Books by T. Austin-Sparks

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Chapter 4 - The HOLY Spirit

"The Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name..." (John 14:26).

"John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit..." (Acts 1:5).

We are now going to think about the Holy Spirit as the 'Spirit of Holiness' (Rom. 1:3) - the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament He is referred to by the latter title somewhere about eighty times, which is in itself a very impressive thing. He is the Holy Spirit.

Mistaken Ideas of 'Holiness'

The subject of 'holiness' or 'sanctification' can be a very oppressive and heavy-going matter. I confess that for a long time it was a subject that I never enjoyed looking into, or having anything to do with. The fact is that, as a subject, it has been resolved into various systems of teaching, has been made the ground of particular cults and movements, and has even provided a name for a 'church' - the 'Holiness' church. It has brought many Christians into bondage and confusion and frustration of life.

This is mainly due to holiness or sanctification being focused down on certain particular aspects of human life. When you come to ask people what they mean, you usually find that they refer to certain common sins in human nature: if you desire to be delivered from these, then that is a 'longing for holiness', and if you are actually delivered from them, that is an experience of 'holiness' itself. I am not saying that holiness does not involve that; but holiness in the Scriptures is a very much bigger, greater thing than any of our systems, or our movements, or our crystallized teaching, or our 'foci of application'. It is not intended to bring anybody either into bondage or into a life of struggle or strain. It is just in this connection that Satan has shown his cleverness. Having himself brought about our unholy condition, he then turns upon his own victims, bringing them under terrible condemnation and accusation, and involving them in a whole constellation of complexes, so that they have become completely tied up on this matter of sin and sanctification and holiness. That certainly ought not to be the effect of a healthy occupation with holiness as presented in the Word of God. It is just the opposite of what God has intended.

Satan as the Spirit of Unholiness

This is, of course, a matter that goes far beyond the limits of a few brief pages. But let us seek at least to get it into its right perspective. At the outset, holiness must be seen in its full setting. We will not stay to argue that this is the supreme characteristic of God. We have to see it in its full background. The Holy Spirit is set over against an un-holy spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit is a Person, so, just as truly, there is a personal un-holy spirit. This whole matter of 'holiness' has to be seen in that light. Satan it is who has brought in an unholy State: not merely as an unholy condition, but State with a capital 'S', as when we speak of the State in the sense of the Kingdom, the regime, the system or government. Satan has brought in an unholy condition and an unholy kingdom or State. He has defiled everything: he has defiled human nature; he has defiled the creation; and the proof is in the universality of death - God's verdict on all that it is unclean, that it is defiled, that it has been touched by Satan.

It is therefore impressive and instructive to note that, as soon as Jesus had been anointed by the Holy Spirit, He entered upon a direct and immediate battle with Satan himself. From the Jordan he went straight to the wilderness, to meet and encounter this arch-foe of all righteousness. As Jesus went into His baptism, He said to John: "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). For, in figure and representation, His baptism, as a type of His Cross, in death, burial and resurrection, was truly the fulfilment of all righteousness. On that ground, then, He encounters the one who is the embodiment of all unrighteousness. And it is under the anointing that He does it. The Spirit of Holiness, the Holy Spirit, takes the Righteous One to encounter the universality of unrighteousness, as represented by Satan, there in the wilderness. I say, it is most impressive and instructive to note that that was the very first thing after the baptism and anointing.

Now the method of Satan is always to bring about a link with his State, a link with his kingdom, thereby achieving his object of effecting a link with his defilement. Remember that! Let me repeat it: the object of Satan is always to bring about, if possible, some complicity, some touch, some link with, or some foothold in, his own unholy kingdom, or State, or condition. That is what was happening in that battle in which the Lord Jesus found Himself. All the time, Satan, from one angle and another, was moving round, trying to involve that Righteous One in his unrighteous kingdom. We are not going to argue out these three temptations, but it is perfectly clear. At last it comes out: 'If Thou wilt worship me' (Matt. 4:9; Luke 4:7). 'If only You will recognise me, accept me, give me a place' - 'If only Thou wilt worship me, all this will I give Thee!' In other words, 'If only I can get You on to my ground, I have spoiled Your kingdom, spoiled You: I have established myself, if I can but make that link.' Blessed be God, that Holy and Righteous One saw through it all, and said, in effect: 'No, not a hoof - not one iota. Nothing for Satan.' "The prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me" (John 14:30). That is victory, absolute victory.

