BELONGING TO HEAVEN
1 Corinthians 15: 45-49
Ephesians 1: 3-7; 2: 4-10
DS As gathered together this morning for the Supper, we got a touch in our spirits as to that which is heavenly, and of the Christ, the heavenly Man, who carries the saints in by quickening power, and sustains us where everything is for God's pleasure. It is wonderful to think that we are suitable, therefore, to the environment that Christ takes us into; that He takes us there not as of dust, as it speaks of here, “the first man out of the earth made of dust”, but as of “the second man as out of heaven”, another order of man altogether, as the Lord Jesus was as the second Man, as out of heaven. We are conformed to Him, we are of Him, we are those who are of His brethren, akin to Him. So we are suitable, and we have feelings like He does, so that as He comes in amongst us in the Lord's supper, He takes a company that is suitable, akin to Himself, and carries them with Himself into the environment where we belong. This is where the saints belong. I got this impression this morning of the heavenly One as it speaks of Him here, “as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”. It is the character of the Person that carries the personnel who are Christ-like into the area where He Himself is, in liberty and in joy
It says in Ephesians that we are “blessed … with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies”. Where is it? It is in Christ Jesus. I think that is the scope of the place into which He takes us; there is a great scope to think of what is heavenly and what the heavenlies speak of. “Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”; this is what the Father has done. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. We can get some help as to what that would speak of. And then there is this matter as to quickening in chapter 2: “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together”. This shows the liberty in the environment where there is no fear, where everything is settled. We touch something of the rest of God where every divine Person is at rest in this environment. And this scripture came to my mind: “has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that he might display in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus”. Grace runs right through these scriptures, and it is wonderful to see it.
It is just a simple impression I had of this matter as to the One who is heavenly and taking such a company with Himself who are suitable to Himself.
DCB We are told to have our mind on “the things which are above, where the Christ is”, Col 3: 1. It is quite a testing thing as to what we know about what is heavenly, but we know it centres in Him: “as the heavenly one”. It is wonderful to see that there is Someone who is “the heavenly one”, and carries that character wherever He goes.
DS That is good. He is distinct, is He not? Wherever the Lord is, and whatever office He fills, wherever He takes the saints, whether He takes us up as working something out here in the wilderness, or whether He is taking us into the area of purpose, He is always distinct. But it is a wonderful thing to think that He carries with Him those that are heavenly ones. They are suitable as they are kindred to Himself. They are not viewed as of flesh here; they are not of mere nature; they are not of man’s will. So, we are abstracted from natural links as the Lord comes in. He carries a heavenly company to the Father, and I just wondered if that would be helpful and an attractive thing for us.
DCB So is it on that basis of attraction, as attracted to Him, that we are brought in? And is it a matter of formation, that there should be persons who are heavenly persons? And that really can only be through companying with Him.
DS That is why I wondered if that must be because He is the heavenly One. So that the character of what is heavenly is seen perfectly and beautifully in the Lord Jesus Himself. But we are those who love the Lord and who have the Spirit. Every saint is heavenly in that character, but if we are going to enjoy the heavenly sphere, we need the Spirit and we need to be formed after this Man and be attracted to the area where He takes us.
JTB In the first existence Adam was created last, was he not? But “the second man out of heaven” is first. He is Firstborn; so you can see how He gives character to the whole of new creation. He is Firstborn of a heavenly race, is He not? He gives character to it all. Whereas Adam was last in the creation, but, in new creation, the “the last Adam” is first, therefore influencing the whole sphere of new creation, do you think? And whereas Adam misrepresented God, Christ never does, does He? So, the whole thing flows out from that, do you think, as Christ is the firstborn One?
DS The distinction from Adam and the way you bring that out is very attractive. So that really everything in the heavenlies is characterised by this Man, the whole of that sphere. He was raised up and beyond all the heavens and the whole of that place where He has gone, you may say, is Christ-like. So, if we are taken there, we must be Christ-like persons. I sometimes wonder how much I touch in my spirit of the Lord's supper, and the way He takes a people to the Father. It is only characteristically heavenly personnel who are attracted to this heavenly Man who will be carried into the area of heaven. There are no other personnel that are there, are there? Help us further.
