The Unfragmented One

- J. Preston Eby -

Humanity, at present, is a hopeless mass of conflicting interests. It is divided into a thousand fragments. There is the basic division of the sexes. It seems almost strange that this should be a basis of discord. But so it is. There are the divisions of race, color, nationality, class, station, education, ability, language, custom, creed, etc., etc. But there is one image who is perfect: the blessed Son of God, the visible manifestation of the Father, the only One who has ever walked upon this planet who answers every attribute which Deity demands. He is the only whole, united, balanced, UNFRAGMENTED MAN! In Jesus Christ a Man has stepped forth who came from God without any lack, so that He could make this astonishing declaration: "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself. but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me" (Jn. 14:9-11).

God's firstbegotten Son was the express image of His Father, for God had no forefathers, so when He begat a Son, He was the exact image of His Father. This Jesus was - the exact image and likeness of God, and the only One on earth so far to bear the Father's likeness. Heb. 1:3 tells us that the Son was in the brightness and glory of God, and the express image of His Person. Col. 1:15 says that He is the image of the invisible God. He bore the image of His Father, as many an earthly son does of his father. Most people think that Adam in the garden of Eden was in the image and likeness of God, but as we have shown previously, he was in the image and likeness of God when originally created a spiritual man in the heavenly realm; but once lowered into the state of a soul man, formed of the dust of the ground, subjected to the world of duality and division, made to "lack a little from Elohim," stripped of some of that glory, and the one-ness of God's nature, subjected to the bondage of vanity, emptiness and nothingness, fragmented and unbalanced in his constitution - he bore the image of the earthly!

In Christ all the attributes of God are conciliated and He is fully furnished for every phase of His purpose to reconcile the universe. Christ is both the Saviour of the world and the Judge of the world. "This is indeed the Christ, the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD" (Jn. 4:42). "He will ... JUDGE THE WORLD in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained" (Acts 17:31). There is no choice between these two, and no division. Jesus Christ is not either the world's Saviour or the world's Judge. The preachers rant and rave and tell the people, "Today Jesus is your Saviour; tomorrow He will be your Judge. If you do not know Him today as your Saviour, tomorrow you will meet Him as your Judge." By this they mean that Jesus is only a Saviour today, and only a Judge in God's great tomorrow. If He does not eternally save you today, He will eternally damn you tomorrow. They have so divided God's nature and powers until it is impossible for Him to be both the Saviour of the world and the judge of the world, as the scriptures declare. In their warped, twisted, pitiful little minds God must be one or the other - He cannot be BOTH! But the glorious testimony of scripture is that the Lord our God is ONE - He is both SAVIOUR OF ALL and JUDGE OF ALL, the SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD and the JUDGE OF THE WORLD - HE SAVES THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD A-N-D JUDGES THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! His judgment is unto salvation. "When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness" (Isa. 26:9). The notion that Jesus is only a Saviour today and only a Judge tomorrow is born of ignorance and contradicts the plain teaching of the Word of God. "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: THAT A-L-L MEN SHOULD HONOUR THE SON, EVEN AS THEY HONOUR THE FATHER" (Jn. 5:22-23). "N-O-W is the judgment of this world: N-O-W shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, WILL DRAW A-L-L MEN UNTO ME" (Jn. 12:31-32). In these verses Christ's judgment of the world is linked to the salvation of ALL MEN. He judges ALL and saves ALL - the very same ALL! The Lord our God is ONE, and our Lord Jesus Christ is ONE!

Christ Jesus is perfectly balanced and united in all of His faculties, and in Him all things are restored into oneness. "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Cor. 6:17). "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us ... and the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me" (Jn. 17:21-23). "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male or female: for yea are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him" (Eph. 1:10).

This restoration into oneness has not yet fully been wrought out. Now our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect). But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away" (I Cor. 13:9-10, Amplified). As one has written, "Herein lies much of our training and discipline, yes, and travail, because we do receive 'IN PART', and it is FROM GOD, but it is fragmentary. If we try to claim perfection from that which is imperfect, we shall be found ashamed. But if we are exercised by that which we have received, and it works in us according to His purpose, then we shall be prepared to receive more, until we come to that hour when the 'in part' shall be swallowed up in the whole. Thus we see that there is an exercise and stewardship involved in the receiving of the portion which He has given, and according to how we handle and use this part."

I am a firm believer in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, in gifts, in ministries, in baptisms, in the working of miracles, in signs and wonders, in helps, governments, diversities of tongues, body ministry and the assembling of the saints, all of which are given to bring the saints to perfection; but I would be a fool indeed if I failed to recognize that even all this exists in the "in part" realm and is but a fragmentation of the wonderful fullness that dwells in the firstborn Son of God. Can we not discern this division and fragmentation in the revealing words of the apostle Paul wherein he states, "For to one is given by the Spirit the word (a fragment) of wisdom; to another the word (a fragment) of knowledge ... to another faith ... to another ... to another...to another ... dividing to every man severally as He will" (I Cor. 12:8-11).

