PART 2 - His Present Work
The great work which the Lord Jesus Christ, God's well beloved Son, came to
do was to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. This finished work of the
cross is the basis of His present work and His future work. What mind can
estimate the value and preciousness of that work in which the Holy One
offered Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot unto God! He procured
redemption by His death on the cross. In His present work and much more in
His future work, He works out this great redemption into result.
There is much confusion in the minds of Christians about the present and
future work of Christ. Many speak of the Lord being now the King of kings
and Lord of lords, reigning over the earth. They speak of Him as occupying
the throne of His father David in heaven. The church, according to this
teaching, is His Kingdom, and that kingdom is gradually being enlarged under
His spiritual reign until the whole world has been brought into this kingdom.
All this is wrong. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign over the earth; He will have
a kingdom of glory, of righteousness and peace on this earth; the nations of the
earth will have to submit to His government, but all this is still to come. It will
be accomplished with His visible Return to the earth, when He will claim as
the second Man the dominion of the earth. His kingly rule is future. His
present work is of another nature.
1. The Bodily Presence of Christ in Glory.
Our blessed Lord gave on the cross the body, which He had taken in
incarnation. That body died. It was the only part of Him, which could die.
But that body so dishonored by man, scourged and nailed to the cross, could
not see corruption. He arose from the dead. The mighty power of God opened
that grave and raised Him from the dead. This mighty power of God, which
brought Him forth is the power which is towards us who believe. It is on our
side (Eph. 1:19). And God not alone raised Him from the dead, but He gave
Him glory (1 Peter 1:21).
If I were to teach on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, I would
demonstrate two things. First, that He actually arose; the indisputable fact,
that He who had really died, who was dead bodily, arose bodily, and, in the
second place, the all important meaning of His resurrection.
The Apostle Paul writes in that great chapter in First Corinthians, "If Christ be
not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are
fallen asleep in Christ are perished" (1 Cor. 15:17-18). In other words, if the
Lord Jesus Christ came not forth from the tomb, where His blessed body had
been laid and where it rested for three days; if He did not leave that grave in a
bodily form, His death on the cross would have no more meaning than the
death of any other human being. Then that blood which was shed could never
take away our sins and give the guilty conscience rest. Furthermore, the
countless beings, who passed out of this life trusting in Christ, would have all
perished. But Christ rose from the dead. There can be no doubt about it. The
witnesses for it are simply unanswerable.
His Physical Resurrection
His resurrection from the dead was God's answer to His prayers with strong
crying and tears.
"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and
supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death, and was heard in that he feared" (Heb. 5:7).
This took place in Gethsemane. The answer to His prayers and tears came
from God on the morning of the first day. His resurrection from the dead was
the "Amen" of God to His triumphant shout on the cross, "It is finished." By
raising Him from the dead, God set His seal to the work of Christ on the cross.
God gave His witness by it that the work, which was demanded by His
holiness and righteousness, had been fully accomplished. Guilty man can now
be righteously acquitted from his guilt because God's eternal righteousness was
upheld and satisfied by His own Son in that He paid the penalty.
Even before God rolled away the stone, He had shown that the work done
was pleasing to Him. It seemed as if God could not wait for the third day. His
hand took hold of the veil, which hid the Holy of Holies from the eyes of man.
He rent that veil from top to bottom. He showed thereby that He, the Holy
God, could now come forth in fullest blessing to man, and man bought by such
a price, can approach into the presence of God and be at home with Him, a
loving Father. Sinners saved by grace can enter into the Holiest by the blood
of Jesus, by the new and living way.
And how did He come forth from the grave? It has already been stated. He
arose with the body He had taken on in incarnation, the body which could not
see corruption. He left the grave in a corporeal form. It was not a phantom,
but a tangible body. The nail prints were still seen in His hands and in His feet.
The side showed the place where the spear had entered. He appeared in that
body in the midst of His disciples and showed unto them His hands and His
side. And when at another time they cried out for fear, He said, "Behold my
hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39-40). And while they believed
not for joy, He proved His corporeality by eating a piece of broiled fish and of
a honeycomb. But while it was the same body it was also a glorified body.
Such a body, like unto His own glorious body, we shall receive some blessed
day in exchange for the body of humiliation; for this redemption of the body
we still wait as well as those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
Passing through the Heavens
In this body He left the earth and passed through the heavens into heaven
itself. What a scene that must have been! What must have taken place after
He had been lifted up and disappeared out of sight from the gazing disciples!
They saw Him as He was lifted up, the same Lord Jesus, until the glory cloud,
the Shekinah, took Him up and in that cloud He was taken into the heavens,
where the physical eye could not follow. What a triumphant entrance into the
heavens it must have been! Perhaps the mighty Archangel accompanied Him,
the victor over Sin, Death, the Grave and Satan; for the Archangel will
accompany Him some day in His descent out of heaven. The Lord went up
with a shout
(Psalm 47:5). He will return with the victor's shout. When He comes back,
He will be attended by the mighty angels. May not these heavenly hosts have
been present as He ascended on high? And as the Man Christ Jesus passed
upward through the territory, which is still the domain of Satan, the prince of
the power in the air, the wicked tenants of the air fell back in fear and
trembling. The glorified Man passed on, upward, higher and higher. Nothing
could arrest His progress. The mighty power of God raised Him up. Through
the second heaven He passed, where the wonderful stars, the creation of His
own power, describe their great orbits around their fiery suns. He is still
attended by angels, and the angelic hosts beheld Him, who were also the
witnesses of His sufferings, His death and resurrection. At last a place was
reached where every angel had to halt. Even the Archangel had to cover His
face and cry, "Holy! Holy!" Yonder is the third heaven and there stands the
glorious throne of God. The glorified Man advances alone; He ascended on
high into the immediate presence of His God and our God, His Father and our
Father. The welcoming voice of God Himself bade Him to take His seat on
His own right hand until His enemies are made His footstool. What must it
have been when the only begotten Son returned to His eternal dwelling place
as the First begotten, and God as well as He Himself beheld the host of
redeemed sinners brought by Him into that Glory!
The highest place was given to Him, who died on the cross, far above all
principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named. There He is now the Man in the Glory. Once more let me state it,
the Lord Jesus Christ is corporeally present in the highest heaven. Everything
depends on this. If His physical resurrection and corporeal presence in the
highest heaven is denied, His present work and future work are an
impossibility, and we rob ourselves of every comfort joy and peace.
