Books by T. Austin-Sparks

[Shammu]

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

"The Rights of God"
by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 1 - The Starting Point For The Working Of God

Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18 to 2:2.

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

In all His dealings with us God has His particular starting point. He will not deviate or change from this starting point. Whenever men have attempted to bring God to their starting point, they have always had to recognize that God insists on His starting point.

We must recognize something of particular importance, that our progress in spiritual life is completely dependent upon this special starting point. Many have discovered this to their cost. They have embarked on many things with every good intention and devoted much time and effort to them, which they have then had to completely undo. They have had to unlearn much. However, that which they considered loss worked to their advantage. Had they not returned to God’s starting point, they would have been stunted throughout their whole life, and remained inhibited people unfit to bring forth that which God had determined for them.

God’s starting point for us is related to the fact that we must surrender to Him completely. Even though at the beginning we will not know all that this involves, nevertheless it is essential that we take up a position in which we can to some extent say: I do not know what my complete surrender to God involves; into what depths He will bring me; but I am ready for it. May God’s will be done in my life.

With such an attitude as this, a living fellowship with God will open for us upon which all else depends. We can call this starting point ‘new birth’. Whatever we call it, the main thing is that we have entered into a real living relationship with God, a completely new life: where it is no longer us, but in truth all from God.

We have two examples in the Word of God. In the Second Book of Kings, chapter 5:1–11, we are introduced to Naaman.

“Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said unto her mistress, “Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.” And one went in, and told his lord, saying, “Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.” And the king of Syria said, “Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel.” And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.” And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.”  And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, “Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.” But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, ‘Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.’”

[Shammu]

So we are introduced to Naaman. We see an eminent man.  He is powerful and highly honoured, but—a leper.  One day, he stands before the house of Elisha. The king of Syria sends a messenger to inform Elisha of his arrival. Elisha, however, does not take any notice of the position of this great army leader, but simply sends a messenger to tell him, "Go and wash in the river Jordan seven times.” Humanly speaking, Naaman’s anger is understandable. Had he come all this way simply to be dismissed in this manner? Were not the waters of his own country better than the miserable Jordan? Elisha had not even had the decency to come out and greet him personally. That would have been the very least he could have expected. In anger Naaman turns away; by no means is he ready to follow these instructions.

Naaman expected that God should have begun at his own starting point. God ought to have recognized who Naaman was.  Naaman’s intention was to make an impression on the prophet and therefore upon God. With this in mind he had brought with him camels loaded down with valuable goods. They all counted for nothing. Elisha did not take the slightest notice of these things. “Go and wash in Jordan seven times.” That sounded too humiliating. Did a Naaman have to endure such treatment?

But wait—let us remember that the whole question here is connected with the question of fellowship with God.  It concerns our fellowship with God. Either Naaman goes the way of God, where he is no more anything, or he must give up everything. God begins with us there where we recognize and accept our nothingness, that is, God begins with us at the Cross. The starting point for all the blessings in Christ remains the Cross of the Crucified.

What applied to Naaman also applied to Nicodemus. John 3:1-8 says:

“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, “Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with Him.” Jesus answered and said unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus saith unto Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”  Jesus answered, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.’”

We can think of Naaman as a man of the world; on the other hand, Nicodemus represents the so-called religious people. But with God, none of this matters at all. Even our religion, our piety, our strivings: all are meaningless. God takes no notice of any of these things. Whether we seek healing from leprosy, an illustration of extreme poverty in the midst of great wealth, or whether we have other desires, recognition of our public position—God brings both to the same starting point. Whether the one must dip himself seven times in the Jordan as a sign that a complete death to one’s own self must take place, or whether it is said of the other, “Except a man be born again”—in both cases it is the same: the starting point of God with us is the end of all that we are in and of ourselves.

This is as valid for the ‘religious’ person as it is for the ‘man of the world’. There is no such thing as a second-hand knowledge of God. God cannot be ‘studied’. All true knowledge of God is a personal, immediate, living experience of Him. All else is so-called theology, our own thoughts about God, philosophy.

Has it become clear from what we have been saying that God can make no use of that which we are of ourselves? We may have travelled on a long, perhaps ‘pious’ road; but God cannot use that. God begins with us at the Cross. Living fellowship with God is only for those who are born of God. Naaman did not know God. In the case of Nicodemus, we cannot say this. Nevertheless, Nicodemus had no more life from God than Naaman.

This presents us with some serious questions. It presents us with the question: am I born again? Have I experienced resurrection? Is my relationship with God based on personal experience? Do I know what it means to be dead and buried? Or is this all simply knowledge? Are these ‘truths’ that I have accepted without having experienced them and stood in their full reality?

If we want to act according to the rights of God, then it is of utmost importance to begin at that point at which the rights of God have their highest confirmation, at the Cross of Calvary, where only one thing remains for us: to give God His rights in continually relinquishing all of ‘our’ rights.

In the seventh chapter of Mark, and the fifteenth chapter of Matthew, we find the report of the Syrophenician woman. Here too we are faced with the same starting point for all the blessings of God.

God Himself had drawn a line between Jews and Gentiles. Israel was by right heir of the blessing. The Gentiles lived outside the promises.  In the case of the Syrophenician woman, we see something different. While Israel insisted upon the blessing of God as being a matter of course, she seeks it. The blessing she seeks is for her a matter of life and death. At the same time, she has no right to it. The Jews were proud of their race. They were the people.  What could be lacking in them? They were not aware of any particular need. Everything for them was ordered by tradition. Traditional, yes, but no longer spiritual. And because for them the blessing had become a matter of tradition, they no longer had any longing for it in their hearts. With them there was no yearning, no expectation, no stretching out to receive it. “They that are whole have no need of a physician” (Matt. 9:12). But their health was only in their imagination. They did not know that they were blind—or how blind they were.  Therefore Jesus goes way over the boundary to that place where He comes into contact with people who have recognized their need.

