CHAPTER FOUR
By George R. Hawtin
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THE CHRIST BODY . . . SUPREME MYSTERY OF THE AGES
The original purpose of Almighty God, so clearly set forth in the words of Gen. 1: 26, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness,” was an intention as immutable and unwavering as the God who spoke it. The truth that God is immutable and with Him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17), is not merely a doctrine of scripture but a truth that should be so thoroughly embraced by every child of God that the reality of it grips his spiritual being, enlightening the eyes and giving understanding to the heart. The very fact that God is immutable (unchanging) in all His ways and purposes is just as important as the knowledge that He is almighty, or that He is all wise, or that He is omnipresent. What hope or trust would be lent the believer in times when sorrow and tribulation like sea billows rolled over him, besetting his way with doubt and fear, if he could not look up into the face of a God of love and say from the depths of his troubled being, “Thou art the God of light; with Thee there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Thou changes! not; Thy compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be?” The ways of mankind may be as changeable as the moon, but the purposes of God are as constant as the stars. Centuries after the Almighty had made His immutable promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses stood trembling before the burning bush with head bowed in awe. He heard the voice of the Lord proclaiming, “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” What new revelation could Moses now expect from the lips of the Almighty? We will never guess what this old man of fourscore years must have wondered in that dreadful but wonderful moment, but if he were expecting something new, he was to be disappointed, because the word that flowed from the lips divine was the now familiar utterance, “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.” Exod. 3:5, 6
Those words must have been awesome, perhaps even troublesome, because we poor human beings are so changeable in all our ways that we are inclined to forget that He who is immutable never changes. Long years of waiting often make us forget that the Lord never deviates from His original intentions. Man may be tempted to think that God has forgotten His ancient promises, that they are all hopelessly washed up and of no future value, but this is never so. Through decades, through centuries and millenniums of time, the voice of God comes ringing like a trumpet in the soul of the believer, “I am the Lord; I change not.” All things are working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the ”the called”, according to His purpose. Moses was a man of like frailties as ourselves, and, apart from the smoking flax of his faith, this bruised reed of a man must have had as good reason as any other man to imagine with sorrow that God had forgotten His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here they were centuries later a great nation of many people, all descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but far removed from the land God had promised them, and, instead of being the heirs of the promised blessing, they were naught but groveling slaves to a cruel nation that oppressed and hated them, day after day performing menial tasks with hard and bitter labor for a people who were enemies of God and strangers to His covenants. Gone were the promises of greatness and glory, and the hope that in their seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed seemed to mock them as idle tales, meet for the rib-bald songs of the drunken and the taunts of unbelieving taskmasters.
What now would be the message of this dreadful voice in the wilderness, the voice of God, who spoke from the burning bush? What new purpose would be His intention now? Methinks this old man in shepherd’s garb did not expect to hear Him say, “I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob,” but, if he thought the immutable God could forget His promise, he was now awakened to his error. God suffers long and is kind, but He never forgets, and His saints will always find that the dreary wilderness of lingering days and nights that lie between the giving of a promise and the fulfillment thereof are part of the process of fulfilling the promise in the inscrutable way He had planned. Oh, how often I have heard men say “God is through with Israel. They failed, and so God cast them off and started something new.” Yet I hear the voice of Paul come ringing o’er the hills of time, crying, “Hath God cast away His people? God forbid… God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew.” Rom. 11:1, 2 Then later in the passage he says, “If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?” Rom. 11:15. Again in similar words we ask today, “Has God changed His original intention? Have His words divine fallen to the ground to be trampled under the feet of unbelief? Did the immutable One, the almighty Maker of the universe, propose that which He had no power to fulfill when in infinite wisdom His word proclaimed, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion?” Nay, nay, a million times nay! As no jot or tittle shall fail of the law till all is fulfilled, so shall no jot or tittle fail from the promise of Him who is immutable until all is fulfilled.
Open our eyes, 0 Lord unchanging, that Thy saints may behold as Thou dost behold. Let them stand with Thee in faith atop the lofty mountain of Thine exalted vision that they may ponder the limitless years of Thy unfolding purpose. Let their eyes behold the corn of wheat that fell into the ground to die. Let them understand that, as day comes forth out of darkness, so life springs forth from the realms of death, first the blade, then the ear, and afterward the full corn in the ear. Open the eyes of our understanding to see clearly that, before the full corn in the ear appears, there must be a seed to fall into the ground and die, for, if it die not, there can be no blade, there can be no ear, nor can the full corn of all mankind be in the ear.
