Beware: You Are on Display, Part One

“Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are my servant, O Israel. I have made you, you are my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.

Isaiah 44:21-23

. . .according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Ephesians 3:11-17

God’s Ultimate Creation

Where do you think you would look if you wanted to see God’s wisdom? Of all the creation of our God, wherein he displays his wisdom and omnipotence, what part reveals the ultimate expression of his infinite wisdom and love? Some may say the cosmos, for it declares the glory of God, as we read in Psalm 19, Romans 1, and other places. Certainly unbelievers are fascinated by the cosmos–the stars, the earth, the living organisms, and every other facet of creation that we can see. In fact, although they refuse to see God and accept the idea that God has anything to do with creation, if we asked unbelievers this question, no doubt they would say that the cosmos and all that is in it is the grandest thing God, if he exists, has ever made.

But the answer given in the Bible is not the cosmos. Of all the creation of our God, the part that reveals the final and supreme expression of his infinite wisdom and love, the most wonderful phenomenon in the universe, is the multi-racial, multicultural, international society called the church. It is the ultimate realization of God’s eternal purpose. The church is the mystery hidden in God but now revealed to us through the gospel. It is a society that consists of Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female–a people united to God to love God and one another.

The cosmos declares the glory of God, but the church of Jesus Christ alone reveals his glory maximally. It is a beautiful, divinely woven tapestry, with threads of diverse colors. The church is the prism that reveals the variegated beauty of God’s wisdom. Nothing in all creation exhibits God’s perfections like this new creation.

As we study these passages, I hope you will realize the way God looks upon you if you are a Christian. The people of God are the final revelation of the infinite wisdom of God. In all creation, there is nothing more wonderful, more beautiful, more glorious, and more precious in the sight of God than the body of Christ. Yes, we are insignificant nobodies, yet nothing greater than the church exists in the entirety of the universe. That is what the Scriptures say. The cosmos declares the glory of God, but the church of Jesus Christ alone reveals his glory maximally.

The Church as the Meaning of History

God planned to reveal his glory through the church even before the creation of the world. In Ephesians 1:11 Paul makes an amazing statement that should fill us with wonder. He begins, “In him,” meaning Jesus Christ, “we were also chosen. . . .” Paul was referring to Ephesians 1:4, in which he said this choosing occurred before the foundation of the world, before God created anything. What a baffling, inexplicable, amazing, wonderful statement! “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we,” meaning the church of Jesus Christ, “who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

What does this statement tell us? First, that God is fascinated with his church. God’s plan is to dwell with the members of his church for all eternity, and the fulfillment of this plan is the meaning of all history. If this is true, how much more ought we to be to be fascinated with ourselves. I hope as you read this you will get a little more knowledge and understanding of who you are in Christ.

The church gives meaning to all history. Historians find no meaning in history. Philosophers find no meaning in history. Hegel said, “History teaches us that history teaches us nothing.” “Meaningless, meaningless, meaningless,” said the Preacher long ago, in reference to the unbeliever’s view. Yet throughout history God has been creating the most beautiful thing he planned from all eternity, which is the body of Christ. There is no meaning in history unless we find our meaning in the one who came into history in the midpoint of time. Jesus Christ alone gives meaning to history. Jesus came to redeem the church at the cost of his precious blood, and without him there is no church. The Bible tells us that Christ loved the church from before the foundation of the world and gave himself for her. We were enemies of God and of one another, but through the miracle of Christ’s death on the cross, we are now enabled to love God and one another. We who have been called into the church of Christ are becoming a radiant church, the bride of Christ, the most beautiful temple ever built–a temple built, not by man but by God, for God to dwell in.

What is the meaning of history? It is not the rise and fall of nations, not the development of greater and greater technology, not the rise and fall of philosophers, politicians, or scientists. Christ is the meaning of history, and where Christ is, there his church is also. We were in him–in the mind of God–before we were ever created, and there was never a time in the mind of God when we never existed. That is why we can say the church of Jesus Christ is the meaning of history. Oh, the powerful and unbelieving people of this world will mock the church as nothing and as utterly insignificant. But they are really blind to the true significance of history, as demonstrated when they crucified Jesus Christ. They are blind to what God is creating: He takes the worst of sinners, making them shine as stars as the saints of his church.

