I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

OPEN WINDOWS

T. AUSTIN SPARKS

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

What is abiding? Abiding in Christ, as we have often said, is the opposite of abiding in ourselves. To abide in ourselves is simply to try to do this living, and this working for the Lord, of ourselves; asking the Lord to help us to do it, instead of recognizing that a Life wholly pleasing to God has been lived and that faith appropriates that accomplishment in Christ. Abiding in Christ is simply doing everything, meeting everything as out from Christ. It is a sure ground. There is no need for question and reasoning: "Can it be done? Can I do it?" Or, "I am not sure about it." It is done. The Lord Jesus has met everything that you or I will meet, and in all things has done what is needful. That is available to faith, and faith says, "Well, in myself the thing would be absurd, and to attempt the thing would be ridiculous; as to myself it would be folly to contemplate it. But it can be done, because it is done; I can meet this demand, and I can stand up to that one; I can go through with this, and I can do that – 'I can do all things ("all" is a big word) through Christ, which strengtheneth me.'" It is what Christ is as our secret source of strength, of sustenance, of nourishment.

This is a school, and we learn this lesson in a progressive way. He learned, and we learn, though in our case there is a difference to be noted. We are learning to draw upon the fullness which He consummated, working out from a fullness as we press onward to the goal. We are learning how to come back to a fullness, He moved on toward a fullness. The Cross for Him was the end, for us it is the beginning. We have to learn how to come back to His fullness and we learn progressively, step by step, like little children, first of all learning to walk and to talk. Like them we are confronted with things which we have never done or even attempted before, things which are all new and strange; a new world, sometimes a very terrible world. The contemplation of taking his first step to a little child is a most terrifying proposition. 

You and I are brought into this realm of faith, wherein the simplest thing at the beginning, the taking of a first step, is sometimes fraught with horror for us. But there are arms stretched out, and those arms now represent for us the accomplishment of what is required of us, the thing is done. The strength is there, available for the matter in hand, a strength which has been proved. Recognizing those arms and trusting, taking the step, we learn to walk by Christ, to live by Christ; and the next time we shall be able to go a bit further. Each time capacity is being enlarged and we are coming to a fuller measure of maturity.

By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Risen Lord and the Things Which Cannot be Shaken - Chapter 7 

The Discipline Of Difficulty

By Oswald Chambers


'In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.'
John 16:33

An average view of the Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble. It is deliverance in trouble, which is very different. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High...there shall no evil befall thee" - no plague can come nigh the place where you are at one with God.

If you are a child of God, there certainly will be troubles to meet, but Jesus says do not be surprised when they come. "In the world yet shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, there is nothing for you to fear." Men who before they were saved would scorn to talk about troubles, often become "fushionless" after being born again because they have a wrong idea of a saint.

God does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life as we overcome. The strain is the strength. If there is no strain, there is no strength. Are you asking God to give you life and liberty and joy? He cannot, unless you will accept the strain. Immediately you face the strain, you will get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the step, and God will give you to eat of the tree of life and you will get nourishment. 

If you spend yourself out physically, you become exhausted; but spend yourself spiritually, and you get more strength. God never gives strength for to-morrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute. The temptation is to face difficulties from a common-sense standpoint. The saint is hilarious when he is crushed with difficulties because the thing is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God.

HE WANTS US WITH HIM

HE WANTS US WITH HIM
Harry Foster

Reading: John 17

THE Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, but we are not told that He ever prayed with them. He prayed for them, of course, and on this special occasion He allowed them to overhear His prayer and to record it. And what a prayer! Whenever we are reminded that now He lives to intercede for us in heaven we ought, perhaps, to re-read this chapter and allow the Holy Spirit to remind us of how He prays for His Church.

For it was the Church that He was praying for. It is only reasonable to conclude that His last supreme prayer would concern that which mattered to Him most, and both the spirit and the words of this prayer reveal to us how very much we do matter. For it was for us -- His Church -- that He prayed so earnestly. He might have prayed for the nation Israel. No doubt He often did. God knows, it needed prayer then and has done ever since, even till today. He might have prayed for all the nations of the earth, for they were in misery and confusion then as they certainly are now. But no, in this connection He specifically stated that He was not praying for the world -- not in that prayer. He was concentrating all His affections and His earnest pleadings on behalf of His redeemed people.

He hardly prayed for Himself at all. We are not surprised, for that is just like Him. He did announce several times that He was about to return home once again: "I come to thee" (v.11). In that connection He felt it right to ask that as Man, and as our Representative, He might be received into the same glory which He had always had before ever there was a world (v.5). We take it that His first request that the Father would glorify His Son was really a confession of need to be supported right through to the end of [99/100] what He Himself calls His finished work (v.4). The real burden of His intercession, however, was for that group of people whom He seven times describes as "those whom thou hast given me" (vv.2, 6, 6, 9, 11, 12 and 24). In that last verse He does ask something for Himself, as well as for us, for He gives voice to His longing desire, praying concerning this God-given people: "I will that, where I am, they also may be with me" (v.24). We are His precious treasure and He wants us always near to Him throughout all eternity.

"(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)" Genesis 49:24

OLD TESTAMENT PARENTHESES (2)
"(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)" Genesis 49:24

IF our previous parenthesis was simple in the extreme, this one is highly mysterious. The main statement as to Joseph's arms being strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob seems clear enough; it gives a vivid picture of young Joseph learning to shoot with a bow and arrow. Lacking strength in himself he is aided by his father Jacob who, standing behind him and enfolding the puny arms of his son by his own powerful arms and clasping the boy's weak hands in his own strong ones, so enables Joseph to fire the shot. Hand on hand, they together grasped the arrow and hand on hand they drew back the bow to such effect that the arrow sped effectively to its mark.

