CHAPTER TWO
BY: GEORGE R. HAWTIN
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THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST AND OUR IDENTIFICATION WITH HIM
The sacred mysteries of God are revealed by the Holy Spirit only to devout and humble souls who seek His face in truth. Our exalted heavenly Father, full of grace and truth, will not consent to walk with the proud and the scornful; neither will He be found in the presence of careless, irreverent, impious or hypocritical men. If in your heart you have a passion to know God and become acquainted with His glorious purpose, you must first above all else learn reverence and godly fear. Remove the shoes from off your feet when you tread upon His holy ground. Walk softly and with deep respect when you desire to come into the presence of Him before whom holy angels cover their faces. I recently read a tract in which the writer lightly and irreverently referred to God the Father as “the big wig” and made reference to the Holy Spirit as “that other guy.” Oh, my brother or sister never allow such terms of impiety, lightness, and sacrilege to soil your lips or your heart. The God who is your Father is the creator of the universe and all things therein. Angelic beings, glorious in power, strength and holiness, cover their faces and their feet with their wings as they bow in His presence, crying their sacred message to one another and to all mankind, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” The prophet Isaiah, that holy man from whose lips had poured forth mighty utterance of prophetic truth, upon beholding the glory of the Lord, cried, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Isa. 6:5
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Psa. Ill:10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Prov. 1:7. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Prov. 8: 3. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. Prov. 14:27. The fear of the Lord is strong confidence. Prov. 14:26. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. Prov. 15:33. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. Prov. 16:6. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life; and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil. Prov. 19:23.
If then the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge, and the beginning of strength; if it is a fountain of life and the way by which we depart from the realm of death; if such reverence and respect for God brings strong confidence, the instruction of wisdom and understanding, and by it saints abide satisfied and free from fear of evil, then the fear of God, the elements of which are reverence and deep respect, must become first and foremost in all our understanding of Him. All God’s people must surely have noticed that holy men, even in the presence of angels, fall down in fear, but in the presence of God even angels, glorious in wisdom and power, cover their faces before His matchless glory and holiness. There is a tragic abundance of lightness among professing Christians, which should never be. Therefore much of Babylon‘s mis-named worship is abomination to the Lord. I believe firmly in the Pentecostal experience. It is as old as the church age. Yet the lightness and frivolity that has developed among these people through the changing years is indeed incredible.
The fear of the Lord brings wisdom and knowledge and the increase of these attributes multiplies the fear of the Lord. Every true revelation will mightily increase respect for our all-glorious heavenly Father. Even to consider His attributes fills the saints with reverence and godly fear. To learn that God is omnipotent, omniscient, immutable, eternal, compassionate, full of loving kindness and tender mercies causes men to bow in awe before Him. Such characteristics do not abide naturally in us and they do not exist apart from Him. Wonderful as these divine perfections are, they are only the beginning of wisdom, but when our spiritual eyes behold and our spiritual minds begin to grasp things which in other ages were not revealed to men, but which are now being unfolded to those who walk in humility before Him, then our love and respect for our exalted heavenly Father grows exceedingly. Then even the slightest lightness or thought of disrespect toward Him appalls our souls, causing us to cringe in spirit. Let our ransomed beings be like unto those mighty cherubim, glorious in strength and power, who cry one to another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” Let wicked men who know Him not wag their idle tongues to curse and blaspheme that holy name which is above every name, but let no word of lightness or disrespect soil our lips or bring dishonor to Him before whom all creation will one day bow to confess on bended knee that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
The nature of blasphemy is not generally understood among the children of God. The common conception of blasphemy seems to be that it is merely using profane language in which the name of God or of Christ is involved. This is indeed a form of blasphemy, but by no means its fullest extent. Blasphemy comprises “any attempt to lessen reverence for the name of Jehovah.” (Funk and Wagnall) It consists of any irreverent act or any irreverent word. The woman who recently threw the Bible on the floor and stamped on it is guilty of blasphemy. The craze that is sweeping Italy for wearing “Jesus jeans” is blasphemy and gross irreverence. The following paragraph is a quotation from the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Dec. 3, 1974: “Jesus jeans started things with its advertisements containing Biblical quotations such as, ‘If you love me, follow me,’ next to almost nude starlets.” This is blasphemy and is a dire warning to us all that sooner than we think the wrath of God in final judgment will fall upon all who involve themselves in such things. Well did the apostle Jude describe them in the eighth verse of his epistle. “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities… Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are… raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Jude 8-13.