Oh, that saints today would stand with God, who is our light, that through His eyes they might see the ever maturing progress of His unalterable fiat, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness!” Then would they behold the glorious end God had in view and stand no more to weep as mourners do at the grave of a creation whose first appointed step on the path to the image of God was to fall into the ground and die. Too long, too long have men walked in darkness, knowing not that the apparent calamities of Eden were in fact and truth well devised steps proceeding from the mind that is infinite that man through the valley of the shadow of death might come to the moment of resurrection when death is swallowed up in life, corruption puts on incorruption, and mortality betakes of immortality, – well devised steps, I say, for thus saith the Lord God omniscient and immutable, “The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Rom. 8:20, 21. Therefore with Paul all who have understanding “reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed, for the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”
Look up from thy weeping then and see no more the fast closed tomb of all the sons of the first Adam, a creation that God intended should fall into the ground and die. Yonder, near to Calvary‘s hill, there is an open tomb from which the last man Adam has risen in victory, having forever abolished death, bringing to light both light and immortality. 2 Tim. 1:10. He is risen to become the first fruits of all who slept. To err is human, and I may be wrong, but deep within me I believe the place where the first man Adam died and was buried is the self same place from which the last man Adam arose from the dead to become the first fruits of them that slept.
Four thousand years had passed away ere God in triumph that Deity alone can know proclaimed in a voice of thunder, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Four thousand years with its suffering and death had come and gone, but now at last the first man is presented complete in God’s image and after His likeness. The first man of millions more to follow, as numerous as the stars above, was presented perfect and entire in God’s image when the voice of the Father proclaimed the word, “In Him I am well pleased.” It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.”
And what shall we say of the dominion God had promised to men in His own image? Had not His lips declared, “Let us give them dominion?” Hear the words of this blessed first Son of God as He in triumph proclaims, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” and with these words He declared that all who would believe on Him should be saved. Men are always talking about what they were saved “from.“ I am inclined to think that Jesus Christ our Lord and God our heavenly Father are more concerned about what we are saved “to.“ Hear then the words of inspiration that fell from the lips of Paul, that man who was pressing forward to obtain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and what could that be but sonship?
“In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. The world of creation cannot as yet see reality, not because it chooses to be blind, but because in God’s purpose it has been so limited – yet it has been given hope. And the hope is that in the end the whole of created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay, and have its share in that magnificent liberty which can only belong to the children of God! It is plain to anyone with eyes to see that at the present time all created life groans in a sort of universal travail. And it is plain, too, that we who have a foretaste of the Spirit are in a state of painful tension, while we wait for that redemption of our bodies which will mean that at last we have realized our full sonship in Him. We were saved by this hope, but in our moments of impatience let us remember that hope always means waiting for something we haven’t yet got. But if we hope for something we cannot see, then we must settle down to wait for it in patience.” Rom. 8:18-25. Phillips Translation
“In the face of all this, what is there left to say? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that did not hesitate to spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all – can we not trust such a God to give us, with Him, everything else that we need? Who would dare to accuse us, whom God has chosen? The judge Himself has declared us free from sin. Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us! Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms? Indeed some of us know the truth of that ancient text: For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all things we win an overwhelming victory through Him who has proved His love for us. I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today or what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord!” Rom. 8:31-39. Phillips Translation
THE MYSTERY OF GOD — CHRIST
We love to speak of Jesus Christ the Lord, but, oh, there is so much to be said, and who among us has power to unfold the glorious mystery of Christ? As the great plan of God – “Let us make man in our image” – unfolds, it must unfold in God’s own order, first the blade, then the ear, and afterward the full corn in the ear. Oh, that God would reveal to every seeking heart this greatest mystery of all mysteries, the mystery of Christ! In the long, long process of bringing all creation into the image of God it is God’s intention first of all to bring to the fullness of perfection that anointed one, for the anointed one is the Christ. Heavenly Father, Thou knowest that I speak with reverence almost infinite when I consider that Thy Christ, through whom all the universe will be reconciled, consists of many more than He who was at first proclaimed Thine only begotten Son. Thou hast proclaimed Him to be both Lord and Christ, the supreme and lordly head of the body, but unto us who are now coming into “that same image” and likeness Thou hast said, “Ye are the body of Christ. Ye are members of the Christ, yea, members in particular.” 1 Cor. 12:27. Yea, Thou hast said, “Ye are the fullness, ‘the completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself.’” Eph. 1: 23. Weymouth
Let us then with a reverence born of the Spirit of God begin to explore these celestial fields, the eyes of our understanding being so enlightened that we may begin to see the extent of the glorious fullness of God’s Christ. God’s Christ is the greatest mystery of all the ages, and no man can see its sacred glory until God in mercy reveals it unto him. All education and learning will fail us. Sermons of men will sell us short. Only by the Holy Ghost can the eyes of our understanding behold the mystery and only by that same Spirit of God can we become a part of it.
