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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/26643-h.zip b/26643-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9d94f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/26643-h.zip diff --git a/26643-h/26643-h.htm b/26643-h/26643-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c432ccd --- /dev/null +++ b/26643-h/26643-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2215 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Work of Christ, by A. C. Gaebelein</title> +<style type="text/css"> + body {background:#fdfdfd; + color:black; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + margin-top:100px; + margin-left:12%; + margin-right:12%; + text-align:justify; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + hr.narrow { width: 50%; + text-align: center; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red; + text-decoration: underline; } + pre {font-size: 80%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Work Of Christ, by A. C. Gaebelein + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Work Of Christ + Past, Present and Future + +Author: A. C. Gaebelein + +Release Date: September 17, 2008 [EBook #26643] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORK OF CHRIST *** + + + + +Produced by Carl D. DuBois + + + + + +</pre> + + +<center> +<h2>THE</h2> +<h1>WORK OF CHRIST</h1> +<h2>PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE</h2> +<br> +<h3>BY<br> +A. C. GAEBELEIN</h3> +<h4>Editor of “Our Hope”</h4> +<br><br> + +<h4>Price 50 Cents Postpaid</h4> +<br><br> + +<h3>PUBLICATION OFFICE “OUR HOPE”</h3> +<h4>456 FOURTH AVENUE<br> +NEW YORK CITY<br> +PICKERING & INGLIS<br> +<small>GLASGOW, SCOTLAND</small></h4> +<br><br> + +<h5>COPYRIGHT, A. C. GAEBELEIN, 1913</h5> +<br><br> + +<h5>Printed by<br> +FRANCIS EMORY FITCH, INC.<br> +47 Broad Street<br> +New York</h5> +<br><br> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +</center> + +<a href="#thework">The Work of Christ</a><br><br> +<a href="#past">His Past Work</a><br><br> +<a href="#present">His Present Work</a><br><br> +<a href="#future">His Future Work</a><br><br> + +<a name="thework"></a> +<center><h1>THE WORK OF CHRIST</h1></center> + +<p>THE Word of God reveals, that all things were created by and for the +Son of God. “All things were made by Him and without Him was not +anything made that was made” (John i:3). “For by Him were all +things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and +invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or +powers; all things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. i:16). +When this perfect creation was ruined by the entrance of sin, when man +fell and all creation on account of that fall was brought into the +bondage of corruption, the work of redemption became a necessity. No +creature of God was fitted or fit to do this. Only the Son of God, the +Creator Himself, could undertake this mighty work and accomplish it to +the Praise and Glory of God. To do this great work, He had to appear on +this earth in the form of man.</p> + +<center><h3><b>A Threefold Aspect.</b></h3></center> + +<p>This work of the Son of God has a threefold aspect. It is a past +work, a present work, and beyond the present, there is His future work. +His work and service will terminate when He delivers up the kingdom, so +that God will be all in all (1 Cor. xv:24-28). This threefold aspect of +His work corresponds to His threefold office as Prophet, Priest and +King. It has a special meaning for the church. In Ephesians v:25-27, we +read of this. He loved the church and gave Himself for it; this is His +past work. Since then He is sanctifying the church by the washing of +water by the Word, and in the future He will present it to Himself, a +glorious church. In virtue of this threefold work of our Lord, believers +are saved, are being saved, and will be saved. This threefold work has +also a significance for the people Israel. When He came and went to the +cross, “He died for that nation” (John xi:42). During the +present age His earthly people are not cast away; their miraculous +preservation on earth, their continued, separate existence is due to +Himself. In the future when He appears as their Redeemer and claims the +purchased possession, He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And to +this we might also add the relation of His work to creation itself, the +nations of the earth, and to Satan and his rule.</p> + +<p>These brief remarks show the importance of distinguishing between +this threefold aspect of His work. A Christian who is ignorant of it +must be confused in his conception of the truth. He is unable to +understand the Word of God, and is unsettled, and even miserable in his +Christian experience. Such, alas! is the present condition of a large +number of professing Christians. Many are ignorant of what the finished +work of Christ on the cross means. On account of this ignorance, they +are ever trying to do what God has done for them. How many more are at +sea about their position in Christ, and know next to nothing of the +priestly work of Christ. The confusion is the greatest in respect to His +future work as King. Our theme is therefore an important one. But even +God’s people, who in a measure have laid hold of these truths, need +constantly to be reminded of it and need to have all this through the +Spirit’s power, as a greater reality in their lives.</p><br><br> + +<a name="past"></a> +<center><h3><b>I.<br> +HIS PAST WORK.</b></h3></center> + +<p>His past work was accomplished by Him when he became incarnate. It +was finished when He died on Calvary’s cross. We have therefore to +consider first of all these fundamentals of our faith.</p> + +<p><b>I. The Work of the Son of God is foreshadowed and predicted in the +Old Testament Scriptures.</b></p> + +<p><b>II. The incarnation of the Son of God.</b></p> + +<p><b>III. His Work on the cross and what has been accomplished by +it.</b></p> + +<center><h3><b>I.</b></h3></center> + +<p>Through the Old Testament Scriptures, God announced beforehand the +work of His Son. This is a great theme and one which needs to be +emphasized. These foreshadowings and predictions were made in different +ways. First we might mention the appearance from time to time on earth +of a supernatural Being. This Being was the Son of God. As soon as sin +had entered, He appeared on the scene seeking those who were lost. He +Himself announced the promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise +the serpent’s head. He indicated in Genesis iii:15, His +incarnation, His redemptive work on the cross and His final victory over +the enemy of God. Then He covered the nakedness of His creatures by +making them coats of skin. For the first time in the Word of God, it was +made known by this act what the blessed fruit of His atoning work would +be.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Manifestations of Jehovah.</b></h3></center> + +<p>And the same Jehovah appeared in visible form unto Abraham. He came +as traveller accompanied by two angels. He ate in the presence of +Abraham, who worshipped and addressed Him as Lord. This Being was none +other than the Son of God, the same who after His resurrection appeared +to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus as a traveller, and who, at +another occasion, ate of a honeycomb and a piece of fish. In His +presence Abraham interceded. This Lord, who visited Abraham later, made +fire and brimstone fall from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah; He executed +judgment. He appeared unto Jacob and was the mysterious man who wrestled +with him at Peniel; later Jacob called Him “The Angel, the +Redeemer.” Repeatedly we hear of Him as “The Angel of the +Lord,” not a created angel, but an uncreated Being. Moses saw Him +in the burning bush, and heard His voice. And while He is spoken of as +the angel of the Lord, He revealed Himself as Jehovah and made this Name +known to Moses. He was with Israel in the wilderness and dwelled with +them in the Glory cloud. He guided them, supplied their need, protected +them, judged them and overthrew their enemies. To Joshua He appeared and +manifested Himself as “The captain over the Lord’s +hosts.” Manoah and his wife saw Him, and witnessed His ascension +into heaven, in the smoke and fire of the sacrifice. Isaiah, Ezekiel and +Daniel gazed upon His Glory. All these were but foreshadowings and +glimpses of the two great manifestations of the Son of God on earth, as +they are necessitated by His work, His manifestation in humiliation and +His manifestation in power and glory.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Other Foreshadowings of His Work.</b></h3></center> + +<p>But there are other foreshadowings of His work. All the divinely +given institutions and many of the historical events recorded in the Old +Testament foreshadow His work. History, as recorded in the Old +Testament, is the preliminary history of the incarnation. The whole +sacrificial system of the levitical priesthood told out beforehand, in +many ways, what the great redemptive work of the Lamb of God was to be. +Each offering and sacrifice revealed the different phases of His work on +the cross, as well as His holy and spotless humanity. The sufferings of +Christ and their meaning for lost sinners were thus made known. From +Abel’s lamb to the last lamb, which died before the true Lamb of +God uttered the never to be forgotten words on the cross, “It is +finished,” the thousands of lambs and bulls and goats, the +innumerable herds of animals slain, were all types of the one great +sacrifice, brought on Calvary’s cross. The tabernacle in all its +appointments, down to the minutest details, had I some meaning in +connection with the Person of Him who is “Wonderful” and His +wonderful work. And what else could we say of the historical events, +such as the Passover, the passage through the Red Sea, the brazen +serpent hung up in the wilderness. And to this we might add how men in +their experiences, like Isaac, Joseph, David and others foreshadowed the +sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Direct Prophecies.</b></h3></center> + +<p>Still more numerous are the direct prophecies announcing the +different phases of the work of Christ. That He should appear as man, +how and where He should be born, His life, His service, His miracles, +all was repeatedly foretold by the Prophets. But the great mass of +predictions concern His sufferings as the sin-bearer and His glories as +the King. None of the details of His sufferings were omitted. Think, for +instance, of the predictions contained in the xxii Psalm. Death by +crucifixion was unknown among the Jewish people. No nation in touch with +Israel, living at that time, put human beings to death in that way. It +was reserved for cruel Rome to invent death; by crucifixion. Yet in this +Psalm there is given by divine inspiration a complete picture of that +unknown mode of death by crucifixion. We read of His hands and feet +pierced, the bones out of joint, the excessive thirst, the tongue +cleaving to the jaws. And so we find His resurrection, His presence with +God, His coming again and His Kingdom of Righteousness and Glory +foretold in the Prophets.</p> + +<center><h3><b>The Inspiration of the Old Testament.</b></h3></center> + +<p>We emphasize these facts of divine foreshadowing and prediction, +because in these last days thousands of men have arisen throughout +Christendom who boldly deny the inspiration of the Old Testament. They +would have us believe that all these wonderful predictions are of human +origin. They brand nearly everything as legend, and declare that there +are no Messianic predictions in the Bible, that God did not speak to the +Prophets concerning His Son and His work. Such a denial of the +revelation of God in the Old Testament Scriptures is but the vanguard of +the denial of the Son of God and His work. “Denying the Master that +bought them” (2 Peter ii:1), is the leading phase of apostate +Christendom in the last days. It is Anti-christianity. This denial is +preceded by a denial of the written Word of God. The higher criticism, +so called, is Satan’s leaven which leavens the theological +institutions of Christendom and is fully preparing an empty Christian +profession for the reception of the Man of Sin. To believe that these +marvelous, harmonious predictions and fore-shadowings contained in the +Old Testament are the productions of clever men, legends put together by +evil men, who claimed to have received them from God, is far more +difficult than to believe that they are given by divine revelation.</p> + +<center><h3><b>II.<br> The Incarnation of the Son of +God.</b></h3></center> + +<p>And now let us turn to the great truth and fact of the Incarnation of +the Son of God. When the fulness of time had come, that is the appointed +time, the Son of God appeared on earth in the form of man. The Word +which was in the beginning, the Word that was with the Father, the Word +that was God, the Word by whom all things were made, that Word was made +flesh and dwelt on earth. He who subsisted in the form of God, emptied +Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the +likeness of men.</p> + +<p> The incarnation is a deep mystery, the depths of which human reason +can never fathom. We must approach it in the spirit of deep reverence. +“Take off thy shoes from thy feet for the ground whereon thou +standest is holy ground!” In the first chapter of the Gospel of +Luke, we have the record of the divine announcement of the incarnation +as it was made to the virgin, who had found favor in the sight of God. +As she sat in the house, perhaps engaged in holy meditation, the angel +Gabriel appeared unto her with the message from the throne of God. Was +there ever such a message given to Gabriel before? Great as the +revelation was which he was commissioned to carry to praying Daniel, the +communication to the Virgin Mary here is far greater.</p> + +<center><h3><b>The Incarnation Announced.</b></h3></center> + +<p>We read in Luke i:35: “And the angel of the Lord said unto her, +The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall +overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing, which shall be born of +thee, shall be called the Son of God.” Let us notice the two great +statements given about His incarnation. “The Holy Spirit shall come +upon thee.” From the Gospel of Matthew we learn the full meaning of +this statement. “That which is begotten in her is of the Holy +Ghost.” Therefore His human nature was produced in the virgin by +the creative action of the Holy Spirit. Because His human nature was +thus produced, it was a nature without sin; not only did He not sin, but +He could not sin. He was sinless, absolutely holy, because He was +conceived by the Holy Spirit.</p> + +<p>The second statement is: “And the power of the Highest shall +overshadow thee.” This is not a repetition of the same truth as +contained in the first statement. If this too would mean the Holy +Spirit, we would have to conclude that the Holy Spirit is the Father of +Him who became incarnate. We read at once after this second statement, +“Therefore that Holy Thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be +called the Son of God.” The power of the Highest does not mean the +power of the Holy Spirit. It is none other than the Son of God Himself. +The eternal Son of God, He who is God, overshadowed her and this +overshadowing meant the union of Himself with the human nature created +by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary.</p> + +<p>He is called “that Holy Thing.” He is something entirely +new, a Being which cannot be classified. And then we read again, +“That Holy Thing shall be called the Son of God.” It does not +say “shall be the Son of God;” such He ever was. Incarnation +did not make Him Son of God. He shall be called Son of God; God +manifested in the flesh.</p> + +<p>Much time could be spent in adding to these remarks, or in reviewing +the different attempts which have been made to explain the great +mystery. We might also enumerate all the evil teachings and theories +which are the results of attempted explanations. But all this would be +but waste of time. No human mind can fathom the depths of the +incarnation, nor fully grasp the wonderful personality of the God-Man, +the Lord Jesus Christ. Far better it is to abide by these simple +declarations of the Word of God, than to enter into speculations, which +can never solve this great mystery.</p> + +<p>A certain American statesman was once asked, “Can you comprehend +how Jesus Christ could be both God and Man?” The great thinker +replied, “No, sir; I cannot. And I would be ashamed to acknowledge +Him as my Saviour if I could, for then He would not be greater than +myself.”</p> + +<p>This is very true indeed. With joyful and grateful hearts we believe +the great revelation given to us in God’s holy Word, that God so +loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and that the Son of +God left Heaven’s Glory and came to this earth. He emptied Himself +and appeared in the form of the creature. This, however, does not mean +what an evil theory, by the name of “Kenosis,” teaches, that +He emptied Himself of His Godhead. He emptied Himself of His outward +Glory. The child which rested on the bosom of Mary is the One, who ever +was in the bosom of the Father. Listen once more to the language of the +xxii Psalm. “I was cast upon thee from the womb; Thou art my God +from my mother’s belly. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my +mother’s breasts.” What mere human child could have ever said +this truthfully? Nor is this the language of a poet. The child born in +Bethlehem alone could speak thus.</p> + +<center><h3><b>The Foundation of the Gospel.