DISPLAY
[p. 88] DISPLAY
We have had before us, on former occasions, first the truth of the gospel as presented in the beginning of Romans; then the ministry of the new covenant and of reconciliation; and last time we had the subject of growth and progress in the saints. What I desire to speak of now as a close is the subject of display, because it is there that hope has its place in the hearts of saints. The apostle in the epistles to the Thessalonians introduces the three words, ‘faith’, ‘love’ and ‘hope’, in more than one connection. He remembers their “work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope”; and at the close of the first epistle he exhorts them to “put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation”. In the passage I have read the hope is again in view in connection with the government of God and the coming of the Lord, “when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe ... in that day”. It is that point I want now to dwell upon, the hope of the Christian; that is, the coming of the Lord.
The occasion of the apostle’s writing the first epistle to the Thessalonians was in part to allay their fear that those who had died would not share in the glory of the kingdom. From the second epistle it would appear that they had been deceived, through some pretended apostolic writing, into the idea that the day of the Lord was present; and the apostle consequently tells them in chapter 2 of that epistle what must of necessity take place before the day of the Lord can come. In chapter 1 he takes up the position of the saints as suffering for the kingdom, and if they suffered for the kingdom they would get the righteous answer in the government of God, they would be “counted worthy of the kingdom” for which they also suffered; and when the Lord came to establish the kingdom, He would come “to be glorified in his saints and to be admired” — the word really is “to be wondered at” — “in all them that believe ... in that day”. My point is therefore to bring before you the truth of display as the hope of the Christian.
But when I speak about the coming of the Lord, you must not misunderstand what I mean. I am not referring to the rapture, but to the coming of Christ in glory; He comes to establish the kingdom. For though it is well to be here in faith, and to cherish the privileges of Christianity, yet the apostle says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable”. It is well for the Christian to have on “the breastplate of faith and love”; but he wants “for an helmet, the hope of salvation”; he awaits in hope the crown of it all; if he is to suffer here with Christ, he needs to know that he is going to reign with Him. The Christian is not to be left out in the day of His glory, when He comes “to be glorified in his saints, and wondered at in all that have believed”. The two marks of the people of God at the present moment are, they are saints, holy, and they believe.
Now it is needful to remark first that the present is not a time of display, save in a moral sense, and more than that, that display is not the great subject of the New Testament. It is necessarily brought in to complete the revelation; but the great part of the writings of the New Testament refer to Christianity, that is, to what is connected with the presence and power of the Spirit here. When we get to heaven, we shall not want Scripture; then we shall know as we are known, we shall not want guidance and instruction then as to Christianity and as to present things, the time of it will all be passed; but now we have Scripture as our [p. 90] guide in the present. It says but little as to the future, but the future and not the present is the time of display.
There are one or two passages in Scripture which will, I think, substantiate what I have said. For instance, in the parable in Matthew 13 of the treasure hid in the field, the Finder who buys the field hides the treasure, it does not come out into manifestation. You get the same thought in Colossians 3, “Your life is hid with Christ in God”; it is not yet manifested. And again, in chapter 3 of the first epistle of John: “What we shall be has not yet been manifested”. That marks the position of the Christian, and the position of the Christian properly answers to the position of Christ, for Christ is hid; Christ has been called to sit at the right hand of God until His foes are made His footstool; He is hid in God. The moment Christ leaves the Father’s throne it will alter everything; there will be no more church here, the Spirit will have gone, but there will be the development of other things entirely. When Christ begins to exercise power, everything is changed. The first effect of His power is seen in Philippians 3. He will change our vile bodies into the fashion of His body of glory. But for the present, Christ is hid in God; and therefore it is the time when the treasure is hid. When in fact, Christianity became conspicuous in the world, it was inflated and corrupt. When it appeared as a mustard tree it was a corrupt system; it was “like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened”. The fact of Christianity being a great conspicuous system in the world is nothing to glory in. It proves it to be false to the truth that the treasure is hid. Christianity is not a thing of the world, it does not belong to the world, it does not, in a sense, properly belong to time, but to another scene.
Just one word in regard to the consequence of this as to the path of the Christian. I think he ought to be [p. 91] content to be obscure. It is perfectly natural to desire a name in the world; but it is false to the truth. If we become conspicuous, we do not answer to Christ; because Christ is hid, and so long as Christ is hid, we ought to be content to be obscure. The Christian may be active in the service of Christ, but a path of obscurity is the path which is suited to the present position of Christ. The path and ways of a Christian in the world are not understood; they are not suited to the age, nor is the age suited to them; and to be active in obscurity is what the path of the Lord Jesus was upon earth.