The Principle of Non-contamination

Remember, then - what was true in His case is always true. Satan is ever seeking to find some way in which he can link us in with his kingdom, which is his power, by getting us on to his ground. Hence all those Old Testament prescriptions made by God against contamination, against mixture: "Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together" (Deut. 22:10). Nothing wrong with the ass, as such, for Jesus rode upon an ass, and we read in the Bible of the ass serving many a good purpose. But from God's standpoint they belong to two realms, two kingdoms, they represent two orders of life, and He says that you cannot mix them up. The work of God must not be done on the basis of a mixture of two things which belong to two different kingdoms and realms.

"Thou shalt not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together" (Deut. 22:11) - they belong to two different kingdoms. There is nothing wrong with wool in itself: God clothed the man and wife with the skins of animals - that is, in principle, with wool; and I suppose all the patriarchs wore woollen garments. But here it is forbidden that the animal and vegetable fibres be woven together to form a 'mingled stuff'. They belong to two realms, and God is simply saying this: You must not try to bring together things that do not belong to each other. It is a foreshadowing of this great principle of distinctness, separation, non-contamination.

When the remnant came back from captivity, for the rebuilding of the temple and wall, as we read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the whole thing headed up to this - the mixed marriages (Ezra 9, 10; Neh. 13:23-31). And when that was settled, the books close; that is the end, it is all right; now we have got to the point - the mixed marriages between the people of God and other, idolatrous, nations. These two things must not come together. "Be not unequally yoked..." (2 Cor. 6:14); God will not have it. It is providing Satan with that which he is always seeking, towards which he is always trying to work - a link with his own kingdom. This is the whole point of 'holiness' in its right setting.

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New Testament Illustrations

Now this is very thorough-going, and it is very comprehensive. For instance, let us allow this principle to take us right into the First Letter to the Corinthians. Everything in that book is explained by this.

First of all we read of "the wisdom of this world" (3:19; 1:19-2:13). The wisdom of this world: we remember what the Apostle says about it there. But listen to another Apostle earlier: "This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, demoniacal" (Jas. 3:15). 'The wisdom that is from beneath is demoniacal.' What, the wisdom of this world, demoniacal? Well, so the Word says; and if we want the proof of that, let us come back to Paul's argument, that it was in "the wisdom of this world" that Christ was crucified (1 Cor. 2:6-8). In the wisdom of this world, it was thought to be the 'wise thing' to put Him to death - what folly! what madness! what devilishness!

Anybody who really touches the wisdom of the world knows that it is a realm of death. Anyone who has dipped into philosophy knows that there is no more deadly thing in all the sciences than philosophy. If you touch it, you touch death. That was the wisdom in Corinth - the wisdom of this world. Yes, Satan had a good foothold in that church, along that line; he had got them on to his ground right enough.

Again, we read of - "divisions among you" (1:10). "There are contentions among you" (vs. 11). Remember - and this may be anticipating - the Holy Spirit is essentially the Spirit of unity. Satan has got them on to his ground, for he is the great divider. Satan never stops until he has divided the last thing: if he comes to one, he will make two of it! "Divisions among you" - they are on his ground. Nothing need be said about the next thing mentioned - fornication. But then the Apostle speaks about the Lord's Table, and you hear him say: 'You cannot - you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons' (1 Cor. 10:21). 'You cannot mix things up like this!' But it was actually there in Corinth.

Practical Details in this Light

At this point let me utter a very emphatic word. These chapters in the First Letter to the Corinthians must be read in this light. Do not extract subjects from those chapters, about women wearing hats or headcovering, and all those difficult things - do not just lift them out, as separate subjects: for, if you do, you will just get into confusion. What the apostle was dealing with then was the coming in, among the Lord's people, of the spirit of this world. He was saying to the Corinthians, in effect: 'That is how the world behaves - or misbehaves; that is how the world does it; and that world is Satan's world. If you let this sort of thing in, you are lining up with the world - with his world.'

