Beware: You Are on Display, Part Two

Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. They have acted corruptly towards him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?

Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.

Deuteronomy 32:1-9

The Church on Display

If we have a beautiful painting or piece of artwork, what do we do with it? Most of us put it on display so that we can enjoy it and show it to others. Just as we put our most beautiful artwork on display, God puts the church on display for many to see and admire, because, as we are learning, the church is the ultimate creation of God–the supreme artwork, the most beautiful painting, the most glorious and precious object in God’s creation.

In this study we want to examine the idea of the church on display. First, though, we must ask before whom is the church displayed. First, it is displayed before our triune God. The church of Jesus Christ displays God’s infinite wisdom. God is fascinated with his church and it gives him great pleasure to look at it.

Second, the church is on display before the holy angels of God, especially during worship. Every time the church gathers together the holy angels are observing what is going on because the wisdom of God is demonstrated in our worship, singing, proclamation of the gospel, and love for one another. The holy angels are fascinated by all of these things because through them they learn more about God’s plan of salvation. You see, God did not reveal to the angels in any great detail his plan for the redemption of man, so only by observing the church can the angels discover the plan of God in its fullness. When the holy angels observe the church, they learn more about God’s plan of salvation and are able to rejoice in it.

The church is also on display before evil angels. Their observation of it always ends in total frustration, especially as they see the church triumph over trial and pain. Satan told God that Job would curse God, but Job worshiped God instead. In the same way, Satan says the church will curse God, especially when it encounters difficulties, but, instead, the church worships God, even in trials. When Satan observes this behavior of the church, he becomes very frustrated.

The church is also on display before the world. The unbelieving world is always looking at us. Additionally, our own children, who may be unbelievers, are looking at us. We are on display before God, before angelic beings, and before the world.

The Value of the Church

Because we are on display, it is good to know who we really are, corporately and individually. In his first epistle, the apostle Peter says that those who have trusted in Jesus Christ are an elect few, a people chosen from all the multitudes of people on earth. In 1 Peter 2:9 we read, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,” meaning a people owned by God, “that you may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

The Bible also tells us that the church is God’s inheritance, God’s most valuable treasure. All of God’s dealings with the world are directed toward the well-being of his people. The meaning of all history is found in Jesus Christ and in his church.

The Bible also tells us that the church is the supreme expression of God’s wisdom. When we look at the stars or the cells in our bodies or the beauty of the flowers or the history of nations, there is no question that all of these entities declare the glory of God. But it is in the church of Jesus Christ that God’s manifold wisdom is displayed, as we read in Ephesians 3:10. The church declares the greater glory of God.

As the church displays the manifold wisdom of God to the world, it functions as the light of the world. Additionally, as we said before, the church provides light and understanding to the holy angels. The people of God are the book from which the angels learn about God’s infinite wisdom, and that knowledge results in their greater joy and adoration of God. Whenever we worship, preach the gospel, and love one another, we are teaching the angels, instructing these superior intelligences, about God’s wisdom. So the church is the light of the world and the light of the holy angels of God.

It is time we realized how precious and valuable we are to God! In ourselves we are nothing, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in the sight of God we who are his church are most precious. How do we know we are precious to God? Just consider what the price of our redemption was. We were redeemed, not with gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ. There is nothing more precious or glorious in God’s handiwork than the church corporate and individual. The church is the most valuable part of God’s new creation.

If you are not a Christian and part of Christ’s church, I challenge you to consider your status at this moment. People are either outside or inside of God’s kingdom, and if you have not trusted in Christ, you are outside. What is the significance of being outside? Outside means darkness, death, meaninglessness, and the judgment of God. Outside is hopelessness and eternal misery. Outside is the flood that drowns people and the fire that consumes people. Oh, outside may also be filled with man’s latest and greatest inventions as well as all the power and wealth of the earth, but in the final analysis, all of these things are meaningless. If you are outside of Christ, you are without God and without hope.

If you are not a Christian, I counsel you to get inside. How do you do that? By repenting and trusting in Jesus Christ alone. If you are outside, you are separated from Christ, separated from God’s covenant, without God and without hope. You have no part in the most glorious, most precious, and most beautiful creation of God, the church of Jesus Christ. But if you are united to Jesus Christ, you are inside the kingdom of God, where you will experience eternal life, hope, and joy in the Lord.

God’s Delight

I want to examine what God says about the church he has redeemed through Christ. First, in Isaiah 62:4 he says, “No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah,” which is a Hebrew word meaning “My delight is in her,” and your land Beulah,” which means married, “for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married.” God is saying this about the church corporately and individually.

What an amazing statement! God is saying that his greatest pleasure, joy, and delight is found, not in the stars, or in any part of the cosmos that he created, but in the church-in you and in me. This statement is not speaking about your neighbor’s delight or your teacher’s delight or your boss’s delight. It is speaking about God’s delight in us: “My delight is in her.”

Oh, that all of us would consider this and believe it! Then our faces will be lifted up, our misery will evaporate, and we will raise our hands in praise to the eternal God who looks upon us with such real pleasure.