JTB It has been said that when Christ died, He closed up the first existence morally but He presented to God a new man acceptable to God, did He not, in virtue of His going through death? So, His death underpins everything. So that is the start, do you think?
DS Yes.
TWL I was just wondering in relation to the beginning of Hebrews 3, although I know the setting of it is a little bit different: “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”, v 1. There it is what we are in our common lot, as the note says. I am just thinking about what you said about the persons that go there. We are all to have the character; whether we understand it or not; we all have the character of heavenly persons: “partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus” (Heb. 3:1), The reality is of the Man that is there in a place where sin has never come.
DS That is something that every One of us from the youngest needs to contemplate more, that if I am going to enjoy the divine presence, I need to go with this Man. I cannot enter heaven, I cannot be in the Father's presence, I cannot know the joy of sonship, I cannot know anything of the liberty of that place where God wants me, unless I go with the One who is the heavenly One. And this is the One who gives character and colour to everything for God's pleasure, because the only Man who is in heaven is a heavenly Man. That is a strengthening for your spirit because when we do enjoy it, we know that our souls are right and our spirits are right to be carried by the Spirit into what is not of nature, not of death, not broken, can never fail; and it is all of the Father's purpose. It is a wonderful thing really.
TWL It is the truth of new creation, is it not? “So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation”, 2 Cor 5: 17. That is an absolute statement of God. It is what He has made us. As associated with Christ, as in that Man, we are that. God never views us again as in the old man. Christ in going into death sealed off that man; to the eyes of God He does not exist anymore, and now it is just men in new creation.
DS New creation is of another character: “such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”. They are now with Him but they are taking character from Him. Again it was what came into the meeting this morning, that God not only finds pleasure in the Man who carries the saints there, but He finds pleasure in the saints. He finds pleasure in the sons, and this is why: because they are heavenly. It is not because of what I am naturally or of what I bring, but because I am in Christ Jesus as a heavenly Man.
DHM It is wonderful to contemplate that the distinctiveness of the Lord Jesus forever remains, but we are there associated with Him. We cannot be there without Him. We are there; the hymn says,
He bringeth us to this blest place
Where we with Him can sing.
(Hymn 374)
We are with Him but yet He stands in His greatness and glory as the One in whom the Father found His delight. But equally so -
On us shines favour ne’er to dim -
The love wherewith Thou lovest Him!
We could not be in a finer situation.
DS I think that is attractive. In every office the Lord fills, and in every way He takes, whether it is in relation to the assembly , or it is in relation to the Father, He is always distinct. He always has that distinction, as it says here, “such as the heavenly one”. He is the Man who has inaugurated all this wonderful matter and brought it to pass for the glory of God. He has closed up one order in His death. That work has brought glory to God, but He was a heavenly One here; it says that, again I think it is in John's gospel. It is an interesting thing that the character of the Man who was here was heavenly.
JTB He was “the Son of man who is in heaven” John 3: 13. He said that here. Even as a blessed Man here in flesh and blood He never lost the heavenly character of His manhood. As taking up a condition of flesh and blood, He never ceased to be identified with what was heavenly. The characteristics of heaven remained with Him.
DS “The Son of man who is in heaven”. So, although He was here, in a condition of flesh and blood, the character and the life of the Man was heavenly. He found His life in doing the will of Another; He drew nothing from the earth, ”a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground”, Isa 53: 2. So, they “wondered at the words of grace”, Luke 4: 22. Everything that marked the Lord Jesus here was of a heavenly character. So, we can learn from that, and that character too, do you think? And it comes out in the walk of the believer likewise.
SCL Is one of the features of a heavenly environment an emotional attunement to the heart of God? I was thinking of the Lord when He walked through this scene. That is how He guided Himself, as being emotionally attuned to the desires of His God and Father. And for us, in the morning meeting occasion, we are to come there and to be emotionally intelligent as to the desires of the heart of the Lord Jesus, because His desires are the same as God's desires. Is it the characteristic feature of heavenly persons to think of the divine heart?