But it is a very great point to bear in mind that there is to be display. What I mean by that is that Christ is to be glorified in the scene from which He has been rejected. And the heart of the Christian cherishes the thought that He should be glorified here. The apostle says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing”. The expression, “all them also that love his appearing” does not, I judge, refer to any particular class in Christianity; it is a description of the proper, normal feeling of the Christian; that is, the Christian loves the appearing of Christ. The same may be said of the passage, “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation”. The point on which I am dwelling is, that the Christian loves and looks for the appearing of Christ; and if a person does not, I should doubt that person being a real Christian, he is but a counterfeit. There is another passage, giving us the voice of the bride, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. All these expressions refer to His appearing, His coming in glory; John’s great point in the Revelation is to bring Christ again to the earth, which is to be for God. In the beginning of John’s gospel Christ is seen as “the Lamb of God,
[p. 92] which taketh away the sin of the world”. In the Revelation we have the Lamb in the midst of the throne, and at the close John is shown the bride, the Lamb’s wife, that which He has gained, which is seen as the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. In the meantime, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. What I understand by that expression is that it is the characteristic cry of the Spirit and the bride; the bride cannot be content without the presence of the bridegroom, and therefore, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. And then it goes on to, “Let him that heareth say, Come”. The Spirit of God gives us in the first instance what is properly characteristic of the Spirit, and the bride; then the one hearing cries, “Come”.
I pass on now for a moment to show how the coming of the Lord connects itself with the righteousness of God; it is so looked at in this chapter, and especially in regard to the saints. You do not get the display of the righteousness of God until the coming of the Lord; though faith may know it now. The apostle expected the crown of righteousness; he had not got it yet; he was justified by faith, but he waited, having finished his course here, for the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, would give him at that day; he looked for the consummation of the righteousness of God. As far as I understand the matter, the righteousness of God in its application to the saints is connected with two thoughts, namely, grace and government, and it is very important indeed to distinguish the two. When it is a question of grace, righteousness is seen in the answer which God gives to the work of Christ, and that is common to every Christian. When it is a question of government, the righteousness of God gives the answer to the Christian’s course here, and thus connects itself with the kingdom. The one thought is connected with the coming of the Lord, and the [p. 93] other with the kingdom. What I dwell upon in the first place is the righteousness of God as connected with grace.
We read in 2 Corinthians 5: 21: “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”. That is not a question of government, but of grace; “Whom he justified, them he also glorified”; “glorified” follows in the line of “justified”. And the simple reason of it is this, that the glory of saints is just as much as justification the righteous fruit of and answer to what Christ has suffered for them. There is another scripture in which the righteousness of God is identified with grace; “so also grace might reign through righteousness”. That is not a question of government: there is nothing of government in it; but it is the economy of grace founded on righteousness. God has already given the answer in Christ, to the work which Christ accomplished. We find in John 13, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him; if God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him”. But then it is not enough that the answer should be seen in Christ’s glory, because “He hath made him to be sin FOR US, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”; and therefore the answer is displayed in those for whom Christ was made sin. And I understand that God appeals to it as His righteous answer to Christ’s work. Now that is no question of government, but to us of pure grace, which gives to every Christian a place in glory. That is the sense in which I understand the apostle to be waiting on the principle of faith for the hope of righteousness. It is a great thing to be distinct and clear in your thoughts of grace and government, and to distinguish between the righteousness of God as connected with grace and as connected with government; otherwise you may get into great confusion. I heard only today [p. 94] that it is becoming a very common idea that only those who are really looking for the coming of the Lord will be caught up at the rapture. Such an idea is an entire falsification of the righteousness of God, because our place in heaven does not hang on our faithfulness, but is the pure fruit of the grace in which we are justified; it is of the righteousness of God, which gives full effect and a full answer in the saints to what Christ has accomplished; it raises the question of His having been made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And to mix up the rapture with the question of our faithfulness, or anything of the kind, is practically to deny the truth of new creation; because if we are going to heaven, we do not go in connection with our faithfulness here; we go there as a new creation, “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation”. There is even now the putting on “the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness”. And it is in that connection that you are made fit for your place in heaven, that you are really glorified.
