The Mystery of the Masterpiece-The Church
Chapter 11:11-11:21.
With the eleventh verse of the second chapter we reach a
new division in this Epistle. The great Mystery of the Masterpiece of God, the
church, is next revealed by the Holy Spirit. We saw in the first chapter of
this wonderful Epistle how God planned His Masterpiece and the work of the
Godhead. Then we learned in the first ten verses of the second chapter how God
deals with us individually and fashions lost sinners, who trust in Christ, into
His Masterpiece. And now we are led higher, and the fact is made known that all
believers are united into one body. This truth was briefly mentioned at the
close of the preceding chapter (i:22, 23).
1.
The Condition of the Gentiles. Verses 11-12.
A. The Uncircumcision. Verse 11.
"Wherefore
remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the
uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by
hands."
The Gentiles are to remember first of all what they were in time
past. What Gentiles were morally we have learned from the opening verses of
this chapter. The same condition is also that of the Jews, "for there is no
difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. iii
:22-23). But while there was no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles
morally (Rom. iii:9), there was a difference dispensationally. "What advantage,
then, hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way;
chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Rom.
iii:1-2). God had revealed Himself to Israel, the seed of Abraham, while the
Gentiles were permitted to go their own way. Even so the Lord reminded Israel
of this fact: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos
iii :2). Circumcision in the flesh made by hands was the covenant sign and the
characteristic mark of separation from the other nations. Gentiles possessed no
such divinely made covenant, and the reproach of "Uncircumcision" rested upon
them.
B. What Gentiles were. Verse
12.
'That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world."
Four things are given to picture
the desperate condition of the Gentile world.
a. Without Christ.
b.
Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
c. Strangers from the
covenants.
d. Without Hope and without God.
The picture indeed is
dark; but it only brings out the marvellous beauty of God's Masterpiece, and
His Grace in putting such wanderers, without hope and without God, as members
into that blessed body, which is the fulness and glory of Christ, who filleth
all in all. Dispensationally, the great Gentile world was "without Christ";
they knew nothing about Christ; no promise had been given to them. But Israel
possessed the promises. Prophet after prophet had spoken and announced to
Israel the coming One and His work. Everything in their God-given institutions
foreshadowed Christ, and when He came in the fulness of time He declared
"Salvation is of the Jews" (John iv :22). Though the Syro-Phoenician woman
cried after Him and addressed Him as "Son of David," He answered her not a
word; as a Gentile she had no claim on Him. Gentiles had no part in the
promised Messiah. Only after His own had rejected Him and delivered Him into
the hands of wicked men, was the Gospel sent to the Gentiles. By their fall
salvation came to the Gentiles (Rom. xi:11). They were "aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel" and "strangers from the covenants of promise." Because
they were as Gentiles so completely excluded from the commonwealth and the
covenants of promises, they were without Christ. The Gentiles were "the dogs";
poor, wandering outcasts, far off, as we read later in this chapter. Yet,
beautiful it is to see God anticipated the salvation of the Gentiles, and some
Gentiles were received into the congregation of Israel. We mention but "Ruth,"
the Moabitess, upon whom the curse of the law rested in a special manner, and
whose name is found in the genealogy of our Lord.
And the result of
having no promise of Christ, separated from Israel and God's covenants, as well
as the commonwealth of Israel, the kingdom of priests, the result of all
was-"without hope and without God in the world." No ray of hope enlightened the
dark night of the Gentiles. The Gentiles had indeed possessed light and had
known God, but had turned their backs upon God. Therefore being left alone,
they had no hope. Different was Israel's condition. Israel along with the
promises and the covenants had hope. The hope of Israel is the Messiah; and
though they are wanderers now, yet there is hope, which some day will be
gloriously realized in the conversion of the remnant of Israel and the
fulfillment of all their promises. But the Gentiles knew no hope. They were
"without God in the world." God, of course, knew the Gentiles. His dealings
with them was not unrighteous, but according to His own sovereign will. He did
not make Himself known to the Gentiles because they had turned away from the
light and therefore He gave them up. The first chapter in Romans is an
enlargement of the brief description of what Gentiles are morally and
dispensationally. They knew God (Rom. 1:21) and glorified Him not. They became
vain and were darkened. They thought themselves wise and became fools. After
they became idolatrous, God gave them up in their bodies (Rom. i :24), in their
souls (verses 26-27) and in their spirits (verse 28).
