THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians
Message Two—Heading Up All Things in Christ
Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:3-10, 22-23; Rev. 21:1-2, 23-25; 22:1-2a
I. God’s eternal intention is to head up all things in Christ, who has been appointed to be the universal Head—Eph. 1:10, 22:
A. It is God’s eternal purpose that in the economy of the fullness of the times, He might head up all things in Christ—Eph. 1:10.
B. Through the dispensations of God in all the ages, all things will be headed up in Christ in the new heaven and new earth; this will be God’s eternal administration and economy—Rev. 21:1-2.
C. God has blessed us, chosen us, predestinated us, redeemed us, forgiven us, and graced us for the purpose of heading up all things in Christ—Eph. 1:3-10.
II. Satan’s goal is to corrupt God’s creation and to cause confusion—Rom. 8:19-23:
A. When Satan injected himself into man, Satan became death and darkness to man; sin brings in death, death brings in darkness, and darkness brings in confusion.
B. The entire universe is a heap of collapse caused by Satan injecting himself as the factor of death into God’s creation—Heb. 2:14; Rom. 8:20-21.
C. God is working to liberate His creation from bondage and to bring it into liberty by heading up all things in Christ—Eph. 1:22, 10.
III. We all need to be delivered from the heap of collapse and headed up in Christ—Col. 1:12-13:
A. The collapse of the universe caused by the rebellion of Satan and the fall of man gives God an excellent opportunity to manifest His wisdom—Eph. 1:8; 3:10; Rom. 11:33.
B. According to the Bible, God’s salvation is to save us not only from our fallen, sinful condition but also from the heap of collapse—Eph. 2:1-8, 21-22.
IV. God is heading up His chosen ones to be the Body of Christ with Christ as the Head—Eph. 1:4, 22-23:
A. The first step in the heading up of all things in Christ is for God to bring His chosen ones, His sons, out of the universal collapse and to place them under the headship of Christ—Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:10, 19.
B. When the church takes the lead to be headed up in Christ, God has a way to head up all other things—Eph. 1:22-23, 10:
1. The church is the vessel used by God to solve His problems and to fulfill His purpose, which is to manifest Himself through man by mingling Himself with man—Eph. 3:9-11.
2. Eventually, the Body with Christ as the Head will be the universal Head over all things—Eph. 1:22-23.
C. The church life is a life of being headed up—Eph. 4:15.
V. God’s economy is to dispense Himself into man and to work Himself into man—Eph. 3:9-17:
A. In Christ God has come to work Himself into man—not into man as originally created by Him but into the man into whom Satan has injected himself.
B. God’s purpose with the church is to work Himself into us as life that we may be full of light—Eph. 5:8-9.
C. We need the element of God to be wrought into our being—Eph. 3:16-17a.
VI. God is working Himself into His chosen ones through an administration which is a sweet dispensing, an intimate stewardship, a comfortable household arrangement—Eph. 1:10; 3:2; 1 Tim. 1:4:
A. The heading up of all things in Christ does not take place by a governmental administration; rather, it comes about by an intimate stewardship, by a comfortable household arrangement—Eph. 3:2.
B. The way to behave in God’s house is to have a pleasant household administration, an intimate stewardship, and to dispense Christ to all the members of God’s household—1 Tim. 3:15; 1:4.
C. God’s abounding grace will accomplish the heading up of all things in Christ; this abounding grace is working on us so that all things might be headed up in Christ—Eph. 1:7-8, 10.
D. The more we, God’s inheritance, are saturated with the Spirit as a living seal, the more heading up there will be in the universe—Eph. 1:11, 13.
VII. The heading up in the church life is by life and light—John 1:4; 8:12:
A. God’s way of recovery is Christ versus Satan, life versus death, light versus darkness, and order versus confusion.
B. God’s way to recover the oneness among His creation is to impart Himself into us as life—Rom. 8:6-21.
C. In order to be delivered from the heap of collapse in a practical way, we need to grow in life; the more we grow in life, the more we will be headed up and the more we will be rescued from the universal collapse—Eph. 4:15; Col. 2:19.