Christ is the visible representation of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, for in Him was created the universe oft things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, thrones, dominions, princedoms, powers – all were created and exist through Him. He is before all things, and in and through Him the universe is one harmonious whole. Moreover, He is the Head of His body, the church. He is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead, in order that He Himself may in all things occupy the foremost place, for it was the Father’s gracious will that the whole of the divine perfections should dwell in Him. And God purposed through Him to reconcile the universe to Himself, making peace through His blood, which was shed upon the cross, to reconcile to Himself through Him, I say, things on earth and things in heaven. As the wonderful pattern begins to unfold before the eyes of our understanding, we see with a light that only His Spirit can give that God’s Christ, when seen in His glorious completeness, consists of both the head and the body together. That first glorious Son, who four thousand years after Adam was owned by the Father as “My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” is the head, but that vast family of sons, who through the centuries have been coming into “that same image”, these are the body of that same Christ. God has proclaimed them to be members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones and has made them all to drink into one Spirit. Paul has distinctly taught us through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that by (in) one Spirit are we all baptized into one body (the Christ body), for the body is not one member, but many (1 Cor. 12:13, 14), whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit; for, as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
There are tremendous depths here, my brethren, for this is the mystery above all mysteries. Our God in these last days is speaking to His elect sons, revealing to them that they are members of His Christ, yea, that they are enchristed. This is the mystery that exceeds all the mysteries of the ages. So great is this mystery that men will accuse me of blasphemy because I proclaim it. Yet it was of this very truth that Paul wrote when He said, “I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and generations, but is now made manifest to His saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles (nations); which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Col. 1:25-27
I pray that you may pause here to request the mercies of heaven that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of Him that you may see what glory such a calling entails. For far too long we have lightly used the expression “in Christ.” We have formed the childish habit of signing our letters “Yours in Christ,” never realizing what in Christ really means. My beloved, to be in Christ means much more than simply being a Christian. In Christ, as used in the Holy Scripture, refers to our being vitally joined to that first born Son, whom God hath made both Lord and Christ. As our bodies are joined to our heads, so the enchristed are one with the Christ, because they with Jesus ARE GOD’S CHRIST. The term in Christ is used many times in God’s word, but the term Christ in you is used many times also. Let us think of the depth of the meaning it conveys and no more pass it by as nothing more than a pretty expression. What does it mean to you when the scripture says, “God was in Christ?” Why, the fact that God dwelt in Him was what made Him God’s Christ! What then are we to conclude since God has said Christ is in you? Is it not this indwelling that makes you a member of God’s Christ, making you one with the anointed? He is the firstborn of many brethren and those many brethren constitute the fullness of Christ. Jesus, the oldest brother, is the head; the many brethren are the body, and they (the head and the body) together form God’s Christ. Indeed it is a great mystery. No wonder Paul said it was the greatest of all mysteries! Nor is it any marvel that the all-wise God hid it from ages and generations of men that He might make it known in the last days. Now the mystery is being made manifest to His saints, for to them alone God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you. The mystery Christ in you is the hope of glory. It is an unspeakable glory for those who are called and chosen and faithful, and upon its certainty rests the hope of the entire creation of things in heaven and things on earth.
Once more we must review the scripture to make sure that we comprehend, at least in part, the import of its truth. It is clear from Paul’s words to the Colossians that he feels the tremendous depth of his own teaching. Therefore, with the clearest possible emphasis he declares that the mystery, Christ in you, has been completely hidden from all ages and generations of the past and was only in his day beginning to be made manifest to the saints. Col. 1:26. This mystery, Christ in you, is the beginning of the mystery, you in Christ. So profound is this mystery that, though it be understood by the Spirit within, words fail to speak its truth to the mind. The truth that has been hidden for ages and dispensations is this: God is still in this age forming and preparing His Christ. We cannot overemphasize the importance of this truth, “because He hath appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained…” Acts 17:31 Dare we wonder, then that He with infinite care through ages of time prepares His Christ in secret and in fullness for the boundless work of the ages to come?
It is with the utmost reverence and with great humility of mind, looking to Jesus Christ with adoring adulation, that I endeavor to make known to God’s elect that God‘s glorious Christ is not one, but many. The fullness of Christ does not consist of Jesus of Nazareth and Him alone, but of Jesus together with a multitude of elect sons, who by His grace are coming into that same image. 2 Cor. 3: IS. We have read the scripture, which plainly states that “as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” 1 Cor. 12:12. The apostle here is plainly showing that the individual members of God’s Christ, though many, form but one Christ. This many membered Christ is “that man” whom God hath chosen and by whom He will govern the world in righteousness. Acts 17:31
It is not uncommon to find that the Lord speaks of a multitude as one. For example, in Hosea 11:1 He says, “When Israel was a child (singular), I loved him (singular), and called My son (Israel) out of Egypt.” I am aware that this last reference to My son is also prophetic and has a definite reference to Jesus Christ, but it also definitely refers to Israel as a nation, whom God here calls My son, as the verse following plainly shows. In exactly the same way that we speak of a nation as one or of the church as one, so also is God’s Christ, many membered, yet one Christ and one body. God would not make mention of the body of Christ if the many membered body did not constitute the fullness of His Christ. The human body, which we now possess, is the greatest possible type and picture of that spiritual organism which is the body of Clirist. In this the scripture is very plain, saying with the greatest possible clarity, “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.”
