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“For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church” (Eph 5:30-32).
The special mystery committed to the apostle Paul is the mystery of the Church as the Body and Bride of Christ. Why, it may be asked, was this kept secret? Because it is a heavenly thing, the subject of God’s heavenly counsels; whereas the purpose of the Old Testament prophecies is to make known His earthly counsels. This is of great importance as showing how completely the Church lies outside the world (and outside of Israel—NC). It has a different origin, it is revealed at a different time, it cherishes a different hope, it belongs to a different sphere.
Instead of inheriting the Old Testament promises and fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies, it forms the most absolute contrast with them that the mind can conceive. So different are they that the two cannot exist together (the non-Christian Jews and the Christians—NC). While God’s purposes about the earth were being unfolded, the mystery of the Church was hidden (nobody but Paul and the Lord Jesus knew about the Church—NC). When the mystery of the Church was unfolded, the purposes about the earth were suspended (e.g. how there will be a new earth, and the Jews who believe in God will be its earthly representative for God—NC).
The Church is associated with Christ in heaven; Israel is associated with Him on earth. The Church knows Him in His sufferings and patience; Israel will know Him in His exaltation and power. The Church rejoices in Him as the Bride in her Bridegroom; Israel will rejoice in Him as a nation in her Sovereign (people of God but not children of God—NC). The Church looks for Him to take her to heaven; Israel looks for Him to establish her on the earth. Such is our blessed lot, such our heavenly portion, in contrast with even the most favored of the earthly people. Alas, that hearts will fall short of this wondrous position (being earthly dwellers instead of heavenly hosts—NC).
However we may slight or neglect it (fail to know the difference between the Church and Israel and their destinies—NC), the apostle did not. Earnest as he was in seeking souls, full as he was in setting forth the simple truth of grace to the sinner, this magnificent subject of the “mystery of Christ“ (which was the mystery of Him being the Bridegroom—NC) was never absent from his thoughts or heart. If he prayed for the establishment of the saints, it was “according to the mystery” (Rom 16:25). If he would have them “knit together in love, and into all riches of the full assurance of understanding,” it is “to the acknowledgement of the mystery” (Col 2:2). If he would have the real character of the truth committed to him understood by others, it is that God had by “revelation made known unto me the mystery” (Eph 3:3).
This mystery is the Church, as the Body and Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, already united with Him by the Holy Spirit sent down to dwell in the Body on earth, and awaiting the time when this blessed oneness will be publicly displayed: “When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col 3:4). Surely if our hearts were more in tune with the mind of the Father and with the affections of the Lord Jesus, this wondrous theme would fill us with never-ceasing worship and praise (esp. in the trialsome times—NC).
Thomas Blackburn Baines (1832-1891)
MJS daily devotional for April 25
“The love of the Lord culminates in this, that we should be with Him. He died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him (1 Thess. 5:10). I find the one who is set on usefulness (Martha) does not advance like the one set on personal affection to Him (Mary). The Lord give us to be more personally attached to Himself; then we shall be useful according to His good pleasure.”
“There is one thing that all can do—be ‘meet for the Master’s use’ (2 Tim. 2:21); and this is the secret of usefulness. Usefulness is not activity; it is not merely being used, but it is fitness, cleanness, preparedness, and separation of heart, singleness of eye, the affections set on things above—all, in fact, that proceeds from the judgment and denial of self, and the manifestation of Christ in the life by faith.”
“All my ability to act for the Lord Jesus here depends on my conscious identification with Him where He is, not where He was for me; though as I receive power from Him I walk here even as He walked; His life is manifested in me. -James Butler Stoney (1814-1897)
The special mystery committed to the apostle Paul is the mystery of the Church as the Body and Bride of Christ. Why, it may be asked, was this kept secret? Because it is a heavenly thing, the subject of God’s heavenly counsels; whereas the purpose of the Old Testament prophecies is to make known His earthly counsels. This is of great importance as showing how completely the Church lies outside the world (and outside of Israel—NC). It has a different origin, it is revealed at a different time, it cherishes a different hope, it belongs to a different sphere.
Instead of inheriting the Old Testament promises and fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies, it forms the most absolute contrast with them that the mind can conceive. So different are they that the two cannot exist together (the non-Christian Jews and the Christians—NC). While God’s purposes about the earth were being unfolded, the mystery of the Church was hidden (nobody but Paul and the Lord Jesus knew about the Church—NC). When the mystery of the Church was unfolded, the purposes about the earth were suspended (e.g. how there will be a new earth, and the Jews who believe in God will be its earthly representative for God—NC).
The Church is associated with Christ in heaven; Israel is associated with Him on earth. The Church knows Him in His sufferings and patience; Israel will know Him in His exaltation and power. The Church rejoices in Him as the Bride in her Bridegroom; Israel will rejoice in Him as a nation in her Sovereign (people of God but not children of God—NC). The Church looks for Him to take her to heaven; Israel looks for Him to establish her on the earth. Such is our blessed lot, such our heavenly portion, in contrast with even the most favored of the earthly people. Alas, that hearts will fall short of this wondrous position (being earthly dwellers instead of heavenly hosts—NC).
However we may slight or neglect it (fail to know the difference between the Church and Israel and their destinies—NC), the apostle did not. Earnest as he was in seeking souls, full as he was in setting forth the simple truth of grace to the sinner, this magnificent subject of the “mystery of Christ“ (which was the mystery of Him being the Bridegroom—NC) was never absent from his thoughts or heart. If he prayed for the establishment of the saints, it was “according to the mystery” (Rom 16:25). If he would have them “knit together in love, and into all riches of the full assurance of understanding,” it is “to the acknowledgement of the mystery” (Col 2:2). If he would have the real character of the truth committed to him understood by others, it is that God had by “revelation made known unto me the mystery” (Eph 3:3).
This mystery is the Church, as the Body and Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, already united with Him by the Holy Spirit sent down to dwell in the Body on earth, and awaiting the time when this blessed oneness will be publicly displayed: “When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col 3:4). Surely if our hearts were more in tune with the mind of the Father and with the affections of the Lord Jesus, this wondrous theme would fill us with never-ceasing worship and praise (esp. in the trialsome times—NC).
Thomas Blackburn Baines (1832-1891)
MJS daily devotional for April 25
“The love of the Lord culminates in this, that we should be with Him. He died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him (1 Thess. 5:10). I find the one who is set on usefulness (Martha) does not advance like the one set on personal affection to Him (Mary). The Lord give us to be more personally attached to Himself; then we shall be useful according to His good pleasure.”
“There is one thing that all can do—be ‘meet for the Master’s use’ (2 Tim. 2:21); and this is the secret of usefulness. Usefulness is not activity; it is not merely being used, but it is fitness, cleanness, preparedness, and separation of heart, singleness of eye, the affections set on things above—all, in fact, that proceeds from the judgment and denial of self, and the manifestation of Christ in the life by faith.”
“All my ability to act for the Lord Jesus here depends on my conscious identification with Him where He is, not where He was for me; though as I receive power from Him I walk here even as He walked; His life is manifested in me. -James Butler Stoney (1814-1897)