Unsearchable Riches

Some of the Relationships of Christ to His People

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 11

CHRIST OUR PEACE.

IT is as interesting as profitable to trace the ways of God on the earth. Unless, indeed, we have a mea sure of dispensational truth, as therein unfolded and displayed, it is impossible for us to understand the past, present, or future —the dispensation of law, the nature of Christianity, or the character of the millennium. It is in the Epistle to the Ephesians, that we find the fullest development of God's counsels as to the present dispensation, or rather as to the place He has given, in the sovereignty of His grace, to believers in Christ Jesus. And this necessarily involves the notice of some of the characteristic differences that have prevailed between Jews and Gentiles; but they are noticed, only to indicate their utter abolition in the present dispensation. Now it is in connection with this that Christ is termed our Peace, as having made both—i.e., Jew and Gentile —one, having broken down the middle wall of partition between us (Eph. ii. 14). Hence, if we would under stand the full import of the phrase, we must glance at the character of the truth which this epistle contains.

In the first chapter, from the first to the fourteenth verses, the counsels of God are unfolded, first, as to the individual blessing of the saint, and then as to the universal headship of Christ. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (in contrast with Israel, who were blessed with all temporal blessings in earthly places) in Christ; " according as He [the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ] hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved " (Eph. i. 3-6). Then we are told, that God has made "known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: that, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ (or head up all things in Christ —ἀνακεφαλαιώ-σασθαι τὶ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ), both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him " (Eph. i. 9, 10). Thereon we have a distinction, which is after wards frequently repeated. "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, &c., that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted," &c. (Eph. i. 11-13). The " we " and " ye " are characteristic —the former refer- ring to the Jews who had believed, and the latter to the Gentiles. For after having reminded the Gentile believers that in Christ, after that they had believed, they also were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, he says, " Who is the earnest of our (now Jews and Gentiles together) inheritance," &c.

We have thus, in this scripture, in this brief statement of the counsels of God, the essential feature of the present dispensation introduced —the union of Jew and Gentile —all their national distinctions obliterated—in Christ. On the truth thus revealed, the apostle founds a prayer, which leads to a statement of the present place of exaltation which Christ occupies at the right hand of God. He shows us Christ raised from the dead, according to the working of the might of God's strength, and set down "at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and given Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. i. 19-23).

If the first part of the chapter gave us God's counsels concerning believers individually, as to the place He would have them occupy near to and in relationship with Himself, the last part introduces His counsels concerning Christ as the Head of the body, and the place of the body as united to Him. For no sooner has the apostle given us to see the exalted Head, than in the next chapter he teaches us how it is that believers have been thus linked up with the glorified Christ. But before he can do this, because it is God's counsel altogether, and, therefore, to magnify His grace and His love—to show that it was God acting from His own heart, according to what He is in Himself, and after His own sovereign will, he depicts the past condition both of Gentiles and Jews. Nothing can be more striking than the way in which He commences this part of his subject. He had just mentioned the Church as the body of Christ, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. This is the Church seen according to the perfection of God's counsels-; but it is composed of those who once were Jews and Gentiles; and indeed is a thing at present existing on the earth. Hence, in descending from the Head, in all His supreme exaltation, to the members, He thus speaks: "And you (Gentiles), who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all (Jews as well as Gentiles) had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Eph. ii. 1-3).

Such is the picture of the past condition of the members of the body of Christ—a picture so dark that it is unrelieved by a single ray of light. Dead in trespasses and sins, without a single thought, desire, or movement towards God; for death reigned in all its awful stillness and solitude. But since they were men on the earth, the character of their walk as such is depicted—a walk governed by this age, the power of Satan, and the lusts of the flesh. Such is man! Can we wonder that it is added, that by nature they were the children of wrath? Surely it is well for us to ponder upon this description, both to learn what we were, and what man ever is, and what we deserved. There is not one single thing for which we can take credit before God. We were totally evil, and under the power of sin, satan, and death.

How, then, came it to pass that those who were thus situated were brought out of such a condition, and associated with a glorified Christ? The next few verses give us the answer. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, (even when we were dead in sins), hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," &c. (Eph. ii. 4—6). It was God, who acted according to what He was, being rich in mercy, who intervened in the scene of our wretched and lost condition; and intervened, as the first chapter shows, according to His own eternal counsels, and, as we here read, because of the great love wherewith He loved us. The source of all our blessing is thus shown to be the heart of God; and hence it is only in redemption that we can behold Him fully revealed. God came upon the scene because of what He was as God; and (mark the contrast) " even when we were dead in sins." He would have us remember that there was nothing but evil in' us, and nothing but good in Him.

