Sermon 2501. All and All in All

(No. 2501)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 24, 1897.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY 3, 1885.

"Christ is all, and in all." Colossians 3:11.

"That God may be all in all." 1 Corinthians 15:28.

IN our two texts there are three "alls" rising, one out of the other-the first leading to the second and the second conductingto the third. You will notice at once that the first two are in the present tense. "Christ is all" and, "Christ is in all."The third one refers to the future-it is yet to be fulfilled. When the great consummation shall come, then shall God be, "allin all." I shall not detain you with any sort of preface, for my sole endeavor at this time will be to impress these textsupon your memory-in the hope that the Spirit of God may make them a living and abiding influence upon your hearts and lives-thatto you, Christ may be all, that Christ may be in you all, and that so, in all that you do, and say, and are, God may be allin all.

I. We begin at THE FOUNDATION WHERE ALL BLESSING BEGINS. "Christ is all."

These are but few words, yet what Divine shall ever fully expound them? "Christ is all." Here is sea-room enough for all godlymariners! Yet with the best wind that ever blew to speed the ship along, and with every sail set and filled with the breezefrom Heaven, who shall ever be able to go from one shore of this great Truth of God to the other-"Christ is all"? I shallnot venture upon such a voyage! I can but look across this sea and ask you to kindly notice the connection in which the textstands that we may learn exactly what the Apostle meant. Writing, "to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which areat Colosse," Paul says, "There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free,but Christ is all."

That is to say, in the matter of salvation, ' "Christ is all." That which had often seemed the most important thing in theworld is here thrown into the background by the Apostolic declaration, "There is neither Greek nor Jew." For a long time itseemed as if the eternal Light of God was only revealed to the eyes of the seed of the house of Israel. They sat in the brightnessand all the rest of the world lay in dense darkness. But, behold, the Christ has come, "a Light to lighten the Gentiles,"and henceforth salvation is "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man," but, "Christ is all."

It is a great privilege to be born of godly parents, to have come of a race that for generations has feared the Lord. Butlet no man trust merely in his natural descent. If you had sprung from a lineage of saints. If every one of your progenitorshad feared God, yet still, nothing of all this could matter for your own salvation. "Christ is all." Now may the Gentile dogeat of the crumbs that fall from the Master's table where He feeds His Israel! No, the dog is transformed into a child-hewho was far off is made near! In the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, both Jew and Gentile are made one and all the sheepof the Good Shepherd are sheltered in the same fold! We who believe in Jesus are children of him who was called the fatherof the faithful and though, according to the flesh, "Abraham was ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledges us not," yet by faithwe become the spiritual seed of the great father of all Believers! As he believed in a son being born according to God's promise,and in a seed to which the Covenant promises were given, even so do we. And entering into union with Christ Jesus, that blessedSon of the promise, we become joint-heirs with Him, "heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ." You see, then, dear Friends,that it is not race, or pedigree, or descent that saves the soul, but that "Christ is all."

Then Paul goes on to say, "There is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision," from which I gather that there is nothing inoutward ceremonies which can save. Everything is still of Christ-"Christ is all." That circumcision in the flesh was ordainedof God and it was the mark of the seed that He had chosen. It was not, therefore, lightly to be spoken of. But now, "we arethe circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." At thisday even the ancient Divine ordinance is put in the background, for, "Christ is all." So is it with every other ordinance,whether ordained of God or of man. It must never be placed in the front, as if it were the means of salvation! I say to youwho may have been sprinkled, or to you who may have been immersed-to you who may bow at your altars, or to you who may cometo the Communion Table-I do not place all these rites on a level, certainly, for some are of God and some are not, but I doplace them all on a par in this respect-that they enter not into the essence of our salvation! And I say to all of you, "Thesethings cannot save you, for, 'Christ is all.'" Be you who you may, and do you what you may, you shall not be saved becauseof your natural birth, nor because of any supposed holy acts that you may perform! Neither shall you be saved by any transactionsthat may be the work of a human priest! You must have Christ as your Savior and you must rest in Him, alone, or you cannotbe saved! He is the one foundation and, "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," for, "Christis all." The Lord Jesus Christ sums up everything that ordinances can possibly mean and all that pedigree and descent canpossibly bring-and He is infinitely more than all of them!