But then they need to be brought to the starting point that enables God to bless them, to bless them in truth and in fulness. Matthew fifteen, and verses 22-28 says:

“And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, “Send her away; for she crieth after us.”  But He answered and said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, help me.”  But He answered and said, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.”  And she said, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”  Then Jesus answered and said unto her, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”  And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”

[Shammu]

The woman pleads: “Have mercy on me, O Lord.”  He pushes her aside. Why? Because He has to bring her to a certain point. He must test her.  Would she be insulted? This may well have been possible. But then she would have had to return home without a blessing. So she remains insistent.

“I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In other words, “You do not belong to those who come into question. I am not sent to you.”

But she remains insistent, saying, “Lord, help me.”

The Lord takes yet a further step. “It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs.”

Now let us think for a moment. If the Lord were to speak like that to us, what would we do? Would we not turn our backs on Him? Would we not be extremely offended, turn away convinced that He did not want to help us, that He had no sympathy towards us?

Ah, the Lord is putting this woman to the test. However, she does not walk away offended. She seeks the blessing. She does not rest until she has it.  She persists until the blessing of God breaks through that particular dispensation and comes to the Gentiles.

“It is true, Lord,” she says. “I am not appealing to anything of right. I know that I have no right. I am only a dog, but even dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table!”

Then it happened! The victory is there!

“O woman, great is thy faith: be it done unto thee even as thou wilt.”

Do we now see what it all comes down to? The starting point of all blessings is there where it enters our consciousness that we have no valid rights, no valid claims; that before the Lord we are nothing other than beggars.

How different is this than the attitude of Naaman! He thinks first and foremost that he possesses rights, that he can expect his elevated position to be recognized.  The woman, however, says to herself, “If I despite everything, am still to receive the blessing, then this can only happen in one way, that He gives it to me by His grace.”

Let us remember that the sequence of events in this story serves a higher purpose.

We have already said that Israel had refused Him, that they felt no need of the blessing that the Lord wanted to give them. For this reason Jesus went beyond the boundary. For this reason He turned to the Gentiles. The blessing of God is only for those who seek it. But even then nothing will happen until God has come to His starting point. Whether we are speaking of Naaman, Nicodemus, the Syrophenician woman, or ourselves—God’s starting point is there where our own self has come to an end.

All the blessings of God flow from the Cross. God must empty us. God must bring us to the place where He can trust us. This will not happen until we despair of ourselves. Nothing could be more dangerous than to place spiritual blessings into carnal hands.  Many become proud and self-confident because God has blessed them, because God has given them understanding.

The foundation of all blessings is the Cross. If we want to stand in true fellowship with God, then it is only possible on the grounds of the Cross, only possible where all our own strength has come to an end, where we are completely dependent upon Him.

Be assured that God will put us to the test as to whether this is so. We remind ourselves of Elijah and Elisha; of how Elijah attempted to deter Elisha from accompanying him on his final journey. Elisha persevered. Elisha went with him right to the end.  But as they passed through the Jordan, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken from thee.” Had he allowed himself to be shaken off, all blessings would have been lost.

The same is true for us. There is no other way to receive the fulness of God in Christ. In no other way does the Lord come to His right with us without us first returning to the starting point of God, there where our old man was crucified with Him—and only when we are prepared to take the position of being crucified with Him will we receive the blessing whatever the cost.  This means, however, at the cost of our own life.

May the Lord bring us to that place, where we can say from the heart: Whatever the cost, I will go with You right to the end.

[Shammu]

Chapter 2 - Dependence Upon God

Reading: 1 Kings 17:1–7.

“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”  And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, “Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.” So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.”

In this passage we meet the Prophet Elijah for the first time. We do not know very much about him. We are simply told that he was from among the inhabitants of Tishbeh in Gilead, and that is no recommendation. If only he had come from Jerusalem or from one of the major Judean towns, for what of significance could possibly come out of Tishbeh!

But see, the very first thing he says shows a man in touch with God. “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before Whom I stand....”

Elijah, a man who stands before God: that is the turning point of a sad story. In a few words, let us just look briefly at the situation.

The people had fallen away from God. Ahab had done more than all the kings before him to provoke the Lord. His wife, Jezebel, had introduced the worship of Baal. There were relatively few who remained true to God. Therefore, the ministry of someone like Elijah was in the first place to bring the testimony of the Lord once more in the midst of His people. This meant a fight, a fight involving people, a fight with the powers of darkness. Elijah stood against a flood of those who had fallen away from God. This is the reason that the first word we hear from him is of such significance. What he does he can only do because he does it for God. And because he does it for God, he must do it, cost what it may.

Is it necessary to point out that the times in which we live are very similar to those of that time? Therefore in these days the Lord needs an instrument to once again raise up a testimony to His life. We face a spiritual famine. Even if there is a lot of religiosity, spiritual life can hardly be found. The greater will be the falling away from God.

The Lord is looking for a testimony. He is looking for a prophetic ministry. The Lord is looking for a ministry that is in touch with heaven, a ministry that is more than preaching, that is a testimony in the power of the Holy Spirit of the new life that God has given us in Christ.

