4.-THE SON DELIVERING UP THE KINGDOM
1 Corinthians 15:22-28 was read.
C. C.-We were noticing yesterday, at the end of Mark's Gospel, that the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. To-day, let me first say a few words in regard to His taking up the sin-question and vindicating God as to it. Here we have a Man into whose hands God could entrust the maintenance of His glory in respect of every question raised by sin. In taking up that work, He manifested God's character in all its attributes-of righteousness, holiness, love, wisdom, goodness, and so on. In Him God was well-pleased. He glorified God in regard to every question raised by the entrance of sin in God's creation. In raising Him from the dead, and putting Him on the throne in heaven, God has put into His hands the carrying out of all His counsels. There are many things connected with this. He is God's mediator. He has already mediated the sin-question. He has glorified God and God has been glorified in Him. And now He is put in the place of power on the throne of God to carry out all God's plans and purposes-to fulfil all His counsels.
W. H.-Would it be right to call Him "God's administrator in all this ? "
C, C.-Yes; but in all this He is still the Mediator, as we see in the Revelation:it is "the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him." He is the Mediator, who has communicated it to us.
A. E, B.-Does not that connect with what we had in a previous reading-giving out what He received of the Father ?
C. C.-Yes; a part of it. The Spirit gives what He further revealed through the apostles.
B. C, G.-Possibly He gave more than what is preserved in the written Word, as the apostle refers to things spoken by the Lord on earth but not elsewhere recorded, as when he says, "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). But we have in the Book all that faith requires. God has preserved all that we need.
C. C.-The Lord said, " He (the Spirit) shall show you things to come." So, in the Gospels, the Spirit was bringing all things to remembrance concerning the life and death of the Lord Jesus, In the Acts, the Epistles and the Revelation we have further revelations according to the word, "I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now;" and among these sayings are the things to come of which He spoke.
B, C. G.-There are really three things in what you have referred to:first, "He shall bring all things to your remembrance;" second, "He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you," and, third, He will show you things to come."
C. C.-Yes; but they are all His things.
H. A, I.-Reverting again to the Mediator, or Administrator, what of that verse in Galatians:"A mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one?"
C. C.-The apostle is not referring to a contract between two parties. God is the one contractor; there is but one party to the covenant, and Christ is to administrate it.
B C. G.-Is not this ever true of God's covenants of grace, as with Noah and with Abraham ?
And no unconditional covenant can be annulled by anything that comes in afterwards.
C. C,-Yes. To make a little clearer how the Lord Jesus is the Mediator when there are not two contracting parties, turn to Col. i:19, 20. Notice that expression, "by Him" It is Christ who is to reconcile all things to God. He is going to bring heaven and earth into a state of complete harmony with God. He has already reconciled us, as in verse 21-the same thing as in 2 Cor. 5:18, He "hath reconciled us unto Himself," and "hath put in us the ministry of reconciliation." That is, when Christ was here He was reconciling the world to God, as to the principle of His ministry, and we have been brought into this reconciliation by Him. We have been laid hold of-the conscience and heart have been reached-by the power and grace displayed in the Cross, bringing us at His feet, to own Him as Saviour; and we have been entrusted with this word of reconciliation. Christ is no longer here, but we are here to minister the word of reconciliation on His behalf. So Christ is the one Mediator.
P. J. E.-It is not that God became reconciled to us, but we had to be reconciled to Him, (See Rom, 5:10; 2 Cor, 5; 18, 19).
C, C,-God was never alienated; but man is alienated from Him, God could never be reconciled to sin, but in the Cross He has come in love to beseech man to become reconciled to Him, In Acts 13:38 we see the One who has borne the penalty due to sin, is entitled, by that fact, to administer forgiveness-it is "by Him,"
B. C, G,-He is said to be exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31). What was in God's heart to do, could not be until the work of the cross.
C. C.-And so in verse 39 of Acts 13, we see that now "all that believe are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses." This is much more than forgiveness.
B. C. G.-Is not this what many fail to realize, and is found only in Paul's writings?
W. H.-Would you give a word on the difference between the two things ?
C. C.- Justification is the clearance from, the complete annulling of, the charges. They cannot be held against the believer because God Himself has cleared him, has put him where no condemnation can rest upon him.
