiding of the face of Jehovah from both the houses of Israel, and in them you get the true Israel.
You will find a confirmation of that in John 15. Israel had been the vine, but the Lord said to the disciples, “I am the true vine ... ye are the branches”. We have the same thought continued, though not in connection with the vine, in verse 7: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you”. That is, the thought of fruit-bearing is maintained in that which was before God as the true Israel: the children which God gave to Christ; thus the continuity of things is preserved in the companions of Christ.
In them you get, for the time being, the Israel of God, and that thought is taken up in Hebrews. In the chapter which I read we get two points. The first is, that christians were God’s house, and the second, that [p. 140] they were companions of Christ. In the gospels the thought of the companions of Christ comes out continually in connection with the disciples. The Lord says to them, “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”. We see there that they had not lost their relation to Israel in being the companions of Christ. We all know that the beginning of the church was in a remnant of the Jews. God added the saved ones daily to the church, they were brought into the place of companions of Christ. There was no gentile as yet brought in, we do not get one until Acts 10, when Cornelius received the Spirit.
Our place is that of companions of Christ because we have received Christ in the time of His rejection. That thought comes out in the beginning of John’s gospel. “He came to his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God”. We have the Holy Spirit’s testimony to Christ in the time of His rejection, while He is hid from the world at the right hand of God, and by faith of it come into the place of His companions. God is bringing many sons to glory: He has revealed in this His thought and mind.
The apostle Paul says in Romans, “he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God”. And in Philippians he says, “we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit”. God has the circumcision, the true Israel, the true Jew, because all is found in the companions of Christ.
Another interesting point in connection with this is that the companions of Christ, in the time of His glory, come out as the holy Jerusalem. The link with earth and Israel is not lost. The holy Jerusalem comes down [p. 141] from God, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are inscribed on the twelve gates of the city. Paul suffered for the truth and the hope of Israel, and we find these maintained now in the church. There will come the time when all Israel shall be saved: a nation will be born in a day, but, in the meantime, the true Israel is maintained in the companions of Christ.
The place which the heavenly Jerusalem occupies should, in a sense, have been occupied by Israel. The nations of the earth ought to have walked in the light of Israel, but what will come to pass is that they will walk in the light of the holy Jerusalem. She has the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious, and the nations of the earth bring their glory and honour unto it. But all Israel will be saved. There will come the Deliverer out of Zion, and they will have their own proper connection with the heavenly city. Israel will be responsive to the heavenly city, while the nations will be responsive to Israel. That will be brought to pass when Christ is manifested in glory. In the meantime, we have the exalted Christ, the Head, the Sun of righteousness, the Beginning of the creation of God, and we are companions of Christ, in whom the truth and hope of Israel are maintained. We are brought into the light of the coming age.
No one can understand christianity who does not see that the real power of it lies in the anticipation of the coming age. The day has dawned, Christ shines upon us though the Sun of righteousness has not yet arisen with healing in His wings. When Christ shines upon us we get an apprehension of the whole system and order of things of which He is the Beginning and Head.
A first principle of this is that the truth and the hope of Israel are maintained in His companions. The Jew today calls himself a Hebrew and maintains Jewish traditions, but the hope of Israel is not found in him. He is self-seeking and pursuing worldly advantages, but Israel’s hope is not there. The Jew after the flesh is [p. 142] lost in the world, and the truth of Israel according to God is maintained in the children given to Christ.
Now as to what is to mark the companions of Christ: Christ is pre-eminent among them, that must be so in the very nature of things. Thou hast anointed him “with the oil of gladness above thy fellows”. The house of God is, in a sense, for Christ, as being Son over it. Moses was a servant in it, and for him it was a test of faithfulness, but for Christ it is the sphere in which He is entitled to order all. That will expand as wide as the universe, because all things will, in a sense, form God’s house, and in the universe of bliss Christ will order all things. In the meantime, we are His house, and there it is that Christ orders all according to God. There can be nothing which is according to God now save that which is of Christ. He is the one Man before God.
This will be verified even in Israel: Christ will give character to them when the law is written in their hearts. They will be according to God because they have taken character from Christ.
We get in John 12 the thought of the power of attraction in Christ: “I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me”. I should connect that with Matthew 11. The Lord recognises there His rejection by Israel, and consequent upon that you get the word: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. Christ is the point of attraction now, the outset and Head of the world to come. He is the true Sun of righteousness, though not yet arisen with healing in His wings. It is not yet the moment of His coming in glory and dissipating the darkness, but the darkness is passing and the true light now shines. Christ has been lifted up, and draws all to Himself. There is a mighty, beneficent, moral influence [p. 143] in Him which has the effect of drawing all to Himself in order that all may take character from Him.
