Calling
A Written compostion of the Heavenly Calling Network Study Group
Chapter
21
The Seven Fold Unity of the Spirit has a
stress of each item upon the word, One.Ephesians
4:4 There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; 5
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and
Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.... In the previous chapter we have
already have took a great peak in to this great Seven fold Unity of the
Spirit. The seven Ones. One, One, One, One, One, and One baptism ,being
the reality, is where we continue from. For this is the permanent thing
of which immersion is the external symbol. This is the Uniting by the
Holy Spirit of every member of the body, first to the LORD Him self,
and then to one another. This is a unity that can not be broken.
All the external concrete things that fore shadow truth are mere fore
shadowings. They are not the reality. As the epistle to the Hebrews has
reminded us, the Law, looking back to the ceremonial Law of Moses with
its types and shadows, offerings and its washings, and so on, the Law
having a shadow of good things to come it says. But not the very image.
Now that is true of all divine types. They are Merely fore shadowings
of the reality. But when the reality comes , well the shadows can go
can't they. It is really tragic to want to keep the shadow in one hand,
and the reality in the other. We have now the reality of which the
shadow stood for. And it is something in which Our LORD is asking us to
guard. Every one of these unity's were are told to keep, or to guard. Ephesians 4:3 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.Seven items.
Now we reach the last of these seven. Ephesians 4:6One
God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
all....This all starts with
one body. And that body is reconciled to the Father in chapter 2. We
have access and reconciliation. Ephesians 2:16And
that he might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby...
There is the reconciliation. ...17And came and preached peace to you which
were afar off, and to them that were near.... That is the Jew. ...18For through him
we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.... Reconciliation and access to the Father. We have a
reconciled body. That is the first item in this Unity of the Spirit.
The last item is this Father. Ephesians
4:6One God and Father of all,
who is above all, and through all, and in you all.... This is very important truth. One that can be easily
spoiled unless you are careful to get the truth of scripture. Because
today, as we know, some assert what they term as the Universal
Fatherhood of God, and the Universal Brotherhood of man. And by that
they mean every single human being that is born into this world can
claim God as their Father. But if we weigh that up by the scriptures,
the word of truth, we shall find that as not true. Every one that is
born into this world may have a relationship to God as creator, that is
one thing. But you read in the gospel of John, verse 112But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his nameThe
family relationship comes of salvation and not by birth. There has got
to be a second birth before this family relationship can start. The
Lord Jesus said, you must be born again.
And the moment we know something about this regeneration, this second
birth, this new life in Christ, this linking with the Saviour, the
forgiveness of sins, salvation, gift of eternal life by faith, all
these things, all tied up in the reception of Christ.
That plus, this new relationship is part of this wonderful gift. As
many as receive Him, Christ. But many don't receive Him. And so they
can't talk about God being their Father. We must keep to scriptural
terms. With all the titles that are in scripture, for scripture is full
of them, everyone of them showing us some facet of His being and
character. And not one of them can exhaust what God is. And if you put
them all in one picture you wouldn't have a complete view of what He is
because He is limitless. He is beyond us entirely. We are bounded. We
call ourselves even finite. And we talk about the infinite God. He is
not bounded in anyway. Yet all these are giving us some little
conception as far as we are able to receive it here and now. This side
of glory, we are limited. When we see Him face to face then shall, says
the word, we know, even as we are known. There will be no limitations
then. Now we see through a glass darkly.But we thank Our Father for
what we have got. It is a wonderful thing because if what we now see is
so wonderful, what is the fullness, what is the reality going to be in
that day of glory.
One of the most wonderful titles concerning God this is the most
intimate. When we try to think about His magnificence. His no
limitation. The wonder of His being. And to think that we can go to
that being and say to him, My Father,
can you think of anything more wonderful. But that is what this verse
is telling us. The last great unity is One God and
Father of all. He is referring to all members who constitute
this body, not of humanity at large. Ephesians 4:6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through
all, and in you all.