I CAN appreciate this since I have watched a Red Indian father operate in this way, stretching his strong arms alongside his boy's little ones and grasping the small hands in his capable grip, so bending the bow and shooting the arrow, to the great delight of the little learner.

WHAT old Jacob did literally for young Joseph, the Mighty One of Jacob had done spiritually for the mature man of whom it could rightly be said that "his bow abode in strength". But why this parenthesis about the shepherd and the stone?

IT clearly points onward to the Lord Jesus who is both the Shepherd and the Stone of Israel. In his separation, sufferings and exaltation, Joseph provides an outstanding type of Christ. Does this bracketed sentence, then, draw attention to this likeness? If so, it suggests that Christ's gracious shepherding and His powerful reliability function in harmony with the divine enabling received from on high; it was the Father's hands which supported and sustained the nail-pierced hands of Jesus.

IN the New Testament there is a passage which speaks comfortingly and encouragingly of God's strong hands and unites the Father and the Son in what we might call a double grip. When the Lord Jesus gave His well-known description of Himself as the Good Shepherd, He made the claim that He and the Father are one (John 10:30).

THIS followed His positive assurance that the believer is securely held by Himself and His Father: "No-one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, which hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no-one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand" (vv.28-29). This is gloriously true, even if it is not just what Jacob meant when he gave his blessing to Joseph.

FOR us there can be no doubt at all who is the Shepherd and the Stone -- or Rock -- of Israel. Jacob's Rock and Joseph's is the same as ours -- the wonderful Rock of Ages. Trusting in Him, we know blessings "unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills" (Genesis 49:26).

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The Heavenly Man as the Instrument of the Eternal Purpose

All Things in Christ: Chapter 7 - The Heavenly Man as the Instrument of the Eternal Purpose

By T. Austin-Sparks

      The Heavenly Man personally is presented to us by the Apostle John in a fuller way than by any other of the New Testament writers. Paul advances to the corporate Heavenly Man. That does not mean that Paul does not present the personal Heavenly Man, for he undoubtedly does, particularly in his letter to the Colossians; but he advances from the personal Heavenly Man to the corporate Heavenly Man, which is the Church, His Body.

      May we repeat one thing. Christ, actually and literally, was with the Father before times eternal, and the Church, not actually and literally, but in foreknowledge and fore-ordination, was also with the Father and the Son before times eternal. The fullest unveiling of the Church, which comes to us through the Apostle Paul, reveals it as already complete, but we know it to be a fact that it was in no sense completed when Paul wrote. It was not finished numerically, and it was anything but finished spiritually and morally, yet he speaks of it as though it were the most complete, the most perfect thing in the universe. He is standing, as it were, at God's side, and God views the Church from the eternal standpoint, that is, as outside of time.

      The Restoration of Heavenly Relationship

      Recognising, then, that Christ and the Church are revealed as being with the Father from all eternity, we next see that by reason of that which has taken place in the fall, and which was anticipated in the redemptive line of purpose, Christ comes into time, and is born in time in relation to redemption, and that redemption is said to be from "this present evil age." The Authorised Version renders it "world", but the change is important. It is not from a place that we are redeemed, but from an age, and it is perfectly clear what that age is. It embraces all the intermediary sections or dispensations. The present evil age runs from Adam to the new heavens and the new earth. There is a coming glorious age. To be redeemed out of this present evil age, means that the Church, which belongs to eternity and not to this age, is to be redeemed out of it. It shows how Christ, by redemption, brings back into the straight line of what is eternal and outside of time, into the eternal counsels and purposes of God concerning His Son. By the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, which is a redemption from this evil age, the Church is redeemed unto that other age, that eternal age. So the birth of Christ is related to the redemption of the purchased possession, the redemption of the Church.

      Coming to John, firstly with regard to Christ's entry into time, we find that John has three things to say about Christ.

      (1) John sets Christ in eternity.

      "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). That is Christ outside of time.

      (2) He shows Christ's coming into time.

      "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us..." (John 1:14).

      (3) Christ is revealed as being also in heaven while here.

      This third thing which is stated in John's Gospel is declared by the Lord Himself, and combines both of the other two things. The Son, who is here in the flesh, is at the same time in heaven. There is the uniting of the two spheres. While He is here, He is still in heaven; while He is in time, He is still in eternity. "No man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven" (John 3:13). That is the Heavenly Man as presented to us by John; Christ on earth, and at the same time still in heaven.

      Now, in Christ, that becomes true of the Church, and is true of every member of the Church. In Christ we are here, and at the same time in heaven. We are in time, but we are also in eternity. The question arises, how can this be? It is a statement which needs explaining.

 This brings us to the point where eternal and heavenly relationship is resumed. That relationship was broken off, interrupted. In Christ, as representative Man, it is resumed, taken up again. With Him it has never been interrupted. The interruption had to do with man, but through union with Christ that relationship - howbeit in a fuller way - is resumed, or restored to man. What is the point at which this resumption takes place? It is what is known amongst us as being born anew, or from above. Its law and its main spring is eternal life.