Well may we
remember in the dreadful days of apostasy, which are upon us, that Gentiles,
who have had the Gospel preached unto them, are turning once more from the
light, yea, from God's best. Christendom in denying Christ is rapidly waning,
and must eventually plunge into a greater darkness than the dark-ness of the
Gentile world before the cross. Without Christ, without hope, and without God!
Fearful and solemn words these are! When Christ is given up, His Deity and His
Blood rejected, when men deliberately turn away from Him, and deny His Person
and His Glory, they rush into the outer and eternal darkness "without hope and
without God."
2. But Now in Christ Jesus.
Verses 13-18.
A. Made nigh by the Blood
of Christ. Verse 14.
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes
were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
Blessed are the
two little words that stand at the beginning of this sublime verse - But! Now!
It is the second "but" in this Epistle. It corresponds to the "but" in verse 4
of this chapter. The Holy Spirit, describes, in the beginning of this second
chapter, as we have seen, the desperate moral condition of Jews and Gentiles,
showing that all are by nature the children of wrath. Then the triumphant
declaration comes in -"But God who is rich in mercy, for the great love,
wherewith He has loved us." And here, after it is shown that the Gentiles were
dispensationally without Christ, without hope and without God in the world, so
very far off, we meet the other "but." God in His mighty power, in His infinite
grace, makes the far off Gentiles nigh. "But now." This dispensation of Grace
in which He makes known the mystery, which in other ages was not made known,
that the Gentiles, once without Christ and without God, should be fellow-heirs
and of the same body, is the "now" in which the surpassing riches of God's
Grace are made known. Now, after Israel rejected the King and the Saviour, now,
when He is upon the Father's throne, now, when the Holy Spirit is on earth to
do His appointed work, now, during the present age, God makes fully known what
He had planned before the foundation of the world. He is producing His
Masterpiece, taking the material from Israel, and reaching out with His mighty
power after the Gentiles, to put them into one body. The poor, miserable, naked
beggar upon the dunghill, the Gentile, is taken up to sit among princes and
inherit the throne of Glory.
"But now in Christ Jesus." Here again we
are obliged to halt. "In Christ Jesus." This is the place of blessing; this is
the One in whom the purposes of eternity are carried out. Not for what they
have done, or would do, but "in Christ Jesus." Oh! that blessed Name, above
every other name! How prominent this precious Name is in these unsearchable
revelations on the threshold of this rich Epistle! Review them once more. Five
times His Name is given in the first three verses of Ephesians. Paul is an
apostle of Jesus Christ, and the Saints are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and
Peace is from the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ we possess every spiritual
blessing. In Him we are chosen. By Jesus Christ we have the son-place. In the
Beloved we are accepted. In Him we have redemption. All things are to be
gathered in Christ in the coming dispensation. In Him we have an inheritance.
And thus we could continue and cover the same blessed ground once more. It is
Christ, and Christ only, throughout these marvellous revelations.
In
Him, who came from Heaven's glory and went to the cross, where He gave Himself
and shed His blood, believing Gentiles are made nigh. Oh! blessed words! Made
nigh by the Blood of Christ! What comfort this brings to us poor sinners of the
Gentiles, once so far off, such outcasts in such a fearful, immeasurable
distance from God! What a I blessing that not our works, our service, our
sacrifice, our sufferings or anything else have anything whatever to do with
"being made nigh." Nor, blessed be God! have our works anything to do with
keeping us nigh. The Blood has made us nigh; the Blood will ever keep each true
believer nigh, and unfaith-fulness can never put him back into the place where
he once was. The Blood of Christ has justified us; by the Blood we have
forgive-ness of sins: it cleanses us from all sin. By the blood of Christ we
enter the Holiest. And who can tell us how nigh the Blood has made believing
Gentiles? We are as near to God as Christ is. We are as dear to Him as He is,
who was our substitute on the cross. Oh! for faith to enter into this and to
enjoy it. And as we enjoy in faith our nearness to God in Christ, our blessed
and eternal portion, we shall find that we shall indeed live and walk no longer
as the other Gentiles do, but "unto the praise of the glory of His
Grace."
B. What the work of Christ has
accomplished. Verses 14-15.