There comes a moment in the experience of people weary and heavy laden. They become jaded by life in the world, and it cannot satisfy; and God works so that people really become burdened; then it is that the Lord’s word is heard, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. No mere impostor or philosopher would ever have said that. Then He goes on to say, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me”. He virtually says, ‘I can come down to you’. There never was a man but He who was meek and lowly in heart. We have not to get up to Him, the difficulty for us is to get down. The qualities which were in Christ do not obtain in this world. The man who is meek and lowly in heart cannot be successful in the world because he has not the qualities for it.
But there is a people here heavy laden like Israel in Egypt, and, for them, there is the One who has been lifted up from the earth: the magnet, the point of attraction for the heart: and He says, ‘Take my yoke upon you, become my companions, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls’. If we are brought to that point we partake in the qualities which are suited to the house of God. That comes out clearly in Ephesians. In chapter 2 the saints are spoken of as being of the household of God, and in chapter 4 they are to be characterised by lowliness and meekness. The part of the Lord Jesus is, that He presents Himself to us as the point of attraction. Just as the sun is the point of attraction in the material system, so the Sun of righteousness is the seat of attraction and the power of it in the system which is, not material, but moral. He presents Himself to us, and in that way brings us into the place of companions with Himself. We are here sharing His rejection, and if we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified together. That is the point to which we are brought now, suffering [p. 144] with Him, and yet, at the same time, the house of God, where Christ is entitled to order all according to God. He is the first-born among many brethren, and, from what He is and where He is, He is entitled to give character to His companions.
We are not like people in old times, believing in God and waiting for Christ’s coming. The Lord has come, the world to come has dawned in the Sun of righteousness, the day-star is there. He has arisen in our hearts, and Christ is shining upon us. We have been brought out of darkness into God’s marvellous light. The best thing I could do for you, if it were in my power, would be to bring all your hearts into view of Christ as the Sun of righteousness, the centre and Head of the system in which God is glorified, and in which man is placed according to God; and that system is there. Christ is the beginning, and the first-fruits of it are the companions of Christ, and there it is that the true Israel is maintained for God.
The One anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows has the right of the first-born. All belongs to Him, and not only do we all take character from Him, but He leads us in the service of God. The service of God properly belonged to Israel, they had the oracles of God, but now the companions of Christ have that place. The truth is maintained now in the power of the Holy Spirit, He is the witness; whom God hath given to them that obey Him. The service of God is provided for. We are built up a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. In Psalm 22 the Lord said, “In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”. The strict application of that verse does not, perhaps, go beyond the Jew. But the companions of Christ come in now as the true Israel, and the gentile as the seed of Abraham. They are become fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God. That is the place of the gentiles. The companions of Christ are the company in the midst of which Christ can praise God. That is taken up in [p. 145] 1 Peter. We have come to Christ as the Living Stone, the foundation of the building, and are built up a spiritual house. The service of God is provided for in the true Israel, in communion with the One who is the Head of the universe of bliss.
Provision is made also for testimony to man, and that which should have come out in Israel comes out in the companions of Christ. We are to shew forth the virtues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. Israel was called out of Egypt, and was to be a witness to God in the midst of the surrounding nations, and the point for us is to shew forth His praises. We are a testimony of the virtues of God, known and maintained in the companions of Christ. I think you will admit, if you have followed me, the great moral importance in the present time of the companions of Christ. The importance to Himself is the first point, for they are God’s house so that Christ may order all according to the glory of God. We are brought into the place in order that the interests of the true Israel may be maintained, that God’s virtues may be set forth in those who form His house.
Now these things are vital. Christianity is life, not simply doctrinal orthodoxy. It is well to be orthodox, but christianity does not consist in that, it is life, because it is centred in Christ, the living One, the Sun of righteousness. He has come that we might have life, and have it very abundantly. Life is there, maintained by the energy of the Spirit of Christ, and we are brought into view of the One who is the beginning, sun and bond of the universe of bliss. For us the day has dawned, and the day-star has arisen in our hearts. If you do not see that, you will come under the influences of the present world. You only escape by the apprehension of Christ in the system and order of things which, according to God, is centred in Himself.
God had that order of things in view from the outset. It is remarkable that when of old God took up a man [p. 146] He did not speak of accomplishing anything in the man himself. For instance, Abraham was taken up, but everything was to be accomplished in his son. The same thing was true with David: everything was to be accomplished in the son of David, all the ways of God had regard to Christ. Abraham never had companions, nor had David, Isaac or Solomon; but when Christ comes in He has companions.
The point of importance is that in the companions of Christ, the children given to Him, you get the maintenance of the Israel of God. They are hid for the present, but will come out in the holy Jerusalem. If we get the apprehension of our place in regard of Christ, it will alter our whole course here. With the young there is often an assent to the truth, and an outward association with the people of God, but the point is, are they going to come out as men of faith and companions of Christ: holding to Him and admitting His title to give character to them? He is entitled to give character to all His companions, and the point is to accept that. You are bound to submit to the influence of Christ, and take character from Him. You are to take His yoke upon you and learn of Him, and then you come out, accepting your part in the service of God and in testimony to man.