Anyone recognizing a call to such a ministry dares not avoid the fight. Anyone who bears testimony cannot allow him or herself to be frightened by the powers of darkness. There are those who understand this, those who for the Lord’s sake have found themselves in a fight that is far too big for them to tackle in their own strength. Nevertheless, they stand. They do not just stand; they triumph. They know that they are unconquerable because the Lord is with them. The battle is the Lord’s.

According to the word of Elijah, and this demonstrates his attitude towards God, we would expect anything else but the instruction: “Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith.” How is it that a man who stands before God should hide himself away? Is that not a contradiction? And then, “I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there... and he drank of the brook.”

[Shammu]

Let us say the following. Should we wish to represent anything for God, then for the sake of the people and with the people of God we must suffer, so that the purposes of God can be carried out.

We see this also with Paul. He was a personal embodiment of all that the church means in the present dispensation. For this reason he goes through a lifelong experience in order to be a representation of all that the church should be in this time. In his last letter, he writes: “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). He saw the breaking up of the church on earth. Without the heavenly vision, he would have to say: Everything is falling apart. Everything that I have fought for all my life is collapsing. But instead, he rejoices. He had seen that the church is not earthly, but heavenly; and that she exists in an indestructible unity in Christ and holds together in Him.  Paul went through more suffering than anyone else. That is why he lives today more than ever before.

In the end, God lets Elijah know that He still has seven thousand, who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). Elijah believed he was alone. The seven thousand were a remnant. They were a testimony of faithfulness in a day of declension. But God’s purpose was not just to rescue His testimony. He wanted to bring it to a yet greater fulness. For this reason Elijah had to go through all this suffering—the same for Paul.

It was a time of famine. Elijah suffered along with the rest, and this has always been the case. Whenever God takes up an instrument for a particular purpose, He lets them live through that which is to be the experience of others. God brings His vessel through all the sufferings that are necessary for bringing His purpose about in others. God has never done anything on this earth without first having realized it in a particular instrument.

The prophets are called ‘signs’. We even read of Jesus that He was set as a sign, that is, He must Himself go through all the experiences that are necessary for the purposes of God in connection with Him that are to be realized. With God, no theory is valid. God is reality. And those experiences are reality that God trusts to those whom He sends through particular depths in preparation for a particular ministry.

“As the Lord liveth”. We can stand before the Lord, and still be in battle. To stand before the Lord does not mean to be saved from pain. Quite the opposite.

Something else. Ravens brought him bread and meat. And he drank from the water in the brook. But after a certain time the stream dried up. The Lord took care that Elijah had something, but then He took it from him again. What does that mean? God wants to bring His servants to the point where they recognize that every source of help for their lives comes from heaven. Do not ravens themselves like to eat meat? We have to say that it was supernatural for ravens of all birds to have brought meat to Elijah. Every morning and evening. God was behind it. He had sent the ravens. They would not have come on their own. For some time it continued. Elijah could easily have taken it for granted. But then suddenly it stopped. They stopped coming and the brook dried up. What now?

God said to him, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” She was certainly no wealthy widow. We know what he found there. It had come to the point of baking the last cake and then dying. And the Lord had asked this woman to provide for him.

Let us make sure we see the deeper sense that lies hidden in this story.

When the Lord is in the process of restoring His testimony and forming His instrument as the restoration of His testimony demands, then on the one hand, He takes over the complete responsibility for His maintenance; on the other hand, He teaches His instrument not to look for his maintenance in earthly things, but only from God.

For a spiritual testimony, there can be no natural resources. That is the reason why we see Elijah is, right from the start, totally dependent upon God.

In James 5:17 we find a mention of Elijah. “Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain....”

Elijah knew how to pray. Elijah had learned the secret of prayer. This inner fellowship with God gave him power so that he could step forward and say: “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before Whom I stand....”

[Shammu]

Have we ever tried to encapsulate the meaning of prayer in one word? It is ‘dependency’!

Anyone who has recognized his dependency upon God will pray. Whoever does not pray, does not recognize how dependent he is upon God. Our effectiveness for God depends upon the amount of our dependence upon God, and our prayer life will be the measure of such dependence.

It can be said of Elijah: the whole foundation of his life and service lay in his dependence upon God. God kept him in this attitude. It gave him security and power.

We can say much about Elijah. The Jews thought a lot of him. When they saw Jesus performing tremendous deeds, they thought Elijah had returned. Where was the secret of his greatness to be found, the secret of his powerful and victorious service? What lay behind his destruction of heathen worship, so that the people said again: “The Lord, He is the God!”? It is the absolute dependence upon God. It is that which we see at the brook Cherith, in the house of the widow, and everywhere he went.

Now, that is the starting point for all of God’s work in us: nothing from the world, all from God! Before God attempts to accomplish His great deeds through us, we must be brought to this point. In himself, Elijah was just as we are. But he was a powerful prophet, because in and of himself he was nothing. And he was nothing in and of himself because he was conscious of being completely dependent upon God.

Many think too highly of themselves. That makes them unfruitful for God. It hinders their life of prayer. The Lord must bring us low. Those whom God uses most are they who trust Him alone, who are poor in themselves, but consequently rich towards God; those who are in themselves weak, but consequently are strong in the Lord.

May the Lord succeed in preparing instruments, willing for such dependence, so that He is able to restore through them the testimony of His life in a time when nothing is more needful than precisely that: the testimony of His life.

[Shammu]

Chapter 3 - The Place of God in His House

Reading: Isaiah 6:1-7.