The Purpose of the Church

What, then, is the purpose of the church? To maximally reflect and display the splendor and glory of God to believers and unbelievers alike. As we read in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That is the purpose of the church.

We find this idea in several places in the Bible. In Isaiah 44:21 God says, “Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are my servant, O Israel. I have made you, you are my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you.” How can God forget his church, which was in God’s mind from all eternity? And in verse 22 God makes this wonderful statement: “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.” This is the result of the work of the suffering servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result of God’s declaration that our sins are forgiven, Isaiah invites the whole cosmos to join in celebration, in singing, in adoration. In verse 23 he says, “Sing for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees.” What is the cause for this great celebration? “For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.”

The Lord has redeemed Jacob, the Israel of God–in other words, the church–and it is in that group of people that God displays his glory. Yes, the heavens declare the glory of God. There is no question that there is intelligent divine design in living organisms as well as in the heavenly and earthly bodies. There is design everywhere, but nothing declares the glory of God as the church does.

So Isaiah exhorts the heavens, the stars, the earth, the mountains, and the trees to rejoice. God had created the church by redeeming his people. “I will build my church,” Jesus said.

Have you ever considered that the glory of God is more clearly displayed in the church than in all creation? Or do you think that it is nothing when you praise and love God? Oh, no. When God has swept away your sins, you shine like stars.

In Isaiah 49:3 God says, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” This is speaking about Jesus Christ–the one in whom God displayed his splendor; who came to fulfill God’s eternal plan; his beloved Son in whom he was well-pleased. But, as we said before, we cannot think of Jesus Christ without thinking of the church, and so this verse also refers to the church.

In John 12, beginning with verse 27, the Lord Jesus Christ said, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” The singular interest of Jesus Christ as the servant of God was to glorify his Father and display his glory. Adam and all of Adam’s children failed. But here it is: “‘Father, glorify your name!’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it and will glorify it again.’ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, ‘This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.'”

In other words, Jesus Christ glorified the Father for our benefit. If he had failed to glorify God, especially by his death on the cross, we could not have been saved.

We find another wonderful statement in Isaiah 60:20-21:

Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands for the display of my splendor.

Have you ever wondered why you have been redeemed? There is a purpose: To glorify God and display his splendor. The people of God are totally dependent on God, like shoots that God himself plants. And because our God is a good farmer who meets all our needs, we shall thrive, flourish, blossom, bud and bring forth fruit under his care, and God’s name will be glorified in us. We are for the display of his splendor, for the praise of his glorious grace, and so God is committed to be our Savior, our Redeemer, and our Helper. God is committed to make us glorious.

God Makes the Church Glorious

In Isaiah 61:1-3 we read,

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion–to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Here God tells us that he will bestow upon his people, the church, a crown of beauty in place of ashes. Think about that. I think it is saying that God wants us to be all dressed up for a party or great celebration. Then he says he will give us the oil of gladness instead of mourning and the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. The oil of gladness means perfume, and the garment of praise can either mean consisting of praise or a garment that elicits praise from other people.

Then God says we will be called oaks of righteousness. In Isaiah 1:30-31 we find the metaphor of oaks used in a situation in which the people were committing idolatry. There we read, “You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water. The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire.” That is what idolatry does.

But here in Isaiah 61 we read that the people of God are oaks of righteousness. That refers to the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is freely given to us. As the planting of the Lord, we display his glory.

God is committed to making us sparkling, radiant, and glorious. The more glorious the church is, the greater his glory will be. May we, therefore, have great confidence in this commitment of God to us!

The Mystery of God Revealed

The apostle Paul understood these things and was fascinated with them. In Ephesians 3 he wrote that there was a plan hidden in the very heart of God to have a people, meaning the church, in which God would display his splendor. God’s eternal plan was to gather from all parts of the earth the worst of sinners and turn them into shining stars, which is something only God can do. Over time God revealed this plan to his holy prophets and apostles, finally revealing it to Paul himself.

