Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Not with Observation
By Burris A. Jenkins
Text.--"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation."--Luke 17:20.
There is a good deal of falsity in the old saw, "Seeing is believing." Some of the finest things we believe we never have seen, never can see. The kingdom of God is one of these.
The ancient Hebrews expected to see it and feel it and locate it and bound it. They hoped to behold it coming with all the pomp and majesty of the empire of David and Solomon. From what we know of the literature of that period immediately preceding the coming of the Messiah, all Israel was on tiptoe, eyes to the east, awaiting a restoration of their pristine, but now faded and shattered, glories. They were no doubt secretly armed and organized, awaiting that day. The fishermen of Galilee, the shepherds of Judea, the young sons of princely houses in Jerusalem, all with their chosen leaders, watchwords and standards, were only awaiting the signal for revolt. They would finally have taken Jesus by force and crowned him king. But, "My kingdom is not of this world."
The same spirit has always cropped out, more or less, in Christian history. The church has, once and again, thought to usher in the kingdom by violence and to measure its advent by visible manifestations. The Crusaders and the Round-head army of Puritan England, St. Bartholomew and the Gunpowder Plot, were but samples of this spirit. And so is every impulse of the church to measure the presence and success of the kingdom by the senses, by numbers, wealth, power, or any material manifestation whatsoever.
If we have come up to this Centennial in any pride of our visible system, our million and a quarter, our treasuries and foundations, our buildings and prestige, it will be worth our while to consider a moment the word of our Lord: [504] "The kingdom cometh not with observation."
Three things characterize these mistaken conceptions of the kingdom. They are material, they are negative, and they lead to despair.
1. Our age is considerably affected by materialism. Men are accustomed to count success by size, mass, wealth, numbers and noise. The successful man is the man who makes things go--things, mark you! And the church, like all the rest, is infected with the microbe of materialism. When we see a great crowd and a great noise, a shouting and a hullabaloo, we are tempted to cry out, "Hosanna! the kingdom is at hand!"
Mark Twain tells us how an old Southern Negro first saw a Mississippi steamer plowing round a bend in the river; how the old uncle took it for God as he saw the rolling smoke and flying sparks, heard the mighty coughing of the engines, and felt the very throb and pulsations of the steam; how the old man fell on his knees on the river cliff and cried out, "Lord, have mercy! The kingdom am a-comin'!" That old black uncle was no more material in his conception of the kingdom than are we, if we measure its advent by the smoke and the noise we see and hear.
There are at least three kinds of churches in our cities, and perhaps even among us Disciples, that do violence to Jesus' notion of the kingdom. They may be termed the "Prosperous Church," the "Pyrotechnical Church," and the "Philosophical Church."
The prosperous church is gloriously built and appointed; under its high-vaulted dome rolls the splendid organ; through the delicate tracery of its art glass streams the softened light; through its cloistered arches ring the voices of its well-paid choir. The foot of the worshiper sinks deep into its noiseless carpeting. Its pews are luxuriously upholstered and induce repose. If one is materially successful in the commercial or social life of the city, he is sure of a high seat. If not, he takes his chance.
Text.--"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation."--Luke 17:20.
There is a good deal of falsity in the old saw, "Seeing is believing." Some of the finest things we believe we never have seen, never can see. The kingdom of God is one of these.
The ancient Hebrews expected to see it and feel it and locate it and bound it. They hoped to behold it coming with all the pomp and majesty of the empire of David and Solomon. From what we know of the literature of that period immediately preceding the coming of the Messiah, all Israel was on tiptoe, eyes to the east, awaiting a restoration of their pristine, but now faded and shattered, glories. They were no doubt secretly armed and organized, awaiting that day. The fishermen of Galilee, the shepherds of Judea, the young sons of princely houses in Jerusalem, all with their chosen leaders, watchwords and standards, were only awaiting the signal for revolt. They would finally have taken Jesus by force and crowned him king. But, "My kingdom is not of this world."
The same spirit has always cropped out, more or less, in Christian history. The church has, once and again, thought to usher in the kingdom by violence and to measure its advent by visible manifestations. The Crusaders and the Round-head army of Puritan England, St. Bartholomew and the Gunpowder Plot, were but samples of this spirit. And so is every impulse of the church to measure the presence and success of the kingdom by the senses, by numbers, wealth, power, or any material manifestation whatsoever.
If we have come up to this Centennial in any pride of our visible system, our million and a quarter, our treasuries and foundations, our buildings and prestige, it will be worth our while to consider a moment the word of our Lord: [504] "The kingdom cometh not with observation."
Three things characterize these mistaken conceptions of the kingdom. They are material, they are negative, and they lead to despair.
1. Our age is considerably affected by materialism. Men are accustomed to count success by size, mass, wealth, numbers and noise. The successful man is the man who makes things go--things, mark you! And the church, like all the rest, is infected with the microbe of materialism. When we see a great crowd and a great noise, a shouting and a hullabaloo, we are tempted to cry out, "Hosanna! the kingdom is at hand!"
Mark Twain tells us how an old Southern Negro first saw a Mississippi steamer plowing round a bend in the river; how the old uncle took it for God as he saw the rolling smoke and flying sparks, heard the mighty coughing of the engines, and felt the very throb and pulsations of the steam; how the old man fell on his knees on the river cliff and cried out, "Lord, have mercy! The kingdom am a-comin'!" That old black uncle was no more material in his conception of the kingdom than are we, if we measure its advent by the smoke and the noise we see and hear.
There are at least three kinds of churches in our cities, and perhaps even among us Disciples, that do violence to Jesus' notion of the kingdom. They may be termed the "Prosperous Church," the "Pyrotechnical Church," and the "Philosophical Church."
The prosperous church is gloriously built and appointed; under its high-vaulted dome rolls the splendid organ; through the delicate tracery of its art glass streams the softened light; through its cloistered arches ring the voices of its well-paid choir. The foot of the worshiper sinks deep into its noiseless carpeting. Its pews are luxuriously upholstered and induce repose. If one is materially successful in the commercial or social life of the city, he is sure of a high seat. If not, he takes his chance.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Death Of The Righteous
By John Owen
Preached July 1, 1681.
"The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." -- Isa. lvii. 1, 2.
This is a text that the providence of God hath severely preached on to this congregation. I cannot look before me, I cannot look behind me, but I see the footsteps of death. It hath been here, it hath been there, upon the right hand and upon the left. Sometimes God expounds the works of his providence by his word; and sometimes he expounds his word by the works of his providence. To suit the word of God and the works of God, as the one interprets the other, is the sum and substance of all our wisdom here in this world.
God doth at this day expound his works by his word. The world is full of confusion, full of tokens of God's displeasure, full of judgments, full of dread; yet the world understands nothing of all these. Bring these works of God to the word of God, and we shall understand them. We shall understand the world is full of sin and provocation, that God is displeased, that he is talking away rest from men, -- shaking every thing within and without. Those who know not the word of God understand nothing of these works, but are filled with a multitude of vain thoughts. He expounds his works by his word.
And sometimes God expounds his word by his works, as he doth this day. He expounds this text; so that in the works of God we may see the mind and sense of the Holy Ghost plainly, as in a glass. "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come."
The general truth in these words is this:-- That when God is bringing evils, distressing evils, upon a church, upon a people, in the ordinary way of his providence, he doth take away beforehand many of those who are most eminent and most useful. When in a particular manner "the righteous perisheth, and merciful men are taken away," it is a time when God is bringing evils certainly. So, when God was bringing evils upon Jerusalem and the land of Judah, Jer. xxiv., he gathered all the good figs, and laid them aside. Many of them died, some went into captivity; but all that were good and were to be restored, God gathered them out from among them; and then came the universal desolation. "The righteous perisheth." Josiah is an instance of this, whom some think the prophet (though long before) had a particular respect unto in this text: Josiah shall perish; he shall be taken away.' To what end? That I may bring evil,' saith God. Go thou thy way. Thou shalt perish, and be slain; yet thou shalt go unto thy grave in peace, that I may bring evil.' I have often spoken it myself, and beard others say, the taking away, the gathering in, as the word is, ("They shall be gathered"), of so many ministers, -- many of them in the fulness of their strength, and fulness of their labours, and best of their designs for God, -- has been a token that there was evil to come. And it is not only so as to ministers; but as to others in this congregation, in a most eminent manner, such as I have never had experience of in the whole course of my life; -- so many persons of holiness, worth, and usefulness, to be taken away, and gathered in out of one poor society in so short a time! That is the general scope of the place.