"For He is our peace, who hath made
both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished
in His flesh the enmity, the law of command- ments in ordinances; for to make
in Himself of twain one new man, making peace."
Made nigh by the Blood
of Christ! This is the blessedness of believing Gentiles, who were once afar
off, without Christ, without hope and without God in the world. But much more
has been accomplished by the blessed work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Three
things are stated in these two verses.
a. He is our peace; making both
one.
b. Broken down the middle wall and abolished the law of
commandments.
c. Making in Himself one new man.
It is a most
precious truth that Christ Himself is our peace. Not what we have done, or what
we do could make peace. It is wrong to speak, as it is so often done, of making
our peace with God. God has done it in the blood of the Cross; and He who hath
accomplished this for us, is our peace. "Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." However, this most
comforting fact of peace with God, through and in Christ, is not at all before
us in the fourteenth verse. The parties here, which are made one, are not a
holy God and an unholy sinner. The Jews and the Gentiles are the two, who are
made One in Christ. :Between these two there stood a middle wall of partition,
separating them. This middle wall of partition is the law. God Himself had put
up this wall, separating His people Israel from the Gentiles. We read in Isaiah
about the v:ineyard, which is Israel, that He had fenced it (Isaiah v:2); and
our Lord, speaking of the same vineyard, said:
"He hedged it round about"
(Matt. xxi:33). The law of commandments in ordinances demanded from the J~WS an
entire separation from the Gentiles. F'or a Jew to eat with a Gentile was sin.
Even Peter, when he had eaten with the Gentiles in Antioch, separated himself
and withdrew; this shows how deeply rooted was this prejudice. The enmity and
hatred between the Jews and Gentiles was great and can easily & traced in
history. And now in the cross of Christ, God has broken down this middle wall
of partition and made an end of this enmity, the law of commandments in
ordinances. It has found its end in the cross. The Jews having rejected their
Messiah had filled up the measure of their guilt as a nation and had become
more guilty on account of it, than the Gentiles. 'The middle wall ceased
existing. The Gentiles far off, in darkness, without Christ, without hope and
without God, the Jews having rejected their promised Christ and nailed Him to a
Cross, are the material, which God forms into His great Masterpiece. He comes
forth with the mystery He had not made known in former age. Jews and Gentiles,
believing, trusting in Christ, made nigh by His blood, are made both one and
constitute one new man. This is what God has accomplished, taking believing
Jews and believing Gentiles, gathering them into one. This is the Masterwork of
God, He does during this age. When the Kingdom age comes the Jews will receive
their place of blessing and glory in their land, and the Gentiles will be
greatly blessed and enjoy righteousness and peace. Both Jews and Gentiles will
be in the Kingdom then, but not as one body. In the present age a body is
forming "where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumsion,
Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all (Col. ii :11).
This new man is the church, and Christ is the Head of that new man. Grace
flowing from the cross of Christ, where peace was made in the blood, takes up
Jews and Gentiles and makes them one. When our Lord prayed in His high priestly
prayer "that they may all be one as we are one," He must have thought of this
great truth, now fully revealed in this Epistle by the Spirit of God.
C. The Reconciliation. Verse 16.
"And
that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain
the enmity thereby."
a. Both reconciled unto God in one body.
b. The
enmity slain by the cross.
The two classes are still in view here and
the "one new man" of the preceding verse is now called "one body." That body is
the church. Thus gradually the Holy Spirit leads up to that mystery, which in
former ages was not made known unto the sons of men. How sublime are the
unfoldings in this greatest of all Epistles! Taken back into the counsels of
the Godhead; then down to where He finds us in our sin and shame; then out of
death and up into glory. And now the Spirit of God begins to show us the
mystery of the one body. In all this wonderful work, the cross and the work of
the cross, is kept in fullest view. Apart from the cross and the blood, which
was shed by the holy One, there can be no such reconciliation. A careful
comparison should be made with Colossians i :20-21, inasmuch as the same word
is used for "reconcile," which is used in this verse. "And having made peace
through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by
Him, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were
sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He
reconciled, in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and
unblamable and unreprovable in His sight." Here we find a double
reconciliation. The reconciliation of all things and the reconciliation of
believing sinners. These two reconciliations correspond to the two headships of
Christ. He is the head of Creation (Col. i:15-17) and He is the head of the
body, the Church (Col. i:18). The reconciliation of all things, that is, things
in earth and things in heaven, is still future. When He comes again and takes
the place over His creation and delivers groaning creation from its groans and
from the curse, which rests upon it, then He will reconcile all things. All
things in earth and in heaven will be brought into their right, their holy and
glorious condition; of this the Old Testament prophetic Word bears abundant
witness. The wicked dead, however, are not included in the "all things." The
reconciliation of all who have believed is an accomplished fact. How the 20th
and 21st verses of the first chapter of Colossians correspond with the second
chapter of Ephesians needs no further explanation. But in the verse before us
in Ephesians, the individual reconciliation is not in view. The two, believing
Jews and Gentiles, are reconciled in one body unto God, and Christ is the head
of that body. And by the cross the enmity was also slain. This again refers to
the law. It is not the law which is slain, but it is that which is so fully
developed in the Epistle to the Romans. All who are in the one body are dead to
the law. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the
body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to Him that was
raised from the dead, that we should bring fruit unto God" (Romans
vii:4).