</b></h3></center> + +<p>The incarnation is the great foundation of the whole Gospel. No +incarnation means no Gospel, no Hope and no God. The person who denies +this truth has no right whatever to the name of Christian. At no time +has the denial of this great foundation truth been so pronounced and +widespread as in our times. Men believing themselves wise, in possession +of greater knowledge than former generations, turn their backs upon +revelation. The miracle, including the incarnation, is denied. And this +denial is not from the side of outspoken infidels alone, but those who +profess to be teachers of Christianity are the foremost leaders in it. +We mention Reginald Campbell and his followers in the so-called +“New Theology.” And the hundreds of evangelical preachers, who +wished this man Godspeed during his recent visit to America, who passed +resolutions of thanks, after listening to his subtle infidelity, are, in +the light of 2 John 10, partakers of his sin. And then there is that +Anti-christian system, known by the name of Christian Science. In its +so-called philosophical, in reality, satanic utterances, it opposes the +revelation of God and denies that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh. +That evil book, “Science and Health,” to which we readily +accord inspiration, not from above, but from below, teaches “The +Virgin Mary conceived the idea of God and gave to her ideal the name of +Jesus;” and again “Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s +self-communion with God.”</p> + +<p>It is a comfort to believers in these evil days to remember, that +such a rejection of the doctrine of Christ, His Person and His work, is +predicted in the Bible to take place immediately before the Lord comes. +The end of the age is upon us. These denials will not decrease, but +become more numerous.</p> + +<center><h3><b>The Purpose of the Incarnation.</b></h3></center> + +<p>And what was the purpose of the incarnation? By incarnation the +invisible God was made known to man. The Lord Jesus Christ is the image +of the invisible God. No man hath seen God at any time, the only +Begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared Him. As One +with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ could say, “Whosoever seeth +Me, seeth the Father.”</p> + +<p>The attributes of God were made known by Him in incarnation. We +behold the holiness of God in that holy life, which was lived on earth +to glorify the Father. He manifested omniscience. He knew what was in +men and knew their thoughts. He manifested the power of God in +controlling the forces of nature, commanding the wind and the waves, +turning water into wine. He had power over disease, over the demons and +over death. He revealed the Love and the compassion of God.</p> + +<p>By incarnation the Son of God brought likewise the Word of God to +man. “God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time +past unto the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken +unto us by His Son” (Hebrews i:1). He confirmed the Law and the +Prophets, therefore all criticism of the Old Testament attacks the +authority and infallibility of the Son of God. He also revealed the will +of God, made known the Father and the fact of eternal life, and the +eternal and conscious punishment of the wicked. He predicted the great +future events concerning Himself and His Kingdom, the end of the age and +His visible Return.</p> + +<p>The incarnation was necessary in anticipation of His work as the +Priest of His people. He was to be after His death on the cross and +after resurrection, the merciful and faithful High Priest. Such He is +now. He took part of flesh and blood, we read in the second chapter of +Hebrews, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest. He was +tempted in all things as we are, with the exception of sin. He suffered +in being tempted so that He might be touched with the feeling of our +infirmities and succour them that are tempted. And all He was to be and +is now, the Second Man, the last Adam, the head of the church, the head +of the new creation, all and much else necessitated His incarnation.</p> + +<center><h3><b>What Incarnation could not Accomplish.</b></h3></center> + +<p>However, the great purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God was +His work of redemption. For this great purpose He came into the world. +He came that, after a life, which completely glorified the Father and +upheld His holy law and vindicated God’s rights as the lawgiver, He +might accomplish the great work of atonement. John stated this great +work the Son of God came to do in a brief sentence, “Behold the +Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Sin, that +accursed thing, had to be taken out of the way. Propitiation for sins +had to be made. A sacrifice had to be brought which would glorify a holy +God and satisfy, as well as exalt, His righteousness. Peace had to be +made. The sins of many had to be paid and the full penalty of them to be +borne.</p> + +<p>Incarnation in itself, the marvelous and ever blessed humiliation of +the Son of God by taking on the human form, His holy blessed life, His +loving words, words of life and peace, yea, all He did in deeds of love +and compassion could never accomplish this. Incarnation brought God to +Man, but could never bring man back to a holy God. Incarnation could not +make an end of sin, nor make it possible for a righteous God to show +mercy to the fallen and the lost, in a righteous way. This great work of +redemption could only be accomplished by His death on the cross. For +this He had come. He came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. +The Author and Prince of Life came that He might give His Life a ransom +for many. The good Shepherd appeared to give His life for the sheep. By +His death alone, the great work of redemption could be accomplished.</p> + +<center><h3><b>III.<br> His work on the Cross and What has been +Accomplished by It.</b></h3></center> + +<p>And now let us consider His work on the cross and what has been +accomplished by it. But who is able to speak worthily of this theme of +all themes? Who can fathom the solemn yet blessed fact, the death of the +Son of God on the cross? What tongue or pen can describe the sad, yet +glorious truth, that the Just One died for the unjust, that Christ died +for the ungodly! He who knew no sin was made sin for us! And what human +mind can estimate the wonderful results of His work on the cross!</p> + +<p>Some Christians speak as if the death on the cross, the work +accomplished there, is so fully known to them, that they do not need any +more instruction on it. They tell us that they search for deeper things. +There can be nothing deeper than the death of God’s Son on the +cross. Depths are here which are unfathomable. We must ever turn back to +the cross. Always we shall learn something new. With unspeakable Glory +upon us and greater glory before us in eternal ages to come, the cross +of Christ and the Lamb of God which has taken away the sin of the world +can never be forgotten. But we shall never know what that death on the +cross meant for Him and what it meant to God.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Made Sin for Us.</b></h3></center> + +<p>In Hebrews x we read of the sacrifices which were offered by the Jews +year after year. These sacrifices could not take away sin. Then He, the +Son of God, stepped forward and made His great declaration. Coming into +the world He saith, “Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but +a body hast Thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins +Thou hadst no pleasure” (verses 4-5). The body prepared puts before +us again the fact of incarnation. That body was a prepared body, a holy +body, an undefiled body, a body in which sin could not dwell and on +which death had no claim. But when He took on that body, He likewise +said: “Lo? come to do Thy will, O God.” In the tenth verse we +read, “By the which will (the will of God, which dates back before +the foundation of the world), we are sanctified through the offering of +the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Through the eternal Spirit +He offered Himself without spot to God. The holy Lamb of God, with no +spot or blemish upon Him, shed His precious blood on the cross, to +procure redemption. But what it all meant for Him who was as truly Man +as He is God! Here was a Being perfectly holy, One who had always +pleased God and did His will, yea, His meat and drink was to do the will +of Him that sent Him. Sin was the horrible defiling thing to Him. He, +too, like the holy God, hated and hates sin. And yet such a One was made +sin for us. He had to stand in the place of guilty sinners and all the +waves and billowy of divine judgment and wrath had to pass over Him. He +drank the cup of wrath to the last drop. He suffered in a fourfold +way.</p> + +<p>1. <b>In Himself.</b> Before He ever approached the +garden of Gethsemane, He was troubled in His spirit. We hear Him say, +“Now my soul is troubled—Father, save me from this hour, but +for this cause came I to this hour.” He looked on towards the +cross. And why that agony in the garden? Why was His sweat as it were +great drops of blood? Why the repeated prayer, “Father, if it is +possible, let this cup pass from me?” How many dishonoring +explanations have been written of the Gethsemane suffering, as if He was +afraid to die or that the devil tried to kill Him there to prevent his +death on the cross, and that He feared the devil. But what was it? He +suffered in Himself. His holy soul shrank from that which a holy God must +hate, that which He hated—SIN. He was about to be made sin and He +knew no sin. What suffering this produced in the Holy One of God to take +all upon Himself and to stand in the sinner’s place before a holy +sin-hating God, our poor finite minds cannot realize.</p> + +<p>2. <b>He suffered from men.</b> This he had foretold. When man, +guilty man, cast Himself upon the willing victim, all the wickedness and +vileness and cruelty man is capable of committing was brought out and +spent upon the blessed Son of God. The scourging, the buffeting, the +mocking, the spitting and the shame connected with it, the shame of the +cross, He despised. How that sensitive body must have quivered under it +all!</p> + +<p>3. <b>He suffered from the devil.</b> He had tempted him. +Nothing was left undone, what this wonderful Being could do. All His +cunning and powers were brought into use, with the one purpose to keep +Him from going to the cross and dying in the sinner’s place. And +when at last he could not keep Him from going to the cross, then he cast +himself upon the victim and heaped all his hatred and malice upon Him. +He used man in all this awful work and no doubt the legions of demons. +And in all this the Son of God was as a lamb, which is dumb before the +shearers. He opened not His mouth.</p> + +<p>4. <b>But the greatest of all, He suffered from God.</b> +With hushed breath, we must speak of this. It is the Holy of Holies of +the great work on the cross, the impenetrable mystery of the atoning +work of the Son of God. From the darkness which enshrouded the cross and +the blessed sufferer on the accursed tree, there came the mournful cry: +“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” It made known the +awful suffering, which the Lamb of God, the substitute of sinners, +endured from the hand of a holy God. He was smitten and afflicted of +God. Have you noticed that in the xxii Psalm this cry of the sufferer on +the cross stands first? Man would have written the sufferings of Christ +in a far different way. The descriptions of the sufferings not written +by inspiration would have been in this wise: The physical sufferings, +how they scourged Him, all the sickening details of that which even +cruel Rome called the intermediate death, would have been pictured. Then +would have followed a description of how the nails were driven into the +blessed hands who had lovingly touched so many weary, sin-laden and +disease-stricken bodies. All the agony of the cross and its shame would +have been described first by man. Then how the multitude mocked and +darkness came over the entire scene—then last of all, it would have +been stated, He cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? But +the Holy Spirit in this great Prophecy puts the cry of deepest agony +first. Why? Because in that hour the great work of atonement, +propitiation, sin-bearing, judgment and wrath enduring, was once and for +all accomplished. In this same Psalm we read what men energized by +Satan’s power, did unto Him. But man could not put Him to death. It +is written, “Thou (that is God) hast brought me into the dust of +death.” God’s own hand rested upon Him. “God laid upon +Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah liii:6). “It pleased the +Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.” And elsewhere we +read, what refers to the same atoning work of our Lord when He stood in +the sinner’s place.</p> + +<p>“All Thy waves and billows go over me” (Ps. xlii:7).</p> + +<p>“Thine arrows stick fast in Me” (Ps. xxxviii:2).</p> + +<p>“Thine hand presses me sore” (Ps. xxxviii:2).</p> + +<p>“Thou hast laid me into the lowest pit” (Ps. +lxxxviii:6).</p> + +<p>“Thy wrath lieth hard upon me” (Ps. lxxxviii:7).</p> + +<p>“Thy fierce wrath goeth over me” (Ps. lxxxviii:16).</p> + +<p>“I suffer Thy terrors” (Ps. lxxxviii:15).</p> + +<p>But what it all meant for the Son of God! Who can tell out His sorrow +and deep affliction? Never shall we fully discover the greatness of the +price which was paid. The death of the cross, it has been truly said, +stands perfectly alone. It can never be repeated and because of its +eternal efficacy, will never need to be repeated.</p> + +<center><h3><i>It is Finished.</i></h3></center> + +<p>And this great work He came to do, is finished. “It is +finished!” thus He spoke on the cross and the words assure us that +all is done. The rent veil and the open tomb tell us “It is +finished.” But what has been accomplished in this blessed work? We +cannot fully grasp it now as long as we look into a glass darkly. When +at last we are brought into His Presence, transformed into His own +image, when we shall have share with Him in His glorious inheritance, +when at last sin and death are no more and a new heaven and new earth +are called into existence, then shall we more fully know what that work +has accomplished. All, ALL we have and are, all we shall have and shall +be as His own, has its blessed source in the cross of Christ.</p> + +<p>He died for all. He gave Himself a ransom for all. He tasted death +for every man. He is the propitiation for the whole world (not for the +sins of the whole world, else the whole world would be saved). It means +His work is available to all sinners. Upon that fact that He died for +all, the Gospel is preached to lost and guilty sinners. Christ died for +the ungodly. “Whosoever will”—“Whosoever +believeth,” these are the precious conditions of the Gospel of +Grace which sounds forth from the finished work of Christ on the cross. +And all who believe on Him and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their +Saviour, for them He bore their sins on the cross. Each believing sinner +can look back to the cross and can say, “He loved me, He gave +Himself for me.” He paid my debt. He bore my sins in His own body +on the tree. He stood in my place. He was my substitute. He tasted death +for me.</p> + +<p>Much of the evil teachings of the present day, such as universal +salvation, larger hope, millennial dawnism, etc., emanate from the fact +that propitiation and substitution are not correctly understood. +Propitiation is the Godward side of the sacrifice of Christ, with this +God is satisfied. The propitiation is for the whole world. This does +not mean that the whole world is therefore to be saved. He bore the sins +of many—not the sins of all. He was the substitute on the cross +only for such who believe on Him.</p> + +<p>And what do we possess who have believed on Him, own Him as our +Saviour and our Substitute? Many Scriptures might be read in answer to +this question. We cannot do so, but shall mention briefly a few things +which all believing sinners share on account of the finished work of +Christ on the cross.</p> + +<p><b>We have a perfect justification.</b> All our sins are forever put +away, because they were borne and paid for by His death on the cross. +The Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. All has +been righteously and forever settled. “Who shall bring any +accusation against God’s elect? It is God who justifies, who is he +that condemns? It is Christ who has died.” “There is therefore +now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.” <b>We have perfect +Peace with God.</b> Peace has been made in the blood of the cross. It +can never be unmade. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus +Christ. He is our Peace. So many Christians think their peace with God +depends on their walk and service. If they sin, they think they have +lost their peace and their standing before God and unless they are +restored, they will be lost forever. Not our walk and service, not +anything we have done, we do or shall do, is the ground of peace with +God, but what God has done for us in Christ’s atoning on the +cross.</p> + +<p>Then <b>we have a perfect acceptance and standing before God; perfect +nearness and access to God.</b> We are made nigh by the blood. With no +more conscience of sins, we can stand in God’s own presence, purged +and cleansed, complete in Him, as near to God as He is.</p> + +<p>His blessed work on the cross has made an end of the old man. We are +dead to the world, to self, to sin, to the law. The old man was +crucified with Christ. “Sin shall have no more dominion over +you.” This is the blessed message from the cross. <b>We have +deliverance from the power of darkness and a perfect title to an eternal +inheritance.</b> No uncertainty is attached to all this. We have +salvation, are saved, forever secure, Sons of God, Heirs of God indwelt +by the Holy Spirit, and much else, on account of the finished work of +Christ on the cross.