Study it in this light, as to all these details, all these practical matters. It is not just that you are having to do with an apostle who you think had no great liking for women! No, no; you are up against tremendous things here. It is Satan seeking to get inside and get a foothold - a link between what is holy and what is his - in order that, by thus bringing the world in, and touching with his corruption and defilement, he may destroy that which is of God. Read it all in that light, for that is where the New Testament puts it - "that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan" (2 Cor. 2:11).

You see, the whole of the bulwark is raised against this one - this un-holy spirit that is in the universe; this corrupting influence and power; this defiling work. The Church is to be always on its guard against these spirits of uncleanness that are everywhere. Why? Because of the power of holiness. It is not just to have a clean condition, as something in itself. Never make 'holiness' an end in itself. No, it is because of the power, the mighty power, of holiness.

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Holiness is Militant

Remember that, in the Bible - and it is so strongly illustrated in the Old Testament - 'holiness' is always militant. It was the priests that led the nation into battle; it was the sacrifice that was the ground of the warfare. It is a most impressive thing that even the Levites are spoken of as set apart for the "warfare" (Num. 4:3,23, etc.; 8:24,25). Levites, priests, set apart for warfare? We thought they were set apart to offer sacrifices and deal with all that side of things! No, holiness is militant, and it is a mighty power against a militant foe. "Our wrestling is... against the principalities, against the powers..." (Eph. 6:12). They are making war, there is no doubt about it. They make war. What is the ground of our hope? It is not our language, our phraseology or our terminology, or our doctrine: it is our holiness of life. That is the point of attack. Unholiness puts God back. God is holy, even as the Holy Spirit is holy, and unholiness just keeps Him back; it binds His hands; He cannot do anything. When there is unholiness, it is as though the Lord is bound, helpless, paralysed, in the midst of His people (cf. Jer. 14:7-9).

The following extract provides a simple, fragmentary illustration of what I mean, and brings out some very practical points. It is the story of a Christian college that depended for all its support upon prayer and faith.

'The College was based on the simplicity of daring faith in God for the provision of need. As long as the spiritual life of the men was maintained, the necessary funds came in in answer to prayer. If supplies failed to come in, or were low, with no signs of replenishment, it was recognised that the finger of God was on some failing, or unconfessed sin, among them, and not until this was put right would supplies come in. Thus, the meeting of material needs became, as it were, the spiritual barometer. One instance of this may be recorded: Funds were so low that a meeting was held, and the students were urged to a more complete surrender to God. Still matters did not improve, and it was thought that possibly the men were not devoting sufficient time to prayer, so the curriculum was curtailed, and more time devoted to prayer, but still no supplies. And, finally, all funds came to an end, and there was only the garden produce left.

'Then, late one night, two students came to the tutor and confessed secret drinking. He gave urgent advice to repair to God, and confess their sin and plead forgiveness, and not for the sake of the loaves and fishes, but because of the leaven of hypocrisy. And they did that. Confession was made before the whole college, and united prayer was offered. The next day was set apart for fasting and humiliation and prayer, at the close of which they gathered together with a great heart-thankfulness, feeling the moral and spiritual atmosphere was cleansed, and that God would be able to give an exhibition of His faithfulness. God honoured their faith, and the very next morning came a cheque for fifty pounds.'

A very simple story, but it illustrates how the whole work of God can be held up; a whole assembly can have its spiritual life injured, limited; the warfare of the saints can be turned into defeat, if for some reason the Lord has to stand back and say: I'm sorry, but I cannot go on with them - there is this, and that; there is an Achan, or an Ananias and Sapphira... Yes, He knows! It may be unholiness in something which is, after all, only a small part of a whole - two men in a whole college, or one man in all Israel, or a man and his wife in the Church at the beginning. Yes, the majority are all right; the mass are not doing this sort of thing. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit focuses right down on that, because He is bound and committed to the corporate principle. On the one hand, "whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it"; but, on the other, if "one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it" (1 Cor. 12:26). There is a relatedness which to the Holy Spirit is sacred. And while our blessing benefits the whole Church, our sin, our unholiness, may cripple the whole Church.

