Part 10 of 10
The
Eternal Oneness of God, In Christ, As the Spirit of Life…
Indwells
All Believers
Paul here below writes
of the great blessed hope for every Christian – the rapture of “the
body of Christ” to heaven for eternity. It is the believer’s hope
for the consummation of the ages, as the age moves toward “the
fulness of times” we will ascend to “meet the Lord in the
air” and enjoy Christ’s manifested presence forever.
“For our
conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we
look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21
Who shall change our vile (physical) body, that
it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body (spirit-body),
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto
himself.” Philippians 3:20-21
“But I would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we
which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent (precede) them which are asleep. 16
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together (Latin Vulgate, rapteur,
raptured) with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. 18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
Here below Paul writes
regarding “the mystery of His will” as it relates to “the
fulness of times” – the consummation of the ages, in which He
will gather together “all things in Christ” – both “in
heaven” and “on earth.”
“Making
known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His
purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His
merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and
set forth in Him, 10 [He
planned] for the (fullness) maturity of the times and
the climax of the ages to unify all things and
head them up and
consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and
things on the earth. (Ephesians 1:9-10 (AMP)
This above will be the glorious
consummation of the ages in accord with “the mystery of His
will,” which encompasses both the believing Gentiles and the
believing of
Israel
. It is “in the dispensation of the fulness of times”
that “the body of Christ” will fill the “heavens”
with the glory or expression of the Lord, while
Israel
will fill the “earth” with His glorious expression.
Hebrews
11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one (Abraham), and
him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the
sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by
the sea shore innumerable.
In the verse above we
need to note the conjunction “AND” between these two
phrases; “stars of the sky in multitude, AND
as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.” The
“stars” and “sand” then speak of two items, not the
same item. God had promised Abraham that his seed would ultimately be seen
in a duality – as “sand which is by the sea shore innumerable”
and also as “stars of the sky in multitude.” Sand is
on the earth and the nation
Israel
is the earthly people of God, seen as “sand which is by
the sea shore innumerable.” Stars are seen in the heavens and
the members of “the body of Christ” are God’s heaven-bound
people (Philip 3:20), seen as “stars of the sky in multitude.”
In eternity Christ will
be seen in “the body of Christ” in heaven, and
also at the very same time Christ will be seen in and through believing
Israel
on earth; both will be the glory or expression of Christ
that will fill both of those spheres.
In Colossians 1:27, Paul
reveals what he calls “the mystery,” God’s
secret plan, “which is Christ in you the hope of
glory.” Here Paul says Christ would specifically indwell the
Gentile members of “the body of Christ” and Christ would be “the
glory of the Lord” within them. The one source of glory for man is
the indwelling life and work of “the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2
Corinthians 3:17-18).
2
Corinthians 3:17-18 (AMP) Now the Lord is the
Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty
(emancipation from bondage, freedom). 18
And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because
we] continued to behold [the Word of God] as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very
own image in ever increasing splendor and
from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the
Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
Today, we of “the
dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph 3:2) are intended to “see…
the fellowship of the mystery” and enjoy
the riches of our life in union with Christ. This was God’s eternal
purpose.
Ephesians
3:8-11 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is
this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ; 9 And to
make all men see what is the fellowship
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath
been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers
in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold
wisdom of God, 11 According
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
In Part 6 we discussed
the “one baptism” that is for today. It is the “one
baptism” by the “one Spirit” that places the
believer into Christ’s “one body” – “the body
of Christ.”
“For
by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1
Corinthians 12:13a).
The world knows nothing
of this perfect spirit-oneness, and no church member can experience this
spirit-oneness except by having been immersed or placed into Christ’s “one
body.” Church organization membership, water baptism and agreement
on every point of doctrine are not the basis of our oneness. There is no
true oneness anywhere, in the world or in the Church, except by believers
being baptized into His “one body.” This oneness is an
invisible oneness because it is… in and by the “one spirit”
of Christ. We might illustrate this spirit-oneness by two members of our
physical body: our two arms. They hang from opposite sides of the body yet
work together as one. Then how are they one? The answer is in “the
head.”
Colossians
2:19 … the Head, from which all the body by
joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together,
increaseth with the increase of God.
It is the head that makes my arms and
hands operate as one, and so our oneness as members of Christ's body, is
by the “one Spirit,” which is Christ’s Spirit, “the
Head.” It is our recognition of Christ as our “Head” that
makes the varied members of “the body of Christ” one.
Regardless of our disagreements on Biblical interpretation, doctrines, or
other issues, all believers are in fact one by His indwelling “one
Spirit.”
Soon enough the Lord will remove the
genuine members of “the body of Christ” out of this world. All
of the events that will transpire in these “last days” will
finally bring us to “the fulness of (the) times.” Ultimately,
the occupants of heaven (“the body of Christ”), and His people
Israel
on earth, will spiritually be “gathered together in one... in
Christ.” What a day of rejoicing that will be. It is “in
the dispensation of the fulness of times” and for eternity that
Christ will indwell both “the church, which is His body” (Eph
1:22b-23a), who’s home is “in heaven” (Philip 3:20),
while at the same time indwelling the believers who are of the Nation
Israel “on earth” (Matt 6:10).
It is “in the
dispensation of the fulness of times” that Christ’s glory will
be seen by its duality.