LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Together with Him and with All the Saints
"...of whom the whole body, joined and knit together by all the joints that help one another" (Ephesians 4:16).
The text of Isaiah 53:6 shows how each of us lived before we were rescued by the Lord: "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way". We walked alone. Each one of us lived in the vanity of his own mind, with his understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that was in us, because of the hardness of our own hearts. Each one of us did what seemed good to him according to his own judgment. We did the will of the flesh and of the thoughts (Eph. 2:3). A way that, in our eyes, seemed right, but whose end led to death (Prov. 14:12).
When Jesus was lifted up from the earth on that cross, he drew all to himself (Jn. 12:32). All the children of God who were scattered abroad were gathered together in him (Jn. 11:52). We were united to him in the likeness of his death and resurrection (Rom. 6:5).
In Ephesians 2:5-6 we are told something very precious. His resurrection "made us alive together with Christ ... and raised us up together, and made us sit together with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus". The word "together" is very significant for us now. It means that since our baptism into Christ's death, there is no more separation. Everything that happened to him happened equally with all the saints.
Together with him we were raised, and together with him we were glorified (Rom. 8:30). We are not only united with him, but also with all the saints. He made us one with him, and one with all the brethren. Now we are bound together, united in one body. If we were only members of the body of Christ, we might think that each of us can function independently, that each member can act alone. We are members of the body of Christ, but we are also members of one another.
So, we need the right operation of each part, the functioning of each member of the body of Christ. It is necessary for each member to function, so that all may be useful in the Body. If the hand could do its function without the arm, it could then function individually. If both could function without the forearm, they could act individually; but they cannot.
One member cannot grow independent of another. The Lord caused us to be built up together: "in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22).
The Lord says that we can do nothing without him (Jn. 15:5), and truly we can do nothing without the Head. And he tells us that he cannot do without us. In order for him, as the Head of the body, to function, he needs every member (1 Cor. 12:21). Given this, we see the extreme necessity, with all the saints, that we keep the unity of the Spirit made by Jesus on that cross. It is not a unity that we have to make, but only to keep that which is made, and to abide in it.