F. J. E.-Is it not a judicial exoneration from all sin and guilt ?
C. C.-Yes; it is much more than forgiveness.
A. E. B.-And Christ is the administrator of all this. Justification is by Him. That is one of the characteristic features of our dispensation. The believer is justified from all things.
W. H.-Have we really apprehended the difference between the two-justification and forgiveness?
C. C.-To forgive is, in one sense, the very opposite of justification. In forgiving a man charged with theft, he has not lost the character of a thief. His misdeeds are not held against him because he is forgiven; but if he is justified from the charge, he is cleared as to his character; and God has cleared us from every charge
A. E. B.-Is it not love that forgives; and righteousness that justifies ?
N, T.-Does not 2 Cor. 5:21 fit in here ?
C. C,-Yes; Christ having been made sin for us, righteousness demands our justification. God declares His righteousness in clearing us completely.
B. C. G.-Among men, if a man is forgiven it is because he was guilty; he cannot be justified therefor. If he is justified, he does not need forgiveness. But in Christ we have both. God justifies in virtue of the work of His Son.
A. E. B.-That is clear. Christ, then, is the administrator of forgiveness here on earth first. "The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins; " then, as exalted in resurrection to be a Prince and a Saviour, He gives repentance and remission of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified. Then, in i Thess. 4 we see Him as administrator of something else:it is He who puts His saints to sleep when their day of service is over.
B. C. G.-" None can keep alive his own soul-j" says the Old Testament. The issues of life and death are in Christ's hands.
C. C.-What the apostle here says is that His servants are removed from labor and put to sleep, 1:e., to rest, by Jesus.
H. A. I.-It is not, as in the Authorized Version, "Them who sleep in Jesus," or as we sing sometimes, "asleep in Jesus." It is they that sleep through, or by means of, Jesus. So we read, "the dead in Christ," not the dead in Jesus. Jesus is His personal name. We are "in Christ," not in Jesus. People often sign their letters, I notice, "Yours in Jesus," but it is a misapprehension. Living or dead we are "in Christ."
C. C.-Yes; and so as our brother has said, it is the Lord as administrator who gives them rest after labor, as a mother puts her wearied child to sleep.
A. E. B.-Then we have a further step-have we not ?-in 2 Cor. 4:14, where we are told we shall be raised up also by, or through Jesus. So we see Him as administrator (i) through whom we are justified, (2) who puts His saints to sleep, and (3) who raises them up.
C. C.-In the same way, the Lord Jesus is the mediator or administrator of all the plans and counsels of God-of the covenant with Noah, the covenants with Abraham and with David, of all the Old Testament prophecies as to Israel and the whole earth. He will be the King of the Jews, and the Head of the nations, as He is now the Head of the Church. All authority and power in heaven and earth are put in His hands. Everything is to be headed up in Him. Heaven itself is to be cleansed -cleared of the wicked spirits now there ; the heavenly things are to be reconciled as well as the earthly. The entire universe is to be brought into harmony with God. The wicked are to be judged and cast out "by Him." All judgment is committed to Him. He is the administrator of all this; the Mediator.
We may think of it in this way:-God has entrusted authority to Christ; He has made Him ruler. Just as God put earthly things into the hands of Adam, so He has put everything into the hands of Christ. Men set up in the place of responsibility have failed everywhere; but here is a Man who will not fail in meeting to the full the responsibilities imposed upon Him. He will administer all things according to the mind and will of God.
A. E. B.-He intimates this in the parable of the nobleman who went into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom, and to return.
B. C. G.-Might we not add that even the gift of the Holy Spirit has been administered by Him ?
F. J. E.-And I was thinking also that in Eph. 4 it is He who having ascended on high has given gifts unto men. In psalm 68:18 He is said to have received gifts for men. In Ephesians He administers them, He gives them to men.
A. E. B.-Primarily the psalm refers to Israel, but the Holy Spirit uses it in the New Testament as referring to the Church, for it is the same administrator in both instances.
C. C.-I think we may apply what the apostle says in Col. i:25 as to "fulfilling," or completing, the word of God in this sense, filling up the Old Testament Scriptures-expanding their application.
