THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN IS CHRIST
[p. 497] THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN IS CHRIST
It may be of interest and profit to pass in review shortly the progress which can be marked in chapters 7 to 10 of the Acts of the Apostles in the unfolding of the testimony of the Christ. We reach in result a point which greatly helps us in the understanding of the moment in which we are. There can be no doubt that nothing can compare in importance with the testimony of God in the world. That testimony is comprehended in one single word, Christ. Briefly to indicate the line which I purpose to pursue, I would remark that the point in chapter 7 is the presence of Christ in heaven, and the corresponding presence of the Holy Spirit down here. In chapter 8 we have the absence of Christ from earth, and its effects on faith. In chapter 9 we see the activities of the Lord in connection with the testimony. And in chapter 10 we have the introduction of the gentile. He comes out from the darkness in which the gentiles had been hid morally. All was fulfilling what had been foreshadowed by the Lord when on earth.
To refer a little more in detail to the case of Stephen. It is evident that his testimony, and his consequent treatment, indicated clearly the mind of the Jews in regard to Christ. The breach was complete. But in spite of the darkness on earth there was an outlook for faith. All was ordered in heaven for man. Heaven was the scene of interest for man. I do not suppose that Stephen understood much about boldness to enter the holiest, but he was full of the Holy Spirit, and looked up stedfastly into heaven. He certainly saw the holiest, for the glory of God and Jesus came into his view. And evidently he was invited by heaven, and set free from the earth. He went to heaven as a messenger sent after Christ by the Jew, but he was welcome in heaven. When it is [p. 498] known that man can be received in heaven, then heaven becomes the scene of our interests.
Now in chapter 8 we have the contrast to this. The glory of Jerusalem had departed, light was not there. The eunuch was returning from Jerusalem unenlightened. He was evidently a pious man desiring light on the scripture, and God sent him an interpreter. He received light in the grace of God, and instead of returning to Jerusalem, like the two disciples in the last chapter of Luke, he went on his way rejoicing. He was independent of Jerusalem; what he had learnt was that Christ had been here, but that His life had been taken from the earth. This is a matter of serious moment. For if His life is taken from the earth, what life can there be there for God? Hence the desire of the eunuch to be baptised, to be identified with the death of Christ. He was going into circumstances where he would not find fellowship or support, but he had been furnished with the key to the Scriptures, and he went on his way rejoicing. I have no doubt that in the present time there may be many that reverence the Scriptures who have hardly found the key to them; and if they did find it, they would be freed from dependence on human order, and would, like the eunuch, go on their way rejoicing. Thus we have had the scene of interest changed from earth to heaven, while the life of Messiah is taken from the earth, and our part is to announce the death of Christ till He come.
In chapter 9 we have an advance, for we learn that the testimony on earth is the interest of Christ in heaven. We are permitted to see His activity and administration. And further, He sees Himself here, in His own. It is of great importance to see that the Lord takes no place in regard to the things of earth, for as to these He sits at God’s right hand until His foes are made His footstool. But His activity is in regard to the testimony on earth. God’s house, the [p. 499] church, commands His interest. This is God’s testimony. In connection with that we see the administration, and there is no power in man to resist it. First, Saul is entirely subdued, so that he can only say, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” and then Ananias is silenced, so that he does the Lord’s bidding. The authority of the Lord is irresistible, and ‘nay’ cannot be said to Him. Now what I have said marks this time. We have not now the raising up of apostles. But the interest of the Lord in the testimony is undiminished, and He exercises the same authority over His servants, which cannot be gainsaid. It is of the greatest interest to us to know the things in which the Lord is found.
In chapter 10 we have a further advance. We see the instruction of Peter by the sheet let down from heaven. A truth comes to light of great moment in the ways of God. Not a truth inconsistent with God’s previous dealings with Israel, but with which the future of Israel must be co-ordinated. In principle we see here that Christ is the Head of every man, and hence “by one righteousness towards all men for justification of life”. The gentiles were no longer to be regarded as common or unclean. According to the word of Simeon, Christ was “a light for revelation of the Gentiles”. The casting away of the Jew for the time is the world’s reconciliation. The gentiles are come within the reach of God’s testimony. This was a great truth for Peter to learn, and it was confirmed to him by the fact of Cornelius and his friends receiving the Spirit without their becoming Jewish proselytes. Thus we have the ways of God unfolding, and in principle all was accomplished. Jew and gentile were one body in Christ. In fact, every order of man was displaced, and Christ alone remained. It appears to me important that we should see that all was complete in principle before Paul enters on his ministry, in order that we [p. 500] may apprehend the unity and consistency of God’s ways.
When Paul comes on the scene we have the testimony of Christ carried out to the gentiles, but nothing is added to the light which came out in Christ on earth, for the Spirit had sealed a complete testimony. But Paul enters on his service as a chosen vessel to bear Christ’s name to the gentiles and the vessel is endowed with special understanding both in the gospel, and in the mystery, and is used of God to expound all that had come to pass in the presence and power of the Spirit down here.
I think there is no greater witness to the truth of God than the manner in which the ways of God were developed in the testimony of God in the world. Things apparently contradictory are brought together to form parts of one great and complete whole. The key is in apprehending the variety of the place which Christ fills as Man. Variety in detail down here all centres in Him. And the church is that in which He is set forth in every variety.