D. When God comes into us as life, the light of life shines within us—John 1:4:
1. This life swallows death, and this light dispels the darkness—John 8:12.
2. When we are full of Christ as life, we are under the light and are controlled by the power of light.
VIII. In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, all things will be headed up in Christ; this will be the complete fulfillment of Ephesians 1:10—Rev. 21:2-3, 23-25; 22:1-2a:
A. In the New Jerusalem everything will be saturated with life and will be under light—Rev. 22:1; 21:23.
B. In Revelation 21 we see the Head, the Body surrounding the Head, and all the nations walking in the light of the city; the whole universe will be headed up in the light shown through the transparent city—Rev. 21:18.
Ministry Excerpts:
In this message we come to the heading up of all things in Christ. To many of us, this may be an altogether new thought. Ephesians 1:10 says, “Unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” Instead of “to head up all things in Christ,” the King James Version says, “He might gather together in one all things in Christ.” This translation is inadequate. In Greek, the word translated “to head up” is a verbal form of the noun “head.” The proper translation of this verse is, “To head up all things in Christ.”
GOD’S ABOUNDING GRACE WORKING TO HEAD UP ALL THINGS
Verses 9 and 10 should not be isolated from the preceding verses, for verses 3 through 14 are actually one long sentence. Because verses 9 and 10 are not independent sentences, we need to refer to verses 7 and 8, which speak of the riches of God’s grace and of the grace which He has caused to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence. If you read these four verses together, you will see that everything in them is related to the abounding grace. The abounding grace does so much for us. For instance, it makes us God’s inheritance, and it makes God our inheritance. In a family the children are the father’s inheritance. A man may be very wealthy, but if he has no children, he is actually poor and may think of himself as having nothing. This indicates that a father’s inheritance is his children. According to the Bible, the more children we have, the richer we are. Nothing can compare with them. As the sons of God, we are God’s inheritance. The abounding grace makes us the sons of God and His inheritance. It will also make God our inheritance. In a family, not only are the children the inheritance of the father, but also the father is the inheritance of the children. Many children would testify that they would rather lose anything else than lose their father. The living father is the best inheritance. We are in the process of becoming God’s inheritance, and He is in the process of becoming our inheritance. This is made possible by God’s abounding grace.
The matter of the mutual inheritance, however, is not the end, for as verses 9 and 10 indicate, the abounding grace will accomplish the heading up of all things in Christ. By the abounding grace certain things are taking place in the universe to bring about the heading up of all things in Christ. We need to see how the abounding grace is working this out.
Before we consider this, we need to say a word about the church people in the Lord’s recovery. Although we are small in number, we are the most important people on earth, more important than government leaders, military leaders, or leaders in industry. Most Christians, however, have not seen the vision that the grace that has accomplished redemption, applied forgiveness, and regenerated us and that now is operating in us to make us God’s inheritance and to make Him ours is also working to head up all things in Christ. Christian preachers and teachers do not speak of this, and Christian books do not mention it. They do not cover the crucial point that the abounding grace is working on the church people so that all things might be headed up in Christ.
