Reflections on Hebrews with Andrew Murray (12)

 “Who, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3.

 

Continuing with the following passage by Murray in our last post:

 

“Christ seated on the throne in heaven means our being actually brought, in the supernatural power which the coming down of the Holy Spirit supplies, into God’s holy presence, and living there our daily life…It is so much easier to take in the doctrine of a Substitute and an atonement, of repentance and pardon, than of a High Priest bringing us into God’s presence, and keeping us in loving communion with Him.”

 

“Let no one think that I speak of what is too high. I speak of what is your heritage and destiny. The same share you have in Jesus on the cross, you have in Jesus on the throne. Be ready to sacrifice the earthly life for the heavenly; to follow Christ fully in His separation from the world and His surrender to God’s will; and Christ in heaven will prove in you the reality and the power of His heavenly priesthood.”

 

Why is it that so many of us have a watered-down view of our life in Christ and His life in us? Why is it that many of us expect little from Christ in terms of an overcoming life? A life that gives to others? A life steeped in His Word? Joy in prayer and communion with Him? I suppose every New Testament letter speaks to this; and let’s not forget that Revelation is also a letter.

 

So many times we think, “Well, people like Murray, or like Paul, or Peter, or St. Francis, or Augustine, they are a “special” type of Christian, and the mountains they scale are simply too high for most of us.” This is simply not Biblical, it is simply not true. We make our excuses for living the way we do and perhaps take comfort in our collective denial of the completeness of the work of Jesus Christ and of the depths of His love for us. 

There is a sense in which the overcoming life is not about us, not one ounce about us; it is about Jesus Christ and His glory, it is about all things being wrapped up in Him (Eph. 1:10); it is about our confession and testimony being to His eternal glory. His (and our) Father is glorified when we bear much fruit (John 15:8), and yet we learn that in and of ourselves we cannot bear fruit, we can do nothing (John 15:4 – 5).

 

On one end of the spectrum we have the arrogance of the “health and wealth” and “name it and claim it” Gospel which is no Biblical Gospel. On the other end we have the “I’m just a poor rotten sinner and I’ll never know the reality of a life that is complete in Him, resting in Him, overcoming in Him.” There is a sense in which both of these ways of thinking are man-centered and not Christocentric – they both look at us and our experience rather than Christ and the completeness of His glorious Atonement.

 

In Christ, we have a “heritage and destiny” that calls us to be “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.” We are no longer in Adam, we are now in Christ. Our source of life is no longer of this earth, it is now, in Christ, in the heavens. We no longer identify with the first man Adam, we now find ourselves in the Second Man, Jesus Christ. Sadly, it is probably fair to say that most professing – Christians live with a case of mistaken identity, they do not see themselves as the daughters and sons of the Living God; this is akin to the people of Israel with Moses thinking they were still slaves to the Egyptians – worshipping a beast of burden who feeds off the grass, the flesh. Why are we exchanging the glory of the Living God for images of ourselves and creation? Images of our own making?

 

“Be ready to sacrifice the earthly life for the heavenly; to follow Christ fully in His separation from the world and His surrender to God’s will; and Christ in heaven will prove in you the reality and the power of His heavenly priesthood.”

 

So much of our preaching and teaching is focused on the earthly life, not our “life on earth” but rather our “live of the earth and the world system.” This emphasis on ourselves, rather than on Christ, it about as far away from the Bible and the Gospel as we can get – it is really a continuous replaying of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, a replaying of the serpent’s question, “Did God really say this?” Sadly, this thinking characterizes much of the American church.

 

Consider Jesus’ call to self-denial in Mark 34 – 38. Instead of asking the question on behalf of Jesus, “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”, we focus on making our souls independent and strong – thereby avoiding the cross that Jesus calls us to take up as we follow Him.

 

Think about John’s straightforward teaching that we are not to love the world (system) or the things in the world system, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” (1 John 2:15 – 17). Also, note that the context of this passage includes the antichrist, to embrace the love of the world-system is akin to embracing the antichrist. “But it looks so good. What can be the harm?” Of course it can look good, “…for even Satan disguises himself as a angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).

 

Are we “sacrificing the earthly life for the heavenly; to follow Christ fully in His separation from the world and His surrender to God’s will…”?

 

Consider God’s call to us to present ourselves as holy and living sacrifices, not being conformed to the world, but being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29; 12:1 – 2).

 

Dear friends, Jesus Christ sanctified Himself for our sakes, “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth” (John 17:19). Paul wrote that, “I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).

 

Are we setting our lives apart from the world, from the present age, and dedicating them to God for His glory and the salvation of others? Let us be clear, we are called in Christ, and by Christ, to a life of holiness; holiness with its dual meaning of dedication to God and a life of purity unto God. If we would know the glory of the ascended Christ and the treasures of His throne room, we cannot live as double-mined people, we cannot live with part of our heart in this age and the other in the coming age; we cannot live as dual citizens of this age and of the Kingdom of the heavens. The Gospel is unequivocal on this, Christ is unequivocal – to surrender to Jesus Christ means that our lives are no longer our own – we now belong to Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus Christ gave all of Himself to us and for us; are we giving all of ourselves to Him and for Him?