Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

by H. J. Vine.

Jesus: the Doer of God’s Will

It makes all the difference when we see HIM in the Word! The Bible is lit up then: it is like a new Book to us! In “all the Scriptures” His varied glories shine also for us.

This is the main object of the Bible. It is not simply a book of history, but a divinely inspired volume to give to us the knowledge of God; and the more we progress in this, the more are the boasted results of the Germanized criticism of its sacred pages seen to be worse than vanity.

The first writing of which any mention is made is “the volume of the Book,” and it speaks entirely of Jesus, the doer of God’s will. And that writing is a document that the hand of man shall not and cannot touch! The destructive efforts of the unbelieving critic have not reached up to it. It also speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the heavenly record of the counsels of the Godhead—in the eternal roll—it is written of Him, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God” (Psalm 40:8; Hebrews 10:7). He is the subject of that volume, as coming to do God’s will, and as delighting in it; but how much that involved!

“Lo, I come to do Thy will,” He said; and, “A body hast Thou prepared Me” (Hebrews 10:5). This was necessary, that thus, as a man, in the place of obedience, He might have the “ears” of Psalm 40:6. Going forward in that path, the rising storm of calumny and shame began to beat pitilessly upon Him, but to God’s will He was devoted, and He would not turn back. Innumerable evils thickened about Him! “They that hate me without a cause,” He said, “are more than the hairs of mine head.” They smote Him. They plucked the hair from His cheek. They spat upon Him. He turned not to the right or to the left, but pressed onward in the path of God’s will. What did the religionists, who clamoured for His life, know of that? They thought God was against Him—that He was smitten of God and afflicted! When they saw Him they esteemed him not; they despised and rejected Him.

And what of Jesus?—He “despised the shame” they heaped upon Him; but He did not despise the cross—He “endured” that! Yea, and He must endure it, in all its awful depths of sorrow and suffering, if God’s will were to be accomplished. Into those unsounded deeps His love for His God and Father carried Him. To the natural eye His path appeared to be all wrong but in devotedness to God’s will He went onward. He looked into the dark cup which He must drink, and though sweat as blood fell from Him, He took the cup and drank it—“Thy will be done,” He said. He finished the work He came to do. He glorified God on the earth. He was the mighty One. Any other would have been crushed under the heavy load of sin and judgment, which He bore when He endured the cross, when He settled for God’s glory the question of good and evil.

Rising in triumph from the grave, He has brought us, according to God’s will to Himself—“we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once”; and “He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Wonderful fact! His brethren. And as the risen Man He said, “I ascend unto My Father and your Father; and to My God and your God”—thus putting us into the same relationship as Himself with God; and all this is in accord with the will of God. How much more that will involves we may not here go into; but Jesus is the Doer of it. God’s pleasure prospers in His hand! Blessed, adorable Lord and Saviour.

Jesus, The Son of God

A welcome calm followed the bitter storm! Certain religious leaders questioned a poor man regarding his life-long blindness, and how he was saved from it. Born blind, he now stood before them with good eye-sight. How was this to be explained?

The blind bigotry of these men made them despisers of the Lord Himself. Hearing that it was JESUS who had given him sight, their unreasonable opposition arose immediately, and when the happy man spoke well of his Benefactor, the pitiless storm broke forth; and “they cast him out” (John 9:34).

He lost some temporary advantages truly, but he now possessed sight! Another such case was unknown in the world’s history. He might reflect, “I know His power to save; but, oh, if only I knew Himself!” For this great gain the past advantages would be a welcome loss.

His omniscient Saviour found him, and kindly discovered to him who He was. He saw Him. He talked with Him—the Son of God! And he said, “LORD, I believe. And he worshipped Him.” What a haven of rest and joy after the cruel tempest! This actually took place. He now knew His Saviour as THE SON OF GOD.

There are numbers today, thank God, who are saved by grace; but, do we sufficiently value the knowledge of the One who has saved us? By His own Word ten men were once saved from leprosy; yet only one of them returned to the Lord Himself, giving glory to God and thanksgiving to Jesus. “Where are the nine?” He enquired.

From His place of exaltation above, our Lord Jesus Christ gives gift for ministry today, “till we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” Peter wrote, “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Paul said, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” John says, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” When doubting Thomas found himself in the presence of our risen Lord, he said unto Him, “My Lord and my God.” “That I may know Him,” may well be the deep desire of each of His redeemed ones.