</p> + +<p>And to all this we add that on the cross He loved the church and gave +Himself for it. There He died for Israel and as a result the remnant of +that people will some day be delivered from iniquity and perverse-ness, +as Balaam, beheld them, “no iniquity in Jacob and no perverseness +in Israel” (Numbers xxiii:21). Groaning creation will ultimately be +freed from the bondage of corruption and brought into the liberty of the +sons of God, because He shed His blood on the cross. All things in +heaven and on the earth (not things under the earth) will be reconciled +in virtue of the death of Christ on the cross.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Ye are not Your Own.</b></h3></center> + +<p>Let us remember as such who have been reconciled and have redemption +through His blood that we are bought with a price. “Ye are not your +own for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, +and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. vi:20). Through +His death we are positionally dead; all who believe on Him have died. We +are dead to the law, to the world, to sin. But are we truly living, +walking and acting as such who have died, dead to sin and alive unto +God? A child of God who walks after the flesh practically denies the +power and value of the blessed finished work of Christ on the cross.</p> + +<p>Let us exalt in our lives, by our words and deeds, the cross of +Christ. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of +our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I +unto the world” (Gal. vi:14).</p><br><br> + +<a name="present"></a> +<center><h3><b>II.<br> +HIS PRESENT WORK.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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 the future work, He works out this +great redemption into result.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>I.<br> The Bodily Presence of Christ in +Glory.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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. i:19). And God not alone raised Him +from the dead, but He gave Him glory (1 Peter i:21).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. xv: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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>His Physical Resurrection.</b></h3></center> + +<p>His resurrection from the dead was God’s answer to His prayers +with strong crying and tears.</p> + +<p>“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered 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. v:27).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 nailprints 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 myself; handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as +ye see me have” (Luke xxiv: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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Passing through the Heavens.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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 xlvii: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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>A Fundamental Truth Denied.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>1. <b>Unitarianism.</b> 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 <b>even surpassed the Unitarianism of three or four +generations ago.”</b></p> + +<p>2. <b>Christian Science.</b> 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.</p> + +<p>3. <b>Millennial Dawnism.</b> 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.”</p> + +<center><h3><b>II.<br> + +The Present Work of Christ; What It Is.</b></h3></center> + +<p>As Man in Glory, crowned with glory and honor, He is occupied in a +present work.</p> + +<p>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 marvelous 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.</p> + +<p>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. i: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 to them, who shall be heirs +of salvation” (Heb. i: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.</p> + +<p>But there is a present work of our Lord in Glory, which is fully +revealed in His Word.</p> + +<p>In the first place, He is the <b>Mediator</b> 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. ii: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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>The Lord Knoweth His Own.</b></h3></center> + +<p>“The Lord knoweth them that are His.” 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 which I take.”</p> + +<p>It is very precious! In the xxxii Psalm we find the comforting word +for one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, “I +will guide thee with mine eye,” or as it should read, “I will +guide thee with mine eye upon thee.” 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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Living for Us.</b></h3></center> + +<p>In Romans v:10 we read:</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Another passage in Romans may be linked with this. Romans +viii:34:</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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, <b>now to appear in the +presence of God for us.”</b> (Heb. ix:24).</p> + +<p>And again in chapter vii:24, 25: “But this <b>man</b>, because he +continueth forever, 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.”</p> + +<p>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 xvii:9).</p> + +<p>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 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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>His Priesthood.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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 behooved 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” (Hebrews ii:17, 18). “Seeing then that we have a +great High Priest, that is passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of +God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not an high priest +which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in +all points tempted like we are, apart from 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” (Hebrews iv:14-16).</p> + +<p>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 a 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Another phase of His priestly present work is recorded in Heb. +xiii: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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>His Advocacy.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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” (John ii:1).</p> + +<p>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 basket 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.</p> + +<p>“And the great dragon was cast out, that 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.</p> + +<p>“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. xii:9-10).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>He Shall not Fail nor be Discouraged.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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, <b>“He shall not fail nor +be discouraged.”</b> 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 +xvii. There He prays the Father, who heareth Him always, that His own +may be kept.</p> + +<center><h3><b>His Work for the Church.</b></h3></center> + +<p>Another aspect of His present work is what He does for His church. We +can but briefly indicate what this means.</p> + +<p>He is in glory the Head of the church. The church is His body, the +fullness of Him, that filleth all in all.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, +evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;</p> + +<p>“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, +for the edifying of the body of Christ.</p> + +<p>“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 fullness of Christ” (Eph. iv:11-13).</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<center><h3><b>III.<br> The Practical Results of His Present Work in the +Christian’s Life.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Encouragement for Prayer.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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 <b>everything</b> by prayer and supplication with +thanksgiving we are to make our requests known (Phil. iv: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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Deliverance from Worry.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Sharing His Work.</b></h3></center> + +<p>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. iii:13).</p> + +<a name="future"></a> +<center><h3><b>III.<br> +HIS FUTURE WORK.</b></h3></center> + +<p>The Lord Jesus Christ, who finished the work on earth the Father gave +Him to do, who is now bodily present in the highest heaven, occupying +the Father’s throne and exercising His priesthood in behalf of His +people, is also King. To Him belongeth a Kingdom and a kingly Glory. He +has therefore a kingly work to do. While His past work was foretold by +the Spirit of God and His priestly work foreshadowed in the Old +Testament, His work as King and His glorious Kingdom to come are +likewise the subjects of the Word of God.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Predicted by the Prophets.</b></h3></center> + +<p>His kingly work was announced by Gabriel to the Virgin. “The Lord +God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David and He shall +reign over the house of David forever; and of His Kingdom there shall be +no end” (Luke i:32, 33). According to this message He must occupy +the throne of His father David, He must reign and possess a Kingdom. +This is but heaven’s confirmation of what God’s prophets for +many centuries had uttered in announcing the coming of the Messiah. The +entire prophetic Word has its climax in the visions of the King and the +Kingdom, He will receive on this earth. These visions of glory to come, +for Him who was despised and rejected of men, are the glittering stars +shining throughout the dark night of the past and present age. They +dazzle the eyes of faith. They inspire hope and courage. We quote a few +Scriptures which relate to the Christ as King.</p> + +<p>“Yet I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare +the decree: the Lord has said unto Me, Thou art my Son, this day have I +begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the nations for Thine +inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy +possession” (Ps. ii:6-8). “It is He that will judge the world +in righteousness” (Ps. xi:7). “All the ends of the world shall +remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations +shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is the Lord’s and He is +the governor among the nations” (Ps. xxii:27-28). “Lift up your +heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King +of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He +is the King of Glory” (Ps. xxiv:9-10). “All ye peoples clap +your hands, shout unto God with the voice of triumph! For Jehovah, the +Most High, is terrible, a great King over all the earth” (Ps. +xlvii:2). “He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and the +poor with judgment.” “Yea, all Kings shall fall down before +Him; all nations shall serve Him.” “His name shall endure +forever—all nations shall call Him blessed” (Ps. lxxii:1, 11, +17). “Also, I will make Him my Firstborn, higher than the Kings of +the earth” (Ps. lxxxix:27). “Behold, a King shall reign in +righteousness” (Is. xxxii:1). “Behold the days come, that I +will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and +prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth” (Jer. +xxiii:5). “I saw in the night visions, and behold there came with +the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man—and there was given Him +dominion and glory, and a Kingdom, that all peoples, nations and +languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion +which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom which shall not be +destroyed” (Dan. vii:13-14). “Behold the man, whose name is the +Branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the +temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he +shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he +shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be +between them both” (Zech. vi:12, 13). “And Jehovah shall be +King over all the earth” (Zech. xiii:9).</p> + +<p>All these prophecies and many more speak of the Lord Jesus as King +and bear witness of His Kingdom. The glories of His Kingdom are likewise +described by the holy men of God, the mouthpieces of the Spirit of +God.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Not Yet Fulfilled.</b></h3></center> + +<p>Were these predictions fulfilled since the Lord Jesus Christ suffered +on the Cross? Have they been fulfilled since He entered the +Father’s presence in Glory? Is He now exercising His kingly rule +and authority? Is the promised Kingdom of righteousness, of peace, of +power and glory now on this earth?</p> + +<p>These questions arise at once in reading these divine predictions. +They must be answered in the negative. The Lord Jesus Christ has not +even begun His work as King. The Kingdom promised unto Him, He has not +yet received. There is now no such Kingdom of glory and power on +earth.</p> + +<center><h3><b>The New Testament Evidence.</b></h3></center> + +<p>The New Testament furnishes the completest evidence that our Lord is +not King over all the earth, and that His kingly rule is still in the +future. The notion that the church is the Kingdom in which the Lord +Jesus Christ rules as King, and that the Old Testament predictions of +Kingdom glories are realized spiritually in the church, is a pure +invention. Nowhere is the church called the Kingdom, nor do we find the +Lord Jesus ever called “the King of the Church.” He is the Head +of the church, which is His body. The New Testament still looks forward +to the Kingdom to come. The Lord has left the earth to receive a Kingdom +and to return (Luke xix:11-28). He occupies the Father’s throne, +which is not His permanent place, for He is to have His own throne. +“When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy +angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory” +(Matt. xxv:31). He waits in heaven for the time when all enemies will be +made the footstool of His feet (Heb. x:13). “But now we see not yet +all things put under Him” (Heb. ii:8). No nation serves Him and the +Kingdoms of this world are not His Kingdoms during this age. They will +become His and heaven will resound with many voices saying: “The +kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His +Christ and He shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. xi:15). But that +is future. When the seventh angel sounds His trumpet, when heaven opens +and He appears as King of kings, crowned with many crowns (Rev. +xix:11-16), then He will receive the nations for His inheritance.</p> + +<center><h3><b>I.<br> How Christ Begins His Future +Work.</b></h3></center> + +<p>The beginning of Christ’s future work is revealed in 1 +Thessalonians iv:15-18. This Scripture contains a great and unique +revelation, unknown in the Old Testament. The Lord had made the promise +to His disciples, “I will come again and receive you unto Myself, +that where I am ye may be also” (John xiv:3). He did not tell them +in what manner He would keep this most precious promise. In the first +Epistle to the Thessalonians the Lord gives the details of His coming +for His own, and how He will fulfill the promise given to His disciples. +He promises that He will descend from heaven with a shout. When He +accomplished His work on the cross, He gave a shout, for he cried with a +loud voice “Tetelestei”—“It is finished!” As the +risen One, He met His beloved ones and said “All Hail!” The +Greek gives only one word, “Chairete”—“Oh! the +Joy!” This is His resurrection shout, the shout of joy and victory. +And when He ascended He went up with a shout (Ps. xlvii:5). First +Thessalonians iv:16 tells us He is going to descend with a shout. He +passed through the heavens in His glorious ascension and entered into +the presence of God, His Father. Some day He will arise from the place +He occupies on the Throne of God. He will leave the place on the right +hand of the Majesty on high and pass out of the third heaven. Once more +He passeth through the heavens, not upward but downward. He comes to +call His Saints to meet Him. The meeting-place is not the Mount of +Olives, Jerusalem or any earthly place; the meeting-place will be in the +air. We repeat, this is a revelation, which is not found in the Old +Testament prophetic Word, nor did the Lord announce it fully in His +earthly ministry. According to the passage containing this revelation, +the shout of the Lord as He descends into the air will be followed by +the resurrection of the dead in Christ. All the Saints of God will be +raised physically from the graves. This includes the Old Testament and +New Testament believers. When this shout is heard and the righteous dead +are raised, all belonging to Christ and living in that day, will be +caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. For +the sake of some, we add, that all who have accepted the Lord Jesus +Christ as Saviour, who received eternal life and the Spirit of God, +belong to Him and their blessed Hope and destiny is to be “caught up +in clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” Some teach that in order to +share this rapture certain attainments are needed. Such, however, is not +the case. No service, suffering, separation or any works we do, could +ever fit us for such a marvelous event. Grace has accomplished it for +us. In 1 Cor. xv:51 we read: “Behold I show you a mystery, we shall +not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, etc.” The +“all” means all that are Christ’s at His coming, +independent of their knowledge about dispensational truths, independent +of their waiting for Him, or any other thing. That they belong to Him +and are redeemed by His precious blood is a sufficient title to be +caught up and to meet Him in the air.