Keep it clear in your mind on how you can get to know Him as Father. It
must be started by that family relationship by salvation, a new birth
first. Then remember also that we can never know anything of God as a
Father except through the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. For an example,
there was a incident that happened in the Lord's earthly life, when
Philip came to Him and asked Him to reveal the Father. Show us the Father, he said. And
we shall be content, and happy, show us. The Lord had to
remind him. Why I've been with you all this time
and haven't you realized that is exactly what I have been doing? And if
you see Me you've seen the Father. You have seen all what the God the
Father is. They had this wonderful privilege to have the Lord
Jesus Christ with them day in and day out, hearing Him, watching Him,
and they would have said to themselves, Oh, I
see, this is what God the Father is like then. Exactly. We can
only know God the Father through the only begotten Son.
Jn 118 No man hath seen
God at any time; That is because God has not got any shape or
dimension. He is Spirit. He has got no external shape.Jn
118 No man hath seen God at any time; (1) the only begotten Son, who
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him . Many very ancient authorities read God only begotten )That
is what He is doing all the time. If you have seen the Son, you've seen
the Father. We have seen the glory of God
said the Apostle Paul. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ. And no where
else.
There is reading that is very well backed up in the Greek. Instead of
the only begotten Son it is God only begotten. The only begotten God. A
huge statement isn't it. The only begotten God. God, the only one who
has been born. How can God be born? You've got a similar phrase in the
prophecy of Isaiah. In the middle chapters of Isaiah are wondrous for
they reveal many of the glories of Jehovah. From chapter 43 to 46 again
and again you find Jehovah, the Lord, saying, I
am LORD and there is none else. Count all the times in those
middle chapters this is said. There is none else.
There is no other God except Me. There is no other Saviour Except Me. Isaiah 4311 I, even I, am
Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. Now what are those
going to do to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because He is
the Saviour of the New Testament. And here is one in the Old Testament
saying, I am God, and besides me there isn't a
Saviour. If Christ isn't the Saviour then we haven't got one.
And if Christ isn't God, then we haven't got one. Because you can't
have two Saviours and you can't have two Gods. Here is the ONE God of
the Old Testament saying, There is only one
Saviour, and I am that Saviour. And you've got Christ of the New
Testament saying, I am the Saviour. So He
must be God. And so He is. God only begotten.
Look at the verse before that. Isaiah 4310 Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I
have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am
he before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Have you ever thought of that? Before ME there
was no God formed! Was there anytime that God was formed? We
always thought that God never had a beginning as far as we can
understand it. No one ever formed Him. Who formed God? This is a
tremendous statement isn't it. Before Me there
was no God formed. Well you say, why
state this thing, it is obvious because it is impossible. Well
then we better look at chapter 44 of this very book in scriptures and
see this word, Form. This is translated
into another context and gives us the opportunity to better understand
it then.
Isaiah 4424Thus saith
Jehovah, thy Redeemer, Here He is the Saviour again. and he that formed thee from the womb ... . This
word has to do with birth. And this is the very book that says, Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given.
And one of His titles is the MIGHTY GOD. Isaiah 96 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and
the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty El, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace.
(RNKJV) There He is, the Mighty El, the Mighty God. That is
what the forming of God means. It is the time when God was born in the
person of Christ. It is a time when, as in John's gospel, God only
begotten at Bethlehem. It doesn't refer back to past eternity to the
beginning of God. It is when He is pleased to take upon Himself a human
body so that He could come into the middle of us and He could show us
what God was like to some degree. And to bare the penalty of our sins
and die. He couldn't die as the Great God as existed in the Old
Testament days or in the past eternity for He is immortal. Unless He
took upon Himself a body He could never die and pay the penalty of sin,
which is death. Here is the Father being manifested by God being born.
The Son, the only begotten Son.
