THE BODY OF THE LORD JESUS
THE BODY OF THE LORD JESUS
Hebrews 10:5; Luke 4:1-4; 23:50-24:3; 24:36-43; Ephesians 5:29,30
A.J.McK. I thought we might enquire together into the holy subject of the body of the Lord Jesus. I suggest it with some hesitancy because I feel that I know so little about it. It has been before us recently in Witney, and a verse in Romans 7 that we read the other week confirmed me in this exercise, in which Paul writes “So that, my brethren, ye also have been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised up from among the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God”, Rom.7:4. That verse freshly arrested me, because it does not say that we have been made dead to the law by the death of Christ, although undoubtedly that is implied, but “by the body of the Christ”.
I wondered if we might begin with the mystery attaching to the fact that that body was prepared. I trust we might be helped by the Spirit to consider the greatness of the fact that His body was prepared; “thou hast prepared me a body”. A body which expressed everything that was in God’s mind and in His heart; truly a wonder that in a body of flesh and blood, as we know, there was what could be described by Paul as “the fulness of the Godhead”, Col.1:19.
I was drawn to this passage in Luke 4 as considering a little further the body that was prepared for the Lord Jesus as being a body of a flesh and blood condition. I suppose we could read every verse of the gospels and see what was worked out in that body. I was drawn to this verse because it says that “he hungered”. I just wondered, brethren, whether it would perhaps be for the softening of our hearts that we might consider together the immensity of what was there in that body. And as One in flesh and blood conditions, it says here that He “was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”. There was the resource that He depended on. He completed every temptation; we have just read of one, and it was one that affected me because the Lord Jesus said in verse 4 that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”. Every word of God had rested in His heart, as a dependent Man who had His ear opened morning by morning (Isa.50:4). I just suggest these things that we might be affected in our hearts as we consider that body of His.
In Luke 23, we have Joseph of Arimathæa; this is a scripture that I find very affecting. Joseph was moved in relation to the taking down of the body of Jesus. I wondered whether Joseph shows us something about how we are to handle this subject; his were reverent hands, holy hands you might say, hands that were undoubtedly provided by God in view of the burial of that body. And so it was that that body of flesh and blood had to, in a sense, come to an end. I was struck by a comment that I read in Mr Taylor’s ministry; he said that the flesh and blood condition in which Christ was no longer exists 1. I am not sure that I understand that, but it was a requirement that that condition should come to an end. Joseph here identifies himself with that. He laid the body in a tomb, his own tomb as we understand from another scripture (Matt.27:60). I think it is Mr Coates who said that Joseph would not have taken his seat in the council again 2.
Then in chapter 24, we have presented a spiritual condition that the Lord Jesus took, and which in His grace He made known to His own. Romans speaks about the necessity of resurrection, about what was raised. I thought about the pleasure of God in that; Paul says “ye also have been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised up from among the dead” (Rom.7:4), now in a new condition, a condition of flesh and bone. The Lord Jesus said that “a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having”. It was not a spirit. The Lord Jesus seemed to be desirous of making sure that His own were clear that that condition had been taken by Him in actuality; “they found not the body of the Lord Jesus”, Luke 24:3.
In Ephesians 5, Paul writes that “we are members of his body”. He speaks in this epistle of “the assembly, which is his body”, Eph.1:22. I have been thinking about that in relation to that question in Romans 7, “that we might bear fruit to God” (v.4). It seems to me that there should be a conscious sense of being members of His body, those souls to whom He revealed the truth of the condition that He took as out of death would be material for the assembly. They would come into a conscious sense of being members of His body, and that has in mind that there should be fruit to God. I trust that as a result of this enquiry there might be fruit to God, something from us and worked out in us that is for the glory of God. I feel the holiness of the subject, but if we can have our hearts focused on the body of Jesus, and all that it meant to God and how precious it is to God, then it will become more precious to us. As a result of that, there would be something for God from us, particularly as we grow in appreciation of His body being prepared.
H.T.F. In Luke 1, in answer to Mary’s enquiry, the angel said, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God” (v.35). Is that more than manna?