“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 seraphims 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 purged.’”

God has intended great things for His people. He watches over the realization of His plan. We do well to have recognized the basis on which God completes His thoughts for us. If we long to see God’s full thought for us accomplished, if we yearn for the fulness of Jesus Christ, then we have to know where God starts, we have to discern the secret that governs God’s fulness. In Isaiah 6, we find the key for this. Great things are put before us. It is hardly necessary to say much about the place the Lord Jesus Christ has in Isaiah. His prophecies are well-known enough for us to understand that they are all fulfilled in Christ.

In chapter 9, we find the familiar words:
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

In chapter 11:1,2:
“And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a Branch out of his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

Then Isaiah 61:1-3, takes us further to the public ministry of the Lord, and we immediately hear Him say the words:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”

In Isaiah 42:1-4, we see Jesus Christ as the suffering Servant of God:
“Behold, My Servant, Whom I uphold; My Chosen, in Whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up His voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. A bruised reed will He not break, and a dimly burning wick will He not quench: He will bring forth justice in truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set justice in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law.”

Isaiah 52:13-15, we see the Lord Jesus exalted and extolled:
“Behold, My Servant shall deal wisely, He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Like as many were astonied at Thee, (His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men): So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.

And then we are taken further to the Cross, the great fifty-third chapter, and beyond the Cross to His reign.

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.... Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:1-3, 10-12)

Thus we have in Isaiah a comprehensive presentation of the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The people of Israel did not fulfil the thought of God. Captivity was the only way left for them. Because God wanted to demonstrate His plan for His people, it was necessary to cut them off from the place of His glory, Jerusalem. A large section of Isaiah points to the captivity which awaited them.

But our attention is now drawn to the context in which Isaiah sees all of these events. Even the captivity stands in connection to the Lord on His throne. What else does this mean, except the irrefutable assurance that God’s will will be done, that God’s plan will be fully realized. But if God wants to reach His goal, then He Himself has to create the prerequisite for fulfilment in His people. Therefore He must educate His people in the school of suffering, by way of purging, so that they will be willing to walk in the way of His thoughts, to act with the deepest interest from the heart for His will to be done.

[Shammu]

We find in Isaiah 60 a remnant, those who have become ready for the full realization of the will of God. In reference to them the Word says: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”

What does the glory of the Lord consist of? Nothing else but Jesus Christ Himself. He is the glory of God. In Him all God’s thoughts and desires in relation to His people are fulfilled.

Isaiah writes: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and His train filled the temple” (ASV).

This sentence, “In the year that king Uzziah died” is immensely important. Let us recall the history of this king. He was the king that dared to appropriate the things of God. The priests had warned him: “It pertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord.” But he became enraged. He forced his will through. The Lord struck him. Leprosy broke out on his forehead. He fled from the presence of the Lord. He died as a leper and—“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord.” Isaiah sees Him, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Did Uzziah believe he could put himself in God’s place? Did he believe he could become proficient in the things pertaining to God? He had dared to want to be king in God’s house. He had dared to act with natural power, instead of in the Spirit alone. Then God opposed him and struck him. “You have tried to take My place. This cannot be. This is My house. You must make room for Me.” Then Uzziah fled.  He died, overcome by the judgment of God (2 Chron. 26:16-23; RSV).

The next thing that Isaiah tells us is this: “The glory of the Lord filled the temple.” He saw the Lord on the throne, the throne belonging to Him alone. This is the beginning in Isaiah. This is the beginning of all things that are God’s.

If we want to reach the fulness of Jesus Christ in our life, then God must receive the place in our life that is due to Him. Then He must be the Lord in us, to Whom everything in us bows and Whose will we do entirely.

If we take Isaiah’s vision over into the New Testament, we see it confirmed there in the fullest measure. In Acts 1 we have a new beginning and we see two things there:
Christ in heaven, lofty and exalted, sitting on a throne, and: “Men of Galilee.”

Nazareth was in Galilee. In a certain sense it was a ‘forecourt’. One of the messages of the angels had said: “He goeth before you into Galilee.”  That had a special meaning. Galilee lay outside of the official religious centre. Had not Jerusalem refused the Lord Jesus Christ the rights due to Him? Jerusalem had given the Lord of glory no room. They had rejected Him. They had taken what belonged to God into their own hands. That is why the Lord leaves Jerusalem.  He goes to Galilee. He goes to where He is recognized. “Men of Galilee”.  It does not say: “Men of Jerusalem”.

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In Acts 1:13 we read: “They went up into the upper chamber.” They did not go to the temple. The temple was the officially recognized centre of religiosity in Jerusalem. But they did not go there. They went to the upper room. They went to that place which in a vivid way speaks of separation: separation from everything that is only tradition and form. It speaks in a pictorial way of elevation, of that which is higher, separated from the earthly, because it is purposed to be heavenly.

We find Peter and John amongst those who are men­tioned first. It is not insignificant that the new name of Peter is found at the beginning. Peter had gone through a deep experience. Peter had learned. He had learned a great deal. There had been a time in which he had raised objections at every opportunity. When the Lord wanted to go to the Cross, he had said: “This shall never be unto Thee.” When Jesus wanted to wash his feet, Peter had said: “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Despite all his love for the Lord, Peter was clearly self-conscious as well as strongly assertive of his own opinions. But he had learned. When we read his Letters we see that he has much to say regarding submission. The Lord now has the place and room in Peter that He deserved!