I shall a little open the words in particular.
It is a double description of the persons spoken of:-- 1. With reference to their state and condition before God; they are "righteous men:" 2. With respect unto their state and condition towards men; they are useful men, "merciful men," who are spoken of.
Preached July 1, 1681.
"The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." -- Isa. lvii. 1, 2.
This is a text that the providence of God hath severely preached on to this congregation. I cannot look before me, I cannot look behind me, but I see the footsteps of death. It hath been here, it hath been there, upon the right hand and upon the left. Sometimes God expounds the works of his providence by his word; and sometimes he expounds his word by the works of his providence. To suit the word of God and the works of God, as the one interprets the other, is the sum and substance of all our wisdom here in this world.
God doth at this day expound his works by his word. The world is full of confusion, full of tokens of God's displeasure, full of judgments, full of dread; yet the world understands nothing of all these. Bring these works of God to the word of God, and we shall understand them. We shall understand the world is full of sin and provocation, that God is displeased, that he is talking away rest from men, -- shaking every thing within and without. Those who know not the word of God understand nothing of these works, but are filled with a multitude of vain thoughts. He expounds his works by his word.
And sometimes God expounds his word by his works, as he doth this day. He expounds this text; so that in the works of God we may see the mind and sense of the Holy Ghost plainly, as in a glass. "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come."
The general truth in these words is this:-- That when God is bringing evils, distressing evils, upon a church, upon a people, in the ordinary way of his providence, he doth take away beforehand many of those who are most eminent and most useful. When in a particular manner "the righteous perisheth, and merciful men are taken away," it is a time when God is bringing evils certainly. So, when God was bringing evils upon Jerusalem and the land of Judah, Jer. xxiv., he gathered all the good figs, and laid them aside. Many of them died, some went into captivity; but all that were good and were to be restored, God gathered them out from among them; and then came the universal desolation. "The righteous perisheth." Josiah is an instance of this, whom some think the prophet (though long before) had a particular respect unto in this text: Josiah shall perish; he shall be taken away.' To what end? That I may bring evil,' saith God. Go thou thy way. Thou shalt perish, and be slain; yet thou shalt go unto thy grave in peace, that I may bring evil.' I have often spoken it myself, and beard others say, the taking away, the gathering in, as the word is, ("They shall be gathered"), of so many ministers, -- many of them in the fulness of their strength, and fulness of their labours, and best of their designs for God, -- has been a token that there was evil to come. And it is not only so as to ministers; but as to others in this congregation, in a most eminent manner, such as I have never had experience of in the whole course of my life; -- so many persons of holiness, worth, and usefulness, to be taken away, and gathered in out of one poor society in so short a time! That is the general scope of the place.
I shall a little open the words in particular.
It is a double description of the persons spoken of:-- 1. With reference to their state and condition before God; they are "righteous men:" 2. With respect unto their state and condition towards men; they are useful men, "merciful men," who are spoken of.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Remembering Law Enforcement Victims of Right-Wing Extremists
Excerpt
READ HERE:
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/05/12/end-of-watch-remembering-law-enforcement-victims-of-right-wing-extremists/
More law enforcement officers were killed last year by right-wing extremists than in any other year since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
READ HERE:
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/05/12/end-of-watch-remembering-law-enforcement-victims-of-right-wing-extremists/
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Ye Dragons And All Deeps!
(Praise)
Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.
He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent;
his glory is above the earth and heaven.
He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints;
even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 148
Was David in a good mood? I really don't think so. It wouldn't have mattered. David knew suffering. David knew His God. David knew how to address His God. It was with praise and thanks, first. David drives home the point that, in the midst of life in the crushing gloom, David saw the essence of his and our purpose here; The essence of the purpose of all life created by God through Jesus Christ. To give praise and glory to the God and Father of all.
How do "beasts and cattle", sun, moon and stars praise God? Simple, really, ...by living as they were created to live. The trees and grasses and flowers reach upward don't they? It is a physical manifestation of lifting up praise to the Creator. Just like some of us lift up our hands. A sign of worship and praise. Spiritually, we lift up our hearts. When we deviate from the Way of righteousness, we "rend" (tear) our hearts before God. We do not tear our garments, as was a sign of repentance, subservience and grief of old (2Sam:3:31). God requires our worship to come from our hearts, not our mouths (Joel:2:13 - M't:15:8).
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth,
and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me,
and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Isa:29:13
Is our praise of God "taught to us by the precept of men"? Is our "fear" of God choreographed by our "teachers"? Good question. Does our praise well up from deep within us without orchestration, prompting from the choir or by reason of feeling "good"? We do not "learn" to give our God praise but it comes naturally, as given, because of the infilling of His Spirit.
So after all the yelling and screaming, you'd think this preacher is only fixated on the ruin upon us. Well, think again. Even under fire, there should be praise given to our God. He's never told us otherwise. It separates the fair-weather "Christians" from the real ones. This ruin we are witnessing is God's reason to test our hearts again and again. If we can give God praise, pure and from the heart of Christ in us, when the roof blows off or when we're stuck on the unemployment line or when the wolves are slobbering at our shoes, then it is a truly pleasing offering to our God. If we be branches and God does the spiritual horticulture, then His fruit is indeed pure, righteous and well deserved by Him. That is why God planted His Vineyard. Uh huh.
Who are we going to blame for putting us here and putting us in these terrible days? The Dragon? I don't think so. Oh poor us eh? It better not be in our thoughts. Sad but true, we are the only branch of creation that has this sometimes "burdensome" gift of free will. When it is our will, by the mind of Christ in us, to praise God despite the circumstances, then this praise is a sweet smell to His "nostrils"; A sweet sound to His "ears". It puts the sun and stars to shame, Saints.
"I will have mercy, and not sacrifice..."
Sing and holler all you want. Fire up the praise band and dance in the aisles. Rock for Jesus. "Joyful noise" or not, is it coming from a pure heart toward God? The Heart of Christ? Or is it a ritual? I believe our God requires hearts for Him, not 12 bar progressions in the key of A Major. Actually, most don't sing well in A Major. Better, ...E Flat. Anyway, I'm not putting down the music of "churchland", just the motive for it.
Will the singing stop when the checks stop rolling in? When the church fails to make it's fiscal budget? When the "praise-pastor" has to find another job? Will the praise words from our lips cease when the foreclosure sign is hung on our property? When the boss tells us we're no longer needed at the job? This is the "test" Saints. The test of David, if you will. David was a man after God's own heart because of his desire for God and God's gift of His Spirit. Is that our hearts today? For God?
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ ushered in the age of the Spirit, within those called out by God. Not righteousness by works. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ made the temple rites obsolete. No more blood. Hearts! "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith"? (Gal:3:2) No more blood Saints. Hearts, spirits. "no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident..." (Gal:3:11) We give God more substantial praise through our hearts, if they be right, than we do in any other form. Why? Jesus Christ, that's why. God's will and plan. Or have we too, stopped short like the "bewitched" Galatians? Our "works" should be of Jesus Christ not our design. Our works manifest our hearts, don't they?
And whether the "natural man" cares to admit it, he too, as all God's creation, gives praise by being just what he or she was created for. Even them that sin were planned by God. And even this gives God praise. Swallow hard but think about this.
It is the heart, the individual heart, that God listens to and judges. And everyone's got one. God's "ears" are discerning and He knows the heart (Heb:4:12). God also knows who resides in our hearts. Christ or anti-Christ.