Then, too, His atoning work on the cross has no meaning for us.
A Fundamental Truth Denied
And too often this great truth of the bodily presence of Christ in heaven is
denied in these days of departure from the faith. They teach His resurrection
was a spiritual one, that He lives only by His words. The denial of the literal
resurrection of our blessed Lord and His presence in heaven has become very
widespread. Three evil systems especially deny it.
Unitarianism.
As a sect this denomination is small, but the leaven of Unitarianism is
leavening Christendom. All this criticism of the Bible, the new theology, a
more liberal religion, but all aiming at the essential Deity of our blessed Lord,
His incarnation and resurrection from the dead, is the leaven of Unitarianism.
At a recent annual service of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association the
chairman observed that "earnest and thoughtful men, occupying pulpits once
dedicated to the propagation of doctrines strictly orthodox, were now
preaching a Gospel, which for liberality and broadmindedness even surpassed
the Unitarianism of three or four generations ago."
Christian Science.
This new science is not new, but is the revival, through satanic powers, of
ancient Gnosticism, a denial of every article of the faith once and for all
delivered unto the saints. Prominent in this system is the denial of the physical
resurrection, and the bodily presence of the Lord Jesus in Glory. It is the
masterpiece of Satan. Its phenomenal growth attracts to its ranks such of the
Christian profession, who were never saved or whose knowledge of the truth
of God is insufficient. There will be no abatement of this great delusion. It will
continue to grow and become more powerful as the Gospel is denied and
God's Word rejected.
Millennial Dawnism.
This is another great and widespread system. In it Satan appears even more so
than in Christian Science as an angel of light. It is offered throughout this land
as "food for Christians" and goes by the name of "Bible Study." One meets it
everywhere. What is it? It is an amalgamation of several of the evil theories
concerning the Person of Christ, denying, like Unitarianism and Christian
Science, the absolute Deity of our Lord. "Pastor" Russell in his books also
denies the physical resurrection of Christ. According to this system the body
of our Lord was either dissolved in its natural gases or is preserved as a
memorial somewhere. This, of course, means the denial of His bodily
presence in heaven. But think of it! To say that the body of our Lord was
dissolved in its natural gases, when the Word so clearly states "He could not
see corruption."
2. The Present Work of Christ; What It Is
As Man in Glory, crowned with glory and honor, He is occupied in a present
work. He is in the presence of God as the Heir of all things. He is the upholder
of all and all things consist by Him. This great universe, with its innumerable
stars and suns, is under His control; it belongs to Him. How man ever since
the fall attempts to penetrate the mysterious depths of the universe! Scientists
with their glasses scan the heavens and try to regain the knowledge of creation,
which was lost by the fall of man. Their discoveries astonish us. How
marvellous the heavens are! How they declare the glory of God and the
firmament His handiwork! Often too has the search of fallen man into the
depths of the universe demonstrated the truth of God given by revelation in
His Word. And yet the great questions we ask of astronomers concerning this
great universe are answered with "we do not know." Some day in the twinkling
of an eye we shall know more about this great universe than all the knowledge
gained by fallen man. But this universe rests in the hands of the Man in Glory.
He is the great central sun around which all revolves. We do not know if there
is any work to be done in connection with the great bodies which we see in the
great space about us. We do not know what changes go on there. But we do
know that all is in His hands. All is under His control.
We must also think of the angels, the heavenly hosts. He has been made, after
His passion, "so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they" (Heb. 1:4). What may go on in this
great world above, the world of unseen spirits, who can tell? But they are all
under His control. How He sends them forth and uses them in His providential
dealings with His people on earth, and how He restrains through these unseen
agencies the wrath of the enemy and the evil work of demons, we do not
know fully. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb. 1:14). This and much else, though not
fully revealed, and hidden from us, belongs also to His present work. We
mention this that we might have a higher estimate of our Lord and realize
anew what a mighty and wonderful Lord we have.
But there is a present work of our Lord in Glory, which
is fully revealed in His Word.
In the first place, He is the Mediator between God and man and being
preached as such to the world, He exercises His office as the Mediator
throughout this present age (1 Tim. 2:5-6). Besides this Mediatorship, He has a
service which concerns those for whom He died and who, by personal faith
have accepted Him as their Saviour.
The Lord Knoweth His Own
"The Lord knoweth them that are His" (2 Tim. 2:19). What a blessed thought
of comfort and cheer it is, which should forever banish fear and unbelief! The
Lord, the One seated there in the Holiest, knows us personally. He knew us
before we ever were in existence. He saw us before the foundation of the
world. He knew all our vileness and the depths of degradation. He knew us
as we wandered in our sins. His loving eyes followed us then. He sought us in
His love and brought us to Himself. He gave us His life and dwells in us.
Each believing sinner, saved by grace, is one Spirit with the Lord. "I know
my sheep." He calleth each by name, like a Shepherd calleth his own sheep.
Again He said "I know them." What a comfort it should be to our hearts, that
He knows each of us by name. He knows our circumstances, trials, difficulties
and temptations. He knows our conflicts and our tears. "He knoweth the way
that I take."
It is very precious! In the 32 Psalm we find the comforting word for one
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, "I will guide thee with
mine eye." ... That eye up yonder, that eye which measures the depths of the
universe, which follows every planet, that eye which neither sleeps nor
slumbers, that all-seeing eye rests upon us. He is occupied with each. The
millions of His people who have lived and died, who passed through life and
are now at home with Him, were each individually the objects of His care. His
loving eye was upon the multitudes of martyrs. He knew and watched that
poor tortured saint, who was cast with broken bones into a dungeon to starve
to death. His power and love rested upon those who were burned or cast
before the wild animals. For each He served and worked. And so He does still.
Oh, the preciousness that each believer is under the loving care of the Man in
Glory, the object of His love. Let us turn to a few Scriptures which reveal this
fact.
Living For Us
In Romans 5:10 we read: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life."
What life is meant by which we are saved? Some have applied it to the life of
the Lord Jesus Christ before His death on the cross, as if that righteous life,
that perfect life, had any saving power in it for us. Hence the teaching that the
righteousness of His life is imputed unto us. This is wrong. The life, of which
this verse speaks, is the life which He lives now in the Presence of God. When
we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. And
now being reconciled, much more are we saved by His life. By His life there,
because He is there, we are saved and kept down here.