God’s Treasure

Second, God calls us his treasure, his inheritance. We find this idea in several places in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament.

In the Old Testament we find the Hebrew word segullah used, which means “one’s personal treasure.” In Exodus 19:5-6 God says, “‘Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,” and here we also find this idea that God doesn’t find as much pleasure in the rest of creation or in the rest of the people of the world as he does in his church, “you will be for me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” We are God’s treasured possession, separated from the rest of his creation, to be a people in whom he takes delight.

In Deuteronomy 32:9 we read, “For the Lord’s portion is his people.” This also is speaking about the people of God, the church of Jesus Christ, the community of saints, consisting of Jews and Gentiles. We are the Lord’s portion.

In Malachi 3:17 God says, “They will be mine,” speaking about his people, “in the day when I make up my jewels,” or treasured possessions. We find this word segullah also used in 1 Chronicles 29:3 to refer to earthly treasures. David says, “Besides, in my devotion to the temple of God, I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple.” Not only did David make provision for resources for the temple in his official capacity as king, but he also gave abundantly from his own prized possessions, his segullah, so that the temple of God could be built.

We are God’s personal treasure, the segullah of God. Now, that fact should amaze you. This is not speaking of an estimation of our value by the great people of the world, but of God himself! Not only do we bring delight to God’s heart, but we are also considered by God himself to be his treasure.

We find the same idea in the New Testament. In 1 Peter 2:9 Peter says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” In Ephesians 1:18 Paul calls on the Holy Spirit to help us to recognize this kind of estimation of God concerning the church. First, he speaks of the hope we have in God, saying, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.” As God’s people we have the hope of dwelling with God forever and ever, in a new heaven and a new earth, where there dwells righteousness, and where there is no sin, no evil, no sickness, and no tears. God will dwell among his people, as we read in Revelation 22, and as he promised, saying, “I will be their God and they shall be my people.” This is the hope to which God has called us through the gospel. Second, Paul wants us to understand by the help of the Spirit of God “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” God’s inheritance, God’s treasure, is located in the saints. Yes, this is difficult to understand, but it is true. God’s glorious inheritance is in his saints.

Do you say you are not very glorious? Don’t worry-God will deal with you! When God is finished with us, we will all be glorious-a radiant church, without spot or wrinkle, suited as a bride for his Son, Jesus Christ.

Paul speaks about this in Titus 2:13-14, where he refers to “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own.” We are God’s treasure and he will make us glorious!

Jewels of God

Third, God says we are his jewels–sparkling, radiant jewels. In Zechariah 9:16 we read, “The Lord their God will save them,” meaning the people of God, both Jews and Gentiles, “on that day as the flock of his people,” and then Zechariah adds, “they will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.”

Oh, take a look at yourself and praise God! God has begun his work in you and he will complete it. If you are inside his kingdom, linked to Christ by faith, he is working to redeem you from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people, including you, who are his very own. You will sparkle like a jewel in a crown in due time.

It is time that we thought God’s thoughts concerning us. When we do so, it will help us praise him more. Like jewels in a crown, they will sparkle, God says of his people. Notice jewels is in the plural. Each one in the Body of Christ is a jewel, sparkling as the light of the world. What a sight for the world to behold! What a sight for the triune God to behold! What a sight for the angels to behold! Everyone is looking at us.

This is not speaking about using diamonds, jewelry, and designer clothes to augment our appearance. We ourselves are the jewels of God. Peter speaks about this in 1 Peter 3:3-4: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.” In other words, don’t worry if you don’t have jewels, diamonds, gold, and silver. We are not speaking about an externally imposed glory. God is not interested in the beauty of our hairdo, our clothes, or our jewelry. What is God interested in? Peter continues, “Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” That is what is being produced in us. From glory to glory he’s changing us. The likeness of God is produced deep within us. We are the jewels of God, the handiwork of God who sparkle with an unfading beauty.

A Crown of Splendor in God’s Hands

Fourth, in Isaiah 62 we read that we are a crown of splendor in God’s hand. In verse 3 we read, “You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hands, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” God calls us a crown, a royal diadem.

Oh, we all have seen the crowns of great kings and queens, with all their sparkling jewels. How fascinated we are by them! But here God is saying that we are the diamonds, the crown, the royal diadem in the hand of God. You are beautiful, glorious, precious, and secure in the hands of our God. Do you think God will forget about you and neglect you?

In John 10:28 Jesus Christ said about his disciples, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” Then he adds in verse 29, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

Keep this picture in your mind. You are a crown of glory, a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. God is fascinated with you, the supreme creation of all his creation, and you are secure in him.

The Apple of God’s Eye

Fifth, God calls us the apple of his eye. In Deuteronomy 32:10 we find a description of the people of God: “In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye.”

The apple of one’s eye means the most precious and sensitive part of the body, and the whole body is directed for the total protection of this part. The idea here is that God considers us most precious and most sensitive, so he surrounds us to protect and guard us from all our enemies.

