(Matt. 16:13-28.)
It has often been ministered to us by those who have passed out of the present sphere; and of the activities in the body of Christ, that the four Gospels present to us a fourfold aspect of our Lord Jesus Christ-of His personal and official glories in connection with the redemptive ways of God; which ways embrace the Assembly, Israel, and the redeemed nations. These three circles of blessing will be found in Ps. 22, as the result of the sufferings and death of Christ. From verse i to 22 we read His sufferings; then, 22 to end, the glories that follow:First, "My brethren . . . the congregation," or assembly (comp. Heb. 2); second, "The seed of Jacob and Israel"; third, "All the kindred of the nations." It is very establishing to thus see the full extent of the redemptive ways of God in Christ. It begins really with the assembly, and then takes in all the seed of Israel, past and future, and, finally, "all the ends of the world," 1:e., the redeemed nations. It might be profitable and edifying to us to notice that Ps. 72 is a glorious description of the final result. Nearly every verse tells of His supreme glory; its crowning feature being, "His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun," etc. Well may now the Psalmist say, "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended"; for when the whole earth is filled with His glory, and His name is exalted above all, there will be nothing else to ask for. This not yet having come to pass, we still pray, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Our desire in this paper is to touch a little upon His glory in relation to the Assembly; and, as leading up to this, we would just refer to each Gospel. Looking for a moment, then, at John's Gospel, we find He is presented manifestly as the Son, the vessel of glory, the true ark of glory. This is clearly declared thus:" And we beheld His glory, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." All the glory of the grace of the Father is expressed in Him, the Son. He alone could express it. It was in contrast to the glory of the law, which was given by Moses-a glory which is now done away, by reason of the surpassing glory.
Mark presents Christ to us as the Prophet-Servant -the vessel of gracious, unwearying and loving service from God to man. Sick ones alone value a physician's faithful service. So we who know the true character of Christ's service may well accord with this eulogy recorded by Mark alone, "He hath done all things well" (chap. 7:37). In every detail of service we may trace in Him the true meal-offering, the unleavened fine flour with sweet frankincense, mingled and anointed with oil.
Luke presents Christ as the vessel of grace-the Seed of the woman, the Son of Man, bringing all the grace of God to man. While the law may still remain, nevertheless in the person of Christ we pass from law to grace. The law, represented by the priest and the Levite, passes by on the other side; it cannot reach down to our need as ruined and lost; but Christ, the good Samaritan, can and does come right down to where we are in our deepest need and ruin, and pours upon us all the grace of God, until He comes again to end the story of grace with glory. See Luke 10.
In Matthew He is presented to us as the Son of David, the son of Abraham, the vessel of the sure mercies of David, as also the depository of all the promises of God. As son of David, He is minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers:as son of Abraham, all the nations of the earth are to be blessed in Him. Therefore this is the key to all that is recorded in Matthew's Gospel -the setting aside for the time being of Israel (chap. 12); the coming in of the kingdom in mystery (chap. 13); the building of the Assembly (chap. 16); the kingdom in glory (chap. 17). These truths thus linked together are found only in Matthew's Gospel, because it is the dispensational Gospel. As in Luke we have a change from law to grace, so in Matthew we have foretold a change from Israel to the Assembly, and from the expected kingdom in glory to the kingdom in mystery; and this change in the ways of God took place historically on the day of Pentecost. With a view of this fourfold glory of Christ, we might well sing:
" How wondrous the glories that meet
In Jesus, and from His face shine !
His love is eternal and sweet,
"Tis human, 'tis also divine."
This brings us, then, to the truth of the formation and building of the Assembly, declared by Christ in Matt. 16:13-28. It was then future, for it was not yet begun. The Son of Man must die and rise again first. Israel, as the fig tree, must also wither first, and, as the mountain, must be cast into the sea of nations (chap. 21:17-21).
In Matt. 16:13 to end, Christ gives us a brief but complete outline of God's ways from His rejection by Israel to the day of His manifested glory. The very events surrounding the Lord and His disciples at this moment of His life and ministry on earth become the occasion to shadow forth what was about to take place as the result of His rejection and death. An undeniable proof had been given of His Messiah-ship in His birth; the place of His birth; His flight into Egypt, and His call out of it, according to Micah, Isaiah, and Hosea. Then, too, He had labored and ministered among them as the true Shepherd of Israel (chap. 9:36). After all this, they seek a sign. Could unbelief and rejection be greater ? The sign given them, therefore, is the sign which testified against the unfaithfulness of Jonah. The Lord here breaks all His links with them. He left them, and departed, after pronouncing them a wicked and adulterous generation. According to Zech. n:10, 11, He breaks with them, and the poor of the flock-the disciples-wait upon Him, whom He instructs in the word of the Lord.
Up to this time Israel had been the witness for God on the earth, and also the depository of the truth that had thus far been committed to man. They were to be that no longer. The veil would remain upon them (2 Cor. 3:16) until the counsel of God regarding Christ and the assembly would be consummated. During the long night of their excision Christ would build His Assembly-a new thing; and she would be the vessel of light and grace, and the depository of the truth, of all the truth-truth about to be revealed by the Holy Ghost after the death and resurrection of Christ-things new and old (Matt. 13). Prom Paul we learn, also, the Assembly would be the pillar and support of the truth.
We must ever realize that whatever the failure and ruin of the outward professing Church be, as detailed in Rev. 2 and 3, it in nowise affects the truth of the Assembly as formed by Christ and as taught us in the passage under consideration.