A.J.McK. Undoubtedly. The manna was there, but “the holy thing also which shall be born” – do you think that that was the moment when that body was taken up, we might say, in holy complacency. Jesus took up what was prepared for Him. I feel that I can say so little about it, as to how it is that this body was prepared, but the immensity of it is seizing on my heart, that God moved in His own way. The Psalms give us touches about that, in view of the preparation of what was going to be seen here upon the earth. That “holy thing” was going to be seen.
H.T.F. In John 1, it says that “the Word became flesh” (v.14).
D.J.W. You referred to the scripture, “in him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell”. That is an inward matter. Was the Lord’s body necessary to express that fulness?
A.J.McK. That is helpful. Please say more as to the Lord’s body being necessary.
D.J.W. What can we say about the fulness of the Godhead, what God is? It required the Lord’s body to bring everything into expression. It is interesting that we get so much detail as to His body. You have read the scriptures about His hands, His side, His feet and His looks. I wondered if that was the way in which all the fulness was coming into expression – in His body.
A.J.McK. Yes. It gives us a view of God’s ways, in how that fulness was going to be made known. And the fact that it has not been hidden should touch our hearts. It was there in the Lord Jesus, in that body, the fulness of the Godhead dwelt there, and it dwelt there in total complacency. God moved in that way in order that He might come close to His creature, and show that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in One who could take His place in the likeness of men.
D.J.W. He was a real Man.
A.J.McK. Yes. I have been affected by that scripture in Philippians; “taking his place in the likeness of men”, Phil.2:7. Not ‘a place’; that supports what you say – a real man, although as one has said before, no mere man3.
R.D.P. The “mystery of piety” (1 Tim.3:16) begins with “God has been manifested in flesh”. There had been manifestations of God, in creation for instance (Rom.1:19,20); ”the invisible things of him” were manifested. But God has been manifested in flesh, and that is part of the “mystery of piety”.
A.J.McK. I would like you to say more about the thought of mystery, because we are dealing here with something that is hard for the human mind to grasp. God has moved in a mysterious way in view of the fulfilling of His own ends. God was manifested in flesh; it is the condition He chose to use. He moved in His own way and in His own wisdom in that condition in order that He might be known.
R.D.P. It is right to approach it carefully. I recall a remark made years ago, that in Luke’s gospel, the Lord was “wrapped in swaddling clothes” (Luke 2:12) as the first expression of divine care for Him, while the last such expression was that He was wrapped in fine linen by Joseph4. It is a holy subject.
A.J.McK. I have been wondering about that. We have spoken locally about Joseph of Arimathæa, and also about Simeon; it says that Simeon “received him into his arms”, Luke 2:28. I feel that the reverent care we need to handle this subject is important.
N.J.H. We have to be guarded in speaking of such a holy subject, but we know that Christ was not created; He is not a creature. That is a vast difference from everything else. Everything else was created, and formation comes in too (Gen.2:7), then there is what is spiritual in us: “if anyone be in Christ, there is new creation”, 2 Cor.5:17. The new man “is created in truthful righteousness and holiness”, Eph.4:24. But here, the Lord’s body is prepared; He is not a creature.
A.J.McK. That is right, and it helps in relation to what was mentioned about “the holy thing”. We are dealing here with something that has its own origin, but seen here in wondrous grace. God in His wisdom worked in this way in order that there might be something in which the fulness of the Godhead could dwell. You could not conceive that it could be something created.
N.J.H. The order goes through, although the condition changes. Does what commenced here, the great thought of the body, go right through?
A.J.McK. That is my impression, and we come into that, as we see in the scripture in Ephesians. We find that we have a part in that in order that God might be glorified having set this whole matter on; it is sustained throughout.
P.J.W. In the scripture in the Psalms that is quoted in Hebrews, the note to “prepared” is ‘digged’ or ‘hollowed out’ 5. Could you help us as to those expressions in relation to what you have been bringing before us?