A. E. B.-Exposition and application are very different things.
C. C.-But to hasten on with our subject:There is a time coming when the Lord Jesus Christ shall, so to speak, render His account of the administration committed to Him. We read, "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." We have seen that when dominion over earthly things was entrusted to Adam, sin came in, and Adam never brought them back to God as he had received them from Him. But Christ Jesus will restore all things spoken of by the prophets; He will fully carry out the mind of God. Therefore after He has brought everything into subjection, when death itself, the last enemy, has been destroyed, when the primeval promise of Genesis 3 has been fulfilled, He will hand the kingdom back to the Father.
A. E. B.-"He was manifested to undo the works of the devil," as is the correct rendering of i John 3:8. He will reign until this has been fully accomplished. He is the Lamb of God who beareth away the sin of the world.
F. J. E.-Would you say that is the final result of the work of the cross ?
C. C.-Yes; the work of the cross is the basis on which it all depends. In Heb. 9:26 we are told that, " Once in the end of the ages He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Actually sin is not yet put away; it has been atoned for; God has been vindicated, but the universe is going to be brought ultimately into perfect harmony with God.
A. E. B.-Not the wicked, of course.
C. C.-They will be thoroughly subjected.
H. A. I.-God will be glorified in that. They will nevermore be permitted to act in rebellion against Him.
C. C.-When the time comes that the Lord will deliver back the kingdom to the Father, all will have been fulfilled in new creation. Creation will be brought back to God in a perfect condition, and every trace of the serpent's work will be removed. The expression here has perplexed some:"When all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all
things under Him, that God may be all in all." In what sense shall the Son be subordinate? When the Son of God came into this world, He entered, He took, a subordinate place, and He will retain it always. The thought is that, having accomplished the work of redemption and restoration for which He became man, He will not give up,.but retain the subordinate place in incarnation that He took.. The thought is exceedingly precious. Think of it:if the Lord should cease to be man after having brought to pass all that God has purposed and designed, the very link that brings God and man together would be. gone ! .'.
A. E. B.-So He will abide forever in that place.
F. J. E.-He. delivers up the kingdom ( i Cor. 15:24)-it is not taken, from Him.
C. C.-The purpose for which He was set up as Mediator is then accomplished.
A. E. B.-And the results abide forever. . C. C.-Creation will then be in its final and permanent form. .God's purposes will all be fulfilled in an unchanging, everlasting condition of things. Heaven and earth will embrace each other:God and man will dwell together, and the link will ever be-" the Man Christ Jesus."
A. E. B.-What is the strict force of that expression, " That God may be all in all ",?
C. C.-Everything shall be a display of God.' (See Eph. 4). 1 He will fill all things. Christ will spread abroad .the glory of God everywhere. That glory will be felt and realized everywhere in :the universe, even in the abode of the lost, who will be reduced to absolute silence; they will have to be submissive, though in eternal alienation from God.
H. A. I.-"God," of course, is the Trinity- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So when the Son as man is subject, it is to God as the Trinity.
W. H.-In regard to the wicked, they are subdued, but never reconciled.
C. C.-We see, then, that Christ has assumed a subordinate position that Deity might be displayed. It is His delight thus to glorify God.
A. E. B.-He is like the Hebrew servant with the bored ears, He will serve forever, for love's sake (Exodus 21:2-6).
B. C. G.-In psalm 40 He says, "Mine ear hast Thou digged." In the New Testament (taking it from the Septuagint) we read, "A body hast Thou prepared Me." But it is the same thing; He took a body that He might be the listening one, the hearing servant.
A. E. B.-And in Isa. 50:4 He is said to have the opened ear, being instructed morning by morning. These three passages point to three important truths-for the three words in the Hebrew have a shade of difference-beginning with His birth, then His dependent life, and finally His sacrifice on the cross.
H. A. I.-So the "digged " ear in psalm 40 is in incarnation. He never had an ear in that sense before; He never had to receive orders. Then the "opened" ear, in Isa. 50, is in His perfect life. He daily received instruction from the Father. And the "bored" ear, in Ex. 21, is in the cross-refusing to go out free, so He remains servant forever.
C. C.-And so, in Him, God is fully glorified. God, through Him, will be forever all in all.