We are too far advanced, now, in the matter which the Lord has brought to us for this season, to do anything by way of review and recapitulation. It would take the whole morning itself.
For the sake of those who join us this morning for the first time, let me intimate that we feel the Lord has brought us to take further and further account of this: that He, the Father God, eternally designated His Son, who is now our Lord Jesus Christ, to be the horizon of all His interests and activities.
The horizon in two senses: the range, the scope, of those interests and activities; and the nature of everything that is of God. He appointed His Son to be that whole horizon.
The word is found in the original language of the New Testament, although not translated into our language as “horizon.” Yet it is there. Our English word horizon is derived from the Greek word horizō.
But apart from the word itself, the Bible is just full of the very matter, and the New Testament brings it very clearly, very quickly, and very definitely into view. So we have been moving within the compass of Christ as God’s horizon, in measure and in nature.
The little phrase, in its various forms, occurring so many times in the New Testament—“in Christ”—is our key.
After having spent some time in taking a general and comprehensive view of what this means, we came to the point where that horizon was definitely and in Person introduced into this world, when God’s Son came forth from God, from heaven, to take up all this inclusive and comprehensive will and purpose of God.
Latterly, then, in this time, we have been occupied with the great epochs in the life of the Lord Jesus, with their significance—like the peaks of a mountain range, each one having its own meaning, but each one bringing the next into view. And all, in the range, being parts of a whole.
When you have gone from peak to peak, or seen the whole, you have seen what it is, what it means, that the Lord Jesus is the horizon of God.
In those epochs, in those mountain peaks, we had three remaining. All the three are to gather us today, if the Lord wills. This was not planned. I did not know how it was going to work out when the Lord intimated this to me as the thing for this present time. I did not plan it, work it out, or organize it.
It was only through the night hours of this past night that it became quite clear to me that it was these last three peaks that were to occupy us today. So it comes, I trust, from fellowship with the Lord.
And this morning, after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, with which we were occupied so much yesterday—oh, its marvellous and far-reaching, comprehensive meaning—we come to the next, which is His ascension.
His ascension—perhaps not made so much of as His birth, His death, and His resurrection—and yet I want to say at once that it is not a lower peak by any means or in any sense. On the contrary, indeed, I think we may be climbing all the time.
When we come to this eminence, His ascension, we do indeed rise to a great height, spiritually, doctrinally, and literally.
Oh, you will know, those of you who know your Bibles, how the ascension of the Lord Jesus is almost invariably joined with His glorification. The two are rarely apart. Indeed, His ascension itself is sometimes called His glorification, His being glorified; and His being glorified was His ascension to the Father.
That link, that union of the two things, gives very rich value to His return to heaven. It may surprise you to know that there are at least twelve references to His ascension in the Word—perhaps you think that there ought to be more. Well, you will probably be able to find more than that. I am saying at least there are twelve references to it, which gives it a fairly large place in the Word.
It is, of course, the climax in the cycle of His mission and His work which He undertook. The first stage, phase, step, in that cycle was His incarnation. It moves round steadily, and this is the climax of that great undertaking on the part of the Son of God—His mission and His work—in their glorious issue, in His ascension and glorification.
Now it is for us this morning to take note of some of the things—only some of the things—which are embodied in His exaltation at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.
As we can say immediately, inclusively and comprehensively, it is the horizon enthroned: enthroned in the place of ultimate government, established above the world and above the heavens; set there, fixed, and given the place of all authority in heaven and on earth.
It is an enthroned horizon. You have seen the horizon in humiliation, in weakness, in conflict, in suffering, in death, and so on. But now He, as God’s horizon, is enthroned at the right hand of God.
Put great emphasis upon that word, enthroned. This is a governmental matter. We have said that it is a distinguishing matter: it distinguishes between those in Christ and those not in Christ.
“If any man be in Christ,” there is an implication that it is possible not to be in Christ. It distinguishes. “All we who were baptized into Christ”—that is a certain people, not everyone; so it is a distinguishing definition.
It is not only a classifying definition, dividing the human race. It is a definition which is descriptive: the kind of people, the kind of realm, the kind of nature, which is in Christ. But then it is a governing definition.
This is on the throne of authority, and it is under this horizon that everything is going to be judged and destined—glorified or doomed. It is on the throne. How can you get away from that, ultimately? The authority is with Him by the Father’s appointment, in heaven and on earth.
Well, that is, of course, the inclusive fact: the horizon is now enthroned. But within that there are several other things quite clear.
His ascension, His exaltation, His glorification, is inclusively victory enthroned—victory enthroned.
And again, from that high peak, the whole range comes into view: the far-back look to the old, original point where the Father made the horizon. From the point of His glorification, you see that which has so much significance for us in these days: that great rebellion and revolt in heaven which tore God’s universe in twain and struck the great discordant note into the harmony of everything.