A.J.McK. Psalm 40 says, “Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire: ears hast thou prepared me” (v.6). There is something of the deep desire of God in this. Ears would remind us of the quality of dependence that came into view in Christ; there was what could be opened morning by morning. But this is no light matter; the digging and the hollowing out would be God’s operations.
P.J.W. That is helpful. I wondered if it brought before us God’s purpose. It was ever God’s purpose that Christ should become flesh, or perhaps we should say that He should become flesh in this way. I wondered if what you say as to God’s working links with the thought of digging or hollowing out.
A.J.McK. I wondered that. We are not told when this happened; it occurred perhaps in a scene outside of time, because that is where God’s purpose originated. It has to do with God’s own wisdom and His own ways in bringing this onto view. I think what you say as to it always being His purpose is important. There were the four thousand years of the Old Testament, and then there comes into view One, as our brother has reminded us, who took up something that was not created but was prepared. There is the gentleness and the skillfulness of God involved in the preparation.
P.M. Is it affecting that the preparation was for One who created everything, but He “emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form”, Phil.2:7?
A.J.McK. It is hard to grasp the greatness of that movement of His! What was involved in the emptying I am not sure I really understand. The depth of what was involved in Him coming into this form and taking His place perfectly filled out what was prepared for Him.
P.M. As Mr William Johnson said, He never ceased to be what He was by reason of what He became6. And He was perfect in what He became.
H.T.F. Hebrews 10 says “Then I said, Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do, O God, thy will”. Would that commitment involve a body being prepared for that movement to be realised?
A.J.McK. Yes, and as we understand it, that was His movement into that condition in taking up that body which had been prepared. It was what belonged to the Lord Jesus; it was entirely His and He moved complacently into it. “Lo, I come” – there is a dignity about that movement. We think about Him moving and coming into that condition in view of taking up what was prepared for Him, and there was no inconsistency between what was seen and what had been prepared by God.
G.McK. Do you think in some ways we are not able to separate that from the fulfilling of the will of God? I was thinking about “sacrifices for sin thou willedst not”; the answer does not lie there. Do you think the answer lies in the preparing of the body in which there would be the fulfilment of the whole will of God?
A.J.McK. Yes, all of those sacrifices and offerings were made, but they were not the fulness of what God willed. What He had in His will and what He had in His heart was One coming into flesh and blood conditions and taking up this body that had been prepared, and only He could do it.
R.J.F. I was thinking back to the first chapter of Hebrews where it speaks about the Son as being the “effulgence of his glory and the expression of his substance” (v 3). That was part of what the preparation of this body was for – so that God could be expressed, and the glory of God shown in effulgence.
A.J.McK. That is good. I am not sure that I fully understand that expression as to the “effulgence of his glory and the expression of his substance”. Think about everything that related to God coming into full and perfect expression – there is no shadow in that. Then “the effulgence of his glory”; it suggests the brilliance of the shining light that comes out from what was there intrinsically in Him and it fully expressed what was for God. That required a prepared body. I think we are getting some help together as to this.
R.J.F. I was thinking of the Lord coming in as a Babe in a manger. He came in to express the glory of God.
R.W.McC. The roll of the book has been called the book of divine purpose and counsel7. “Lo, I come” is the Lord’s taking up His body. We have spoken of counsel and purpose, and the will of God, but Mr Taylor remarked that in His ways, everything must be based on moral grounds8, and that involved that a body should be taken up.
A.J.McK. Yes, it was the book of divine counsel: “it is written of me”. It could not be written of anyone else. None other could have come into this condition, none other could have come and taken what had been prepared mysteriously in God’s ways, but the Lord Jesus comes into it in the fulness of divine counsel in order that everything that is for God might be secured on that basis.
R.W.McC. It required the taking up of the body; it required it to be actually physically worked out, to use a poor expression.
A.J.McK. Well, that helps and maybe that moves us on to Luke 4. It says that “he hungered”. I wonder whether that reminds us of the reality of the body of flesh and blood into which the Lord Jesus came. He took up this body that was prepared for Him, and one reason was that He might go into death.