His disciples, who heard His words and observed His works, remarked what specially distinguished Him; and it is written, “We have contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only begotten with a father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14. New Translation). No wonder they clung to Him through all His trials, and bore witness after His death and ascension, producing the greatest results ever seen in the world; though they themselves suffered privations, persecutions, imprisonments and martyrdom for His beloved Name.

Who else could make God known? None but the Son who is in the bosom of the Father could declare Him. Who else could reveal the Father? No one but the Son of the Father could do this. And He could also disclose the counsels of the Father’s heart, for He is the Son of the Father’s love. But He must redeem us by His blood first, and give us the Holy Spirit, before we could take in the disclosures which are made in Him. We had to be saved by Him, and be reconciled to God through Him, before we could rejoice in the Father seen in the Son. Down under our sins and our judgment His love for us took Him, and rising from death and the grave He presents us now to the Father, saying, “Here am I and the children Thou hast given Me,” and to us He says, “My Father and your Father, My God and your God.” Everlasting praise and glory to His holy name!

The gospel of John shows Him to us as the Word who “was GOD,” become flesh, tabernacling amongst us. Yet He was truly Man, and spake of Himself as “A MAN that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God” (John 8:40). He is the Son of God and He is the Son of man. He is the Son—both God and Man. Personally and officially He is the long foretold King of Israel, come on the promised line of King David; the Christ of God, the anointed Head over all; the Lamb of God, the taker away of the sin of the world; the Lord of all; the Lord of lords and King of kings. To the Son it is said, “Thy throne, O God, is to the age of the age” (Heb. 1:8). What a glorious Saviour is ours. We have good reason to look forward to His return; “awaiting the blessed hope, and appearing of the glory, of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us.”

Isaiah saw the Lord, and His train filled the temple (6:1), while the seraphim veiled themselves, saying, “Holy, holy, holy.” Then the prophet said, “Woe is me … for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” But we are told in John 12:41, that this was the Lord Jesus; for “he saw His glory, and spake of Him.” Again in chapter 19:37, “Another scripture says, They shall look on HIM whom they pierced;” and on turning to Zechariah 12:10, we find Jehovah says “ME, whom they pierced.” John the Baptist, His cousin after the flesh, nevertheless said twice in regard to His divine glory, “I knew Him not;” but when the Spirit as a dove came upon Him, he “bare record that THIS IS THE SON OF GOD.”

Those who are saved by Him, separated to Him, and know Him in this way, have the honour just before He returns of witnessing to His glory; while the so-called Christian world ignores it or disowns it so largely. He builds His assembly upon what His Father reveals, and we confess Himself, as “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Against this hades’ counsels and campaigns cannot prevail. Maintaining this truth John’s gospel is written, “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:31).

Wild winds of opposition may arise, the turbulent waters may run high, and the waves dash into our little boat, but greater is He that is for us, than all that can be against us! He allows the faith of His loved ones to be tested, so that their faith in Him and their knowledge of Himself may be increased. As of old, when His disciples crossed the troubled sea, He draws near, and He brings us to our desired haven.

When they saw Him at first they were troubled, but Jesus said unto them, “Be of good cheer; IT IS I; be not afraid!” His holy presence was welcome in the ship. The wind ceased. Peace and calm and joy filled their hearts. Jesus with them was enough; they “worshipped Him, saying, OF A TRUTH THOU ART THE SON OF GOD” (Matthew 14:33).

And we also worship Him, as we often sing gladly together in faith,

“Son of God, our souls adore Thee,

While upon Thy face we gaze,

There the Father’s love and glory

Shine in all their brightest rays.”

Linking up with himself those he called “the brethren;” and thus embracing all those who are born of God—“the children of God;” John writes, “We know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:20).

Joint Partakers of God’s Promise

In connection with the truth of “the mystery” the thought of the oneness of all the saints in Christ is strikingly prominent. In Ephesians 3 it is specially conspicuous, for we are told there, that the mystery which was previously hidden, but now made known, reveals that all are “(1) joint heirs and (2) a joint body and (3) joint partakers of God’s promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings” (verse 6). This verse shows that all the saints, according to the mind of God, are one collectively as “joint heirs,” one corporately as “a joint body,” and one vitally as “joint partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus.” In all three aspects oneness is insisted upon by the Spirit of God in relation to the mystery concerning Christ and the assembly.

