Under the old covenant, Israel had to do with the law written on tables of stone (II

Cor. 3:), "which covenant they brake" (Jer. 31: 32). The new covenant has to do with

a sacrifice of infinitely greater worth than the blood of bulls, goats, or lambs; it leads no

more to Sinai, and tables of stone, but forward to the inheritance of the land according to

the original unconditional covenant made 430 years before the giving of the law (Gal. 3:

17), and to the time when the law of God shall be written upon the fleshy tables of the

heart (Heb. 8:; II Cor. 3:).

The church of the mystery is as certainly redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as

were the believers of the dispensations past. We love Him because He first loved us. We

can enter into the Psalmist's word of praise, the prophet's glowing vision, and the

preacher's burning zeal without transgressing the bounds of our inheritance. May we not

drink the wine, and break the bread, simply out of loving memory of Him? Dear fellow-

believer, it is not a question of love or remembrance. Surely, when we consider what He

has done, what grace has accomplished, we need no symbols to keep alive our love or

stimulate our hopes; if we do, we have not attained to that position laid down in the

epistles of the mystery, which is entirely "in heavenly places in Christ." The apostle

exhorts the believer thus, "Set your affections (or minds) upon things above, not on

things on the earth, for ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3: 3). This

is the divine answer to the words of Col. 2: 20, "Wherefore, if ye died with Christ from

the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to

ordinance?" What can it mean by the words, "as though living in the world"? We are

living in the world, and many times are forcibly reminded of it. It is explained by

Col. 3: 3, "Ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." This is the ground of the

present position, whether it be ecclesiastically, dispensationally, or doctrinally

considered, all is on resurrection ground, in heavenly places in Christ. All that pertained

to the flesh is dead and buried.

Fellow-believer, if you died with Christ, why are you subject to ordinances? What

place can these have on resurrection ground? During a period of types, shadows, parables

and symbols, water, wine and bread could set forth clearly the blessed teaching of the

death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. The picture book is fitting in the hand of the

child; it is not a seemly manual for the full-grown man.

The burden of Col. 2:, which has been aptly called "The Christian's Charter of

Liberty," may be exhibited thus:--

A | 8. Caution

B | 9,10. Christ the Head. The fulness of God.

C | 11-15. Divine ordinances done away in Christ.

A | 16-18. Caution.

B | 19. Christ the Head. The increase of God.

C | 20-23. Human ordinances done away in Christ.