A.M. Was it necessary that He should enter into the circumstances and experiences of men down here? It says, “he hungered”, yet He was perfect in those experiences, in all those circumstances.
A.J.McK. Yes, I think that. It expresses what has been on my heart, that He came into these circumstances. He was weary with the way that He had come (John 4:6). These things were real and it should affect our hearts to consider the reality of the condition into which the Lord Jesus came. He took up what was prepared in a body that was outwardly like yours and mine, yet always different. We have to hold to the perfection of all that He was, but “he hungered”. That glorious One depended on the power of the Spirit; He is seen as a vessel of the Spirit and when the Spirit came upon Him in the previous chapter, there was nothing that needed to be displaced.
A.M. You have referred to the previous chapter. You can understand the heavens being opened, the Father’s expression of delight that there was such a One who was able to be here in men’s circumstances, but perfectly setting forth all that the Father is.
A.J.McK. So how precious was this moment and how precious this life when, in the wilderness setting and in those inclement circumstances of opposition, it says that the devil “completed every temptation”.
R.D.P. It says in Hebrews that “it behoved him in all things to be made like to his brethren”, Heb.2:17. It is a lovely word, “behoved”. Scripture is very careful when it speaks of that. He came into this condition of flesh and blood, He “took part in the same”, Heb.2:14. The Lord Jesus took on all that He did in the distinction of what this body was; He took part in it. It “behoved him in all things to be made like to his brethren”. The grace of Christ entering into the deepest and remotest parts of man’s experience is wonderful.
A.J.McK. It is the fulness of divine grace. That verse you have referred to, about what “ behoved him” – it was entirely appropriate. We might not have written that, but the Spirit of God has indited those words, “it behoved him”. It should soften our hearts to see and consider the condition that He took. He took that condition in order that He might suffer, but He took that condition in order that everything for God might be fulfilled.
M.T.B.M. In chapter 2 of Luke, it says “And they understood not the thing that he said to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was in subjection to them” (vv.50,51). It behoved Him to do that; He was in complete subjection to His parents.
A.J.McK. What was seen then was perfect manhood. There is a reading in the latest ministry book about the perfect humanity of Christ. In Him was perfect subjection, perfect humanity there in One who took up this body in flesh and blood condition.
T.W.L. In Luke 4, we have what the Lord is as taking up His body on our side, but we also have His perfect humanity for God. We see Christ moving as a Man for His God, which is very precious. The expression of God is seen in a Man, and the expression of what Man should be for God is seen in Christ.
A.J.McK. Yes; “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”. We have referred to Psalm 40, “ears hast thou prepared me”. That quality of dependence was for God; “morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed”, Isa.50:4. That was for God. Think of every word of God being received by that glorious Man. He carried every word of God. Who else could have said this? Who else could have defeated the foe by every word of God? Only One who was here for God could do it.
T.W.L. I wanted to ask whether here in Christ we have perfect likeness and perfect image? That is what God began with (Gen.1:26), but here it is in perfect expression; it is a perfect Man for His God. Would it be right to say that this is perfect likeness and perfect image?
A.J.McK. Yes. Every other man fails in this. I fail, you fail, every one of us does. There may be some likeness; I trust there is: there may be some image; I trust there is – undoubtedly there is because that is God’s work, but here it is in perfection. Everything in this Man as led by the Spirit, for that was the power that dwelt in Christ, gave God delight as filling out what had been prepared for His glory.
R.W.McC. Adam failed in the best of circumstances. The Lord was faithful and perfect in the worst circumstances; “he hungered”. He was a Man, a real Man, He had the feelings of a Man, but what pleasure it must have given God to see that Man.
A.J.McK. Yes, for there to be a Man here upon the earth, One who God could take account of, One of whom it could be said the “ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing”, John 14:30.
R.W.McC. It says, “the devil, having completed every temptation …”. The Lord was able for it, He was tempted “in like manner, sin apart”, Heb.4:15. He was perfect. He exhausted all the weaponry of the enemy.
A.J.McK. The Lord, in Himself and in this condition, defeated the devil. The devil had nothing that he could bring that could prevail against Jesus.
