by Frank A. Viola
Part I: The Lord's Supreme End
The theme that the Lord has put upon my heart is captured in the title: The Lord's need for this present hour. What is the end that God has in view for His people, and what is He looking to obtain in this particular hour? In the weeks to come, we will be considering these questions. And we will be addressing them from the following standpoints: the supreme end of the Lord, the supreme vocation of the Church, the supreme operation of the Holy Spirit, and the supreme calling of the believer. All of these four messages are facets of the Lord's need for the present hour, which is the central burden of these talks.
Perhaps it may sound irreverent to say that the Lord has a need. For when we think of the Lord, we often think of His Deity. How is it, then, that God -- being omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and all-sufficient -- can have a need? In fact, for most of God's people, our relationship with the Lord is based upon the fact that we are the ones who are in need. I think that this is the target that much of our modern preaching aims at. That is, we seek God to meet our needs. And this is expressed in many of our prayers. We come before the Lord and say "Oh Lord, we need your blessing, we need your anointing, we need your presence, we need your help, etc." All of this is true and right, mind you.
But I tell you that the Lord Himself has a need. Albeit, this need is not based upon an inadequacy in Himself; it is not based upon a defect in His character. Rather, it is based upon a pressing desire that is in His heart. That is to say that there is something in our Lord's heart that He seeks to be satisfied. And it can only be fulfilled through man. So with respect to God's Deity, He has no need. But with respect to God's purpose, He needs man. This is why the Scripture tells us that we are "co-laborers" together with Him.
So God has a goal. He has a purpose. He has an objective and He needs man to fulfill it. Moreover, there is an urgent need in the very hour in which we live. The eyes of the Lord are set upon the kingdom of His Son. And I submit to you that God needs a company of people to cooperate with Him in the bringing forth of this kingdom upon earth.
THE NEED FOR VISION
So what is this Divine need? To frame it another way, what is the Lord's supreme end? Well, before we begin to explore that, I feel compelled to say that most of the Lord's people are sadly ignorant of it. Many today think that the Lord's chief end is to take us to heaven. Others think that it is to win souls. Still others think that it is for us to grow spiritually. But what is at the heart of all of these things? What exactly is God's ultimate end?
Such questions beg for answers. In Biblical terms, they beg for "vision." In fact, the most basic need today among God's people is vision. Most of the Lord's people today lack vision, clarity, and purpose in what they are doing. There are many believers who have a zeal for God. They have a desire to do the will of the Lord and to serve the Lord. I believe that's true for all of you here tonight. But the question is: what is uppermost in the Lord's heart? What is He seeking to obtain in us? What is His supreme interest? What is His supreme end? And if we can't answer that question clearly, then we will be led down a path of doing many things, being occupied with many kinds of service, yet missing what is foremost and primary in the Lord's mind.
One of the things the Lord showed me sometime ago was that His purpose is like a wide highway. And God's eyes are set on His people seeing that highway, getting on it, and moving forward in it. In the natural, many highways have little side roads and streets. And by and large the Body of Christ today is stuck on one of those little streets. Some emphasize a special ministry, others emphasize a special movement, others a particular practice, etc. Yet, all of these things are like streets, little sidetracks. By contrast, the Lord's heart is set on the highway, which represents His supreme end.
THE UNIVERSAL FULLNESS OF CHRIST
If you have ever studied the book of Ephesians carefully, you know that in it lies the highest spiritual truths that relate to our Christian life and service. In Ephesians we have the sum, the substance, and the comprehensive revelation of God's eternal purpose. In fact in Chapter 3, Paul phrases it that way -- he talks about "the eternal purpose" of God. This purpose reflects that which is utmost, that which is uppermost, and that which is central in the heart of God. In Ephesians 1:9-11 we see what this purpose is.
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
In Chapter 4, we have a concise statement of the Divine purpose. Ephesians Chapter 4:10 says,
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.