Many religious groups of the present hour show great disrespect and irreverence in the names they have adopted for themselves. Such names as The God Squad, Jesus Freaks, and others of like mien are an affront to God and in my opinion are names of blasphemy. However well-meaning a person may be, it is blasphemy to write scripture texts on the walls of latrines amid all the filthy poetry and prose that appears there. “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” Titus 1:15
The world is getting worse while the thoughts and imaginations of men’s hearts are only evil continually. Even while we wonder if there is any further depth of iniquity to which men can go, some greater evil crops up to spread its noxious seed all over the world. The pit from which such evils come is bottomless. It is called in scripture the bottomless pit. Therefore there can be no end to the vile smoke of corruption that ascends from it. John saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. (Rev. 16:13) I shall not make any attempt to interpret the meaning of this verse, because I do not know its full meaning, but even a blind man can see that uncleanness in all its aspects is being poured out upon the world. Man is not content to defile his own flesh and destroy his own soul, but he adds sin to sin and evil to evil by delighting to blaspheme that worthy name which is above every name and before which all knees will one day bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth.
I write these things, holy brethren, because God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. I Thess. 4:7. Anna Jameson wrote, “Blessed is the memory of those who have kept themselves unspotted from the world – yea, more blessed and more dear the memory of those who have kept themselves unspotted in the world.” Reverence is a sign of strength; irreverence is the surest sign of weakness. No man will rise high who jeers at sacred things. The fine loyalties of life must be reverenced or they will be foresworn in the day of trial. I write these things, holy brethren, because of the subject of this message. No man may hope to be a partaker of the mystery of Christ unless and until he has cast the shoes from off his feet to tread the way of holiness that leads wayfaring men to their place in Christ. “An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” Isa. 35:8
Holy! Holy! Holy! All the saints adore Thee!
Casting down their golden crowns beside the glassy sea.
Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before Thee,
Which wert and art and evermore shalt be.
Holy! Holy! Holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see.
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love and purity.
Learn to look away from man, whose breath is in his nostrils. Who is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom we have believed? Hold no man’s person in admiration. Look beyond men to Christ, from the glory of whose presence the eternal light glistens, sending its rays to gladden every humble heart. Yea, look to Him whose light is brighter than a thousand suns. When you behold Him transfigured before you, even such eminent men as Moses and Elijah will depart and your wondering eyes will see no man but Jesus only. Matt. 17:1-8. When He walks with you, your heart will burn within you as He talks to you by the way and opens to your spirit the mysteries kept secret and hidden since the world began.
Only faintly now do our eyes behold the splendor of the realm we are approaching, but if we approach softly with reverence and godly fear, not disrespectfully and thoughtlessly as nosey children prying into some sacred thing, then the Lord of glory will meet us and will be a Father unto us and we shall be sons of God unto whom the Father will reveal the secrets we need to know. Thus shall we come into that same image and be sharers with Christ of the glory laid up in store for us before the world began.
The mystery of Christ! What could be more solemn or sacred than that? Wonderful is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the son of God, to the hearts of sinful men, but to the saint of God there is a revelation of Christ that is greater far than this — an understanding so tremendous in its aspects that those who grasp it will be thought by some to be presumptuous blasphemers. Unworthy is man to open the book and break the seven seals thereof, and my own soul weeps much because my lips are unworthy to proclaim the high and exalted things that are clearly written for us to see and believe. I do not say they are written for all men to see, but they are there for the elect to see and, once having seen them, we may partake of them by the faith that is given them of God.