      Israel and the Promises

      Two things were evidently related in the Jewish mind. These were (1) The kingdom of heaven, and (2) Eternal life. Nicodemus asked what he must do to enter the kingdom of heaven. Another ruler, probably of the same school as Nicodemus, and perhaps of the same rank, asked this question: "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25). These things were evidently accepted by the Jews as a promise. The Lord Jesus recognised and referred to that expectation when He said, "Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life..." (John 5:39). There was a quest for eternal life, an expectation, a hope of eternal life, a persuasion that eternal life was a promise to be realised. These two things were linked together in their mind. Christ associates this hope with Himself and says concerning the testimony of the Scriptures, "...these are they which bear witness of me." To such as can receive it, He indicates that He Himself is the way or ladder into heaven, the necessary means of getting there. We are, of course, referring to John 1:51. Now read verse 47:

      "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"

      Here is a pure Israelite. What can you say to a pure Israelite who is looking for the kingdom of heaven and eternal life, a man who is true, a man who is honest? The Lord has seen him under the fig tree, really pouring himself out in quest of the kingdom of heaven and eternal life, if what the Lord Jesus said to him is a clue to what was going on in his heart. He was of those who looked for the blessings of Israel.

Let us pause for a moment, and insert Psalm 133 here in brackets. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! ...for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." How does the blessing come? Whence is this hope, this expectation of the blessing? Our question takes us back to the promise made to Abraham: "...in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3). These Israelites were looking for the blessing of Abraham. But note what is further said: "...in Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Gen. 21:12). What does Isaac represent? Life from the dead, Divine life. The blessing of Abraham is life. Now note the words of the psalm: "...for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore". So you see that what they were in quest of was the blessing which had these two aspects, the kingdom of heaven, and eternal life.

      In Nathanael we see an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile, a pure man in a right quest. The Lord says to a man like that, "Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." Are you in quest for the kingdom of heaven? "Ye shall see the heaven opened..." Are you wanting to get through? You will need a ladder, a way, a means, a vehicle: "Ye shall see... the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

      Nathanael knew exactly to what the Lord was referring. An Israelite indeed, in whom there was no Jacob, was Nathanael! Let us recall the incident to which the Lord referred. "And Jacob... lighted upon a certain place... and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said... I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest... And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said... How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" (Gen. 28:10-17) - Bethel, the House of God: the House of God, the gate of heaven. The Lord Jesus appropriates that and says, in effect: 'I am the House of God, I am the gate of heaven. Thou shalt see heaven open through Me.' Do you want to know how to reach heaven? Two things have to be considered; one is the fact of union with Christ, the other is that which is bound up with union with Christ, namely, eternal life.

      Man by Nature an Outlaw

      Let us stay with that for a moment. "Ye shall see the heaven opened..." Such a statement implies that the heavens have been closed. That, again, carries with it the fact that for man eternal life has also been put behind a closed heaven. Even for Nathanael, even for Nicodemus, even for a pure-hearted Israelite that is true by nature. Their longing is for an opened heaven. They are stretched out for the kingdom of heaven, but it is closed.

      We know quite well that to everyone by nature heaven is a closed realm. But a closed heaven is not God's thought for us. We belong to heaven. Christ belongs to heaven. The Church belongs to heaven. Yet the very place to which we belong is closed to us. The place with which we are related in the eternal counsels and purpose of God is closed to us by nature. That has its most terrible manifestation in those moments of the Cross, when the Lord Jesus, standing in the place of man in his sinful state, cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Heaven is closed to Me; the place to which I belong, My heaven, My home, is closed to Me! I am an outcast from heaven!

      Such is the state of man by nature, shut out from heaven, the place for which he was made, the place which belongs to him in the purpose of God. The Lord says to Nathanael, "Ye shall see the heaven opened". There is far more meaning in the phrase we so often use, "an open heaven", than we have recognised. What is it to enjoy an open heaven? It is to be at home, in fellowship with the Lord; it is to have a heavenly life; it is to have all the heavenly resources at our disposal; all that heaven means is open to us, and we have come into that for which God brought us into being, which He intended to be ours from all eternity; that is an opened heaven. "Ye shall see the heaven opened..." Then the quest of the heart is satisfied, the promise realised. The principle of the opened heaven, or of the heavenly life, is what is called eternal life in Christ. Christ is the Heavenly Man, coming into time.

      Christ and the Church

      We have said once or twice that the Church is to be what the Heavenly Man was, and is, as to His being, as to the laws of His life, as to His ministry. Everything that is true about Him as the Heavenly Man has to become true of the Church. Thus, even as the Lord Jesus, as the Heavenly Man, was born here in time, so also is the Church, the corporate Heavenly Man, to have a birth here in time, and on the same principle as Christ was born.

      How was Christ born? You will realise that we are leaving the question of Deity on one side. We are not touching that side at all. In the sense in which Christ was God incarnate, Immanuel, God with us, God manifest in the flesh, that is not true of us as members of the Church. That is understood. We are talking about the Heavenly Man, not of the Divine Son, not of Godhead. So that what is true of Him as the Heavenly Man as to His birth, has to be true of the whole Church in every part. Let us look at the birth of the Lord Jesus and mark how it is characterised by three things.

     

 (1) The Word Presented

      We go back to Luke, for Luke enlarges upon what John says. John compasses it all in one statement: "And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us..." It is Luke who gives us the fullest description of the Word being made flesh, the birth of Christ. We will not read the whole story, but we mark first of all how that the angel went to Mary, and began to present Mary with a statement. He made his statement to her, and then waited. In her perplexity she asked a question. He answered her question, and again waited. Then, came the response: "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38). First of all the word offered: that is the first step in His birth, the word presented, the statement made. Then the angel waited. What are you going to do with it? How are you going to react to it? The word presents a challenge, always a costly challenge. That word is going to lead outside of the world, and is to bring the liberty of the world. Mary weighs the cost while the angel waits. The battle is fought, the storm for a moment rages, and then it is over, and in calm deliberateness, she responds, "...be it unto me according to thy word."