In our papers on this most important subject, we spoke of the central fact of the mystery,—the corporate aspect, and of the riches of the glory of it. We then considered the primary part of this great truth,—that of joint heirship. The third and final fact now remains to come before us. May God graciously help us in our meditation upon it. His promise in Christ Jesus, of which the beloved saints of God are joint partakers by means of the gospel of His grace, must be exceedingly blessed, for it is hall-marked by divine permanence and perfection, as everything in this relation connected with Christ and the assembly is, for it is according to His eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The dewy loveliness of it must abide in all the freshness of youth eternally. The bud, the blossom, the beauty, the bloom and the fruitful benefits may disclose their varied treasures, yet all develops and enlarges from the same vitality already participated in from the beginning. That handsome Prince of noble mien and generous mind, has still the life-blood flowing in his veins of which he partook when a babe. Right and admirable growth there has been, but potentially all was there from the first. It has but found the suitable and essential means of expressing itself by proper stages of growth. Fundamentally the original principle remains the same however, and without it the development were impossible. Of our blessed Lord, the King of glory, the Originator of life, it is said, “In the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning, Thou hast the dew of Thy youth.” In Him it abides in eternal perfection; and of His bride, the assembly, it is said, after sharing in His Kingdom glory for a thousand years,—she comes “as a bride adorned for her husband.” In lasting freshness and responsive love she is still beautiful and pleasing to Him whose glory she is. Like her beloved Bridegroom she retains eternally the dewy loveliness of youth, along with all that she has gained since He first made her His.

The “Joint Partakers”

The redeemed from amongst the Jews and from amongst the nations are the joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, and the gospel is the means by which they are called into it. Unlike Israel of old, who partook of special privileges through their natural birth as belonging to that nation, the rich blessings of the mystery are ours now through the call of God in the glad tidings of His grace; for the “preaching” is “according to the revelation of the mystery, as to which silence was kept in the times of the ages” (Romans 16:25). It is in Christ Jesus we jointly partake of the precious promise of God. This involves a new standing for us altogether outside of Judaism and the distant ground on which the nations stood, having “become nigh” in Christ Jesus by His blood. A new state is also ours, for “if any one be in Christ there is a new creation, the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new: and all things are of God Who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.” The old standing and the old state have no place there, “for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”

We are told in Ephesians 2 that Christ has broken down the middle wall of enclosure between Jews and Gentiles, making both one, and becoming Himself the bond and peace of the joint partakers. The old enmity which had existed between them He has annulled in His flesh, reconciling both to God in one body by the cross, where the enmity was slain when He died for all. The Jew spirit however still asserts itself where this truth has not been learned experimentally. Where new creation in Christ Jesus is not known in power, religious pride, pettiness and rancour appear. So also does the Gentile love of lawlessness with impatient and impetuous energy show itself insubject to God’s order. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the truth should be known in experimental power by the joint partakers of the promise of God; for it is said in regard to the new creation in Christ, “As many as walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy” (Galatians 6:16). They are created into one new man in Him where He is our peace, therefore oneness is to be known by the joint partakers in gracious reality: unity will necessarily be sought in a practical way, according to the instincts of the new nature which is ours, and the one Spirit who indwells all, for none of us are independent of the other joint partakers. In Ephesians 4:3 we are exhorted, because of contrary influences which are not of the Spirit nor of the new man, to use diligence to keep “the unity of the Spirit,”—in a practical manner,—“in the uniting bond of peace.” Only the real are embraced in this unity, and only the true joint partakers can respond truly to the exhortation. Others may appear to do so, but it is in the very nature of the joint partakers to ever seek practical unity according to the truth. Nor will their desires remain unanswered, for at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ all will be completely assembled to Him.

Judah and Israel were held together in practical oneness under David, the anointed of God, as joint partakers of the blessings secured in Him for the nation; but even in His days the divisive spirit showed itself in “a man of Belial.” “He blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel” (2 Samuel 20:1). The seed was sown that day: and though the evil work was stayed there and then, nevertheless it bore its bad fruit long after, for we read in Rehoboam’s reign that the people answered the king, saying “What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David” (1 Kings 12:16). So Israel departed, and the break between Judah and Israel was made. In contrast to this, the true joint-heirs surely say, All our portion is in Christ Jesus as also is our inheritance eternally, let us abide in Him! We are all joint partakers of God’s promise in Christ Jesus by the gospel.

God’s Promise

There are many promises of God, and we are told that they are all confirmed and established in Christ, the Son of God;—“for whatever promises of God there are, in Him is the yea, and in Him is the amen, for glory to God by us” (2 Corinthians 1:20); but it is a special promise which is in view in the truth of the mystery, not “promises,” but a specific, distinct “promise.” It is not plural, but singular. Just as in Ephesians 3:11 we read of “the purpose” which centres in Christ, so this is also something distinctive. It has the stamp of eternity upon it as all the essentials of the mystery have. The inheritance of the joint heirs is eternal, the body of which we are joint members is eternal, and the promise in Christ Jesus is likewise. It was given before the ages of time: it will endure beyond the ages of time: but it is ours in Christ Jesus now, the “Spirit of promise” being already given to us; and He is the power by which divine realities are experimentally enjoyed.

