(Eph. 4) The two grand features of the unity of the Spirit, or the Church of God, now come before us. And these are, First, That the Church is the body of Christ. Secondly, that it is the habitation of God through the Spirit. These are, doubtless, the highest truths ever revealed to man, and the richest in blessing to his soul. May the Lord enable us here to meditate, in the spirit of implicit faith, and of willing and hearty obedience to the truth. We will look in the first place, at The Church as the body or Christ. The following passages, besides many others, state this truth in the plainest way. “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” (Eph, 1:22, 23.) “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.” Notice here, in passing, the last clause of this verse. “So also is Christ.” According to the former part of the verse, it ought to be “So also is the Church.” But the Holy Spirit is pleased, remarkable though it may seem, to call the body “Christ.” Could anything more forcibly express the perfect identity of Christ and His people? Impossible!
But two things were necessary for the formation of “the Church, which is his body.” First, It was absolutely necessary that Christ as man should be in heaven. Secondly, It was also necessary that the Holy Ghost should be on the earth. What a field for meditation do these two New Testament truths open up! The great subjects of Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension rise up before the mind. To know such truths is to know Christianity, and the counsels of God as to His Church. It was easier far for God to make the world than to make the Church. And yet many men have spoken about forming a church, and laying down laws for worship. But one might as well talk of introducing a new way of salvation as a new way of worship. The one is as firmly fixed in scripture as the other, and as clearly defined.
When God made the world, He spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast. But before the Church could be formed, His own beloved Son must become a man and die. Sin must be fully judged, and God fully glorified. The ancient barriers which God Himself had raised between Jew and Gentile must be removed, and the longstanding distinctions swept away. The middle wall of partition must be broken down. When the mighty work was done, the risen Jesus ascended up on high, and took His seat as the glorified man at God’s right hand in heaven, all things being now put under Him. Consequent on this, the Holy Ghost came down to form the body on earth. And now, the Head in heaven, and the members on earth, united together by the Holy Ghost, make one body. “There is one body and one Spirit.”
This is the great truth of Christianity—the formation of the body of Christ. But thou wilt do well, my soul, to meditate first, and more especially, on the heavenly side of this truth. To know Christ as the man in glory, is the right way to know His body on the earth. This will give an elevating power and character to thy vocation. Only think—Christ has carried humanity, in His own Person, to the throne of God in heaven. Surely this is the most stupendous fact in the records of revealed truth! The Son of God, thus seated there, should be the Christian’s one object of desire, delight, and holy contemplation. But marvelous as this fact is, it was necessary to the formation of the Church of God. There must be a Head in heaven before there could be a body on earth. And Christ Himself could not take that place until the great work of the cross was finished. He tells us this Himself in John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24), “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” It is in resurrection that Christ reaps the fruit of His toil. And again, we read in Eph. 1 “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power......which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body.” Thus we see, that it was not until redemption was finished, Christ raised from the dead, and seated at God’s right hand in heaven, that He becomes Head of His body the Church, and Head over all things to the Church. Not, observe, Head over the Church, but “Head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”
So long as the Jew’s religion had the sanction of God, the Church had no existence save in the divine counsels. Israel was carefully walled off from all the other nations, and fenced on every side by rites, ceremonies, and the moral law. It would have been a sin against the God of Israel for a Jew to have had communion with a Gentile. Even in our Lord’s time, the distinction was strictly maintained. His disciples were forbidden to go in the way of the Gentiles, or to enter any city of the Samaritans. The centurion and the Syrophenician woman strikingly illustrate this difference. Take the case of the woman. When she addressed the Lord as the “Son of David,” He could not answer her plea. She was on false ground. The promises were to Abraham and to his seed. As a Gentile she was without right or title to the privileges of Israel. But the moment she takes her true ground as a Gentile, and addresses Him as “Lord,” He rises in the majesty of His grace above all the limits of the Jewish covenant, and blesses the poor unprivileged Gentile, according to the greatness of His mercy. “Then Jesus answered and said unto her, Ο woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” Matt. 15.
It is beautiful beyond description to witness the Lord’s love to the poor Gentile, and His faithfulness to God’s covenant with Israel. Though treating her with apparent coldness, His love was drawing her nearer to Himself. The disciples wanted to get rid of her—not so their Lord. He waited—patiently waited, till she got down to the low place of the Gentile. It was well for that woman, and it is well for us, that the Lord’s patience lingers until we learn and confess what we really are. This is the true ground of immediate and unlimited blessing. The Lord is true, and He will have us to be true; He is real, and He will have us to be real. The question is, not how bad we are; but are we true—are we real before God? How often and how long blessing has been hindered from the anxious one not being real! Blessed Lord! give us to be thoroughly honest in thy presence; without reservations and without exceptions, that thy rich blessings may flow out unhinderedly into our souls.
The blessed change in the ways of God toward Jew and Gentile was brought about by the cross. There was comparatively little change in God’s dealings with man till then. Four thousand years of the world’s history had passed away, and God still dwelt in the thick darkness. The vail was unrent. He showed mercy and grace to Adam, gave promises to Abraham, and the law to Israel; but all the great changes that were to take place both in heaven and on earth awaited the glorious event of the cross. Eph. 2 is the great seat of this new truth. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”
It may be wrong; and yet I would not be
An angel, formed in spotless purity;
It may be strange—with all my sins and cares,
I would not change this lot of mine, for theirs.
They in the light of God have ever shone,
Yet joys are mine which they have never known.
They, since He made them first, have ever been
Viewing His love, no earthly veil between;
In that from age to age they still abide,
Drink of its fullness, and are satisfied:
Yet even they bend down new depths to see,
New depths of love, the love that rescued me.
Sweet are their songs, yet not to them is given
To sing the song of the redeemed in heaven.
Bright are their crowns, their harps are shining gold,
Yet in their hands nor victor’s palm they hold,
Nor wreaths they wear, such as shall clasp the brow
Of those who pass through tribulation now.
Their robes are white, yet they shall fade beside
The robes that Jesus’ blood hath purified.
They near Him stand, but for His Bride alone
Remains the place the nearest to the throne.
To her alone it shall be given to rest
Upon His arm and lean upon His breast.
Blest thought! Each conflict here, each bitter strife,
Shall then add sweetness to the cup of life.
Each heavy stroke shall but His child prepare
To be a pillar in His temple there;
There where the things which darkly now I see
Shall be in perfect light revealed to me.
Then be it so; a sinner though I am,
Yet will I boast and glory in the Lamb;
The vilest I; yes, be it so, for such
Have much forgiven and they have loved much.
F.S.G.