      Do you see what it means to be begotten of the word of God? The first step in this new birth, the first step into this heavenly life, is our attitude toward the presented word of God, and that will be found to govern every step in the heavenly life. Such is the nature of the first step, and it is equally that of every subsequent step. All the way through the Lord will be presenting us with His word, and with it a challenge, a cost, a price to be paid, and there will be conflict over it: Are we prepared to go that way? Are we prepared to accept that word? Are we prepared for what that word means, for what it involves? On the response to what is presented depends our knowledge of the heavenly life. From beginning to end it is like that.

      That is why the Lord never first explains everything to unsaved people. Doctrine followed for believers, but was never given for unbelievers. Clear, concise statements were made to unbelievers. To them there was a presenting of facts, boldly and deliberately. 'This is God's will. This is God's word. This you must do. Explanation will come later. Now, heaven is going to remain closed, or is going to be opened; the question of your entry into a heavenly life lies in the balance as you decide what is to be your response to God's word. You will be born of that word, if you respond to it, begotten by the word of truth'. So the first thing is the word offered, and then, after some difficulty and conflict, accepted, received, surrendered to: "...be it unto me according to thy word."

      (2) The Word Germinating

      What is the next step? The Spirit makes the word to germinate within. The Spirit generates within by means of the word. That is the second thing to be noted in the case of Mary, the Spirit generating, or implanting. Not until the word has found a response can that word become a living thing within. That is why an unsaved person can never know the meaning of the Word of God. The meaning of any word of God demands the inward work of the Holy Spirit to make it live, to make it germinate, and response to it opens the way for the Spirit.

      (3) The Word (Christ) Formed Within Initially and Progressively

      That is the third step. It is very simple when presented like that, but this is the way into heaven, into eternal life. Mark you, this is something other than of Mary, her race, and her nature. By the Holy Spirit there was a complete coming in between all that Mary was by nature and that Holy Thing. It is a very important matter, moreover, for us to recognise that in exactly the same way are we born anew. When Christ was born of Mary, or when Christ was (may we use the word?) generated in Mary, there took place in Mary something that was altogether above nature. Mary had a long natural lineage, and in that lineage there were all sorts of people, including several harlots. But when the Holy Spirit came in and formed Christ in her, He set all that aside and cut it off. That blood did not come into Christ. Remember that! He did not inherit aught of that, whatever it was, whether high or low, good or bad. The Holy Spirit cut it off, and Christ was something other than that, distinct: "...that holy thing...". You can never say that of anything that is inherited of the blood of Rahab, or of Ruth the Moabitess. It is something other.

      Christ in us is something other than ourselves. That is what makes us heavenly. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. That is our natural stream, our natural history, the whole course of our Adamic relationship, which cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. It is only what is of Christ that will inherit the kingdom of heaven. It is Christ in us who is to us the hope of glory, and the only hope of glory. This is something other than of Mary, and her race and nature, something other than of ourselves. This which is begotten of God is of the Holy Ghost. You and I ever need to discriminate between what is of Christ in us and what is of ourselves, and not to get these things mixed. Nothing that is not of Christ is going to find acceptance. Everything has to measure up to Christ, to pass through the sieve of Christ, and the sieve is a very fine one; for everything has to go through the test of death, and death is a tremendous test. Is there anything that death can lay hold of? If there is, it will lay hold of it. All that is subject to death will succumb to death, and this old creation is nothing else but that. Christ is not subject to death; He cannot be holden of it, for there is nothing in Him upon which death can fasten. That is our hope of glory, Christ in us. This Holy Ghost dividing between Mary and Christ, between ourselves and Christ, this fundamental division made by the Holy Ghost, must be kept constantly in mind, for only as we do that can God reach His end. Mark you, God can reach His end far more rapidly where that discrimination is maintained, than He can where it is overlooked. That is the importance of believers being instructed of the Lord concerning that which is essential unto His purpose.

      Christ was other than the rest of men in that respect. Even from childhood He had another consciousness, as we have occasion to note when He is at the age of twelve. Not finding Him in their company, His earthly parents sought Him, and found Him in the temple, and claimed Him as son: "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing." To this He replied, "...wist ye not that I must be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:48-49). It is a reproof, but at the same time a disclosure of another consciousness. "Thy father and I..." - "...my Father's house..." That is not Joseph's house. Here is the setting of one Father over against the other, and of the One above the other. It is a heavenly consciousness, an eternal consciousness, a mark that He is "other", as begotten of the Holy Ghost.

      When, begotten of the Holy Ghost, we come at once back into our eternal relationship with God in the Son, a new consciousness springs up within us, a consciousness that was not there before. This "new man" which has been put on, has a new consciousness as to heavenly relationships.

      All that is embraced in the words "eternal life". We know that eternal life does not merely imply the fact of duration; it means a kind of life. That eternal life, that life from above, that Divine life in Christ, carries with it all that relates to the Heavenly Man.

      

Consider the Heavenly Man personally again. "In him was life..."; "For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself..." (John 5:26). In the Gospel by John, the Lord Jesus says much about Himself as the Heavenly Man, possessing heavenly life, and that heavenly life was the seat of the heavenly nature and the heavenly consciousness; it was through that heavenly life that He conducted Himself as He did. He was alive unto God by that life which He possessed, and this is seen in His being able to know God, to know the movements of God, the directions of God, the gestures of God, the restraints of God. It was all gathered up in that life. That is the principle of His life as of His birth. It is the principle of our birth, and alike the principle of our life as the corporate Heavenly Man.