The law proposed life for man, but it was unable either to give life or secure righteousness from man in the flesh. We are told, “It was weak through the flesh” though in itself “holy, just and good.” Do and live, it said to the sinner of Adam’s race; but the sinner could not do, therefore the holy law of God could only condemn him, and “the commandment which was for life, was found,” says the apostle, as to himself, “to be unto death” (Romans 7:10). Had there been a law which was able to give life, “then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law” (Galatians 3:21); but before the law, yea, “before the ages of time” God had promised life for man. That promise is in Christ Jesus, therefore He must come where we were to free us from sin and death, that we might have life in Him. The law, as we have seen, said, Do and live. The Lord Jesus, when we could do nothing, died that we might live,—died that the promise might be ours actually,—died that we might be joint-partakers of it in Him. How great the grace of God to give such a promise! How wonderful the love that brought His beloved Son to die to secure it for us! How marvellous the wisdom that devised the plan! All glory to God.

It is of promise, therefore it is not of law; and yet the fact of it being mentioned in connection with the law indicates what was in the thoughts of God for us; so also did the first tree which is named distinctively in Scripture—“the tree of life!” This was not forbidden like the other tree, but after man fell he was governmentally placed beyond its reach, and the giving of the law, rightly understood, brought home to man, his sinfulness and his own incapability to obtain eternal life. He was shut up to God, and He found a way for us to “partake” of that which was in His heart for us before the world was, through the death of His Son; so that He could say, of the one who appropriated His death in faith, life was his,—“He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood has eternal life.”

This life in all its infinite preciousness knows no decay or ending. Promised before the ages of time, it abides beyond the glorious days of the Kingdom and dominion of the Son of Man; far beyond the days of millennial magnificence, right on through the ineffable blessedness of the eternal state when God is all in all. Yet even now it is ours in Christ Jesus. It is ours by the grace of God. It is ours by the gift of God: If “the wages of sin is death”—rightly and justly—nevertheless, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). That gift cannot be measured; it is beyond every human estimate or definition, but thanks be to God, it is ours through the act of divine favour.

We are told in Ephesians 4:17-19 of those who are alienated from it all,—“estranged from the life of God.” What a contrast they are to the joint partakers of God’s promise! They walk in the vanity of their mind,—and what foolish vanity it is! The seat of all true balance in man is submerged in darkness,—“being darkened in understanding.” Ignorance of all that is right before God and man enslaves them, although they may profess to be wise. Grossness and hardness of heart leads them to “cast off” every refined and even proper natural feeling; and as a result they abandon themselves to lasciviousness, while unsatisfied lust leads them more eagerly to work all manner of uncleanness and greed, for such are still joint partakers of the life of “the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts.” The joint partakers of the mystery have put off the old man and put on the new, and in contrast to the other, it is created in “truthful righteousness and holiness.” Life according to God is known here. His promise is realized here. His gift is enjoyed here. The life which is in Christ Jesus is partaken of by the saints of God. Therefore to abide in Christ is all important for us, and to let the word of the glad tidings which called us into it abide unspoiled in us; for “if that which ye have heard from the beginning abides in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise which He promised us, eternal life” (1 John 2:25).

“In Christ Jesus”

In two other passages the Spirit of God speaks through Paul of this promise in Christ Jesus besides that which we have considered in Ephesians 3:6. The eternal character and nature of it are shown in both (2 Timothy 1; Titus 1); and in each scripture the glad tidings are also mentioned as the means of its being made known to us, according to the commandment of our Saviour God. In the first, when failure was spreading widely amongst those who professed the faith of Christ, the apostle falls back upon the changeless promise of life, and holds even his service “according to the promise of life, the life which is in Christ Jesus.” Other things may alter and men may fail, but this abides, for it is ours in Christ Jesus, as God Himself promised. It is termed, “The promise.”