In Ephesians 3:6 Paul writes, “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” That is a particular mystery, but the general mystery is that God in Jesus Christ has given us unsearchable riches–infinite, limitless, inexhaustible riches. So Paul writes, “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.” Here again we see that God and his church is the central issue and purpose of history. Everything else is background.

Paul continues, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The idea is that the church consists of not only Jewish people, but also Gentiles. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God; thus, God decided to choose some from all tribes and languages to be saved through Jesus Christ.

The unsearchable riches of God are found in Jesus Christ, who, in turn, bestows unsearchable riches upon us. Now, if you are outside of Christ, you will have no riches. You are without God, without hope and without Christ in the world–hopeless and meaningless, full of anxiety and misery. You have no foundation because these unsearchable riches are found in Jesus Christ alone. But a Christian shares in the unsearchable riches of Christ.

In this passage Paul is also saying that not only are the Jewish people saved through Jesus Christ, but also Gentiles. Jews and Gentiles from all over the world belong to the same body on the basis of the same terms–not on the basis of being circumcised and keeping Jewish laws, but on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ.

The Riches We Have in Christ

In 2 Corinthians 8:9 Paul writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” What was the purpose of the incarnation, of God becoming man? That through the poverty of Jesus Christ we–Jews and Gentiles in the church of God–might become rich. In 2 Corinthians 6:10 Paul wrote that as a servant of God, he was “poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing everything.” Why could Paul say this? Because he was united to Jesus Christ by faith.

Are you rich? I am not asking how much money you make or what type of house you live in. Let me assure you, if you are in Christ, you are rich. Having nothing, yet possessing everything.

In 1 Corinthians 1:30 we read about the riches we have in Christ: “It is because of him,” meaning God the Father, “that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God . . . .” It is through Jesus Christ that we receive understanding as to who God is, who man is, and what man’s true condition is. All wisdom and knowledge comes from him.

But the more we know, the more we are in trouble, because the wisdom we receive from God tells us that we are sinners under the wrath of God. But then Paul gives a definition of what he means when he says Christ has become for us wisdom from God: “that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” In other words, through Jesus Christ we gain righteousness, which is the one thing we lack and without which we cannot have fellowship with God. We discover that righteousness is the unsearchable riches we have in Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness, in other words. This righteousness is an alien righteousness, a righteousness outside of us, and yet it is given to us, and by it we are justified forever.

In Christ we have received the riches of being made right with God. That is the result of the righteousness we receive from him. But suppose you look at yourself and say, “All right. I know I am justified in Christ, but I still have problems. I seem to think wrong things and I seem to do things that are sinful.” What did Paul speak about? Righteousness, holiness and redemption. Oh, there is something else for you besides righteousness. It is holiness, or sanctification. Only in Jesus Christ can you find sanctification. He is quite capable of cleaning you up, making you godly, and causing you to love God and hate sin. In fact, he is committed to doing just that. He understands your problem and will deal with it.

But then you may say, “All right. I am justified in Christ, and he is sanctifying me. But when I look at my body, it seems to be dying.” That is true also. But let me encourage you to look at Jesus Christ, who, Paul says, is also our redemption. Redemption there means resurrection. In other words, God understands that we are going to die, if Jesus Christ does not come in our lifetime. But God has a plan to raise us up.

These are the unsearchable riches we have in Jesus Christ. Outside of him is only hopelessness, but in Christ we have righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

The Role of Preaching the Gospel

How do we receive these glorious riches of Christ? Through the gospel. We find an example of this in the life of Saul of Tarsus. Saul was an arrogant, self-righteous man, but God himself confronted him, transformed him, revealed the gospel to him, and commissioned him to be an apostle. Then Paul went by divine direction to other places to preach the gospel to others. For example, in Philippi he met a woman name Lydia who was a seller of purple. Paul preached the gospel to Lydia, who was converted and transformed. Soon afterwards Paul was beaten up and thrust into the Philippian prison, but that also was part of God’s plan, because there was a jailer at the prison whom God had chosen from before the foundation of the world to be saved. In the middle of the night there was a great earthquake and Paul’s chains fell off. Stricken with fear, the jailer rushed in and asked Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul preached the gospel to the jailer and he and his household were saved that very night.

