We thank the Lord for leading us thus far. Our God is indeed a faithful God.
The theme of this conference is “Stewards of the Mysteries of Christ.” The Lord has entrusted us with His mysteries. This is an important and great trust. God desires each one of us to be faithful—faithful with His trust, faithful to God’s mysteries.
There are two aspects of God’s mystery: the mystery of Christ and the mystery of the church. This morning, we have been considering the mystery of Christ.
We know that He is the Beginning. He is the beloved Son of God, the full manifestation of God, and all the fullness of God dwells in Him. He is God’s purpose.
If we have such a seeing, we cannot help but become worshippers. The Holy Spirit is continually leading us and teaching us to be worshippers, because our heavenly Father seeks worshippers. May we be those who worship Him in spirit and truth.
We also meditated on the mystery of Christ in creation. He is the Creator, and we are His creatures. He created us for Himself, because He has a purpose for each one of us. Therefore, we must have ears to hear His voice and to serve His purpose on this earth, that His heart may be satisfied.
He is not only the Creator; He also came into this world. He is the One of whom the prophets prophesied. In the fullness of time, He came. He was born of a woman and born under the law in order to deliver us from the law.
We cannot help but believe in Him. He came to be a man. His incarnation is a mystery. Even though He emptied Himself, He was God. Outwardly, He appeared as a man, but inwardly He was fully God.
He lived on this earth for thirty-three years. He revealed the heavenly Father to us and allowed us to see the Man for whom God is looking. He had one purpose: to do the will of His Father.
What was that purpose? To go to the cross and become a sacrifice. The Lord’s prayer was, “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
On the cross, He bore our sins. On the cross, He took you and me to the cross and nailed us there. He concluded the old creation. He was buried, and through His death, burial, and resurrection there is a new creation.
We are united with Him—united in His death. Therefore, we are dead to sin. We are also buried with Him and are dead to the world. Paul said that, as far as the world is concerned, he had been crucified to the world, and the world had been crucified to him.
The death of Christ is an inclusive death. He delivers us from the corrupt self and from the power of darkness. He openly displayed the powers of darkness and triumphed over them.
He not only died for us; He rose again. We are also united with Him in His resurrection. Therefore, we can declare with Paul:
I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh
I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God,
Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
The Lord Jesus not only rose from the dead; He also ascended. This morning, we would like to meditate upon the period from His ascension until His second coming: the mystery of Christ in His present ministry.
From the day He ascended to heaven until He comes again, He has a very important ministry. After our Lord rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples for forty days and spoke to them concerning the kingdom of God. Then He ascended into glory.
In one sense, His return to heaven was a natural conclusion. He came from heaven, His mission was accomplished, and it was natural for Him to return to glory.
But when our Lord returned to heaven, He returned in a dual capacity. He entered into a double glory. When He first came from heaven to earth, He came as the Son of God. When He returned to heaven, He returned not only as the Son of God, but also as the Son of Man.
In John 17, He prayed:
I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.
Then He said:
And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
Because He is God, He returned to His former glory—the glory that He shared with the Father before the world was. Yet, at the end of His prayer, He also spoke of the glory which the Father had given Him to show to those whom He loved.
Thus, we see two glories. One is the original glory which He shared with the Father: the glory of the Son of God, because He is equal with God. The other is the glory given to Him because He accomplished God’s will as the Son of Man.
Today, in heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ enjoys these two glories. What, then, is He doing there?
An older sister once desired to be baptized. According to local custom, before baptism she had to undergo an examination. Several brothers sat before her and asked questions to see whether she was clear in her faith.
One question was, “What does our Lord Jesus do in heaven?” She thought for a moment and said, “The Lord stands in heaven, and His eyes look through the whole world to and fro, looking for people’s mistakes.”
I hope our understanding is more than this, sisters. Do we have any knowledge as to what the Lord’s ministry is in heaven today? We have some understanding of the Lord’s work on earth, but our understanding of His present ministry in heaven is often very limited.