Read on in this Epistle and you will find that as race and ceremonialism are both put into the background, so also is culture."There is neither Barbarian nor Scythian, but Christ is all." Of course it was for many reasons much better to be a Romancitizen than to be a rude barbarian. And it is much better, now, to be a civilized man than an untutored Indian of the WildWest. But so far as vital godliness and the soul's salvation are concerned, there is no difference! The simplest and mostilliterate, upon believing in Jesus Christ, shall find that "Christ is all." And the most learned and most fully instructed,if they bring any of their learning and their culture and put it side by side with Christ as a ground of trust, shall sorrowfullydiscover that none of those things can be placed on an equality with Him, but that, "Christ is all."

I rejoice, Brothers and Sisters, in this Truth of God! If the Gospel of Christ were something eclectic which could only bereceived by a superior few, what a poor prospect there would be for the great mass of people among whom we dwell! If the Gospelof Christ were a matter so deep and profound that it could not be understood except by years of educated thought, where wouldthey be who have never had any culture and, perhaps, can scarcely read the letters of a boy's schoolbook, if, this day, theywere lying upon the bed of sickness, expecting soon to stand before God? Blessed be God, we have a remedy for sin's sicknesswhich the Great Physician understands! And if He is well acquainted with it, it matters not whether the patient fully comprehendsit or not! Blessed be God, the effect of Christ's medicine does not depend upon the degree in which we can realize how itacts, but if we receive it by faith, if it penetrates into the heart, if it takes possession of the affections, it will workin us that wondrous change by which we shall be delivered from the love of sin and saved both from its condemnation and itspower! Thank God for a simple Gospel! Blessed be His name that "Christ is all"! If, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, youhave learned that Christ died for the ungodly. If you know that He is the Son of God and the one great Propitiation for sin,and if you accept Him as such, you have that which has delivered you from going down into the Pit, for God has found a ransomeven for you!

Once more. By this expression, Paul means us to understand that all conditions and position of men in this life are put ona level before Christ, for He adds, "There is neither bond nor free; but Christ is all." When the Gospel of Jesus Christ cameinto the world, it contemplated the saving of bondmen as well as of freemen. Of course there was a great distinction betweenbeing bond or free, and the Apostle wrote, "If you may be made free, use it rather," but as to the real power of God's Grace,there was no distinction between the noblest citizen of Rome and the poor slave who wore an iron collar and was fastened,like a dog, at his master's gate! Christ's Grace could enter into the heart of the servile, as well as into the heart of thenoble-and could work alike in each.

Now, hear you, Sirs! It is well that you should be industrious, that you should be thrifty and that you should make your wayin the world. But this is not the way to eternal life! What if you should work till your fingertips were raw? What if youlabor during the livelong day and night and deprive yourselves of needed sustenance, that you may hoard up gold and silver?With all this, you cannot buy salvation, or be an inch nearer to it. "Christ is all." And if you lie penniless upon a workhousebed, there is that in Christ which can save you! If you beg your food from door to door, yet shall you not stand at a disadvantagewith this great and blessed Gospel, for it comes freely to you with this message and, as it asks of you no learning, so itasks of you no wealth, no rank and no position-for, from first to last-"Christ is all."

Thus have I taken the words in their connection and they are full of important teaching. Remember that they mean just this-thatto the man who is saved, Christ is all his trust Our healing lies in His stripes. Our life lies in His death. Our pardon liesin His having suffered the punishment due to us. Our eternal life is in the fact that He once died for us and that He nowlives to make intercession for us. "Christ is all." You must not add anything to Christ as your ground of confidence, butjust lean the weight of your sin, your sorrow, your needs and your desires wholly and entirely upon Him who lives to standfor you before God. Christ, then, is all our trust!

And, as for our belief, Christ is all our creed. What He has taught us personally and by His Holy Spirit through the Epistles-whatHe gives us in His Word-this is what we believe, and nothing else! The Bible and the Bible, alone, is the religion of a Christian!"Christ is all"-and all the Truth that there is in this Book is in Him. This revelation of the Word of God is the same revelationas that which is made in the Christ, Himself, who is the true Logos, the Word of God. "Christ is all" as our creed.

