The immeasurable riches of Christ.
We now come to the fifth.
From election to adoption; from adoption to redemption; from redemption to wisdom—the ability to see into the heart of it all—we come finally to consummation.
Ephesians 1:10:
Unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times,
to sum up all things in Christ,
the things in the heavens,
and the things upon the earth; in Him, I say.
And in Whom also we were made a heritage. To sum up all things in Christ—that is the consummation, the riches of His grace. While grace is the first great content of that word riches.
It is helpful if we remember the standpoint of this great letter.
The apostle who wrote it had, in his other letters—or most of them—been dealing with things now, because he had been in close contact with present conditions in all the places where he wrote amongst the Lord’s people, the numerous localities where churches had been born.
All the problems, the requirements, the cares of present life, were pressing upon him. Most of his letters up to this time were occupied with those present things: the local needs, problems, and situations.
But when he was released from all that, and his mouth and ministry were closed, and an end to his journeyings and his active preaching had come, and he was shut up in the prison in Rome, it was more than a release from local responsibilities.
It was a release of his spirit into the all-comprehending, the vaster ranges, out of which the local things were set.
He was now able to release all that was pent up in him—the accumulation of experience, of knowledge, of revelation. He had only been able to give it, so to speak, piecemeal, here and there and there.
But now, all that he had in his knowledge of the Lord could be set forth and given out in these final letters, and in this one in particular. Here he is so able to unburden himself.
His range is no less than from eternity to eternity.
And so, immediately in writing this letter—immediately in what we call the first chapter; there were no chapters when he wrote it, just one continuous outflow—but right at the commencement he plunges into the eternity past.
“We were chosen in Him before the foundation.” Predestinated. He is right back there in the past eternity, and before he has got through, he will have leapt right over into the ages of the ages. That is his phrase in this letter.
From eternity to eternity, he is comprehending all that lies between—the localities, the particulars—the eternal, timeless purpose of God in Christ. It is important for us, and helpful, to recognize that standpoint.
It is helpful in this way: why, you have got to face all that is in these other letters—the problems of the letter to the Romans, the tremendous efforts on the part of the apostle to solve some of the fundamental problems of our life, and the whole question of sin, death, and justification. A tremendous letter.
And the problems in Corinth—terrible problems—which might well have made him despair and give up everything, and say, “It is useless. Look at this. Look at these people. Look at these professing Christians. What is the good of anything?”
The problems in Galatia—well, probably so long as we have got to take notice of those things, they are facts. They are realities, and terrible realities, calculated to take all the heart and all the hope out of you.
We need not think back into those days. We have only got to look into the state of things amongst Christians today, and how this is called church, and we could easily give it all up and say, “Well, what is the good of it, as we know it?”
We have to face it and take account of it. It is real. It is not all imaginary—very real. What are we going to do with it?
Well, just look back into the past eternity to see what was included, and look into the future eternity to see it realized.
God, from eternity to eternity, through all these vicissitudes, all these difficulties and little problems, at last is shown here to have exactly what He planned to have way back there. It is going to be. The consummation of all will be as God intended before time was.
That can help you.
Here it is positively stated, not far on in the letter: in the fulness of the time, a dispensation of the fulness of the times, summing up in Christ the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.
Let us stay for a moment just to get clear about this word dispensation. The margin says “stewardship.”
The root of the word is a house order, or a household order—the order, the system, which obtains. But the word grows, is enlarged, and comes to mean something more than just that.
It comes to mean the carrying out and putting into effect of the purpose. Dispensation, or stewardship, means the carrying out, the putting into effect, of the purpose of everything.
In the fulness of time, the whole purpose will be carried out, put into effect.
And the apostle said that there was given to him a stewardship of the mystery. That means that he was called to have something to do with the putting into effect of what was in the mind of God.
So much, for the moment, for that word dispensation.
What is this putting into effect?
Well, it says, “to sum up all things in Christ.” And that is not satisfactory; it is not adequate.