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just;
because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Joh:5:30
What is in your hearts today, Saints? Are we the only created thing which metes out praise contingent upon our well being? God's creation WILL give Him praise despite the "human" contingent. Jesus Christ sought not his own will. And us? Well, IF the Spirit of Jesus Christ lives in His Saints, then the answer is obvious. It's still a choice, too.
When you're down to your last can of beans, praise and thank your Father first. Then ask Him to mercifully supply you with more. Consider what you have as sufficient. God will not deny His children.
When you're out in the parking lot with a pink slip in your hand, Praise God first. Thank Him for sustaining you all these years with a paycheck and feeding you and/or your family. Then ask Him, if it is His will, to give you another job. Remember that your job is also a gift of God and it is not to be thought that it is you by your own means, hooks or crooks, that you "survive". Big mistake Saints.
We mustn't be afraid if we are not given something when we think we must have it either! God's people in the wilderness had that same problem and what did it get them? What I'm aiming at is this..., Some of us have the middle of the fence dug so deep between our legs that we cannot even discern when we are in rebellion, unsatisfied and grumbling; When we're reaching over to the steering wheel! Have we come to do the will of the Father like the Master we profess to follow and emulate? Have we trust in God our Father? Or do we still do our own will when the wind's not blowing quite right?
Our praises will be shallow, hollow and cold. Our praises will become a judgment upon us if we are not sincere and grounded in our roles as servant and priests of ONE master! Need I say, "think about it"?
Let's take a look at the sun, moon and stars. At the mountains, beasts and creeping things. The dragons and deeps. They are right where God the Creator placed them and they give Him glory because they do not fight His will, nor 'think' of themselves as anything more than what they'd been made to be. Mankind is included here also. We were made of the same "stuff". But we were given His Spirit! We live, not only on the earth but also in the heavenlies, through Jesus Christ. That should make them dragons jealous, if you ask me. Why doesn't it? Because Creation is doing exactly what God had ordained it to do.
And are we fearful ingrates, given the gift of the Holy Spirit, acting as we were ordained to act? THAT is a mighty deep question in relation to God's Sovereignty. But simply put, either we serve one master and fear, or we serve the other Master and live in peace and praise of the Father who called a few to live the life of His Son and find real Life at the end of their journeys.
Give God praise that you are given to see His mighty works! That He keeps His promises. Give Him praise that He loves His own so much that He spares not the rod of chastisement. God is why we praise Him! We were made for this. And by the blood of Jesus Christ, we can enter in to His Holy Place. We can exercise our freedom in Christ! No blood, incense, libation, song or "laws" can ever match what comes forth from the depths of the heart of Christ within us. A direct line to the "ear" of the Father. It's faster than priority mail folks. It is not a "formula" for prosperity! It is part of our "reasonable" service!
Don't be "upstaged" by dragons and deeps Saints. Walk as Christ walked. Be a pleasing sacrifice to our God. There should be no room in your hearts for you. Just Jesus. We are not only being conformed into His image but we have HIS heart and mind (1Cor:2:16). Think about that. What is Christ's mind? Obedient, surrendered and loving toward His Father. Wanting nothing for Himself, only that the Father be pleased. The simplicity which is Christ. It that us?
I do pray that we might see, that the underlying theme of this little message is still and always, humility. And humility goes a long way in "narrowing" the way for us. Can't stress that enough. And don't think that I am a pinnacle of righteousness, Saints. I fall too. And that is precisely why I wanted to share this with you.
Hey, lots of question marks in this article, I agree. But let's examine ourselves here, shall we? Oops, there's another one. Be strong and take comfort in your Refuge, Saints. If your hearts are upon His Kingdom and His Righteousness, then He will supply. What you "have" doesn't matter. WHO you have, does. We are in tribulation. We are told to watch. We are told to pray. What do we pray for...? And why...?
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverb:3:6
Shields up. Keep to the Road.
http://www.theremnantcafe.org/articles/yedragons.htm
Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.
He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent;
his glory is above the earth and heaven.
He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints;
even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 148
Was David in a good mood? I really don't think so. It wouldn't have mattered. David knew suffering. David knew His God. David knew how to address His God. It was with praise and thanks, first. David drives home the point that, in the midst of life in the crushing gloom, David saw the essence of his and our purpose here; The essence of the purpose of all life created by God through Jesus Christ. To give praise and glory to the God and Father of all.
How do "beasts and cattle", sun, moon and stars praise God? Simple, really, ...by living as they were created to live. The trees and grasses and flowers reach upward don't they? It is a physical manifestation of lifting up praise to the Creator. Just like some of us lift up our hands. A sign of worship and praise. Spiritually, we lift up our hearts. When we deviate from the Way of righteousness, we "rend" (tear) our hearts before God. We do not tear our garments, as was a sign of repentance, subservience and grief of old (2Sam:3:31). God requires our worship to come from our hearts, not our mouths (Joel:2:13 - M't:15:8).
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth,
and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me,
and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Isa:29:13
Is our praise of God "taught to us by the precept of men"? Is our "fear" of God choreographed by our "teachers"? Good question. Does our praise well up from deep within us without orchestration, prompting from the choir or by reason of feeling "good"? We do not "learn" to give our God praise but it comes naturally, as given, because of the infilling of His Spirit.
So after all the yelling and screaming, you'd think this preacher is only fixated on the ruin upon us. Well, think again. Even under fire, there should be praise given to our God. He's never told us otherwise. It separates the fair-weather "Christians" from the real ones. This ruin we are witnessing is God's reason to test our hearts again and again. If we can give God praise, pure and from the heart of Christ in us, when the roof blows off or when we're stuck on the unemployment line or when the wolves are slobbering at our shoes, then it is a truly pleasing offering to our God. If we be branches and God does the spiritual horticulture, then His fruit is indeed pure, righteous and well deserved by Him. That is why God planted His Vineyard. Uh huh.
Who are we going to blame for putting us here and putting us in these terrible days? The Dragon? I don't think so. Oh poor us eh? It better not be in our thoughts. Sad but true, we are the only branch of creation that has this sometimes "burdensome" gift of free will. When it is our will, by the mind of Christ in us, to praise God despite the circumstances, then this praise is a sweet smell to His "nostrils"; A sweet sound to His "ears". It puts the sun and stars to shame, Saints.
"I will have mercy, and not sacrifice..."
Sing and holler all you want. Fire up the praise band and dance in the aisles. Rock for Jesus. "Joyful noise" or not, is it coming from a pure heart toward God? The Heart of Christ? Or is it a ritual? I believe our God requires hearts for Him, not 12 bar progressions in the key of A Major. Actually, most don't sing well in A Major. Better, ...E Flat. Anyway, I'm not putting down the music of "churchland", just the motive for it.
Will the singing stop when the checks stop rolling in? When the church fails to make it's fiscal budget? When the "praise-pastor" has to find another job? Will the praise words from our lips cease when the foreclosure sign is hung on our property? When the boss tells us we're no longer needed at the job? This is the "test" Saints. The test of David, if you will. David was a man after God's own heart because of his desire for God and God's gift of His Spirit. Is that our hearts today? For God?
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ ushered in the age of the Spirit, within those called out by God. Not righteousness by works. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ made the temple rites obsolete. No more blood. Hearts! "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith"? (Gal:3:2) No more blood Saints. Hearts, spirits. "no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident..." (Gal:3:11) We give God more substantial praise through our hearts, if they be right, than we do in any other form. Why? Jesus Christ, that's why. God's will and plan. Or have we too, stopped short like the "bewitched" Galatians? Our "works" should be of Jesus Christ not our design. Our works manifest our hearts, don't they?
And whether the "natural man" cares to admit it, he too, as all God's creation, gives praise by being just what he or she was created for. Even them that sin were planned by God. And even this gives God praise. Swallow hard but think about this.
It is the heart, the individual heart, that God listens to and judges. And everyone's got one. God's "ears" are discerning and He knows the heart (Heb:4:12). God also knows who resides in our hearts. Christ or anti-Christ.