And, further, Christ is all as our example. You may safely do what He did and you may not do what Hewould not have done. Youmay judge of the right or wrong of everything by this question-What would Jesus Christ do in these circumstances? You maythus know what you should do. And what you cannot suppose He would have thought of doing, you must not venture to do, for,"Christ is all." He draws a ring around us and we must not go outside that circumference. He is the atmosphere in which weare to live. He is about us. He is above us. He is beneath us. He is within us. He is everywhere and, to us, if we are Christians,"Christ is all."

There is the foundation of all our faith and hope-and I want you who preach and you who teach the children to always keepto this one Truth of God-that "Christ is all." Many other things have a measure of instruction in them, but Christ is allthat is necessary. If you want to save men, if you truly wish to elevate men, if you desire still further to exalt them tothe very highest degree of which human nature is capable, remember that "Christ is all" as your lever, and in Him is yourfulcrum, and in Him is the power to use the lever! "Christ is all." You need not go abroad for anything, for "you are completein Him." The ship is furnished from stem to stern in Him. The house, from its foundation to its rooftop, is all complete inHim. "Christ is all." Oh, to know Him! Oh, to have Him as our own! Oh, to live wholly upon Him! Oh, to grow like He and alwaysto keep before our mind's eyes this great Truth that, "Christ is all"!

II. Now we are going a step farther to consider the second part of our first text-"Christ is all, and in all "This is a matterof experience and it reveals to us HOW THE WORK OF GRACE PROCEEDS. Christ is in all His people, this gracious possession isthe work of the Spirit of God, by whose means Christ is formed in us, the hope of Glory.

To my mind it is a very beautiful thing that the Lord Jesus Christ, when He comes into the soul, does not annihilate any partof the personality, but shines in each separate being, for He is not only all, but He is in all His people! There is, forinstance, the Greek-the "Gentile"-shall be the word. Very well, the Grace of God does not turn the Gentile into a Jew. Heremains a Gentile, but Christ is in him and, therefore, he is made into a new creature. There have been some beautiful specimensof holiness and Grace found in many of the Gentile nations dwelling in the islands of the sea, or among all sorts and conditionsof men scattered up and down the world-and Christ has shone gloriously in them. Then comes the Jew. When he is saved, Christis in him. The Apostles of Jesus were mostly, at least, of that race, and many later Believers have been of the seed of Abraham.But Christ has been in them and He has gloriously displayed Himself in them. The Lord Jesus Christ, dwelling in the Jew, leaveshim still a member of the house of Abraham, but, through the Presence of the Lord Jesus within him, how wondrously his wholecharacter is exalted!

Then you have the man who is circumcised and the man who is uncircumcised-and in each of these, if he is saved, Christ dwells.And each one, therefore, lives according to his light, his knowledge and his standing. Christ enters into the barbarian andthough in certain natural respects he remains, to a large extent, what he was before, yet, as soon as Christ enters into him,all of his barbarism that is sinful disappears! He still retains the free spirit of the child of the wilderness or the sonof the woods, but how grandly has Christ displayed Himself in such men as he is! The personal piety of a Red Indian, or ofan African freshly taken from the wilds of the Dark Continent has been as brilliant and as beautiful-certainly as fresh, bright,clear and striking as the piety of the most educated of the Caucasian race! Whether he is barbarian or Scythian, if Christis formed in him, the hope of Glory, it is only another form of the same exquisite beauty!

It is always a pity when our missionaries try to make other nations into English people. If we have pride enough to thinkso, we may regard ourselves as the model for others to imitate, but it would be a great pity if we should be such a modelthat every native of India must copy the Englishman! I like the worship of our Black friends in Jamaica and in the SouthernStates of America, with its delightful simplicity, its vivacity-yes, and I venture to say, even its grotesqueness. And I wouldnot have a black man begin slavishly to imitate the white man. Let him continue to be a black man and let Christ shine inthe black man's face right gloriously. Yes, let a man be a brown man, or a yellow man, or a red man, or whatever color Godmade him! The more he keeps to his own nationality and reflects the Glory of Christ from that angle, the more will Christ'sGospel triumph and the more will Christ Himself be honored!