D. The Peace and Reconciliation
Preached. Verse 16.
"And He came and preached peace to you, who
were afar off, and to them that were nigh."
a. To those afar off
(Gentiles).
b. To them that were nigh (Jews).
The two classes are
again mentioned. We, as Gentiles, are afar off and the Jews are they who were
nigh, though, morally, as far off as the Gentiles. It has been argued from this
102 verse that the Lord Jesus Christ never preached in person, after His
resurrection, this peace to these two classes. Inasmuch as it says "He came,"
it is claimed that it means His "spiritual coming" in which this is
accomplished. But He promised another comforter, who was to come and who came,
the Holy Spirit. He has taken His place and through His Spirit He sends forth
this blessed message to Gentiles and to Jews, "I create the fruit of the lips;
Peace, peace to him, that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord;
and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot
rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to
the wicked" (Isaiah lvii:19-21). This is an Old Testament anticipation of what
was to come; a hint of what was in the mind of God and which is now fully
revealed in this Epistle of the Masterpiece of God. When He comes again as the
Prince of Peace, when His church, composed of all who were made nigh, is
complete, He will speak peace to the nations, and they will learn war no
more.
E. The gracious Result. Verse
18.
"For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father."
The Holy Spirit brings the message of peace and reconciliation to
Gentiles and Jews. The believing sinner is put by the Spirit into the one body,
and both, Gentiles and Jews, have by one Spirit access unto the Father. The Jew
never knew anything whatever about "access unto the Father." He had a
tabernacle and the way into the Holiest was not yet made known. The Gentile was
"without God" altogether. Something far more blessed is now made known. All
believers are made nigh and born again, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they belong
to the family of God and cry by the one Spirit, given to all, "Abba,
Father."
Our Lord spoke of this to the woman at the well of Samaria.
"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him"
(John iv:23). Made nigh by blood; worshipping in the Holiest; calling upon God
as Father; a continued access into His presence by His own Spirit - these are
blessed realities for all, who are in Christ, members of His body. But how
little we enter into the full enjoyment of this! We are led still higher. The
last four verses form a climax. What Gentiles were without Christ, what
Gentiles are in Christ, we have learned from the preceding verses. The middle
wail, the law of commandments in ordinances, is broken down. The enmity was
slain by the cross. Believing Gentiles are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Both Jews and Gentiles constitute in Christ one new man and both have access by
one Spirit unto the Father. And now we hear more of that new man, the body of
Christ, that is the church.
3. The
Relationship of the Masterpiece.
A. The
Changed Condition. Verse 19.
"Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God."
a. No more strangers and foreigners.
b.
Fellow-citizens with the Saints.
c. Of the household of God.
