THE CROWNED
CHRIST
CHAPTER XI
Head and Heir of all Things
That title which Isaiah gives to the "Child born"- the
"Father of eternity"- leads us on to consider His relation to that eternal
state of which He is Author. Here we shall find, indeed, in some sort an
opposite line of thought to that which we have just had before us; and yet in
fullest accord with it. For if, in what we have looked at, Christ has been seen
seeking and working for the Fathers glory, until He can give up to Him
the Kingdom, which He has taken to bring all things into agreement with His
blessed will, it is surely in perfect accord with this to find that Christ is
Himself the Centre of all the thoughts and purposes - the counsels of the
Father. As in communion with the Son we have had the Father before us, so now
in communion with the Father have we the Son. Our joy it is and wondrous
privilege to be brought into communion both "with the Father and with His Son
Jesus Christ."
The Son is as the Word the Revealer of God, and, as the
Word made flesh, the Revelation also. Creation, as brought into being by the
Word, proclaims in broken and reflected rays the glory of its Creator. This is
that house of God of which the tabernacle in Israel was a figure, and which the
Son is over (Heb. iii. 1 - 6). Even in this from the beginning He has been
already serving, and to what service does it not pledge Him in result! For, as
over it, and the Revealer, He must maintain the glory of that revelation, amid
all the frailty incident to the creature, and it would not be the creature, if
it were not frail, nor could other than frailty and dependence suit it.
Moreover, the higher the structure is carried, - the more complex and
wondrous it becomes, the frailer it is; the more it climbs Godward, the greater
the depth to which it may fall; the more richly the ship is laden, the greater
is the treasure which is exposed to wreck.
The service undertaken here
by the Son is a service of love. Revelation is for the creature, not for God.
The glory revealed in it is not to increase the wealth of the Revealer, but of
him to whom it is revealed. God is not making gain out of His creatures, nor
are they increasing His wealth at their own cost. "If thou hast sinned, what
doest thou against Him? If thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou
unto Him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? What receiveth He at thy
hand?" Nay, love alone can count its riches in assuming such burdens. And God
is love; and His glory is in the out-flow of His goodness; and of this Christ
is the only complete expression. What simpler then than that Christ - not
simply the Son of His love, but the Son become Man - is the end for which all
creation exists? Divine love, as it is exhibited, confirmed, glorified in Him,
is the only possible key to the mystery of our being.
Sin has come in,
and we think naturally very different thoughts from these. "I knew Thee, that
thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou
hast not strawed" is said in all human languages, in accents of assured
conviction. Even the Cross, the most wonderful manifestation of divine love
that could be made has been darkened and profaned by such blasphemous
accusations. But the answer has been given by the lips of the patient Sufferer
Himself, whose lifting up avails and shall avail, to draw men unto Him, and so
to God. Yea, "He died for all, that they which live should no more live unto
themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again."
He has
vindicated then afresh His hereditary title as "Son over the house of God;" and
having finally consecrated it as a temple of praise for ever, He will abide the
Head of it. For this is the "mystery of Gods will, according to His good
pleasure which He purposed in Himself, for the administration of the fulness of
times, to head up all things in Christ; both which are in heaven and which are
on earth; even in Him, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance" (Ephi.
9-11 Gk).
We must not confound this with millennial Kingship, or with
anything which is to pass away. The "fulness of times" is not simply the last
of probationary ages, but that to which they all pointed and led the way.
Headship is not the same as rule over, after the manner of a king, but implies
a closer, natural, and, so to speak, organic relationship. The head is the
representative and interpreter of that to which he is head, and which would be
defective in a terrible way without it. Such is Christ's Headship over
creation; and Ephesians here completes the doctrine of the two epistles which
precede and connect with it as positional epistles - Romans and Galatians. The
three are an ascending series, reaching in Ephesians their highest point and
thus the widest view. For in Romans and Galatians His Headship is confined to
man, and thus He is the second Adam of a new creation. That by itself would
shut out angels; but they are not to be shut out, and the Lords title
here would necessarily include these also.
In the third chapter we
find accordingly that "every family"- so it should be translated -"in heaven
and earth is named"- or gets its title -"from the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ." That is, the relationship of God to Christ as Man affects His
relationship with all His intelligent creatures. It could not surely fail to be
so. Christs own place in relation to men must in some way avail for more
than men; and the heading up of creation in Christ must bind it to God in a
manner unspeakably different from its original relationship as creation merely.
The character of man so commonly remarked on as a microcosm , - his nature thus
putting him in relation to every part of the universe of God - becomes in this
way a matter of highest and tenderest interest, as we realize this to be the
nature assumed by the Son of God.
That He is the Son has here also its
significance, as we see, and how the original and divine relationships shine
through the acquired ones. Wonderfully accordant it all is, with all its
surpassing blessedness. How "all things were created for" Christ, as well as
"by" Him, we can clearly see (Col. i. 16); as well as how, not merely by His
power, but in the link of such relationships, "by Him all things consist" (ver.
17).
Thus the Son is the "Heir of all things (Heb.i .2); and sonship
and heirship go together, not merely among the dying sons of men who, under
death because of sin, leave their possessions to others; but sonship and
heirship go together in things that are eternal, and where again that which is
divine shines through and interprets the creaturely and temporal. The thoughts
of God reflect Himself and spring out of His affections - out of the depth of
His nature. Would only that there were more ability to receive and trace out
what His word, the key of all, has opened so for us! Let us remind ourselves
that it is in this very connection that we are assured that, "according to the
riches of His grace, He has abounded towards us in all wisdom and
thoughtfulness* having made known to us the mystery of His will."
* I
cannot find a better word to express here the idea of (Greek), which the common
version translates, most unsuitably surely, "prudence." Others give
"intelligence," but being on Gods part toward us, this also seems hardly
adequate.
Yes, God has thought of us, indeed, as those whom He has
called unto the fellowship of Jesus Christ, and is training to be His co-heirs
in His inheritance. Shall we not respond to His care and seek to grow more into
"the mind of Christ"?
How tenderly are our thoughts drawn towards
these glories of His by the reminder of our own personal interest in them. As
here, where the mystery of His will to head up all things in Christ being
spoken of, we are straightway reminded, "in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance." At the close of this chapter again, "He has made Him to be Head
over all things to the Church which is His body." In Colossians we find, in the
verses most characteristic of the whole epistle (chap. ii. 9, 10): "For in Him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and ye are complete" - filled
up - "in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power." Such things as
these, which assuredly we should most shrink from putting together, the word of
God unites as if to challenge our attention by such connection, as if to make
it impossible to possess ourselves of what is our own, without exploring the
glories of Christ so linked with it.
Go To Chapter
Twelve
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