The Apostle adds, as we have already noticed, "Neither bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all." May the day speedilycome when there shall not be a bondsman under Heaven! But in those days of the worst of all slavery, the Christian slaveswere among the most brilliant gems in the Redeemer's diadem. Oh, what brave deeds they did for the Crucified One! I shouldthink that it was harder to be a Christian freeman, in those days, than to be a Christian slave. But whether bond or free,whether the man took his place in the Forum among the senators, or his lot was cast yonder among the slaves-either case, ifChrist was in him-the Light of God shone gloriously from Him and God was magnified thereby! Christ is all, and Christ is inall His people, each one remaining the same in His individuality, but Christ shining in each one!

I must again refer you to the connection of our text and ask you to read in the 9th and 10th verses, where Paul says, "Youhave put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Himthat created him." You recollect that Adam was made in the image of God and that he lost that image by his sin. But when Christenters into a man and he is created anew in Christ Jesus, then he receives afresh the image of God. The image of God is ChristJesus, for He is the express image of His Father's Glory. He that has seen Christ has seen the Father and, inasmuch as Christenters into all Believers and makes them like Himself, the image of God is thereby restored in all Believers.

So, note again that because Christ dwells in him, every Believer becomes a copy of Christ Read the 13th verse- "Forbearingone another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a quarrel against another, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you."Is not that beautiful-Christ in every Believer-that Christ the image of God, and that Christian the image of Christ so that,just as Jesus freely forgave, so does every Christian freely forgive! Do you find it difficult to forgive one who has wrongedyou? Then you will find it difficult to get to Heaven! If you cannot enter Heaven unless you are like Christ, how can yoube like Christ unless you can freely forgive? This seems a grand opportunity for you to stand on the same platform with Christand, in some respects, to do the works of Christ when, having been slighted, ungratefully treated, misrepresented, slanderedand injured, you can say, "I as freely forgive you as the Lord Jesus Christ forgave me." This is the token and evidence thatChrist is in you-when you become imitators of Christ as dear children!

It is a remarkable fact, as I have often said to you, that, although our Lord Jesus Christ is more perfect than any otherexample-indeed, the only perfect example-yet it is more easy to imitate Christ than it is to imitate some of the best of Hispeople! That is curious, but it is a fact. I know a Brother whom I greatly admire, an eminent Christian-I would not mentionmy own name in the same day with his, he lives so near to God and is such a truly gracious man-yet I could not imitate him.It is quite impossible that my nature should ever become exactly like his. Another Brother, whom I used to know-he is nowwith God-was equally good, but he was as different from the other good man as anyone could be. They were as opposite as thepoles in their temperament and behavior. The first Brother I mentioned is solid, calm, quiet, unexcitable. And I should thinkthat he very seldom laughs and that even then, he does not know that he has done it!

My other friend used to, sometimes, literally roar with laughter! He was full of earnest love for the souls of men and Godblessed him greatly in his service. He had a merry vein and a humorous spirit-and I was more at home with him than I was withthe first one. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ is far more easy to imitate than either of my two friends, for sometimes I am sodepressed that I cannot show all the cheerfulness of the one. And at other times, having such a humorous vein in my nature,I would be hypocritical and unnatural if I suppressed it and always acted as if I were as solemn as death itself! But in thecase of our Lord Jesus Christ, albeit that there is never any mention of laughter, yet there were ripples of holy pleasantryin His life and in His Character though He was "a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief." He is more of a Man than thebest of other men, and more imitable, though altogether inimitable, than those who can be imitated and, perhaps, can evenbe excelled.

What is more, Christ in each one of these Believers creates them all into one body. Read the 14th and 15th verses- "And aboveall these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which alsoyou are called in one body and be you thankful." The same life is in all Believers-in you and in me-well, then, we are one1The same life is in ten thousand Christians-then they, also, are all one! If the same life quickens them and they live underthe same influences, and they act according to the same rule, then are they one and Christ becomes the glorious Head of abody which He renders glorious by quickening it with His own indwelling!