Holiness is the Character of Christ

Holiness, then, is militant; it is the power of triumphant warfare. But holiness is also Christly character. Holiness is not formal make-up, something put on. The Lord Jesus saw right through that with the Scribes, Pharisees, Rulers. None of that, no 'make-up' spiritually, will pass with the Holy Spirit. Holiness is more than teaching; more than profession; more than pretence; more than formal outward procedure. It is the very Person, the very life, the very character of Christ in the believer and in the Church. It is a very big matter, far bigger than I have been able to indicate in these pages. But the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness; and because He is that, everything else follows.

Now, just a few words in closing, for our comfort. Those men who were gathered in that Upper Room for those ten days: I do not think they were, in themselves, any more holy than when one of them denied the Lord Jesus thrice. They had all forsaken Him and fled, and in that way denied Him - they were all guilty. And I do not think that, even on that particular Day of Pentecost, they were in themselves any more holy than they were before. But the Spirit came upon them - for what? In order to make them holy; to set up, establish, a holiness of life within them. We do not have to struggle in order to get to a place of holiness; we have not to try to make ourselves 'worthy' of the Holy Spirit. We have to be where they were - just before the Lord: set upon all that the Lord has spoken of; obedient to what the Lord has said.

That is what they were doing. "After that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit..." The first part of that 'commandment' was to wait until endued with the Spirit. The writer almost immediately continues: "He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem..." (Acts 1:2,4). "After he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit..." They are obeying His command: that is, they are there, as men with many, many imperfections, but open, diligent, committed, earnest, ready, waiting on Him. The Holy Spirit saw a way in them, and He came, and took the way He found.

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Chapter 5 - The Spirit as Light

"I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, that he may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you...

"These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you. But the Advocate, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you" (John 14:16,17; 25,26).

"...That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" (Ephesians 1:17).

In our consideration of the Holy Spirit as Divine character for Divine testimony, we now move round to another angle, to view Him as Light. We have seen Him as Truth and Holiness; we have now to consider Him as Light.

"God is light" (1 John 1:5). Jesus is the Light of men and of the world, it is stated (John 1:4, 8:12, etc.). The Holy Spirit is called the 'Spirit of Revelation'. God dwells in the light (1 Tim. 6:16). The City, which is the last presentation in the Bible, has the light of God (Rev. 21:11). The Word of God is a light, a lamp (Ps. 119:105). Christians are said to be 'children of the light' (Eph. 5:.

So, everything related to God is light: 'in Him there is no darkness at all' (1 John 1:5). It is Satan who is the prince of darkness; his works are 'the works of darkness'; his children are the 'children of darkness'. These are the two contrasted and conflicting kingdoms: the Kingdom of Light; the kingdom of darkness. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Light. We recall those further words of the Lord Jesus: "When he... is come, he shall guide you into all the truth... He shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you" (John 16:13,14).

Light Precedes Building

Let us look, then, at the Holy Spirit, first as character and then as function, in terms of light. God never begins to build until there is light. In the creation, before He proceeded to build, He divided the light from the darkness - He said: "Let there be light". That is an intimation of an abiding law, that God does all His work on the basis of light. Those two great symbolic representations of God, the Tabernacle and the Temple, were the result of spiritual illumination, to Moses and to David respectively. Before they could be, light had to be given. Someone had to be the receptacle, the vessel, of the revelation. When we come into the New Testament, we find that the first definite intimation of the Church - "I will build my church" (Matt. 16:18) - was made immediately after the illumination had come to Peter as to the Person of the Lord Jesus. "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee" - revealed it - "but my Father..." "I will build my church..." Note this consistency in the principle of God.

We pass from the first intimation of the Church in the New Testament, from that first mention of the word, to the full disclosure of its eternal calling, vocation, destiny, in this Letter to the Ephesians, and we find that, as in the beginning, so in the full-orbed presentation, it is along the line of illumination, or revelation, by the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus said: "I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Advocate..." "He shall guide you into all the truth". In the mind of the Lord Jesus, there may well have been the thought of the pillar of cloud in the wilderness, guiding to the land. But He said: 'I will pray the Father, and he will give you One who shall guide you into all the truth.'