Another passage in Romans may be linked with this. Romans 8:34: "Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."
The risen Christ is at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for us.
However, not in the Epistle to the Romans is this present work of Christ as the
intercessor of His redeemed people revealed, but in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
There we read in the ninth chapter, "For Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Heb.9:24).
And again in chapter 7:24,25: "But this man, because he continueth ever, hath
an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them."
But notice all this is not spoken of those who are unsaved and live in sin. The
unsaved who are not yet Christ's, have no share in all this. For the unsaved
world the Lord is not the intercessor. He declared this truth first of all in His
high-priestly prayer, when He said, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world"
(John 17:9).
This was also foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The High Priest in His
garments of Beauty and Glory had upon his shoulders two onyx stones, and
upon his breast a breastplate with twelve stones. Upon both the onyx stones
upon the shoulder and the twelve stones on the breastplate there were names
engraven. But these were not the names of the Egyptians, the Jebusites, the
Amorites or the Hittites, but the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Our high
priest in the highest heaven carries His own upon His shoulders, which typify
His power and upon His bosom He carrieth them; the bosom tells us of His
love. We are the objects of the power and the love of Him who appears in the
presence of God for us. The fact that the names of the Israelites were
engraven upon these precious stones also has a meaning. If they had been
written there, they might be blotted out. They were engraven and could never
be erased. It tells out the blessed truth of our security.
His Priesthood
Two other passages in Hebrews reveal some of the blessed details of the
present priestly work of the Lord in our behalf. "Wherefore in all things it
behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he
is able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:17,18). "Seeing then that we
have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as
we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 4:14-
16).
The first passage tells of the propitiation He made for the sins of the people.
He suffered, being tempted, and this is the basis of His intercessory service.
The passage from the fourth chapter tells us how He was fitted while on earth
for this great office work. While down here He was tempted in all points as we
are, apart from sin. From sin within He could never be tempted for no sin was
in Him. He has gone through the trials, the difficulties and sufferings a man,
who depends on God is subject to while in this world, with the exception of
sin. He has known while on earth every possible difficulty. Now He can be
the merciful and faithful high priest and as such enter into all our sorrows and
trials. He sympathizes with us in all our conflicts and difficulties down here.
However, He does not intercede for the flesh -- He has no sympathy with sin.
By His gracious and unbroken intercession in the sanctuary, He upholds us
individually in the path down here. He gives strength to endure. If it were not
for that intercession, we all would fall by the way. How often God's people
fear troubles and difficulties, losses and bereavements, which might possibly
come. What, if this favored child should be taken from me, how could I stand
it? Or, if I should lose her whom I love? Or my health should fail? Perhaps
my business and income stops, how could I ever stand it? Often that which
we fear comes upon us. That loved one is taken and is put into a grave.
Health fails and the income stops; instead of plenty there is want. But with
the trial, with the loss, there comes such a strength to bear it all, and more than
that, real joy and songs of praise. It is because the great High Priest lives and
intercedes. He knows all about it and in the tenderness of His love and the
might of His power, He takes us in His loving arms whenever trials and
troubles come upon us. At all times under all circumstances He is our
representative before God and thinks of us.
And so it is with our temptations and our warfare with the wicked spirits. The
enemy we have is most powerful and intelligent. He knows how to spread his
nets. His wiles are most subtle. If Satan had his way he would overthrow and
destroy completely the people of God on earth. If it depended on our strength,
we would soon fall. But He knows. His eyes watch the enemy as they watch
us. Peter's case illustrates this perfectly. He saw the old serpent as he moved
on his way towards Peter. He knew the cunning plan Satan had conceived to
ensnare Peter. In Judas he had entered and taken complete possession of the
disciple, who was never born again. He planned to fell Peter completely and
rush him afterwards into despair. But Satan did not reckon with Peter's Lord.
Before the plan could ever be carried out, the Lord had prayed for Peter that
his faith may not fail. And though Peter denied the Lord and fell, the Lord's
gracious intercession kept him through it all. And this is still the case with us.
He prays for us before that foe can ever approach us and thus we can be
victorious in the conflict and should we stumble and fall, as it is so often the
case, then He is the great shepherd "who restoreth my soul." How much we
owe to this blessed, precious present work of our Lord in Glory no one knows.
What blessed revelation there will come to us when we shall know as we are
known, when we look back over our lives and behold what the intercession of
the Lord Jesus accomplished for us and all the Saints of God! We have a great
high priest who is passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
Another phase of His priestly present work is recorded in Heb. 13:15. "By him
therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to his name." He presents our spiritual sacrifices to
God. Our worship, our praise and our prayers we address to God, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, are all imperfect, but as they are presented to
God by Him, they are acceptable unto God and delight the heart of God for
that reason.
His Advocacy
But there is a second aspect of His work in Glory in the presence of God for
His people. He is our advocate with the Father. Some Christians think that the
Priesthood and Advocacy of Christ are one and the same. They are not. His
advocacy is that which restores us. In the first Epistle of John we read of this
phase of His present work. "My little children, these things write I unto you,
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1).
In the preceding chapter our wonderful privilege as the children of God is
made known. We are to be in fellowship with the Father and with His Son
Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Fellowship with the Father is when we
delight ourselves in His blessed Son, who is His delight, when we share the
Father's own thoughts about Him. The Son knoweth the Father and He has
revealed Him and brought us into His own relationship with the Father.
Fellowship with His Son is to enjoy this relationship with the Father. The
condition for the enjoyment of this privilege in reality, fellowship with the
Father and with His Son is, that we walk in the light as He is in the light.
These blessed things were written that we sin not. Sin cannot rob us of
our salvation, but it mars the enjoyment of that fellowship. The standard
is that we sin not, and if we live in constant enjoyment of that blessed
fellowship into which grace has brought us, we do not sin. But how often this
is not the case. We fall into sin. Then the blessed revelation is given: "If any
man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous."
How grateful we ought to be that it does not say: If any man repent.