The apostle seeks to strengthen Timothy in his trying path by this truth. Seven times he speaks of what is “in Christ Jesus” in this second letter. The truth of Ephesians is specially indicated. All is secure eternally in Him he seems to say, therefore be encouraged,—“be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Even the glad tidings which call us into these rich blessings were getting into disrepute, but Paul exhorts him to “suffer evil along with the gospel according to the power of God” and then with gracious and tender thoughtfulness he reminds him that He “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time, but has been made manifest now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings.” How cheering and stimulating is all this! In Christ Jesus all is ours and all is secure eternally, and the gospel of divine grace makes known the triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ over death and corruption for man, so that life and incorruptibility might be now his through faith in Him.

In Titus 1 the Holy Spirit adds, in regard to the promise of eternal life, that the One who made the promise could not fail of its accomplishment in regard to the elect, for He says, God “cannot lie.”

What a comforting limitation of holy perfection is this! and then the eternal life for which we have the sure and certain hope to enter upon in all its fullness at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ is already manifested in the word of the proclamation of the gospel, and that, as we are told in Titus 1 and Romans 16:26, “according to the commandment of the everlasting God.”

The life therefore is ours now in Christ Jesus. It is “the gift of God” in Him to us (Romans 6:23). There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, and there is no separation from the love of God which is in Him (Romans 8:1-28). Divine grace and power have set us, through Christ’s death and resurrection, where the eternal promise is already the portion of the joint partakers. In view of all that God has done for them in and through Him they have good reason to “boast in Christ Jesus,” and to join with the apostle when he says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). It is of God that we are in Christ Jesus for His everlasting glory and our present and eternal blessing.

“By the Gospel”

The means by which we have been called into this is the gospel. It is the instrument which God has used. He has called us in His grace by the glad tidings, and He has saved us. Our works had no place in the matter, for the very best works done by man out of Christ are called by the Spirit “dead works.” No deeds of ours could have given us a new standing in Christ Jesus before God, in a new and living state; but having heard the Word of the glad tidings, and received it in faith, we “passed out of death into life.” Aaron’s family might enjoy a place of special nearness to Jehovah through their natural birth, but this has no place in connection with the mystery of Christ and the assembly. Not by natural birth or family privileges but by the gospel are we brought into these vital realities. “In Christ Jesus ye who were once afar off are become nigh by the blood of Christ.”

The gospel is that which God uses in the power of the Spirit. Of old, God’s earthly people entered into possession of the land by conquest, but that of which we speak is ours through no prowess of our own. It is by the divine and effectual call of the glad tidings which we have believed. Truly the experimental and practical enjoyment of our rich possession involves energy on our side, but that is another matter. Official appointments gave men under the old covenant great advantages, but this does not count here. The apostle of life, John, it is striking to notice, does not speak of these things. He does not even call himself “an apostle.”

How wonderful indeed are the glad tidings of the grace of God today! They call us into blessings of the most exalted character—blessings that are abiding—eternal!

They call us into a fellowship which is above every other known in heaven or earth by the favoured of God,—“the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” They give us a hope which is greater than any other,—conformity to the image of God’s Son in heavenly glory, “the hope of the gospel.” Little wonder then, when failure abounds on all hands, that these glad tidings are attacked so severely. Nevertheless, God’s Spirit is here, and will maintain the preaching of the word in divine power till the end,—“the Word of God is not bound;” with royal grace it hastens onward to complete its glorious mission; nor will it cease to do so until the last of the joint partakers of God’s promise in Christ Jesus according to the mystery receives its glorious message. We may well therefore, like the Philippians of old, as fellow partakers of the benefits of the glad tidings, be found “labouring together in the same conflict with faith of the gospel”; “standing firm” in “one spirit” and with “one soul”; watching at the same time that we conduct ourselves “worthy of the glad tidings of the Christ;” and showing practical fellowship with those who faithfully proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Soon the message of grace will have accomplished its task, and all who share in the eternal riches of the mystery will be glorified with the Head of the assembly. His fellow heirs and brethren, the fellow members of His body, the assembly, and the fellow partakers of the promise in Him will be all together then as one with Himself where He is! The promise given before the ages of time will be known in all its actual fullness; the life manifested in Him when here on earth will be enjoyed in suitable and glorious surroundings then; the eternal life for which we hope, but which is ours now by God’s gift, will be entered upon unhinderedly; the oneness of those who are joint partakers now will be seen in a glorious unity; and then “when Christ who is our life shall appear,” we also shall shine forth with Him in splendour and glory. Lord Jesus, hasten that day! We long for its brightness and beauty, and above all, to see Thee, its Centre, and its Sun.

“Lord, haste that day of cloudless ray,—

That prospect bright unfailing;

When all shall shine in light divine

And glory never fading.”

This ends our reading for this session. Until next time, have a great day, and God bless.