That the physical body has many members while it is but one body we may clearly see from the following scientific statement. “Man’s body has nine hundred muscles, one thousand miles of blood vessels, three hundred fifty main arteries, one million five hundred thousand sweat glands. The lungs are composed of seven million, seven hundred thousand cells. At seventy years of age the heart has lifted by its throbs five hundred thousand tons of blood. The nervous system has three trillion nerve cells. The blood has thirty million white corpuscles and one hundred million red ones. Each minute in every man’s body some one hundred fifty million radio-active carbon atoms go pop, releasing a total energy of twenty-one million electron volts. The heart beats seventy times per minute, four thousand times per day, thirty-seven million times per year, and two billion times in sixty-five years. It is estimated that, could man build a computer that could do the work of the human brain, a space as large as Rockefeller center would be needed. It would take three lifetimes to wire it, three-quarters of the electrical power of New York City to drive it, and the Hudson River to cool it. Man’s brain is most impressive and extremely complex. It contains many more nerve lines than all the telephone lines in the world put together. The electrical signals from two hundred thousand living thermometer cells, a half million pressure sensing cells, three or four million pain sensing cells, plus the signals from the eyes, nose and ears, as well as the areas sensitive to taste and touch, are all routed to the brain. An amazing example of miniaturization, the brain sorts, stores, and acts upon these myriad impulses. Who built this fantastic computer? The answer is God:
From the foregoing trivial example, which touches only the minutest function of the many membered, many organed human body and displays in some tiny detail the harmonious workings of the whole, perhaps our hearts can be enlightened to catch a glimpse of the wonders of that Christ, whom God through the ages has been bringing to completion. First to be born was Jesus of Nazareth the Head, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of wisdom and knowledge of God, and we. God’s blessed sons, born in the extremity of the age and coming into that same image, are the many members, the body of Christ. These, the Head and the body together, are God’s Christ.
The things I am saying are hard to write and difficult to utter, because church tradition has dulled our ears that we cannot hear. It has blinded our eyes to truth so that we cannot see with our eyes, nor hear with our ears, nor understand with our hearts, but should one live a thousand years twice told, he could never comprehend these mysteries with the mind, for great is the mystery of godliness.
There is but one body, and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, even as there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in us all. For this reason Jesus, when He ascended up on high, led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. He gave apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the building up and edifying of the Christ body until we all come to the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ. Please read Eph. 4:4-13.
The fullness of Christ! What does it mean? What can it mean but that which we are saying – that God through these ages is forming and bringing His Christ to fullness? The Head He completed two thousand years ago when Christ Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted to His throne, but the body, which is the completeness of Him who filleth all in all, has been coming forth member by member through these ages of time to be declared at last, as Jesus was at first, “My beloved sons, in whom I am well pleased.”
God’s people are greatly hindered from seeing this truth in any fullness because they continually confuse the harlot church system with the true and mystical church, which is Christ’s body. One need only to mention the word church and all eyes immediately turn toward the system with all its abominable enormities, its denominations, its sects, its false ministries, its pseudo-gifts and its multitudinous divisions, but, if you will turn your eyes away from this, you will discover one like the Son of man, rising from the present disorder, standing tall and glorious in the image of Christ. This is the mystical and elect church in which there has never been a division or a schism. This is the building of God, the true church, the true body, the house not made with hands. This is the habitation in which God dwells, even as your spirit dwells in you. “You are a building which has been reared on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself, in union with whom the whole fabric, truly bonded together, is rising so as to form a holy sanctuary in the Lord; in whom you also are being built up together to become a fixed abode for God through the Spirit.” Eph. 2:20-22 Weymouth “God has put all things under His feet, and has appointed Him universal and supreme Head of the church, which is His body, the completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself.” Eph. 1:23 Weymouth
You will have noticed that the scripture quoted above is definitely saying that the body of Christ is the completeness of Him, who fills the universe with Himself. Surely these are ponderous words of truth, clearly showing that it is the Father’s intention to fill the universe with His mighty body, which He is now forming, and not only fill it, but rule it as well. When Paul was speaking of these sacred things, he said, “For this reason we also, from the day we first received these tidings, have never ceased to pray for you and to entreat that you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will, accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things; so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you bear fruit in every good work, and increase in the knowledge of God. Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength of every kind, and be prepared for cheerfully enduring all things with fortitude and patience; and may you give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Col. 1: 9-12 Weymouth
JESUS THE CHRIST
Christ means the anointed, and I think it will help us to grasp the depths of this mystery when we understand that Christ is not a name, but a title. The word Lord is nof a name; it also is a title. We are continually concerned with many titles. We speak of His Worship the Mayor, His Lordship the Judge, Mr. President, Her Majesty the Queen, the Emperor of Japan, General Patton, Field-Marshal Montgomery. These prefixes are not names. They are titles and very expressive ones at that. They signify the extent of the office held by the person referred to. Christ is the anointed one. The Greek word Christos means anointed. The Hebrew word was Messiah, the expected King and Deliverer of the Jews. The title the Christ is used eighteen times in the New Testament. These passages are most significant because of the use of the definite article the Christ, demonstrating clearly that Christ is, indeed, a title, which signifies a special office and ministry in God’s great plan. Perhaps the most familiar passage is found in Matt. 16:13-20, in which Jesus asked His disciples, “Whom do men say that / the Son of man am, And they said, Some say that Thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” “Thou art the Christ,” said Peter, and Jesus quickly affirmed that such a revelation of truth could not possibly come by the way of flesh and blood, but only by the inspiration of God. “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, but My Father which is in heaven.”