The Christ theme, my beloved friends, did not begin with the manger of Bethlehem nor yet with the annunciation of the angel Gabriel, who came to announce the birth of God’s Christ. Long centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, the prophets foretold the coming of Him who was to be the Redeemer of Israel and the Savior of the world. “Behold My servant whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law.” Isa. 42:1-4. With many such prophecies did the Spirit speak of the coming of the Just One, who was to redeem His people from their sin and make so great an atonement before God that all the world would be reconciled unto Him.
It is not our place here to search out or unfold the many ways the Old Testament spoke of the coming of God’s Christ, but an earnest searcher may find Him in practically every chapter of the Old Testament if we look for Him in type, prefigure, allegory or prophesy. So sure is this truth that many generations of Israel earnestly looked for the coming of the Messiah. When Herod questioned them as to where the Christ-child should be born, they replied without the slightest hesitation that He should be born in Bethlehem of Judea, and were quick to note the prophecy of Micah, “And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule My people Israel.” Matt. 2:6. We stated that the Christ theme did not begin at Bethlehem. The Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming of the Just One can be numbered in the hundreds and I would say, without attempting a count, that the types and allegories foreshadowing the coming of Christ far outnumbered the prophecies. Many and varied as were the prophecies that foretold the coming of the Just One, it is true that all prophecies which concerned His coming as the despised and rejected Savior were fulfilled to the letter when He came the first time. Other Old Testament prophecies concerning the glory of His coming kingdom must await that wonderful day when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believe. 2 Thess. 1:10.
Having settled in our minds that the Christ theme did not begin at Bethlehem, I propose to show that it did not end there either. The completeness of God’s glorious Christ must of necessity be the central theme of the whole Bible and the hope of all creation, for it is in Him that all fullness must eventually dwell. By God’s Christ peace has been made through the blood which was shed upon the cross, as Paul clearly stated: “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. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight.” Col. 1:20-22
As the writings of the New Testament progress, we see a theme unfold before our wondering eyes, which in the strictest sense can only be a New Testament truth. That blessed theme, which angels desire to look into, is the truth concerning a mystical body, which God is now forming. The sacred scriptures bear witness that this mystical body is the body of Christ. The true church is the ecclesia. The ecclesia consists of the called out ones. These holy saints are those whom Christ has called out of sin, out of the world, out of the world’s church systems, and completely out of Babylon. They stand before God in the end of the age as a mystical company that has not only been called out of the world, but called unto Christ. The true church (not the false one) is the mystical body of Christ. Scripture after scripture unfolds, adds to and builds up that sacred truth. Thus Paul distinctly writes, “By (in) one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” We do not make our entrance into this glorious realm by signing a membership card or by a handshake at the end of an evangelistic meeting. We come through the “washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.” If we do not come in by this door, we do not come in at all. Many tens of thousands of so-called conversions are nothing more than human reformations. There has been no repentance before God and no faith toward Jesus Christ and there has been no entrance of the Holy Spirit to implant the Christ seed within. I greatly fear that a large portion of the revivals today are revivals only in name. The main theme is not repentance toward God and faith toward Christ, but how much more money is needed to carry on the ministry of the exalted preacher in the midst.
CHRIST IN THE BELIEVER
When a man repents and turns to God, the Spirit of Christ comes into that man. Christ in you is the hope of glory. With all the holy awe, the reverence and fear that I feel in my soul, I aver that, when anyone comes to Christ in repentance, the Christ seed is as truly planted within his spirit as the Christ seed was implanted within the womb of the blessed virgin in the long ago. If Christ be in you, then, though the body is still dead because of original sin, the spirit has become alive because of righteousness, that is, the righteousness of Christ. And the day will come, when the work is complete, that the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead will also make alive your mortal body, even as it is written: “This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Cor. 15:53-54
How wonderful it is that these tremendous and almost incredible statements concerning Christ and His body were made by men like Paul and are not doctrines that originated with me! I am convinced that it took grace on the part of Paul to unfold the unspeakable things which man is not worthy to utter. Things, which cannot be grasped by the natural mind, must be revealed by the Holy Spirit. Therefore Paul, unfolding them plainly, states, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Rom. 12:3. He said that, my friends, because he knew the profound statements that were to follow and he knew that, unless there was a spirit of humility and reverence, the hearers would never understand.