This is the reason why his name is mentioned first in the church, because the church must be distinguished by the fact that in her the Lord has the first place. Everything depends on her being totally subjected to Him. Only thus can He fill His house.

But we also read of John. Peter and John are often mentioned together. They belong together. Where there is subjection to the Lord, there is also love. Where self-interest reigns, there is no love. But where there is true submission, we meet love, so that both submission and love form the basis on which the fulness of Jesus Christ is attained.

Could the rushing wind from heaven have been ignored? Hardly. It was too mighty. But in reference to the direction of this wind we need to take note that it came from heaven. It was not a matter of a north, south, east or west wind. It concerned a wind from a unique direction, as a sign that the Lord had taken up His throne to send from heaven the Spirit of power, Who works resurrection in His own people and gives power to testify. Nothing can happen before Christ has taken up His place in heaven. And similarly in us there can be no fulness of Christ as long as we deny Him the throne of our heart.

In his description of the events, Luke is persistently accurate. It was said to be a mighty rushing wind. That is nothing else but a storm. What can we do in a storm? Whoever has been in a real storm knows how helpless one is. There is no point in standing up to the storm. It takes us and carries us away. Through this storm from heaven the Lordship of the Spirit is expressed. The Spirit wants to reign. He does not need our help. Our plans and programs are only in His way. The Spirit alone knows what God wants. Only He knows the hour of God. Only He disposes of the means; only His is the power. The things of God that aim at the fulness of Christ are too big for us to achieve. In theory we admit this. We agree with this from time to time, not without sighing, when once again our plans have come to nothing, when that which we have undertaken for the Lord with the best of intentions has failed. But in practice we continue our own activities. Things are set up and organized. We work and suffer for God—so often in vain....

The whole house in which they sat was filled. Everything is pushed out. There is room for nothing else. It reminds us of the dedication of the temple of Solomon. When the temple was completed and filled with the glory of the Lord, the priests had to leave the temple of God. They could not stay there because of His glory. That means when the Lord fills His house, there is no room left for anything human. Everything that does not submit itself to Him, that does not open itself to Him in love, that is not completely available to Him must go out.

And then tongues of fire appeared. Tongues are figurative of a testimony. The testimony that Christ was crucified, resurrected, ascended to heaven and highly exalted, was there. It was there in a living way in those that had become witnesses of the great deeds of God, and in whom Christ lived in the power of His resurrected life.

Fire on the other hand speaks of judgment. Fire pierces through. Fire tests. It did not take long before the people on the day of Pentecost cried out: “Brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). The fire had tested their hearts. Everything was connected to the issue of the full Lordship of Jesus Christ.

What is the secret of the fulness of the Lord? It is complete submission to Him, so that He receives His full place in those that are His house. Without this there is no fulness of the Holy Spirit. Christ must become Lord in our hearts. He must become Lord in all things pertaining to our life. Christ must become Lord over our thoughts, our desires and over our inclinations. “It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

There we are, back to Isaiah. Isaiah, who by his prophecy is called to lead us to the fulness of the riches of Christ, sees God and cries out: “Woe is me! for I am undone.” It is like that everywhere where the Lord has come to be Lord. Whether it concerns the upper chamber where the disciples are united together, the individual, or any local representation of the church in our day: if God is to achieve His full goal in His temple, then we must recognize His Lordship and bow before Him, so that God can really be ALL, AND IN ALL.

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Chapter 4 - Prophetic Service

Reading: 1 Kings 18:17-21.

“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people answered him not a word.”

In the previous chapters, we have seen the trouble to which the Lord goes to produce things the way He wants them to be. God needs such a testimony. His plan from eternity is connected to it. This plan cannot be achieved until God’s people have entered into His thought, until they stand experientially in everything that God has given them in Christ. That is, God wants to be ruling in the life of His people. His people should be the living realization of His thoughts. Only in this way does God have what He wishes to have. But if this were to happen, then firstly, everything has to be given to us by God; that which is in God has to have full and undivided importance in our life, so that that which came from God can return to Him.

If only we could grasp the thoughts of God better! There is such a lack of spiritual receptivity. This is because there is a lack of spiritual life; we can only understand the thoughts of God to the degree we walk in them. Where there is a lack of walking in the Spirit, there is also a lack of understanding of God’s thoughts.

How can we forget that we stand in a battle? Satan has tried from the start to bring other thoughts than the thoughts of God into this world, namely his own. As a result of their disobedience, humans beings became subject to this other spirit; man lost his ability to grasp God’s thoughts; the thoughts of the flesh took possession of him. Therefore we see from the beginning two directions of thoughts in battle with each other: the thoughts of God and the thoughts of the flesh. In regard to the latter we could also say: the thoughts of the devil. This is not just the case in undisputed sinners, but the thoughts of religious flesh are also thoughts against God. We have to admit that in Christianity today something pagan co-exists, yes, that in the midst of service for God, and the salvation of souls, methods are used that have nothing in common with the thoughts of God, that are not from His Spirit. What do we mean by this?

We think here of the vast area of psychology. Modern psychology in its spiritual content is completely heathen. It goes back to men who knew only of the difference between soul and body, who were not conscious of the human spirit. This pagan psychology has been taken over by the theology of our time, so that today evangelization is widely practiced on a pagan basis. When I studied theology, we were told that a sermon was successful and had achieved its goal, when the following three points had been considered:

1. To win the intellect of man through facts or evidence.

2. To take into account the feelings of man.

3. To persuade the will of man.

When that was achieved, we would have won the intellect, the emotions and the will of man. But that is nothing else than what we call in psychology the ‘soul’. Mental activity, emotional life and the will is exactly that which the New Testament calls the natural man, who as a ‘soulish’ man is incapable of accepting what comes from the Spirit of God.