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just;
because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Joh:5:30
What is in your hearts today, Saints? Are we the only created thing which metes out praise contingent upon our well being? God's creation WILL give Him praise despite the "human" contingent. Jesus Christ sought not his own will. And us? Well, IF the Spirit of Jesus Christ lives in His Saints, then the answer is obvious. It's still a choice, too.
When you're down to your last can of beans, praise and thank your Father first. Then ask Him to mercifully supply you with more. Consider what you have as sufficient. God will not deny His children.
When you're out in the parking lot with a pink slip in your hand, Praise God first. Thank Him for sustaining you all these years with a paycheck and feeding you and/or your family. Then ask Him, if it is His will, to give you another job. Remember that your job is also a gift of God and it is not to be thought that it is you by your own means, hooks or crooks, that you "survive". Big mistake Saints.
We mustn't be afraid if we are not given something when we think we must have it either! God's people in the wilderness had that same problem and what did it get them? What I'm aiming at is this..., Some of us have the middle of the fence dug so deep between our legs that we cannot even discern when we are in rebellion, unsatisfied and grumbling; When we're reaching over to the steering wheel! Have we come to do the will of the Father like the Master we profess to follow and emulate? Have we trust in God our Father? Or do we still do our own will when the wind's not blowing quite right?
Our praises will be shallow, hollow and cold. Our praises will become a judgment upon us if we are not sincere and grounded in our roles as servant and priests of ONE master! Need I say, "think about it"?
Let's take a look at the sun, moon and stars. At the mountains, beasts and creeping things. The dragons and deeps. They are right where God the Creator placed them and they give Him glory because they do not fight His will, nor 'think' of themselves as anything more than what they'd been made to be. Mankind is included here also. We were made of the same "stuff". But we were given His Spirit! We live, not only on the earth but also in the heavenlies, through Jesus Christ. That should make them dragons jealous, if you ask me. Why doesn't it? Because Creation is doing exactly what God had ordained it to do.
And are we fearful ingrates, given the gift of the Holy Spirit, acting as we were ordained to act? THAT is a mighty deep question in relation to God's Sovereignty. But simply put, either we serve one master and fear, or we serve the other Master and live in peace and praise of the Father who called a few to live the life of His Son and find real Life at the end of their journeys.
Give God praise that you are given to see His mighty works! That He keeps His promises. Give Him praise that He loves His own so much that He spares not the rod of chastisement. God is why we praise Him! We were made for this. And by the blood of Jesus Christ, we can enter in to His Holy Place. We can exercise our freedom in Christ! No blood, incense, libation, song or "laws" can ever match what comes forth from the depths of the heart of Christ within us. A direct line to the "ear" of the Father. It's faster than priority mail folks. It is not a "formula" for prosperity! It is part of our "reasonable" service!
Don't be "upstaged" by dragons and deeps Saints. Walk as Christ walked. Be a pleasing sacrifice to our God. There should be no room in your hearts for you. Just Jesus. We are not only being conformed into His image but we have HIS heart and mind (1Cor:2:16). Think about that. What is Christ's mind? Obedient, surrendered and loving toward His Father. Wanting nothing for Himself, only that the Father be pleased. The simplicity which is Christ. It that us?
I do pray that we might see, that the underlying theme of this little message is still and always, humility. And humility goes a long way in "narrowing" the way for us. Can't stress that enough. And don't think that I am a pinnacle of righteousness, Saints. I fall too. And that is precisely why I wanted to share this with you.
Hey, lots of question marks in this article, I agree. But let's examine ourselves here, shall we? Oops, there's another one. Be strong and take comfort in your Refuge, Saints. If your hearts are upon His Kingdom and His Righteousness, then He will supply. What you "have" doesn't matter. WHO you have, does. We are in tribulation. We are told to watch. We are told to pray. What do we pray for...? And why...?
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverb:3:6
Shields up. Keep to the Road.
http://www.theremnantcafe.org/articles/yedragons.htm
Monday, May 3, 2010
The Battle For Life
The Battle For Life
by T. Austin-Sparks
Chapter 2 - The Controversy of Zion
Reading: Hebrews 12:22; Isaiah 34:8.
"Ye are come to Zion."
"For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompence in the controversy of Zion."
What is the controversy of Zion? It is nothing other than the controversy for the life of Zion. Zion is often represented in the Old Testament as Jehovah's bride, as the one betrothed to Him, to whom He was married. We are familiar with such a phrase as "the virgin daughter of Jerusalem". The history of Zion was a chequered history. Zion was constantly in the realm of dispute, the object of the envy, covetousness, antagonism of the nations, and all the nations were found at one time or another in some kind of relationship with Zion. The history of Zion is a very significant and suggestive history from a spiritual standpoint. The controversy, then, was God's controversy with the nations for Zion's life. The prophecy of Isaiah makes that very clear. God was taking up the cause of Zion, of Zion's very life, and entering into a terrible controversy with the nations on this matter.
Let us bear that in mind as we take up the New Testament and consider the spiritual interpretation. In the Book of the Revelation we find the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, adorned as a bride, and the angel taking the Apostle and saying to him: "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb" (Revelation 21:9). The Apostle goes on to say: "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God". The closing chapter of the Revelation brings us into the city and the central thing therein is the tree of life, while down its centre flows the river of the water of life; and then, as this fullness is viewed, the Spirit and the bride say: "Come." Do you see the spiritual follow-through? Here the controversy for the life of the spiritual Zion is at an end, and life - full, triumphant, effulgent - is the characteristic. Throughout the book of Revelation, God is dealing with the nations, and at its close all nations are seen as having been brought under the judgment of His Son, the controversy of Zion has been settled once for all, and Zion is found at last triumphing in fullness of life.
We have said enough to establish the fact that the controversy is in relation to life, and it is that with which we are concerned at this time. There is a spiritual sense in which we are in God's controversy for Zion today. If we take the sixth chapter of the letter to the Ephesians as representing what is going on in the spiritual realm, namely, a conflict with world rulers, then the rest of that letter makes it perfectly clear that the controversy with the world rulers is concerning the Church: concerning the very life of the Church, the life of the elect. We are, then, in the controversy and the issue is no other, and no less, than the issue of life.
In our earlier meditation, in considering the messages of the Lord to the seven churches in Asia, we were seeing that the thing which occupies the place of pre-eminent importance and value to the Lord Himself is the testimony of life - not tradition, for they had that; not so much Christian work and activity, for they were there; not so many good and commendable things praiseworthy even in the sight of God, for they were there - but that which is central and basic to the Divine election, choice and apprehension is the testimony of life. In the first chapter of the book the Lord is presented as the One who is living, who became dead, but is alive unto the ages of the ages, and has the keys of death and Hades. Alive now from the dead, He is seen standing in the midst of the lampstands, the vessels of testimony, and judging them according to what He is as the Living One, as the One who has conquered death. What He discovers and reveals in those churches is the measure in which that testimony to Him has been lost. This is more to Him than what is found amongst them of interest, concern, activity, for Him and for His things. He shows the things which have struck a blow at that testimony and names them; the things, that is to say, which have interfered with the full expression of Himself as the Living One. So it is disclosed that what to Him is more precious than anything else, than all other things put together, is the spiritual life, in fullness, in power, in expression, in impact, in testimony.
THE LORD'S JEALOUSY OVER LIFE
The priority and primacy of life is referred to in a fragment of Scripture in a much-overlooked little New Testament letter - Titus 1:2: "The hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal". ("Before the world or the ages began" - Amplified New Testament.)
I want to carry that thought 'from before times eternal' into the Old Testament, to see how jealous the Lord is over life, and what is His relationship thereto.
1. THE TREE OF LIFE
It is necessary to go right back to the beginning of the Book, where you will find that immediately there has been that initial disobedience by which sin and death have entered and man has fallen out of his position in relationship to God, and out of his state as created by God, the question of the tree of life arises. Following the judgment upon the serpent, and upon the man and the earth, God takes His step of precaution in relation to the tree of life. He proceeds to safeguard it, lest this man should put forth his hand and take of the tree of life and live for ever. God set His cherubim to keep the way to it with the flaming sword which turned in every direction, so that the tree of life should not be approached.