The Lord's intercession as advocate is independent of our repentance or of our
asking Him to do this for us. It is the exercise of grace in His own loving heart
toward us to restore our souls, to put us back into the place where we can
enjoy His fellowship. The moment the believer sins on earth, He acts as the
Advocate above. The Holy Spirit then likewise acts in that He applies the
Word to convict and cleanse. The cleansing is by the water, the Word, and
not a second time by the blood. Then follows confession from our side and the
restoration is effected. Also notice that it does not say "we have an Advocate
with God," but "with the Father." It is a family matter, and the Father is a
Father who can do nothing but love those whom He has brought to Himself
through His Son. The conception that the Father is angry with His sinning child
on earth, and that the Son of God by His pleadings inclines the heart of God to
be merciful, is an unscriptural one.
Another reason why He acts thus as Advocate is Satan, the accuser of the
brethren. He still has access into the presence of God. The day will come
when He is cast out of heaven, but that day will not come until the church has
been caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,
Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the
power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accused them before our God day and night" (Rev. 12:9-10).
Because Satan accuses God's people before God day and night, the Advocate
is there to rebuke him. Every attack by accusation of the sinning children of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ meets with the fact that He made propitiation; He
died for their sins.
He Shall not Fail nor be Discouraged
And this work of Himself as our Priest, the merciful and faithful High Priest
and our Advocate goes on up yonder uninterruptedly. In Isaiah we find a word
which speaks of Him, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged." Well may we
apply this to His present work as Priest and Advocate of His own. As Priest
He will never fail.
He will never fail in being about His own, in keeping them and sustaining
them, in sending them help from the sanctuary in time of need. As Advocate
He will not be discouraged. The same old failures in our lives, which humble
us and break us down, but He continues in this service in behalf of His poor
sinning people. Some Christians do not believe in the fundamental doctrine of
the Gospel, that a child of God in possession of eternal life can never be lost.
They think it depends on their walk and service. If one of His own could ever
be lost again, if even the weakest, the most imperfect could be snatched out of
His hands, His present work would be a failure as well as His finished work on
the cross. But read the great high priestly prayer He left for us in John 17.
There He prays the Father, who heareth Him always, that His own may be
kept.
His Work for the Church
Another aspect of His present work is what He does for His church. We can
but briefly indicate what this means.
He is in glory the Head of the church. The church is His body, the fullness of
Him, that filleth all in all.
Every believing sinner is a member in that body. The risen Lord Himself adds
new members to that body. He puts each member into the body as it pleases
Him. Each member is guided and directed by Himself. He supplies this body
with gifts.
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-13).
Thus He builds up from the Glory His own body. Some day that body will be
complete. Then we all come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ. That will be when we see Him as He is. Then His present work in
behalf of His own, His coheirs, will be finished. Brought home from this
wilderness to the Father's house -- safe home -- there will be no need any
longer for His power and love to sustain us. No more tears will then be shed,
no more wounds of pain and sorrow to be soothed, no more help is needed for
the time of need; all that is passed. Nor does He then need to exercise His
office as Advocate, for we are delivered forever from the presence of sin and
sanctified wholly body, soul and spirit. Sinning is then an impossibility. What a
happy, glorious day that will be!
3. The Practical Results of His Present Work in the
Christian's Life.
The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is in Glory occupied with us should lead us
into a holy life which glorifies Him. That loving eye is never withdrawn from
us. If we were to remember this constantly, what a power this would be in our
lives! How many things would remain undone, how many words unspoken,
and how many other things done, if we were constantly conscious of that eye
which is upon us individually. He represents us before God, and we are to
represent Him before men. A Christian is called to manifest Christ to be His
representative. And such a life, which is unto His Praise and Glory, is made
possible through His blessed intercessory work and His presence in heaven. A
true Christian life depends much on this heart occupation with the Person and
work of Christ. As His presence up yonder and His service for us is a reality to
our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit, we shall walk worthy of the
Lord, and His blessed work for us will constantly be felt in our lives here on
earth. What a joy it is then, as we reckon only with Him, who knows us, to
serve Him, to depend on Him. And how we should shun anything which
grieves Him.
Encouragement for Prayer
These blessed facts of the Lord's loving interest in us and our life in this
present evil age, surrounded by dangers and evils of all kinds, will be a great
encouragement to us in our prayer life. We can go and tell Him all about that
which troubles us. If He is interested in everything which happens to us, down
to the smallest matter, then we can go to Him in prayer and tell Him about it.
Some Christians teach that we should not do this, but leave it all in His hands
without praying for it, satisfied that His will be done. But this is contrary to
Scripture, for it says that in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving we are to make our requests known (Phil. 4:6). He delights to
have us tell Him, and like John's disciples we can go to Him and tell Him. His
ear is always open. If in His service we become tired and weary, we can tell
Him, for He was tired on account of the way. If hungry or without a resting
place, He knows what that means, for He passed through this. If lonely and
our best services are misunderstood, or the fiery darts of the enemy are aimed
against us, we can speak to Him about it. All this can be so very real to us if
we but go on led by His Spirit.
Deliverance from Worry
It should make an end of all worry and anxiety. We may possess a divine
carelessness. Be careful for nothing. Have no anxiety. Why should we worry
or be anxious? Worry is the child of unbelief. Anxiety can never stay if the
eyes of the heart behold the man in Glory and faith realizes that all is in the
hands of One "who doeth all things well." Worry and anxiety accuse Him.
Martha did that when she was encumbered with much service and then said
to Him, "Dost Thou not care?" Each time we give way to anxiety, we act as
if He did not care. But He does; and He would have us rest in faith and
commit all to Himself.
Sharing His Work
In conclusion we must not forget that He permits us to have some share in this
blessed work of His. While He prays for us, we can pray one for another, and
for all the saints. He intercedes; we can intercede. He washes our feet, typical
of the cleansing by the Word. We are to wash one another's feet. He carries
our burdens, but the exhortation also is that we carry one another's burden. He
forgives and restores. We are to forbear one another, and forgive one another,
even as Christ forgave us (Col. 3:13).
Next: Part 3- His Future Work
The Work of Christ: Past, Present and Future by A. C. Gaebelein. New York:
Publication Office "Our Hope", ©1913.
The Work of Christ: Past, Present and Future...