Paul is in prayer: he is praying in the same way as his Master; his prayer is on the same line: "I bow my knees unto the Father" (the same Father), that He "may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him". Here it is not the beginning of revelation: that was with Peter - that was in Matthew 16. Here, it is another word, which it is difficult to translate adequately; it is really 'in the full knowledge of Him'. "A spirit of revelation in the full knowledge of him".

The Nature of Light
(a) As to Character

So we have to see, first of all, what light is. If so much depends upon it, so much rests upon it; if it is, as it were, one of the pillars upon which the whole structure of the church rests, then it is very important that we know what it is. And firstly, as to character.

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(1) Transparency

Light is transparency; light is clearness; light is absolute purity; light is honesty; light is openness of character. Light hides nothing; its whole action and nature is contrary to hiding anything. It has nothing to hide; it shows everything; it shows all: in other words, it is not deceitful. It does not want to cover anything, or to pretend or make believe that something is other than what it is. Light is single; it is not double; there is no duplicity about light. And light is just - light! There is 'no darkness at all' where there is light.

Now, we have pointed out that the City - which, as we so well know, is one of the titles of Christ corporate, Christ and His members, the Church - is characterized by everything that speaks of the nature of light. It is characterized, as a whole, by crystal clearness; it is like "a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (Rev. 21:11). Its street is of pure, transparent gold (5:21b). The water of its river is bright as crystal (22:1). Everything about it is of the nature of light. It has so much light in its character, that it has no need of the sun. The light is in its own constitution. It takes its character from the Lamb, who is "the lamp thereof" (21:23b). You can see through this City, and everything in it. Perhaps we should not like to live in transparent houses on this earth! But when you live in this City, to adopt the figure, you will not be ashamed for anybody to see what is going on: you will not need to hide anything. You can just 'see through it'. All the sin which produces cloudiness and murkiness, indefiniteness, mists and fogs, and all that sort of thing, will have been finally abolished - "there will be no night there" (v. 25).

These things, as you will recognise, are symbolic terms. They show symbolically what the Holy Spirit has come to do, in men and women, and in the creation. He has come to bring about in human nature a condition like that. He has undertaken a tremendous task! He is the Spirit of Light - that is His character - and the purpose of His presence is to bring to an end everything that is of the nature of darkness. How many shades and aspects of darkness there are! - a whole vocabulary of words. The Spirit has come to bring all that to an end by applying the Cross, in which it was all brought to an end in the Person of the Lord Jesus; to work out the meaning of the Cross in our lives, so that everything that belongs to that kingdom of darkness is removed: so that in the end, with us too, there is no darkness at all.

Is that really what we think of, when we think of having, receiving, being filled with the Holy Spirit? Here again, perhaps, a little re-shaping of our ideas is called for. It is true that He is many other things, as well as light: He is the Spirit of Power, He is the Spirit of Wisdom; yes, He is many other things; but, with them all, He is this. And we must not make more of those 'demonstration' aspects of the Spirit, in power, in gifts and capacities, in works, than we do of His character side. If He really does His work in you and in me, He will make us to be people who can bear to be 'looked into' without any fear, without any drawing of the blinds. Our lives and our motives will bear looking into.

The Holy Spirit knows us, He knows us. We cannot deceive Him; we cannot, as we say, 'hoodwink' Him; He knows us through and through. We must therefore give the Holy Spirit credit for dealing with us according to a knowledge of us beyond our own. Looking inside us, He has seen something that is contrary to His own nature; He has found something that does not answer to His character of absolute transparency, and He is dealing with that.

We often think that sincerity on our part is all that is called for: we have only got to be 'sincere' in order to satisfy God. (I would remind you that there is, in any case, a difference between sincerity and reality.) But Saul of Tarsus was the most 'sincere' man alive in his day, and yet he was the most mistaken. Sincerity may be required, may be very important, and it is; but do not let us deceive ourselves with our sincerity, and say that because we are downright sincere, then we must be right; that is not the case. The Spirit may require sincerity to open the door, for anything that is insincere means a closed door to the Holy Spirit. But, after all, it is only an opening of the door, so that He may come in and then begin to show us that, 'sincere' as we were, we were wrong after all.

