IT IS A LIFE FULFILLING GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE

Before the world was created or man was made to inhabit it, God had a purpose that He intended to carry out through His Son.

Ephesians 3:11

“According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

2 Timothy 1:9

“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

God kept this purpose hidden in His heart, yet throughout all the centuries preceding the incarnation of His eternal Son, He was working toward its fulfillment. Then Christ came, lived, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven. Now, the time had come both for the revelation and the realization of this purpose. Through the apostle Paul, God’s chosen vessel, the revelation of this eternal purpose of God in Christ Jesus was made, and its clearest unfolding is given to us in the epistle to the Ephesians.

Through the finished work of Christ upon the cross and from the throne, God would call out a people unto Himself who, during this present period of His Son’s absence from earth, would witness and work for Him here as His Body, and upon His return to earth to reign, would come with Him as His Bride.

Ephesians 1:22-23

“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

Revelation 21:9

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

The Holy Spirit as a purifying and energizing power works within the Church to prepare it to live on earth as Christ’s Body and to present it in heaven to Christ as His Bride.

2 Timothy 2:20-21

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”

Ephesians 5:25-27

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

However, two things are absolutely essential in the relationship between Christ and the believer if God’s eternal purpose is to be fulfilled: communion and cooperation. God is love, and love is reciprocal. Love must both give and receive. There is no such thing as love between God and man or man and man unless there exists in the relationship both communion and cooperation, and the greater the love, the fuller the communion and the cooperation.

In the eternity of the past, the eternal Son rested in the bosom of the eternal Father, —that was communion. And when the triune God initiated the wondrous plan of redemption, the eternal Son offered Himself as the Lamb to be slain—that was cooperation. In the Garden of Eden, the Lover-Creator and His first man must have walked often in the garden in the cool of the day—that was communion. And the sovereign Lord God gave His subject dominion over everything on earth—that was cooperation. The night before His crucifixion, the God-man sat at supper with the twelve—that was communion. And before He ascended into heaven He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”—that is cooperation.

The spiritual man apprehends this truth and appreciates its significance. He sees that it means yielding himself to Jesus Christ as Lord, which will make possible the perfect possession, complete control, and unhindered use of his entire being. He clearly perceives that salvation includes sanctification and that life on the highest plane demands not only a separation from sin but a separation unto God, and he rejoices in being thus wholly set apart unto communion and cooperation with the Lord of glory. 

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Oh, Lord Jesus. Although God’s eternal purpose has been revealed, not many have grasped this truth and are willing to yield themselves to have communion and cooperate with You, the Lord of glory. This is to our shame.