The interpretation of that is to be found in the last chapter of the Bible. The tree of life in the midst of the city of God is something from which all sin and sinfulness is excluded. Without are seen to be all those who represent fallen Adam, sinful nature. No one can eventually be found in the presence of God, in a living relationship with God, and no one can know eternal life unless the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus has been made effectual in them. The point is that, right at the beginning, God took a step to protect life from the touch and the appropriation of sinful man. God was not going to have a sinful state perpetuated indefinitely. The last chapter of the Bible sets its seal to the fact and shows that the sinful state is fully and finally dealt with. The state perpetuated is a state in fulness of life by reason of what the Lamb has wrought through the shedding of His blood, even as the book of the Revelation makes clear. If at the commencement of the book we can say: "Unto him that loved us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood...", then at the end of the book we can be found within the city, drinking of the water of life freely, and living in the full power of that life. Thus we see right at the beginning God's jealous attitude and action in relation to life. It is precious to note that He suspends the possession of it until the mighty work of the Cross has dealt with all that state which, if perpetuated, would be but the perpetuation of a lost world, of a world outside of the Divine intention.
2. CAIN AND ABEL
The next step to the unveiling of God's attitude toward life is seen in His dealings with Cain. When Cain has slain his brother Abel, God instantly appears on the scene. There is no delay; it is as though God hastens to the situation. Here is something which concerns Him preeminently. No sooner has Cain shed the blood of his brother, and that warm blood trickled into the sand, than God is on the scene. "Where is Abel thy brother? And he said I know not: am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Genesis 4:9-10). Then see what God has to say to Cain. He is cursed. He is marked. Everybody who shall observe him shall see him as scarred by God and branded: and he, hardened as he may have been, and insolent to God, has to humble himself and say: "My punishment is greater than I can bear." That is God's attitude toward life - His jealousy over it.
3. NOAH
We pass to Noah. The terms of the covenant with Noah are familiar to us, the equalizing of things in that covenant, and the terrible warning to man: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed..." (Genesis 9:6). God will keep things even. No man shall get an advantage in this matter. No man who touches that thing which is precious to God shall come by any gain. God will bring it to evenness. He will equalize in the realm of life. You rob man of that and you shall be robbed; you shall not be the gainer. That is a solemn warning and shows to man what is God's attitude toward life.
4. ENOCH
There is a great disclosure in the Old Testament of God's mind for man in this matter. God's thought is life, not death. God is against death and for life. We glance back a step and see Enoch, who breaks the long story of death: "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24). That is an offset to the course of fallen man, showing what God's thought is when a man comes into real fellowship with Himself. It is life, not death, and that was ever God's thought. It remains God's thought, and He is going to have it fully and gloriously expressed in a company of His own believing children, who will be translated to His presence even as Enoch was, and will not see death or the grave.
5. ABRAHAM AND ISAAC
In Abraham and Isaac it is further set forth that when God has a great purpose in mind, when He is moving out on that basis, He must have things brought on to the ground where death cannot touch His purpose. Isaac is the one in whom the purpose of God is bound up, and therefore for the sake of the purpose Isaac must be put typically beyond the power of death. He must come into death to have death destroyed, that God's purpose might be realized upon a ground where death is not future, but past. That is the great illustration of Divine purpose being upon the ground of deathless life. And in the greater Isaac the purposes of God are all going to be realized, without any fear whatever of death breaking in to interrupt, because in Christ death is past and not future.
All these are vivid, strong, and, in most cases, agonized expressions of God's attitude to the clatter of life. It is a very costly thing. It was infinitely costly to God. It cost those who were in fellowship with God much also. All this is the controversy of Zion in principle - God's jealousy in the matter of life.
6. JOB
We pass on, so far as the arrangement of the record is concerned, and come to Job; and here Satan is found in the heavenlies with access to God. God challenges him: "Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth..." (Job 2:3). Satan sneers back at God: "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face." Do you see how the question of life is bound up in that challenge, and what subtlety there is in the whole movement? God gives Satan permission to touch Job; to touch his body, to touch his family, his property, everything that he has, but says: "... Only spare his life." Here again is God's jealousy for life. Satan gets to work, and the subtlety is this: that Satan presses, and presses, and presses along every line, by every means, seeking to touch Job's life indirectly, because he cannot touch it directly. Satan's indirect method is to move Job to break with God by cursing Him, so that his life is forfeited and destroyed.* (*[footnote] The suggestion of Job's wife may have been that he should break with God, and then take his own life.) To understand the book of Job we have to recognise that it is a controversy for life. We have said it is a controversy over faith, but that is a relative factor. The real controversy is over life. We shall see the faith element at some subsequent time, but here God's jealousy for life is seen. Job is brought to great straits, but the life link is never broken, and the end is life triumphant. We see fullness, victory, everything that speaks of life at the end.
We sometimes come very near to collapse under the strain, under the trial, under the tension. When the enemy is pressing to quench our spiritual life through body, through mind, through circumstance, we are often brought very low, as was Job. We have our questionings, we get despondent, we may well-nigh despair. Yes, every heart knows its own story of how far it goes into gloom even about God, His wisdom, His love, His faithfulness. But because God is jealous for the life, and is the Custodian of the life (we are not talking about the natural physical life), the issue is always more than we had before. We always emerge with increase. In a lesser way it is Revelation 22 after every conflict.
We must remember that in all that we are saying there is a factor extra to the natural, physical life. The real battle is in the realm of man's spiritual relationship with God.
7. THE EXODUS
We think of the story of Israel and the emancipation from Egypt, and once again everything is entered in the issue of life and death. God heads it right up to the main, the final, issue of life and death. God, moreover, takes His own way, makes this own provision, so that when death is to be broad in the land, smiting, smiting, smiting, devastating everywhere, His own people shall be immune from death, and shall be in life because of the blood. The life of His own is taken into His own Custody and if the life of His own necessitates the smiting of a nation, grim as that necessity may be, He will follow it out. God stands at nothing when the life of His people is at stake. His jealousy over life is made very clear in all these things.
8. LEVITICAL LAW OF LIFE
I hardly need bring to your remembrance those passages of Scripture, in Leviticus for example, concerning God's attitude towards life, and the emphasis laid upon the necessity for the people to avoid drinking the blood, because the blood is the life and the life is in the blood - "Whosoever it be that eateth any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people" (Leviticus 7:27). Here is God preserving the life. Life is sacred to Him. Life is His. Man must not appropriate it for himself. Man must not take it and make it his. Life is God's and must ever be regarded as sacred unto God. It means a good deal more than that, of course, but we simply state what is apposite to our present consideration.
All these things, when summed up, bring us primarily to this: that life is sacred to God, and He is intensely jealous over it. Then, that life and not death is God's will. Again, sin and death always go together just as righteousness and life go together. The Old Testament is an earthly type of heavenly truth, and all this is throwing its light forward and saying that what is represented there in those Old Testament Scriptures as to God's attitude toward life - there primarily represented by man's earthly, soul-life - is but figurative, typical, a foreshadowing of that dispensation to come, in which eternal life, Divine life, would be the life given to man.
A LIFE THAT IS ETERNAL
Thus when we come over into the new dispensation, we find that it is not merely the soul-life of man, the bodily life, the life of man as here on the earth which is in view, but it is another life, called eternal life. "I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly" (John 10:10). It is over this life that God is represented as being so jealous. It is this life which is pre-eminent in God's thought. The Old Testament, as we have said, is the earthly type or representation of heavenly truth. If it were only a matter of physical death, that is, if the question at issue were but that of the termination of life physically, and that were the end and all that mattered, I do not know that such a great deal of ado might be made about it. But the emphasis in the Old Testament upon even that takes its force from the fact that it is pointing to something else, is typical of something else and is illustrative of another life.
We are not in the New Testament very long before it is apparent that the controversy has been taken into another realm, and is now seen to be over man's spiritual life, over eternal life. That controversy is waged on a two-fold issue: firstly, as to whether man shall become possessed of that life or not, and secondly as to whether that life, once possessed, shall be allowed its full opportunity of final expression in man, or shall not rather be smothered and thwarted, baffled and hindered. That is the controversy. It is still over life, but now we have come into the reality as out from the shadows and the types.