I like to think of this blessed Truth of God-Christ in all Believers creating them into one body-this is the beginning oftrue unity. Here, for instance, is a man who says that he is baptized as I am, but if he has not the life of God within him,I cannot get on with him, whatever he may call himself-I am not in union with him. There, perhaps, comes a Methodist, andwe begin to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ and I find that he loves Him with all his heart, and I know that I do, thoughI wish that I loved Him more. And directly we two get on together-we feel that we are one in Christ because of the one Lifewhich quickens us. Do you not feel it to be so? Have you not been reading a book, sometimes, and said to yourself, "Oh, whata blessed book this is! How full of the Divine life"? Yes, and after you have read it, you have been surprised to find thatthe person who wrote it was a Romanist-for there are many books of that kind-or the writer was a member of some church that,in many respects, lies in very dangerous error! You say to yourself, "I do not care where this man lived, or what he did,I am one with him as far as he is one with Christ."

The one common feeling of union to Christ and Christ being in us makes us feel that we are one with each other. Wherever thereis, as Augustine used to say, "aliquid Christi"-"anything of Christ"-there our love must go forth, we cannot help it! Christin you all makes you into one body and unites you together in a mysterious and unique manner. There is not a parallel to itanywhere else-it gives such a living, loving, abiding, undeniable unity that even if you wish to forget it, you cannot! Ifthe man is in Christ, you must love him, do what you may, for you are one body with him.

Such is this manifestation of Christ in His people, that it leads, further, to the offering of one oblation. Read the 16thverse-"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymnsand spiritual songs, singing with Grace in your hearts to the Lord." Yes, all God's people love God's Word! They all finda great sweetness in "Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." They all delight to sing praises unto the Most High. Montgomerytruly wrote-

"The saints in prayer appear as one,"

but it is equally true that the saints in praiseappear as one. And the saints in love to the Word of God appear as one becauseChrist, being in them, and Christ being one, they are knit to one another. Oh, how blessed it is for us to have Christ inus!

And lastly upon this point, all that I have said leads up to each one acting to the glory of one name, for if Christ is inyou, the 17th verse is true of you-"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks toGod and the Father by Him." What a life to lead-Christ taking such entire possession of a man that everything he does, hedoes as if Christ, Himself, were doing it, because he does it in Christ's name and by Christ's power! As Paul wrote to theCorinthians, "Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God," so that it shall no longerbe yourselves that do it, but Christ that dwells in you. This shall sanctify the most common actions of everyday life andmake the whole of the Christian's career to be sublime, so that while he treads the earth beneath his feet, literally, heis also doing it spiritually-and all the while his conversation is in Heaven.

I must just linger one minute here. You all agreed with me when I spoke about Christ being all. You understood clearly thatHe is the only ground of our hope. Can you also go with me in this part of my subject-Christ is in all His people? Is Christformed in you, the hope of Glory? Do you know anything about an indwellingChrist? Verily I say unto you, the Christ on theCross will never save you unless there is also Christ within yod It is the Christ on the Cross in whom we trust, but the outcomeof that trust is that He is born in our hearts! His power comes from His love, His Grace, His truth, Himself-and we live becauseHe lives in us. Do you understand this? If you do not, I pray God that you may, for, unless Christ is in you, you know whatthe Apostle says-"Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. Know you not your own selves, how thatJesus Christ is in you, unless you are reprobate?" If you are disapproved of God, Christ is not in you. If Christ is not inyou, you are disapproved of God. But if He lives in you, you are "accepted in the Beloved" and that life of yours shall neverdie out, but you shall, by-and-by, behold your Savior's face in the kingdom of His Glory.

Brothers and Sisters, we are not what we ought to be! We are not what we want to be, we are not what we shall be! But we aresomething very different from what we used to be. The change in us is as great as in that blind man who said, "One thing Iknow, that whereas I was blind, now I see." The change is not merely external, but it is vital! The Lord has taken away theheart of stone out of our flesh and given us back the heart of flesh which belonged to man in his unfallen nature-and thenupon this heart of flesh He has also worked wondrously, making it conscious to spiritual influences which once did not affectit, and writing upon the fleshy tablets of that renewed heart, His perfect Law. Glory be to the name of Jehovah, a notablemiracle has been performed upon us! A miracle so marvelous that it is comparable to the resurrection from the dead and, insome respects, it even surpasses the wonders of creation, itself! We shall tell this story in the streets of the New Jerusalemand we shall draw around us attentive crowds as we narrate our experience and tell the tale of the sin which ruined us, andof the mercy which reclaimed us!