</p> + +<p>Of this double company, saints who died and who will be raised from +the dead, and saints who live and will be changed in a moment and caught +up to meet Him, we find a hint in His words in John xi:25-26. “I am +the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were +dead, yet shall he live (Resurrection). And whosoever liveth (when He +comes) and believeth in Me shall never die (The changing of living +believers). Believest thou this?” May we answer Him, Yea, Lord, I +believe. We may not understand all the details of this wonderful event, +an event which will come suddenly, but we can believe His promise and +wait daily for its glorious fulfillment. This is the blessed Hope of the +Church. For this we are told to wait. Ere He begins His judgment work, +before the last scenes of tribulation and wrath can be enacted upon this +earth and He returns as the King of Glory to claim His blood-bought +inheritance, He will come into the air to meet His redeemed host and +co-heirs. This is the first event in connection with His future +work.</p> + +<center><h3><b>The Judgment Seat of Christ.</b></h3></center> + +<p>All judgment is to be executed by the Lord Jesus Christ. “For the +Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the +Son” (John v:22). Up to the present time no judgment work has been +done by Him. Nor have His people received their crowns and rewards for +service and faithfulness. The meeting of the Saints in the presence of +the Lord will be immediately followed by the judgment seat of Christ. +“For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” +(Rom. xiv:10). “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of +Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according +to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. v:10). No +unsaved person appears before this judgment for they were not raised +from the dead, nor changed in the twinkling of an eye. This judgment +concerns only believers. This judgment, however, does not decide their +eternal salvation. That was settled when they believed on the Lord Jesus +Christ. The words of our Lord in John v:24 make this clear. “Verily, +verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him +that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into +condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” “There is +therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ” (Rom. +viii:1). The works and the service of His people will be dealt with by +the Lord in this first judgment act in His future work. Of this we read +in 1 Cor. iv:5—“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until +the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of +darkness, and will make manifest the hidden counsels of the hearts; and +then shall have every man praise of God.”</p> + +<p>Everything will be made manifest before that judgment seat. The +unconfessed sins in the believer’s life will be brought to light +and all hidden things will be uncovered. Then the works of the believer +will be made manifest. “Every man’s work shall be made +manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by +fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. +If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall +receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall +suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire” (1 +Cor. iii:13-15). It will be the time when God’s people will receive +their rewards and crowns. Then the Apostles, the faithful martyrs, the +self-sacrificing missionaries and servants of God will receive praise +and reward for their labors. The judgment seat is the reward seat of +Christ. In view of this the Apostle wrote to the faithful Thessalonians: +“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even +ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are +our glory and joy” (1 Thess. ii:19-20). And the Apostle John +exhorts: “And now little children, abide in Him; that when He shall +appear, we (the apostles and teachers) may have confidence, and not be +ashamed before Him at His Coming” (1 John ii:28). All believers in +Christ are saved and have eternal life; but not all receive a reward. +Their works will be consumed by the fire of that judgment, for they were +nothing but wood, hay and stubble. They will go rewardless, while the +faithful saints, who toiled and served, who spent and were spent, +following closely in His steps, will receive rewards. What these will be +no Saint does know at this time.</p> + +<p>When all is accomplished in connection with this judgment seat of +Christ, He will lead His Saints into the Father’s house, that they +may behold His glory (John xvii:24). He will present the church to +Himself, “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any +such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. +v:27). He presents His church “faultless before the presence of His +glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24).</p> + +<center><h3><b>II.<br> His Future Work in Connection with the +Earth.</b></h3></center> + +<p>When the Saints of God have left the earth and met the Lord in the +air, when the events took place we have briefly outlined, then the Lord +Jesus Christ will begin from heaven a work which will be severely felt +on the earth. He begins to deal with the world in a series of judgments. +From the Book of Revelation we learn that the “Lion of the tribe of +Judah the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and loose the +seven seals thereof.” (Rev. v:5). The book He receives contains the +judgments decreed for this earth with its apostate masses. The Lamb is +seen opening the seals of the book, and as He breaks the seals the +events described under each seal happen. It is His work in judgment. In +the eighth chapter of Revelation an Angel is seen before an altar with a +golden censer. “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with +fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and there were voices, +and thunderings, and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seven angels +which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound” (Rev. +viii:5, 6). This Angel is the Lord Jesus Christ. He casts down the fire +of divine displeasure and judgment upon the earth. The seven trumpeting +angels with their judgments for the earth are sent forth by Him. Then +come seven other angels, who pour out the bowls filled with the wrath of +God. We cannot examine all those judgments separately. There is no human +being who can realize what they all mean and what it will be when the +Lord deals with this earth in righteousness.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Israel and the Nations.</b></h3></center> + +<p>Israel and the nations will pass through those judgments executed +from above. Christendom apostate, God defying and Christ rejecting +Christendom, will like Pharaoh, be hardened by them. They do not repent, +but rather believe the strong delusion and accept the man of sin with +his lying wonders. The Jewish people will in part be restored to their +land. The great tribulation centers in their land and will be felt there +in its severest form. The apostate portion of the Jews will worship the +false Christ and will therefore be visited by these righteous judgments. +But there is also a remnant of God-fearing Jews, who believe the Word of +God, who expect the Kingdom and the King. While these believing Jews +suffer, they also serve. They are the last messengers of the King. They +herald once more the Gospel of the Kingdom and will bear witness of it +to all the nations of the earth, before the end comes (Matt. +xxiv:14).*</p> + +<p><small>* We refer the reader to our larger works, which deal more fully with +these coming events. Daniel, Joel, Commentary on Matthew, Harmony of the +Prophetic Word, Things to Come, etc., deal more fully with these truths. +For catalogue, address “Our Hope,” 456 Fourth Ave., New York +City.</small></p> + +<center><h3><b>Nations Learning Righteousness.</b></h3></center> + +<p>“When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the +world will learn righteousness” (Isaiah xxvi:9). A work of +salvation will go on during those seven years of judgment, tribulation +and wrath. A great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, +and kindreds, and people, and tongues, come out of the great tribulation +and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb +(Rev. vii:9-17). They heard and believed the final testimony as preached +by the Jewish remnant. Heathen nations will accept the Gospel of the +Kingdom, while apostate Christendom is excluded, for they received not +the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess. +ii).</p> + +<center><h3><b>His Glorious Appearing.</b></h3></center> + +<p>“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be +darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall +fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And +then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall +all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man +coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew +xxiv:29-30). “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see +Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth +shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Rev. i:7). “And I +saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was +called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make +war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; +and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was +clothed in a vesture dipped with blood; and His name is called the Word +of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white +horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth +goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He +shall rule them with a rod of iron and He treadeth the winepress of the +fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on +His thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Rev. +xix:11-16).</p> + +<center><h3><b>The King in His Glory.</b></h3></center> + +<p>Every eye shall see Him, when He appears in glorious majesty as the +King of Kings. His glory will cover the heavens (Hab. iii:3). Every +tongue which denied Him will be forever hushed. His second, personal, +visible and glorious coming will be the crowning and unanswerable proof +of His Deity. His incarnation and all the work He accomplished on earth +and in glory, can then no longer be denied. His glorious appearing will +silence all His enemies. His rejection ends and His glory as God’s +appointed King and ruler over this earth, He purchased with His blood, +begins. Every knee must then bow before Him and every tongue confess +that He is Lord.</p> + +<p>And when He appears in all His glory, He does not come alone. His +Saints come with Him. When He appears, then shall we also appear with +Him in glory (Col. iii:4). In that day of triumph and glory, He will be +glorified in His Saints and admired in all them that believed (2 Thess. +i:10). Wonderful spectacle it will be, when He brings His many sons with +Him unto glory! All will be conformed into the same image.</p> + +<center><h3><b>His Judgment-Work.</b></h3></center> + +<p>His feet will stand once more upon the Mount of Olives (Zech. xiv:4). +Before Him is Jerusalem and all nations are gathered against it to +battle (Zech. xiv:2). The Beast will be their leader, while the Man of +Sin, the Anti-christ, will do his dreadful work in the city itself. The +remnant of Israel in great distress will then pray and look for +deliverance. The coming of the King will bring that deliverance. They +will shout then for joy and say in that day, “Lo, this is our God, +we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have +waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation” +(Isaiah xxv:9). They will welcome the once rejected One. “Blessed is +He that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matt. xxiii:39). And He +will fight against those nations. The great battle of Armageddon will +then take place. “The beasts and the Kings of the earth, and their +armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, +and against his army” (Rev. xix:19). But their opposition will +suddenly be broken to pieces. “And the beast was taken, and with him +the false prophet (the Anti-christ) that wrought miracles before him, +with which he deceived them that received the mark of the beast, and +them that worshipped the image. These both were cast alive into a lake +of fire burning with brimstone” (Rev. xix:20).</p> + +<center><h3><b>On His Throne.</b></h3></center> + +<p>“When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy +angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory” +(Matt. xxv:31). The judgment which will then be executed by Him is not a +universal judgment (the dead are not mentioned), but it will be a +judgment of the living nations in the day when He appears the second +time. Some nations are put on His right side and He calls them “the +blessed of my Father;” they inherit the Kingdom which will then be +established on the earth. That these righteous nations are not church +saints is obvious, for the church, as we have seen, was caught up in the +beginning of His future work to meet Him in the air and is associated +with Him when He comes in power and glory. Then there are other nations +which are put on His left hand and they shall go away from that judgment +throne into everlasting punishment (Matt. xxv:46). But what is the +standard of this judgment? What they did to the Lord’s brethren or +what they did not unto them. The Lord’s brethren, according to the +flesh are the Jews. During the tribulation period believing Jews will +preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to all nations (Matt. xxiv:14). The +nations who believed this last offer of mercy treated the messengers in +kindness; those who did not believe the message did not treat them in +that way. And when this great judgment is passed, His Kingdom of +righteousness and peace will be established on this earth. Righteousness +will begin to reign as grace reigns now through righteousness.</p> + +<center><h3><b>III.<br> The Glories of His Kingdom.</b></h3></center> + +<p>“And in the days of those Kings shall the God of heaven set up a +Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the Kingdom shall not be +left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these +Kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Dan. ii:44). “I saw in +the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the +clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancients of days, and they brought Him +near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a +kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve Him; His +dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His +Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. vii:13-14). A +closer study of these two fundamental passages from Daniel’s great +prophecies will establish the fact that this promised Kingdom comes with +the second coming of Christ. It will be preceded by a judgment blow at +the earth Kingdoms; Nebuchadnezzar beheld this in his prophetic +dream.</p> + +<p>This Kingdom is an earthly Kingdom and all the nations will be +gathered into that Kingdom. Jerusalem and a converted Israel will be the +center of it. The Lord Jesus Christ and His Saints will reign with Him +over the earth and over this Kingdom. And what will be His work then? +But a few of the many things can be mentioned. “He shall speak peace +to the nations” (Zech. ix:10). “With righteousness shall He +judge the poor, and reprove with equity the meek of the earth.” +(Isaiah xi:4). “He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles” +(Is. xlii:1). “And He shall judge among the nations, and shall +rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, +and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword +against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah +ii:4). He shall also “set up an ensign for the nations, and shall +assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of +Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah xi:12). “And +many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my +people” (Zech. ii:11). “And the Lord shall be King over all the +earth” (Zech. xiv:9). “Behold a King shall reign in +righteousness” (Isaiah xxxii:1). “A King shall reign and +prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth” +(Jere. xxiii:5).</p> + +<p>Many more passages predicting and describing the Kingdom and its +glories might be added. All these blessed words mean exactly what they +say. Righteousness and peace will characterize that world-wide Kingdom +of the Lord Jesus Christ. His glory will cover the earth as the waters +cover the deep. Nations will worship Him. “Yea, all Kings shall fall +down before Him; all nations shall serve Him.” “He shall have +dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the +earth” (Ps. lxxii:8, 11). Every wrong will be righted on earth and +present-day evils and oppression, crime and vice, poverty and sickness +will be abolished. Only He has the power to do this. Oh! the glories of +the Kingdom! May we pray, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Thy +Kingdom come.</p> + +<center><h3><b>Creation Delivered.</b></h3></center> + +<p>“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the +manifestation of the Sons of God. For the creature was made subject to +vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same +in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the +bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. +For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain +together until now” (Rom. viii:19-22). Sin has brought a curse upon +creation. The thorns and thistles are the result of the fall of man as +well as the blight and misery which rests upon a creation, which was +pronounced good by the Creator. But this condition into which creation +has been plunged will not continue forever. A better day is coming. +Groaning creation is to be delivered. The curse will be removed. This +cannot be the work of man. Scientists attempt to set things in order in +this ruined creation; but they fail. The things which destroy, the heat +and the drought, the storms and earthquakes, cannot be arrested by the +arm of man.