We know that the Lord is in heaven doing at least two things. God has made Him both Lord and Christ, and the Lord has also become our High Priest. Both aspects of His ministry are vitally linked with us.
When the Lord ascended from the Mount of Olives, the disciples watched Him go up until a cloud received Him from their sight. While they were still gazing into heaven, two men in white clothing appeared and said:
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven?
This Jesus, Who was received up from you into heaven,
shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.
The disciples returned to Jerusalem and prayed together in one accord. Yet the question remained: How could they know that the Lord had truly ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God?
The answer came when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. They were baptized into one Body. The sound spread abroad, people gathered together, and Peter stood up with the eleven.
Peter declared that they were not drunk with wine, for it was only the third hour of the day. He explained that what they saw and heard was evidence that Jesus, Whom they had crucified, had been exalted by God.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly,
that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus Whom ye crucified.
The Lord was ascended into heaven, the Father anointed Him, and made Him both Lord and Christ. In the Old Testament, kings, priests, and prophets were anointed with oil. It was not merely a little oil placed upon them; a whole vial was poured upon the head, and it flowed down over the whole body.
Christ means “the Anointed One.” God has anointed Him and appointed Him to be Lord of all. The anointing of the Holy Spirit, poured out on the Day of Pentecost upon the whole church, is evidence that our Lord has entered into His glory.
Let us turn to Psalm 2. The nations are in uproar against the Lord and against His Anointed. Yet God declares:
Yet I have set My King
upon My holy hill of Zion.
The Father says to the Son:
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.
Psalm 110:1 says:
The Lord saith unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand,
Until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.
When the Lord ascended to heaven, God made Him King. He said, “Ask of Me, and I will give the nations to You for Your inheritance. I will give the whole earth to You. Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
On earth, He was meek and despised by men. They called Him Jesus of Nazareth, and asked, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” But in heaven He is seated in glory, dominion, and authority.
Hebrews 2:8–9 tells us:
Thou didst put all things in subjection under His feet.
For in that He subjected all things unto Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him.
But now we see not yet all things subjected to Him.But we behold Him Who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus,
because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor,
that by the grace of God He should taste of death for every man.
Today, we do not yet see all things subjected to Him, but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. God is giving all things to Him as His inheritance, and He is waiting until His enemies are placed beneath His feet.
In Revelation 4, we see the glory of God as Creator. The whole creation gives Him glory and praise, declaring that all things were created by His will and for His pleasure.
Then, in Revelation 5, we see the glory of Christ as Redeemer. There are many interpretations of Revelation, but according to my understanding, John was caught up in the Spirit to behold the ascended glory of the Lord Jesus.
He saw One sitting upon the throne, holding a scroll in His hand. The scroll was sealed with seven seals. A mighty angel proclaimed with a loud voice:
Who is worthy to open the book,
and to loose the seals thereof?
There was silence in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll. John wept because he knew God’s heart. It seemed that God’s purpose had been closed up.
My personal belief is that this scroll is the title deed of the whole creation. Though Satan is usurping this earth, the ownership of creation remains in God’s hand. Satan took it illegally; it does not belong to him.
God declares, “Who is worthy to carry out My will and recover this creation back to Me?” The creation has fallen into the hands of the enemy, but God desires to recover His possession.
No angel in heaven could do it. No creature on earth could do it. Those under the earth could not open the scroll. Our enemy is stronger than ourselves.
But while John was weeping, one of the elders said to him:
Weep not: behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah,
the Root of David, hath overcome to open the book
and the seven seals thereof.
John saw a Lamb standing as though He had been slain. He came and took the scroll out of the hand of Him Who sat upon the throne. At that moment, heaven was filled with glory and praise.
They sang:
Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood
men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests;
and they reign upon the earth.