THE ISSUE OF MANY ITEMS
We have seen that the heading up of all things is mentioned in verse 10. But this verse does not stand alone; it is the continuation of verses 3 through 9. This indicates that the heading up of all things is the issue of all the items covered in verses 3 through 9: selection, predestination, the praise of the glory of God’s grace, being graced in the Beloved, having redemption and forgiveness, and having God’s grace abound to us in all wisdom and prudence. Verse 9 speaks of the mystery of God’s will according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. Then we have verse 10, which speaks of the heading up of all things in Christ. The infinitive “to head up” in verse 10 is related to all the preceding things in the foregoing verses. This means that God chose us that He may head up all things in Christ. He predestinated us unto sonship that He may head up all things in Christ. He accomplished redemption for us through the blood of Christ in order to head up all things in Christ. God has graced us and caused grace to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence that He may head up all things in Christ. The heading up of all things in Christ is the issue of all these things. (Life-Study of Ephesians, msg. 8)
THE DISPENSING OF GOD AS GRACE
The stewardship, moreover, involves a dispensation. Dispensation here refers not to an age, but to a dispensing. For example, a mother dispenses food to her children every morning at breakfast. As the children sit down at the table, the mother dispenses nourishing food for them to eat. In such a dispensation a proper control is always exercised. If a child misbehaves, the mother may say, “If you don’t behave, there will be no breakfast for you.” Thus, the dispensation of food is the best control. I have observed this with my own grandchildren, who obey their grandmother better than they obey me, because she is the one who dispenses treats to them. Because she does the dispensing, she can very easily and pleasantly control them. She controls them by means of a sweet dispensation, a dispensation that is also a kind of administration and intimate service. The heading up of all things in Christ does not take place by a governmental administration. On the contrary, it comes about by a sweet stewardship, by an intimate household arrangement, by a pleasant dispensation. It takes place through the dispensing of the abundant life supply of the Triune God into us. The Apostle Paul calls this a “dispensation of the grace of God” (3:2), a stewardship of the grace of God.
We have seen that Satan’s injection has no administration or stewardship because he subtly injects himself into us. But God is working Himself into His chosen ones by a sweet, intimate stewardship. Paul’s ministry was such a stewardship. It was a model of the dispensation of grace, of the dispensing of God as grace into His chosen ones. By this dispensation of grace, the dispensing of God Himself as our enjoyment, the factor of life is ministered into the chosen ones. As the life factor gets into them, they are raised up and attached to Christ in the Body. This is the dispensation that heads up all things in Christ.
By such a ministry the factor of life is imparted into the church people. By such a sweet, intimate stewardship the life supply is dispensed into the members of the Body of Christ. The more the factor of life is ministered to us, the more we rise up and become attached. Every time you receive the life supply you spontaneously rise up. There is no need for anyone to tell you to have fellowship with others, for you automatically long to be attached.
God’s way to head us up is to work Himself as the factor of life into us that we may rise up and be attached to one another. It is not by a governmental administration, but by a sweet dispensation, an intimate stewardship, a comfortable household arrangement. Through this dispensation, the life factor is ministered to all the members of the church that they may rise up and be attached in the Body. This is the heading up in Christ. (Life-Study of Ephesians, msg. 9)
THE ULTIMATE DISPENSATION
We have seen that God dispensed Himself into Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. He had an even greater dispensation with Moses and, of course, with the Lord Jesus. The dispensing continues in the New Testament Epistles. It may surprise you to know that God’s dispensation at the present time is even greater than it was at the time of the Apostle Paul. I doubt that when Paul was on earth there was a congregation who had the privilege of hearing the things that you are hearing today. Today there is a deeper, higher, and wider dispensation of the grace of God. This dispensation will continue through the millennium until the fullness of the times. The dispensation of the fullness of the times will be the highest and the broadest. This dispensation will be in eternity, as revealed in Revelation 21 and 22.
In these chapters we have a new environment, the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21:1 says, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is no more.” In the Bible the sea signifies death. For there to be no more sea means that there will be no trace of death. By that time death will have been swallowed up. At the end of the millennium, death, the last enemy, will be abolished and cast into the lake of fire. In place of death, there will be a new environment, a new sphere, a new circumference, in the center of which will be the New Jerusalem.
