1870 147 The call of the Christian is a marvellous thing. I do not speak only of glory; but in saying so I think also of being called to be like Him, to partake of His nature; and I become spiritually like Him. Therefore the apostle says (Eph. 5:25) that Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word, to the end of presenting it to Himself glorious. The word does not render the Church glorious; it sanctifies the Church; but communion with Christ in glory is what glorifies. It is in virtue of the power of what He is that we share His glory.
In Ephesians 4, 5 we see that we are conformed to what we know. Here is the reasoning of the apostle: you have known what God is in pardon, in love, and in glory. If you have laid hold of that, it is well; but you ought to reproduce it in your conduct. What is spiritually received in the heart does reproduce itself. Therefore it is said, Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. God loved you when you were only His enemies. I do not now speak of our perfection in Christ, for it is already accomplished; but it is a question of our realizing on earth that which we know. John says, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life. As much as I enjoy, so much I reproduce. When I realize what Christ is, it is the joy of my soul. Without doubt that will judge the flesh; for when Christ enters, all that is contrary to Him is manifested. We are going to see a little how Christ nourishes, and how one is sustained by Him in ordinary life, so that the power of Christ could not be enfeebled even in the midst of all the worryings which tend to distract us. If we cannot pass through them occupying ourselves with the Lord, then when we would come back to Him the heart is cold. His love is weakened in us if we have not that which we used for going through all circumstances with Him:
We may distinguish three characters in the Christian. First, lie is a sinner redeemed. We see in him an object of grace in redemption. There are in him two opposites brought close, God and the sinner. Never has been, never will be, seen such a manifestation with an angel. Secondly, be has part with Christ in glory. Later on we shall see the other character: he has Christ as the manna for the passage through the wilderness. It is therefore of a passing nature, as the two other characters are everlasting.
When God visited His people in Egypt, He did not speak to them of the desert they had to cross, but of Canaan. So in drawing us out of the world for communion with Jesus, God speaks to us of heaven; He has glory in view for us. But we are apt to stop and consider our circumstances in the wilderness; but when the Spirit acts, one sees only the end.
Paul did not live in the things that are seen, because they pass away and are null in this sense; but he abode in the things eternal. Consequently the first requisite for enabling us thus to regard the world as null is to know that we are not of it. God found us in sin, entirely estranged from Him, and the question is how to place us in heaven. As He took Christ from the tomb and set Him at His right hand in heaven, by the same power He has taken us out of our sins to place us in heaven, all the rest being blotted out.
In the chapter just read we find two things: the passover and the old corn of the land. All other things are left aside. It is a question of being in heaven for leaving the manna. This is a great deal to say; it supposes not only shelter from the judgment of God but a place in heaven. Even when Israel were no longer in Egypt, they did not want the old corn of the land whilst they were in the wilderness. Pharaoh was no longer there. Israel was delivered from the bondage of Egypt; nevertheless they did not eat the old corn of the land. It is just the same for the Christian who has not learnt the salvation he has in Christ. He is no longer under condemnation; but he cannot glorify God. He is sheltered from judgment, but he does not know the efficacy of Christ's work for glory.
All effort therefore must be entirely done with, and like Israel outside Egypt and the power of Satan, we must know God as a Saviour without fear any more. A Christian is one who can say, All is done by Christ for my salvation; He has plucked me for ever from the power of Satan, as Israel could have said, We shall know Pharaoh no more: be is at the bottom of the sea.
Satan was conquered when Jesus drank of the cup which His Father gave Him to drink. The deliverance is complete for us, for God has shown our Saviour, and as the apostle Paul says, If God is for us who can be against us? It matters little then that Satan and the wilderness are still there. I leave all aside, because I know that God is for me. But there is another which I ought to know. The Jordan remains, which is a different thing. Christ is dead and risen for me: such is what the Red Sea tells me; but the Jordan declares that I am dead and risen with Christ. It is the knowledge and the enjoyment of my union with Him. When we have this, we begin to eat the old corn of the land. We are seated in heavenly places in Christ. Being thus introduced into Canaan we begin to have warfare with the enemies who are there, but we eat the corn of the land. And there is Gilgal, and circumcision, which means that, when we have the consciousness of being thus in the heavenlies in Christ, we judge all according to the standard of heaven. If I am there, I say of such or such a thing I see in the world, This is not of heaven and I leave it: there I must abide, and must judge the flesh in the presence of God.