The elder told John that the Lion of Judah had overcome, but when John looked, he did not see a lion. He saw a Lamb. When the Lord first came, He came as the Lamb. He offered Himself as a sacrifice. He is the Lamb that was slain, and through His blood He purchased us for Himself.
Through His cross, He overcame the enemy. Therefore, He is worthy to take the scroll. This fulfills Psalm 2:
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.
God has made Him Lord and has given Him the whole creation. Now He begins to open the scroll and to break its seven seals. He is executing God’s will in order to recover the whole creation back to God Himself.
When the seals are opened, we see famine, war, false prophets, and the Antichrist. We should not be surprised by these things. They are only the beginning of travail. The Lord is in heaven, executing God’s will and beginning to recover this earth for Himself.
The powers of darkness resist Him. The consequence of this conflict is warfare, famine, and suffering upon the earth. People often ask why there is so much suffering in the world, but they do not understand that the Lord is recovering His own possession.
Through all these things, God will obtain a people. In Revelation 12, we see that God desires a people who will rule with the Lord. They will be used by God for the recovery of the universe.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus. The nations have been given to Him. The ends of the earth are already His possession. What is our Lord doing in heaven? He is receiving and recovering His possession. He will conquer everything and bring all things under the Father’s feet.
In the beginning, God gave the earth to man as his inheritance and told him to subdue the earth. This was the task God gave to man, because the creation had been ruined by the enemy.
God placed the earth under man’s management. Man was to cultivate it and recover everything back to God. But Adam was overcome. Instead of subduing the earth, he himself was captured by the enemy.
God raised up another Man—the second Man, the Lord Jesus. He overcame. Therefore, He can recover all things back to God. God has made Him both Lord and King, and He is recovering all things back to the Father.
Brothers and sisters, we are called by God. We are created and called into the fellowship of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This means that we share in His heavenly position and condition.
Ephesians tells us that we have been raised up together with Him, and that we sit with Him in the heavenly places. Our Lord Jesus is in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, and we have been raised and seated together with Him.
This is the position of those who have received grace. We who believe do not belong merely to this earth; our position is heavenly. Even though our bodies are here, our hearts should already be in heaven.
Therefore, we must seek the things that are above and not set our minds on things below. We do not belong to this world. We have been raised into the heavenly places with Christ.
Revelation 1:5–6 tells us that Christ loved us and purchased us with His own blood. Why did He purchase us? He made us kings and priests unto God.
Brothers and sisters, do not think that those redeemed by God merely go to heaven. We have been purchased by the blood, and He has already made us kings and priests. Our Lord is King, and when we are joined to Him, we share in His kingly life.
We have royal blood in our veins. Do not despise us, even if we have nothing on this earth. The King’s life is within us. Yet to have kingly life is one thing; to become a king in actuality is another matter.
Our brother from England may understand this better than we do. We live in a democratic country and do not have kings or queens. But in England there is a queen. Queen Elizabeth was born into a royal family, and royal blood was in her veins.
Yet for her to sit on the throne and rule the country was not an easy matter. Those who are trained to become kings receive training far more severe than ordinary training.
If we want to become engineers, we must go to school, study, and practice. We may think this training is severe. But the training required to become a king is very, very severe.
If a person does not receive such training, he is not qualified to rule. Those who cannot rule themselves cannot rule others. They do not have the qualification.
Today, we are on earth, and this earth is a training ground for kingship. We have the kingly life of Christ, but we must allow that life to develop. This life must be educated and disciplined so that, when that day comes, we may be able to rule with Him.
Many of God’s children refuse such training. They are not willing to deny themselves and take up the cross. In our natural conception, we simply want a good life. We know that the Lord cares for us and gives us all things, but we do not realize that we need God’s training.
Hebrews tells us that every father chastens his son for maturity. The Lord is doing the same work in our lives. He is educating us through suffering and difficult things so that, when the day comes, we may be kings.
In the spiritual kingdom, to be king is not merely a matter of position. It is a matter of whether you are worthy.