</p> + +<p>The Son of God wore the crown of thorns. The curse was put upon Him. +And He who created all things and paid for redemption by His precious +blood will, with omnipotent power, deliver groaning creation. It will +take place when the sons of God are manifested. The sons of God (the +redeemed) will be manifested with Him, as we have seen, in the day of +His visible appearing. Then the great vision of Isaiah will find its +fulfillment. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the +leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and +the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow +and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and +the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play +on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the +cockatrice den” (Isaiah xi:6-8).</p> + +<center><h3><b>All Under His Feet.</b></h3></center> + +<p>The dispensation of the fulness of times has come (Eph. i:10). All +things are put under Him. All His enemies are made His footstool. He is +Lord of all. The glorious reign of Christ, in kingly glory, in +fulfillment of the Prophet’s visions, will be followed by another +judgment.</p> + +<center><h3><b>The Great White Throne.</b></h3></center> + +<p>The second resurrection, that of the wicked dead, takes place at the +end of the Kingdom reign of Christ. This great judgment and the final +destiny of the wicked is revealed in Rev. xx:11-15. The Lord Jesus +Christ will be the judge in that awful scene, for it is written that +“all judgment is committed unto the Son” (John v:22).</p> + +<center><h3><b>Then Cometh the End.</b></h3></center> + +<p>“Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom +to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all +authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies +under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. . . . +And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also +Himself be subject unto Him, who put all things under Him, that God may +be all in all” (1 Cor. xv:24-28).</p> + +<p>Then He will create a new heaven and a new earth, the eternal +dwelling place of redeemed and glorified mankind. “And I saw a new +heaven and a new earth” (Rev. xxi:1). “And He that sat upon the +throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: +for these words are true and faithful” (Rev. xxi:5). “And there +shall be <b>no more curse</b>; but the throne of God and of the Lamb +shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His +face; and His Name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no +night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the +Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever” +(Rev. xxii:3-5).</p> + +<p>This will be the ultimate result of the blessed Work of Christ. His +past work is finished. Soon His present Work may end and then His +future, kingly work begins, when He comes the second time.</p> + +<center><h3><b>“Amen. Even so, come, Lord +Jesus.”</b></h3></center> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Work Of Christ, by A. C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Work Of Christ + Past, Present and Future + +Author: A. C. Gaebelein + +Release Date: September 17, 2008 [EBook #26643] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORK OF CHRIST *** + + + + +Produced by Carl D. DuBois + + + + +THE + +WORK OF CHRIST + +PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE + +BY + +A. C. GAEBELEIN + +Editor of "Our Hope" + +Price 50 Cents Postpaid + + +PUBLICATION OFFICE "OUR HOPE" + +456 FOURTH AVENUE + +NEW YORK CITY + +PICKERING & INGLIS + +GLASGOW, SCOTLAND + + +COPYRIGHT, A. C. GAEBELEIN, 1913 + +Printed by + +FRANCIS EMORY FITCH, INC. + +47 Broad Street + +New York + + +CONTENTS + +The Work of Christ...... + +His Past Work........... + +His Present Work........ + +His Future Work......... + + + +THE WORK OF CHRIST + +THE Word of God reveals, that all things were created by and for the Son +of God. "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything +made that was made" (John i:3). "For by Him were all things created that +are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether +they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things +were created by Him and for Him" (Col. i:16). When this perfect creation +was ruined by the entrance of sin, when man fell and all creation on +account of that fall was brought into the bondage of corruption, the +work of redemption became a necessity. No creature of God was fitted or +fit to do this. Only the Son of God, the Creator Himself, could +undertake this mighty work and accomplish it to the Praise and Glory of +God. To do this great work, He had to appear on this earth in the form +of man. + +A Threefold Aspect. + +This work of the Son of God has a threefold aspect. It is a past work, a +present work, and beyond the present, there is His future work. His work +and service will terminate when He delivers up the kingdom, so that God +will be all in all (1 Cor. xv:24-28). This threefold aspect of His work +corresponds to His threefold office as Prophet, Priest and King. It has +a special meaning for the church. In Ephesians v:25-27, we read of this. +He loved the church and gave Himself for it; this is His past work. +Since then He is sanctifying the church by the washing of water by the +Word, and in the future He will present it to Himself, a glorious +church. In virtue of this threefold work of our Lord, believers are +saved, are being saved, and will be saved. This threefold work has also +a significance for the people Israel. When He came and went to the +cross, "He died for that nation" (John xi:42). During the present age +His earthly people are not cast away; their miraculous preservation on +earth, their continued, separate existence is due to Himself. In the +future when He appears as their Redeemer and claims the purchased +possession, He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And to this we +might also add the relation of His work to creation itself, the nations +of the earth, and to Satan and his rule. + +These brief remarks show the importance of distinguishing between this +threefold aspect of His work. A Christian who is ignorant of it must be +confused in his conception of the truth. He is unable to understand the +Word of God, and is unsettled, and even miserable in his Christian +experience. Such, alas! is the present condition of a large number of +professing Christians. Many are ignorant of what the finished work of +Christ on the cross means. On account of this ignorance, they are ever +trying to do what God has done for them. How many more are at sea about +their position in Christ, and know next to nothing of the priestly work +of Christ. The confusion is the greatest in respect to His future work +as King. Our theme is therefore an important one. But even God's people, +who in a measure have laid hold of these truths, need constantly to be +reminded of it and need to have all this through the Spirit's power, as +a greater reality in their lives. + + + +I. + +HIS PAST WORK. + +His past work was accomplished by Him when he became incarnate. It was +finished when He died on Calvary's cross. We have therefore to consider +first of all these fundamentals of our faith. + +I. The Work of the Son of God is foreshadowed and predicted in the Old +Testament Scriptures. + +II. The incarnation of the Son of God. + +III. His Work on the cross and what has been accomplished by it. + +I. + +Through the Old Testament Scriptures, God announced beforehand the work +of His Son. This is a great theme and one which needs to be emphasized. +These foreshadowings and predictions were made in different ways. First +we might mention the appearance from time to time on earth of a +supernatural Being. This Being was the Son of God. As soon as sin had +entered, He appeared on the scene seeking those who were lost. He +Himself announced the promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise +the serpent's head. He indicated in Genesis iii:15, His incarnation, His +redemptive work on the cross and His final victory over the enemy of +God. Then He covered the nakedness of His creatures by making them coats +of skin. For the first time in the Word of God, it was made known by +this act what the blessed fruit of His atoning work would be. + +Manifestations of Jehovah. + +And the same Jehovah appeared in visible form unto Abraham. He came as +traveller accompanied by two angels. He ate in the presence of Abraham, +who worshipped and addressed Him as Lord. This Being was none other than +the Son of God, the same who after His resurrection appeared to the two +disciples on their way to Emmaus as a traveller, and who, at another +occasion, ate of a honeycomb and a piece of fish. In His presence +Abraham interceded. This Lord, who visited Abraham later, made fire and +brimstone fall from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah; He executed +judgment. He appeared unto Jacob and was the mysterious man who wrestled +with him at Peniel; later Jacob called Him "The Angel, the Redeemer." +Repeatedly we hear of Him as "The Angel of the Lord," not a created +angel, but an uncreated Being. Moses saw Him in the burning bush, and +heard His voice. And while He is spoken of as the angel of the Lord, He +revealed Himself as Jehovah and made this Name known to Moses. He was +with Israel in the wilderness and dwelled with them in the Glory cloud. +He guided them, supplied their need, protected them, judged them and +overthrew their enemies. To Joshua He appeared and manifested Himself as +"The captain over the Lord's hosts." Manoah and his wife saw Him, and +witnessed His ascension into heaven, in the smoke and fire of the +sacrifice. Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel gazed upon His Glory. All these +were but foreshadowings and glimpses of the two great manifestations of +the Son of God on earth, as they are necessitated by His work, His +manifestation in humiliation and His manifestation in power and glory. + +Other Foreshadowings of His Work. + +But there are other foreshadowings of His work. All the divinely given +institutions and many of the historical events recorded in the Old +Testament foreshadow His work. History, as recorded in the Old +Testament, is the preliminary history of the incarnation. The whole +sacrificial system of the levitical priesthood told out beforehand, in +many ways, what the great redemptive work of the Lamb of God was to be. +Each offering and sacrifice revealed the different phases of His work on +the cross, as well as His holy and spotless humanity. The sufferings of +Christ and their meaning for lost sinners were thus made known. From +Abel's lamb to the last lamb, which died before the true Lamb of God +uttered the never to be forgotten words on the cross, "It is finished," +the thousands of lambs and bulls and goats, the innumerable herds of +animals slain, were all types of the one great sacrifice, brought on +Calvary's cross. The tabernacle in all its appointments, down to the +minutest details, had I some meaning in connection with the Person of +Him who is "Wonderful" and His wonderful work. And what else could we +say of the historical events, such as the Passover, the passage through +the Red Sea, the brazen serpent hung up in the wilderness. And to this +we might add how men in their experiences, like Isaac, Joseph, David and +others foreshadowed the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should +follow. + +Direct Prophecies. + +Still more numerous are the direct prophecies announcing the different +phases of the work of Christ. That He should appear as man, how and +where He should be born, His life, His service, His miracles, all was +repeatedly foretold by the Prophets. But the great mass of predictions +concern His sufferings as the sin-bearer and His glories as the King. +None of the details of His sufferings were omitted. Think, for instance, +of the predictions contained in the xxii Psalm. Death by crucifixion was +unknown among the Jewish people. No nation in touch with Israel, living +at that time, put human beings to death in that way. It was reserved for +cruel Rome to invent death; by crucifixion. Yet in this Psalm there is +given by divine inspiration a complete picture of that unknown mode of +death by crucifixion. We read of His hands and feet pierced, the bones +out of joint, the excessive thirst, the tongue cleaving to the jaws. And +so we find His resurrection, His presence with God, His coming again and +His Kingdom of Righteousness and Glory foretold in the Prophets. + +The Inspiration of the Old Testament. + +We emphasize these facts of divine foreshadowing and prediction, because +in these last days thousands of men have arisen throughout Christendom +who boldly deny the inspiration of the Old Testament. They would have us +believe that all these wonderful predictions are of human origin. They +brand nearly everything as legend, and declare that there are no +Messianic predictions in the Bible, that God did not speak to the +Prophets concerning His Son and His work. Such a denial of the +revelation of God in the Old Testament Scriptures is but the vanguard of +the denial of the Son of God and His work. "Denying the Master that +bought them" (2 Peter ii:1), is the leading phase of apostate +Christendom in the last days. It is Anti-christianity. This denial is +preceded by a denial of the written Word of God. The higher criticism, +so called, is Satan's leaven which leavens the theological institutions +of Christendom and is fully preparing an empty Christian profession for +the reception of the Man of Sin. To believe that these marvelous, +harmonious predictions and fore-shadowings contained in the Old +Testament are the productions of clever men, legends put together by +evil men, who claimed to have received them from God, is far more +difficult than to believe that they are given by divine revelation. + +II. + +The Incarnation of the Son of God. + +And now let us turn to the great truth and fact of the Incarnation of +the Son of God. When the fulness of time had come, that is the appointed +time, the Son of God appeared on earth in the form of man. The Word +which was in the beginning, the Word that was with the Father, the Word +that was God, the Word by whom all things were made, that Word was made +flesh and dwelt on earth. He who subsisted in the form of God, emptied +Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the +likeness of men. The incarnation is a deep mystery, the depths of which +human reason can never fathom. We must approach it in the spirit of deep +reverence. "Take off thy shoes from thy feet for the ground whereon thou +standest is holy ground!" In the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, we +have the record of the divine announcement of the incarnation as it was +made to the virgin, who had found favor in the sight of God. As she sat +in the house, perhaps engaged in holy meditation, the angel Gabriel +appeared unto her with the message from the throne of God. Was there +ever such a message given to Gabriel before? Great as the revelation was +which he was commissioned to carry to praying Daniel, the communication +to the Virgin Mary here is far greater. + +The Incarnation Announced. + +We read in Luke i:35: "And the angel of the Lord said unto her, The Holy +Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall +overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing, which shall be born of +thee, shall be called the Son of God." Let us notice the two great +statements given about His incarnation. "The Holy Spirit shall come upon +thee." From the Gospel of Matthew we learn the full meaning of this +statement. "That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Ghost." +Therefore His human nature was produced in the virgin by the creative +action of the Holy Spirit. Because His human nature was thus produced, +it was a nature without sin; not only did He not sin, but He could not +sin. He was sinless, absolutely holy, because He was conceived by the +Holy Spirit. + +The second statement is: "And the power of the Highest shall overshadow +thee." This is not a repetition of the same truth as contained in the +first statement. If this too would mean the Holy Spirit, we would have +to conclude that the Holy Spirit is the Father of Him who became +incarnate. We read at once after this second statement, "Therefore that +Holy Thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of +God." The power of the Highest does not mean the power of the Holy +Spirit. It is none other than the Son of God Himself. The eternal Son of +God, He who is God, overshadowed her and this overshadowing meant the +union of Himself with the human nature created by the Holy Spirit in the +Virgin Mary. He is called "that Holy Thing." He is something entirely +new, a Being which cannot be classified. And then we read again, "That +Holy Thing shall be called the Son of God." It does not say "shall be +the Son of God;" such He ever was. Incarnation did not make Him Son of +God. He shall be called Son of God; God manifested in the flesh. Much +time could be spent in adding to these remarks, or in reviewing the +different attempts which have been made to explain the great mystery. We +might also enumerate all the evil teachings and theories which are the +results of attempted explanations. But all this would be but waste of +time. No human mind can fathom the depths of the incarnation, nor fully +grasp the wonderful personality of the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. +Far better it is to abide by these simple declarations of