It brought in all this terrible history of conflict, of strife, of disharmony, because it had its repercussions when man, like the fallen angels, became implicated and consented to it.
Then there arose the necessity for undertaking a settlement of that whole thing in one tremendous battle. That thing itself, in its nature and source and universal consequences—even the very purging of the heavens themselves, as well as the answering of that challenge and the settling of that controversy—was undertaken by the Son of God.
In His incarnation, at the very beginning of His life on this earth, we find Him in that realm of conflict between heaven and hell. Heaven is very much in evidence at His birth; so is hell. Herod, the murderer from the beginning, is very much on the scene, to make that life short at its beginning, if possible.
From that moment onwards, that evil thing was continuously active in many different ways to destroy the Son of Man. He undertook that conflict, that issue, to settle it.
From the standpoint of His glorification, you look right back to that far-distant beginning of things. See how the battle was taken up as from the beginning. And this is the issue: He is on the throne. He is glorified. He triumphed by His cross. He is the Victor in the universe of God.
The far-back look from the throne: victory enthroned. It is the far-around look. Well, the whole cosmos, as we have just said, was involved in this. When we use the word cosmos, it is not just a fancy word. It is a larger-than-the-earth definition and description. It includes the earth, but it moves out to all that encompasses the earth.
You and I, the Lord’s people, who have any spiritual sensitiveness at all, know that our conflict is not only with flesh and blood. It is not only with material things in this world and on this earth, but we are in touch with inimical forces which are in the very atmosphere. That is the realm of our greatest conflict.
Sometimes there is nothing naturally or temporally to account for it. It just descends upon you—a sense of evil, adversity of spirit, trial of spirit and mind. Sometimes it comes upon you in your very body. I mean, are you ready to account for this? Well, you know all that to be very true.
That is the cosmic realm and range of this evil work. It is universal in its influence, embracing everything.
It is a very remarkable thing. I dare to stay just this moment with it. I expect you have noticed, dear friends, that as you move out into this world, if you are really a child of God and really seeking to live your life in Christ, you can move into spheres and realms where you are not known.
It is not that people know who you are and all about you, but you just move in this world and you are conscious that you are a suspected person. You are a speckled bird. You feel that they do know something about you—yes, they do.
And the more you stand to represent the throne of the Lord Jesus, the more you stand to represent this horizon of God, this ultimate verdict in this universe centred in Christ exalted, the more consequential you are spiritually, the more you will be surrounded and compassed by a sense of suspicion, for which there is really no reason so far as you can see.
A sense of suspicion—you have not accepted it, you doubt it; something about you, just that. And it is a horrible realm to live in if you do not live in the Lord, abiding in the Lord, when you are just broken by it, crippled by it, paralysed by it. Is that true? It is very true.
The more spiritual you become, the more you will be isolated by this world and by the forces that govern it. It is all around, just all around, everywhere.
That throne is the enthronement of a cosmic victory in every way—in the air and in the lower heavens. He Himself triumphed in His presence. Yes, He said:
“I have overcome the world.”
“I have overcome the world.”
And it is written of Him that He stripped off principalities and powers, made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in His cross. Undoubtedly, the cross of the Lord Jesus sees the universe gathered together against Him—men and devils in perfect rage at that cross against Him.
In the whole realm, the range, the scope of that, He triumphed and has taken that triumph back. His exaltation means the enthronement of His cosmic victory all around.
But from the same high point, you can look on, around and on, and you can see from there how it is going to be universal when God reaches His end through Christ. That is not just poetry, visionary language. If you look into the Word, you know quite well that the Book of Revelation gives a very large place to that forward vision: the Lamb in the throne, and all things in absolute and universal victory in that throne.
And back to that again later. It is victory in view. That wonderful Psalm 24, and the sequence of those psalms is very, very impressive.
Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
Psalm 23: The Shepherd Psalm, coming into the house of the Lord at the end for ever.
Psalm 24: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors:
And the King of glory will come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.”
The ascension and exaltation—the Lord mighty in battle—enthronement: our victory is His ascension, exaltation, glorification. Look at that there.
In the next place, it is redemption enthroned—redemption enthroned.
We saw on Saturday night, when we were considering His transfiguration, that this glorification, entering into His glory, was an immediate possibility for Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, if it had only been Himself to be considered, if it had only been His own faithfulness to God.
Then transfiguration was His, not only for that hour, but for ever. But it was not for Him alone, and so He turned away from the glory, the open door into the glory, and came down that mount to work out redemption for man, in order that man might be taken up to that mountain to be with Him there.
Redemption is enthroned. The great final symbolism of our New Testament in this matter speaks of a Lamb in the midst of the throne—a Lamb in the throne. That is very striking, impressive symbolism.