DS Yes, I think so, because the desire of the heavenly One is to take us into heavenly places. He has gone to prepare the place. The place is now there, settled; there is no turmoil there. Everything is joyous and restful and Christ is at the centre, and the Father has pleasure in that. That is because of the heavenly Man who has accomplished everything. But if I am not in the state, and I am not in the Spirit, I will never touch this area which is wholly spiritual and wholly heavenly.
SCL It would bring out the distinctiveness of each occasion, because the Lord has so many features and glories to take account of that in each occasion the divine mind has a particular aspect that we are to take account of and respond to; and particular desires in the heart of the Lord that are to be responded to. When it speaks about a quickening spirit that is really the vitality of the Spirit’s involvement in the morning meeting occasion. We cannot just stand up and say right things because, whilst they might be right, they might not fit. But the Spirit helps us to know what exactly is the desire of the heart of the Lord in that particular occasion.
DS The quickening power of the Spirit and of the Lord Himself are a testimony to the matter that it is heavenly. It is outside of human knowledge and human nature and human understanding. God has taken you up and made you fit for heaven; and He has taken the saints up for divine pleasure. And He has resource and the ability to carry a people into those heavenly places, and for us to enjoy the things that the divine Persons enjoy. That is grace. That is the most wonderful grace that you and I could ever know.
JMN In the Father's presence, Christ is the Son but we are the many sons of God through grace.
DS That is just another distinct feature of what He is, is it not? He is the Son. Again, it is the Son who is in heaven. It is the One who is indigenous to that place. Again, it brings out what has been mentioned earlier, that scripture in John’s gospel: “the Son of man who is in heaven”. Although He came to fulfil a work, His mind was always in relation to the purposes of God.
DHM In John's gospel in particular the Lord Jesus tried to prepare His own for what would take place after He had laid down His life and suffered and ascended, although He does not mention that side in John 13 and 14, He goes on to explain the divine provision. The place was prepared, the Holy Spirit given, all with a view to showing that the believer's prospect is not down on earth; it is up to heaven, is it not? And I suppose we have to understand that really it is all what is heavenly, and what is spiritual as opposed to what is natural now or even earthly.
DS It is helpful what you say. “I go to prepare you a place” (John 14: 2), but what does He say? “That where I am, ye also may be”, v 3. That is the Lord; it is not only the preparing of the place, but He desires that where He is, His saints may be with Him. Again, it is only through soul exercise that I will be with Christ where He is now. And we touch it, maybe just momentarily, but it is good for the young and for all of us to touch it, where Christ is. He is in the Father's presence. He is in the heavenlies where every matter is in rest and peace and joy and glory, and everything has been secured. But He wants us to be there because we are characteristically like that Man. Every believer who has come to Christ and has the Spirit is heavenly. That again is a good thing for young ones to understand.
TWL I know the setting of it is a little bit different because it has to do with what was on the earth, but do you get the idea of it in Exodus 28 in the clothing of Aaron and his sons? Aaron had what was distinctive in the turban and the vest and the girdle and so on; but it goes on to say, “And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make vests; and thou shalt make for them girdles; and high caps”, v 40. And then in chapter 29, “And thou shalt bring his sons near, and clothe them with the vests” (v 8), and so on. There is a suggestion of everything being in accord with the manhood of Jesus for God. That is what heavenly persons are. It is what they are for God. It is not just that we are there, so we get to take part there, but we are for God there.
DS “He came out from God” - Christ is there for God – “and was going to God”, John 13: 3. He came out to fulfill something for our pleasure and joy, but everything that God does, speaking reverently, He does for His own self. And He takes heavenly persons back with the heavenly Man for His own pleasure. In the assembly Christ sings, does He not? He sings there with personnel who are heavenly.