the Word of +God, than to enter into speculations, which can never solve this great +mystery. + +A certain American statesman was once asked, "Can you comprehend how +Jesus Christ could be both God and Man?" The great thinker replied, "No, +sir; I cannot. And I would be ashamed to acknowledge Him as my Saviour +if I could, for then He would not be greater than myself." + +This is very true indeed. With joyful and grateful hearts we believe the +great revelation given to us in God's holy Word, that God so loved the +world that He gave His only begotten Son and that the Son of God left +Heaven's Glory and came to this earth. He emptied Himself and appeared +in the form of the creature. This, however, does not mean what an evil +theory, by the name of "Kenosis," teaches, that He emptied Himself of +His Godhead. He emptied Himself of His outward Glory. The child which +rested on the bosom of Mary is the One, who ever was in the bosom of the +Father. Listen once more to the language of the xxii Psalm. "I was cast +upon thee from the womb; Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Thou +didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts." What mere human +child could have ever said this truthfully? Nor is this the language of +a poet. The child born in Bethlehem alone could speak thus. + +The Foundation of the Gospel. + +The incarnation is the great foundation of the whole Gospel. No +incarnation means no Gospel, no Hope and no God. The person who denies +this truth has no right whatever to the name of Christian. At no time +has the denial of this great foundation truth been so pronounced and +widespread as in our times. Men believing themselves wise, in possession +of greater knowledge than former generations, turn their backs upon +revelation. The miracle, including the incarnation, is denied. And this +denial is not from the side of outspoken infidels alone, but those who +profess to be teachers of Christianity are the foremost leaders in it. +We mention Reginald Campbell and his followers in the so-called "New +Theology." And the hundreds of evangelical preachers, who wished this +man Godspeed during his recent visit to America, who passed resolutions +of thanks, after listening to his subtle infidelity, are, in the light +of 2 John 10, partakers of his sin. And then there is that +Anti-christian system, known by the name of Christian Science. In its +so-called philosophical, in reality, satanic utterances, it opposes the +revelation of God and denies that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh. +That evil book, "Science and Health," to which we readily accord +inspiration, not from above, but from below, teaches "The Virgin Mary +conceived the idea of God and gave to her ideal the name of Jesus;" and +again "Jesus was the offspring of Mary's self-communion with God." + +It is a comfort to believers in these evil days to remember, that such a +rejection of the doctrine of Christ, His Person and His work, is +predicted in the Bible to take place immediately before the Lord comes. +The end of the age is upon us. These denials will not decrease, but +become more numerous. + +The Purpose of the Incarnation. And what was the purpose of the +incarnation? By incarnation the invisible God was made known to man. The +Lord Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. No man hath seen +God at any time, the only Begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, +hath declared Him. As One with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ could +say, "Whosoever seeth Me, seeth the Father." + +The attributes of God were made known by Him in incarnation. We behold +the holiness of God in that holy life, which was lived on earth to +glorify the Father. He manifested omniscience. He knew what was in men +and knew their thoughts. He manifested the power of God in controlling +the forces of nature, commanding the wind and the waves, turning water +into wine. He had power over disease, over the demons and over death. He +revealed the Love and the compassion of God. + +By incarnation the Son of God brought likewise the Word of God to man. +"God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto +the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by +His Son" (Hebrews i:1). He confirmed the Law and the Prophets, therefore +all criticism of the Old Testament attacks the authority and +infallibility of the Son of God. He also revealed the will of God, made +known the Father and the fact of eternal life, and the eternal and +conscious punishment of the wicked. He predicted the great future events +concerning Himself and His Kingdom, the end of the age and His visible +Return. + +The incarnation was necessary in anticipation of His work as the Priest +of His people. He was to be after His death on the cross and after +resurrection, the merciful and faithful High Priest. Such He is now. He +took part of flesh and blood, we read in the second chapter of Hebrews, +that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest. He was tempted in +all things as we are, with the exception of sin. He suffered in being +tempted so that He might be touched with the feeling of our infirmities +and succour them that are tempted. And all He was to be and is now, the +Second Man, the last Adam, the head of the church, the head of the new +creation, all and much else necessitated His incarnation. + +What Incarnation could not Accomplish. + +However, the great purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God was His +work of redemption. For this great purpose He came into the world. He +came that, after a life, which completely glorified the Father and +upheld His holy law and vindicated God's rights as the lawgiver, He +might accomplish the great work of atonement. John stated this great +work the Son of God came to do in a brief sentence, "Behold the Lamb of +God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Sin, that accursed thing, +had to be taken out of the way. Propitiation for sins had to be made. A +sacrifice had to be brought which would glorify a holy God and satisfy, +as well as exalt, His righteousness. Peace had to be made. The sins of +many had to be paid and the full penalty of them to be borne. + +Incarnation in itself, the marvelous and ever blessed humiliation of the +Son of God by taking on the human form, His holy blessed life, His +loving words, words of life and peace, yea, all He did in deeds of love +and compassion could never accomplish this. Incarnation brought God to +Man, but could never bring man back to a holy God. Incarnation could not +make an end of sin, nor make it possible for a righteous God to show +mercy to the fallen and the lost, in a righteous way. This great work of +redemption could only be accomplished by His death on the cross. For +this He had come. He came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. +The Author and Prince of Life came that He might give His Life a ransom +for many. The good Shepherd appeared to give His life for the sheep. By +His death alone, the great work of redemption could be accomplished. + +III. + +His work on the Cross and What has been Accomplished by It. + +And now let us consider His work on the cross and what has been +accomplished by it. But who is able to speak worthily of this theme of +all themes? Who can fathom the solemn yet blessed fact, the death of the +Son of God on the cross? What tongue or pen can describe the sad, yet +glorious truth, that the Just One died for the unjust, that Christ died +for the ungodly! He who knew no sin was made sin for us! And what human +mind can estimate the wonderful results of His work on the cross! + +Some Christians speak as if the death on the cross, the work +accomplished there, is so fully known to them, that they do not need any +more instruction on it. They tell us that they search for deeper things. +There can be nothing deeper than the death of God's Son on the cross. +Depths are here which are unfathomable. We must ever turn back to the +cross. Always we shall learn something new. With unspeakable Glory upon +us and greater glory before us in eternal ages to come, the cross of +Christ and the Lamb of God which has taken away the sin of the world can +never be forgotten. But we shall never know what that death on the cross +meant for Him and what it meant to God. + +Made Sin for Us. + +In Hebrews x we read of the sacrifices which were offered by the Jews +year after year. These sacrifices could not take away sin. Then He, the +Son of God, stepped forward and made His great declaration. Coming into +the world He saith, "Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a +body hast Thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins +Thou hadst no pleasure" (verses 4-5). The body prepared puts before us +again the fact of incarnation. That body was a prepared body, a holy +body, an undefiled body, a body in which sin could not dwell and on +which death had no claim. But when He took on that body, He likewise +said: "Lo? come to do Thy will, O God." In the tenth verse we read, "By +the which will (the will of God, which dates back before the foundation +of the world), we are sanctified through the offering of the body of +Jesus Christ once for all." Through the eternal Spirit He offered +Himself without spot to God. The holy Lamb of God, with no spot or +blemish upon Him, shed His precious blood on the cross, to procure +redemption. But what it all meant for Him who was as truly Man as He is +God! Here was a Being perfectly holy, One who had always pleased God and +did His will, yea, His meat and drink was to do the will of Him that +sent Him. Sin was the horrible defiling thing to Him. He, too, like the +holy God, hated and hates sin. And yet such a One was made sin for us. +He had to stand in the place of guilty sinners and all the waves and +billowy of divine judgment and wrath had to pass over Him. He drank the +cup of wrath to the last drop. He suffered in a fourfold way. + +1. In Himself Before He ever approached the garden of Gethsemane, He was +troubled in His spirit. We hear Him say, "Now my soul is +troubled--Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I to +this hour." He looked on towards the cross. And why that agony in the +garden? Why was His sweat as it were great drops of blood? Why the +repeated prayer, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me?" +How many dishonoring explanations have been written of the Gethsemane +suffering, as if He was afraid to die or that the devil tried to kill +Him there to prevent his death on the cross, and that He feared the +devil. But what was it? He suffered in Himself. His holy soul shrank +from that which a holy God must hate, that which He hated--SIN. He was +about to be made sin and He knew no sin. What suffering this produced in +the Holy One of God to take all upon Himself and to stand in the +sinner's place before a holy sin-hating God, our poor finite minds +cannot realize. + +2. He suffered from men. This he had foretold. When man, guilty man, +cast Himself upon the willing victim, all the wickedness and vileness +and cruelty man is capable of committing was brought out and spent upon +the blessed Son of God. The scourging, the buffeting, the mocking, the +spitting and the shame connected with it, the shame of the cross, He +despised. How that sensitive body must have quivered under it all! + +3. He suffered from the devil. He had tempted him. Nothing was left +undone, what this wonderful Being could do. All His cunning and powers +were brought into use, with the one purpose to keep Him from going to +the cross and dying in the sinner's place. And when at last he could not +keep Him from going to the cross, then he cast himself upon the victim +and heaped all his hatred and malice upon Him. He used man in all this +awful work and no doubt the legions of demons. And in all this the Son +of God was as a lamb, which is dumb before the shearers. He opened not +His mouth. + +4. But the greatest of all, He suffered from God. With hushed breath, we +must speak of this. It is the Holy of Holies of the great work on the +cross, the impenetrable mystery of the atoning work of the Son of God. +From the darkness which enshrouded the cross and the blessed sufferer on +the accursed tree, there came the mournful cry: "My God, My God, why +hast Thou forsaken me?" It made known the awful suffering, which the +Lamb of God, the substitute of sinners, endured from the hand of a holy +God. He was smitten and afflicted of God. Have you noticed that in the +xxii Psalm this cry of the sufferer on the cross stands first? Man would +have written the sufferings of Christ in a far different way. The +descriptions of the sufferings not written by inspiration would have +been in this wise: The physical sufferings, how they scourged Him, all +the sickening details of that which even cruel Rome called the +intermediate death, would have been pictured. Then would have followed a +description of how the nails were driven into the blessed hands who had +lovingly touched so many weary, sin-laden and disease-stricken bodies. +All the agony of the cross and its shame would have been described first +by man. Then how the multitude mocked and darkness came over the entire +scene--then last of all, it would have been stated, He cried, My God, My +God, why hast Thou forsaken me? But the Holy Spirit in this great +Prophecy puts the cry of deepest agony first. Why? Because in that hour +the great work of atonement, propitiation, sin-bearing, judgment and +wrath enduring, was once and for all accomplished. In this same Psalm we +read what men energized by Satan's power, did unto Him. But man could +not put Him to death. It is written, "Thou (that is God) hast brought me +into the dust of death." God's own hand rested upon Him. "God laid upon +Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah liii:6). "It pleased the Lord to +bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief." And elsewhere we read, what +refers to the same atoning work of our Lord when He stood in the +sinner's place. + +"All Thy waves and billows go over me" (Ps. xlii:7). + +"Thine arrows stick fast in Me" (Ps. xxxviii:2). + +"Thine hand presses me sore" (Ps. xxxviii:2). + +"Thou hast laid me into the lowest pit" (Ps. lxxxviii:6). + +"Thy wrath lieth hard upon me" (Ps. lxxxviii:7). + +"Thy fierce wrath goeth over me" (Ps. lxxxviii:16). + +"I suffer Thy terrors" (Ps. lxxxviii:15). + +But what it all meant for the Son of God! Who can tell out His sorrow +and deep affliction? Never shall we fully discover the greatness of the +price which was paid. The death of the cross, it has been truly said, +stands perfectly alone. It can never be repeated and because of its +eternal efficacy, will never need to be repeated. + +_It is Finished._ + +And this great work He came to do, is finished. "It is finished!" thus +He spoke on the cross and the words assure us that all is done. The rent +veil and the open tomb tell us "It is finished." But what has been +accomplished in this blessed work? We cannot fully grasp it now as long +as we look into a glass darkly. When at last we are brought into His +Presence, transformed into His own image, when we shall have share with +Him in His glorious inheritance, when at last sin and death are no more +and a new heaven and new earth are called into existence, then shall we +more fully know what that work has accomplished. All, ALL we have and +are, all we shall have and shall be as His own, has its blessed source +in the cross of Christ. He died for all. He gave Himself a ransom for +all. He tasted death for every man. He is the propitiation for the whole +world (not for the sins of the whole world, else the whole world would +be saved). It means His work is available to all sinners. Upon that fact +that He died for all, the Gospel is preached to lost and guilty sinners. +Christ died for the ungodly. "Whosoever will"--"Whosoever believeth," +these are the precious conditions of the Gospel of Grace which sounds +forth from the finished work of Christ on the cross. And all who believe +on Him and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, for them He +bore their sins on the cross. Each believing sinner can look back to the +cross and can say, "He loved me, He gave Himself for me." He paid my +debt. He bore my sins in His own body on the tree. He stood in my place. +He was my substitute. He tasted death for me. + +Much of the evil teachings of the present day, such as universal +salvation, larger hope, millennial dawnism, etc., emanate from the fact +that propitiation and substitution are not correctly understood. +Propitiation is the Godward side of the sacrifice of Christ, with this +God is satisfied. The propitiation is for the whole world. This does +not mean that the whole world is therefore to be saved. He bore the sins +of many--not the sins of all. He was the substitute on the cross only +for such who believe on Him. + +And what do we possess who have believed on Him, own Him as our Saviour +and our Substitute? Many Scriptures might be read in answer to this +question. We cannot do so, but shall mention briefly a few things which +all believing sinners share on account of the finished work of Christ on +the cross. + +We have a perfect justification. All our sins are forever put away, +because they were borne and paid for by His death on the cross. The +Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. All has been +righteously and forever settled. "Who shall bring any accusation against +God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is he that condemns? It is +Christ who has died." "There is therefore now no condemnation to those +in Christ Jesus." We have perfect Peace with God. Peace has been made in +the blood of the cross. It can never be unmade. We have peace with God +through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Peace. So many Christians think +their peace with God depends on their walk and service. If they sin, +they think they have lost their peace and their standing before God and +unless they are restored, they will be lost forever. Not our walk and +service, not anything we have done, we do or shall do, is the ground of +peace with God, but what God has done for us in Christ's atoning on the +cross. + +Then we have a perfect acceptance and standing before God; perfect +nearness and access to God. We are made nigh by the blood. With no more +conscience of sins, we can stand in God's own presence, purged and +cleansed, complete in Him, as near to God as He is. + +His blessed work on the cross has made an end of the old man. We are +dead to the world, to self, to sin, to the law. The old man was +crucified with Christ. "Sin shall have no more dominion over you." This +is the blessed message from the cross. We have deliverance from the +power of darkness and a perfect title to an eternal inheritance. No +uncertainty is attached to all this. We have salvation, are saved, +forever secure, Sons of God, Heirs of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit, +and much else, on account of the finished work of Christ on the cross. + +And to all this we add that on the cross He loved the church and gave +Himself for it. There He died for Israel and as a result the remnant of +that people will some day be delivered from iniquity and perverse-ness, +as Balaam, beheld them, "no iniquity in Jacob and no perverseness in +Israel" (Numbers xxiii:21). Groaning creation will ultimately be freed +from the bondage of corruption and brought into the liberty of the sons +of God, because He shed His blood on the cross. All things in heaven and +on the earth (not things under the earth) will be reconciled in virtue +of the death of Christ on the cross. + +Ye are not Your Own. + +Let us remember as such who have been reconciled and have redemption +through His blood that we are bought with a price. "Ye are not your own +for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and +in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. vi:20). Through His death we +are positionally dead; all who believe on Him have died. We are dead to +the law, to the world, to sin. But are we truly living, walking and +acting as such who have died, dead to sin and alive unto God? A child of +God who walks after the flesh practically denies the power and value of +the blessed finished work of Christ on the cross. + +Let us exalt in our lives, by our words and deeds, the cross of Christ. +"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus +Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" +(Gal. vi:14). + + + +II. + +THE WORK OF CHRIST. + +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 the 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. + +I. 