There were many people associated with Jesus during all His life on earth who saw naught in Him but the son of Joseph and Mary. Even some of His disciples did not recognize Him as the Christ. Certainly Thomas did not appear to have this knowledge until that night of revelation when Jesus revealed Himself to him, and Thomas, standing aghast at the revelation, cried out in amazement, “My Lord and my God!” “Then charged He His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ” Matt. 16:20. Jesus is His name; Christ is His title. The natural man cannot receive any spiritual thing unless that truth is revealed to him by God’s Spirit; otherwise it will be trampled underfoot as worthless as readily as swine trample precious gems beneath their feet.
When Jesus was questioned before the high priest, He was asked, “Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the blessed?” Mark 14:61. Jesus replied, “I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Verse 62 It will be perfectly clear that, had the question been, “Art Thou Jesus,” and He had replied in the affirmative, there would have been no uproar or dissent at all. But the question was not “Art Thou Jesus,” but, “Art Thou ^Christ,” and the moment Jesus answered in the affirmative He was accused of blasphemy, because the title Christ declares that He is the anointed, the Messiah, the Deliverer of Israel and the Savior of the whole world. The high priest was not ignorant of the fact that long ago David prophesied, saying, “The Lord said unto my Lord, sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies thy footstool,” and no doubt he immediately connected the prophecy of David with the words of Jesus, “Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” This statement, though perfectly true in the case of this despised man, would have been blasphemy had it been uttered by anyone else, and the high priest, chained by the darkness of his own carnal mind, could see nothing beyond the outer veil. He saw Jesus only as a man, not as the Christ as Peter had seen or as “my Lord and my God” as Thomas had done. He, poor blind soul, was doomed to see only as a natural man. It was for this very reason that Jesus in love had prayed for him, together with the others, saying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Since, then, the Christ is a title, signifying His exalted office, we may conclude that the importance of that office is greatly magnified when the appellation Jesus Christ, wherein the name Jesus is placed before the office, is reversed to read Christ Jesus, wherein the title is placed before the name. This occurs at least forty times in the New Testament. Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord, who Himself on so many occasions preferred the title, Son of man, was the first man to come into the image and likeness of God. He is the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s earliest declaration, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.” Gen. 1:26. Furthermore, He who now sits on the right hand of power is the first to fulfill God’s decree, “Let us give them dominion.” “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” Jesus said. Matt. 28:18. He is the beginning, the first born from among the dead, or, from among the dead ones. Ponder the significance of that statement. “He is the beginning.” Col. 1:18. Does not a beginning definitely tell us that there is much more yet to come? Do not the words the first born signify that all the dead are to be raised to life through Him to be brought into that same imaged “He brightly reflects God’s glory and is the exact representation of His being, and upholds the universe by His all-powerful word. After securing man’s purification from sin, He took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as far superior to the angels as the name He possesses by inheritance is more excellent than theirs.” Heb. 1:3, 4 Weymouth
If God’s people could comprehend some of the fathomless depths of the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, they would find themselves well on the road to understanding the magnificent glories, which God is preparing for those who love Him. We would see that this Jesus, whom God hath made both Lord and Christ, was indeed the beginning and only the beginning of the fulfillment of the fiat of Gen. 1:26, “Let us make man in our image.” Jesus is both the first born from the dead and He is the first born of all who sleep. He is the first born of many brothers who are to share His glory and His image. These even now in their imperfect and insignificant condition He speaks of as the body of Christ and members in particular. 1 Cor. 21: 27. These are the Christ body. He is the head of the body and in all things He shall have the preeminence, yet these are the body of which He is the Head. God through John declared, “As He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. “All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. You did not receive the spirit of slavery again, inspiring terror; but you did receive the spirit of adopted sons – in which spirit we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our own spirits that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs too – heirs of God and coheirs with Christ; if indeed we share Christ’s sufferings in order to share also His glory. Why, the sufferings of the present I deem not worth considering compared with the glory soon to be disclosed to us. All creation is yearning, longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to futility, not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it; yet with the hope that at last the creation itself would be set free from the thraldom of decay to enjoy the liberty that comes with the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation is moaning in the pangs of childbirth until this hour.