Thus have we gone up the second rung of this golden ladder. First, "Christ is all." Next, "Christ is in all."

III. Now kindly turn back in your Bibles to our other text-the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, 15th chapter, and 28th verse-"ThatGod may be all in all." First, Christ is all. Next, Christ is in all His people, but THE CONSUMMATION, the top-stone of allis "that God may be all in all."

The passage in which this text stands seems to be a very difficult one to understand. The common meaning that is given toit by nearly every interpreter I have ever met with, I do not believe or accept. It seems to a great many to be taught herethat there is to come a time, called, "the end," when the Lord Jesus Christ, having conquered all His enemies, is to resignHis position, abdicate His Throne and cease to be King, "that God may be all in all." Let us read the connection of the passage-"Foras in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterwardthey that are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father;when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under Hisfeet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says all thingsare put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subduedunto Him, then shall the Son, also, Himself, be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."

The general meaning given to these words is that there is to be a time when the mediatorial Kingdom of Christ will come toan end of itself and He will deliver up the Kingdom to God, ceasing, Himself, to be King. I can only say that if this is theteaching of this text, it is not taught anywhere else in the whole Bible-nobody can find any parallel passage to it, or anythinglike it. Neither do I believe that it is taught in the Bible at all-neither here nor anywhere else! And I can say that forthis reason I cannot see that there is to be any end whatever to the mediatorial Kingdom of Christ.

You perceive that it is the Son who is to be subject to the Father but it is of the Son that we read in the first chapterof the Epistle to the Hebrews, "Unto the Son He says, Your Throne, O God, is forever and ever," where the Father, manifestlyspeaking to the Son, in His complex Person declares that His Throne is to be forever and ever. Brethren, in the day when theChrist shall have overcome all His enemies and Death, itself, shall be destroyed, there will be no abolition of His mediatorialkingdom! There still stands in the Scriptures this promise of our Lord Jesus Christ-"To him that overcomes will I grant tosit with Me on My Throne, even as I, also, overcame, and am set down with My Father on His Throne." Does that mean that weare to have a temporary reign with a temporary Christ-a brief rule with a short-lived Monarch? I do not believe it!

Moreover, the priesthood enters into the mediatorial office most eminently, yet "the Lord swore and will not repent, You area priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." If the priesthood is to continue forever-and Melchisedec was king as wellas priest-then the kingdom of Christ is to continue, world without end. Moreover, in the Book of the Revelation-not to mentionthe almost innumerable passages to the same effect-we find that when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of ourLord, it is added, "and ofHis Christ; andHe shall reign forever and ever"When the kingdoms are brought back, they will bethe kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. Then we read of "the throne of God and of the Lamb." And when all kingdoms aresubdued and the Lord God Omnipotent reigns, then we are told to expect the announcement, "The marriage of the Lamb is comeand His wife has made herself ready." What does all this mean but a continuance of that dispensation in which the Christ,the Son of Man, as the Son of God, shall be still at the head of His people, still their Priest and still their King and stillreigning? And that is exactly what this passage says, if you will kindly look at it again and dismiss all previous prejudicesfrom your minds!

The fact is our Lord Jesus Christ has performed and is still performing, a work which will end in putting everything intoits proper order. Now, the proper order, according to the first Epistle to the Corinthians, the 11th chapter, and the thirdverse, is this-"I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man; and the headof Christ is God." This is how it stands-the woman with the man for her head, the man with Christ for his Head-and Christwith God for His Head. Such is the Scriptural order-an order which has been disturbed all through except with regard to theFather and the Son, for God has always been the Head of Christ! Now, Christ has come into the world to restore that rightorder from the bottom, right up to the top! And it is to be so restored, first, by Christ becoming the Head of men-when Heshall have put down all His enemies under His feet and when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, "forHe must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

Christ is come into the world that all the evil that is in the world should be subdued. And He will drive it out of the world.There shall remain no power that shall dare revolt against the majesty of Heaven! Over the whole surface of this globe, beneaththe new heavens and on the new earth, there shall yet be the Kingdom established of which Jesus Christ shall be the supremeHead and over which He shall reign forever, King of Kings and Lord of Lords! The Lord hasten it in His own time!