It is exactly what happened with Paul, is it not? "I verily thought... that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9). 'I verily thought that I ought to do...': absolutely sincere, absolutely conscientious, and yet so ignominiously mistaken and wrong - until the Light came. Then he saw it. You see the point. The Holy Spirit does not just accept our sincerity as the everything. He comes perhaps through that door; then He begins His work of showing that even our purest motives were probably mixed; our most sincere intentions were tainted. He works according to His knowledge, and we must give Him credit always for doing that.

If you and I are really meaning business with God, and the Holy Spirit has taken us through an experience, through a depth, which has been very self-revealing, a real shock to us: we have discovered that there was that there that we would never have believed, had we been told: the end is that we are on our faces, worshipping Him as the Faithful and the True. No rebellion, no bitterness, but thanking God that He has been so faithful with us, and so true. We do not want to be let off anything that is of the darkness, do we?

This, then, is the first thing about the Holy Spirit as light. He is, and He works for, complete transparency and honesty and purity, without a shadow. He seeks to bring us to that end of glory - "having the glory of God" (Rev. 21:11) - because there can be no glory in anything that is of the kingdom of darkness.

(2) Fearlessness

Another thing about light is that it is absolutely fearless. If the Holy Spirit is really there in this character, we are never afraid of something being discovered. A good conscience, a clear conscience, is a wonderfully courageous thing. It is a very strong thing; it puts you in a very strong position. Where there is light, and no darkness, nothing to be hidden and nothing that we do not want to be discovered or uncovered, there is no fear. There is a great strength of confidence and assurance.

Light is a fearless thing. If there is anything doubtful or questionable, anything about which we are not sure; if we have some question, if we are not sure whether our position is right or wrong: then we are always afraid, we are in the weakness of fear. Darkness and fear always go together - it is like that naturally, is it not? - fear belongs to darkness. There can be no confidence, no strength, where there is darkness. This City, this people, at the end, is a strong city, "having a wall great and high" (Rev. 21:12); it is the very embodiment of the idea of strength: but its strength lies in its character - in its purity, its light.

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(3) Disinfection

Another thing about light is that it combats disease. We know that physically, do we not? We send people with certain diseases to the country, where all is sunny and light. We have learned to expose our wounds to the sun for their healing. The light is healing; light is purifying; disease cannot abide the light. Now, come back again to the City. It is said: "the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2c). Disease cannot abide this light that is in the City. The light deals with everything that is working corruption: it destroys it, and repairs the damage.

I am thinking especially now of the more recent discoveries and uses of light in healing. I remember how it began. In the first world war, I had a great deal to do with wounded soldiers - thousands of terribly mangled bodies, torn by shell; and it was in that war, when it was so difficult to cope with this terrible situation, that the method of healing, and even of making good the loss of flesh, repairing the destroyed tissues - the method was adopted of just putting the wounded out in the sun, exposing them to the sun. It was marvellous what the sun did. It built up the bodies; it made good the destroyed tissues, it healed in a wonderful way. That was the introduction of a new technique which has now, of course, been resolved into the various kinds of ray for healing. Light does it: it heals; it repairs; it destroys disease.

(4) Joy

Another thing about light - and we are building up for an application - is that it is something joyful. It is a joyful, an uplifting, an inspiring thing. Darkness is nearly always depressing. You can see something of this in the people of this world. Those people who live in extreme northern realms, where they do not see the sun for months on end, often tend to be heavy, serious, grim, taciturn, even joyless people, whereas, when you go to more southern climes, what a difference you find - laughter, merriment, lightheartedness. Light has that effect. People of the sun are sunny people; people of the shadows are marked by shadows.

So we can see that light is a very important thing in character. And you have got to have the character before ever the function can begin - that is the point. You see, it was when the Holy Spirit Himself had come into the Church, and given His own character to it, that the Church broke out on its great world mission, and challenged darkness everywhere. You can see the contrasts in those early chapters of the Church's history. There were tremendous contrasts in the apostles themselves. Oh, what a change has taken place in them - what different men they are! They were men in the shadows, in the dark, but now they are in the light - or rather, they are men with the Light in themselves. Something has transformed those men; they are changed. The Spirit has come - the Light is in them.