This Great God has been formed, has been born, has come into our human
experience and we look at Him we say, well that is the Father. If you see Me, you've seen the Father. That is
the last great item that we, as the members of the Body of Christ, are
dealing all the time with a Father. A Father who's love is beyond all
our comprehension. Who's understanding of us is beyond our
understanding. We don't even know ourselves properly. But He knows us
through out. And One who has promised to provide every need. As a
father should, looking after his family.
Here is the precious unity, seven items stamped with ONE. The Lord
said, Now I am going to ask you to walk worthy.
And in walking worthy, this is what you must do for me. You must take
these seven items of truth and you must guard them. You must use them.
You must witness for them. You must keep them. And not let them be
spoiled in any way by doubt or unbelief .Or let something else come in
and mix with it and spoil it. This is the first great trust
that is committed in this practical section of Ephesians. Now, if any
of us started to write a book like this, about the walk, about the kind
of life it requires for the ones that are the members of His body, it
is certain that we would have never written that. We might have written
a lot of things of what we thought God might require from us. But it is
certain that we would have never started there. You see, God starts
with what He knows to be the most important things. We must start there
to. Or else we will not get our priorities right.
Lets look at the occurrences of the word Father
in this letter. Ephesians 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. He starts off by giving his infinite
matchless grace and the peace that passes all our understanding. Then
in Ephesians 1:3 we have His marvelous
choice. Blessed be (1) the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in
Christ ...(1) Or God and the Father ; ...
4 even as he chose us in
him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blemish before (1) him in love (1) Or him having
in love foreordained us ) 5 having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus
Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
... Look at what is said in the opening verses.
Then in chapter 2,For
through him... That is Christ.we both have
access by one Spirit onto the Father... Here is a truth that
needs to be sounded out, because it is missing from many preaching and
teachings, all people that try to go directly to God and bypass the
mediator. But the Lord said you can't do that. He said, I am the way truth and the light. Listen, no man comes
unto the Father except through ME. But how little is that
understood or respected? Many go straight to God and bypass Christ. He
is never mentioned. And the Lord already said you can't do it. Your
trying but you will never get there. You can Not get to the Father
except through Christ. He is the way. He is the one mediator. There is
one mediator, says scripture, between God and man, the man Christ
Jesus.
Then in Chapter 314 For
this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
... In prayer. In reverence. And in approach to the Father. Chapter 46 One God and Father
of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.Chapter 520giving thanks always...
How many times is that? You can't count it can you. It means always.
... for all things What does that cover?
Every thing. ... to God and the Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ; ... So here He comes as the mediator
again. You give thanks to the Father in the name of Christ. You
approach God the Father through Christ. When we pray to HIM, it is
right to direct out prayers to the Father in the NAME and through the
Son. And that is what we are taught by God in scriptures. And that is
what we shall do. And these things are vital because scriptures just
doesn't say these things as though it doesn't matter. They are vital
truths. Don't you ever wonder how much prayer is un-heard simply
because it is prayer that is not being addressed correctly by the truth
of scripture. Before He left the earth the Saviour said, You've asked nothing in MY Name. Ask in MY NAME. IN MY
NAME. So even in the earthly ministry of the Saviour that
question of His mediatory position was stressed.
Ephesians 5:20Giving thanks
always for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ; ... Some times you hear people praying directly
to Christ. Is that scriptural? No! Because you are bypassing Him then
as the Mediator. You are asked to give thanks to the Father through the
Son. But if we go straight to the Son then we have got no mediator. And
we bypass and pray to Him as God the Son which isn't scriptural. Use
HIM, Christ, as a go between. Use Him as the way, the access, to God
and we shall be right. Don't pray to Christ. Pray to your heavenly
Father, and though Him, Christ. And at the end of the prayer, don't say
it like this, for Christ's sake, amen. Or even
for our Saviours sake amen. Because that is the part that
acknowledges that you are praying through the Son. And all your prayers
are directed THROUGH Him, Christ. That might be the most important part
of the prayer.