P.M. Was this characteristic of the Lord here? I was thinking of “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word …”. It was the character of His life that He heard all the time what the Father was saying, and He says that the Father heard all the time what He was saying: “I knew that thou always hearest me”, John 11:42.
A.J.McK. Is that what we speak of as communion?
P.M. Yes. Nothing interrupted it; even His service did not interrupt Their communion. It may occupy us but it never interrupted His, until the three hours of darkness upon the cross.
A.J.McK. Because of who He was, because of His perfection, He had every word of God, He was the Word. The “Word became flesh” (John 1:14); every word was there in Him.
P.M. He was the expression of it, and the fulfilment of it too, but every movement He made was made as hearing the Father’s word in regard to it.
A.J.McK. The preciousness of that psalm has already been referred to; “ears hast thou prepared me”. It should affect us to think of what was formed and what was prepared in order that the Lord Jesus should be the vessel in which every word of God could be fulfilled.
R.D.P. I was thinking of this matter of hunger. It is remarkable that the Lord hungered. I suppose the hunger was not part of what sin had brought in, it was an aspect of the condition in which man was as created by God, and the Lord entered into that; He “took part in the same”. I thought it remarkable that in doing that, the Lord experienced hunger as something that belonged to man as created by God: He took that on.
A.J.McK. I think that is right. I was wondering about that reference in Philippians to “taking a bondman’s form”, Phil.2:7. He entered into that condition in order that He might be here as a bondman. You get the teaching as to the Hebrew bondman in Exodus 21.
R.D.P. He took a bondman’s form; it does not say that the Lord Jesus became a bondman. He took “a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men”. The distinctions of scripture are interesting.
A.J.McK. That reference to Him hungering impressed me as to the reality of this condition that He took.
H.T.F. On the cross, the Lord bore our sins. It was in that condition as a real Man, that He “bore our sins in his body on the tree”, 1 Pet.2:24.
A.J.McK. I was thinking about that verse in Peter’s epistle; “bore our sins in his body on the tree”. Maybe we should go on to chapter 23.
I did not read about the time when Jesus was on the cross. I thought that we could carry that in our hearts, but it was the way that Joseph moved that really impressed me. I wonder if he had light as to the condition that the Lord would then take and how necessary it was that that body should be taken down from the cross; a body in which our sins had been borne. Brethren, this should touch our hearts, to consider that He “bore our sins in his body on the tree”. This was real and as we have been reminded, every sin, every individual sin of those who have put their faith in Him, was borne in that body on the tree. But that flesh and blood condition had to end, it had to come to a close and Joseph was instrumental under God’s hand in view of a spiritual condition coming into view, a condition that is beyond death. But ponder the reality of what the Lord Jesus endured as he said “I thirst”; it was part of His endurance there upon the cross.
D.J.W. In Hebrews it refers to what God did not take pleasure in. Would this man handling so delicately the body of the Lord Jesus give God much pleasure?
A.J.McK. Yes, I am sure that there was real divine pleasure in this. It says in Isaiah 53, “And men appointed his grave with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death” (v.9). Think of the divine delight in how this body was handled. Just being practical about it, Joseph had to beg the body of Jesus, he had to take down a body that was not broken. We need to hold to that, “Not a bone of him shall be broken”, John 19:36. It was laid tenderly in a tomb.
D.J.W. That was what impressed me. It was not left to the soldiers to do, it was loving hands that did it.
J.B.I. I was wondering about the force of the verse, “where no one had ever been laid”. We have been impressed recently as to the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus, the way He died, and this was a place where no one has ever been laid. I was thinking of the force of that.
A.J.McK. None ever lay in death like Jesus; of Him it was said prophetically, Thou wilt not “allow thy Holy One to see corruption”, Ps.16:10. I can see the preciousness of it to heaven, the preciousness of what Joseph did here in laying the Lord’s body in his own tomb, as we understand it (Matt.27:60). I think others might have taken account of that stone laid at the door and said, ‘Joseph has died’. Morally, Joseph identified himself with the death of Christ. A beautiful touch; He was “with the rich in his death”. There was something absolutely unique about how the body of the Lord Jesus lay in death.