      The Gift of the Holy Spirit

      That life is by the Holy Spirit. It is always related to a Person; it is not an abstract, a mere element. It is inseparable from the Person, which Person is the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. When you come to the book of the Acts, you have a great deal disclosed about the gift of the Holy Spirit. If you look at it closely you will see that the coming of the Holy Spirit was invariably related to spiritual union with Christ. Pentecost marked the end of a physical relationship with the Lord Jesus as in the flesh, the end of that extraordinary period of His post-resurrection appearances. It is the beginning of an inward, spiritual relationship with Christ. We may mark the same feature at Caesarea; they believed, and the Holy Spirit was given. At Samaria, again, hands were laid upon those who had believed, and the Holy Spirit was given. And one of the most interesting things in the book of the Acts is that incident at Ephesus. When Paul came to Ephesus, he found certain disciples, and discerned something unusual in their condition, or was it something lacking? To them he says, "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" (Acts 19:2. R.V.). That is the correct translation, not "since ye believed" as in the Authorised Version. That in itself assumes that believing implies the receiving of the Spirit. The two things go together. Paul could not quite understand this situation. It was something abnormal. 

Here were those who professed to believe in Christ, and who in a way had believed in Christ, but that which should go alongside of true faith was not there. Paul found himself confronted by a condition he had never met with before, and on his putting to them the question, "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" they made answer, "Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Ghost was..." So Paul further inquires, "Into what then were ye baptized?" to which they replied, "Into John's baptism." Ah! Now we have the clue. "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Jesus". So they had been baptized into John's baptism, unto an objective, future Christ; not baptized into Christ, but baptized toward Christ. Those are two different baptisms altogether. Paul commanded them to be baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus, laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Ghost was given. Those two things go together. Union with Christ is shown to involve the receiving of the Spirit. That is not intended by the Lord to be something later on in the spiritual life; it should mark the commencement.

      If in the book of the Acts there are particular elements which throw up the whole matter into such clear relief, such as accompanying signs, those signs were only the Lord's way of emphasising for all the dispensation what it means, that union with Christ involves the receiving of the Holy Spirit. How do you know? Well, He has shown it to this dispensation by bringing it out into clear relief in that way. He has laid it down so that no one can fail to see it. If you become occupied with the signs (tongues etc.), but miss their signification, you will fail to see that those outward marks, those demonstrations, were only allowed as accompaniments, in order to emphasise the basic truth, namely, that union with Christ was now established. The gift of the Holy Spirit was the seal and proof of this. On what ground? By believing in Christ, by being baptized into Christ, eternal life is received in the Holy Spirit. And that life has heavenly capacities, within it are the powers of the age to come; and when in the ages to come its powers are fully released, we shall be endued with powers which far transcend our present powers. 

The age to come has been foreshadowed in tokens at the beginning. It may be that from time to time those powers are made manifest in the healing of the sick even now, but let us not fasten upon those tokens and make a doctrine of token and signs, begin to gather them up and systematise them, and make them the object of our quest. Let us remember that they are the token of something else, and you can have the "something else" apart from the tokens. When in truth you are baptized into Christ, you receive the Spirit of life in Christ, and in that life you are at once brought back into your heavenly relationship with the Heavenly Man; you become part of the corporate Heavenly Man.

      It is what Christ is in us by His Spirit that determines everything. It determines all the values, settles for ever the question of effectiveness, answers all the questions and problems. I wish we had had this understanding, this knowledge sooner. If only we could have this as the foundation of our life from the beginning, what a lot we should be saved from.

      Ministry is the expression of life, and not the taking on of a uniform and a title. Once I thought that to be in the ministry was to go into a certain kind of work, to come out of business, and, well, be a minister! So one got into the thing. Many, many are labouring and toiling in it, breaking their hearts, afraid to leave that order of things, lest they should be violating what they conceived to be a Divine call. Many others cannot get out of it because it is a means of livelihood, and they too are breaking their hearts. It is all false. Ministry is not a system like that. Ministry is the expression of life, and that is but saying in other words that it is the outworking of the indwelling of Christ. Disaster lies before the man or woman who ministers on any other ground than that. When the Lord gets a chance in us, and we really will trust Him on that ground, take our position there, He will show us that there is ministry enough for us; we shall not have to go round looking for it. The real labour so often is to get us down to that ground, the delivering of us from this present evil age even in its conception of the ministry, unto the heavenly ministry.

      The Lord Jesus is our pattern. You see the spontaneous ministry, the restful ministry of that Heavenly Man. I covet that! It does not mean that we shall become careless, but it does deliver us from so much unnecessary strain. That is how it should be. May the Lord bring us to it; the Heavenly Man with the heavenly life as the full heavenly resource.

In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks' wishes that what was freely received should be freely given, his writings are not copyrighted. Therefore, we ask if you choose to share them with others, please respect his wishes and offer them freely - free of changes, free of charge and free of copyright.

Heavenly Ground

By J.B. Stoney


The great failure of the church was giving up Paul. "All... in Asia" did not give up evangelical truth but they gave up Paul; anything popular you may have, but not Paul. Why? Because he is heavenly.

Colossians 2:20 is "over Jordan." In Romans (6:1-11), [you are] "dead to sin "- dead with Christ - out of the man; but in Colossians you are out of the place where the man is. Gilgal is the actual spot: all of man goes. Many understand Marah (Exodus 15:23-26) who do not understand Gilgal (Joshua 5:2-12). Marah is that I refuse the thing that would draw me from the wilderness. In Gilgal you drop it all: it is cut off, and cannot be resumed.