Paul then continued: “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Rom. 12:4, 5 There is no passage in the New Testament more powerful than this as it concerns God’s Christ, for in this passage it is shown beyond doubt that just as the human body is a body of many members so also God’s Christ is a body of many members. But the enormous significance of these words is magnified when we grasp the truth that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God, born in the manger, crucified, risen and ascended to heaven, is Himself the head of the Christ body. Col. 1:18.
All natural things have spiritual counterparts and spiritual meanings. Everything God does follows a distinct pattern and every natural pattern has a corresponding spiritual one. Thus we plainly observe that every man consists of two things in particular – a head and a body. If one had only a head, he would be incomplete and could not endure. If he had only a body and no head, he would be incomplete and useless. Therefore to make a complete man there must be both the head and the body and the two must be joined inseparably together into one glorious being. Now when a child is born, the head is born first. Then follows the body with all its many members — the shoulders, the arms, the torso, the legs, and finally the feet. The feet are born last and also the quickest and easiest, but there is neither fullness nor completeness until the head and the body stand complete and entire as one.
Take the shoes from off your feet, 0 saint of God, for the ground on which we stand is holy. Put away all lightness and foolishness that with heads bowed down and hearts uplifted in worship God’s Holy Spirit may reveal how the head, which came forth from the womb almost two thousand years ago, and the body, which has been in preparation ever since the day of Pentecost, is indeed but one Christ. Without that blessed body which through the ages He has been preparing in secret in the lowest parts of the earth (Psa. 139:15), God’s Christ would be incomplete. This was clearly shown by Paul when he said, “(God) hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head overall things to the church, which is His body, the fullness (completeness) of Him that filleth all in all:” Eph. 1:22, 23
The translation of this passage by Weymouth is even more enlightening. It reads as follows: “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.” Thus Paul definitely shows that the body of Christ is the completeness of God’s Christ. For this reason I said above that the Christ theme did not end at Bethlehem. There the revelation of the head was given, but the body of that same Christ has been developing throughout the entire church age that God’s glorious Christ may stand complete at the end of this age, not as Christ and the Bride as so many suppose, but as Christ the head and Christ the body, the male, the man, Jesus the head, with all His many brethren, the body. Jesus was the first born of many brethren (Rom. 8:29), or as Weymouth puts it, “the first born of a vast family of sons,” the sons of God, the joint heirs with Christ. It is Christ the head and Christ the body that forms the completeness of Christ, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Such was the heavenly spectacle that John beheld when he was on lonely Patmos and the heavens were opened to him.
We miss so much vital truth by our careless scanning of the Bible. It may be beneficial at times to read the scripture as a narrative, but there are times when we must search out its hidden meaning by the help of that blessed Holy Spirit who has been sent by the Father to guide us into all truth. No book ever written even remotely compares to the Bible. Its burning message of truth reaches and arrests men on whatsoever level they dwell. As our understanding rises, so rises its message of truth. The things concerning the outer court are understood by those who dwell therein. The wonderful communion of the holy place is enjoyed by those who dwell within its holy place and they desire no more to walk without. But the supernal glories of the holy of holies belongs to him who in garments of glory and beauty treads its holy sanctuary. The “unspeakable things” that belong to the third heaven cannot be uttered or expressed to those who dwell in a lower realm. For this reason Paul said, “I knew a man in Christ (please note, in Christ) above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man . . . how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” 2 Cor. 12:2-4
You have possibly noticed that, when Peter, James and John were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, they, too, saw unspeakable things, which were unlawful to be uttered. That is evidently the reason Jesus warned them never to mention the experience until He was risen from the dead. No man can receive the message of the transfiguration until he is first risen with Christ in regeneration, and even then his understanding is very limited. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. When the Holy Spirit was sent into the world to fill the hearts and lives of all who believe, the heavenly promise was given, “He will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13. And again, “He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” John 16:14
To the natural man the Bible is a foolish book, the reason being that the book is spiritual while he is carnal. The carnal man cannot understand the things of the Spirit. Much less can he receive them. We must carry this point a step farther, however, for the same principle that applies to the carnal man applies also to the carnal Christian who has been willing to accept as final truth the ideas taught him from the beginning, but who has been unwilling to ask the Lord to reveal the unsearchable riches of Christ. Let us pay heed to the word unsearchable. It should be clear that, if these riches are unsearchable, then there remains no possibility of our discovering them by study, by schools of learning, by preaching or any other way. Our only hope of discovering them is to come before God as an empty, undone vessel, a literal know-nothing, seeking that the Holy Spirit would receive of Christ and show them unto us. John 16:14. He who comes to God in such a manner as this will sooner or later find heaven opening to him, perhaps only a tiny break in the clouds at first, but as light is received and walked in, the murky clouds race off in crowds, the sun shines ever more brightly from his sea of glory and the path of the just becomes as the shining light that shineth more and more until the day is full.