A.M. Was there divine care not only in the preparation of the body of Jesus but also in the circumstances? In the beginning of Luke we have those who were suited to care for Him and He was protected as a Babe. Here the tomb had never seen corruption, it was suited; “neither wilt thou allow thy Holy One to see corruption”, Ps.16:10. It was suited to that holy vessel.
A.J.McK. I was wondering about that expression, not seeing corruption, and I think what you say helps. It was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid – it was something that was pristine and how appropriate that was. Joseph had the light of that, he had the light of what was appropriate for the body of Jesus and he moved, undoubtedly directed by God, to beg for His body, to take the body down, and to lay it in the tomb. He had no instruction as to this, but undoubtedly he was directed in it, that there might be that moment when the tomb could be opened and all could gaze into it and see that it was not there; “they found not the body of the Lord Jesus”.
P.J.W. I suppose Joseph would have dug this tomb and hollowed it out in preparation for his own death. There must have been a lot of exercise with Joseph as to this tomb and then the Lord was placed in it.
A.J.McK. I suppose when he did that, it would have been for himself; he would perhaps never have thought that another would be laid in it, but when the moment comes he was unhesitating. The exercise and the labour that he had put into it was entirely appropriate for the One who was his Lord. Joseph was a secret disciple (John 19:38). There was something precious in his heart in love for Jesus that caused him to move this way.
R.W.McC. I like what has been said, that this tomb had not seen corruption, and neither did it. The Lord was laid there.
A.J.McK. Yes, and Joseph identified himself with Him in His death.
P.M. Instead of corruption there were two men in shining raiment. They were characterised by the One who had risen.
A.J.McK. Yes. The shining raiment brings out the first view of what was now out of death in a new condition. Shining raiment is appropriate to the light of resurrection. There is something fresh and living in a new condition which is beyond death.
P.M. The Lord Jesus tasted death, but He could not see corruption. It was in the purpose of God that there should be a new order of life out of death, a new condition. How wonderful!
A.J.McK. The verse in Romans affected me; who “has been raised up from among the dead”, Rom.6:4. There is witness in the resurrection, in the One raised up from among the dead and the two men in shining raiment. There is the principle of witness; the fact that that tomb was empty bore witness. God is now working and moving on a new basis and in a Man in a new condition. I wondered about the way in which the Lord moves in relation to His own, in the fulness of divine grace in which He makes Himself known to them.
D.J.W. Luke writes with method, and verse 3 is significant; “they found not the body of the Lord Jesus”. I wondered if the beginning of the verse gave the clue; it says, “when they had entered”. We come into this through being identified with the death of Christ.
A.J.McK. That needs to be thought about. They did not find Christ’s body lying in death. I suppose we would all have done this. We all would have expected, in our own weakness, for the Lord’s body to have been there but the glory of this scripture is the reality of resurrection; He had been raised up from among the dead. His body is no longer in death and the condition of flesh and blood has ended. “He takes away the first that he may establish the second”, Heb.10:9. Here is a scene that is characterised by what is spiritual.
D.J.W. The stone had been rolled away. Who did it? It seems to me that there is a spiritual suggestion in it.
T.W.L. Is this the substantial reality of manhood for God eternally? They “found not the body of the Lord Jesus”. He had been raised and He is substantially a Man for God. God got His Man in resurrection. We find Him in resurrection, but God got His Man in resurrection. The substantial reality of manhood for God is seen in that; “they found not the body of the Lord Jesus”.
A.J.McK. Yes, and so it says in verse 39 of chapter 24, “behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having”. I wonder at those words, “I myself”; not a spirit but “I myself”. He was the One that they had learned to love and had come to know. In His grace, the Lord Jesus was showing that condition to those who would be the material making up the assembly; they were going to substantially represent that.