THE PERSISTENT ASSAULT UPON LIFE
So we pass for a few moments to see, in the realm of the reality, the assault of death upon that which is of God.
The Lord Jesus.
Let us pass right on at once to the New Testament, and come to our Lord Jesus, for He gathers all up in Himself. He is the last Adam. He is the greater Abel. All these Old Testament types are gathered up in Him. But remember that at His very birth there was launched an awful design of death. The intention of the devil was to destroy Him at His birth.
We have to pass over many years wherein we have no record of the things that touched His life, and then we find Him in the wilderness; and the explanation of those temptations in the wilderness is that they were an assault upon His life. Though from various points, by various subtleties, the issue was one: they were intended to break His union with the Father and get Him out into a realm where He could be smitten. You have only to see that even He, had He cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple contrary to the will of His Father or, as the enemy would have it viewed, by way of testing God - putting God to the test instead of believing Him - would not have been safeguarded by the angels of whom the devil spoke when he quoted the Scriptures. Angels have no commission to bear in their arms any man or woman who presumptuously tries to test God when called to believe Him. The Lord Jesus in His own life has shown us this. It was a threefold assault upon His life, which was dependent upon unquestioning obedience to His Father.
From the wilderness He went to Nazareth where, in the synagogue, He opened the Scriptures. The outcome was that they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city stood, to cast Him over. A little later the Jews took up stones to stone Him, and He asked them: "Why seek ye to kill me?" (John 7:19). What is connected with such a question? "Ye are of your father the devil...", "He was a murderer from the beginning..." (John 8:44). The Lord Jesus uncovers what lies behind. He sees something more than man's opposition and antagonism. He sees the devil as the murderer, and set against His life.
We follow Him on to the lake, where the storm is beaten up, until those who were most familiar with those storms feared for their very lives. Being awakened by them, He arose, and in words identical with those which He used in casting out demons He rebuked the wind, saying unto the sea: "Peace! be muzzled!" and the storm subsided, showing that behind it there were other forces trying to swallow Him up.
Then we follow Him on into the garden and to the Cross. Who shall know of the death conflict in the darkness? It is all the assault of death upon what is of God.
The Church.
The same thing is carried on into the Church. It is not long before Stephen is stoned, and James is killed. Peter is taken with the same object, but marvellously delivered because God had yet something to do through him. Paul was in deaths oft, despairing sometimes of life. It is a battle with the power of death. There are the sweeping persecutions in which literally tens of thousands of Christians are called upon to lay down their lives for the testimony, and "count not their lives dear unto the death". It goes on still. We are in that succession, not all of us perhaps of outward persecution, but do we not know something of the pressing of that spirit of death? We do!
All this is very true. It is the controversy of Zion. It is the battle for the life of the Lord's people. May the Lord bring home to our hearts the nature of the conflict in which we are found! We have perhaps painted a dark picture, have brought the gloomy aspect into view, and have been rather strong and severe, but if you are not able at the moment through your own experience to enter into what we are saying, you may come to do so if you are going on with the Lord. In some real way you will enter into this controversy of Zion. I am anxious that we should see this more clearly, and recognise it in a more definite way. We can never adequately seek the Lord in relation to it and come into line with His intention to overcome it, be to Him the instrument against it which He requires and desires that we should be, until we are fully alive to what the issue is. I wonder if the Lord's people are at times really alive to the issue, and whether their prayers are always a true index of their apprehension of this thing! I believe that if you and I were adequately impressed, and fully alive to the tremendous issue, we could never pray mere prayers. We could never allow words to run out of our mouths, which is what we call praying. We should be down on our faces in a tremendous conflict on God's side against the evil menace that is seeking to devour the life of God's people; but we shall never pray like that unless we are really alive to what the issue is.
While we may know it in a doctrinal way, it is necessary for us to wake up to what is happening and to what this means. The explanation of many a heaviness and of many a difficult experience is not simply that we have had a meal that does not agree with us, or that we are none too well and therefore not able to pray as we would wish. No, it is not just some physical malady from which we are suffering. This is not something which can be explained along any ordinary line of nature. Behind these things there so often lies another power. We may feel ill in body for no justifiable reason, from the natural standpoint. Our very energies and vitalities, physical and mental, may be sapped, and we say that we are tired, but there is something extra to that. The enemy delights in our accounting for these things on human grounds, when we ought to be waking up to the fact that there is a much bigger issue at stake. Let us ask: what is its tendency, and what is its effect? Is it to destroy our prayer life? Does it work in the direction of bringing us into a state of weakness and uselessness to God? If so, are we going to accept that? That is the question. There is a good deal that seems to be perfectly natural which should not be accepted by the Lord's people, and we need to test everything, try it out, and see whether, after all, the whole thing is natural, or whether there is not something hidden. Do not look for a devil with horns and a tail and a pitchfork! He hides himself. He covers his tracks. He comes in such an intangible way that you are often inclined to explain the whole trouble as quite a natural thing, when it is all covering up something else, and its effect is simply to put you out of spiritual action. We have to wake up to what is the issue for the Lord's people today, and it is no less an issue than that of life and death.
Do you recognise what is actually happening? The enemy does not mind how many so-called churches there are, how much preaching there is, or how much religious worship. I do not know that he minds very much how much orthodoxy there is, or how much of what we would call sound doctrine. What he is against is life. In multitudes of places, so far as the preaching is concerned, and so far as the things said are concerned, no fault can be found, but there is no sense of any vitalizing. There is no energizing, no impact, and no moving of the people to register the testimony of the risen Lord against the forces of evil. The enemy is getting them all quietly, nicely, snugly into spiritual death.
Oh, may the Lord move us to a new position in relation to this tremendous issue, the issue of life and death. The Lord bring it home to our hearts!
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/000703.html
by T. Austin-Sparks
Chapter 2 - The Controversy of Zion
Reading: Hebrews 12:22; Isaiah 34:8.
"Ye are come to Zion."
"For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompence in the controversy of Zion."
What is the controversy of Zion? It is nothing other than the controversy for the life of Zion. Zion is often represented in the Old Testament as Jehovah's bride, as the one betrothed to Him, to whom He was married. We are familiar with such a phrase as "the virgin daughter of Jerusalem". The history of Zion was a chequered history. Zion was constantly in the realm of dispute, the object of the envy, covetousness, antagonism of the nations, and all the nations were found at one time or another in some kind of relationship with Zion. The history of Zion is a very significant and suggestive history from a spiritual standpoint. The controversy, then, was God's controversy with the nations for Zion's life. The prophecy of Isaiah makes that very clear. God was taking up the cause of Zion, of Zion's very life, and entering into a terrible controversy with the nations on this matter.
Let us bear that in mind as we take up the New Testament and consider the spiritual interpretation. In the Book of the Revelation we find the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, adorned as a bride, and the angel taking the Apostle and saying to him: "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb" (Revelation 21:9). The Apostle goes on to say: "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God". The closing chapter of the Revelation brings us into the city and the central thing therein is the tree of life, while down its centre flows the river of the water of life; and then, as this fullness is viewed, the Spirit and the bride say: "Come." Do you see the spiritual follow-through? Here the controversy for the life of the spiritual Zion is at an end, and life - full, triumphant, effulgent - is the characteristic. Throughout the book of Revelation, God is dealing with the nations, and at its close all nations are seen as having been brought under the judgment of His Son, the controversy of Zion has been settled once for all, and Zion is found at last triumphing in fullness of life.
We have said enough to establish the fact that the controversy is in relation to life, and it is that with which we are concerned at this time. There is a spiritual sense in which we are in God's controversy for Zion today. If we take the sixth chapter of the letter to the Ephesians as representing what is going on in the spiritual realm, namely, a conflict with world rulers, then the rest of that letter makes it perfectly clear that the controversy with the world rulers is concerning the Church: concerning the very life of the Church, the life of the elect. We are, then, in the controversy and the issue is no other, and no less, than the issue of life.