INTRO
PART 1 - HIS PAST WORK
PART 2 - HIS PRESENT WORK
PART 3 - HIS FUTURE WORK
The great work which the Lord Jesus Christ, God's well beloved Son, came to
do was to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. This finished work of the
cross is the basis of His present work and His future work. What mind can
estimate the value and preciousness of that work in which the Holy One
offered Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot unto God! He procured
redemption by His death on the cross. In His present work and much more in
His future work, He works out this great redemption into result.
There is much confusion in the minds of Christians about the present and
future work of Christ. Many speak of the Lord being now the King of kings
and Lord of lords, reigning over the earth. They speak of Him as occupying
the throne of His father David in heaven. The church, according to this
teaching, is His Kingdom, and that kingdom is gradually being enlarged under
His spiritual reign until the whole world has been brought into this kingdom.
All this is wrong. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign over the earth; He will have
a kingdom of glory, of righteousness and peace on this earth; the nations of the
earth will have to submit to His government, but all this is still to come. It will
be accomplished with His visible Return to the earth, when He will claim as
the second Man the dominion of the earth. His kingly rule is future. His
present work is of another nature.
1. The Bodily Presence of Christ in Glory.
Our blessed Lord gave on the cross the body, which He had taken in
incarnation. That body died. It was the only part of Him, which could die.
But that body so dishonored by man, scourged and nailed to the cross, could
not see corruption. He arose from the dead. The mighty power of God opened
that grave and raised Him from the dead. This mighty power of God, which
brought Him forth is the power which is towards us who believe. It is on our
side (Eph. 1:19). And God not alone raised Him from the dead, but He gave
Him glory (1 Peter 1:21).
If I were to teach on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, I would
demonstrate two things. First, that He actually arose; the indisputable fact,
that He who had really died, who was dead bodily, arose bodily, and, in the
second place, the all important meaning of His resurrection.
The Apostle Paul writes in that great chapter in First Corinthians, "If Christ be
not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are
fallen asleep in Christ are perished" (1 Cor. 15:17-18). In other words, if the
Lord Jesus Christ came not forth from the tomb, where His blessed body had
been laid and where it rested for three days; if He did not leave that grave in a
bodily form, His death on the cross would have no more meaning than the
death of any other human being. Then that blood which was shed could never
take away our sins and give the guilty conscience rest. Furthermore, the
countless beings, who passed out of this life trusting in Christ, would have all
perished. But Christ rose from the dead. There can be no doubt about it. The
witnesses for it are simply unanswerable.
His Physical Resurrection
His resurrection from the dead was God's answer to His prayers with strong
crying and tears.
"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and
supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death, and was heard in that he feared" (Heb. 5:7).
This took place in Gethsemane. The answer to His prayers and tears came
from God on the morning of the first day. His resurrection from the dead was
the "Amen" of God to His triumphant shout on the cross, "It is finished." By
raising Him from the dead, God set His seal to the work of Christ on the cross.
God gave His witness by it that the work, which was demanded by His
holiness and righteousness, had been fully accomplished. Guilty man can now
be righteously acquitted from his guilt because God's eternal righteousness was
upheld and satisfied by His own Son in that He paid the penalty.
Even before God rolled away the stone, He had shown that the work done
was pleasing to Him. It seemed as if God could not wait for the third day. His
hand took hold of the veil, which hid the Holy of Holies from the eyes of man.
He rent that veil from top to bottom. He showed thereby that He, the Holy
God, could now come forth in fullest blessing to man, and man bought by such
a price, can approach into the presence of God and be at home with Him, a
loving Father. Sinners saved by grace can enter into the Holiest by the blood
of Jesus, by the new and living way.
And how did He come forth from the grave? It has already been stated. He
arose with the body He had taken on in incarnation, the body which could not
see corruption. He left the grave in a corporeal form. It was not a phantom,
but a tangible body. The nail prints were still seen in His hands and in His feet.
The side showed the place where the spear had entered. He appeared in that
body in the midst of His disciples and showed unto them His hands and His
side. And when at another time they cried out for fear, He said, "Behold my
hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39-40). And while they believed
not for joy, He proved His corporeality by eating a piece of broiled fish and of
a honeycomb. But while it was the same body it was also a glorified body.
Such a body, like unto His own glorious body, we shall receive some blessed
day in exchange for the body of humiliation; for this redemption of the body
we still wait as well as those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
Passing through the Heavens
In this body He left the earth and passed through the heavens into heaven
itself. What a scene that must have been! What must have taken place after
He had been lifted up and disappeared out of sight from the gazing disciples!
They saw Him as He was lifted up, the same Lord Jesus, until the glory cloud,
the Shekinah, took Him up and in that cloud He was taken into the heavens,
where the physical eye could not follow. What a triumphant entrance into the
heavens it must have been! Perhaps the mighty Archangel accompanied Him,
the victor over Sin, Death, the Grave and Satan; for the Archangel will
accompany Him some day in His descent out of heaven. The Lord went up
with a shout
(Psalm 47:5). He will return with the victor's shout. When He comes back,
He will be attended by the mighty angels. May not these heavenly hosts have
been present as He ascended on high? And as the Man Christ Jesus passed
upward through the territory, which is still the domain of Satan, the prince of
the power in the air, the wicked tenants of the air fell back in fear and
trembling. The glorified Man passed on, upward, higher and higher. Nothing
could arrest His progress. The mighty power of God raised Him up. Through
the second heaven He passed, where the wonderful stars, the creation of His
own power, describe their great orbits around their fiery suns. He is still
attended by angels, and the angelic hosts beheld Him, who were also the
witnesses of His sufferings, His death and resurrection. At last a place was
reached where every angel had to halt. Even the Archangel had to cover His
face and cry, "Holy! Holy!" Yonder is the third heaven and there stands the
glorious throne of God. The glorified Man advances alone; He ascended on
high into the immediate presence of His God and our God, His Father and our
Father. The welcoming voice of God Himself bade Him to take His seat on
His own right hand until His enemies are made His footstool. What must it
have been when the only begotten Son returned to His eternal dwelling place
as the First begotten, and God as well as He Himself beheld the host of
redeemed sinners brought by Him into that Glory!
The highest place was given to Him, who died on the cross, far above all
principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named. There He is now the Man in the Glory. Once more let me state it,
the Lord Jesus Christ is corporeally present in the highest heaven. Everything
depends on this. If His physical resurrection and corporeal presence in the
highest heaven is denied, His present work and future work are an
impossibility, and we rob ourselves of every comfort joy and peace.