Take those two representatives on the Emmaus road. What a veil was over their eyes as to the Scriptures! When the Lord Jesus opened up the Scriptures of the Old Testament, from Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms, that was not their first introduction to the Bible. They knew their Bible; they knew the Scriptures; they were not just being introduced to the Book - but how dark their minds were! Now, listen to others like them on the Day of Pentecost! What light they have! They now are seeing, and are proclaiming wonderful illumination out of the Scriptures. Light has come into them, changed them, made them into a different kind of people. In many respects you can hardly recognise them as the same persons. You cannot recognise the old Simon Peter, can you, in this man who is now standing up and speaking, and challenging everybody. Only a short while before, he could not stand up to the challenge of a serving maid, but now he can challenge the rulers. Something has happened to this man: the light has come in - in other words, the Spirit has come into him - and he is now seeing in a new way.

The Nature of Light
(b) As to Function

That is how the testimony begins; that is how the functioning begins. You see, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the work - of the world testimony, of the testimony in the nations. The Holy Spirit is not out just to make us 'retailers of the Truth', in a secondhand way. That is one of the weaknesses of the whole order, that certain things are taught in schools, and then people are sent out with what they have learnt - all this school-learning. And they go out and they give it out - in a secondhand, 'phonographic' way! You are not surprised that there is not the impact upon the darkness that there was at the beginning; that the healing of spiritual and moral diseases does not take place; that the whole scene is not transformed.

Teaching is Not Sufficient

No, it is not that way. The disciples had had all the information that ever they needed: they had had all the Lord's teaching; they had seen all His work; they had seen Him die; they had seen Him after the resurrection; and they had heard angels declaring from Heaven that He would come again in like manner as they had seen Him go up (Acts 1:11): and yet, with all that, they are not allowed to go out into the nations and preach it! This has got to become more than something said to them - something that they have been told - something that they have heard with their ears. This has got to come into them by the Holy Spirit, as a mighty power within their own being. Hence, He gave them commandment that they should not depart from Jerusalem, until they received the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4).

No, it is not the truth that we have been taught - it is the truth that has come into our hearts, by illumination of the Holy Spirit, that is powerful; not any other. That is most important! I venture to say that, if only a small percentage of the teaching that some of us have received were to come up in the power of the Holy Spirit, some tremendous thing would happen: there would be an impact and registration that would be comparable to what was at the beginning - just wonderful. Let us not be content with our 'truth' and our 'teaching'. The Lord made it perfectly clear that, much as He had given, and much as He had shown, and much as they had come by through their association with Him, that was not all that they required. You must not go out into the world with nothing more than that; that must not be the sole basis upon which you go. That will have its place; it is necessary, and it will come to life; but - you cannot just go on with that only. 'Tarry ye, until ye be endued with power': and when the enduement came, what happened? It was what He had said to them that sprang into life; it was what He had done that came to them with a new revelation as to its meaning. The Holy Spirit is absolutely indispensable, even when you have a very, very large wealth of instruction, of teaching, of information.

[Shammu]

The Church Should Make an Impact

This is true as to the individual, but remember that the Holy Spirit is the Light of the Sanctuary. When Paul prays about this 'spirit of wisdom and revelation', he has the Church before him. He is thinking of the Church as the dwelling-place, the "habitation of God" (as he calls it) "in the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22). The Church is to be here in this world, universally and locally, as a challenge to, and with a powerful impact upon, the darkness in each locality, wherever it may be, by the Holy Spirit. The darkness cannot go unchallenged and it cannot eventually triumph. It was said of the Lord Jesus that life was in Him, and the life was the light of men, and the darkness overcame it not (John 1:4,5). It looked as though it did, but it did not.

The presence of the Church, with the Holy Spirit within, ought to be like that, registering a tremendous challenge; and it should be that, whatever men do, or Satan does, that light is not quenched; the light survives. You and I, individually, when we have passed from this earth, should be remembered for having been vehicles or vessels of light - this kind of light. It was a challenge; it was healing; it was effective. It should not be merely that we had teaching, or that we had truth, but that there was that which had the Holy Spirit in it, which left a mark. We all ought to be like that. Do you think it would be possible for anybody really to have the Holy Spirit in any measure, and for it to make no difference where they are? Surely that could not be. It was said of the Lord Jesus: "He could not be hid" (Mark 7:24); and so it should be with us.