And more than that, we ourselves, though we possess the Spirit as a foretaste of bliss, yet we ourselves inwardly moan as we wait for full sonship in the redemption of our bodies.” Rom. 8:14-23, Weymouth “Now we know that for those who love God He makes all things work together for good, for those who are called according to the divine purpose. Those whom He has foreknown He has also predestined to share the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers; and those whom He has predestined He has also called; and those whom He has called He has also acquitted; and those whom He has acquitted He has also glorified.” Rom. 8:28-30 Weymouth
These inspired statements become crystal clear once we have apprehended God’s true purpose. Nothing can separate us from the love of God and no power in heaven or in earth can let or hinder the eternal will of Him whose intention was in the beginning not only to make man, but to make him in the image of God. The steps are very clear – foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and final glorification, members of His body, the Christ body, members of His flesh and of His bones. These chosen people have drunk deeply of His Spirit, for it is in one Spirit that all the members are united with the body. They are baptized into His body. They are members in particular of God’s Christ, God’s anointed, God’s Messiah, by whom God filleth all in all, or, as Weymouth puts it, “God hath appointed Him universal and supreme head of the church, which is His body, the completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself.” Eph. 1:23.
We mentioned above how good it would be if God’s elect people could comprehend the depths of the first chapter of Hebrews, for if they could but see to what honor and glory God has promoted His first perfected Son, then they would see to some extent what honor He is preparing to bestow on those other sons who through the centuries have been coming into that same image of Christ. Those other sons are members of His body, yea, members of that body of which He is the Head. The Holy Spirit wishes us to see in the statements of Hebrews, chapter one, that, by displaying the greatness of the first Son, Christ Jesus, He is actually revealing the magnificent glory God has in store for us. If this had not been the case, there would have been no point in Paul’s commencing chapter two with the warning, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?…” The great salvation he speaks of here is the hope of sonship spoken of in chapter one. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation” is not a text for sinners, but a sobering question directed to men and women who have heard the call to sonship and have seen their predestined end in Christ and who are now being called to a faithfulness far removed from neglect, as it is written: “. . . and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” Rev. 17:14
Paul further attests to the greatness of our calling to sonship and consequently our call as members of the Christ body when in the words of David he asks, “What is man that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” Heb. 2:6 “Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; with glory and honor Thou hast crowned him! and hast set him over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put everything in subjection under his feet. For this subjecting of the universe to man implies the leaving of nothing not subject to him. But we do not as yet see the universe subject to him (man). But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels – even Jesus – because of His suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by God’s grace He might taste death for every man.” Heb. 2:6-9 Weymouth
Why did Paul say we do not as yet see the universe subject to him (man), but we do see Jesus? Simply because Jesus Christ is the forerunner, the pioneer, the apostle, the first Son, the beginning, and the first born from the dead. He is the first Son to be exalted through the terrible sufferings of the realm of death and, seeing Him, we know that the promise to all others is certain, for it was not of Adam alone of whom God spoke, saying, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let us give them dominion,” but the promise was to all the sons of men, of whom the first Son, Jesus Christ, is now exalted and has taken His seat at the right hand of power. We see Jesus and by seeing Him we know the glory God has in store for those who follow Him just as the first flower of spring is the herald of millions to follow.
To write such things as these often fills my heart with dread. Everywhere and at all times there are foolish persons who seem to be void of any sense of reverence. They do not realize how terrible are the words, “The place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” They have not learned that, should any one of us come into the presence of God, we like John would fall down at His feet as dead men. Everywhere I find men and women who seem to brag about the “sonship message.” They do not talk in humble tones nor stand in awe and the fear of the Lord, but in a spirit of boasting and pride they toy with the truth of sonship as children toy with things of play. My heart always sinks to the lowest depths when I hear glib talk of “sonship groups.” People who talk like that have never yet seen how high a calling sonship is. Some of these little groups even go so far as to speak of themselves as manifested sons. They do not know of what they speak nor whereof they affirm. Other presumptuous people have gone so far as to offer courses purporting to teach how to become a manifested Son of God. Let us turn our eyes and our hearts away from all such presumptuous ignorance and pride and with the spirit of humility start looking unto Jesus who alone is the author and finisher of our faith.
Let no one believe that the filthy or unclean have any part in any of these things. People who are laden with sex sins, who are unholy and defiled, who are partakers with the world and who fit in with the untoward spirit of the times – all such must come to repentance before they need speak of the things which God has reserved for them that love Him. These are the last days. Perilous times encompass the world and fall heavy upon us all. Men are lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. From all such we must turn away and have no part with them.
There are thousands today who are playing church, who even profess to be speaking in tongues and to have certain gifts of the Spirit, who profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate. The thing above all else that is so sadly lacking in these perilous times is godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of. The sorrow of the world only works death. Those who are being cleansed by Christ and made ready for that glorious sonship in Him must separate themselves from the world and all its tinseled glamour as did the first Son, of whom it is written that He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens. Heb. 7:26. Philistines have no place in the house of God; neither has Mammon, the god of wealth, any place in the hearts of God’s people. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy into heaviness. Then you will draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you.