The children of Israel ate the Passover when they got over Jordan, and the day after they ate the old corn of the land! That Passover was a type of the Lord's Supper in which I can say, I have reached the consummation of His accomplished work; I begin a new day, and I eat the old corn of the land.

What has hindered souls from understanding the mystery is that they are not consciously on heavenly ground. No man gets clear of the intrusion of the flesh until he gets to Gilgal. We ought to be able to say to every offer of the flesh, I do not want your learning, I do not want your sanctimoniousness, I want nothing but Christ, for I am "complete in him" and He is everything and in all. I am looking [down].

You know very little about a person if you only know what he was, and not what he is; and that is the difference between the manna and the old corn of the land.

There is nothing a man so revolts from naturally than to see that this scene is gone. But though this scene is gone for me I am supported down here by supplies from the place where my Lord has gone. By the Holy Spirit I walk the path He has trod to the place where He has gone; where He is. There are many who have for a moment tasted it; and I would ask, Had you your relatives, your property, there? No, I had only the Lord. And were you happy without them? Perfectly so!

There are many in heart over Jordan who have never accepted it. Your acceptance of the new place necessitates dropping everything connected with the old place. Like a recruit brought to the barrack gate; he drops the old, the civilian, to get the new. The apostle said when he was caught up into the third heaven, he did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body.

They say that a man in a balloon loses first the sense of feeling, then the sight of things below, then his hearing, and lastly consciousness. You do not get the right idea of sanctification until you come to this. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul has come down from the place where he did not know whether he was in the body, and now he will have a crippled body. The more I understand the exaltation, the more I shall be crippled here.

Once you separate the [assembly] from the gospel, [you are] prepared for any departure, human subsidy, and carnal support of any kind. I have no doubt Laodicea springs out of this (carrying on christian things without Christ). How often the evangelist deplores the state of his converts: your converts are the pattern of yourself. No one ever understood the gospel thoroughly that did not understand the [assembly].

I never saw the brother who left the heavenly ground who did not become Babylonish - not Egyptian, for Egypt is the gross world, but Babylon is the refined, or if you will, aesthetic world.

Laodicea is christian religion without Christ Himself. Do not give up the heavenly side! Do not give up Paul! Do not be ashamed of "the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner."

Have You the Vision?

Truths that Transfigure: Sermon 4:


By George Kulp


Isaiah 6:1 -- "I saw the Lord."


In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.

Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Isa. 6:1-8.


I believe, firmly, that every soul really converted gets a vision of God, that is brought about by the Holy Spirit, for every really converted person is regenerated -- born of the Spirit.

I admit that man can see God in nature. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Every planet has been running on schedule time ever since worlds rolled from the fingers of Omnipotence -- never one for one moment a second behind time. I think that it was General Mitchell who said, 'The undevout astronomer is mad." And he further said, "If at any time any planet should be one half a minute behind time consternation would be found in all the observatories because men would fear that the arms of the Infinite had, grown weary." You can see God in nature. We have the seasons, and the day, and the night in accordance with the divine plan.

We can see God not only in nature, we can see God in history: "His footsteps down the centuries beat one eternal rhyme." It may be only here and there that you can see His imprints, but we know that God is moving. Nations have their judgments in this world. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. God has been calling the nations to account. The historian has yet to record the history of any nation that has been true to God. God's own chosen people went away from Him and served other gods, built groves on every mountain top, worshipped idols before whom they bowed, forgetting the living God. They had their judgment, they had their captivity, and at last they were so lost that men today speak of them as "the lost tribes," and the rest of them are scattered and peeled, and dwelling as strangers in the midst of almost every nation that has a name.

You can see God in nature; you can see God in history; you can see God in His providences. Every need of man has been supplied; God has made provision for us. God made wool on the back of the sheep, so that you and I may be clothed; God put enough wood in the forests and enough stones in the ground so that you and I might have homes, every family a dwelling place. He placed the oil so that we could have light and heat; He placed the coal that we might be comfortable with heat and stand the ravages of the zero weather. God placed the gold and silver, that you and I might have the wherewithal to purchase the things that are necessary to our welfare. The providences of God made provision for every son and daughter of Adam. Men have cornered oil. A few men own the coal mines, and the gold mines. Five thousand people in the United States own the great majority of the wealth, but it is all contrary to the will of God. God said that the earth was His, and He made provision in His providences for you and me, and you can read it as you would read . the pages of history. I do not wonder that God has said in His Word, "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?"

You can see God not only in nature, in history, and in His providences, but you can see God in His Word. I believe that an unsaved man with ordinary common sense, and intelligence, can see God in His Word. It gives us the mind of God, gives us the thought of God; shows us the heart of God. I get my ideas of my Christ from the Word. I do not have to read Sheldon in order to find out what God would do; I take down that old Bible and find what He did do, and I know He is the same, yesterday and forever. If a blind man were lying by the roadside, and Christ passed by, and that blind beggar should cry after Him, I know that my Christ would stop and help him, though on His way to make another world. I know the heart of God by the teaching of that Book.