But in looking at the righteousness of God as it connects itself with the thought of government, I quite admit you have the answer in it to the path of the Christian here. This principle continually comes out in Scripture: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him”, “If ... we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together”. The same principle is brought out in this chapter: “It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us”. It comes out here as a question of righteousness. What we get in the kingdom is the recompense of God to our pathway here. God does not give up His government in regard to saints. It has been said of the thief on the cross that he has as good a place in paradise as any other, because that is a question of God’s answer to the work of Christ; but he will not [p. 95] be conspicuous in the kingdom, for his suffering here could not be spoken of as suffering with Christ; he was suffering for his misdeeds, and that is not suffering with Christ. We become conspicuous in the kingdom just in proportion to our faithfulness in suffering with Christ down here; but then it is a question of the kingdom, and the righteousness of God in His government; it is not a question of grace because that is founded on the work which Christ has accomplished, and is in a new creation.
And this point of the righteousness of God in His government is a very important truth to maintain. It comes out very specially in this chapter, and is what led me to take up the subject. These poor Thessalonians were thought nothing of upon the earth; they were persecuted on account of their faith and faithfulness; but the apostle gives them as the answer to it that Christ was “to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe”. They were but poor things down here; persecution had been stirred up by the Jews, and had fallen upon them; but they stood firm, and their faith and patience in the persecutions which they endured were an evident token of the righteous judgment of God, that they should be “counted worthy of the kingdom”; it is not a question of grace, but of God’s righteous government. Doubtless it was the power and grace of God that maintained them in faith and patience! Faith and patience are not principles in repute in the world; they will not tend to worldly progress, and the world does not appreciate them; but in faith and patience the power of God is displayed. You find the same thing in Hebrews 11; what comes out in the main part of that chapter is the endurance of faith.
I think I have now said enough to show you the great importance of distinguishing between the rapture and the appearing of the Lord. It is in the rapture that we get the answer to what Christ has accomplished;
[p. 96] it is in the rapture we get our place in heaven, it is then we are caught up to be with the Lord. The rapture does not raise the question of government, but is, as I understand it, a pure question of grace, that by which saints are ushered into heaven. Then comes the question of government; first, the judgment-seat of Christ, and then the kingdom. It is after we are taken to heaven that we have to pass before the judgment-seat of Christ, and that our places relatively are determined; after that we come with Christ when Christ comes “to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe”.
Now I return to the thought that Christ is coming to be glorified and to be wondered at. In a certain sense, He was wondered at when He was down here upon earth, but He was not glorified; He was personally despised, but He is going to be glorified and to be wondered at in the saints. I think every Christian heart welcomes the thought that Christ is going to be glorified. He has been dishonoured here, and in every way treated with ignominy, known only as put to reproach and shame; but He is going to be glorified in the saints, those who come with Him, and to be wondered at in all them that believe, those who have suffered with Him. The universe, I suppose, will be astounded at what will be manifest in that day when the saints come in His company. Enoch prophesied of it: “The Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints”. Those who have been thought nothing of here upon earth, and who have been looked upon and despised as saints and as believing, come with Christ, and He is glorified in them. Why? “Because our testimony among you was believed”. It was the apostle’s testimony which brought the Thessalonians into the place of faith; and now they had to look forward to the coming of the Lord. It is that with which the work of grace is connected, and hence you get the apostle’s prayer in consequence of it, that God would fulfil in them “all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power”. If you and I thought that Christ was to be glorified in us, we should covet that the work of faith might go on, that His name might be glorified in us now. And if Christ is going to be glorified in me, I do not want to be glorified in myself, I do not want to have any present glory, to be conspicuous in the present; I would be content to be hid.
And mark this, He is to be wondered at in all them that believe; which proves that all must have part in it.
Now I want to say a word or two as to the effect of the coming of the Lord. To begin with, He comes as Lord, and as Lord He brings into the world the blessings which He administers from God, which faith enjoys now. What is true to faith now in the Lord will then be brought in a public way into the world; for instance, peace and favour and reconciliation are all true to faith now; but when the Lord comes to reign, He destroys the oppressor, and He comes in as the Prince of Peace; He brings peace and the favour of God into the scene, and all is reconciled in Him, the distance which separated the world from God is removed, and God is brought, as it were, into complacency with the scene, because all is administered here by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the day of His glory; and, as I have sought to bring out on previous occasions, He is the minister of all the good which is in the heart of God towards man; He brings that good here into the scene. How could it be otherwise? He is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”, and the One who does that is “He who baptises with the Holy Spirit”. The two trees, the tree of responsibility and the tree of life are conciliated in Him; He took up the responsibility, and He is the Prince of Life; the two things meet in His Person. The good which is now known to faith He will bring [p. 98] in a public way into this world; and that is what His coming means.