"Now
therefore" Gentiles are no longer that which they were without Christ. Then
they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the
promises; but now, in Christ, they are fellow-citizens with the Saints, and of
the household of God. A most blessed transformation! Fellow-citizens with the
Saints does not mean that they have been brought into the commonwealth of
Israel. The conception that the church, the body of Christ, is the commonwealth
of Israel continued in a spiritual form, is incorrect. Grace has introduced
both, believing Jews and believing Gentiles, into a higher sphere and into a
far more precious fellowship. Their fellowship is with the Saints, which means
fellowship with the whole company of the redeemed. This fellowship will some
day find its blessed realization and consummation in the Kingdom to come, which
the Saints receive and which cannot be moved (Heb. xii :28). Abraham, the
father of the faithful, by faith, "looked for a city, which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. xi:10). And believing Gentiles, once
without God and without hope, are brought into the same fellowship and look for
the same heavenly city. "For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we
look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. iii:20). But more than
that, they are of the "household of God," members of the family of God by the
new birth. But the words "household of God" are to be connected with the verse
which follows. Believing Gen-tiles constitute, with believing Jews, the house
of God. The masterpiece of God, the church, is therefore now described under
the figure of a building.
B. The Church as the
Building. Verse 20.
"And are built upon the foundation of the
Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."
a. The foundation.
b. The chief cornerstone.
In the first chapter
of this Epistle the church is called "His body." In the second chapter the
church is compared with a building, which groweth unto an holy temple and which
is the habitation of God through the Spirit.
In the Old Testament God
had a building in which He manifested His presence and His Glory. The
tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple of Solomon were shadows of the
church, which God is now building. The foundation upon which the church as the
house is built, we find mentioned first. And it is of importance that we
examine this foundation closely. One of the common mistakes concerning the
foundation upon which the church is built, is that, which claims that the
foundation are the prophets of the Old Testament. According to this view the
Old Testament Saints belonged to the church, and the church itself was
therefore in existence throughout the previous dispensations. Adam, Enoch,
Noah, Moses and all who believed the promises of God are therefore taken to be
members of the church. This view is often based upon the words we have under
consideration, that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets. Now if the prophets were mentioned before the apostles, there might
be a possibility that the prophets of the Old Testament are meant. But it says
"apostles and prophets." They are the New Testament apostles and prophets.
Chapter iii :5 gives positive evidence on this whole question. The church is
called a mystery "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men,
as it is now re-vealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." To
this we may add the words of our Lord at Cesarea Philippi when He said to Peter
"upon this rock I will build my church." The church up to that time was not yet
in existence, nor was it in process of building, during the days of the earthly
ministry of our Lord, but the building of the church was still a matter of the
future. When the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, the church began and
subsequently the same Spirit revealed the mystery hidden in former
ages.
Another error in connection with the foundation of the church is
the conception that the apostles are the foundation. The Romish "church"
teaches this, closely followed by ritualistic protestant "churches" which speak
of apostolic succession. These claim that they possess the successors of the
apostles and, therefore, their "churches" have a succession of foundations. A
queer building that is! And other protestant sects trace their beginnings to
some man who "founded" their church. All this is wrong and against what God has
accomplished in His Masterpiece. In this way the enemy has marred and corrupted
the Truth of God.
But what does it mean "built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets?" Are they themselves, in their persons, Paul, Peter,
James and others, the foundation upon which the church rests as a building? Not
at all. It is true the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, "I have laid the
foundation." But that does not mean that he is the foundation. In connection
with the same statement, Paul declares, "For other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. iii:9-11). He speaks of
Christians as "God's building," the church. Paul and the other apostles are the
foundation in what they taught and still teach in their epistles. The Lord
Jesus Christ and the doctrine of Christ, this is the foundation. This the
apostles taught. It is their doctrine, given by the Holy Spirit come down from
heaven. It is not the question of being the foundation, but building upon that
foundation, as taught by the apostles and prophets.
When Peter had
uttered his inspired confession "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God," our Lord announced, as mentioned above, the future building of His
church. "And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it" (Mart.
xvi: 18). Satan has invented the abominable lie, that Peter is the rock
foundation of the church. But the rock is not Peter, but Christ Himself. The
apostle Peter significantly received no messages to the church and his epistles
give no revelation concerning the church. Only once does he touch upon the fact
that believers are God's building. And when he did, the Spirit of God guided
his pen to answer the perversion of the truth as found in ritualistic
Christendom. The Holy Spirit anticipated the fatal errors to come. Peter writes
of the Lord Jesus as the living stone, and believers he calls "living stones"
built up a spiritual house (1 Peter ii :4-5). So it is Christ, and the doctrine
of Christ, which is the foundation. "The church's one foundation is Jesus
Christ her Lord." But He likewise is the chief cornerstone. Of this also Peter
testifies. "Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold I lay in
Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on Him shall
not be confounded."