We can see God in nature, in history, in providences, in the Word, and we can see God in Christ. Now we are getting a revelation of the character of God. You cannot find forgiveness in nature; nature NEVER forgives. It took the incarnation of love to teach us that God would forgive. Philip said, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." And Jesus said (I imagine His heart was almost breaking. He had been with them three years, and such a question as that from those who had walked with Him, and seen His miracles), "Sayest thou unto me, Show us the Father? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also." God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. God commendeth His love toward us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

Every person needs to get a vision of God. You can never be what God wants you to be until you have seen the King. You can never get the thought that God wants to fill you with until you get a vision of Himself, and He withholds it from no man. You are never equipped for service, never effective for service, until you have had the vision. You will never be in God's hands. plastic and passive, until you have had the vision. Men have talked about the first heaven and the second heaven, and the third heaven to which th Apostle was lifted, but it took a man who had a vision to get a better thought of God. He lay down by the side of an old oak, pillowed his head on a stone, and had the sands of Arabia for his couch, had the blue sky for his covering; but while he slept he saw a ladder, the topmost round hard by the throne of Infinite love, and the lowest round where he could put his foot on it, am he saw the angels ascending and descending upon it. And when he awoke in the morning, the man knew as he never had known before that heaven was not very far off. Say, beloved, that ladder was a type of Jesus Christ, and He brings heaven not only near man, but puts it inside of him.

Listen, beloved, men are only effective for service as they get the vision. God wanted a man and He showed him a bush on fire. This man had a staff in his hands; he was attending to his flocks. God never gives visions to lazy folks. This man said, "I will go and see what this means;" and, when he came near, God spoke and said, "Moses (God knows our names) take thy shoes from off thy feet, for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground." And then He gave him the message, "I want you to go and talk for Me." You have to get the vision of the King before you can talk effectively.

THE UNWEARYING GOD

THE UNWEARYING GOD
J. Alec Motyer

"Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? the
everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of
the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary" Isaiah 40:28

WHEN Hezekiah appealed to God in his sickness, he was given a direct promise of life for another fifteen years and a gratuitous promise, an added bonus, "... and I will defend this city" (Isaiah 38:6). The Lord then added a sign to seal this double promise. "So the sun returned ten steps on the dial of Ahaz." It was a most remarkable miracle. Nobody knows what this "dial" was, for the translation means "stairs" or "steps" but the interesting thing is that the God who had said to Ahaz: "Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, ask it either in the depth, or in the height above" (7:11) and found that Ahaz refused to comply, now Himself offered a sign from the heaven above which would be registered on the dial of that very king Ahaz. How wonderful are God's ways! It was on the dial of Ahaz that the backward movement of the sun gave the sign which confirmed His double promise to Hezekiah.

The first promise was that the king would get better; the second that God would defend the city. Zion needed no other strength than the strength of the Lord. Hezekiah was given great and precious promises. Then he had to face a challenge concerning them. Chapter 39 tells us how letters and a present were sent to the convalescent king. It was like bringing a bunch of grapes to a sick bed, but who, on receiving such a kindness, would totter off his invalid chair and say, "Please let me show you my bank balance"? Yet in effect that was what Hezekiah did: "He was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices and the precious oil, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house nor in all his dominions that Hezekiah showed them not" (39:2). This disparity in his receiving of sick-visitors and immediately showing them the strength of his country can best be explained by what we presume prompted the visit in the first place. When Hezekiah opened the packet with the bunch of grapes, he probably found inside a note from Merodach-baladan asking if he would be interested in a treaty, an alliance. This delighted Hezekiah; he felt that he must justify himself as a possible strong ally, so he took them on their tour of his kingdom.

Merodach-baladan was a conspirator. He planned to establish a kingdom in Babylon in the face of Assyrian opposition. It is now known historically that he built up Babylon so successfully that it provided a balance of power in Mesopotamia. He was an extremely successful rebel and desired to entice Hezekiah into his rebellion so that they might defy the great Assyrian empire, Israel's great enemy.

This overture faced Hezekiah with a challenge; where does the security of his kingdom belong? Should he rely on the way of faith, trusting in those promises given by the Lord (38:6) or should it be based on self-effort by means of collective strength with Chaldea? The Lord had said, "I will defend thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria." but now Merodach-baladan said, "I will defend you; we can link our armaments". The question arose as to whether Hezekiah would trust the promises of God or whether he would rely on his own efforts. He chose the latter, and in doing so he committed the unpardonable sin. [81/82]

Isaiah (who had not been consulted) came into this situation and demanded to know who these visitors were and where they came from. Hezekiah, deceived into the way of pride, replied that they had come all the way from Babylon just to honour him, admitting that he had been glad to receive them. The reply of Isaiah was devastating: "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days come, that all that is in thy house, and that which the fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall he carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord". It was as though God said, "You are glad to be associated with Babylon, are you? Very well, you and all that is yours shall go to Babylon. You want Babylon, do you? All right, then you shall have what you want." After all God's mercies to Hezekiah this was a tragic outcome. His attitude and actions brought doom to his people.

The Message of Comfort

So Chapter 39 finishes with a verdict of condemnation. But see what immediately follows in Chapter 40: "Comfort ye, Comfort ye my people, saith the Lord your God". As soon as the word of judgment has been spoken, the word of comfort follows. Here we find that we have an unwearying God. Even when His people commit the unpardonable sin of self-reliance, He does not give them up. At the heels of the message of wrath there comes the message of mercy. This is the truth which bridges Chapter 39 and Chapter 40 and what follows.

Natural logic says that this must be from another man -- Deutero-Isaiah . Commentators argue that since the captivity was a hundred years away in the future, there would be a sense of unreality in calling for a word of comfort which would only find its fulfillment in the release from captivity which took place a hundred and fifty years after Isaiah. They therefore argue that Chapters 40 to 66 cannot come from the same man who wrote the first thirty-nine chapters of the book. But Isaiah was a prophet. He was only doing his job. There is no need for us to pay attention to such commentators.