TWL He sings in the presence of those who have had glory put on them. In John 17 the Lord says, “the glory which thou hast given me I have given them”, v 22. That is manhood for God, and we are covering that. He has what is distinctive, but we also have what covers all of us. “The glory which thou hast given me I have given them” is manhood for God. Is that how you understand it?
DS I think so, and the more that we understand the glory that has been given us, and the position that we have been given, and the status that has been given the saints, the greater the answer in the saints will be. If you are brought from an undignified position into the most glorious, and you recognise the Person who has done it, there will be a greater answer in the assembly and in the service of God to God Himself, do you not feel?
DCB I am just wondering if you would say something about the two references earlier to the Lord as the last Adam and as the second Man. I wondered if these would be part of the exercise to see Him as the heavenly Man. As the last Adam, the fact that He is a quickening spirit would mean that there is a life that is according to Him. For the last Adam, there is no One who will supersede that One. It is wonderful to see that we have come to a position where there is Someone who is the Last and matters are established for God in Him. But the second Man is a contrast to what we are and what we have been.
DS I think both the titles that you have brought in are very helpful. Do both of these instances involve His death?
DCB I think they must, because if we are to be quickened that would require His death and His resurrection so that there is life. So, it is as a Man in resurrection, which is the general theme of this chapter, that He is the last Adam. He has established something there that is never going to be superseded.
DS The second Man as out of heaven was seen here on earth before He went into death. So, it is another order of man in that character. But for us to appreciate the second Man He had to die to remove one order of man in its totality, to bring us into the fact that we are heavenly ones. It shows the greatness of who this Person is that He can not only end an order, but He could quicken life, and He brings it forward for God, and that we are characteristically like Him for God's pleasure and for His pleasure in that sense.
NRC I am enjoying what is being said. It is very helpful, and it is a real challenge, is it not, to consider this subject in relation to being heavenly persons in particular? I certainly feel the difficulty in that myself, but I was just considering the occasion that we enjoyed this morning, the Lord's supper, and really felt that that is the central aspect of becoming - or having a knowledge - of what it is to be, a heavenly person. When the Lord's supper was set forth there is reference to the upper chamber or the upper room. And there is an elevated thought there. And I was thinking too in relation to some of the wonderful times with the Lord on the Mount of Olives, and then the mount of transfiguration. They are all elevated thoughts, and I was wondering whether really we have a foretaste, do we not? We are yet to receive our heavenly bodies, but we have a foretaste of something which is elevated in the Lord's supper of what it is to be a heavenly person, do you think?
DS Yes, surely. We touch something in our spirits of what will yet to be in actuality. That is a wonderful thing to think of. Because of the weak mortal beings that we are, that might only be a fleeting moment. It might only be as you are on your feet or if somebody gives out a hymn and you have an impression by the Spirit that you get into your soul. But there is something in that fleeting moment that gives you an impression of worship, of thanksgiving, that you will enter into in actuality in a day to come. This body will be put on as the scripture says, “And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one”. It is a wonderful thing to think of that, that in a day soon coming, we will actually bear the image of this heavenly One. Because the only man that is suitable to God is Christ Himself. So we will bear that image. We will bear the image of the heavenly One, do you think?
NRC But it all involved Him going into death, and we remembered that this morning; I am sure we all did, Christ dying and going into death. But out of that there is a worship and a praise which is given to Him which we can come into the enjoyment of as well, and I think really that is us just having a foretaste of the things to come. We are enjoying an aspect of what it will be like. But the scripture that you have read is that we are heavenly partakers now as well. So that is a test; so how do we get help to be more heavenly?
DS Well, again, I do not know. I could not actually answer your question in its fullness, but the more you enjoy something the more you want, even naturally speaking. And the more you enjoy spiritual things, as outside everything that is of the earth, and everything that breaks down, and everything that fails, the more you desire it. And that is the only way I can see what God has done for me in Christ, and placed me in Christ Jesus, and made me a heavenly person outside of my desires, or whatever it may be. He has placed me as in Christ Jesus. And the more I understand it by the Spirit and see the place that He has put me in His purpose the more I desire it. And the more you touch these things in your spirit the more you enjoy. And the more you enjoy the more the Spirit opens up to you. It is like opening the page of a book and the more you read it the more you understand it. But what would you say yourself?