In our earlier meditation, in considering the messages of the Lord to the seven churches in Asia, we were seeing that the thing which occupies the place of pre-eminent importance and value to the Lord Himself is the testimony of life - not tradition, for they had that; not so much Christian work and activity, for they were there; not so many good and commendable things praiseworthy even in the sight of God, for they were there - but that which is central and basic to the Divine election, choice and apprehension is the testimony of life. In the first chapter of the book the Lord is presented as the One who is living, who became dead, but is alive unto the ages of the ages, and has the keys of death and Hades. Alive now from the dead, He is seen standing in the midst of the lampstands, the vessels of testimony, and judging them according to what He is as the Living One, as the One who has conquered death. What He discovers and reveals in those churches is the measure in which that testimony to Him has been lost. This is more to Him than what is found amongst them of interest, concern, activity, for Him and for His things. He shows the things which have struck a blow at that testimony and names them; the things, that is to say, which have interfered with the full expression of Himself as the Living One. So it is disclosed that what to Him is more precious than anything else, than all other things put together, is the spiritual life, in fullness, in power, in expression, in impact, in testimony.
THE LORD'S JEALOUSY OVER LIFE
The priority and primacy of life is referred to in a fragment of Scripture in a much-overlooked little New Testament letter - Titus 1:2: "The hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal". ("Before the world or the ages began" - Amplified New Testament.)
I want to carry that thought 'from before times eternal' into the Old Testament, to see how jealous the Lord is over life, and what is His relationship thereto.
1. THE TREE OF LIFE
It is necessary to go right back to the beginning of the Book, where you will find that immediately there has been that initial disobedience by which sin and death have entered and man has fallen out of his position in relationship to God, and out of his state as created by God, the question of the tree of life arises. Following the judgment upon the serpent, and upon the man and the earth, God takes His step of precaution in relation to the tree of life. He proceeds to safeguard it, lest this man should put forth his hand and take of the tree of life and live for ever. God set His cherubim to keep the way to it with the flaming sword which turned in every direction, so that the tree of life should not be approached.
The interpretation of that is to be found in the last chapter of the Bible. The tree of life in the midst of the city of God is something from which all sin and sinfulness is excluded. Without are seen to be all those who represent fallen Adam, sinful nature. No one can eventually be found in the presence of God, in a living relationship with God, and no one can know eternal life unless the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus has been made effectual in them. The point is that, right at the beginning, God took a step to protect life from the touch and the appropriation of sinful man. God was not going to have a sinful state perpetuated indefinitely. The last chapter of the Bible sets its seal to the fact and shows that the sinful state is fully and finally dealt with. The state perpetuated is a state in fulness of life by reason of what the Lamb has wrought through the shedding of His blood, even as the book of the Revelation makes clear. If at the commencement of the book we can say: "Unto him that loved us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood...", then at the end of the book we can be found within the city, drinking of the water of life freely, and living in the full power of that life. Thus we see right at the beginning God's jealous attitude and action in relation to life. It is precious to note that He suspends the possession of it until the mighty work of the Cross has dealt with all that state which, if perpetuated, would be but the perpetuation of a lost world, of a world outside of the Divine intention.
2. CAIN AND ABEL
The next step to the unveiling of God's attitude toward life is seen in His dealings with Cain. When Cain has slain his brother Abel, God instantly appears on the scene. There is no delay; it is as though God hastens to the situation. Here is something which concerns Him preeminently. No sooner has Cain shed the blood of his brother, and that warm blood trickled into the sand, than God is on the scene. "Where is Abel thy brother? And he said I know not: am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Genesis 4:9-10). Then see what God has to say to Cain. He is cursed. He is marked. Everybody who shall observe him shall see him as scarred by God and branded: and he, hardened as he may have been, and insolent to God, has to humble himself and say: "My punishment is greater than I can bear." That is God's attitude toward life - His jealousy over it.
3. NOAH
We pass to Noah. The terms of the covenant with Noah are familiar to us, the equalizing of things in that covenant, and the terrible warning to man: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed..." (Genesis 9:6). God will keep things even. No man shall get an advantage in this matter. No man who touches that thing which is precious to God shall come by any gain. God will bring it to evenness. He will equalize in the realm of life. You rob man of that and you shall be robbed; you shall not be the gainer. That is a solemn warning and shows to man what is God's attitude toward life.
4. ENOCH
There is a great disclosure in the Old Testament of God's mind for man in this matter. God's thought is life, not death. God is against death and for life. We glance back a step and see Enoch, who breaks the long story of death: "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24). That is an offset to the course of fallen man, showing what God's thought is when a man comes into real fellowship with Himself. It is life, not death, and that was ever God's thought. It remains God's thought, and He is going to have it fully and gloriously expressed in a company of His own believing children, who will be translated to His presence even as Enoch was, and will not see death or the grave.
5. ABRAHAM AND ISAAC
In Abraham and Isaac it is further set forth that when God has a great purpose in mind, when He is moving out on that basis, He must have things brought on to the ground where death cannot touch His purpose. Isaac is the one in whom the purpose of God is bound up, and therefore for the sake of the purpose Isaac must be put typically beyond the power of death. He must come into death to have death destroyed, that God's purpose might be realized upon a ground where death is not future, but past. That is the great illustration of Divine purpose being upon the ground of deathless life. And in the greater Isaac the purposes of God are all going to be realized, without any fear whatever of death breaking in to interrupt, because in Christ death is past and not future.
All these are vivid, strong, and, in most cases, agonized expressions of God's attitude to the clatter of life. It is a very costly thing. It was infinitely costly to God. It cost those who were in fellowship with God much also. All this is the controversy of Zion in principle - God's jealousy in the matter of life.
6. JOB
We pass on, so far as the arrangement of the record is concerned, and come to Job; and here Satan is found in the heavenlies with access to God. God challenges him: "Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth..." (Job 2:3). Satan sneers back at God: "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face." Do you see how the question of life is bound up in that challenge, and what subtlety there is in the whole movement? God gives Satan permission to touch Job; to touch his body, to touch his family, his property, everything that he has, but says: "... Only spare his life." Here again is God's jealousy for life. Satan gets to work, and the subtlety is this: that Satan presses, and presses, and presses along every line, by every means, seeking to touch Job's life indirectly, because he cannot touch it directly. Satan's indirect method is to move Job to break with God by cursing Him, so that his life is forfeited and destroyed.* (*[footnote] The suggestion of Job's wife may have been that he should break with God, and then take his own life.) To understand the book of Job we have to recognise that it is a controversy for life. We have said it is a controversy over faith, but that is a relative factor. The real controversy is over life. We shall see the faith element at some subsequent time, but here God's jealousy for life is seen. Job is brought to great straits, but the life link is never broken, and the end is life triumphant. We see fullness, victory, everything that speaks of life at the end.
We sometimes come very near to collapse under the strain, under the trial, under the tension. When the enemy is pressing to quench our spiritual life through body, through mind, through circumstance, we are often brought very low, as was Job. We have our questionings, we get despondent, we may well-nigh despair. Yes, every heart knows its own story of how far it goes into gloom even about God, His wisdom, His love, His faithfulness. But because God is jealous for the life, and is the Custodian of the life (we are not talking about the natural physical life), the issue is always more than we had before. We always emerge with increase. In a lesser way it is Revelation 22 after every conflict.
We must remember that in all that we are saying there is a factor extra to the natural, physical life. The real battle is in the realm of man's spiritual relationship with God.
7. THE EXODUS
We think of the story of Israel and the emancipation from Egypt, and once again everything is entered in the issue of life and death. God heads it right up to the main, the final, issue of life and death. God, moreover, takes His own way, makes this own provision, so that when death is to be broad in the land, smiting, smiting, smiting, devastating everywhere, His own people shall be immune from death, and shall be in life because of the blood. The life of His own is taken into His own Custody and if the life of His own necessitates the smiting of a nation, grim as that necessity may be, He will follow it out. God stands at nothing when the life of His people is at stake. His jealousy over life is made very clear in all these things.