We have already remarked that the Lord gives us here a brief outline of God's ways. It is clear, plain, and simple, 1:The Father reveals to Peter the dignity and glory of Christ as the Son of the living God (16:17). 2. The Son builds the assembly upon His own person-the Rock-foundation:"Upon this rock I will build My Church." 3. -He is also the administrator of the kingdom in the form that it takes during His absence; and this administration of heavenly-kingdom government among His own He commits to the Assembly, of which Peter, in this passage, is made the representative.
The principles of the administration are fully given by Christ, the administrator, in chap. 18 to end. First, the brother who offends, or trespasses against his brother, should listen to his brethren, and in the spirit of grace make the offence right. Lev. 6:1-7 helps us here, showing that restoration should be made, even adding a fifth part more. Then, on the other hand, as to forgiving a brother who owns his wrong, the forgiveness should be unlimited.
What heavenly principles these are! How much we all need to drink them in, and also be subject to them!
We return to Matt. 16:
The Lord fully accepts His rejection by Israel as the Christ. He charges His disciples to say no more that He was the Christ. He at once intimates the change of dispensation, and foretells His death and
resurrection on the ground of His redemption work, both as regards the Assembly, Israel, the redeemed nations, and everything which will participate in the coming glory. After this He shows the path of suffering and rejection which must be the path for His own. It must be like His, one of self-denial, self-surrender, and the acceptance of death to everything here. Then He completes the view of God's ways with the revelation of His second coming in glory (ver. 27). This glory, the glory of the coming of the Son of Man in His kingdom, is then foreshadowed in its heavenly and earthly features in the vision upon the mount in chap. 17.
In that glory Christ and the Assembly are linked together. "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them " (John 17). Before that day of glory the Assembly will be caught up to meet Him in the air.
But let us consider the peculiar formation and building of the Assembly.
Peter, in answer to the question, "Whom say ye that I am ?" confesses His glory as Son of the living God. Now flesh and blood-what is of man-had not revealed this to Peter:the Father had revealed it to him. Such divine communications are hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes. But the moment has now arrived for another revelation. It is this:"I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Assembly." Himself, as the Son of the living God, was to be the rock-foundation of the new gathering together-the Assembly ; and Peter was a stone, of the same nature as the rock. Peter, as a true minister and under-shepherd, ministers the same to us in his epistle:"To whom coming as unto a living stone (Christ) . . . ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood" (i Peter 2:4, 5).
From this we see the Assembly has in a spiritual way what Israel had in a natural way. Christ is the builder-none else. Just as Solomon built the temple, without the sound of axe or hammer, so Christ builds His Assembly, the temple of God:"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord " (Eph. 2:21). The Lord adds, that against this the powers of hell and darkness shall never prevail. And this temple which Christ builds must contain the true Urim and Thummim-the mind and revelation of God.
Here then we have the light of the dignity and glory of His person as the Son of the living God- as Builder of the Assembly, and as Rock upon which He builds it; also, the building or temple, the spiritual structure, in which the light, or oracle, or Urim and Thummim-the light of the full revelation of God in Christ-is to be maintained, and this in the face of all the opposition of the gates of hell.
The first man is a ruin; Israel is a ruin; the professing Church is a ruin; but here is something which ruin cannot touch. And in the face of all the ruin and failure of the professing Church, from leaving first love as seen in Ephesus, to complete indifference and lukewarmness as seen in Laodicea (Rev. 2; 3), what Christ builds (His people as living stones upon Himself the living stone) has always been, and always will be, shielded and preserved by Him from the gates of hell. What Christ builds must be exceedingly precious to Him, and likewise should be precious to us. Is it not found practically, in measure at least, where He Himself is owned as center and supreme ?-where He is the object and theme of praise and subject of ministry and the subject of gospel testimony ? If in any feeble way the Lord has been pleased to enlighten us as to the truth of His present calling out and building of His Assembly- of His relationships and ministry to her-should we not yearn and desire to be found, even if only two or three-the number given by Himself-where He Himself is owned and preeminent in all things ? We should. We believe the Spirit of God has recorded and given us a model, or pattern, of this for the whole period of the Assembly's gathering to Him in the place of His rejection. This is in John 20:19, 20.
A company are gathered on the first day-the resurrection day of our Lord. The risen Saviour came and stood in their midst. He showed them His hands and His side, the tokens and marks of His atoning death on their behalf, and announced, " Peace unto you."
Gathered on resurrection ground; on the resurrection day; the Lord Jesus in the midst of them; peace and joy filling their hearts; the Holy Spirit breathed upon them:what a divine equipment! And this is a model for the present period-a full period of seven days. By and by, on the eighth day, the Assembly having been caught up, Israel will be restored as witnessed in Thomas, who on the eighth day owns Christ as his Lord and God. It is among the saints who are gathered to Him according to this heavenly pattern, that we shall be led on to apprehend more and more the glory of His person as Son of the living God and builder of His own Assembly. And, further, we shall enjoy His presence as leader of their praises to the Father. " In the midst of the Assembly will I sing praises unto Thee " (See Heb. 2.) Moreover, we shall learn of Him in the divine affections and love of His heart toward the Assembly as her cherisher and nourisher (Eph. 5:22-32). And He will graciously continue to minister thus to her until He presents her to Himself, with exceeding joy, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. For He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. We too shall then be satisfied, when we see His face, and awake in His likeness (Is. 53 and Ps. 17:15).
"Oh day of wondrous promise !
The Bridegroom and the Bride
Are seen in glory ever-
Forever satisfied."
D. C. T.