 |  |
Here at length all barriers to complete union have been dissolved, and
what was hitherto enjoyed by the glorious principle of reckoning will then be
enjoyed in reality. No believer has ever been actually `crucified with
Christ'; he can be graciously `reckoned' so, but no more. No believer has
ever actually `died with Christ'; he can only die with Christ by reckoning.
And so this principle of `reckoning' is the first true link that is
established between the Saviour and the saved. He, the sinless One, was
`reckoned' with transgressors so that they could be `reckoned' with Him in
His sacrificial work. No longer is He `with' us (meta) in close association,
He is One with us (sun) in a blessed and eternal union.
The first three and the fifth rung of the ladder belong
to the realm of doctrinal truth. Quickened, seated and manifested `with' are
peculiar to the Mystery and so call for exposition in this analysis. It is a
common mistake when enumerating the steps that link the Cross with the future
manifestation in Glory, to step from union in death with Christ, to be raised
with Him, but by so doing, we omit the first great anticipatory `reality'.
The next rung in this ladder of life is given in Ephesians 2. It is
`quickened with Him', this precedes being raised with Him, and is experienced
here and now. The passage of Scripture that supplies our text is Ephesians
2.
`Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ' (Eph. 2:5).
The word translated `quickened together' is suzoopoieo, and occurs only in
Ephesians 2:5 and Colossians 2:13, its composition being obvious. The word
zoopoieo to make alive, or to quicken, occurs twelve times in the Greek New
Testament three of which occurrences are found in John's Gospel, one in
Peter's first epistle, and eight in the epistles of Paul, of which seven
occurrences are found in the epistles written before Acts 28, and one only
afterwards. Zoopoieo is used six times in the LXX where it is set forth as
the prerogative of God (Neh. 9:6) and withheld from `the wicked' (Job 36:6).
The way in which this word is employed by the apostle Paul, will prepare our
minds for its application in Ephesians 2:5 and Colossians 2:13.
(1)
It is of the very nature of God as the God of our salvation, that
He be believed on as `God that quickeneth the dead' (Rom. 4:17).
It was this faith that justified Abraham.
(2)
It is of the very nature of the Law and the Old Covenant, that
they could neither justify nor `give life' (Gal. 3:21; 2 Cor.
3:6).
(3)
It is of the very nature of this `quickening' that it be
associated with the resurrection brought in by Christ as the
second man and the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:22,36 and 45).
(4)
It is of the very nature of the life we `now live in the flesh'
after having believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that this life
should be an anticipation of the future resurrection here and
now, `but if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you'
(Rom. 8:11).
In the two epistles Ephesians and Colossians, the word zoe `life'
occurs but three times.