That is why we must be faithful to preach the gospel. There are some Lydias here and some jailers there to whom we must speak about Jesus Christ. All over the world there are people whom God has loved from before the foundation of the world to become part of his multi-racial, multicultural, international church. He will call them through the preaching of the gospel.

Displaying God’s Wisdom to Angels

In Ephesians 3:10 we read, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” From here and there people are called forth-that is the meaning of the Greek word ekklesia-and the church of God is formed. And what is the purpose of God for his church? That the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to angels through the church.

Did you know that angels have no comprehensive understanding of God’s plan for his universe? God is doing the most marvelous thing in the whole history of the universe by producing a church consisting of all sorts of people from all over the world, taking the worst of sinners and transforming them by the mighty power of the Spirit of God into oaks of righteousness, sanctifying them and enabling them to love and worship God. And who is trying to understand what is going on? Angels. But, you see, the angels in heaven don’t have the whole picture of God’s plan for his universe. But through the church the angels are told what is going on. In other words, they receive knowledge of God’s plan indirectly, not directly.

How do the angels gain their knowledge of God’s plan? By observing the church. Have you ever given thought to the fact that angels are present when Christians meet together to worship? Of course, you do not see them, but the Bible assures us that they are there. So through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God is made known to these heavenly intelligences. Whenever the church meets together, angels are present, watching as people worship and sing and praise and so on.

Angels are not omniscient beings and God has not revealed to them the whole plan of salvation of sinful human beings. So the holy angels are baffled, and at the same time fascinated, with God’s plan–that God would permit evil in his world; that God would permit Satan and his demons to have freedom to do whatever they want to do; that God would have a saving plan, not for fallen angels, but only for elect fallen human beings; that God’s Son would take upon himself human nature, be born of a woman, and eventually die on the cross in behalf of elect sinners, suffering God’s wrath due them. Angels are fascinated with the idea of a double imputation in God’s plan of salvation–that our sin and guilt and punishment is imputed, or put into the account of Jesus Christ, and that Christ’s infinite, perfect righteousness is imputed and put into our account. They are fascinated with the fact that this glorious church will be the bride of Christ, whose servants these celestial intelligences are.

It is the through the church, then, that angels learn of the greater glory of God and are enabled to rejoice greatly. Thus, as you are praising God and rejoicing before him in worship, you can know that the angels in heaven are also fascinated by the fact that God would save people like us and that they also are praising God for his great love and salvation.

We Are on Display

Christians are on display to make plain to all the manifold wisdom of God. If you are a not a Christian, you are hopeless, unless you repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that you may be saved. But if you are a Christian, I hope you will understand and become fascinated with this idea that you were in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. I hope you will realize that, in time, God sent his own Son to be born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem you, and bring you into this wonderful organism called the church, so that you can stand in the church, worshiping and praising God, while the angels look on, fascinated by your praise, worship, and singing.

Christians are always on display to show forth God’s glory and splendor. Therefore, we must be careful how we behave. We are God’s new creation, and there is nothing more precious, more glorious, in this cosmos than the church. We must be aware of this new dignity that God has put upon us. Why are we cast down? We are God’s people and God is for us. We can rejoice in that truth!

You see, the good angels never fell, so they can never understand the excitement we feel when we contemplate what God has done for us. But if we are Christians, we will fully understand the pit into which we fell and the height to which God brought us when he redeemed us. God came down from heaven to our dungeons, made us alive, and saved us. As long as we think of this, we will be filled with inexpressible and glorious joy.

May God help us to display his glory! I pray that God will help us to be fascinated by the gospel and have greater and greater understanding of what he has done for us. May we always be filled with thanksgiving to God for our salvation, and may we fulfill his plan and purpose to display his glory as we live for him in this world. Amen.