God's highest interest -- His supreme end -- is simply this: to fill all things with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal purpose of God is the universal fullness of Christ. Put another way, God's ultimate intention is that there would be a universal display of the glory and the supremacy of the blessed Lord Jesus. That Christ, as Colossians puts it, would be "all and in all." Now this is something tremendous to see. This is something very high. This is something that transcends winning souls, studying theology, and growing spiritually. This is the ultimate purpose of God. And the Lord will not be satisfied until all things will be filled with His Son -- that Christ would be the center and the circumference of this universe -- that there would not be a place in this universe where the presence and the glory and the majesty of the Lord Jesus is not filling. The phrase "all things" means that there is nothing which will not be touched with Christ.
THE PRESENT CONFLICT
Now let us meditate on this for a moment. We have just had a time where the Lord Jesus has been preeminent among us. It was a time where we have been in the presence of our blessed Lord -- where Christ has been central and supreme -- where we have been before Him, is that not true? But what happens when you walk out the door, you get in your car, and you drive home? Do you touch Christ there; do you see Christ as you drive through the streets of this city on your way home? When you turn on your television and you see what is happening in Gainesville, in Washington, in Tampa, and in New York, is Christ filling all things? When you go to your job, do you see Christ filling all things there? Do you see Christ reigning among your co-workers, your employer, your peers? Is He ruling in all aspects of the culture? I dare say no.
While we taste a little bit of Him when we come together and He is in the midst of us, we need not go very far in this world to discover that Jesus is not filling all things. Right now in the present condition, it is the enemy that fills all things (excepting the church). It is the enemy's trace, if you will, that is found everywhere we go. You might not see the enemy in person, but on your job, in this world, on the streets, amongst the unbelievers, in the media, we see traces of the enemy -- we see the footprints of the evil one. So we have a tension here, do we not? Two kingdoms at odds -- two individuals seeking preeminence -- two persons seeking the supreme place of filling all things. It is the battle for the throne.
Yet despite the fact that "the whole world lieth in the evil one" now (as the apostle put it), God has not deviated from His purpose! He is ever seeking to fill all things with Christ. And mark it down: just as all things right now are filled with the enemy, all things will one day be filled with Christ. There will come a time that wherever you go you will see the imprint of the blessed Lord Jesus -- that wherever you go you will smell the fragrance of Christ, you will sense His presence, you will hear His voice, and you will see His stamp. All things will be subject unto Him. What is more, all things will manifest Him. Wherever you go you will see the trace of the Son of God, for He will fill everything. This is God's supreme end, and until that occurs the Lord will not be satisfied. What a glorious vision and prospect to behold!
Now I would suspect that what many of you are thinking in your mind at this point, "Well, brother Frank, what you say is so high. It is so beautiful. I agree that this will happen one day. But this is something that belongs to the future; tell me how to get through life now! While what you are saying is a marvelous ideal, it is very abstract. Yet I can't really touch it because it doesn't hit me where I live. It's a beautiful hope that's sure to occur, but it's an intangible prospect at best." This is the way that many believers respond to the revelation of God's eternal purpose.
THE PERIL OF MODERN ESCHATOLOGY
But I would candidly submit to you that the reason for this type of thinking and this sort of conclusion is largely due to much of the modern "end time preaching" that is so prevalent today. Most end time prophecy, as it is often taught, makes future things mere ideas that don't really touch us. Many people have dedicated numerous hours of time working out all the details of what's going to happen in the last days. Yet, the fruit of it so often fails to touch us where we live. It doesn't effect our spiritual life. Hence, if all of your study of eschatology is reduced to simple abstract, ideal notions that stand far out of reach in the future, then your understanding of end time prophecy hasn't really touched your life with God. In effect, it hasn't served the purpose of God. It may be fascinating, intriguing, and interesting, but ultimately, it is spiritually useless!
For myself, I studied end time prophecy for a long time. I spent a great deal of time analyzing and dissecting all of the minutia in Revelation and in Daniel pertaining to what was going to happen in the future, when the Lord would return, which view of the rapture was correct, etc. But when I was finished with it all, it didn't effect my spiritual life one iota -- it didn't change my heart a bit. And why? Because my impression and my perspective was simply, "Well praise God, the Lord has a beautiful plan for the future; and it is so very interesting trying to figure out how and when these things will take place." Yet I never made the leap from that question to the one that asks, "But how does the future effect me now? How does it relate to how I live today?"