God, then, moved by His own heart, according to His own nature, when we were in that condition, " quickened us together with Christ." Christ, therefore, must have died. And it was this, indeed, that made it possible for God to act in mercy and love towards us; for until He had been glorified on the cross by the death of Christ, in every attribute of His character, He could not come forth and reveal Himself as a God of grace and love. But there is a peculiar feature in connection with the introduction of Christ here. It is not a dying, but a dead Christ who is brought before us. So in the first chapter, the power spoken of was displayed —wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. We are not permitted in this epistle to see Him going down into death, but we see Him dead. And this brings out one of the grand characteristics of the epistle. Jews and Gentiles alike are looked upon not, as in Romans, as alive in their sins, but as dead; and then we have this wonder of grace, Christ going down into their condition —lying dead, as it were, by their side; for since we are here on new -creation ground, everything commences anew. Then it is, at that moment when Christ is seen as dead, and Jews and Gentiles as likewise dead (but these in their sins), that God in His infinite mercy, and for the great love wherewith He loved us, comes in, and quickens us (Jew and Gentile) together with Christ. " The exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe " is, therefore, " according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places," &c. (Eph. i. 19, 20). For the body is already looked upon as complete, because it is the fruit of God's counsels; and hence, in this view, every member of the body is regarded as having been quickened together with—at the same time as—Christ. Christ Himself first came, and went down into our condition of death. His death removed every barrier out of the way of, and laid the foundation for, the accomplishment of God's counsels —set His heart at liberty; and immediately there was this stupendous display of power, coming down into the scene where Christ lay with the members of His body, and lifting Him out of death, and setting Him down at God's right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and that same power quickened us together with Christ.

But there is more. The apostle, however, before he proceeds, reminds us that it is by grace we are saved; and surely by nothing but pure and sovereign grace; but he would have the knowledge of it produce in our hearts praise to God. Then he adds, " And hath raised us up together (Jews and Gentiles), and made us sit together (i.e., again Jews and Gentiles alike are made to sit together) in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Thus the power that quickened us together with Christ, raised us up together, and carried us upwards still, and set us down in Christ Jesus in the heavenly places —and that even now, while as to our bodies we are still on the earth; and all this is, that in the ages to come God might show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus " (Eph. ii. 7). "Poor sinners from among the Gentiles, and from among the disobedient and gainsaying Jews, are brought into the position where Christ is by the power which raised Him from the dead and set Him at God's right hand, to show forth in the ages to come the immense riches of - the grace which had accomplished it. A Mary Magdalene, a crucified thief, companions in glory with the Son of God, will bear witness to it."

Having thus developed the counsels of God in their accomplishment, and revealed to us the perfectness of the new creation into which we are brought even now as united to Christ, inasmuch as he is writing to Gentiles, he now proceeds to remind them of their past condition, and the means by which they had been brought into the enjoyment of their present wondrous privileges and blessings, as well as of the position which they, together with believers from among the Jews, occupied upon the earth. " Wherefore," he says, " remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision, by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made with hands; 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" (Eph. ii. n, 12). Such was their condition as Gentiles in contrast with that of Israel; for while, as the commencement of the chapter shows, they were by nature the children of wrath equally with the Gentiles, yet as a people on the earth, chosen in God's sovereignty, they had advantages (see Rom. iii. 2; ix. 4, 5) to which the Gentiles had no title or claim. Hence they—the Gentiles —were without Christ; the Messiah as such was never promised to them; they were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and thus outside all its privileges and blessings. " But now," St. Paul proceeds to say, " in Christ Jesus, ye, who sometimes were far off"—the usual designation of the Gentiles (see Acts ii. 39)—" are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our Peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us]; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in Him self of twain (Jew and Gentile) one new man, [so] making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and came and preached peace to you which were afar off (Gentiles), and to them which were nigh " (Jews) (Eph. ii. 13-17).

First of all, it is striking to notice the place which the Spirit of God ever delights to give to the blood of Christ. Here, as everywhere in the Scriptures, it is made the foundation of everything, the basis on which everything has been accomplished according to the purpose of God. For, indeed, it was by the blood of Christ, the laying down His life (for the life is in the blood), that God has been set free (if such an expression may be reverently used) to act according to His own heart in the work of redemption, because it met every claim of His holiness, and glorified all that He is, so that now He is glorified in the salvation of every one who believes in Jesus. So here the Gentile sinners have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ; for " having made peace by the blood of His cross " (Col. i. 20), He can reconcile to God those that were sometime alienated, and enemies in mind by wicked works (Col. i. 21).

This truth paves the way for the statement that Christ is our Peace. He is our Peace, not now with God only, but as between Jew and Gentile; and He becomes this by that same death on the cross, which laid the foundation for the reconciliation of both the one and the other; for thereby He has broken down the middle wall of enclosure (τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ) that fenced off the Jews from all the other peoples of the earth. It was God who had thus separated them unto Himself, and put them under His law and government; but we know how immediately they broke His law and transgressed His commandments, so that the law became a ministry of condemnation and death. The death of Christ met alike the claims of God upon the Jew and the Gentile, for He took upon Himself the whole of our responsibility, and thereby He broke down the wall of separation between the two, since both the one and the other must now be saved, not by works of law, but on the principle of faith. He thus abolished in His flesh the enmity between the two—the law of commandments in ordinances —that of the two He might make in Himself (Jew and Gentile alike on believing being united to Him by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven) one new man, so making peace; and that both might be reconciled to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Hence, on the foundation of what He had accomplished on the cross, He could come preaching peace both to Jews and Gentiles; for all being justified by faith, would have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is therefore in connection with the body of Christ that He is our Peace. In the past dispensation Israel was a separated people; in the millennium Israel will still have a distinct and pre-eminent place; but now all such distinctions are abolished. " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus " (Gal. iii. 28; Col. iii. 11). This was fore shadowed even in the call of the apostle, to whom was specially intrusted the ministry of the body of Christ. Narrating the account of his conversion before Agrippa, he describes the appearing of the Lord, who said to him, " Eise, stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee (rather taking thee out—ἐξαιρούμενός σε ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ) from the people (the Jews), and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee" (Acts xxvi. 16, 17). He is thus regarded as having (as it were) no nationality, having been taken out from among both Jews and Gentiles, that he might be a kind of pattern of his ministry.