It runs, “to gather together,” to reunite all things in heaven and on earth in Christ. And the emphasis is upon that word together—together.
That is a thrilling thought: that in the fulness of the time, the putting into effect of God’s purpose means everything will be, at last, together—together.
And, actually, we are together in this place. I wonder if it could be said of us as well, in an inward way, that we are absolutely together here.
It is a grand thing, is it not, when we really are, in spirit, in heart, in an inward way, in object, in purpose, in outlook, together?
That is a mighty thing. That is a grand thing. That is a fruitful thing. That is a joyous thing. It is everything we desire.
When you think of the opposite—the opposite, where you are not together—when two people who have to live under the same roof are not together, it is a miserable, not life, but existence.
A company of people who have to meet outwardly together, but are really not inwardly together—it is not a happy state. There is a strain, there is an atmosphere, there is a lack.
But it says that the putting into effect of God’s purpose will be found, at last, in togetherness universally.
That is the riches of His grace—the riches of His grace. But see the setting of that.
What a history stands over against that.
The Bible, from one standpoint, is a record of the opposite to that togetherness—in fact, the results of an interference with God’s purpose.
It began, apparently, outside of this world. We could call it the cosmic disruption in this universe.
Various hints of it are given to us. One apostle speaks about the angels which kept not their first estate, now bound in everlasting chains.
There is a hint as to Lucifer’s primeval position, and then coveting just the next step up—the place of the Son of God, equality with God.
And through that pride and ambition, there came about that terrible disruption in the very realm of God Himself—the heavenlies.
And that is not something that happened and was concluded in some undated period called before the world was, or before times eternal.
That very realm today, called the heavenlies—the very atmospheric realm occupied by principalities and powers, world-rulers of this darkness, hosts of wicked spirits—is a realm of utter confusion.
Sensitive believers know it. Yes, it is an atmosphere of conflict and strife and disruption. It began there.
And then its repercussions came down to this creation. God had made all things to His own pleasure and satisfaction and said, “It is very good,” put man into it, and gave man his helpmeet, one to help him.
It was not long before that thing which happened above broke in and disrupted the first human home, and Cain murdered his brother. Family life is broken.
We move on to the race, which has grown and expanded, and come to Babel—the disruption of the human race, the breakup into conflicting nations, with strife and confusion. All is full of confusion.
And there arises the story of Israel: a family, tribes, and then a network—the ten and the two divided, fighting each other.
Schism after schism, and the end of disintegration and disruption: the exile. The whole story is everything being contrary to what God intended, in the breakdown of human relationships, the state of confusion—confusion.
You stop with the Old Testament and with the exile—it is there. You come into the New Testament—it is there. A terrible atmosphere of conflict meets you immediately you open your Gospels.
God brings in something very beautiful at Pentecost. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, breaking of bread, and prayers.
You have hardly said it before this touch of schism breaks in again to divide it all, to spoil it all. And the rest of the New Testament is the story of battling with this thing: division, division, division; schism, strife, disintegration.
The great appeal is for union, oneness. Go on.
And what about today? What about today?
Well, the world has grown so much bigger than it was in those days—a much bigger world altogether. New countries have been discovered and populated; a far greater world.
And with the literal, historical expansion and growth, what has happened? Was there ever a time when there was more conflict, more confusion, more strain in relationships, than there is now?
Truly, the prince of the power of the air is very busy today.
This world holds more confusion, divisiveness, and strain in relationships than ever before. Despite every effort, every council, every union, every effort of man to bring the nations together, it all breaks down every time. Is that not true?
Well, all right, that is how it is—and it is not, of course, all right. It is very wrong.
But you see what the apostle is telling us here, by revelation from the Lord Himself: that the great work of God in Christ, through grace, is going to see that whole historic system of disruption brought to a complete end.
The things in the heavens and the things upon the earth will be reunited in Christ—together again, in Christ, in the fulness of the times.