One of the most challenging passages in all the Word of God is found in Eph. 4:15, "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ." The key words are: GROW UP I-N-T-O HIM ... WHICH IS THE HEAD. Grow up into...the Head! Who ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen a body grow up into a head? The body grows, and the head may grow somewhat, but the body remains a body and the head remains a head. But in the progressive development of the many-membered Christ, the door has been opened for some members who will GROW UP I-N-T-O T-H-E H-E-A-D. It signifies a transference from one part of the body to another, from the torso, up into the Head. It means that these grow up into the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ, sharing all that He is. These are the sons of the MOST HIGH.

This bespeaks, a realm where you do not draw life from others, but you have life in yourself, life for yourself, and life for others. You are not a receptacle but a source. Jesus unfolded this realm when He proclaimed, "The Son of man CAME NOT TO BE MINISTERED UNTO, but to minister, and to give His life" (Mat. 20:28). Jesus did not come to receive life for HE WAS LIFE. He did not come to receive life but to GIVE LIFE. He HAD LIFE IN HIMSELF even as the Father had life in Himself. Within that life was contained every element of victory, righteousness, wisdom and power He could ever need. All the resources of God were within Him. If He needed power, the power was in the life. If He needed encouragement, the encouragement was in the life. If He needed wisdom, the wisdom was in the life. This is a nature and a life that is not dependent upon anything without, for it is a self-existent life, requiring no sustenance, underived, inherent, drawing not from anything. ALL-SUFFICIENT, ABUNDANT, GLORIOUS AND UNCHANGING LIFE!

You can always tell when people are growing up into the Head. They no longer need to BE MINISTERED TO. They aren't waiting for a healer to come to town and lay hands on them, for they have grown up into that measure of His fullness where they discover the Healer within, and are now able to appropriate FOR THEMSELVES the faith of God within to gain the victory over sickness and disease. They have no need for a prophet to give them a word, to tell them where to go or what to do, to reveal the will of God in their life, for they have learned to hear HIS VOICE, communing daily with the Prophet within, flooded with wisdom and understanding, in the conscious awareness of Father's plan and will. They don't talk about their problems, or lament about the devil, for the joy of the Lord is their strength and the peace of God rules in their heart. They don't ring up the Elders requesting prayer for this and that need in their life, for they have discovered the river of God flowing from under the threshhold of their own being, life full, abundant and triumphant! Oh, yes, they may ask prayer for others, but not for themselves. These are always ministering, encouraging, helping, blessing, lifting; but do not stop to be ministered to. This company is BECOMING ONE IN HIS FULLNESS, even those who HAVE LIFE IN THEMSELVES.

Some folk hear this word and suppose that we are "doing away with the gifts." Oh, no! beloved, we are not doing away with anything. All the wonderful gifts of the Spirit of God remain right where they have been for two thousand years - in the church - for all who need them. But I now write these lines to those elect saints who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship, and I do not hesitate to tell you that so long as we continue having to BE MINISTERED TO by the gifts, we will never know the glory of having GROWN UP INTO THE HEAD. In the "body" realm it is "fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself" (Eph. 4:16). But in the "Headship" realm it is, "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son(s) to have life in Himself" (Jn. 5:25-26). It is the difference between the "in part" realm or the "fullnes of God" realm. Vast multitudes are content to dwell in the former, but only a few blessed souls dare press their way into the latter. It is not a question of whether or not we have the gifts, whether or not we move in the gifts. There is liberty to exercise any gift God has given when we encounter some precious soul that needs ministry from that realm. It is, rather, a question of whether W-E NEED TO BE MINISTERED TO THROUGH THE GIFTS! I find that gifts are still a blessing, and encouragement and help from time to time, and praise God for them all, for it is manifest that we have not yet attained to all the fullness we follow after. But those who shall stand in the HEADSHIP COMPANY as SONS OF THE HIGHEST, KING-PRIESTS AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK, will have the FULLNESS OF LIFE AND GLORY AND WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE AND POWER I-N T-H-E-M-S-E-L-V-E-S -- self-existent ones, the offspring of the God who IS ONE. These will know and experience and manifest GOD IN THE HIGHEST!

The manifested sons of God are not little fragments of God, but each grows up to be fully complete in the totality of the Father of spirits. Even as Jesus Christ is the personal embodiment of the fullness of God, and would be such even if we did not exist, so each and every son of the Highest must become the reproduction of the Father in the totality and completeness of Himself. The ONENESS of God's nature must be fully developed in each son until there be no fragmentation, lack or imbalance. Thus shall sin, limitation, sickness, sorrow and death be swallowed up of life!

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