NRC Well, I think you have touched really on what my thought was. There is nothing that we can do of ourselves in relation to becoming this, but it is divine provision which has been afforded towards us. And God in His grace and His mercy has provided His only Son for us, and doing that has revealed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has provided His own Spirit. So all of these, showing divine love towards us, are surely a benefit to me in relation to becoming more heavenly.
JTB Reference was made earlier to the calling. I was thinking about 2 Timothy: “has saved us, and has called us with a holy calling” chap 1: 9. But just in connection with our brother’s question, we are to consider our calling, are we not? As we consider our calling, it takes us back to consideration of Christ, does it not, and that helps us? And I was wondering again from that first chapter in 2 Timothy: “but has been made manifest now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings”, v 10. I thought “brought to light life” is the last Adam. Incorruptibility is the second Man. There can be no failure attached to the second Man. Nothing could be corrupted, or impinge upon it. The second Man is inviolable, is He not? But “brought to life” is really the last Adam, do you think?
DS Your explanation of that is very attractive. The two thoughts come together, “brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings”. I think that helps with our brother’s question. The One who is my Saviour becomes attractive to me; I see the many matters He has undertaken for the glory of God and for the blessing of man. And this Man has brought to light life; there is quickening power in Christ. But incorruptibility means that there is nothing the enemy can do to defeat Him. Any man and every man needs to have to do with a man who is as mighty as Christ. But this is a wholly spiritual matter: to see that He has taken away the first order of man; the last Adam, a quickening spirit. I think that is very helpful what you are bringing in.
JTB He has annulled death: death has no entrance into this great sphere of life. In the sphere of quickening, death can never enter, can it?
DS It is attractive and helpful to open up my simple impression that the heavenlies involve a Man who is in charge of this environment. He has annulled death, and He has brought to light life and incorruptibility. This is outside of the enemy's domain altogether, outside of the flesh, and it is in the Spirit's hands, is it not? And there is quickening for His own pleasure, and there is quickening for the glory of God, do you think?
TWL Going back to the question how we can become more heavenly, does the beginning of Colossians 3 help us? “If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth; for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God”, v 1-3. That is heavenly persons, is it not?
DS “Your life is hid with the Christ in God”: that is the Man that we have been speaking about. He has brought to light life and incorruptibility. The secret of that in the soul is that I am in touch with a Man who has defeated everything that comes against me and my nature. It comes against me, and my walk here in the world. And so I am in touch not only with a heavenly Man, but a Man who is incorruptible, a Man who brings in quickening life, a Man who does everything for God and everything for me. That brings the attractiveness of the Saviour to me in a greater way. And as I ponder Him more, when we gather to remember Him in the Lord's supper, there is bound to be an answer, collectively in the saints, do you think?
TWL “Quickened us with the Christ” not ‘by the Christ’. “Quickened us with the Christ” is positional. It is a case of the life that pervades that whole scene, and we have part in that. It is not simply that I am a saved person, and I touch eternity, but I am quickened “with the Christ”. It is positional. And that is how God views us, and that is what God has made us. Does that fit in?
NRC I was just thinking that as well. If we are quickened with Him in His current position, we are associated with Him also in relation to where He is. He is in heaven; so that is our position as well, is it not?
SCL What we have just been talking about brings out the importance of spending time in the presence of the Lord. I was thinking of that scripture, “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord … are transformed according to the same image”, 2 Cor 3: 18. There is a very practical reality of spending time in the presence of the Lord Jesus. I suppose giving a practical example, I recently found the benefit of reading something in the gospel of the Lord Himself before coming to the Lord's day morning. You get a very real touch of spending time in the Lord's presence, do you think?
