For this, we not only have the clear type of Abraham and his descendants consummating in the building of the temple, but we have a typical example—the Lord Jesus. The Lord as the Pioneer and Forerunner is the example, the model, of a person who has crossed the river and entered into God’s glory. He has crossed the river Jordan and has fully entered into the divine glory. He suffered and entered into glory (Luke 24:26; 1 Pet. 1:11).
What is this glory into which Christ has entered? It is the full expression of God. When the Lord was in the flesh, God was concealed within Him. Within Him was the seed of the divine glory. In Jesus, the Nazarene with blood and flesh, was the seed of God’s divine glory. But this glory was concealed within Him just like the glory of a carnation is concealed within the carnation seed. When the carnation seed falls into the earth, dies, and grows again until it reaches the stage of blossoming, the carnation seed will be brought into glory. Jesus was such a seed. He fell into the earth, died, and grew up (John 12:23-24). By His growing up, His whole being, including His humanity and His human nature, was brought into the glorious expression of God. That was His glory. The Lord suffered death, crossing the river of death, and entered into the glory, into the full expression of the Divine Being. What was typified by Abraham and by his descendants at the time of the building of the temple, was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. After living on earth for thirty-three and a half years, the Lord fulfilled the type. Jesus crossed the river. He firstly crossed the river at the time of His baptism. For three and a half years after His baptism, He was continually crossing rivers. Eventually, on the cross, He crossed the death river. By crossing that ultimate river He entered into glory. The glory into which He entered is the reality of the expression of God’s divine being. After His resurrection, He was God’s glorious expression. That was the glory into which He entered. He is the example, the model, because He was the first One who pioneered into glory, the One who paved the way.
This Pioneer, this Forerunner, entered within the veil (Hebrews 6:19-20). What is the veil? The veil is that which separates us from God’s expression. Every river is a veil separating us from God’s expression. By passing through the Jordan, the river of death, Jesus entered within the veil. There within the veil is nothing but the expression of God. He is there now in glory. There is a man in the glory. This means that there is a man in God’s expression. Even more, there is a man who is God’s expression, a man who is God’s glory.
This wonderful man Jesus, who is the model, example, Forerunner, Pioneer, and Captain, one day entered into us. We might have been unconscious of it, but He entered into us. Although we may know that Jesus has entered into us, we probably do not know what kind of Jesus He is, for most believers understand Him according to a low level of gospel preaching. Who is this Jesus who has come into us? He is not only the Savior, He is the One who took the lead to run the race into glory, the One who has entered into the full expression of God, the One who, even today, is this full expression of God. This Jesus, who is God’s expression, the effulgence of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3), is the Jesus who has come into us. Therefore, Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” In the past, probably the most we could say was that Christ was the eternal life in us. If we did not have Colossians 1:27, we would never imagine that the Jesus who is in us is the hope of glory. Our hope of glory is just Christ Himself.
This glory is still a hope to us because, as yet, it has not come out of us. Once you sow a carnation seed into the earth, you have the hope of its blossoming. Though you cannot see it blossoming yet, you believe that it is going to blossom. Christ within us is the hope of glory. Since the seed of glory has been sown into us, we all hope to see it blossoming.
On the one hand, this wonderful One is within the veil, dwelling there in the expression of God and as the expression of God. On the other hand, He has come into us. We should not try to understand this with our little mind, saying, “Christ was within the veil and now He has come into me. Since He is in me, He must no longer be there.” That is our natural thought. We should not stay in our small mind—we must cross the river. We may use the example of electricity to illustrate how Christ can be there within the veil and here within us at the same time. The electricity is in the power plant as well as in our room. When the electricity comes into the room, it does not leave the power plant. Likewise, on the one hand, Christ is there within the veil and, on the other hand, He is within us. He does not have to leave the glory in order to come into us. While He is within the veil and within us, He is ministering from there to here. He entered within the veil as the Pioneer, the Forerunner, entering into the glory which is the full, glorious expression of the Divine Being. Now He is in glory as the Captain of our salvation. One day this Captain of salvation came into us. But in His coming into us He never left the glory. Rather, He brought the glory into us. This is wonderful. When the Captain of salvation came into us, the glory came with Him. In other words, the Captain of salvation came into us to be the glory. At the very least, He came in to be the seed of glory. Now we all have this seed of glory, that is, the Captain of salvation Himself, within us. Why is He called the Captain? Because He took the lead to pioneer the way into glory. Since He was the first to enter into glory, He, as our Forerunner, is fully qualified to be our Captain.
Now we are prepared to understand the matter of Jesus’ being perfected through sufferings (2:10). How is it that His sufferings qualified Him to be the Captain? Because without passing through sufferings He could not be in the glory, and, if He were not in the glory, He would not be perfected or qualified. But by passing through the sufferings He entered into glory. He is now fully qualified, fully perfected, to fulfill His office of Captain. Therefore, He can come into us as the Captain as well as the glory.
At this very moment, He is ministering from there to here. As He ministers to us in this way, He is not only the Captain but also the High Priest. He is the High Priest ministering Himself to us as bread and wine. The Lord continually ministers Himself to us as grace. First Peter 5:10 speaks of the God of all grace. When Paul was suffering because of a thorn in the flesh, he asked the Lord three times to remove it (2 Cor. 12:7-8). But the Lord answered Paul, saying, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” The Lord seemed to be telling Paul, “I shall not be so foolish as to take away the thorn. Rather, I shall afford you My sufficient grace. I shall minister Myself to you as the supply, as the grace, as the bread and wine, that will sustain and support you as you pass through all the sufferings. These sufferings will produce glory in you.”
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