It should never be forgotten that we, though called, are yet exhorted to give diligence to make our calling and election sure. 2 Pet. 1:10. Let no man rest on his oars, thinking that he can merrily float with the current of the world right into the glory of reigning with Christ. We have a promise to reign with Him, but the promise is, “If we suffer with Him, we will reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will deny us,” that is to say, if we deny Him and refuse to suffer with Him, there will be no place for us to reign. He will deny that to us.
Paul, writing to the Romans, gave five progressive steps, which lead to glorification. “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate; …whom He did predestinate, them He also called; whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” Rom. 8:29, 30. These are the five steps – foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. It seems to me that any man can fail at any one of these points. Otherwise why would the Lord have said, “Many are called, but few are chosen?” And why would it be written in Rev. 17:14, “They that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful?”
There is only one sure way to gain an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God. Peter tells us of it in his second epistle, Chapter 1:3-11. “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” With these few words we are exhorted to walk in harmony with Christ Jesus our Lord and to turn aside from the spirit of this evil age in which money has become the god of this world. Money is the god which men worship and adore and which they trust to supply all their needs. Let us who seek first the kingdom of God go on to perfection in Him. Let us strip for this spiritual race and run it with much patience, for it is through faith, patience and endurance that the prize is at last attained.
The appellation, the Christ, is used eighteen times in the New Testament. The definite article the distinguishes Him as God’s anointed and separates Him from all that is false and from those deceivers who will come saying, “I am Christ,” by whom many will be deceived. Jesus, who loved the title Son of man, was the first man to come in the image of God. He whom men crucified was He whom God raised from the dead and proclaimed to be both Lord and Christ. Acts 2:36. “He brightly reflects God’s glory and is the express image of His person, and, when He had purged us of our sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He is the visible representation of the invisible God.” Col. 1:15. Weymouth The whole of divine perfections dwell in Him. Col. 1: 20. And He is the head of the true and mystical church, which is in truth the Christ body, for the body is not one member, but many. The body is also one with the Head. Neither Head nor body can exist or function the one without the other. While the mind has its home in the head, the heart has its home in the body. The Head and the body together constitute the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13), even the completeness of Him who in the end will fill the universe with Himself. And we are complete in Him, from whom the whole body by joints and bands is knit together to become the habitation of God through the Spirit. The true body of Christ has been rising through millenniums of time without a schism and without a division. It has been rising upon the sure foundation of the apostles and prophets and, when it is completed at the now imminent first resurrection, that true body will be the temple of the Lord, a fixed abode for God through the Spirit.
When the word of God speaks of Christ Jesus as being the head stone of the corner (Psa. 118:22, 1 Pet. 2: 7), it is not speaking of a stone in the lower corner of the foundation. It is speaking of the capstone or the head stone as the capstone would appear at the pinnacle of a pyramid. The capstone is of necessity the last stone to be placed in the building and, when that is done, the building is complete. So also it will be that, when the body of living stones, even the body of Christ, is complete, then Jesus Christ the Head will take His place as the head stone and this complete body of the Christ will form the everlasting habitation of God through the Spirit. This will be “My Father’s house” of many mansions, each mansion a believer, each believer a living stone, each living stone a member of the Christ body. This is the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Cor. 5: 1. This is the holy temple of the Lord (Eph. 2:21), the completeness of Him who will fill the universe with Himself and govern the universe in the timelessness that is to be.
It was God’s will and purpose that through His Christ He would reconcile the world to Himself. It is certain that God did reconcile the world to Himself when Jesus, the Christ, died, for Paul wrote with great assurance, “And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.” Col. 1:20. We must point out, however, that, though the reconciliation is complete, fully paid for and forever settled, yet the carrying out of its universal message awaits the complete ness and the fullness of the Christ body. This, if I err not, is certain, because Paul by the Spirit has definitely said that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, but it is unto us (the members of the Christ body) that He has committed the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19), and we, knowing the completeness of His work, pray men in Christ’s stead, “Be ye reconciled to God.” Verse 20. Multitudes of God’s saints would be greatly enlightened could their hearts embrace God’s plan for the ages. God’s dear people are thrown into dreadful turmoil and they attempt to accomplish all manner of presumptuous things because they do not know God’s plan for the ages. The harlot church has filled their minds with the crude notion that all who are saved must be saved in this age or be lost forever. So often we hear men say, “The day of grace is almost ended.” This error is quoted as though it were a scripture text, yet nothing contains less truth than this idle statement. The truth is that God’s grace has only appeared to men (Titus 3:11), but it is not until the ages to come, the kingdom age and the dispensation of the fullness of times, that God will begin to manifest the fullness of His grace. This is why Paul prayed earnestly that the eyes of our understanding might be enlightened – so that we might see that “in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Eph. 2:7 And for this reason he was also able to say that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ. Eph. 1:10.