8. LEVITICAL LAW OF LIFE
I hardly need bring to your remembrance those passages of Scripture, in Leviticus for example, concerning God's attitude towards life, and the emphasis laid upon the necessity for the people to avoid drinking the blood, because the blood is the life and the life is in the blood - "Whosoever it be that eateth any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people" (Leviticus 7:27). Here is God preserving the life. Life is sacred to Him. Life is His. Man must not appropriate it for himself. Man must not take it and make it his. Life is God's and must ever be regarded as sacred unto God. It means a good deal more than that, of course, but we simply state what is apposite to our present consideration.
All these things, when summed up, bring us primarily to this: that life is sacred to God, and He is intensely jealous over it. Then, that life and not death is God's will. Again, sin and death always go together just as righteousness and life go together. The Old Testament is an earthly type of heavenly truth, and all this is throwing its light forward and saying that what is represented there in those Old Testament Scriptures as to God's attitude toward life - there primarily represented by man's earthly, soul-life - is but figurative, typical, a foreshadowing of that dispensation to come, in which eternal life, Divine life, would be the life given to man.
A LIFE THAT IS ETERNAL
Thus when we come over into the new dispensation, we find that it is not merely the soul-life of man, the bodily life, the life of man as here on the earth which is in view, but it is another life, called eternal life. "I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly" (John 10:10). It is over this life that God is represented as being so jealous. It is this life which is pre-eminent in God's thought. The Old Testament, as we have said, is the earthly type or representation of heavenly truth. If it were only a matter of physical death, that is, if the question at issue were but that of the termination of life physically, and that were the end and all that mattered, I do not know that such a great deal of ado might be made about it. But the emphasis in the Old Testament upon even that takes its force from the fact that it is pointing to something else, is typical of something else and is illustrative of another life.
We are not in the New Testament very long before it is apparent that the controversy has been taken into another realm, and is now seen to be over man's spiritual life, over eternal life. That controversy is waged on a two-fold issue: firstly, as to whether man shall become possessed of that life or not, and secondly as to whether that life, once possessed, shall be allowed its full opportunity of final expression in man, or shall not rather be smothered and thwarted, baffled and hindered. That is the controversy. It is still over life, but now we have come into the reality as out from the shadows and the types.
THE PERSISTENT ASSAULT UPON LIFE
So we pass for a few moments to see, in the realm of the reality, the assault of death upon that which is of God.
The Lord Jesus.
Let us pass right on at once to the New Testament, and come to our Lord Jesus, for He gathers all up in Himself. He is the last Adam. He is the greater Abel. All these Old Testament types are gathered up in Him. But remember that at His very birth there was launched an awful design of death. The intention of the devil was to destroy Him at His birth.
We have to pass over many years wherein we have no record of the things that touched His life, and then we find Him in the wilderness; and the explanation of those temptations in the wilderness is that they were an assault upon His life. Though from various points, by various subtleties, the issue was one: they were intended to break His union with the Father and get Him out into a realm where He could be smitten. You have only to see that even He, had He cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple contrary to the will of His Father or, as the enemy would have it viewed, by way of testing God - putting God to the test instead of believing Him - would not have been safeguarded by the angels of whom the devil spoke when he quoted the Scriptures. Angels have no commission to bear in their arms any man or woman who presumptuously tries to test God when called to believe Him. The Lord Jesus in His own life has shown us this. It was a threefold assault upon His life, which was dependent upon unquestioning obedience to His Father.
From the wilderness He went to Nazareth where, in the synagogue, He opened the Scriptures. The outcome was that they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city stood, to cast Him over. A little later the Jews took up stones to stone Him, and He asked them: "Why seek ye to kill me?" (John 7:19). What is connected with such a question? "Ye are of your father the devil...", "He was a murderer from the beginning..." (John 8:44). The Lord Jesus uncovers what lies behind. He sees something more than man's opposition and antagonism. He sees the devil as the murderer, and set against His life.
We follow Him on to the lake, where the storm is beaten up, until those who were most familiar with those storms feared for their very lives. Being awakened by them, He arose, and in words identical with those which He used in casting out demons He rebuked the wind, saying unto the sea: "Peace! be muzzled!" and the storm subsided, showing that behind it there were other forces trying to swallow Him up.
Then we follow Him on into the garden and to the Cross. Who shall know of the death conflict in the darkness? It is all the assault of death upon what is of God.
The Church.
The same thing is carried on into the Church. It is not long before Stephen is stoned, and James is killed. Peter is taken with the same object, but marvellously delivered because God had yet something to do through him. Paul was in deaths oft, despairing sometimes of life. It is a battle with the power of death. There are the sweeping persecutions in which literally tens of thousands of Christians are called upon to lay down their lives for the testimony, and "count not their lives dear unto the death". It goes on still. We are in that succession, not all of us perhaps of outward persecution, but do we not know something of the pressing of that spirit of death? We do!
All this is very true. It is the controversy of Zion. It is the battle for the life of the Lord's people. May the Lord bring home to our hearts the nature of the conflict in which we are found! We have perhaps painted a dark picture, have brought the gloomy aspect into view, and have been rather strong and severe, but if you are not able at the moment through your own experience to enter into what we are saying, you may come to do so if you are going on with the Lord. In some real way you will enter into this controversy of Zion. I am anxious that we should see this more clearly, and recognise it in a more definite way. We can never adequately seek the Lord in relation to it and come into line with His intention to overcome it, be to Him the instrument against it which He requires and desires that we should be, until we are fully alive to what the issue is. I wonder if the Lord's people are at times really alive to the issue, and whether their prayers are always a true index of their apprehension of this thing! I believe that if you and I were adequately impressed, and fully alive to the tremendous issue, we could never pray mere prayers. We could never allow words to run out of our mouths, which is what we call praying. We should be down on our faces in a tremendous conflict on God's side against the evil menace that is seeking to devour the life of God's people; but we shall never pray like that unless we are really alive to what the issue is.
While we may know it in a doctrinal way, it is necessary for us to wake up to what is happening and to what this means. The explanation of many a heaviness and of many a difficult experience is not simply that we have had a meal that does not agree with us, or that we are none too well and therefore not able to pray as we would wish. No, it is not just some physical malady from which we are suffering. This is not something which can be explained along any ordinary line of nature. Behind these things there so often lies another power. We may feel ill in body for no justifiable reason, from the natural standpoint. Our very energies and vitalities, physical and mental, may be sapped, and we say that we are tired, but there is something extra to that. The enemy delights in our accounting for these things on human grounds, when we ought to be waking up to the fact that there is a much bigger issue at stake. Let us ask: what is its tendency, and what is its effect? Is it to destroy our prayer life? Does it work in the direction of bringing us into a state of weakness and uselessness to God? If so, are we going to accept that? That is the question. There is a good deal that seems to be perfectly natural which should not be accepted by the Lord's people, and we need to test everything, try it out, and see whether, after all, the whole thing is natural, or whether there is not something hidden. Do not look for a devil with horns and a tail and a pitchfork! He hides himself. He covers his tracks. He comes in such an intangible way that you are often inclined to explain the whole trouble as quite a natural thing, when it is all covering up something else, and its effect is simply to put you out of spiritual action. We have to wake up to what is the issue for the Lord's people today, and it is no less an issue than that of life and death.
Do you recognise what is actually happening? The enemy does not mind how many so-called churches there are, how much preaching there is, or how much religious worship. I do not know that he minds very much how much orthodoxy there is, or how much of what we would call sound doctrine. What he is against is life. In multitudes of places, so far as the preaching is concerned, and so far as the things said are concerned, no fault can be found, but there is no sense of any vitalizing. There is no energizing, no impact, and no moving of the people to register the testimony of the risen Lord against the forces of evil. The enemy is getting them all quietly, nicely, snugly into spiritual death.
Oh, may the Lord move us to a new position in relation to this tremendous issue, the issue of life and death. The Lord bring it home to our hearts!
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/000703.html
Sunday, May 2, 2010
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