In any case at this very time Babylon was obviously a current possibility. What is more, Isaiah said nothing about a lapse of time. As we look back, we can observe the long interval between Hezekiah's days and those of the return from Babylon, but that was nothing to God or to His message of comfort which was valid enough at the time. God gave the word of comfort as soon as He had uttered the word of wrath. That is what He is like: He is full of grace. In our case the trial may be fully deserved, as it here was, but God still commands comfort. He never wearies in being merciful.

This same truth applies in the comfort which comes to us all in the promise of the Coming Again of the Lord Jesus. It could be argued that it was futile for the Lord Jesus to offer comfort to His disciples by telling them not to worry for after some two thousand years He would be returning: "Let not your heart be troubled ... if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself" (John 14:13), but we know that this is a false argument for, throughout the centuries, His saints have been greatly comforted by the expectation of His Return. He said nothing about two thousand years; He simply said that He would return -- and He will! What is significant about His words is that He spoke a warning. "I am going away" and with the same breath He spoke the words of comfort, "I will come back again". We can be far too clever in our natural reasoning. The comfort is real, and the guarantee of the promises are found in the Promiser.

The Guarantor of the Comfort

Isaiah goes on to describe to us who it is who gives this comfort. He is the Unlimited God.

i. He is the Creator of all (40:12-26)

God operates on a worldwide scale. And there is no other God, so that what He says is bound to happen, for there is no-one to stop Him. From this truth we draw the conclusion (vv.27-31): "He gives power to the faint: and to him that has no might he increases strength". He is not going to forget you. You can never be so far away that He cannot help you. So just wait for Him!

ii. He is the Ruler of all (41:1-4)

Everything is under His control. He calls the stars by name (40:26) and He calls the conqueror [82/83] by name (41:2). Even the greatest conqueror comes on his way only because the Lord has called him to do so.

iii. He is always Sufficient (41:21 - 46:13)

We might have a problem concerning the concern of such a great God for the larger part of the world which He has created. Is He only concerned for Israel? No, the answer is that He meets the world's need as well as meeting Israel's need. "He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles", and "the isles shall wait for his law" (42:1 & 4). Our God is not only the Unwearied God but is also the Unlimited God.

The Agent of the Comfort

Israel had two areas of need, the circumstantial or political and the spiritual. In both cases God had His agent for providing for these needs, and in both cases they are called His servants.

i. Israel's political need

They were an enslaved people, needing to be released from captivity: "This is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for a prey, and none delivereth: for a spoil, and none saith, Restore" (42:22). God had a promise of release for them in their circumstantial need and an agent through whom His resources would be ministered: "For your sakes I have sent to Babylon ..." (43:14).

JONAH'S PSALM

Jonah and the whale

*******

ON THE WAY UP (18)

JONAH'S PSALM
(Chapter 2)

NOBODY knows who wrote Jonah's story. If the book is autobiographical then he was a disarmingly frank man about himself and his faults. As the story is factual it is written in prose form.

THE second chapter, however, is a poem or psalm, and this is certainly autobiographical. It could not be otherwise. When Jonah found himself safe again on dry land, he clearly felt that in no other way could his feelings be expressed. It required the graphic form of poetry to portray the horror and drama of his experience in the fish and to set the scene for the amazing deliverance which came to him.

MY readers may regard this chapter as an unlikely climax to the series of those who sang "on the way up", but I must confess that this has always been a favourite Scripture to me. It provides a powerful remedy in all times of doubt or depression. If reveals three facts for every troubled saint.

THE first is that however unworthy a believer may feel himself to be, he will never be forgotten. Jonah may have been ignored by the Jewish rulers (John 7:52) but he was singled out for mention by Jesus (Matthew 12:41). He was a somewhat despicable character, petulant even in the moment of success, but God never forsook him. I, too, am encouraged to believe that in spite of everything, I am loved with an everlasting love.

THE second comforting truth to be found in this chapter is that however far from God a man may be, he can still know that God hears his cry. Jonah did not need to make a long journey to Tarshish to put distance between himself and the Lord; in a matter of a moment he went "down to the bottom of the mountains" and the "the earth with her bars" closed upon him.

WHEN you are so far from God -- or at least feel that you are -- what can you do? Jonah tells us that you can pray. And he assures us triumphantly that although God's holy temple may seem to be distant, it is in fact near enough for prayer to get right through to His throne. Thank God for that! He is near to all who call upon Him in truth.

THERE follows the third great truth, which is that however profound the depths of one's need, a word from God will lift up to safety. Jonah knew very well that he was in those depths as a result of his own folly. He classed himself with those who by regarding the lying vanities of self-will forsake their own mercy. Happily that could be put right. The Lord is greater than our hearts. Jonah's awakened conscience and renewed faith met with an immediate response from God. "Salvation is of the Lord", he tells me. Salvation which can be extended to the most undeserving; salvation which can extricate from the most impossible situation; salvation even for me!

JONAH forfeited his passage money and he lost his luggage, but he gained a new knowledge of the rich grace of God. It seems that this gave force to his saving message to Nineveh. His psalm brings a saving message to us now. In our self-loathing we can know ourselves loved. In our bewildering calamities we can still pray and be heard. In the face of hopeless circumstances we too can prove God's lifting power.

JONAH'S psalm helps us on our way up. He leaves us with the reminder that Salvation is of the Lord.

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