DS “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord” involves all the saints collectively, and the Spirit sustains a heavenly people in the divine presence. They are heavenly personnel: they belong to the heavenly Man, and they are quickened, so they have power to respond in life; they have a knowledge of this Person. They have a knowledge of His movements. And all these things, by the Spirit's service, come together to bring out an answer to Him and to the Father.
SCL It is a hugely uplifting and encouraging experience to consider the expanse of the host of heavenly persons. We sang,
Every tribe and tongue, (Hymn 156).
You may say the expanse alone is impressive, but the true miracle is that each individual is displaying Christ in perfection before God. What an encouraging environment to witness and be part of.
DS The encouragement for all of us is that we should take up what it speaks of in Corinthians, that we are heavenly ones. This is not putting a demand on anyone. This is not forcing you into something, but this is by attraction. I think everything in Christianity is by attraction.
BRL I have just been piecing things together and what you say about attraction is very fine because it recalls I was reading something this morning. It was in relation to younger persons and sisters coming to the Supper, and it was said that, wherever there was true affection for Christ, it would find expression through somebody in the Supper, and I think that was for the encouragement of everybody. In what we have been discussing, you cannot help but see the joy and satisfaction that Christ would have in the assembly as being formed of these heavenly ones who have this pure affection for Him.
DS The place that such an answer to the heart of Christ will come out is in the assembly. And that is a wonderful thing to ponder, that Christ as a real Man desires real affection and He finds it in the assembly. So that is in saints, individuals like you and me, and that is a wonderful thing.
We can get some help in Ephesians: “who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”. It shows that the heavenly personnel are not taken into something that is small in its outlook, but it has an expansive thought. That was my thought in it. I think the great desire of the Lord Jesus is to take us into the presence of the Father, and as taking us to the Father things expand as under the hand of Christ. It says here, “spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ”: we are placed before the Father in Christ. It seems that there is an expansive thought of heavenly ones in the heavenly environment where the Father has pleasure in that which Christ brings.
DHM We have had help in relation to the order of the service, have we not? We worship the Lord Jesus when He comes in amongst us, and that is right, giving Him the first place; He delights to take it. We are with Him in marital relationships and union but then there is a movement to the greater part of the service when He, having heard a portion for His own heart, delights to take us to the Father's presence, in spirit into that prepared place we touched already. And in one sense that is the great mission that He has, to take us there, those that have been secured, the redeemed, those that belong to Him. Hebrews says, “bringing many sons to glory”, chap 2: 10.
DS I think that is the great ultimate in the service of God, and in the purposes of the love of God. We sing a hymn,
Thou gav’st us Father, in Thy love,
To Christ to bring us home to Thee
(Hymn 88).
The purposes of the love of God are that He gives us to Christ to bring out the glory of that One, and shine Him in our hearts, and then take personnel back to the Father who are Christ-like. And there, as in this environment, I think He blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Where is it? It is in Christ Jesus.
JTB We had reference this morning to “he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”, Heb 2: 11. There is a fine note to “sanctified”. It says, ‘Simply the character of the persons without reference to done or doing’ (note i). They are characteristically heavenly. and we are one, are we not, of the same kind? They are all of one. Of the same kind it means. And all of one kind with the Sanctifier. What a joy for the divine heart, is it not, as well as for us to be in such an environment as among the sanctified ones?
DS What a pleasure this must be for the Father then that He has Christ-like persons in His presence:
Every feature Christ reflecting
(Hymn 83).
Think of the glory or the vastness of every blood-bought saint redeemed and brought with Christ into the Father's presence. They are heavenly personnel. They are sanctified, as He is sanctified. Although He is distinct, and always will be in one sense, there is no distinction in the sense of the character of the personnel who are brought there. They are like Christ in that sense.
DCB I was thinking of the Lord as the Minister of the holy places. That is what has been referred to in a sense, that matters are opened up so that we have a liberty as guided by the One who is indigenous to heaven, but who has brought us there, and would guide us in that place as to what is suitable to the Father.
DS I like what you say there. Help us further then as to the Lord guiding us in this environment.