Don’t you think this description will enable you to trust in God? You are the apple of God’s own eye. In the Hebrew the word is ishon, “little man.” You are the “little man” that he is very much interested in taking care of.

In Zechariah 2:5 God tells us he’ll be a wall of fire around us, to protect us. Think about that. God will never leave us unprotected. He is going to care for us both now and forever.

Borne upon the Heart of God

Sixth, the church is always upon the very heart of Jesus Christ. In John 13 we read that John reclined on the bosom of Christ, and in John 1 we read that Jesus Christ himself is in the bosom of the Father. I am telling you that you are also in the bosom of Christ.

In Exodus 28 we find a picture of ourselves being borne on the very heart of Christ. In verse 17 we read Moses’ instructions for mounting precious stones on the breastpiece of Aaron, the high priest: “Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row there shall be a ruby, a topaz and a beryl; in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald; in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst; in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. . . .”

There were twelve precious stones on the breastpiece of the high priest, and on each one was engraved the name of one of the sons of Jacob. Whenever the priest went into the Holy of Holies, he would wear this vest over his other glorious garments, thus displaying before God the names of the tribes of Israel engraved on the precious stones. Whenever the high priest went before God, he was representing the people of God corporately and individually.

In the same way, we are upon the heart of our great high priest, Jesus Christ, who loves us and is ever interceding for us before the Father. Because we are upon the heart of Christ, his thoughts are always toward us. We are inscribed on precious stones and borne into the presence of God by our own high priest who represents us before the Father continually. Jesus Christ is always interceding for us, and his intercession is always effectual.

Engraved upon the Palms of God

Seventh, the church is engraved upon the palms of God so that God can never forget her. We have a tendency to think that God has forgotten us or doesn’t care for us, don’t we? I know I have. Especially in times of trial, we tend to think, “Where is God? Has he forgotten me? Does he care about what is happening to me?” The saints of God have always experienced such thoughts in their Christian lives.

But God wants us to know that he has not forgotten us. In Isaiah 49:14 God speaks through Isaiah, saying, “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.'” Now listen to God’s response in verse 15: “‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?” Generally, the answer is “No.” But God continues, “Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” And in verse 16 he concludes, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

“See! Look!” God is saying. “Come out of self-pity, raise your heads, and take a look at the hands of God. Your names are engraved, cut into, my very hands and you are always in my mind.”

What does it mean to engrave something? It means to cut into something, to leave an indelible impression. In this way our names are cut into the hands of God, indelibly impressed upon his palms, and it is impossible to erase them. We are a part of God’s very being and he can never forget us.

When I read this passage from Isaiah, I am reminded of the pierced hands of our Lord Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. In John 20 we read of Christ’s appearance to his disciples the day of his resurrection. The apostle Thomas, also known as doubting Thomas, was not with the others for the Lord’s first appearance. In verse 25 we read, “So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ but [Thomas] said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.'”

One week later Christ appeared to the disciples again in his resurrection body and Thomas was present also. In verse 27 we read that he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

What does this tell us? That Jesus Christ, in his resurrection body, still has holes in his hands, made in behalf of those he came to die for. As long as those holes are there, we can say we are engraved on the palms of God. These indelible impressions are impossible to erase, and, in fact, in Revelation 5:6 John writes, “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne.” Throughout all eternity the nail holes will be there. That should tell us that God loves us!

Have you read your name in the crucified palms of our Lord Jesus Christ? The indelible marks in his hands and side and feet spell your name and the names of all the elect treasure of God. I hope we will see God’s love for us, especially as demonstrated in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He chose us from all eternity and so loved us that he gave himself up to death in behalf of us.

Is Christ Your Greatest Treasure?

In conclusion, let me ask you one question: If you are God’s treasure, God’s delight, God’s jewels, God’s crown, God’s apple of his eye, if we are engraved on his hands indelibly with everlasting love, then only one thing is needful. Christ Jesus himself. Have you chosen the one needful thing?

I pray that you will choose Christ as your only treasure and delight. I beseech you to choose life–the life found in salvation through Christ alone. I hope you will be able to say with the psalmist, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). This is what will happen in the new heavens and the new earth: God will dwell with his people and his people will dwell with God. We will be totally fascinated with God and God will be totally fascinated with us.

In Psalm 73:25-26 we read, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” The Lord’s portion is his people, and the people’s portion is the Lord.

Remember the rich young ruler? He came to Jesus, asking, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Finally Jesus told him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:17, 21). But the young man refused. Christ was the one thing he lacked.

What about you? Is Christ your hidden treasure? Is Christ your pearl of great price? Is Christ your total delight? Have you forsaken all for Jesus Christ? Have you realized that outside of him there is no hope, no life, no joy, and no purpose, but inside there is eternal life, hope and joy? Are you “in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God.”

May God help us to understand this indescribable, unfathomable idea that we are God’s delight, treasure, and inheritance. May we be eternally grateful to God for opening our eyes to see that he is our God, our delight, our treasure, our all in all, and may we continue be fascinated by the unsearchable riches of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May those among us who are outside of this kingdom enter into it through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.