It should be very evident to all who read that before the Lord can complete the work of reconciliation, He must first bring to completeness His glorious Christ, both the Head and the body as one together. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this truth, because God Himself has spoken, saying that the body is the fullness of Him (or the completeness of Him) who is to fill all in all. See Eph. 1:22, 23. Therefore God must bring about this fullness, this completeness of His Christ, both the Head and the body in one Christ, before the work of reconciliation accomplished by Christ Jesus can be carried out to its universal fulfillment. Much is the labor of God the Father in bringing His sons to perfection, even to the image of Jesus Christ. Thus it will be seen that the first work to be accomplished in the reconciling of the universe must be to fully reconcile those elect persons who were foreknown, predestinated, called, justified, and glorified in Him. Before the broader work of reconciliation begins, the implements of His work must be fully prepared and, since it is by God’s Christ that the world will be reconciled, then it is the Christ who must be first brought to perfection and fullness.
To these things the word of the Lord bears faithful witness, showing clearly that the first ones to be reconciled were the members of the body of Christ, for saith Paul, “All things are of God, who hath (first) reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and (secondly) hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Cor. 5:18. It is clear therefore that, after we, the members of the body of Christ, have been reconciled and made complete in Him, a completeness that comes with the redemption of our bodies at the first resurrection (Rom. 8: 23), then the work of the reconciliation of all the rest of creation will begin in earnest, “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you BY US: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Cor. 5:19, 20
This is the fellowship of the mystery (Eph. 3:9, 10), which from the beginning hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church (the true church, which is His body) the manifold wisdom of God. Weymouth, translating this passage, appears to add much to its force clearly showing that by the church, which is the true body of Christ, the Lord will show to principalities and powers and rulers in the heavenlies the endless aspects of His own wisdom. “To me who am less than the least of all the saints has this work been graciously entrusted – to proclaim to the Gentiles the gospel of the exhaustless wealth of Christ, and to show all men in a clear light what my stewardship is. It is the stewardship of the truth which from all the ages lay concealed in the mind of God, the Creator of all things – concealed in order that the church might now be used to display to the powers and authorities in the heavenly realms the innumerable aspects of God’s wisdom. Such was the eternal purpose, which He had formed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have this bold and confident access through our faith in Him.” Eph. 3:8-12. Weymouth In the book of Hebrews, chapter ten and verse five, we have this remarkable statement: “Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared me.” Then, after saying, “In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure,” he shows that this one who is coming in a body, first the earthly body of Jesus of Nazareth and then the glorious fullness of the body of Christ, is coming, not to offer sacrifice and offering, but to “do Thy will, 0 God“ (Verse 9), by the which will we are sanctified in the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The moment this one has come and is revealed who offers no meaningless sacrifice, but who does God’s will, then all former things are done away, for, “He taketh away the first that He may establish the second.” Verse 9 Then Christ Jesus becomes the high priest of good things to come by a greater and more per feet tabernacle not made with hands. Heb. 9: 11. The greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands is the body of Christ, which is the fullness and the completion of Him who fills the universe with Himself.
Jesus, the Son of God, is the Head of the Christ body. Col. 2:18. In birth the head is born first, so the appearance of Jesus, the Head, at the beginning of the age was perfect assurance that the body of Christ, which is His fullness, would during this age come forth from the womb to stand complete in Him on Mt. Zion to govern the world in righteousness through ages to come. Triumphant are the words of Him who is the first born of many brethren (Rom. 8:29) as He stands in the end of the age, saying, “Here am I and the children (sons) which Thou hast given Me,” each blessed son having come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Many saints in ages past have beheld scenes of extreme glory in the realm of the Spirit. So glorious were the visions of Daniel that he fell as one dead in the heavenly presence and remained as one sick certain days. Paul described the scenes of the third heaven as unspeakable things, which it was not lawful for a man to utter. But to John was revealed the magnificent glory of seeing the fullness of Christ as He will stand in completeness on the Lord’s day. John saw not the lonely man of Galilee, but “one like the Son of man,” whose voice was as the sound of many waters. Waters signify peoples, and in this case the type is abundantly accurate, signifying that the body of Christ is not one member, but many; yet it is but one body – a spiritual organism through which flows the harmony of God. To endeavor to enlarge on this supernal mystery of the ages, which John was privileged to behold, would only detract from its glory. Therefore we shall quote the words from Holy Writ and leave its lesson to be revealed to all who read and understand.
John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, that is, he was transported in the Spirit beyond the age of grace right over to the end of the age. In spirit he heard a mighty voice as the sound of a trumpet speaking and saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia; …And I turned to see the voice which spake with me. And, being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was head; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Rev. 2:10-18
Frail and paltry, yes, even demeaning, are the efforts of men to describe a glory which eye hath not seen or ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, but which can only be revealed by His Spirit, who searcheth out even the deep things of God. Nevertheless, this is the mystery, which has been hidden from ages and generations, now to be revealed to God’s saints: The mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory and the hope of all creation.
TREASURES OF TRUTH, Volume 3, The Mystery of Christ and Our Union With Him [George R. Hawtin] ~ BOOK 1