When the Lord was about to enter Jerusalem, the disciples had already followed Him for three and a half years. They came from lowly backgrounds; some were fishermen. On the earthly level, they did not seem to count for much, but they had strong ambitions.
They struggled among themselves over who would be the greatest. They thought that when the Lord entered Jerusalem, He would become King. They considered it their final chance to secure positions at His right hand and His left.
James and John devised a plan. Perhaps they thought that if they asked the Lord directly, He might refuse them, so they asked their mother to speak for them. Their mother was related to the Lord Jesus, and they believed her request might carry influence.
Their mother came to the Lord and said, “I have a request.” The Lord did not sign a blank check. He asked, “What do you want?” She said:
Command that these my two sons may sit,
one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left hand,
in Thy kingdom.
The Lord answered that this was not something He could simply give. It was not a matter of position; it was a matter of life. It depended upon whether they were worthy.
He asked them:
Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?
Or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Before they really understood what the Lord meant, they said, “We are able.” The Lord told them that they would indeed drink of His cup, but to sit at His right hand or left hand was not His to give; it was for those for whom it had been prepared by the Father.
The other disciples became angry because they had the same desire. They also wanted to be at His right hand and His left. The Lord then taught them:
Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their great ones exercise authority over them.
Not so shall it be among you:
but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister;
and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant:
even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Who is worthy to be king? It is those who are willing to lay down their lives for the brethren. This is how people manifest kingly character.
Our Lord Jesus is training us today on this earth so that we may manifest His kingly character. The enemy uses all kinds of things to destroy us and entice us, but we must allow all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
God wants us to be kings. Therefore, all things must be subdued in us. If we are controlled by wealth, we disqualify ourselves from kingly responsibility. We must be stewards of money and bring our wealth under the feet of Christ.
If we are bound by family, we lose our kingly liberty. We must bring our family under the authority of Christ. If we are controlled by our natural self, if self is the center, we are not worthy to be kings. We must subdue ourselves and bring our hearts to the Lord.
If we allow the Lord Jesus to be Lord in our lives, one day we will be qualified to rule with Him. Today is our training period.
This is the relationship between Christ as King and us on this earth. The day will come when He establishes His kingdom on earth, and we will rule with Him for a thousand years.
The second task of the Lord Jesus in heaven is His ministry as High Priest. Psalm 110 not only speaks of His sitting at God’s right hand until His enemies are made His footstool; it also says:
Thou art a priest for ever
After the order of Melchizedek.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is in heaven today as our High Priest. Among the Israelites, Aaron was the high priest. But the priesthood of Aaron was only a type, and also a contrast.
Aaron was a man. When he died, another took his place. His priesthood continually changed and was weak. But our Lord is in heaven as a Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Melchizedek had neither beginning of days nor end of life; he was made like the Son of God. Therefore, our Lord is a Priest forever.
What does a priest do? A priest brings men to God, and he brings God to men. This is the function of a priest.
The Father sent the Son into this world to accomplish His work. The Lord accomplished that work and ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father. Why does He sit? Because His redemptive work is finished. Yet He is not sitting there doing nothing.
The Bible tells us that He lives forever to intercede for us. He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him.
Our Lord sits at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest. He is there representing us. The high priest represented the whole nation of Israel, and our Lord represents all those whom He has redeemed.
Do you know that we have a Representative in heaven? We have an Advocate there for us. He is our spokesman. When we are weak and fail, and when we come seeking forgiveness, our Lord speaks good words for us.
When we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Why? Because Christ is there as our High Priest. He brought His blood into the true holy place in heaven, before God.
That blood is forever there, speaking for us. Our Lord is at the right hand of God, representing us and offering us to God.
The priest not only offered sacrifices; he also offered gifts. What are His gifts? You and I. We who have received grace are taken by Him as gifts and offered up to God.
Scripture tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is our reasonable service. Our bodies are redeemed bodies, and we should offer them as living sacrifices.
