united with Him by the likeness of His death" (R.V.). The next step must lead to life if

there is to be a future for those who are dead, so we read, "but God hath quickened us

together with Christ" (made us alive together with Christ, Eph. 2: 5). Thus we have been

raised together with Him.

The climax comes in the later epistle to the Ephesians written after Israel had been

set aside at Acts 28: God has "made us sit together (seated us together) in heavenly

places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2: 6), and the wonder of this exaltation as far as Christ is

concerned is made clear in Eph. 1: 18-23 which should be carefully read and pondered.

In the crucifixion, death, burial, quickening, raising and enthroning of Christ at the

right hand of the Father, the member of the Body of Christ is now identified, and the

glorious conclusion is the final manifesting with Christ in glory (Col. 3: 3, 4). All this is

God's work alone, the believer has no part in it except to believe the stupendous facts that

God has written and revealed through Paul, the prisoner of the Lord. In God's plan, each

individual member of the Body is so linked with the Head that, what happens to Him in

these seven great steps, happens to them as well. Do we rejoice in this and reckon as God

This is the way God removes the great barriers of sin and death which would eternally

separate us from Christ, and finally, in resurrection likeness, we shall be conformed to the

Image of the Son, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Eph. 5: 27) but be rather,

"holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight" (Col. 1: 22). Let us constantly

praise our heavenly Father for this wonderful closeness of union with the Lord Jesus

which is ours now and symbolized by the figure of Head and Body which give us the

closest illustration of unity that the Word of God uses.

This revelation of truth must certainly be included in "the good deposit" and it has the

effect of making us Christ-centred and enabling us to obey Col. 3: 1, 2 to set our mind

on things above where Christ is supremely exalted and enthroned and we are enthroned

with Him.

Not only this, but the Apostle Paul declares he had a further revelation from Christ

concerning the Body and its calling. In this was revealed a secret which up to that point

God had hidden "in Himself" (Eph. 3: 9 and Col. 1: 25-28). It is important to realize

that the word "mystery" in the A.V. is a transliteration of the Greek word musterion and

means, not something puzzling or mysterious, but just a "secret" which is unknown until

it is revealed. Paul declares that this secret had been revealed to him by God (Eph. 3: 3)

and he was commissioned to make it known to all, that is those who had been elected by

the Father in past eternity (Eph. 1: 4). The meaning of "all" and "every" in Scripture is

always governed by the context.