THE VISION, PRACTICE, AND BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST
Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:10; 1 Cor. 1:30; Ezek. 1:26-28
I. We have been saved by grace through faith to be God's masterpiece, through which God's multifarious wisdom is made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies—Eph. 2:10; 3:10:
A. The Greek word for masterpiece is poiema, which means "something that has been made," "a handiwork," or "something that has been written or composed as a poem."
B. Not only a poetic writing may be considered a poem, but also any work of art that expresses the maker's wisdom and design; we, the church, the master-piece of God's work, are a poem expressing God's infinite wisdom and divine design.
C. We, the church, the masterpiece of God's work, are an absolutely new item in the universe, a new invention of God (2:15); we were created by God in Christ through regeneration to be His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17):
1. God's masterpiece is absolutely new because it is the mingling of God and man; His masterpiece, His greatest workmanship, is the working of Himself into man and the constituting of man into oneness with Him to produce the church.
2. The church is God's poem that speaks forth His wisdom; according to Ephesians 3:10, God's multifarious wisdom will be made known through the church.
3. Hymns express the wisdom of the hymn writers; in the ages to come, in the millennium and in eternity, there will be a unique hymn, the church, which will express the wisdom and design of God.
4. When we see the New Jerusalem, we may extol God for the beauty, wisdom, and design manifested in this marvelous production; the New Jerusalem will be God's poem, His masterpiece.
II. "Of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption"—1 Cor. 1:30:
A. Christ was made wisdom to us from God as three vital things in God's salvation: righteousness (for our past), by which we have been justified by God that we might be reborn in our spirit to receive the divine life (Rom. 5:18); sanctification (for our present), by which we are being sanctified in our soul, that is, transformed in our mind, emotion, and will, with the divine life (6:19, 22); and redemption (for our future), that is, the redemption of our body (8:23), by which we will be transfigured in our body with His divine life to have His glorious likeness (Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2).
B. Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are not only related to our past, present, and future; daily we need Christ as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption:
1. When we believed into Christ, God put us into Him; then Christ "became" wisdom to us; the expression to us from God indicates something present, practical, and experiential in the way of transmission; Christ should continually f low from God to us and be our present and practical wisdom in our experience.
2. Wisdom in 1 Corinthians 1:30 is equal to the way in John 14:6; righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are the materials used in the construction of the freeway in our Christian life:
a. When we exercise our spirit and call on the name of the Lord, we become righteousness—Rom. 10:12-13; 2 Tim. 2:22.
b. Day by day and hour by hour, we should not live in the soul, in the self, but live in the spirit, exercising the spirit to call on the name of the Lord Jesus; in this way we not only become righteousness but are also sanctified, separated from what is common and from being common our-selves.
c. Redemption includes three matters: termination, replacement, and being brought back to God; when God redeems us, He terminates us, replaces us with Christ, and brings us back to Himself; this is the actual process of transformation in which our old element, our old constitution, is terminated and replaced with a new element, a new constitution—Christ Himself in resurrection.
III. The rainbow around God's throne also signifies that Christ became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification, and redemption— Rev. 4:3; Ezek. 1:26-28:
A. The three primary colors of the rainbow are blue (the color of the sapphire throne, which signifies God's righteousness—v. 26; Psa. 89:14), red (the color of the sanctifying fire, which signifies God's holiness—Ezek. 1:4, 13, 27; Heb. 12:29), and yellow (the color of the glowing electrum, which signifies God's glory—Ezek. 1:4, 27; Heb. 1:3):
1. God's righteousness, holiness, and glory are three divine attributes that keep sinners away from God—Gen. 3:24:
a. The sword for killing indicates God's righteousness (cf. Lam. 3:42-43; Rom. 2:5), the flame signifies God's holiness (Deut. 4:24; 9:3; Heb. 12:29), and the cherubim signify God's glory (cf. Ezek. 9:3; 10:4; Heb. 9:5).
b. These attributes of God placed requirements on sinful man; since sinful man was unable to meet these requirements (Rom. 3:10-18, 23), he was not permitted to contact God as the tree of life, until Christ fulfilled the requirements of God's righteousness, holiness, and glory by His all-inclusive death on the cross to open a new and living way for us to enter into the Holy of Holies and partake of Christ as the tree of life (Heb. 10:19-20; Rev. 22:14).