Returning to the manner of being nourished with Christ, we see that, when the old corn of the land was eaten, the marina ceased; that is, we enjoy redemption in quite a new way. The principle of the difference lies here. At the beginning I thought of my sins and of Christ; this is the door by which we must enter. We must be humbled and enter by Christ. But afterwards, knowing that God loves us as He loves Christ, and that His favour rests on us, and knowing all the bearing of redemption accomplished by Jesus, I begin to estimate the love of Jesus as God estimates it, to have the same thoughts as He in this respect. Then I see Christ in quite another way than before; I am nourished with Him in a way entirely new. It is no longer a mere question of being sheltered only, but I am united to Christ Himself. I contemplate all the perfection of the Lamb who is there; and when I think of the abasement He submitted to on the cross, how He annihilated Himself to make good the character of God in order that God might be just without giving up love, and that He might act according to love without giving up righteousness, then I adore Christ. The Son of man has been glorified because God has been glorified in Him. He has been content to be compromised in order that God might be glorified. He has renounced all, yet had an absolute confidence in His Father. "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." He goes to the end and drinks the cup that the Father might be glorified and we saved. Now I nourish myself with all this; not only am I sheltered, but I adore. What occupies him who is in his sins is to be sheltered; but he who feeds on Christ while adoring Him rejoices, while contemplating Him, that He is seated with Christ in heavenly places.
The more spiritual we are, the more we know what the glory is that Christ would share with us. That which He was through all eternity, and all He has won by His obedience is given us, and we shall be like Him.
Is not Christ seen in heaven an object of affection to me? Am I glad to see Him there? He wishes that our affections should find nourishment in seeing Him in glory. "If ye loved me," said He to the disciples, "ye would rejoice because I go to my Father." And when I think that Jesus has been banished and rejected by the world, I am happy to see Him in heaven. He is the old corn of the land, for He is of the heavenly country. He is also the food that suits us. The Christian is heavenly and ought to occupy and nourish himself on Him who is there as the Lamb.
When I say that we ought to abide in Canaan, it is in Canaan where the warfare is that I speak of. There are continual conflicts in the heavenly places represented by Canaan; for it is clear that in heaven by and by there will be perfect repose.
As a sinner the believer was of Egypt; as a Christian he is of Canaan: but he is crossing the wilderness, and sometimes his spirit is still in Egypt, because he gets weary of the wilderness and the heart then turns back. The world should be for him, as for Jesus, only a dry land where no water is. (Psalm 63) Here below we have nothing but a desert, where are fiery serpents; but it must be crossed and passed. through with God. If our affections are capable of being nourished with Christ, we shall be able to endure everything.
I say to myself, Why is it that I am not there? I know however that Christ is my Saviour. Oh! it is when one does not feed on Christ as the old corn of the land that one does not abide in communion with him. The manna is for the wilderness, but the old corn of the land is for Canaan. The other character which I have named is Christ as manna for the people in marching through the desert. Jesus speaks of it when He says to the Jews, "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven," which the manna set forth.
If the Christian neglects to feed on Christ in this sense, he has no strength to put on Christ here below in his walk. If he walks ill, if there are falls, he cannot at Gilgal (for we must come there after all) feed on Christ as the old corn of the land, that is, feast in communion with Him, the heavenly rest. In this case one must be humbled and settle accounts with Christ, which is an immense difference in the moral state of the soul. If Christ went up the mountain, then came the transfiguration; it was for Him the old corn of the land; He fed as it were on the glory; but if He went down, He found at the foot the power of Satan. In all the circumstances of the desert, however, Jesus lived on account of the Father. We too should live on account of Jesus. It is where we meet with the enemy's power that Jesus is our food as manna. Jesus could always say, "As the living Father sent me, and I live on account of the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live on account of me." As Christ Himself crossed the wilderness, and walked there by faith, we are called to do the same. In all circumstances He prayed; if difficulties increased, He prayed more earnestly. He was there as man and passed through everything with the Father's help.
The Christian feeds on a Christ who has been tried and humbled, and ought to be himself as Christ, crossing the world with all the grace necessary in order that one should own his Master in Him. If he walks with Christ, every sort of goodness, mildness, of long-suffering, will be seen in him. For Jesus the effect of temptation was to bring out grace. If I am with Him, and people insult me, I endure; I shall not cease to be meek, because I feed on Him who is such. It is not that my christian character obliges me to be in these things, but I have all needful for going through them and I forget them because I am not of this world but of elsewhere. If I walk with Christ in me, if I eat manna in the desert, I feed also on the old corn of the land in Canaan. Every day one may do both. The manna is wanted and daily diligence (for the manna spoilt). They had need of manna to go to Canaan. But to glorify God and reproduce the character of Jesus in all positions of husband, wife, master, servant, one must feed on Christ the old corn of the land.
Another circumstance may be pointed out. Israel wanted the old corn of the land in the plain of Jericho before the victory was won; then Christ presents Himself as captain of Jehovah's host. (Ver. 13.) "Art thou for us or for our adversaries?" said Joshua. It must be for or against when it is a question of Christ. I may, as man, have relations with others in certain things; but every man I meet is "for" or "against," when the question is of following Christ in heaven. If it is some one more spiritual than me that I meet, he is for me; if it is some one less spiritual, he is against me, for I might be drawn into evil by him.
If we would enjoy the heavenly joy, we must feed on Jesus as the manna come down from heaven, which is all we want for all the circumstances where we are found. Then we shall enjoy Him and the glory as our everlasting portion.