This was the new thing " which in other ages was not made known" (Eph. iii. 5), but was reserved for communication —though the subject of the counsels of God from all eternity —until after the rejection of Christ. The Jews knew from their own prophets that the Gentiles would be brought into blessing under the sway and by the means of their Messiah; but " that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of God's promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. iii. 6), they had no conception; and the truth, when proclaimed to them, excited their bitterest hostility. But such was the purpose of God, and His purpose was accomplished in Christ; and hence we can say, " He is our Peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." First He made peace by the blood of His cross (Col. i. 20); then He came and preached peace both to Gentiles and Jews (Eph. ii. 1 7); thereon He reconciled to God those that believed (Eph. ii. 13; Col. i. 20, 21); and, moreover, He made peace between Jew and Gentile by making in Himself of both one new man (Eph. ii. 15). We may, therefore, say, in the widest possible sense, that Christ is our Peace.

There are consequences of this truth in its special aspect which must be indicated to complete the subject.

After showing how that Jews and Gentiles are merged, by being united, in the body of Christ, the apostle speaks of other consequent positions and relationships. Peace is proclaimed both to them that are afar off and to them that are nigh; " for through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father " (Eph. ii. 18). What a contrast to that which had existed! In the former dispensation, and up until the death of Christ, the Jews alone of all the peoples of the earth had access, by means of their high priest, into the immediate presence of God. But now the veil was rent, and after the ascension of Christ all who believed, whether Jews or Gentiles, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is also the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father (Rom. viii. 1 5). Hence, through Christ, both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Christ stands in the same relationship to both; both have the same Spirit, and both are equally children; and there fore all are in the same position of nearness, and enjoy the same privilege of access.

This leads to further blessings. " Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. ii. 19-22). Inasmuch as all national distinctions and privileges are abolished in the body of Christ, so also in the relationships they commonly sustain towards God on the earth. All are upon the same footing, so that no one can boast over the other. The Gentiles have lost their strangership, and are brought in, together with Jews, to be fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; for both are built up upon the same foundation, even Christ, the chief corner-stone.

The apostle then points out two characteristics which attach corporately to the saints who are thus united to Christ on earth, which are of the highest importance. First, as being built up together on the same foundation, they, or the building thus being formed, is said to grow unto an holy temple in the Lord. The expression will be observed —"groweth unto an holy temple." It is therefore not yet complete, but is in process of building, and it will be carried on until the Lord returns, when every living stone will be found in its predestined place. Like the temple of Solomon when it was in building, which 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" (1 Kings vi. 7), so the erection of this temple is carried silently forward, every stone previously prepared, and then laid upon the foundation in its appointed place. For God Himself is the builder, and His work is unseen by men; but when it is completed, it will bear the impress of His hand, and be stamped with the perfection of His own thoughts and counsels. St. John says, " And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal," &c. (Rev. xxi. 9-11). This is the temple completed; for after the new heavens and the new earth, we find that this same city comes down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband. And the apostle says, "I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men" (ver. 2, 3). What a wondrous privilege to be a stone in the temple of God—of that temple which will be eternally robed and beautified with the glory of God! The Jews were singularly blessed in having the temple in Jerusalem, the place where God dwelt between the cherubim, and manifested Himself to His people in the Shekinah of glory. But believers now are to form the temple, and thus be the eternal dwelling-place of God.

Not only so, but even now on the earth they form the habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph. ii. 22). We do not enter here upon different phases of the house of God in this dispensation, nor stay to point out the difference between the house as built by God, and that which is intrusted for building to man's responsibility (1 Cor. iii.). It is the fact only which is presented in this epistle —the fact that believers in this dispensation form the house of God—that God in very deed dwells upon the earth, since we are builded together in Christ for His habitation through the Spirit. Hence even now there is a place of blessing on earth, the sphere which is occupied and dwelt in by the Holy Spirit. All else outside this sphere is under Satan's power; and hence it is no small privilege to be in God's habitation on earth.

Such are some of the distinctive features of the present dispensation, some of the consequences which flow from Christ being our Peace. May He give us to understand more fully the wondrous place in which He has set us, consequent upon accomplished redemption, upon His own ascension to the right hand of God, and upon the presence of the Holy Ghost upon the earth!  

"Unto Him who loved us —gave us
     Every pledge that love could give;
Freely shed His blood to save us;
     Gave His life that we might live;
          Be the kingdom,
          And dominion, —
And the glory evermore!"

---