DCB At the time it is a matter of simply being sensitive to what He is saying by the Spirit, so that we move forward. I think also we have in the service part of what the Lord has opened up as Minister of the holy places. So we have some knowledge, some teaching, that would help us. But that is not to take away from the activity of His headship at the time.
DS It brings out the distinctiveness of the Person who has undertaken to bring everything back to the Father. As Minister of the sanctuary, He knows the personnel, and He knows the Father, and He knows what the Father's desires are. And by the Spirit, He would seek, do you think, to bring out that which would minister to the Father's heart for His own pleasure? Is that because we are blessed? I think the blessing of the heavenlies must be in view of that.
TWL In relation to all of this that we have been saying, which has been very good, it says, “he has chosen us in him before the world's foundation”. According to John 17, “thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”, v 24. The character of what man was to be for God was always in view before sin ever touched anything. And then we tend to be limited by what we are as failures, as sinners, as persons away from God, but that is not where God starts. God starts with His Man first; and “he has chosen us in him before the world's foundation” is what we were going to be in purpose before ever sin touched us. That is the God who saved me. Does that fit in with what you have in mind?
DS I think so. So the heavenly ones who have heavenly character are really those who are in the purposes of God before time began. And it was in His purpose too to make it so that these personnel who are still in nature and still in the weakness of the flesh should be sustained. He gives us of His Spirit. He gives us the Lord Jesus, as Minister of the sanctuary. So that the whole service of that which should be taken up for the glory of God should be carried out in a dignified way, in a manner which is wholly spiritual and is wholly suitable, so that really the character can be said that they are heavenly ones. It is wonderful to see that, is it?
TWL Yes, and that is what I was thinking about when I made reference to Aaron. When you saw Aaron's sons operating it would have been in exactly the same way that Aaron operated. So when it came time to put an offering on the altar, it would have been exactly the same order, done exactly the same way. It would have been the laying on of hands exactly the same way. And it would have just been Aaron over again, such as in the service of God. We bring to God like Christ brings to God. But He is distinct.
DS The scripture says, “has raised us up together and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”. I read some other verses there, but that was the verse that really was in my mind. “Has quickened us with the Christ, (ye are saved by grace,) and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”. What a settled place this is. There is power, there is quickening, but this seems to imply that everything here has been the purposes of the love of God, and has been brought to fruition.
TWL “Raised us up together, and has made us sit down together” becomes a settled place. It is not activity for activity's sake. It is God resting in His love and us resting in the love of God. It is things which love has the liberty to act as it chooses because it is in heaven. Sin has no entrance there. Breakdown has no entrance there. Failure has never come there. Things like that have never happened there. And subsequently the reality that I am a heavenly person settles me in the presence of God.
DS And a heavenly person is at home here. Just as a child coming home comes in and is settled in their own home, a believer who is heavenly, as taken with Christ into the heavenlies and heavenly places, is at home in this environment, would you say?
TWL Yes. When I was much younger the older brothers that were local with us used to say, ‘Go into the presence of God, and enjoy yourself’. That is heavenly; go in there and enjoy the relationship. Do not ask for something, just go and sit there and enjoy the love of God for what it is. That is a wonderful thing.
JTB Does 2 Chronicles 6 just capture what you are saying? “Then said Solomon: Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. But I have built a house of habitation for thee, even a settled place for thee to abide in forever. And the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel”, v 1-3. They were all suitable to occupy that place, were they?
DS That is a good scripture to bring in, it brought into that settled environment that God is at rest there, and He blesses the people. That is our portion, is it not? Is that the portion of heavenly personnel who are taken with the heavenly One into the Father's presence so that God may bless us? So, we come away refreshed. You come away strengthened in your affections because of the God who loves to bless in His own environment, would you say?
JTB “The king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel”; that suggests Christ delighting to take us in before the Father and to be at home there in that settled place.
Edinburgh
10th March 2024
List of Initials (local unless otherwise shown):
D C Brown; J T Brown; N R Cumming; B R Lock; S C Lock; T W Lock; D H Marshall; J M Newberry, Glasgow; D Spinks, Bo’ness