Nearly all so-called revivals have happened on this basis. They were mighty movements for the shaking of emotions: mighty persuasions and argumentations were used to influence the understanding and will. What was the result? The natural man has been manoeuvred into Christianity and been made a Christian. We cannot, however, recognize the thoughts of God in this and it has nothing to do with being born again.

According to the Word of God, man is body, soul and spirit. Christ says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). It may be that ‘rebirths’ have occurred in the revivals mentioned above. But there is a difference between, let us say, a psychological rebirth and a rebirth in the Spirit. The one might temporarily carry all the characteristic features of a real rebirth. And yet all of that does not necessarily have anything to do with the Spirit, and in innumerable cases it has had nothing to do with the Spirit. It is a work of man. The disastrous fruit of these often well-meant efforts are devastating. We see how successful the devil was to confuse things; how he has managed to smuggle a whole heathen system into Christianity, a system that has nothing in common with the thoughts of God.

We see the same in reference to the church. Christianity has become a system of human interpretation of the thoughts of God. Spiritual death hovers over it. It is no living testimony for God.

God has given us a burden in our hearts concerning His thoughts. We do not speak to criticize. We speak because we have to. The force of the devil operates there where the wealth of people’s souls are at his disposal. He reaches his purpose through alliances available to him in the soul of man. That is why God endeavours to such an extent to save man from himself, to save him unto God.

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We have said that the ministry of the prophets consisted of leading the people back to the thoughts of God. It was a ministry amongst the people of God. It was about the rights of God in His house.

Let us return once more to Elijah, and let us note how things started. It starts with the Lord saying to Elijah: “Go, show thyself unto Ahab!” (1 Kings 18:1). Three and a half years earlier He had said: “Hide thyself!”  (1 Kings 17:3). The prophet had therefore hidden himself all this time until then. But now the word was: “Go, show thyself unto Ahab!”. He stands face to face with Ahab. We remind ourselves about what Ahab said on that occasion: “Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?” (1 Kings 18:17; RSV). People that stand without reserve for the rights of God will always be considered as enemies by those who reject the thoughts of God. There is the point of view of Elijah, and the one of Ahab. Ahab, who says: “You, the troubler of Israel.” Or Elijah who can reply: “It is not I that have brought Israel into trouble, but you” (1 Kings 18:18). Where did the trouble come from in reality? Did it come from the side of those that wanted things the way that God wanted them? Did it not come from the side of those that denied God His rights? Those that do not want to go the full way with the Lord, who do not have the thoughts of God at heart, they are really His enemies.

On which side do we want to stand? That is the real question. That is what it is about. We know how Elijah expressed himself in reference to his own life: “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts” (1 Kings 19:14). Elijah has a clear picture of what God wants. He can also see through to recognize what does not correspond to God’s thought. But he himself stands outside of these matters. He is not entangled with the exterior. That is why he is able to be at God’s disposal. His devotion includes the willingness to pay the full price necessary for a full restoration of the testimony of God. Consequently, such witnesses will be fought as enemies. Wherever a religious system has come to reign, it will always be held against them that it is they who bring the people of God into confusion. This is what makes the ministry so difficult. This is what makes the ministry so costly.

But behind all of this was Baal. Elijah was not against Israel. It was a blinded nation. Baal stood behind it. The forces of darkness were working in the idolatry into which Israel had surrendered itself. Israel was so deceived that it thought it was doing right in its idolatry. This is the highest level of deception, not seeing that everything one does, also that which is sincerely intended, actually serves the devil. The prophet’s disagreement is not in the first place with Israel. His battle is with the whole spiritual system into which Israel is entangled. ‘Religious’ people would not even rebel against the ministry of the prophet, if the enemy did not instigate them. So they become instruments of the devil. But the prophet is ready to encounter this. He is misunderstood, he is slandered and seen as an enemy; he is marked as the one who troubles Israel. But he has a vision. He does not serve himself. He knows that his standpoint leaves no room for personal ambition. But he has seen God. He is connected to God. And in the special standing which he has with God, the difference between the godly and the human has been revealed to him. With this vision he has become prepared to carry the cost that the service of God demands.

How important it is that we recognize our calling. It determines our ministry. What does it consist of? Has God not revealed His secret to us? Has He not made known to us in His Word what He wants? He has surely spoken to us quietly and has unveiled His thoughts to us. Can we do otherwise but recognize the immense contrast between the thoughts of God and those of men, between that which God wanted as a testimony of heavenly things and that which men have made of it?

Let us proclaim the message of God! Let us give back the thoughts of God to His people! But let us not forget what it costs.

When the Lord shows us such things, a crisis emerges for us. Are we prepared to pay the price? Are we prepared to be called enemies, who apparently want to confuse the people of God? Are we prepared to take a place of full trusting and dependence, if only God attains His goal? We may be slandered and regarded as contemptuous, but what does it matter? As long as God is honoured.

I think we all realize such decisions are final and definitive. The decision that God demands of us takes everything away from us. But how abundant in contrast to this is what God gives us! We have the choice.  We can decide for God with the full consciousness as to what we have decided. The alternative is to reject our calling. We can return to lower, earthly things because of all sorts of reasons. We then lose the vision, and we lose the calling. We have missed “so great a salvation” (Heb. 2:3).