T.W.L. Without bringing in too many other scriptures, at the beginning of John’s epistle, the apostle says, “our hands handled”. That is substantial reality. The dispensation begins with the reality of the manhood of Jesus for God and for us, and it has carried on in the appreciation of that reality ever since.
A.J.McK. In saying, “handle me and see”, I do not think that what the Lord had in mind necessarily was physical handling. This is a spiritual handling. This is what we are doing today, handling this subject with deep reverence. As He says, “handle me and see”, do you think we come in the depth of our hearts to appreciate the reality of this for God and then we find our part in what God had in mind all the way through.
H.T.F. What you just said is confirmed when the Lord spoke to Thomas, but that is at a lower level – that would have been physical.
A.J.McK. And we are not told that Thomas ever did that.
H.T.F. It speaks of what is future but at a lower level.
N.J.H. We find our Man in glory; “For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”, Col.2:9. This is where He is and the apostle Paul, who presents Him as the Son of God and as another Man in another world, also refers to His body in Ephesians.
A.J.McK. We should go on to our verse in Ephesians. It appealed to me that, going back to that verse in Romans 7, this is the way that there is fruit to God. How does that happen at the present time? It is through those who know what it is to be members of Christ’s body. My impression is that this is as real as the body He had when He was here on earth was real. It is to be laid hold of spiritually in our hearts, but it is real. God has fruit from the assembly, Christ’s body. There is that which operates practically in the day in which we are and in the dispensation in which we are with all the challenges that we know and prove. As the members of His body are operating together, there is fruit for God from that.
R.W.McC. We were reminded last time we were gathered together like this that “to be to another” is like a synopsis of chapter 7 of Romans. This is it really; as the assembly and the “members of his body” are for Him, they are “to be to another”.
A.J.McK. Yes, to be entirely for Another. We have a new object. What a privilege it is to be members of the body of Christ, that One who is crowned with glory and honour. Then practically, it works out so that there might be something for the pleasure of the Lord Jesus and for His delight, and there is real fruit for God from that.
R.D.P. It has been said that there is no breakdown in the body of Christ. The saints are publicly part of the house of God, and the body of Christ is complete; that would be true as much today as it has ever been. I was thinking of that reference as to what transpired at the cross, that “the body-coat was seamless, woven through the whole from the top”, John 19:23. It is good, in the broken and difficult times that we go through, to think of something that is not broken down, has not been marred.
A.J.McK. That is a good and encouraging word because we are natural and we become occupied by breakdown and we worry about it. But we can take account of that body-coat woven through from the top, it was not parted. It says, “Not a bone of him shall be broken” (John 19:36); there is that which answers to the Lord Jesus that is entirely unbroken. It will be seen in an eternal day. We have the privilege to be part of it now, to be members of His body now. There is something that is actively working in order that He might be glorified.
J.B.I. I was thinking of how earlier in this book it speaks of arriving “at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ” (Eph. 4:13), and it comes out in expression in the body.
A.J.McK. I remember you helping us many years ago about that word “arrive at”. Say more.
J.B.I. It was Paul’s yearning that we should all arrive, that we should come to appreciate what is seen in our Lord Jesus in the expression of what is found in His body. The saints together form the one body.
A.J.McK. I think we should finish there. My impression is that there is something actively working now in this company, just a few of us here in this room today, but something actively working out for Christ’s glory, and it is by virtue of being members of His body.
Reading at Grimsby
8 February 2020
KEY TO INITIALS
H.T.F. H Tim Franklin Grimsby
RJ.F Roland J Flowerdew Sunbury
N.J.H. Norman J Henry Glasgow
J.B.I. J Bruce Ikin Manchester
R.W.McC. Robert W McClean Grimsby
A.J.McK. Alastair J McKay Witney
G.McK. Garth McKay Manchester
T.W.L. Terry W Lock Edinburgh
A.M. Andrew Martin Buckhurst Hill
P.M. Paul Martin Colchester
M.T.B.M. M T Ben Matthews Birmingham
R.D.P. Ron D Plant Birmingham
P.J.W. Philip J Walkinshaw Strood
D.J.W. David J Willetts Birmingham