Ah, my brother and my sister, if you would know God and see the glory He has prepared for those that love Him, you must void yourself of earthly learning. You will find yourself unlearning a thousand things you once were sure you knew. Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up, for “we know nothing yet as we ought to know, but if any man love God, the same is known of Him”
With these thoughts filling our hearts perhaps we can approach with unshod feet the heavenly wonders John saw that day on lonely Patmos, where he had been exiled for preaching things which carnal men can never understand. He begins his narrative by saying, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” Rev. 1:10. I may be wrong, but I do not think John was referring to Saturday or Sunday when he spoke of the Lord’s day. Though the vision probably occurred on one of those days, it matters little, but John was in the Spirit, and in spirit he was carried beyond the day of grace to the day of the Lord. There he saw God’s plan unfolding as no saint had ever seen before. In spirit he stood at the end of this age of grace to see with wondering eyes the mystery of Christ in completeness. His inspired vision beheld the fulfillment of the words, “Behold I and the children which God hath given Me.” Heb. 2:13. For two thousand years of grace the purpose of God had gone irresistibly forward. The temple “not made with hands” had been rising to form an habitation for God in the Spirit. Through the crucible of suffering and the scourging which every son receiveth God had prepared Himself a vast family of sons that the scripture might be fulfilled which is written, “That He might be the first born among many brethren.” Rom. 8:29. That is to say, that Jesus, the first born and oldest Son of God, might be the head of that vast family of younger sons who were to be revealed in the extremity of the age as the body of God’s Son. Christ the head and Christ the body form one glorious Christ, “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.” Cor. 12:12. “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Rom. 12:4, 5 Hallelujah, my brethren! Is he not teaching us that God’s Christ does not consist of one member, but manyl The Spirit is revealing that the fullness and completeness of Christ can only be seen when the head and the body are together, for it is written, “In one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” 1 Cor. 12:13. We stated before that the Christ theme did not begin in Bethlehem, No! No! The revelation of the coming Christ was given in the Old Testament scriptures, the head of the body appeared at Bethlehem, but the fullness of Christ – I mean the head with the body – does not appear until the end of this age, and surely a blind man can see that the end of this age is upon us. At this very moment the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain, waiting for the adoption – that is, the sonship – and this will be complete at the time of the resurrection, which will make the redemption of the body complete.
When John on the great day of revelation heard the awe inspiring words, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last,” he turned to see who was speaking and, being turned, he saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of man. Rev. 1:13. How inadequate and unworthy I feel to even attempt to explain such a scene as this, much less to expound the awesome words, “I am the first and the last.” John did not say he saw the Son of man, the Jesus with whom he was so familiar and upon whose bosom he had leaned, but he said. “I saw one like unto the Son of man.” You have surely read these words: “We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” John 3:2. The voice of the glorious Alpha and Omega was to John the sound of many waters. Waters in scripture signify people and tongues and nations. Rev. 17:15. The sound as of many waters indicates beyond doubt that the one like unto the Son of man was not one, but many. It was one in the sense that the body was one. It was many in the sense that the body has many members, for as the body is one but has many members, so also is Christ. 1 Cor. 12:12. John was seeing both the Alpha, who appeared as the head two thousand years ago, and the Omega, the body that appears at the end of the age. The Alpha and the Omega are one even as the many letters of the alphabet form one alphabet or as the many members of the body form one body. The appearance of that body, now joined to the head, is one like unto the Son of man.