Let me say it plainly. The purpose of God, the end that God has in view, is intensely practical. The universal fullness of Christ is the controlling vision that should overtake and capture the hearts of the Lord's people. In effect, if we are going to meet the Lord's present need for this hour, we must apprehend the Divine purpose. It must become something that transcends words and mental impressions; it must go beyond lofty ideas about what will occur. It must become a present revelation that governs all we do.
If you read the book of Ephesians carefully, you will find that Paul virtually exhausts human language as he attempts to convey the mystery of God's purpose. And why? Because it governs everything. The Lord, therefore, would have us see that God's central thought is nothing less than to extend Christ in the universe. The universal manifestation of God's Son is the focal point of the Divine intention. And if we have eyes to see it, it will effect how we live and how we serve.
THE PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIVINE PURPOSE
Revelation of the Divine purpose is something that will heighten our spiritual lives more than anything else. It does so because it furnishes us with a governing vision. In fact, it is the vision that governs how God works in our lives. Let us look back at Ephesians 1:10-11:
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
Notice the last phrase, "...who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." God works all things according to His Divine end. In other words, the governing law that guides all of God's dealings with His people and with the earth is His eternal purpose. Put another way, His dealings with you and with me are solely based upon His purpose of filling all things with Christ. Thus, our spiritual history with the Lord -- our spiritual experiences -- are all influenced by the fullness of Christ. Accordingly, what the Lord is seeking to do with us in all of His activities is to fill us with Christ. Everything that the Lord does in us is designed toward that end.
This is intensely practical, is it not? It explains why our circumstances are what they are. It explains our sufferings and our perplexities. It explains all that God allows to happen to us under His hand. It is all to get the fullness of Christ into us -- to get the richness of the Vine into our puny little branch!
This will take us a long way in understanding what God is up to in our lives. It supplies us with a measuring rod, if you will, to understand what God is doing. It all must be understood in terms of filling us with Christ. And as He fills us, He progressively fills the universe. We will deal with how that works out later on.
It is liberating to know that all that we go through is designed to impart into us a greater measure of the Lord Jesus Christ. This alone will give us food for the journey. We can say that the fullness of Christ is the governing principal -- the controlling law -- that directs all of God's working in us and through us. It is the ultimate object of all of His dealings. How this solves many of our problems.
Have you ever gone through something where you just did not understand why you were going through it? It didn't seem to give you power, and it didn't seem to make you a better vessel for service at the time. It didn't give you a greater spiritual experience. In fact, it seemed negative. It was an undoing, a weakening. But I tell you that the governing law, the controlling directive that was behind that dealing was simply to put you in a place where Christ could fill you more with Himself! And by being filled with Christ, I'm not talking about an experience such as the empowering of the Holy Spirit or such. I am talking about becoming by the Spirit a spiritual person. I am talking about the work of the Holy Spirit wherein He forms Christ into our very character.
Transformation, then, is a process that requires many dealings under the Lord's hand. When the Lord begins to take that which is in us out of the way, it is often a painful experience. But this is how the character of the Lord Jesus is constitutionally formed in us. This is the way of the Lord's filling.
THE WAY OF GOD'S FILLING
Let us read Ephesians Chapter 4:9-10 to further unfold this principle.
Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.
"He that descended also ascended." And why? "So that He might fill all things." Note the phrase, "He that descended" -- this points to the incarnation. Christ took on flesh and descended into this earth. He became man; the Word took on flesh and blood so that He would be tried as a man, the second Man, and later be exalted after His atoning work was complete, becoming the last Adam -- the Head of a new race of man (a la "the new creation").
But how does Jesus now fill all things? By putting Himself -- His own life that dwelt in His human flesh -- into other human vessels! He fills all things humanity-wise. He fills all things by putting His character and His nature into human vessels. God's first move in filling the universe with Christ is to fill you and I with His Son. His first move is to bring us to a place where Christ is being inwrought within -- where Christ is filling, permeating, and saturating us with Himself.
Why has the Lord given us His life? Is it just to take us to heaven? Many have this concept. They think that the Lord gives us eternal life so that we can spend eternity with Him. But the chief reason why God gives us His life is so that we can contain and express Christ. It is so that Divine life can grow and develop into character. Put another way, God is seeking to obtain many sons like unto His firstborn Son. As Romans 8 puts it, God is seeking to conform a people into the image of His dear Son. In the language of Hebrews, it is to bring many sons unto glory.