Then, too, His atoning work on the cross has no meaning for us.
A Fundamental Truth Denied
And too often this great truth of the bodily presence of Christ in heaven is
denied in these days of departure from the faith. They teach His resurrection
was a spiritual one, that He lives only by His words. The denial of the literal
resurrection of our blessed Lord and His presence in heaven has become very
widespread. Three evil systems especially deny it.
Unitarianism.
As a sect this denomination is small, but the leaven of Unitarianism is
leavening Christendom. All this criticism of the Bible, the new theology, a
more liberal religion, but all aiming at the essential Deity of our blessed Lord,
His incarnation and resurrection from the dead, is the leaven of Unitarianism.
At a recent annual service of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association the
chairman observed that "earnest and thoughtful men, occupying pulpits once
dedicated to the propagation of doctrines strictly orthodox, were now
preaching a Gospel, which for liberality and broadmindedness even surpassed
the Unitarianism of three or four generations ago."
Christian Science.
This new science is not new, but is the revival, through satanic powers, of
ancient Gnosticism, a denial of every article of the faith once and for all
delivered unto the saints. Prominent in this system is the denial of the physical
resurrection, and the bodily presence of the Lord Jesus in Glory. It is the
masterpiece of Satan. Its phenomenal growth attracts to its ranks such of the
Christian profession, who were never saved or whose knowledge of the truth
of God is insufficient. There will be no abatement of this great delusion. It will
continue to grow and become more powerful as the Gospel is denied and
God's Word rejected.
Millennial Dawnism.
This is another great and widespread system. In it Satan appears even more so
than in Christian Science as an angel of light. It is offered throughout this land
as "food for Christians" and goes by the name of "Bible Study." One meets it
everywhere. What is it? It is an amalgamation of several of the evil theories
concerning the Person of Christ, denying, like Unitarianism and Christian
Science, the absolute Deity of our Lord. "Pastor" Russell in his books also
denies the physical resurrection of Christ. According to this system the body
of our Lord was either dissolved in its natural gases or is preserved as a
memorial somewhere. This, of course, means the denial of His bodily
presence in heaven. But think of it! To say that the body of our Lord was
dissolved in its natural gases, when the Word so clearly states "He could not
see corruption."
2. The Present Work of Christ; What It Is
As Man in Glory, crowned with glory and honor, He is occupied in a present
work. He is in the presence of God as the Heir of all things. He is the upholder
of all and all things consist by Him. This great universe, with its innumerable
stars and suns, is under His control; it belongs to Him. How man ever since
the fall attempts to penetrate the mysterious depths of the universe! Scientists
with their glasses scan the heavens and try to regain the knowledge of creation,
which was lost by the fall of man. Their discoveries astonish us. How
marvellous the heavens are! How they declare the glory of God and the
firmament His handiwork! Often too has the search of fallen man into the
depths of the universe demonstrated the truth of God given by revelation in
His Word. And yet the great questions we ask of astronomers concerning this
great universe are answered with "we do not know." Some day in the twinkling
of an eye we shall know more about this great universe than all the knowledge
gained by fallen man. But this universe rests in the hands of the Man in Glory.
He is the great central sun around which all revolves. We do not know if there
is any work to be done in connection with the great bodies which we see in the
great space about us. We do not know what changes go on there. But we do
know that all is in His hands. All is under His control.
We must also think of the angels, the heavenly hosts. He has been made, after
His passion, "so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they" (Heb. 1:4). What may go on in this
great world above, the world of unseen spirits, who can tell? But they are all
under His control. How He sends them forth and uses them in His providential
dealings with His people on earth, and how He restrains through these unseen
agencies the wrath of the enemy and the evil work of demons, we do not
know fully. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb. 1:14). This and much else, though not
fully revealed, and hidden from us, belongs also to His present work. We
mention this that we might have a higher estimate of our Lord and realize
anew what a mighty and wonderful Lord we have.
But there is a present work of our Lord in Glory, which
is fully revealed in His Word.
In the first place, He is the Mediator between God and man and being
preached as such to the world, He exercises His office as the Mediator
throughout this present age (1 Tim. 2:5-6). Besides this Mediatorship, He has a
service which concerns those for whom He died and who, by personal faith
have accepted Him as their Saviour.
The Lord Knoweth His Own
"The Lord knoweth them that are His" (2 Tim. 2:19). What a blessed thought
of comfort and cheer it is, which should forever banish fear and unbelief! The
Lord, the One seated there in the Holiest, knows us personally. He knew us
before we ever were in existence. He saw us before the foundation of the
world. He knew all our vileness and the depths of degradation. He knew us
as we wandered in our sins. His loving eyes followed us then. He sought us in
His love and brought us to Himself. He gave us His life and dwells in us.
Each believing sinner, saved by grace, is one Spirit with the Lord. "I know
my sheep." He calleth each by name, like a Shepherd calleth his own sheep.
Again He said "I know them." What a comfort it should be to our hearts, that
He knows each of us by name. He knows our circumstances, trials, difficulties
and temptations. He knows our conflicts and our tears. "He knoweth the way
that I take."
It is very precious! In the 32 Psalm we find the comforting word for one
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, "I will guide thee with
mine eye." ... That eye up yonder, that eye which measures the depths of the
universe, which follows every planet, that eye which neither sleeps nor
slumbers, that all-seeing eye rests upon us. He is occupied with each. The
millions of His people who have lived and died, who passed through life and
are now at home with Him, were each individually the objects of His care. His
loving eye was upon the multitudes of martyrs. He knew and watched that
poor tortured saint, who was cast with broken bones into a dungeon to starve
to death. His power and love rested upon those who were burned or cast
before the wild animals. For each He served and worked. And so He does still.
Oh, the preciousness that each believer is under the loving care of the Man in
Glory, the object of His love. Let us turn to a few Scriptures which reveal this
fact.
Living For Us
In Romans 5:10 we read: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life."
What life is meant by which we are saved? Some have applied it to the life of
the Lord Jesus Christ before His death on the cross, as if that righteous life,
that perfect life, had any saving power in it for us. Hence the teaching that the
righteousness of His life is imputed unto us. This is wrong. The life, of which
this verse speaks, is the life which He lives now in the Presence of God. When
we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. And
now being reconciled, much more are we saved by His life. By His life there,
because He is there, we are saved and kept down here.
