Indwelling All Things
Background
I have been reading, Is the Great Commission still Great?) by Steve Richardson, son of Don Richardson (author of the famed Peace Child and Eternity in Their Hearts). The central thesis of these books is that God has prepared redemptive analogies in all cultures as a sovereign preparation for the coming of the gospel. Those in Christ should understand that whereas Ecclesiastes 3:11 testifies, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”, this wisdom vision is fulfilled in the Lamb as, “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Rev 22:13). Paul’s public preaching to pagans, “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,” (Acts 17:28), has surprising Christ-centred implications for missions. Disclaimer: Since some of the following may seem “weird” let me assure you it is truly holy in origin because grounded in a traditional view of the Incarnation of Christ (John 1:14; 1 Tim 3:16).
Surprising Prayers
Out praying recently, I clearly sensed to ask the Lord about indwelling a wall. (Nothing very special about the wall in question, but I knew the Lord had a revelation of his Son in the request.) My mind was soon carried back to the story of St Francis and his extraordinary kinship with all God’s creatures ( see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canticle_of_the_Sun), but for us the words of the New Testament are far more final and persuasive, “he (God the Father) put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph 1:22-23 cf. 1 Cor 15:28) In Christ, the Church is united to Him who is the centre and circumference of a whole new universe (Col 1:1-16). Our spiritual/immaterial indwelling in Jesus is the substance of our destiny as people of God (Eph 1:11; Col 2:17)! This is no useless end-times speculation, for Christ’s personal promises make it all presently real.
All Things in Christ for Us
John 15:1ff is a favourite passage for many (e.g. Donna), “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 etc.). This beautiful calm language is deeply engaging and inspires biblical meditation (Ps 1:2 etc.). Yet in prayer with Donna recently, I was struck by an insight I have never previously considered. The Jesus in whom we now “abide/rest/remain/live in union with” is limitlessly greater than the Jesus who appears in the Gospels. Now, he is “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36 cf. Rev 17:14; 19:16) and wills to share his sovereign reign over the restoration of “all things” (Acts 3:17-21; Matt 19:2-28) with his Body and Bride as we remain in him. As Jesus progressed in degrees of power and honour through earthly ministry, crucifixion, resurrection and finally ascension (John 12:31-32), so it is with the degrees of glory that we anticipate in him (2 Cor 3:16-18). As the Lord promised, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going (ascending) to the Father.” (John 14:12 cf. 20:17). This makes the ascension the key to all N.T, revelation.
Mutual Knowledge by Indwelling
At the time of the Reformation there was intense debate over the omnipresence/ubiquity of the humanity of the glorified Son of God (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_calvinisticum). Moving past this controversy, we must affirm the literalness of the promise of the Lord, “if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). When this word is finally and fully realised, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2), the Church shall fill the universe with the glory of the Lord Jesus (cf. Hab 2:14; Isa 6:3>John 12:41). My sense of “indwelling the wall” has profound implications for all Christians in the workplace, not just for bricklayers, stone masons, structural engineers and admirers of walls, but to those who have access to “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3) in the now glorified humanity of Jesus. Far beyond the superlative wisdom/knowledge of old covenant saints, like Jospeh and Daniel (Gen 41:39ff; Dan 2), “sharing in the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4) “ordinary Christians” can have insight into the functioning of the universe beyond normal mortals. Why is so little of the contemporary Church notable then for its unparalleled wisdom?? Scripture categorically declares, “that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Eph 3:10). Two profound failures highlight our currently inability to display supernatural wisdom.
Ultimate Acclamation
First, the holy beings inhabiting eternity stunned by the all-wise plan of God in Christ (Rom 16:27; Eph 1:9-10) ceaselessly proclaim, ““Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!”” (Rev 5:12 cf. Isa 6:3; 57:15). Such holy acclamations (cf. Rev 4:11) are not primarily caused by their observation and witness of the man Jesus ruling over all things from heaven, but because their “sharing in the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4) has been perfected in union with the glorification of his humanity (cf. Heb 12:23). When we see as they see, the greatness of the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) will surely break in upon us impelling us to take the gospel to the ends of the world. This requires “another Pentecost” for the Western Church. Something far easier said, prayed for and preached, than made real amongst us. This brings me to my second explanatory factor.
A Prayer of Humble Access
As an Anglican priest, I am privileged to lead God’s people in what for centuries has been known as The Prayer of Humble Access, “We do not presume to come to your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. But you are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he is us. Amen” This holy disposition moved God as Father to lift the eternally meek Son up into glory (Matt 11:29; 2 Cor 10:1). In the ordering of the Holy Trinity, exaltation always follows voluntary humiliation (Phil 2:5-11; James 4:10; 1 Pet 4:6). The Church which casts itself to the ground in Christ will in God’s perfect timing be raised up with him in the heavenlies in her ongoing experience.
Conclusion
Our Father deeply desires to expound Christ’s own insight into his Great Commission as Great! Not simply that multitudes may be saved, but that “glory and honour of the nations” be freely returned to the Lamb of God (Rev 21:24. 26). Let us together pray for such wonders in our day.