Words are helpless, hopeless and inadequate when necessity demands that we explain the things of the Spirit. In spirit we see the invisible, hear the inaudible, and understand the incomprehensible. What man knoweth the things of God save the Spirit of God that is in him? How therefore can we hope to explain with human words what we see in the Spirit? But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
My brethren, I see the fullness of Christ, not as He appeared at Bethlehem, nor even as He appeared at the resurrection, but the fullness of Christ as He appears at the end of the age when the body is resurrected and Christ the head and Christ the body stand together, filling all things, the head as white as wool, the eyes a flame of fire, the body clothed with a garment down to the foot, a golden girdle about the breast, and the feet – the glorious feet which we the saints of the twentieth century are – the last to be born, appearing as brass that is burned and purified in a furnace of fire. Never before had any man seen the things John saw as he was in the Spirit that day. It was the fullness of God’s Christ which he beheld, the wonder which centuries before holy angels had desired to look into. It was the completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself, the head and the body together, the fullness of God’s wonderful Christ.
My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit doth rejoice in God, my Savior, and my voice is lifted up on high to sing with David, the prophet of the Lord, “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet.”
Psa. 8:3-6. And Paul the apostle, taking up the theme centuries later when the Christ vision was more nearly complete, continued: “It is not to angels that God has assigned the sovereignty of that coming world of which we speak. But, as we know, a psalmist has exclaimed, How poor a creature is man, and yet Thou dost remember him, and a son of man, and yet Thou dost come to him! Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; with glory and honor Thou hast crowned him, and 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. 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. For it is fitting that He for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory: should perfect by suffering the Prince Leader of their salvation. For both He who sanctifies and those whom He is sanctifying have all one Father; and for this reason He is not ashamed to speak of them as His brothers; as when He says: ‘I will proclaim Thy name to my brothers; In the midst of the congregation I will hymn Thy praises’ (Psa. 22:22); and again, ‘I will be one whose trust reposes in God’ (Psa. 18: 2; Isa. 12:2); and again, ‘Here am I, and here are the children (sons) God has given Me’ (Isa. 8:18);” Heb. 2: 5-13. Weymouth.
I exhort all who hear these truths to earnestly look to God for wisdom, light, and understanding. What I have spoken is beyond the scope of the natural mind. How can human mind comprehend the truth that “Christ is in you?” To the natural mind such truth may even sound childish and silly, yet the Holy Spirit will reveal its depths to those who ask Him, diligently searching out the truth and awaiting His instruction. But we shall go much farther than this by saying that, great as is the truth of “Christ in you” and glorious beyond the scope of all but the spiritual mind, the truth that you are “in Christ” is fathomless in its depths and lofty beyond the highest eminence. If “Christ in man” is the hope of glory, as the scripture says it is (Col. 1:27), then man in Christ must certainly be the glory. In Christ! In Christ! Think of the glory of the expression! “God was in Christ” the word declares. And now – mystery of mysteries – He is saying that His people are also in Christ. Then we are told, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” and now “if any man be in Christ he is a new creation.” 2 Cor. 5:17. Certainly he must be a new creation, for he has entered the realm where God dwells. No longer is he of the earth earthy, but one spirit with the Lord from heaven. Herein is the prayer of Jesus fulfilled, “I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” John 17:23. This oneness is no unity of doctrine or belief as the church system would have us think, but individual members baptized into one body and that body the body of Christ.