Another passage in Romans may be linked with this. Romans 8:34: "Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."
The risen Christ is at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for us.
However, not in the Epistle to the Romans is this present work of Christ as the
intercessor of His redeemed people revealed, but in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
There we read in the ninth chapter, "For Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Heb.9:24).
And again in chapter 7:24,25: "But this man, because he continueth ever, hath
an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them."
But notice all this is not spoken of those who are unsaved and live in sin. The
unsaved who are not yet Christ's, have no share in all this. For the unsaved
world the Lord is not the intercessor. He declared this truth first of all in His
high-priestly prayer, when He said, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world"
(John 17:9).
This was also foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The High Priest in His
garments of Beauty and Glory had upon his shoulders two onyx stones, and
upon his breast a breastplate with twelve stones. Upon both the onyx stones
upon the shoulder and the twelve stones on the breastplate there were names
engraven. But these were not the names of the Egyptians, the Jebusites, the
Amorites or the Hittites, but the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Our high
priest in the highest heaven carries His own upon His shoulders, which typify
His power and upon His bosom He carrieth them; the bosom tells us of His
love. We are the objects of the power and the love of Him who appears in the
presence of God for us. The fact that the names of the Israelites were
engraven upon these precious stones also has a meaning. If they had been
written there, they might be blotted out. They were engraven and could never
be erased. It tells out the blessed truth of our security.
His Priesthood
Two other passages in Hebrews reveal some of the blessed details of the
present priestly work of the Lord in our behalf. "Wherefore in all things it
behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he
is able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:17,18). "Seeing then that we
have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as
we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 4:14-
16).
The first passage tells of the propitiation He made for the sins of the people.
He suffered, being tempted, and this is the basis of His intercessory service.
The passage from the fourth chapter tells us how He was fitted while on earth
for this great office work. While down here He was tempted in all points as we
are, apart from sin. From sin within He could never be tempted for no sin was
in Him. He has gone through the trials, the difficulties and sufferings a man,
who depends on God is subject to while in this world, with the exception of
sin. He has known while on earth every possible difficulty. Now He can be
the merciful and faithful high priest and as such enter into all our sorrows and
trials. He sympathizes with us in all our conflicts and difficulties down here.
However, He does not intercede for the flesh -- He has no sympathy with sin.
By His gracious and unbroken intercession in the sanctuary, He upholds us
individually in the path down here. He gives strength to endure. If it were not
for that intercession, we all would fall by the way. How often God's people
fear troubles and difficulties, losses and bereavements, which might possibly
come. What, if this favored child should be taken from me, how could I stand
it? Or, if I should lose her whom I love? Or my health should fail? Perhaps
my business and income stops, how could I ever stand it? Often that which
we fear comes upon us. That loved one is taken and is put into a grave.
Health fails and the income stops; instead of plenty there is want. But with
the trial, with the loss, there comes such a strength to bear it all, and more than
that, real joy and songs of praise. It is because the great High Priest lives and
intercedes. He knows all about it and in the tenderness of His love and the
might of His power, He takes us in His loving arms whenever trials and
troubles come upon us. At all times under all circumstances He is our
representative before God and thinks of us.
And so it is with our temptations and our warfare with the wicked spirits. The
enemy we have is most powerful and intelligent. He knows how to spread his
nets. His wiles are most subtle. If Satan had his way he would overthrow and
destroy completely the people of God on earth. If it depended on our strength,
we would soon fall. But He knows. His eyes watch the enemy as they watch
us. Peter's case illustrates this perfectly. He saw the old serpent as he moved
on his way towards Peter. He knew the cunning plan Satan had conceived to
ensnare Peter. In Judas he had entered and taken complete possession of the
disciple, who was never born again. He planned to fell Peter completely and
rush him afterwards into despair. But Satan did not reckon with Peter's Lord.
Before the plan could ever be carried out, the Lord had prayed for Peter that
his faith may not fail. And though Peter denied the Lord and fell, the Lord's
gracious intercession kept him through it all. And this is still the case with us.
He prays for us before that foe can ever approach us and thus we can be
victorious in the conflict and should we stumble and fall, as it is so often the
case, then He is the great shepherd "who restoreth my soul." How much we
owe to this blessed, precious present work of our Lord in Glory no one knows.
What blessed revelation there will come to us when we shall know as we are
known, when we look back over our lives and behold what the intercession of
the Lord Jesus accomplished for us and all the Saints of God! We have a great
high priest who is passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
Another phase of His priestly present work is recorded in Heb. 13:15. "By him
therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to his name." He presents our spiritual sacrifices to
God. Our worship, our praise and our prayers we address to God, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, are all imperfect, but as they are presented to
God by Him, they are acceptable unto God and delight the heart of God for
that reason.
His Advocacy
But there is a second aspect of His work in Glory in the presence of God for
His people. He is our advocate with the Father. Some Christians think that the
Priesthood and Advocacy of Christ are one and the same. They are not. His
advocacy is that which restores us. In the first Epistle of John we read of this
phase of His present work. "My little children, these things write I unto you,
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1).
In the preceding chapter our wonderful privilege as the children of God is
made known. We are to be in fellowship with the Father and with His Son
Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Fellowship with the Father is when we
delight ourselves in His blessed Son, who is His delight, when we share the
Father's own thoughts about Him. The Son knoweth the Father and He has
revealed Him and brought us into His own relationship with the Father.
Fellowship with His Son is to enjoy this relationship with the Father. The
condition for the enjoyment of this privilege in reality, fellowship with the
Father and with His Son is, that we walk in the light as He is in the light.
These blessed things were written that we sin not. Sin cannot rob us of
our salvation, but it mars the enjoyment of that fellowship. The standard
is that we sin not, and if we live in constant enjoyment of that blessed
fellowship into which grace has brought us, we do not sin. But how often this
is not the case. We fall into sin. Then the blessed revelation is given: "If any
man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous."
How grateful we ought to be that it does not say: If any man repent.