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. i:19). And God not alone raised Him +from the dead, but He gave Him glory (1 Peter i: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. +xv: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 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. v:27). + +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. 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 nailprints 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 +myself; handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as ye +see me have" (Luke xxiv: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 xlvii: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. + +1. 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." + +2. 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. + +3. 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." + +II. + +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 marvelous 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. i: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 to them, who shall be heirs +of salvation" (Heb. i: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. ii: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." 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 which I take." + +It is very precious! In the xxxii Psalm we find the comforting word for +one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, "I will guide +thee with mine eye," or as it should read, "I will guide thee with mine +eye upon thee." 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 v: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 viii: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. ix:24). + +And again in chapter vii:24, 25: "But this man, because he continueth +forever, 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 xvii: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 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 behooved 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" (Hebrews ii:17, 18). "Seeing then that we have a great High +Priest, that is passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us +hold fast our confession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be +touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points +tempted like we are, apart from 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" (Hebrews iv: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 a 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. xiii: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" +(John ii: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 basket 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 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. xii: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 xvii. 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 +fullness of Christ" (Eph. iv: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! + +III. + +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. iv: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. iii:13). + + + +III. + +HIS FUTURE WORK + +The Lord Jesus Christ, who finished the work on earth the Father gave +Him to do, who is now bodily present in the highest heaven, occupying +the Father's throne and exercising His priesthood in behalf of His +people, is also King. To Him belongeth a Kingdom and a kingly Glory. He +has therefore a kingly work to do. While His past work was foretold by +the Spirit of God and His priestly work foreshadowed in the Old +Testament, His work as King and His glorious Kingdom to come are +likewise the subjects of the Word of God. + +Predicted by the Prophets. + +His kingly work was announced by Gabriel to the Virgin. "The Lord God +shall give unto Him the throne of His father David and He shall reign +over the house of David forever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no +end" (Luke i:32, 33). According to this message He must occupy the +throne of His father David, He must reign and possess a Kingdom. This is +but heaven's confirmation of what God's prophets for many centuries had +uttered in announcing the coming of the Messiah. The entire prophetic +Word has its climax in the visions of the King and the Kingdom, He will +receive on this earth. These visions of glory to come, for Him who was +despised and rejected of men, are the glittering stars shining +throughout the dark night of the past and present age. They dazzle the +eyes of faith. They inspire hope and courage. We quote a few Scriptures +which relate to the Christ as King. + +"Yet I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the +decree: the Lord has said unto Me, Thou art my Son, this day have I +begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the nations for Thine +inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession" +(Ps. ii:6-8). "It is He that will judge the world in righteousness" (Ps. +xi:7). "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, +and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the +Kingdom is the Lord's and He is the governor among the nations" (Ps. +xxii:27-28). "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye +everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King +of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory" (Ps. xxiv:9-10). +"All ye peoples clap your hands, shout unto God with the voice of +triumph! For Jehovah, the Most High, is terrible, a great King over all +the earth" (Ps. xlvii:2). "He shall judge thy people with righteousness, +and the poor with judgment." "Yea, all Kings shall fall down before Him; +all nations shall serve Him." "His name shall endure forever--all +nations shall call Him blessed" (Ps. lxxii:1, 11, 17). "Also, I will +make Him my Firstborn, higher than the Kings of the earth" (Ps. +lxxxix:27). "Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness" (Is. xxxii:1). +"Behold the days come, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, +and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and +justice in the earth" (Jer. xxiii:5). "I saw in the night visions, and +behold there came with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man--and +there was given Him dominion and glory, and a Kingdom, that all peoples, +nations and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting +dominion which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom which shall not be +destroyed" (Dan. vii:13-14). "Behold the man, whose name is the Branch, +and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of +the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear +the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a +priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them +both" (Zech. vi:12, 13). "And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth" +(Zech. xiii:9). + +All these prophecies and many more speak of the Lord Jesus as King and +bear witness of His Kingdom. The glories of His Kingdom are likewise +described by the holy men of God, the mouthpieces of the Spirit of God. + +Not Yet Fulfilled. + +Were these predictions fulfilled since the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on +the Cross? Have they been fulfilled since He entered the Father's +presence in Glory? Is He now exercising His kingly rule and authority? +Is the promised Kingdom of righteousness, of peace, of power and glory +now on this earth? + +These questions arise at once in reading these divine predictions. They +must be answered in the negative. The Lord Jesus Christ has not even +begun His work as King. The Kingdom promised unto Him, He has not yet +received. There is now no such Kingdom of glory and power on earth. + +The New Testament Evidence. + +The New Testament furnishes the completest evidence that our Lord is not +King over all the earth, and that His kingly rule is still in the +future. The notion that the church is the Kingdom in which the Lord +Jesus Christ rules as King, and that the Old Testament predictions of +Kingdom glories are realized spiritually in the church, is a pure +invention. Nowhere is the church called the Kingdom, nor do we find the +Lord Jesus ever called "the King of the Church." He is the Head of the +church, which is His body. The New Testament still looks forward to the +Kingdom to come. The Lord has left the earth to receive a Kingdom and to +return (Luke xix:11-28). He occupies the Father's throne, which is not +His permanent place, for He is to have His own throne. "When the Son of +Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then +shall He sit upon the throne of His glory" (Matt. xxv:31). He waits in +heaven for the time when all enemies will be made the footstool of His +feet (Heb. x:13). "But now we see not yet all things put under Him" +(Heb. ii:8). No nation serves Him and the Kingdoms of this world are not +His Kingdoms during this age. They will become His and heaven will +resound with many voices saying: "The kingdoms of this world are become +the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and +ever" (Rev. xi:15). But that is future. When the seventh angel sounds +His trumpet, when heaven opens and He appears as King of kings, crowned +with many crowns (Rev. xix:11-16), then He will receive the nations for +His inheritance. + +How Christ Begins His Future Work. + +The beginning of Christ's future work is revealed in 1 Thessalonians +iv:15-18. This Scripture contains a great and unique revelation, unknown +in the Old Testament. The Lord had made the promise to His disciples, "I +will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am ye may be +also" (John xiv:3). He did not tell them in what manner He would keep +this most precious promise. In the first Epistle to the Thessalonians +the Lord gives the details of His coming for His own, and how He will +fulfill the promise given to His disciples. He promises that He will +descend from heaven with a shout. When He accomplished His work on the +cross, He gave a shout, for he cried with a loud voice "Tetelestei"--"It +is finished!" As the risen One, He met His beloved ones and said "All +Hail!" The Greek gives only one word, "Chairete"--"Oh! the Joy!" This is +His resurrection shout, the shout of joy and victory. And when He +ascended He went up with a shout (Ps. xlvii:5). First Thessalonians +iv:16 tells us He is going to descend with a shout. He passed through +the heavens in His glorious ascension and entered into the presence of +God, His Father. Some day He will arise from the place He occupies on +the Throne of God. He will leave the place on the right hand of the +Majesty on high and pass out of the third heaven. Once more He passeth +through the heavens, not upward but downward. He comes to call His +Saints to meet Him. The meeting-place is not the Mount of Olives, +Jerusalem or any earthly place; the meeting-place will be in the air. We +repeat, this is a revelation, which is not found in the Old Testament +prophetic Word, nor did the Lord announce it fully in His earthly +ministry. According to the passage containing this revelation, the shout +of the Lord as He descends into the air will be followed by the +resurrection of the dead in Christ. All the Saints of God will be raised +physically from the graves. This includes the Old Testament and New +Testament believers. When this shout is heard and the righteous dead are +raised, all belonging to Christ and living in that day, will be caught +up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. For the +sake of some, we add, that all who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ +as Saviour, who received eternal life and the Spirit of God, belong to +Him and their blessed Hope and destiny is to be "caught up in clouds to +meet the Lord in the air." Some teach that in order to share this +rapture certain attainments are needed. Such, however, is not the case. +No service, suffering, separation or any works we do, could ever fit us +for such a marvelous event. Grace has accomplished it for us. In 1 Cor. +xv:51 we read: "Behold I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but +we shall all be changed in a moment, etc." The "all" means all that are +Christ's at His coming, independent of their knowledge about +dispensational truths, independent of their waiting for Him, or any +other thing. That they belong to Him and are redeemed by His precious +blood is a sufficient title to be caught up and to meet Him in the air. + +Of this double company, saints who died and who will be raised from the +dead, and saints who live and will be changed in a moment and caught up +to meet Him, we find a hint in His words in John xi:25-26. "I am the +resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, +yet shall he live (Resurrection). And whosoever liveth (when He comes) +and believeth in Me shall never die (The changing of living believers). +Believest thou this?" May we answer Him, Yea, Lord, I believe. We may +not understand all the details of this wonderful event, an event which +will come suddenly, but we can believe His promise and wait daily for +its glorious fulfillment. This is the blessed Hope of the Church. For +this we are told to wait. Ere He begins His judgment work, before the +last scenes of tribulation and wrath can be enacted upon this earth and +He returns as the King of Glory to claim His blood-bought inheritance, +He will come into the air to meet His redeemed host and co-heirs. This +is the first event in connection with His future work. + +The Judgment Seat of Christ. + +All judgment is to be executed by the Lord Jesus Christ. "For the Father +judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" (John +v:22). Up to the present time no judgment work has been done by Him. Nor +have His people received their crowns and rewards for service and +faithfulness. The meeting of the Saints in the presence of the Lord will +be immediately followed by the judgment seat of Christ. "For we shall +all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Rom. xiv:10). "For we +must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may +receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, +whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. v:10). No unsaved person appears +before this judgment for they were not raised from the dead, nor changed +in the twinkling of an eye. This judgment concerns only believers. This +judgment, however, does not decide their eternal salvation. That was +settled when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of our +Lord in John v:24 make this clear. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He +that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath +everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed +from death unto life." "There is therefore now no condemnation to them +which are in Christ" (Rom. viii:1). The works and the service of His +people will be dealt with by the Lord in this first judgment act in His +future work. Of this we read in 1 Cor. iv:5--"Therefore judge nothing +before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the +hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the hidden counsels of +the hearts; and then shall have every man praise of God." + +Everything will be made manifest before that judgment seat. The +unconfessed sins in the believer's life will be brought to light and all +hidden things will be uncovered. Then the works of the believer will be +made manifest. "Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day +shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire +shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide +which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's +work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be +saved, yet so as by fire" (1 Cor. iii:13-15). It will be the time when +God's people will receive their rewards and crowns. Then the Apostles, +the faithful martyrs, the self-sacrificing missionaries and servants of +God will receive praise and reward for their labors. The judgment seat +is the reward seat of Christ. In view of this the Apostle wrote to the +faithful Thessalonians: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of +rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at +His coming? For ye are our glory and joy" (1 Thess. ii:19-20). And the +Apostle John exhorts: "And now little children, abide in Him; that when +He shall appear, we (the apostles and teachers) may have confidence, and +not be ashamed before Him at His Coming" (1 John ii:28). All believers +in Christ are saved and have eternal life; but not all receive a reward. +Their works will be consumed by the fire of that judgment, for they were +nothing but wood, hay and stubble. They will go rewardless, while the +faithful saints, who toiled and served, who spent and were spent, +following closely in His steps, will receive rewards. What these will be +no Saint does know at this time. + +When all is accomplished in connection with this judgment seat of +Christ, He will lead His Saints into the Father's house, that they may +behold His glory (John xvii:24). He will present the church to Himself, +"a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but +that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. v:27). He presents His +church "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" +(Jude 24). + +II. + +His Future Work in Connection with the Earth. + +When the Saints of God have left the earth and met the Lord in the air, +when the events took place we have briefly outlined, then the Lord Jesus +Christ will begin from heaven a work which will be severely felt on the +earth. He begins to deal with the world in a series of judgments. From +the Book of Revelation we learn that the "Lion of the tribe of Judah the +Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and loose the seven +seals thereof." (Rev. v:5). The book He receives contains the judgments +decreed for this earth with its apostate masses. The Lamb is seen +opening the seals of the book, and as He breaks the seals the events +described under each seal happen. It is His work in judgment. In the +eighth chapter of Revelation an Angel is seen before an altar with a +golden censer. "And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire +of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and there were voices, and +thunderings, and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seven angels +which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound" (Rev. viii:5, +6). This Angel is the Lord Jesus Christ. He casts down the fire of +divine displeasure and judgment upon the earth. The seven trumpeting +angels with their judgments for the earth are sent forth by Him. Then +come seven other angels, who pour out the bowls filled with the wrath of +God. We cannot examine all those judgments separately. There is no human +being who can realize what they all mean and what it will be when the +Lord deals with this earth in righteousness. + +Israel and the Nations. + +Israel and the nations will pass through those judgments executed from +above. Christendom apostate, God defying and Christ rejecting +Christendom, will like Pharaoh, be hardened by them. They do not repent, +but rather believe the strong delusion and accept the man of sin with +his lying wonders. The Jewish people will in part be restored to their +land. The great tribulation centers in their land and will be felt there +in its severest form. The apostate portion of the Jews will worship the +false Christ and will therefore be visited by these righteous judgments. +But there is also a remnant of God-fearing Jews, who believe the Word of +God, who expect the Kingdom and the King. While these believing Jews +suffer, they also serve. They are the last messengers of the King. They +herald once more the Gospel of the Kingdom and will bear witness of it +to all the nations of the earth, before the end comes (Matt. xxiv:14).* + +* We refer the reader to our larger works, which deal more fully with +these coming events. Daniel, Joel, Commentary on Matthew, Harmony of the +Prophetic Word, Things to Come, etc., deal more fully with these truths. +For catalogue, address "Our Hope," 456 Fourth Ave., New York City. + +Nations Learning Righteousness. + +"When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will +learn righteousness" (Isaiah xxvi:9). A work of salvation will go on +during those seven years of judgment, tribulation and wrath. A great +multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and +people, and tongues, come out of the great tribulation and have washed +their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. +vii:9-17). They heard and believed the final testimony as preached by +the Jewish remnant. Heathen nations will accept the Gospel of the +Kingdom, while apostate Christendom is excluded, for they received not +the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thess. +ii). + +His Glorious Appearing. + +"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be +darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall +fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And +then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall +all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man +coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew +xxiv:29-30). "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see +Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth +shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen" (Rev. i:7). "And I saw heaven +opened and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called +Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His +eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He +had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed +in a vesture dipped with blood; and His name is called the Word of God. +And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, +clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a +sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall rule +them with a rod of iron and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness +and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a +name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords" (Rev. xix:11-16). + +The King in His Glory. + +Every eye shall see Him, when He appears in glorious majesty as the King +of Kings. His glory will cover the heavens (Hab. iii:3). Every tongue +which denied Him will be forever hushed. His second, personal, visible +and glorious coming will be the crowning and unanswerable proof of His +Deity. His incarnation and all the work He accomplished on earth and in +glory, can then no longer be denied. His glorious appearing will silence +all His enemies. His rejection ends and His glory as God's appointed +King and ruler over this earth, He purchased with His blood, begins. +Every knee must then bow before Him and every tongue confess that He is +Lord. + +And when He appears in all His glory, He does not come alone. His Saints +come with Him. When He appears, then shall we also appear with Him in +glory (Col. iii:4). In that day of triumph and glory, He will be +glorified in His Saints and admired in all them that believed (2 Thess. +i:10). Wonderful spectacle it will be, when He brings His many sons with +Him unto glory! All will be conformed into the same image. + +His Judgment-Work. + +His feet will stand once more upon the Mount of Olives (Zech. xiv:4). +Before Him is Jerusalem and all nations are gathered against it to +battle (Zech. xiv:2). The Beast will be their leader, while the Man of +Sin, the Anti-christ, will do his dreadful work in the city itself. The +remnant of Israel in great distress will then pray and look for +deliverance. The coming of the King will bring that deliverance. They +will shout then for joy and say in that day, "Lo, this is our God, we +have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have +waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation" (Isaiah +xxv:9). They will welcome the once rejected One. "Blessed is He that +cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. xxiii:39). And He will fight +against those nations. The great battle of Armageddon will then take +place. "The beasts and the Kings of the earth, and their armies, +gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and +against his army" (Rev. xix:19). But their opposition will suddenly be +broken to pieces. "And the beast was taken, and with him the false +prophet (the Anti-christ) that wrought miracles before him, with which +he deceived them that received the mark of the beast, and them that +worshipped the image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire +burning with brimstone" (Rev. xix:20). + +On His Throne. + +When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels +with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory" (Matt. +xxv:31). The judgment which will then be executed by Him is not a +universal judgment (the dead are not mentioned), but it will be a +judgment of the living nations in the day when He appears the second +time. Some nations are put on His right side and He calls them "the +blessed of my Father;" they inherit the Kingdom which will then be +established on the earth. That these righteous nations are not church +saints is obvious, for the church, as we have seen, was caught up in the +beginning of His future work to meet Him in the air and is associated +with Him when He comes in power and glory. Then there are other nations +which are put on His left hand and they shall go away from that judgment +throne into everlasting punishment (Matt. xxv:46). But what is the +standard of this judgment? What they did to the Lord's brethren or what +they did not unto them. The Lord's brethren, according to the flesh are +the Jews. During the tribulation period believing Jews will preach the +Gospel of the Kingdom to all nations (Matt. xxiv:14). The nations who +believed this last offer of mercy treated the messengers in kindness; +those who did not believe the message did not treat them in that way. +And when this great judgment is passed, His Kingdom of righteousness and +peace will be established on this earth. Righteousness will begin to +reign as grace reigns now through righteousness. + +III. + +The Glories of His Kingdom. + +"And in the days of those Kings shall the God of heaven set up a +Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the Kingdom shall not be +left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these +Kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Dan. ii:44). "I saw in the night +visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of +heaven, and came to the Ancients of days, and they brought Him near +before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, +that all people, nations and languages should serve Him; His dominion is +an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that +which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. vii:13-14). A closer study of these +two fundamental passages from Daniel's great prophecies will establish +the fact that this promised Kingdom comes with the second coming of +Christ. It will be preceded by a judgment blow at the earth Kingdoms; +Nebuchadnezzar beheld this in his prophetic dream. + +This Kingdom is an earthly Kingdom and all the nations will be gathered +into that Kingdom. Jerusalem and a converted Israel will be the center +of it. The Lord Jesus Christ and His Saints will reign with Him over the +earth and over this Kingdom. And what will be His work then? But a few +of the many things can be mentioned. "He shall speak peace to the +nations" (Zech. ix:10). "With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and +reprove with equity the meek of the earth." (Isaiah xi:4). "He shall +bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" (Is. xlii:1). "And He shall judge +among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat +their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruninghooks; +nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn +war any more" (Isaiah ii:4). He shall also "set up an ensign for the +nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together +the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah +xi:12). "And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and +shall be my people" (Zech. ii:11). "And the Lord shall be King over all +the earth" (Zech. xiv:9). "Behold a King shall reign in righteousness" +(Isaiah xxxii:1). "A King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute +judgment and justice in the earth" (Jere. xxiii:5). + +Many more passages predicting and describing the Kingdom and its glories +might be added. All these blessed words mean exactly what they say. +Righteousness and peace will characterize that world-wide Kingdom of the +Lord Jesus Christ. His glory will cover the earth as the waters cover +the deep. Nations will worship Him. "Yea, all Kings shall fall down +before Him; all nations shall serve Him." "He shall have dominion also +from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth" (Ps. +lxxii:8, 11). Every wrong will be righted on earth and present-day evils +and oppression, crime and vice, poverty and sickness will be abolished. +Only He has the power to do this. Oh! the glories of the Kingdom! May we +pray, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Thy Kingdom come. + +Creation Delivered. + +"For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the +manifestation of the Sons of God. For the creature was made subject to +vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same +in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the +bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. +For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain +together until now" (Rom. viii:19-22). Sin has brought a curse upon +creation. The thorns and thistles are the result of the fall of man as +well as the blight and misery which rests upon a creation, which was +pronounced good by the Creator. But this condition into which creation +has been plunged will not continue forever. A better day is coming. +Groaning creation is to be delivered. The curse will be removed. This +cannot be the work of man. Scientists attempt to set things in order in +this ruined creation; but they fail. The things which destroy, the heat +and the drought, the storms and earthquakes, cannot be arrested by the +arm of man. + +The Son of God wore the crown of thorns. The curse was put upon Him. And +He who created all things and paid for redemption by His precious blood +will, with omnipotent power, deliver groaning creation. It will take +place when the sons of God are manifested. The sons of God (the +redeemed) will be manifested with Him, as we have seen, in the day of +His visible appearing. Then the great vision of Isaiah will find its +fulfillment. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard +shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the +fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and +the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the +lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on +the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the +cockatrice den" (Isaiah xi:6-8). + +All Under His Feet. + +The dispensation of the fulness of times has come (Eph. i:10). All +things are put under Him. All His enemies are made His footstool. He is +Lord of all. The glorious reign of Christ, in kingly glory, in +fulfillment of the Prophet's visions, will be followed by another +judgment. + +The Great White Throne. + +The second resurrection, that of the wicked dead, takes place at the end +of the Kingdom reign of Christ. This great judgment and the final +destiny of the wicked is revealed in Rev. xx:11-15. The Lord Jesus +Christ will be the judge in that awful scene, for it is written that all +judgment is committed unto the Son" (John v:22). Then Cometh the End. + +"Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to +God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all +authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies +under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. . . . +And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also +Himself be subject unto Him, who put all things under Him, that God may +be all in all" (1 Cor. xv:24-28). + +Then He will create a new heaven and a new earth, the eternal dwelling +place of redeemed and glorified mankind. "And I saw a new heaven and a +new earth" (Rev. xxi:1). "And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, +I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are +true and faithful" (Rev. xxi:5). "And there shall be no more curse; but +the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall +serve Him. And they shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their +foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, +neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they +shall reign forever and ever" (Rev. xxii:3-5). + +This will be the ultimate result of the blessed Work of Christ. His past +work is finished. Soon His present Work may end and then His future, +kingly work begins, when He comes the second time. + +"Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Work Of Christ, by A. C. Gaebelein + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORK OF CHRIST *** + +***** This file should be named 26643.txt or 26643.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/4/26643/ + +Produced by Carl D. 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