That is what the apostle says. That is what the Holy Spirit says is the consummation of it all.
What a tremendous phrase this is: in Christ. In Christ. Mark you, in Christ.
We are not talking about that popular theory of universalism. We are talking about what is in Christ.
There will be a lot afterward that is not in Christ—not in Him—but is altogether outside of His domain, of His kingdom, of His realm. Outside, completely.
But the realm of this creation, and now this cosmos, heaven and earth, will be His realm, His kingdom.
The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ—one kingdom. And that which is in Christ is one, united together in Christ.
This really does not need arguing. We know quite well that if there is any hope at all for anything like this now, it will only be as we really are in Christ. Stay there.
We get out of Christ into ourselves, and we get into disruption and confusion.
If we abide in Him, or are on this abiding ground, then we are together in an inmost way.
Hence, the necessity in the first place for position—position in Christ.
And then abiding in Christ, and then growing in Christ, and then perfected in Christ. It is a process. It is a work of grace to abide in Christ.
The trouble is, dear friends, we do meet one another so much. You meet me, and I meet you, and you have to say so often, “That is him,” and I have to say, “That is you. That is you. That is just you.”
You know what I mean? Just ourselves—our way of thinking, our way of talk, our way of expressing ourselves, the outcoming of ourselves, the parading of ourselves in some way. It is there.
And it is a real joy and relief and pleasure to meet a person and not meet them, but meet the Lord. Is that not so?
Just to say, when we have been with them, “Well, I was not struck and impressed by them, but I was by the Lord in them and about them. What impressed me was the grace of God.”
Amen. Grace bringing Christ out, making Christ the impression—grace doing it.
Now, that is exactly what Peter means by growing in grace. It means the diminishing of all that is outside of grace—of ourselves—and growing in grace.
When we do come into contact with one another, it is more Christ as the effect and the result than ourselves—what we want, what we think, how we think things ought to be, and all that whole gamut of self-interest and self-life.
Until the consummation, the Spirit of grace is seeking to displace that which is not gracious and bring Christ, Who is gracious, more fully into being where we are concerned.
For the consummation is that all things will be united in Him, and He will fill all things. It will just be Christ. You have heard that so often: it will just be Christ.
Oh, what a grand day it will be when the ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of redeemed individuals, are utterly one Person, because it is all Christ—and no more of this ugly self. Christ.
Now, that says the Word is what God intended from the beginning. That is the eternal purpose of God.
That is the explanation of all the conflict in this universe: to spoil it, to hinder it, to contradict it. That is what the Word says is how it is going to be, in spite of everything—in spite of it.
Dear friends, we shall agree with one another then—absolutely agree with one another.
We shall all be saying the same thing, all doing the same thing. That will not be monotonous and uninteresting, to be all occupied with one thing. What will that be?
In various ways of putting it, I think it will be, “What a lot we owe to the grace of God.”
That will be our eternal occupation: the wonder of His grace, the marvel of His grace.
If the apostle was able to say, in the presence of his large and yet so imperfect apprehension and knowledge and realization of the grace of God, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”
If he could say, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,” if in the imperfection even of that knowledge and ministry he could speak like that, what about when we come into the utter fulness of it, in the ages of the ages?
We shall be saying all the time, “Oh, the depth of the riches! The unsearchable riches! The riches of His grace!”
But do you notice that between the eternities—the past intention and purpose of God, and the ultimate consummation and realization—the apostle does say, “Walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called, with all lowliness and meekness.”
Work, he would say, in the grace which is going to lead at last to this oneness, as far as people will allow us to do so, as far as we can make it possible for them to do so with us.
Let us ask the Lord that this grace, this grace of fellowship and oneness, may be found in us increasingly now.
Because there are a lot of Christians who will not let us—who will not let us—make it possible for us to have fellowship, to be together.
But as far as it is in our power, let us see, by the grace of God, to live in the light of the day when He will reunite in Christ all things in heaven and on earth.