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Elijah’s behavior is also meaningful in reference to something else. In his time Israel was divided. He could have accepted the division without complaining about it, wishing for a better time. But he does not accept the separations. He builds an altar of twelve stones, to bring to expression that according to God’s thought the church is an indivisible whole. From God’s point of view she is one body. Did the Lord not say to Jacob: “Thy name shall be Israel”? (Gen. 32:28). As a prince of God he was called to build the house of God. Elijah refuses to present anything to a part of Israel that may only be applied to the whole.

“And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be thy name”: and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, “Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it the second time.” And they did it the second time. And he said, “Do it the third time.” And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, ‘The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God’” (1 Kings 18:31-39).

Do we not see the same in the Letter to the Ephesians? Paul sees the church, as far as an earthly representation is concerned, in the process of collapsing. As he looked at his life work from prison in Rome, he had to admit that it did not last. In Asia, in Galatia, in Europe, everywhere he sees failure and breakdown. When he was free he could travel to and fro; he could do his utmost to keep the spiritual state of things going. Now, sitting in prison, he watched the work come to nothing. Some assemblies turned away from him altogether. The state of the church could have caused him to say: It is all in vain. However in reading the Letter to the Ephesians, we do not find the slightest indication of such a point of view. He wrote the letter at the end of his life. Had he written the letter at the beginning, we would say: What a wonderful ideal the church of Paul is. However, Paul wrote it when the church on earth was failing. Despite this, for Paul there is no division. Oneness is the word that governs this letter. What kept Paul from despair was this:
“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Paul saw the heavenly reality of the church in Christ. He saw the Body of Jesus Christ in its perfection through the work of Christ. He saw that the Lord did not want to make something for the earth, but that through the Holy Spirit He was seeking to turn from the earthly into the heavenly that which had been redeemed from the earth in Him.

In spirit Paul was standing on the same ground as Elijah. Elijah did not take ten stones to show that he was acting for the ten tribes of Israel. Neither did he take nine and a half stones, leaving aside the two and a half tribes that had not crossed over the Jordan. According to the thought of God he used twelve stones for an altar. A mighty testimony for the unchangeable and glorious realization of the thought of God at the Cross of Golgotha. Elijah stands alone on the top of Carmel. But God stands with him. Like Paul he can say: “All forsook me... but the Lord stood by me” (2 Tim. 4:16,17). He is not scared of the outcome of the fight. He asks for water to be drawn four times. It has to be made as clear as possible that only God can act in the way He did in response to Elijah’s prayer.

What does God want to show us by this? God waits until all hope in human help and human efforts of explanation have come to an end, to show that He is God and no one else.

What wonderful faith do we see in Elijah! What happened on top of mount Carmel is an illustration of the Word in the Letter to the Ephesians: “The exceeding greatness of His power (is directed) to us-ward who believe.”

Elijah had stood up for the sake of the testimony of God. He had suffered because of the recovery of the rights of God. Let us also stand for the rights of God! Even if we are to be considered by some as enemies. The Lord can strengthen us in our testimony, and He will do it. Only let us pay the whole price. Let us not keep anything back. Let us give ourselves completely to God, so that He may have opportunity to realize His thoughts.

This will lead us into battle. What does it matter? We look at the end. After Elijah comes Elisha. The whole life of Elisha is an uninterrupted triumph of life. We also look to the future and know that it will be only life in eternity.

[Shammu]

Chapter 5 - The Rights of God and Grace

Reading: Luke 4:17–27.
“And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is not This Joseph’s son?” And He said unto them, “Ye will surely say unto Me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal Thyself:’ whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Thy country.” And He said, “Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.”

In Luke 4 we see how the Lord is on the side of the prophets. He is the Son of God, but concerning the rights of God He is the Prophet, as was Moses. He came to Nazareth. He was given the book of the prophet Isaiah. Everything that the prophet says finds a sudden living embodiment, but: “No prophet is acceptable in his own country” (v.24). He used the Word in regard to Himself. What separates Him however from the other prophets is the special message of grace.

Grace is the way in which God gains recognition for His rights. What a wonderful proclamation of grace!—
“He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (verses18,19; RSV).

That is the grace of God. It is the grace of God in Jesus Christ. This is how He introduces Himself to the people. He brings God close to them on the ground of grace. He Himself and His presence are the grace of God. “The grace of God hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11).

But now grace has to be demonstrated. He has announced it, but those to whom grace has been offered, have to know what it means. He refers to Elijah and the widow, who was maintained with her son, and to Elisha and the cleansing of Naaman. What is grace? Israel thought that it had a right to God’s blessing. They did not recognize that it was a question of grace. As long as we think we have legitimate claims, we are not on the ground of grace. In other passages we have pointed out how proud Israel was of its special election. That was enough for its downfall. Pride made it blind to the fact of its own need. Because Israel thought it had a legitimate claim to God’s grace, it did not deem it necessary to ask for it.

How different with Naaman and the widow. They know their poverty. They know their need. They also recognize the rights of God and accept through grace that which is not to be had in any other way.

Is it not so? We also know quite well that real devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ is not compatible with the assertion of any demand. Grace is for those who are in need of grace. In Nazareth the people were ‘religious’. Therefore the examples the Lord uses must make clear what is lacking in them. With Naaman and the widow God went beyond the borders of Israel. Was He repeating this strategy? Would He go to the Gentiles because Israel did not need Him? This is what He wants to show them. He wants to open their eyes to their need; to show them that they need grace. But they did not understand Him. They became filled with rage. They stood up and pushed Him out of town. Had it been in their power, they would have killed Him. The Lord however knew their hearts. The Lord knew that they would not recognize grace. But He offered it to them. He offers it to everybody. He sees to it that grace is accepted as grace, as that which we cannot earn through anything, which is not to be had in any other way than by taking possession of it as grace.

