COOPERATING WITH THE HEAVENLY MINISTRY OF THE ASCENDED CHRIST
Message Seven
Practicing the Church Life under the Ministry of Christ as the Minister of the True, the Heavenly, Tabernacle
Scripture Reading: Heb. 8:2, 6; 2:10-12; 1:9; 3:6; 4:9; 7:22; 9:15; 12:22-24, 28; 13:1-19
I. The ascended Christ is a "Minister of the holy places, even of the true tabernacle"—Heb. 8:2:
A. Christ, as a Minister of the true (heavenly) tabernacle, ministers heaven (which is not only a place but also a condition of life) into us.
B. The present Christ, who is now in the heavens as our Minister, is ministering to us the heavenly life, grace, authority, and power and sustaining us to live a heavenly life on earth as He did when He was here—1:3; 4:14; 7:26; 9:24.
C. The heavenly Christ is ministering in the tabernacle "which the Lord pitched, not man"—8:2:
1. This tabernacle, this sanctuary, is in the third heaven, in which is the heavenly Holy of Holies.
2. The heavenly Holy of Holies, where Christ is ministering on our behalf, is connected to our spirit—4:12.
3. Christ's ministry in the heavens takes care of our needs—v. 15:
a. From the heavens Christ ministers Himself to us as food, as our life supply, in the way of dispensing.
b. As our Minister takes care of our needs, He carries out God's economy—Eph. 1:10.
D. Whatever Christ carries out as the heavenly Minister, He applies to us as the Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17:
1. The supply we need comes from the Christ who is both the Lord in the heavens and the Spirit within us—Acts 2:36; Rom. 8:11.
2. Now we may experience Him in all His functions as the ascended One—Heb. 1:3; 9:24; 12:2.
3. As the heavenly Minister, He transmits what we need from God the Father, who is the source, into our spirit to supply and sustain us.
E. In His heavenly ministry as the Minister of the true tabernacle, Christ is serving God's people with the bequests, the blessings, of the new testament—7:22; 8:6; 9:15:
1. As our heavenly Minister with a more excellent ministry, Christ is carrying out the better covenant—7:22:
a. He does this by making the facts of the new covenant effective.
b. Every fact in the new covenant is made effective by the heavenly Minister with His more excellent ministry—9:15; 8:6.
2. Whatever is a fact in the new covenant is a bequest in the new testament;Christ, the heavenly Minister, is executing the bequests in the new testament—9:15-17; 10:16-18.
II. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, various aspects of the church are revealed:
A. The church is a living composition of the many sons of God, who are the many brothers of Christ brought forth in His resurrection—2:10-12; Rom. 8:29; John 20:17; Heb. 1:5; 5:5; Acts 13:33; 1 Pet. 1:3:
1. God is our divine Father, and we are His divine sons born of His divine life with His divine nature—John 20:17; Eph. 1:5; Gal. 3:26; John 1:12-13; 2 Pet. 1:4.
2. As the many brothers of Christ, we are the same as the firstborn Son; He is divine and human, and we are human and divine—Heb. 2:11; 1:6; Rom. 8:29.
3. The church is an organism with two lives and two natures combined and mingled together—Lev. 2:1-16:
a. The church is altogether a matter of life—the divine life and the uplifted, resurrected human life—Rom. 1:3-4.
b. The church has two natures—the human nature and the divine nature; thus, the church is both human and divine—Heb. 2:14, 11.
B. The church is a corporate partnership with Christ—3:14; 1:9:
1. The goal of God's operation in the universe is to accomplish a glorious expression of Himself—2:10; John 17:1, 5, 22, 24; Rev. 21:10-11.
2. The firstborn Son is God's appointed Heir, and we, the many sons, have been saved to be His joint heirs, inheriting not only salvation but also all things with Him—Heb. 1:14; Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:7; Eph. 3:6; Titus 3:7.
3. Since Christ as the firstborn Son of God is God's appointed Heir and we as the many sons of God are His joint heirs, we are Christ's partners—Heb. 1:9; 3:14.
4. As Christ's partners, we share in His anointing and cooperate with Him in His operation to reach the goal of God's economy—the glorious expression of the Divine Being—1:9; 2 Cor. 1:21; Rev. 21:10-11.
C. The church, the enlargement of Christ, is the Sabbath rest—John 2:19, 21; 3:29a, 30; 1 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 3:6; 4:9:
1. The individual Christ is God's Sabbath (Matt. 11:28-29), and the church is the enlargement of Christ; therefore, the church is also God's Sabbath rest.
2. The church is God's satisfaction and rest because in the church God has His habitation for His expression and representation—Eph. 2:22.
D. To come to the church is to come to the new covenant and to the heavenly New Jerusalem—Heb. 12:22-24; 8:7-13; 11:10, 16; Gal. 4:24-26:
1. The new covenant, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the church are one.
2. To receive the new covenant is to enter the New Jerusalem and come to the church:
a. Hebrews 8 indicates that the old covenant of law has been replaced by the new covenant.
b. Hebrews 12 says that we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the church—vv. 22-24.
E. The church is the unshakable kingdom of God—v. 28:
1. The unshakable kingdom that we are receiving is Christ with His enlargement:
a. The kingdom is actually the Lord Himself as the kingdom within us—Luke 17:20-21; Mark 4:3, 26.
b. Whereas the church is Christ's increase in life, the kingdom is Christ's increase in administration.
2. In the church, we are living in the kingdom of God today—John 3:3, 5; Rom. 14:17; Rev. 1:9.
III. Hebrews 13:1-19 speaks of the virtues and the experiences needed for the practice of the church life:
A. As indicated by its content, this chapter was written with a view to a proper church life; nearly everything mentioned here, such as brotherly love and hospitality, is for the church life, not only for the Christian life—vv. 1-7, 16-18.
B. For a true and steadfast church life, we must hold on to the Christ who is the same yesterday and today, and even forever, and must not be carried away by various strange teachings—vv. 8-9.
C. The more we are in our spirit, enjoying the heavenly Christ, the more we will come outside the camp of religion, following the suffering Jesus—vv. 12-14.
D. Since in the church life we enjoy the unchanging Christ as grace and follow Him outside religion, we should offer through Him spiritual sacrifices of praise to God—v. 15:
1. In the church we should offer up through Christ a sacrifice of praise to God continually.
2. In the church He sings in us hymns of praise unto God the Father (2:12), and in the church we too should praise God the Father through Him.
3. Eventually, in the church He and we, we and He, praise the Father together in the mingled spirit—v. 12; 13:15:
a. He, as the life-giving Spirit, praises the Father in our spirit, and we, by our spirit, praise the Father in His Spirit.
b. This is the best and highest sacrifice that we can offer to God through Christ the Son.
c. This is greatly needed in the church meetings.