And then He brings into this world the blessings of God’s kingdom. We are told that “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost”; but those things that we enjoy in the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ will administer in a public way in the world: righteousness, peace, and joy will reign in the world in that day. It will be the reign of righteousness, “judgment shall return unto righteousness”, and the effect of righteousness is peace and joy. When good is maintained publicly in power, and evil is repressed, then you get peace and joy, which are the proper effects of righteousness. To maintain what are called the rights of man in the present day needs very elaborate and constant legislation. Parliament has to meet, session after session, and for long sessions, not to seek to maintain the rights of God but the rights of man, and legislation becomes increasingly cumbrous and elaborate as the relations of men become more artificial. What does that prove? That God has not got His rights, and therefore legislation as to men is difficult and unsatisfactory. Supposing God had His rights, and men loved God with all their hearts, do you think elaborate legislation would be wanted as between men? When man loves God with all his heart it becomes simple to love his neighbour as himself; and when man loves his neighbour as himself, then you will not want elaborate legislation to maintain the rights of man; it will all be simple. But that means the establishment of righteousness; righteousness is to rule, and what the Christian enjoys now in the power of the Holy Spirit will then be publicly ministered in this world by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there is another thing which will come to pass then. Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant which He will establish then. The law will be written [p. 99] in the heart of Israel in that day, and the effect of it will be the knowledge of God in mercy and forgiveness, and a nature which is capable of keeping the law. It is not like a man in Romans 7 that delights in the law of God after the inward man, and consents to the law of God with his mind; but the law is written in their heart, and the consequence is that they not only delight in the law of God but they fulfil it: “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”. Jesus comes in as the Mediator of the new covenant; He bore the transgressions which were under the first covenant in order that He might be the Mediator of the new covenant.
I come to one point more, the effect of the Lord’s coming on creation itself. The earnest expectation of the creature will be realised, will have its answer, when Christ comes “to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe”, and not till then. I suppose there will be an immense relief in this scene from the bondage of corruption. The whole creation labours in bondage until now; but we are told it will be brought “into the liberty of the glory of the children of God”. Not into the glory of the children of God; it never can have that place, for the children of God properly belong to heaven; but into the liberty, as I understand it, which belongs to the children of God.
I have referred to these things just to show what the effect will be of the coming of Christ again into this scene. I think it is a point of the greatest moment, and what Christians ought to have before them. One would be thankful to see revived in all our souls the truth of the coming of the Lord, and what His coming means.
Now I do not want to say much more. If I just recall the points which have been before us, I think everybody will consent to them and not find any difficulty [p. 100] about them. I think all will admit that the present is not a time of display on the part of God or as far as saints are concerned, but a time of suffering and reproach; but there will be a time of display, and in that display, as I said before, is witnessed the righteous judgment of God, in that Christ is glorified and wondered at, in the very scene from which He has been rejected and cast out. And the effects of His coming will be very great, the release of creation from the pressure which lies heavy upon it at the present moment, and the extreme simplicity which the law in the heart will bring into this earth, instead of elaborate legislation which is necessary now to maintain the rights of man in regard to his fellow. Things will never be right, as between man and man until things are right as between God and man.
Only one word more and I have done. The practical outcome of it to us is this, to seek that what is spoken of here, the good pleasure of God’s goodness, may be fulfilled in us. It is a beautiful expression, “the good pleasure of his goodness”; I think the apostle delighted in expressions of that character. It is a great thing to get the idea in the heart that there is goodness in God, and that He fulfils in us “the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power”. It is not simply believing certain truths, but there is “the work of faith”, that is, there is a process going on in saints, what may be called the work of the Spirit in them. The work of faith cannot begin till the Spirit of God is in the saint; but once He is there, then the work of faith begins, and the object of it is “that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in us, and we in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”.
May God give us really a great interest in what is going on at the present moment, and in the whole range of ministry. It is very important to understand what ministry is, and to see what the present effect of it is [p. 101] in the growth and progress of the saints. And it is a great thing, too, to see what the end is to be, that is, in display. Christ is going “to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe ... in that day” — the day when He gets His rights — when He moves from off the Father’s throne, and takes the place which is appointed to Him here. At the present moment He is glorified in God, but in that day will be publicly glorified; and the vessel in which His glory will be displayed is those who are saints and believe.
May God give to us to cherish the hope of it, and to have really and distinctly before us the great thought of the coming of the Lord and His kingdom, and the part which the saints are to have in it, and that the work of God, “the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith”, has that day in view.
The Assemby in four aspects.