In the beginning of the present age God manifested His first Son, the oldest and most illustrious son and head of His glorious Christ. But in the extremity of the age, when the dead in Christ shall rise, He will manifest the fullness of His Christ, the illustrious head and the glorious body together. This is the temple of the Lord, the habitation of God through the Spirit. It is no wonder that John, when he beheld this wonderful sight, fell down as a dead man. Even the thought of its glory slays us. The old creation dies within. The Adamic nature is reckoned as dead and the carnal mind is recognized as an enemy of God. The spirit takes wings to join in the voice that is as the sound of many waters. To the listening ears of the beloved John the voice of the one like unto the Son of man was as the voice of many, and had his eyes been able to penetrate the more excellent glory that surrounded the heavenly scene, I am sure he would have observed that this was not one Son of man, but a vast multitude of sons. The body is one, but has many members, and all the members of that body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. Elect of God, can you not see it? Not Adam as he was at the first, but Adam as he is at last. Not the Son of man as He was at first, but the Son of man as He is at last. For thus saith the Lord, “I am the first and the last; I am the beginning and the end; I am the Alpha and the Omega.” This is God’s glorious Christ. This is the bridegroom for whom the bride will be prepared in the millennial age. This is He who must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet and who, when all things are subdued under Him, will Himself deliver up the kingdom to God, the Father, that God may be all and in all.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” 1 Cor. 15:22-25.
Christ filleth all in all. Eph. 1:23. He filleth the universe with Himself. (Weymouth). If our eyes could now be opened to see the glory of the fullness of God’s Christ, I believe we would see a form like unto the Son of man, reaching from earth to heaven, and should we come near to look more closely, we would see that every cell in that enormous body is an individual in-Christed saint – many members of one body and one Christ, for as the body is one and has many members, so also is Christ. It is with trepidation and awe that I use the word in-Christed, but use it I must, for we have become members of God’s Christ, of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
A WORD TO THE WISE
Paul the apostle taught us to suffer the word of exhortation. Heb. 13: 22. None of us, it seems, ever attains the place where we no longer need to be exhorted. We are all creatures of habit, so much so that we are inclined to tread and retread our familiar paths, journeying from year to year and decade-to-decade in the ever deepening ruts of our tradition, wearing them ever deeper as the years go by. But the path of the just is not a rut; neither is it a well-paved highway over which millions pass day by day on their journey heavenward. The path of the just is not a road at all, but a path that leads out into territory where few feet have ever trod. The path of the just is a path over which most Christians refuse to walk. They much prefer the well-traveled roads of traditional religion. They feel secure where the crowd is and they enjoy the friendship and excitement that goes on all about them. Century after century Christians have walked in traditional paths, never venturing to go beyond the fringes of their realm or to cross the boundaries that have been set for them by others. They love to feel that there is a fence around them and they feel sure that, if they abide within its perimeter, they will be safe and all will be well.
While this type of traditionalism may seem well and good to the majority of believers, I think even the most cautious individual will agree that the scripture plainly speaks of realms which “eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard, neither have entered the heart of man.” Over and over God’s word sets forth mysteries that must be explored. The kingdom of God is a foremost mystery. The more its mystery is brought into the light of prayer and the word of God, the more glorious it appears, but one of our first discoveries will be that the kingdom of God is an unfolding mystery, – and we must affirm here and now that all mysteries are mysteries that unfold gradually, carefully and wonderfully as the days and years go by. So it is with the mystery of Christ, the mystery of Christ in you, the mystery of the resurrection, the mystery of the body of Christ, the mystery of the bride. At first sight they are like hard little seeds, lying hard and dry before the planting, perhaps the seed of a flower, a vegetable, a fruit tree, a mighty oak, or a noxious weed. We hold the tiny seed of a flower in our hand. It may be the seed of a rose, a pansy, or any one of a thousand exotic flowers, but we do not know what manner of plant will come forth from this tiny brown thing that lies so dry and dead before our eyes. We cannot see its magnificent beauty nor can we touch its fragile petals or smell the fragrance of its perfume, but they are there. All their glorious splendor will unfold as the days or years pass by.