Well, and what then?" asks one. "Does it not say that He is to deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, and to be subjectto the Father?" Exactly so. Supposing that India had been in revolt against our Queen and that a Viceroy had been sent there,and that he had warred against all the rebellious tribes and kingdoms, and they had all been conquered. He telegraphs to theQueen, "Your Majesty's empire is at your feet." Does he therefore cease to be Viceroy? Not necessarily in the least degree!He may still remain as ruler and yet have delivered up the kingdom. I believe that to be the meaning of this passage-thatChrist has so conquered the Kingdom that it is all God's.

But what does it mean when it says that then shall the Son also be subject unto the Father? It means that He is subject, now,and that eventhenHe will continue to be subject to the Father, that is all. It cannot mean that at a certain time Christ willbecome subject to God, because He has been so ever since that day of His glorious humiliation when, for His people's redemption,he took upon Himself the form of a Servant-and that condition is not to cease. He is still to be the Representative of Godeven when He shall have put down all power and all authority under His feet and when God has put all things under His feet.It is manifest that He that did put all things under Him is not, Himself, under Him. And it is clear, from the text, thateven then, God shall be the Head of Christ. I do not know whether you catch my thought yet, but it is just this-all evil subdued,all the saints having Christ dwelling in them, Christ the Head of all these saints, and then God, still as God, all the moresurely and securely supreme over all things-for the Head of Christ is God and God is all in all.

The conclusion of the whole matter is this, that every day this should be the great consummation to be kept in view, "thatGod may be all in all." For this, the heroic labors of the Son of Man here on earth! For this, His cruel death! For this,His rising again! For this, His grasping of the mediatorial scepter! For this, His ruling in Providence! For this, His managementof the world's affairs! For this, His Second Coming and the glory of His saints! All this, while it continues to bring Gloryto Him, has been done in subjection to His great Father's will. He has accomplished it all as the Father's Representativeand Messenger, sent by Him to do it and then, when it is all done, and He shall reign forever and ever, even then, the Son,Himself, shall continue in that position in which He put Himself long, long ago, "that God may be all in all." Then will thewhole universe, restored and brought back to its proper place, be ordered according to the eternal Covenant arrangement.

And the practical outcome of it all is this. I want you, beloved Friends, so to live as to be persuaded that it will be soone day, that God shall be all in all-that there shall come a time when we shall stand before the Throne of God, God in usall, and everything in us of God, when all His elect, all His redeemed, all to whom Christ is all, and all in whom Christis, shall only know God as their All in All! God all in their very existence. God their all in every hymn. God their all inevery pulsing of their joy. God their all in every hope. God their all in every memory. God all to them and God inall of themto the very fullest-all redeemed, all delivered from the power of sin, all quickened into the Divine and God-like life, allsummed up in Christ, Christ comprehending them all-and then Christ Himself Head over all things to His Church, standing andgiving unto God the Glory forever and ever, that the Father may be All in All.

I see no abdication of a throne here. I see not even a change of dispensation and I do not believe in any! But, as surelyas God lives, our King lives, and our Priest still ministers before Him. And He shall still be King over His people, thoughstill, as the Christ, in His infinite goodness, abiding as subject unto God, Himself, God forever and ever, and yet, in Hiscomplex Person, making the Father to be All in All. Looking forward to that glorious consummation, we can join again in thejubilant hymn we sang just now-

"Hallelujah!-hark! the sound, From the center to the skies, Wakes above, beneath, around, All creation's harmonies! See Jehovah'sbanner furled, Sheathed His sword! He speaks- 'tis done! And the kingdoms of this world Are the kingdoms ofHis Son. He shallreign from pole to pole, With illimitable sway. He shall reign when, like a scroll, Yonder heavens have passed away! Thenthe end-beneath His rod, Man's last enemy shall fall! Hallelujah! Christ in God, God in Christ is All in AH."

Now let us begin at the beginning. This is very simple-"Christ is all."Then may the Spirit of God help us to go on to thenext rung of the ladder-"Christ is in all His people." There is the difficulty! Is He in you, Beloved? Have you received Himby faith? Then comes the third step-this may be, at present, full of mystery, but we shall see it in brighter light, by-and-by-Godshall be all in all. So shall He be to us even now! Amen and Amen.