If you read the book of Revelation carefully, you will see that the New Jerusalem is actually a great mountain with a height of twelve thousand stadia, more than thirteen hundred miles. At the top of the mountain there is the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 22:1). Out of the throne flows the river of water of life; it flows down the mountain and reaches the twelve gates of the city. The water of life is for drinking, for the life supply, not for bathing nor for baptizing. In the water of life grows the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). This indicates that when you drink the water of life, you eat the tree of life. Therefore, when you drink the water, you receive the life supply. Here we see the ultimate, the consummate, dispensation: the dispensing of the Triune God into the whole city of New Jerusalem. This will cause the city to be filled, saturated, permeated, and soaked with the water of life. This is the highest dispensation purposed by God for the fullness of the times.
THE MINIATURE IN THE CHURCH LIFE
We enjoy a miniature of this consummate dispensation in the church life today. In the church we have the flow of life, we drink the water of life, and we eat the tree of life. This is God’s dispensation in the church life. However, it is not the highest dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of times. As I enjoy the living water in the church, I am awaiting the ultimate dispensation. We shall all be in this consummate dispensation, and we shall be fully saturated with the Triune God.
God on the throne refers to the Father, the Lamb refers to the Son, and the river of water of life refers to the Spirit. John 7 reveals clearly that the river of life denotes the Spirit. Thus, in Revelation 22 we have God the Father, God the Son as the redeeming One, and God the Spirit flowing with God the Son as the tree of life to be our life supply. This is the dispensation of the Triune God, the top dispensation, the dispensation of the fullness of the times.
This dispensation began with Abel and has been increasing throughout the ages until it eventually will reach the dispensation of the fullness of times. We are getting close to that dispensation. If we realize this, we shall be beside ourselves with joy. Not even the Apostle Paul was as close to the ultimate dispensation as we are. Hallelujah, we all shall share in the consummate dispensation! In the Lord’s recovery we have in the church life a miniature of that coming dispensation. How wonderful! This is why we enjoy singing these lines from a hymn in the supplement:
Drink! A river pure and clear that’s flowing from the throne;
Eat! The Tree of Life with fruits abundant, richly grown;
Look! No need of lamp nor sun nor moon to keep it bright,
For Here there is no night!
Oh, in the church life we drink the water of life and eat of the tree of life! By eating and drinking we become saturated with God’s very life through His dispensation. The more life that is dispensed into us, the higher we rise up. This is the heading up in Christ.
THE LIGHT OF LIFE KEEPING EVERYTHING IN ORDER
Where life is, there is light also. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” This light is the light of life (John 8:12). In Revelation 21 we have both life and light. Because the New Jerusalem is saturated with light, it has no need for the light of the sun. Revelation 21:23 says, “And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In the New Jerusalem we shall have the glory of the Triune God as our shining light. In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem there will be no night, no death, and no darkness. Instead, there will be life and light. This will cause everything to rise up and be in good order.
Wherever there is light, things are kept in order. Suppose there were no lights in the city of Los Angeles. What darkness and confusion there would be! Life regulates, and light controls. In the church life we do not have regulations, but we do have the regulating life and the controlling light. When the church is full of life, it is also full of light. Then everyone in the church is regulated by the inward life, not by outward regulations; and everyone is controlled and kept in order by the light of life. Here in life and in light, we are headed up. In Revelation 21 we see the Head, the Body surrounding the Head, and all the nations walking in the light of the city (Rev. 21:24). This will cause the new heaven and the new earth to be a bright sphere. Therefore, in the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, all things will be headed up in Christ. This will be the fulfillment of the heading up of all things in Christ spoken of in Ephesians 1:10.
In order for this to take place, we need the dispensation of life. The life that is dispensed into us eventually becomes the light of men. In the dispensation of the fullness of the times, all the nations will walk in the light of the city. This means that there will be no death, no darkness, no corruption, and no confusion. Instead, everything will be in good order, headed up under Christ, the unique Head, to express the Triune God in eternity. This heading up of all things will be an eternal expression of the Triune God. Today’s church life is a foretaste of this. It is a miniature of the new heaven, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem. As those in the miniature, we are enjoying the dispensation of life with light, and we are being headed up in Christ. (Life-Study of Ephesians, msg. 10)