What does this all mean? It means that God is more concerned about character than anything else. He is more concerned about who you are than what you do. He is more concerned about being than doing. Character is chief with the Lord. Character is uppermost in His heart. The inwrought character of His Son is more important to Him than greater service, more ministry, and mightier power.
How, then, does God fulfill His purpose? By filling vessels like you and me with the character of Christ Jesus. This is how Christ is increased in this earth. When the church is ripe, mature, and has grown into fullness, that's when the culmination occurs, ending in the return of Jesus which will usher in His reign universally.
THE ON-HIGH CALLING
So there is a great responsibility and a high calling for us to respond to so that God's purpose can be fulfilled. If we do not grow into the image of Jesus, then we impede the return of our Lord (in Peter's words, we "hasten" the Lord's return by walking in His character). God is seeking to form His Son in His people. This is His purpose. This is the high calling of God for you and I. The first vessel that the Lord fills is the church. Consider the following passages:
Galatians 4:19 - My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.
Romans 8:28-29 - And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
The great argument of Ephesians is that in order to fill the earth with Christ, He needs a corporate vessel to be Christ's fullness in the earth. He needs an instrument -- He needs a people to be His fullness. Colossians 1:18 makes this abundantly clear. It says that Christ must be Head over the church so that He can be the Head over all things; first the church, then the world. James says the same thing when he states that we are "the firstfruits of His creation."
God needs a company of people who will receive the life of Christ and who will manifest this life. This company is the church. It is you and I when we are functioning together. God's eyes are set on the church. His eyes are set on it in such a way that He is seeking to fill the church fully with His Son. And this is how He fills all things -- by first filling the church. In fact we can say that the universal fullness of Christ is realized in and through the church. And this is the mighty argument of Ephesians. For Ephesians 1:22-23 says,
And [He] 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.
In order for us to meet the Lord's need, we must begin with a revelation -- an apprehension -- an unveiling of what God's purpose is. So many of the Lord's people today are like children on the beach playing with the granules of sand, giving all their attention to the shells, when God is out in the deep saying, "Come, this is what I am after. I am after the fullness of my Son in you." We are like full grown adults in kindergarten, content with our crayons, when God is urging us onward and upward. The church, by and large, is like a giant nursery school filled with spiritual retards. Oh, how God looks to obtain men and women of spiritual stature today!
The church, by and large, has failed to see the significance of her calling. It has failed to see what the end of our Lord is. So much of the work, the ministry, and the service of the Lord's people is ineffective. It falls short. It doesn't satisfy the Lord's heart. Why? Because it's not related to that which is uppermost in His heart; it has no bearing on the fullness of Christ in His people. So we must begin with this vision, this controlling vision, to allow Christ to be formed, wrought, and constituted in us.
It is true that the second coming of the Lord will be the time when Christ will fill all things. But the second coming of the Lord is the culmination of a process, brethren. It is not dissimilar to the harvesting of wheat. It is the culmination, the consummation, of the process of growth. You don't just plant a seed in the ground and say, "Alright, we're going to harvest it now." It has to grow. And until it grows to the point of it's highest maturity, we don't harvest it.
The church, generally speaking, is passively waiting for the Lord's return. But I tell you the truth: God is waiting for the church to mature, to grow, and to be the fullness of Christ. Why? So that when the bride is ready (isn't that what it says in Revelation -- "for the bride has made herself ready"), then our blessed Lord can come and fill all things. But He will return only when the church has been willing to be that vessel of fullness. Only when we are willing to grow can the Lord harvest us. Look with me at verse 13 of Ephesians,
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Here again we see the central thought of Ephesians -- the fullness of Christ. God is awaiting the church to grow into the fullness of Christ. And it begins with you and I when we are willing to pay any price to allow Christ to be formed in us. It's high time for the church to grow up, to mature, and to let the Lord deal with her. Are you willing?
«--Previous | Bibliography | Next--»
Place online by the Neve family - July, 2001. We'd like to hear your reactions to or comments on this article : click here