When John wept because no one was found to loose the seals and open the book, the heavenly messenger said to him, “Weep not. The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath overcome.” John said, “I turned to see.” And what he meant was, “I turned to see this Lion”; and when I was turned, behold, a Lamb.
Well, it is symbolism, but it is very striking symbolism. The lion is the symbol of power, of ascendancy, of authority, of dominion—the king of beasts. The lamb, the very symbol of yielded weakness.
Here, that throne is symbolised by a Lamb. And we know the history of the lamb in the Bible: always the type of redeeming grace, redeeming blood. What a mighty redemption was accomplished by a lamb.
By a lamb—let us come to Egypt. See, day after day, week after week, all the power of Egypt, the mighty world power of that time, being drawn out, drawn out, right up to the ninth point of those judgments. It is still holding out.
How great is this power to resist, to hold on, to refuse to yield. All the judgments, all the plagues, and nine times, still it is unbroken.
And the tenth: relenting, relenting, coming to the point where it is well-nigh exhausted and broken—what a power that is. And yet, and yet, still holding on, even after the tenth; not to let go, if possible, to retain something of a hold.
“You can go. Leave your cattle. Leave the little ones.” Still, you see, holding. But what was it that broke all that power? It was the blood of the lamb. It was the mighty sign of the blood. The lamb did it.
It exhausted all the resources of this world, drew them out, and finally broke them. The last thing was going to happen. That is where the issue was settled: when the lamb was slain, the blood was sprinkled. That night, the issue was settled.
It is a picture in history, a very vivid and impressive picture: redemption. The New Testament gives the spiritual interpretation of that history, as well as of much more Old Testament history.
The great apostle puts this whole thing into one little phrase, one sentence, which includes this horizon matter: “Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Into His horizon, from that horizon—redeemed from the authority of darkness.
Egypt and Pharaoh are but a figure, a type, a shadow, of the sphere of the authority of darkness in which you and I by birth are found, and all men are. But that throne, that throne, and that Lamb on the throne, speaks of redemption from the authority of darkness.
Psalm 68, as you know, quoted in Ephesians 4, has this in a picturesque way:
“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive.”
That which belonged to Him, which was in captivity, He took out of that captivity and made it His captive. Well, that is where most of us here, though not all of us here today, stand in experience. He, because He is there in that position, has led us as captives out of the authority of darkness, redeemed from that authority, and made us His captives—which we are very glad to be.
Very glad to be redeemed from the authority of darkness. Then there is that other phrase: “Redeemed from all iniquity.” The Lamb has redeemed us from all iniquity.
Most of us, when we have seen that word and heard that word and used that word, have restricted and confined the word iniquity to a kind or state of things: that is, defilement, uncleanness, sinfulness, evil in the nature of things. We speak of that as iniquity. Perhaps it is a strong word carrying the matter of sin, so it is part of the meaning of iniquity.
Let me remind you, dear friends, that that word iniquity in the Bible has even a greater context than that. Of Satan it is said, “Iniquity was found in him.” What was that iniquity? Just what the word means in its root.
Iniquity in the Bible, in its root, means rebellion against God. That is the ultimate meaning of iniquity. Iniquity is that. That is sin at its farthest point: rebellion against God. It was that in Lucifer: iniquity was found in him.
It is not only the state produced by that, but it is the thing itself. But through his interference with man, and man’s consent to him, there is now in the nature and constitution of every being in this creation something inimical and at enmity with God.
Many, of course, will not agree with that because they are not aware of it. They would say, “Oh, I am not against God. I would not fight against God.” But we are a company of Christians, and if we know anything at all about spiritual history, there is this: that we can be so tried, so tested, so up against adversity, as to be at least very near the point of raising a question about the justice, the kindness, the love, the fairness, the faithfulness of God.
Perhaps Christians know that better than anybody. Am I saying a terrible thing? Well, if that is not true of you, do not worry about it.
Those others who do know something about this tremendous conflict with the evil that has come into our own nature through Adam know quite well that our real battle is to maintain unsullied faith in God under the deepest adversity and suffering, and to raise no question at all about the love of God; raise no question about His faithfulness; raise no question about His promises—always promise.
That is the battle realm. That is iniquity there: complicity with Satan in his revolt against the throne.
And He has redeemed us from all iniquity. He has brought us out of that realm, brought us out of there; broken out, broken down, that kingdom where rebellion is established; translated us out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom—and listen to the words—into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
From rebellion against God to love for God, after the kind of His Son’s love for Him. Redeemed, and redeemed unto God by His blood.
Man was gone. Creation was God’s, made for Him, belonging to Him by eternal right. We all belong to God. God has the right that He should have us as His own.
We went on from God’s possession, from God’s realm; became possessed by another master; went into his slavery, into his thraldom, into his government and kingdom. But the Lamb, by His blood, has redeemed us unto God again.