It is a quotation from Isaiah xxviii:16. But who
can tell out the preciousness of this blessed One, upon whom everything rests!
Another passage to be considered in connection with Christ as the chief
cornerstone is Psalm cxviii :22, "The stone which the builders refused is
become the head stone of the corner." Jewish tradition gives the story that,
when Solomon's temple was building, a stone was discovered hewn in a peculiar
way. The builders refused that particular stone, only to discover later that it
was fitted to be the cornerstone. This may be true. But we know from the
Gospels and the book of Acts, that the rejected stone is Christ. "Jesus saith
unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, the stone, which the builders
rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing,
and it is marvellous in our eyes?" (Matt. xxi:42). "This is the stone which was
set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner" (Acts
iv:ll). It was after Israel rejected Christ, that He became the chief
cornerstone, the sure, the precious foundation, upon which the building
rests.
C. The Holy Temple. Verse
21.
"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy
temple in the Lord."
a. Fitly framed together.
b. Growing unto an holy
temple.
The building of God's Masterpiece is fitly framed together,
which means, that God puts it together in His own marvellous way. Believers are
living stones. They possess the same life, which is in Christ, the living
stone. Needless to say, that only those, who are born again, belong to that
building. From the first chapter of this Epistle we learned that all those who
belong to this elect body were known and chosen of God before the foundation of
the world. The entire building is therefore planned by God and every stone has
its proper place. This is a marvellous fact. Solomon's temple gives a little
illustration of this. When that temple was building hammer, axe and tools of
iron were not heard. "And the house, when it was building, was built of stone
made ready before it was brought thither, so that there was neither hammer nor
axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was building." Every
stone was prepared before hand and fitted into the place where it belonged. How
beautifully it illustrates the fitting together of the house, His church! He
chooses and prepares the material and puts each in its proper place.* What a
contrast with man's methods in trying to increase "church-membership!" The
divine revelation is forgotten. Christendom has departed from the faith in
these revelations concerning the one church and its architect. But all the
confusion, the wrong conceptions and attending evils, cannot frustrate the
purposes of the Lord. He is building His church. He takes the material and puts
it as living stones in the place where it belongs. This is the work of His
Spirit. And in the midst of all the confusion, the clamoring voices, the
spurious revivals, the ecclesiastical-political hurry of world-reformation, the
work goes on quietly, but steadily. The church is the temple of God. Some day
that growing temple will be complete. The last stone will be put in and then
the building, which was fitly framed together on earth, will become the holy
temple of the Lord in glory. All this transcends everything which was revealed
by the Old Testament prophets. The eternal destiny of this holy temple no saint
can fully understand.
D. The Habitation of God
in the Spirit. Verse 22.
"In whom ye also are being built in
together an habitation of God in the Spirit."
This is still another climax
in this rich Epistle of God's greatest work. The third person of the Godhead is
now mentioned. He dwells in the church, because He indwells every individual
believer. This is a present fact. We are the habitation of God. As He dwelt of
old in the tabernacle, so He dwells in the church through the Spirit. He does
no longer dwell in an earthly house. The conception of a church building being
a "holy place" which we must call "the house of the Lord" or "a temple" is
absolutely wrong. It is the Jewish idea. God does no longer dwell in an earthly
house and yet He has His habitation here. Wherever two or three are gathered
together in His name, there He is in the midst; that is a church and the
habitation of God through the Spirit. "Even now in the state of imperfection,
by the Spirit dwelling in the hearts of believers, that God has His habitation
in the church; and then when the growth and increase of that church shall be
completed, it will be still in and by the Holy Spirit fully penetrating and
possessing the whole glorified church, that the Father will dwell in it
forever." Alas! how this wonderful truth is not alone completely lost sight of,
but rejected by men, who claim to be Christians. Flow great is the prostitution
of the church! May we remember these great truths and individually walk in
them, knowing that we are the habitation, the dwelling of God. Out of that
consciousness flows both our blessedness and our responsibility. What influence
this blessed revelation of the Masterpiece of God should have upon our life and
conduct! Daily we ought to have it vividly before our hearts that we are the
habitation of God. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit, who is in you, whom ye have of God, and you are not your own" (1 Cor.
vi:19).
Continued - The Third
Chapter
The Ministry of the Mystery of the Masterpiece