"UNDER HIS FEET"
“UNDER HIS FEET”
I cannot conceive anything more important than the apprehension of the truth as connected with the world that is coming; people are accustomed to take it up as immediately all applying to us, they do not “see afar off”, as Peter puts it: to see something beyond us. All God’s ways developed in Christ.
The moment sin came in, God came in and presented the seed of the woman who was to bruise the head of the serpent; then a little further on we get the seed of Abraham blessed with the blessing of Abraham, and then still further on we get David speaking, as in Psalm 8 and quoted in this chapter, in connection with the Son of man and all being put under His feet.
The Jews raised the question, “Who is the Son of man?” This Psalm 8 is the solution of the question. He is the head and centre of all God’s ways. Everything has been accomplished in Him. He is the crown of all God’s ways — all things are put under His feet. As Son of man He is set over all things. Now what marks the present moment — and it is important to apprehend it — is the present place Christ is in, and how far God’s purpose has been accomplished. The world to come is hid, as it were, under a cloud; but it is there, and we see all connected with the accomplishment of God’s purpose in this chapter. In due time the world to come will be manifested, and I will tell you why the world to come is not in display yet, God is bringing many sons to glory. Man as man is not in accordance with His glory, but if the glory of God is to be displayed, God is going to bring man in for the display of His glory. We get the idea of it in the heavenly city, it is to be the expression of the glory of God, and [p. 384] to be that it must be according to God’s glory. He is bringing many sons to glory — they are to be the vessel for His glory. The rights of the Son of man are in abeyance just now. God does see all things under His feet — we do not see them yet. In chapter 1 it is God who says, “Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool”, and in chapter 2 we can say we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour. Now I want to say a word regarding all being put under His feet. The book of Revelation is full of this, and shows us the means God will take to bring this to pass, as it says, the kingdoms of this world will come under Him, and He will reign for ever and ever.
I want to refer here to the ground on which God will take up the world to come: we get it in Revelation 4 and 5. God takes it up mediately in Christ. Two very important principles in which God asserts His rights are seen here: there may be vested interests or rights in His providential ways now, but when God comes in in His own rights He will not look at man’s vested rights — all that will be ignored.
Now the first principle is on the ground of creation, that is referred to in Revelation 4; the second is on the ground of redemption, and that is chapter 5. Both these grounds are taken up in Christ: in Revelation 4: 11 you get the ground of right by creation, and in Revelation 5: 12 you get the ground of redemption. These two grounds belong to God. Redemption has to come in to bring in the rights of God. God’s rights have to be vindicated, and the One who has done all to accomplish this for Him is the Man Christ Jesus. This is extremely important, for the assumption of man is everywhere and is so great, man would claim everything for man; God will come in to take up His own rights and set aside man and his rights. It is a wonderful thing, beloved friends, all that has been effected for [p. 385] God, and it is only waiting the moment to be displayed. Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, and we believers see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, and all we wait for is the moment of display, for all has been effected; God has effected what is essential for His glory, that is the object of what the apostle brings out in the latter part of this chapter.
Our weapons are in the power of God: He is greater than man, and man is totally powerless in God’s presence. I think we get a wonderful picture of it in the children of Israel and the Red Sea, that which was their safety in their way through it: “the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left”, and the Egyptians following, the waters returned and engulfed them, and there are many other similar instances in Scripture. God will come in and take His own way, and in Revelation 6 we get some of these ways referred to, and it shows the means He has at His disposal — conquest, civil wars, famine, pestilence, the beasts of the earth. Then there remains bringing many sons to glory, the vessel is for God’s glory because God displays Himself in the effect of it coming out in the heavenly city. God is forming that now, if you look at this chapter, like unto His brethren, and the point is that this would have no application if the “world to come” were here.
There are three thoughts in my mind that I would like to refer to. (1) Christ as Leader; (2) as Sanctifier; (3) as High Priest. In the light of these three things we come into acquaintance with Christ. He spoke in John 4 of the living water He was able to give, and the well of water, to my mind, is increasing appreciation of Christ, and if we are in the enjoyment of this we shall never thirst. You may depend upon it there can be no appreciation of Christ apart from the Spirit of Christ. The only [p. 386] way of appreciating Christ is by the Spirit of Christ, and if we have the Spirit of Christ our body is dead for sin. (Romans 8: 10.) What a great thing to know Christ as the Leader of our salvation! He is made perfect for that through suffering. When He was born we read of the aged Simeon taking Him in his arms and saying, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart ... for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”. He was God’s salvation; again in Acts we get God’s salvation spoken of as light to the nations. In Him God’s righteousness has been accomplished, He has come as God’s salvation, and salvation is liberation from the power of everything hostile to God. He is the Leader of our salvation, He has reached His place. He stands in salvation, salvation is made good to us: we are saved in hope, for we look for the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is a wonderful verse: “In me ye ... have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation”. The world has been overcome. Few of us overcome the world, but depend upon it, beloved friends, there is salvation for us, and He is the Leader of our salvation perfected through suffering. If you and I are to enter into the joy of the Lord, it must be through increasing appreciation of Christ — we are kept in salvation. But then He is the Sanctifier, sanctification is positional. In chapter 10 we get, “By the which will we are sanctified”; it is no question of its being progressive: positional means for us that we are set apart for a holy purpose. As it is said here, “are all of one”.
Now turn for a moment to John 20: 17. This passage gives us the idea of sanctification; the disciples were separated from the world — the Jewish system was the world to them, and they were taken out of all that, and in the message sent through Mary we get the idea of sanctification and the thought of association with Himself brought in.
[p. 387] Christ was not going to take up His rights: “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. We get sanctified positionally in John 17, and that we are sanctified with Him — the place we have before God in Him.
Salvation was completed, peace brought in and sanctification brought in in associating them with Himself, as it says: He “is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption”. (1 Corinthians 1.)
Then we come to the High Priest, another light in which Christ is made known to us. Attachment to Christ solves every difficulty for a Christian. The disciples may have been very unintelligent, but they had very great attachment to Christ; you can give them great credit for that; the real key to intelligence is attachment to Christ, where that is, when the exposition of Christ comes in, there can be intelligence, and as it comes out in the day of Pentecost, boldness and intelligence were displayed in a wonderful manner, they had a most wonderful capability for applying what had reached them through attachment to Christ. They entered into the reality of salvation and they had sanctification.
The last point is a faithful High Priest. Priesthood is based on atonement and righteousness, it has nothing to say to sins. The High Priest must be the offering Priest, and in the case of Christ, He was the victim: the attachment is to the offering Priest, though He is the High Priest; the offering Priest is the High Priest, righteousness being established. It is a blessed thing to think of Christ sitting down in peace. The riddle of all the confusion sin has brought in is solved, for we know a spot where there is no confusion, and Jesus as Man set down there. The world says, ‘Might is right’: but none can unravel the confusion where man’s will works, but there is one way out of it all, and that is in Christ.
[p. 388] Our hearts can rest where Christ is, He is salvation, sanctification and High Priest. He suffered being tempted; there was no temptation inwardly in Him, but temptation brought suffering to Christ; but then, now He is able to succour them that are tempted. The Lord succoured Peter when he fell: “I have prayed for thee”. He is a merciful High Priest. Christ has reached the goal, and that goal is ours, and He stretches out His hand for us and gives us a helping hand on the road, and I cannot doubt as we realise that, our hearts are drawn to Christ where He now is. In that way He is objective, but then Christ is in the hearts of His people down here, and He gives the well of living water springing up to everlasting life, and He is the antidote to everything we find contrary to God here. He can thus become everything to our hearts.