“He has made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). What a world of meaning lies in these wonderful words! Heavy and dull as we are in these bodies of clay, what will be our ecstatic delight when, in our bodies of glory like our Lord, “knowing as we are known,” we shall realize in wonderful fulness what it means to be “accepted in the Beloved.”
But if we sit down and seek to meditate on this wonderful theme it will amply reward us. We are not accepted in ourselves, we are accepted in Christ. If we were accepted in ourselves, then there would be gradations of acceptance—some would be accepted in a fuller way than another, if any were accepted at all.
But if we are accepted in the Beloved, then the acceptance of the humblest, weakest believer is as full as that of the greatest saint, “Quartus, a brother ” (Rom. 16:23), of whom we know nothing beyond his bare name, was as much accepted as the Apostle Paul with all his gift and devotedness. What a firm, unshakable, inalienable ground this puts things on!
This is the only passage where the Lord Jesus is described as “the Beloved.” Now, we suppose, it would be sound theology to say that the believer is accepted in Christ, but the inspired Scripture says we are “accepted in the Beloved.” Believing as we do that every word of the original Scriptures is inspired, we ask ourselves the question, What is the mind of the Spirit in using this description of the Lord—“The Beloved”?
We believe the answer is that it is to assure our hearts of the warmth and fulness without reserve of the acceptance. It is not merely a doctrinal tenet—it is a divine fact palpitating with divine warmth and tenderness.
Instead of being the neutral tint of an ordinary photograph, it is, as it were, a bit of spiritual colour photography.
The burnt offering, in contrast to the sin offering, illustrates what acceptance means.
In the burnt offering we have acceptance typified—in the sin offering clearance. It is one thing—and most wonderful and blessed, too—to have our sins forgiven, to be cleared of all charge of guilt; but it is another to be accepted by the One who has cleared us.
Let me give a simple illustration. A young man is charged with some serious offence. A sentence of imprisonment, or a stiff fine as the alternative, is passed upon him. The fine is paid. The young man is cleared. He has as much right as the judge himself to leave the court unchallenged.
Suppose as he leaves the court the judge happens to be walking down the corridor towards the exit at the same time as the young man. The young fellow in the relief of his clearance offers his hand to the judge. The judge looks at him sternly. He says, “Young man, it is true you have as much right to leave the court as I have—you are cleared, but I do not accept you as a friend,” and he walks away. Clearance is not necessarily acceptance.
How wonderful that God not only righteously clears the believer on the ground of the atoning death of Christ, but He accepts us—accepts us “in the Beloved.”
This we see is blessedly typified in the sin and burnt offerings. In the sin offering the victim was slain, and its parts carried outside the camp and consumed. The word used for the burning of the sin offering (Hebrew, saraph) is altogether different from the word used for burning in connection with the burnt offering (Hebrew, gatar). The former word is a terrible word, signifying the fire descending in righteous judgment on that which was offensive to God, and exhausting itself in the utter consuming of the victim. Needless to say the offering was identified with the offerer, and charged with his sin, and thus treated accordingly.
Our adorable Lord, if He had not been personally pure and holy and without taint of sin, could not have died the death He did. So we get that marvellous verse in which our Lord, pure, holy, without taint, inexpressibly dear to God in Himself, taking our place, is charged with all our loathsomeness: “For He has made Him to be sin for us” [some commentators would translate sin for us as sin-offering, for there is only one word in the original for sin and sin-offering, so identified is the holy offering with the sinful offerer] “who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
But passing wonderful as this clearance is, the burnt offering goes further and introduces us typically to the thought of acceptance. What, then, is the meaning of the word—gatar—for burning used in this connection? It is the word used for the burning of incense upon the golden altar—the setting forth of worship typically—and is the word always used in connection with the brazen altar. All the offerings on that altar were sweet savour offerings; those otherwise were burned outside the camp. Gatar means that the burning releases all the sweet savour of the sacrifice, carrying it up for the delight of God, and sets forth a wonderful aspect of the death of Christ. So we read in Leviticus 1:4 of the burning offering “It shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him” [i.e., the ofierer].
How sweet it is to know, then, that the weakest believer in Christ is “accepted in the Beloved”—accepted in the measure in which Christ Himself is accepted!
“So dear, so very dear to God,
We cannot dearer be
For in the Person of His Son
We are as dear as He.”
What more could we have in favour before God, to share with our Lord Jesus Christ all that He has acquired as the result of His glorious work upon the cross!