We are now His. We are bought with a price. We are the Lord’s by redeeming blood, redeeming grace.
I hurry on to the next, and near the end, of this enthroned redemption. Thank God redemption is in the throne. It is going to come. It is going to come.
But then man’s perfection is enthroned in the Person of the Lord. It says of Him that He was made perfect through sufferings. “I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the third day I must be perfected.” “I shall be perfected”—made perfect through suffering.
Not only morally and spiritually perfect, for the word is a bigger word than that. It means made complete, made whole, with nothing left, no division—absolute.
You probably know this word perfect is used in a very simple, everyday connection in the Gospels. For instance, it says of the fishermen that they were gone out of their boats and were mending their nets. The word “mending” there is exactly the same word as “perfect.”
Mending the holes. The thing was torn, the thing was broken, the thing was not whole; there was something lacking, and all that. And that is the word used about what happened to the Lord Jesus and what is going to happen to us.
All that is lacking is going to be supplied. All that is broken is going to be mended. All that is wrong is going to be righted. And it has been done in Him; it has been done in Him.
He is perfected as the representative Man of the new creation, and man’s perfection is enthroned in His Person—enthroned in a throne that can never be shaken. Oh, that can never be undone. That perfection is established there in Him.
You know, our glorification in the New Testament is not always in the future tense. Sometimes it is: “If we suffer with Him, we shall be glorified with Him.” That is beautiful.
But when you get into the realm of eternity, outside of time; into the heavenly realm, outside of earth; into the divine realm, outside of the human—it is not in the future sense. “Whom He justified, them He also glorified.” That is past tense. Then He also glorified—something done.
In the Lord Jesus, our glorification is secured and is fixed beyond a doubt and a question, if we abide in Christ. It is going to be. Man’s perfection is enthroned.
There are one or two features of this. He is enthroned there as without spot. It says, “Who offered Himself without spot unto God.” Without spot unto God.
That brings the priestly, sacrificial features into view. The priest himself had to be blameless. The priest himself had to be an expert in the matter of finding fault, if he could, in the right way—do not take that in the wrong way.
But you see, the sacrificial lambs were taken from the flock, and they were put aside for some days—for fourteen days—during which period the priest had to keep a very close eye upon those lambs, watch with the most diligent scrutiny day by day to see if there were signs of any blemish in the lamb for sacrifice.
Never did any creatures have a more critical eye upon them than the eye of a faithful priest, who had this conscience: that what was worthy of God must be flawless and without blemish.
The priest had such a conscience and consciousness of spotless holiness as being the only thing worthy of God. So the lamb and the priest had to be perfectly one in this: without spot, without blemish, without blame.
The Lord Jesus took those capacities, as you know—the priest and the sacrifice. He Himself had this very, very keen sensitiveness and awareness of evil, of what was evil, and a deep, deep intolerance of it.
And He Himself corresponded to His own office. But He, as the Lamb as well as the Priest, was without spot and without blemish. He offered Himself—Priest offering sacrifice, and offering Himself to God—and He was accepted.
And that spotless, unblemished sacrifice, sacrificial Lamb, is in the throne. That Lamb not only had to pass the eye of earthly judges; He had to pass the eye of God, swift to discern the mark of whatsoever blemish there might be. And He passed that scrutiny of heaven and God, and was accepted.
And this is the virtue and value of that for you and for me: He is still the High Priest. He is our High Priest, and He ever lives to make intercession for us. That is good, that is good. But on what ground does He make intercession for us?
He makes His intercession on the ground of His own perfection. He offers His own perfection to God for us and says to the Father, “Accept Me for them. Cover all their imperfection by My perfection.”
He intercedes—again, a pictorial word. Do not make it literal and think of Him somewhere there, kneeling down before the Father and actually praying God. Maybe. But there is in the presence of God an answer for our sin in a sinless One.
There is governing in the throne a mighty perfection and sinlessness for us. Oh, thank God for that. Where should we be today but for that? At any hour of any day, where would we be if He were not standing, interceding between God and us with His own perfection?
I like to think of it like this: there is that perfection, and here am I, imperfect, and there is God in what He is. I do not come through to God in what I am. That One stands across the path with His perfection.
And when I come into Christ, into Christ I am justified. In Christ Jesus I am righteousness. I can satisfy God in Christ. He is the whole horizon of my perfection. He is working that out, and He will perfect that which concerneth us, make complete what He hath begun.
Well, we have already said: in the throne man is glorified. He is there as glorified Man, and the Forerunner. Whither the Forerunner has gone, the Author of our salvation has appeared on our behalf. He is there, glorified Man.
There truly is the glorified Son of God, glorified with the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. But there is the added glory now: the glorified Man, Son of Man, the token, the standard, the representative of all that is in God’s whole thought and horizon by Jesus Christ.
Lord, make His Word precious to us, and help us.