2. Christ died on the cross to satisfy the requirements of God's righteousness, holiness, and glory and was resurrected to be our righteousness, holiness (sanctification), and glory (redemption)—Gen. 3:24; 1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 8:23.
3. Christ Himself, signified by the rainbow of righteousness, holiness, and glory, is the covenant of God given to His people—Isa. 42:6; Heb. 8:10-12.
4. Christ is wisdom to us from God, transmitting Himself into us as righteousness (that we might be reborn in our spirit), sanctification (that we might be transformed in our soul), and redemption (that we might be trans-figured in our body)—1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 8:10; 12:2; 8:23; Eph. 5:25-27.
5. In eternity as the New Jerusalem (a city whose foundations have the appearance of a rainbow—Rev. 21:19-20), we will be a rainbow to testify of God's faithfulness to carry out His new covenant in making us exactly the same as He is as righteousness, holiness, and glory; this will display Christ as God's multifarious wisdom through us to the whole universe—vv. 10-11.
6. The spiritual reality of this rainbow should be manifest in the church today—we need to allow God to fill us with His presence of righteousness by giving Him the full opportunity to work in us as the fire of holiness for His splendor of glory through us—1 Cor. 1:30.
B. The rainbow is a sign of God's faithfulness in keeping His covenant that there will be no more judgment of death; we must live under the new covenant and not believe in any failure, weakness, darkness, or negative thing; we are the covenanted people, and we have a verse of promise to meet every situation— Lam. 3:22-23; Rom. 8:1; 2 Cor. 12:9; 2 Tim. 1:10; 2:1; Jude 24; 1 John 1:9; 1 Cor. 1:9.
IV. Christ being made wisdom to us from God as righteousness and sanctification and redemption and manifesting Himself as the multifarious wisdom of God through us in His complete salvation is also seen in Ephesians 5:25-27:
A. Ephesians 5:25 says that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her— this is Christ as our Redeemer accomplishing God's judicial redemption to satisfy the requirements of God's righteousness so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him—2 Cor. 5:21.
B. Ephesians 5:26 says that He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word—this is Christ as the life-giving Spirit carrying out God's organic salvation in us to make us holy by His organic sanctification— 1:4; Rev. 21:2.
C. Ephesians 5:27 says that He might present the church to Himself glorious—this is Christ as our Bridegroom presenting us to Himself as His glorious church through the redemption of our body in His life-dispensing glorification—Rom. 8:23.
V. Through the church God's multifarious wisdom is made known to the rulers and the authorities, and the enemy is subdued—Eph. 3:10:
A. God's creation of man was first for man to be in His image to express Him and second to have His authority to deal with His enemy to represent Him (Gen. 1:26); the church was predestinated for the sonship of God and also was des-tined to subdue the enemy by making God's multifarious wisdom known through the church.
B. If there were not such an evil one in the universe, God's wisdom would not need to be manifested; it is through all the troubles rendered by Satan that God has the opportunity to show forth His wisdom—2 Chron. 1:10; cf. Col. 2:2-3.
C. Every damage from Satan is a good opportunity for God to display His wisdom; the more troubles there are, the more opportunities there are to display the Lord's wisdom.
D. The Lord Jesus told the opposing Jewish religionists, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19); their destroying simply gave the Lord the opportunity to build up something greater than what was destroyed.
E. The built-up church is the goal of God and the target of the enemy—Matt. 16:18; cf. Rev. 1:11-12.
F. The Bible clearly and thoroughly reveals that what God has been doing in past generations, still is doing now, and will be doing in the future is to fully accomplish His sonship in us and to subdue the enemy, to cast out the serpent; this will be done through the church and by the church.
G. As regards the sonship, we are in a process, and as regards the subduing of the enemy, we are in a battle.
H. In the eyes of the Lord and in our experience of living the church life, Satan has already been defeated—John 14:30; 1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14; Rom. 16:20.
I. There is no need for us to be sorrowful; we should always be happy and praising the Lord because even a defeat is a preparation for a further victory; ultimately, the Bible, especially the book of Revelation, is a book of victory, not a book of defeat—5:1-14; 11:15; 12:10-11; 14:8; 19:1-7; 20:10, 14; 21:2, 6; 22:20.