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“And He arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought Him for her. And He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, “Thou art Christ the Son of God.” And He rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that He was Christ” (Luke 4:38-41).

“And when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them.” These were those who had recognized the need for help and for grace’s sake desired it. Demons were also driven out. That was grace in its triumph.

So we have four things standing closely together:
Grace proclaimed.
Grace demonstrated.
Grace rejected.
Grace triumphing.

Although the demons testified that He was the Son of God, the people, however, recognized Him as God’s messenger of grace and accepted Him. Thus God came to His rightful position.

How clear grace is made to us in the case of the widow!— Flour and oil, that do not run out during three and a half years become a picture of Himself. “I am the bread of life, which come down from heaven, to give life and to save the people from spiritual famine” (John 6). He does this in the power of the Holy Spirit. Does this not speak to our hearts? We are only saved from spiritual poverty through Christ giving Himself to us. We have no means to save ourselves from spiritual poverty. If we are left to ourselves, we must die as the widow would have died. But Christ in His grace has sought us out. He has become our life. Should we not give God His place, after having recognized our need for His grace!

And how about Naaman? He too was outside of Israel. And he was leprous. Of what use was his exterior position to him? Leprosy was consuming his life. But the grace of God is for this very leper who is outside of Israel. For him there was help. Christ wants to show us this. He wants to demonstrate that the Son of Man came to seek and save that which is lost. The grace of God in Christ Jesus is for sinners. They will thank Him and give Him the place He deserves, because of the greatness of His grace.

Israel failed to recognize its need to be freed from sin. Therefore the grace of God meant nothing to them. Those, however, that stood outside of Israel recognized it. God will always have His place where His grace is recognized most and where it is accepted gratefully.

The measure in which we recognize His grace will also be the measure in which we surrender to Him.

Wherever there is an incomplete picture of the grace of God, there is also an incomplete testimony. The more we live in His grace, the more we will also testify for Him and be effective.

This is a very simple message. It is the simple message of the grace of God. But what in truth is more suitable to give God His place in our hearts than grace!

The Lord keep us from the self-satisfied position of Israel and make us hungry for grace, that it may accomplish its full purpose in us.

[Shammu]

Chapter 6 - God’s Rights in His House

God’s rights concerning His house have always been challenged. God had created this earth as a place where His rights would be recognized. That is why He gave man certain commandments. He gave them to man to bring him to the place where he would respect God’s rights. Through the recognition of God’s rights, obedience to God, man was to grow into all that which had been ordained for him from God.

However, it happened differently. The adversary appeared and the battle for God’s rights started. This happened in the form of a simple question: “Hath God said?”

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” And the woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’”  And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil’”  (Gen. 3:1-5).

There we have the questioning of God’s rights. The will of man is to stand in the place of the will of God. What is religious modernism other than that? The authority of the Word of God is opposed. Human thoughts judge that which is of God.

One king of Israel dared to say: “Who is the Lord?” This is what things are like for God after the fall. This is what He has to take into account, but that which He is also strong enough to overcome.

In the New Testament we see the same fight over the rights of God in His house. The Lord says: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer: but you have made it a den of robbers” (Matt. 21:13). And in saying this, He explains the parable of the vineyard owner.

“Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, “They will reverence my son.” But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.” And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him” (Matt. 21:33-39).

God has planted a vineyard and has put a fence around it. This vineyard is His property. Nobody therefore has any rights in this vineyard except Him. Then He hired it out to husbandmen and sent His servants after a while, to fetch the fruit, His ‘rights’. The husbandmen, however, beat them and killed them and murdered His Son in the end. This is robbing God. This is misuse of His rights to the extreme. The Pharisees recognized that this parable was meant for them. They gnashed their teeth. They did not consider repenting. Only a short while later, and the Lord has to say about Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”  (Matt. 23:37,38). What was once God’s house, is His house no longer.  God has left it. His house is somewhere else.  It is in the hearts of those that have opened themselves to Him. “WE are His house.”  And Christ is the Son over God’s house (Heb. 3:6).

The connection, which the Lord Jesus Christ makes between Himself and the ministry of the prophets, shows us:

Firstly, that the prophets and the Son of God stand in a very specific relationship to each other as far as the will of God is concerned. They were sent in view of the rights of God; they were killed because of the rights of God.

Secondly: The church as the house of God is there where the rights of God are recognized and given to Him.

But is there something more disputed than His church? Where is she? Is she there, where people that call themselves Christians come together? Yes and no. Fellowship is one of the characteristics of His church. But not fellowship outwardly, but oneness in spirit. Spiritual fellowship cannot be made.  It is foolish to think that one could join the church, because one agrees with the message or structure of an assembly. The church is more than the union of religious people. The church consists of those to whom the Lord has brought new life, in whose hearts He has become Lord, of those who have learned to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. The church is not our house. It is His house. He, however, is the Lord of heaven, Who has judged this world and has done away with it for ever. How could we serve Him with that which He has rejected? How could we dare to bring Him that which has been judged through the Cross? How long will it take until the eyes of the children of God are opened to the fact that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ must be heavenly through and through, that the church has nothing at all in common with this world?