The Lord's intercession as advocate is independent of our repentance or of our
asking Him to do this for us. It is the exercise of grace in His own loving heart
toward us to restore our souls, to put us back into the place where we can
enjoy His fellowship. The moment the believer sins on earth, He acts as the
Advocate above. The Holy Spirit then likewise acts in that He applies the
Word to convict and cleanse. The cleansing is by the water, the Word, and
not a second time by the blood. Then follows confession from our side and the
restoration is effected. Also notice that it does not say "we have an Advocate
with God," but "with the Father." It is a family matter, and the Father is a
Father who can do nothing but love those whom He has brought to Himself
through His Son. The conception that the Father is angry with His sinning child
on earth, and that the Son of God by His pleadings inclines the heart of God to
be merciful, is an unscriptural one.
Another reason why He acts thus as Advocate is Satan, the accuser of the
brethren. He still has access into the presence of God. The day will come
when He is cast out of heaven, but that day will not come until the church has
been caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,
Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the
power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accused them before our God day and night" (Rev. 12:9-10).
Because Satan accuses God's people before God day and night, the Advocate
is there to rebuke him. Every attack by accusation of the sinning children of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ meets with the fact that He made propitiation; He
died for their sins.
He Shall not Fail nor be Discouraged
And this work of Himself as our Priest, the merciful and faithful High Priest
and our Advocate goes on up yonder uninterruptedly. In Isaiah we find a word
which speaks of Him, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged." Well may we
apply this to His present work as Priest and Advocate of His own. As Priest
He will never fail.
He will never fail in being about His own, in keeping them and sustaining
them, in sending them help from the sanctuary in time of need. As Advocate
He will not be discouraged. The same old failures in our lives, which humble
us and break us down, but He continues in this service in behalf of His poor
sinning people. Some Christians do not believe in the fundamental doctrine of
the Gospel, that a child of God in possession of eternal life can never be lost.
They think it depends on their walk and service. If one of His own could ever
be lost again, if even the weakest, the most imperfect could be snatched out of
His hands, His present work would be a failure as well as His finished work on
the cross. But read the great high priestly prayer He left for us in John 17.
There He prays the Father, who heareth Him always, that His own may be
kept.
His Work for the Church
Another aspect of His present work is what He does for His church. We can
but briefly indicate what this means.
He is in glory the Head of the church. The church is His body, the fullness of
Him, that filleth all in all.
Every believing sinner is a member in that body. The risen Lord Himself adds
new members to that body. He puts each member into the body as it pleases
Him. Each member is guided and directed by Himself. He supplies this body
with gifts.
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-13).
Thus He builds up from the Glory His own body. Some day that body will be
complete. Then we all come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ. That will be when we see Him as He is. Then His present work in
behalf of His own, His coheirs, will be finished. Brought home from this
wilderness to the Father's house -- safe home -- there will be no need any
longer for His power and love to sustain us. No more tears will then be shed,
no more wounds of pain and sorrow to be soothed, no more help is needed for
the time of need; all that is passed. Nor does He then need to exercise His
office as Advocate, for we are delivered forever from the presence of sin and
sanctified wholly body, soul and spirit. Sinning is then an impossibility. What a
happy, glorious day that will be!
3. The Practical Results of His Present Work in the
Christian's Life.
The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is in Glory occupied with us should lead us
into a holy life which glorifies Him. That loving eye is never withdrawn from
us. If we were to remember this constantly, what a power this would be in our
lives! How many things would remain undone, how many words unspoken,
and how many other things done, if we were constantly conscious of that eye
which is upon us individually. He represents us before God, and we are to
represent Him before men. A Christian is called to manifest Christ to be His
representative. And such a life, which is unto His Praise and Glory, is made
possible through His blessed intercessory work and His presence in heaven. A
true Christian life depends much on this heart occupation with the Person and
work of Christ. As His presence up yonder and His service for us is a reality to
our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit, we shall walk worthy of the
Lord, and His blessed work for us will constantly be felt in our lives here on
earth. What a joy it is then, as we reckon only with Him, who knows us, to
serve Him, to depend on Him. And how we should shun anything which
grieves Him.
Encouragement for Prayer
These blessed facts of the Lord's loving interest in us and our life in this
present evil age, surrounded by dangers and evils of all kinds, will be a great
encouragement to us in our prayer life. We can go and tell Him all about that
which troubles us. If He is interested in everything which happens to us, down
to the smallest matter, then we can go to Him in prayer and tell Him about it.
Some Christians teach that we should not do this, but leave it all in His hands
without praying for it, satisfied that His will be done. But this is contrary to
Scripture, for it says that in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving we are to make our requests known (Phil. 4:6). He delights to
have us tell Him, and like John's disciples we can go to Him and tell Him. His
ear is always open. If in His service we become tired and weary, we can tell
Him, for He was tired on account of the way. If hungry or without a resting
place, He knows what that means, for He passed through this. If lonely and
our best services are misunderstood, or the fiery darts of the enemy are aimed
against us, we can speak to Him about it. All this can be so very real to us if
we but go on led by His Spirit.
Deliverance from Worry
It should make an end of all worry and anxiety. We may possess a divine
carelessness. Be careful for nothing. Have no anxiety. Why should we worry
or be anxious? Worry is the child of unbelief. Anxiety can never stay if the
eyes of the heart behold the man in Glory and faith realizes that all is in the
hands of One "who doeth all things well." Worry and anxiety accuse Him.
Martha did that when she was encumbered with much service and then said
to Him, "Dost Thou not care?" Each time we give way to anxiety, we act as
if He did not care. But He does; and He would have us rest in faith and
commit all to Himself.
Sharing His Work
In conclusion we must not forget that He permits us to have some share in this
blessed work of His. While He prays for us, we can pray one for another, and
for all the saints. He intercedes; we can intercede. He washes our feet, typical
of the cleansing by the Word. We are to wash one another's feet. He carries
our burdens, but the exhortation also is that we carry one another's burden. He
forgives and restores. We are to forbear one another, and forgive one another,
even as Christ forgave us (Col. 3:13).
Next: Part 3- His Future Work
The Work of Christ: Past, Present and Future by A. C. Gaebelein. New York:
Publication Office "Our Hope", ©1913.
The Work of Christ: Past, Present and Future...
INTRO
PART 1 - HIS PAST WORK
PART 2 - HIS PRESENT WORK
PART 3 - HIS FUTURE WORK
| The Work of Christ Past, Present and Future by Arno C. Gaebelein |