When we pray, we may realize that our prayers are feeble and weak. We may wonder whether we are praying honestly or whether we are praying according to God’s purpose. Sometimes we wonder whether He even hears our prayers.
But thank God, Christ is the Intercessor. He adds His incense to our prayers before the Father. Because of His prayer, our prayers are accepted. He is our High Priest, and when we are weak, He sustains us.
Without His ministry as High Priest, it would be impossible for us to be Christians. Why are we often so weak? Because we do not know the ministry of our High Priest in heaven.
The book of Hebrews brings us into this matter. Hebrews calls us to go on to perfection, and we enter into maturity through our High Priest. Because of His work, He saves us to the uttermost.
We can never overlook the Holy Spirit. When our Lord ascended to heaven and received glory, the Holy Spirit was poured down.
Who is the Holy Spirit? He is another Comforter. When the Lord was on earth, He was the Comforter. Now the Lord has ascended to heaven, and He is our heavenly Comforter, our Advocate, and our Representative.
The Lord sent down to us another Comforter. This “another” does not mean someone entirely different. In Scripture, it means another of the same kind—one who is the same and yet distinct.
When the Holy Spirit comes, He dwells in us and never leaves us. He is the Spirit of Christ Himself. The Lord is in heaven as our Advocate, representing us before the Father; the Holy Spirit is within us, representing the Lord.
The Lord in heaven represents us. The Holy Spirit in us represents Him. The word Comforter or Advocate means one who comes alongside to help.
Even though the Holy Spirit helps us, He does not represent us. He represents our Lord. He works in us so that we may be conformed to the Son.
In the past, an attorney had four functions: to represent a person, manage his property, protect his reputation, and defend him. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit represents the Lord, manages God’s property, protects God’s reputation, and defends God’s interests.
Sometimes we want to do certain things, but inwardly there is a struggle. Something tells us, “No, you cannot do that. That is not the Lord’s will.” Sometimes we want the Holy Spirit to sympathize with us, but He will not sympathize with our self-life. He represents the Lord.
The Holy Spirit works until we are conformed to God’s Son. If the Holy Spirit did not instruct us and lead us into all truth, we would never grow.
Christ is not only our High Priest; we also are priests. Each one of us has the responsibility to bring people to God and to bring God to people.
We cannot do this work without relying upon the Holy Spirit. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can bring men to God, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can bring God to men.
All ministry requires the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Before a priest could function, he had to be anointed, because his ministry was under the anointing. Therefore, we must serve under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Though we are many priests, there is only one priesthood. We serve together under the leadership of our High Priest. This is our relationship with Him.
Whether He is our King or our High Priest, His purpose is that we may grow into full maturity. He is the Son, and we are sons. Sons need to grow.
We have sonship within us. A child may be a boy or a girl, but as that child grows, he or she becomes a son in the sense of maturity. To be a mature son is to share the character of the Son.
Our Lord Jesus is God’s only begotten Son. He loves us, and He desires to be the Firstborn among many sons. He has come to bring many sons to glory.
Children need to grow. As we grow, we become mature sons. The ministry of our Lord Jesus is to bring those who have received grace to a place of maturity, so that we may be kings with Him.
Heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast not only sent Thy well-beloved Son into this world to be Thy Apostle, to finish the work of redemption for us.
O God, we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast exalted Him far above all and hast given Him a name that is above every name, that at that name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
Our Father, we come to Thee and confess that Jesus is our Lord. We do want Him to be Lord over our lives. Amen.
We praise and thank Thee that Thou art today our great High Priest. Thou ever livest, making intercession for us. Thou art able to save us to the uttermost. Amen.
Our Father, we commit ourselves to Thy priestly ministry and ask Thee to work in us by the power of the Holy Spirit until we grow into maturity, that we may come into the measure of the stature of Christ.
Our Father, we do praise and thank Thee. We commit ourselves to Thy ministry, O Lord, today as well as to what Thou didst accomplish on earth.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.