The hard little seed must first be planted in the ground. It must undergo a form of death and resurrection. It must be softened by the moisture, warmed by the sun, and nourished by the husbandman until it appears a thing of beauty and fragrance upon the earth. Surely one unlearned would be inclined to say that this flower of such great beauty could not have sprung from a thing so insignificant as a seed. But spring from a seed it did, and if you will look closely, you will now see that it, too, has borne seed, ready to reproduce itself in another plant in another day. How hard it is to understand that the lifeless little brown acorn contains in itself all the glory of the towering oak tree! Yet this is a thing of truth and fact. Not one element of that mighty tree which towers toward the sky was missing in the little seed that fell into the ground and died.
Not only is this true in the realm of trees and plants; it is also true that the microscopic seed of man contains in itself all the elements of the man that shall be, even to the coloring of the eyes and the shade of the skin. These things are all great mysteries and no scientific mind on earth can understand them. Some will make a feeble attempt to explain them, but understand them they cannot.
If the mystery of natural things can be so great, how much greater must be the mystery of spiritual things! Jesus once said to Nicodemus, “If I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” The mystery of Christ, the mystery of the kingdom, the mystery of Christ in you and you in Christ, and the mystery of godliness — these are all heavenly things. No man can understand them by the vain prying of the natural mind, because the natural mind is an earthly thing. The scripture teaches us that all spiritual knowledge must come by revelation, “for the things of God knoweth no man, but God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”
Now, dear saints of God, this brings us to an important thought. I must confess that I have often been distressed by the lack of understanding among the people of God. Somehow so many seem to “miss the point.” At times I have sought God with fasting and prayer for help to make the message as plain as possible, but have found that, while a few people grasp the truth by the Spirit, the majority read the message, lay it aside, and think they know it. In fact they have failed to grasp its truth or to have entered into its precincts. For this reason I exhort you not to throw these messages away, but after you have read them, lay them aside and reread them later on. If you reread them six months or year from now, you will be amazed to see how the truth has grown in your heart. You will see and understand many things you did not notice at your first reading. These little Page booklets are circulated for no other reason than to bring God’s people into a more vital union with Himself and His eternal purpose. Every one is filled with truth and truth that can be grasped and entered into if we wait on God and look for inspiration.
May I exhort all to reread and reconsider the message entitled The Meaning of the Cross, March, 1968. This message describes vividly how, before the world began, God the Father took all mankind and placed them in Christ Jesus, His Son and, having done this. He crucified Him. The message goes on to show from this foundation the experience of the believer the moment he sees by faith what God has done, and the moment he sees that he is crucified with Christ, because God placed him in Christ and then crucified Him, then he reckons himself dead to sin and alive unto God.
I make a special point of this because it has been a distress to me to find people still indulging in the old fruitless war of trying to overcome the carnal nature, trying to get the victory over the old man, trying to suppress carnality. My brethren, the moment you see by faith that our old man is crucified with Him, your battles are over. “Knowing this,” Paul wrote, “that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Rom. 6:6. I long to see God’s people living in this victorious realm, for why need you struggle to crucify that which has already hung on the cross of Christ? I exhort you to reread this special number. If you do not have it in your possession, we can supply it free of charge.
I trust from month to month to be able to give a few words of exhortation concerning the writings. Even the subject of this present number, which points out our identification with Christ, is so easy to miss and fail to grasp. God’s people must learn to live and act in vital union with Christ, because God has made us members of Him. Let us not live as the world lives or even as ordinary Christians live, but let us grow up into Christ, who is the head and “from whom the whole body, fitly framed together, groweth up to an holy temple in the Lord.” We are not to live in chambering and wantonness, or in envy, or in strife, or in pride and foolishness. We are not to promote the Babylon system or rejoice in its works, but let us consider Him and follow Him. Let us lay aside every weight and the sins that so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let us endure the cross and despise the shame that we, too, may sit with Him in His glory. Let us deliberately “lay aside every weight” while we diligently “lay hold on life”, our eternal joy and crown.