Light Can be Shut Out by Prejudice

Now this is the 'truth' about the Holy Spirit as light; and I am sure that you agree with the truth, and that your heart goes out that it might be so in your case. Perhaps there is a need for us to give the Holy Spirit a better and a larger chance than He has hitherto had. We can, you know, deprive ourselves of this light of the Spirit; we can shut out the light; we can have bandages over our eyes. What might such bandages be? Well, take prejudice. Prejudice is a terribly blinding thing. It means, as the word clearly indicates, that you have pre-judged something, some situation, before you really looked into it. You prejudged it - perhaps on the basis of report, or on any one of many pretexts. And, in pre-judging, without a first-hand, honest, sincere, true investigation and enquiry, pursuing this matter till you really knew, you closed down - you foreclosed on it. Very well: you have put the bandage of prejudice on your eyes, and there is no hope - no hope - until that is removed.

Some of us know that quite well. Some of my brethren know that it was just on that very point that, many years ago, everything turned in my life from what I have called a 'closed heaven' to an 'open heaven'. I was preaching one Sunday morning on the subject of 'prejudice'. Some people think that I can be emphatic, but on that day, I had - metaphorically - my coat off, and my sleeves up! I was lunging at 'prejudice' with all the strength that I had, calling it by all the names that my vocabulary could provide, saying it was a cruel thing, a thing that gave neither God nor man a chance... and so I went on. That was the Lord's Day morning.

Tuesday morning, I was in my study. A letter was handed to me, in which I was invited to attend a certain conference, with all expenses paid, including travelling. And I looked, and I said: No, not on your life; you will never find me there; I would not touch that with a twenty-foot barge-pole! And I took out my diary, quite sure that, in those very busy days, of course I should have my answer - I should have other engagements. When I looked in my diary, the only dates that were free were those very dates! And I left it on my desk, wondering - How am I going to get round this? what am I going to do about it? Very kind of this person, to offer me all my expenses; but what am I to say?

While I was trying to find my way out, my backdoor of escape, my wife came in with my morning cup of something, and she saw that I was a bit disturbed, looked a bit worried; and she asked me about it, and I told her what it was. She said: Well, have you any engagements at that time? I said: No, just at that time I have none. Well, she said, it looks to me as though you have one of two alternatives: either tell them that you will not go, or go! (I suppose that is the value of having a practical wife!) I was left with that, and she went out.

And as I began to think about this again, it was as though somebody stood at the side of me - I did not see anybody, and I did not hear any voice - but it was as though someone stood at the side of me and said: What about your sermon on prejudice?

Well, I had to face that whole thing before God. It was just that that brought a great turning-point in my life, opened the way for the Lord, for something very much more. By dealing with that whole spirit of prejudice I came into an altogether new way with the Lord. You can perhaps understand how afraid I am of prejudice - what it can do, how it can close the door, how it can figuratively put a bandage over the eyes, so that we are deprived of what the Lord wants to give.

Light Can be Shut Out by Pride and Policy

And then there is pride: unwillingness to humble ourselves; unwillingness to say that we have been wrong, to take something back. Pride can blind. Perhaps there are few things more blinding than pride. And policy: you can just shut the Holy Spirit right out if you are going to be governed by policy. Policy means taking into account how things will affect you and your interests, your future, how it will close doors to you; what other people will think - that if you do this or that you will be regarded as a 'speckled bird', and so on; you see, secondary considerations. Oh, that is a hobgoblin of the Devil to rob you of something! Yes, it will blind; you will not go on if there is any policy about it - make no mistake.

There is a passage in John's Gospel, by which I have often been greatly impressed (and which I have tried to make a guiding principle in my own spiritual life) - those words in John 5:44: "How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?" 'How can ye believe?' You see, that whole nation, and those Jewish rulers and teachers and leaders, were shut out of all that Christ came to give on this one thing - policy: thinking more of the glory of men than of the glory of God; walking more as before men than as before the Lord. If Abraham has a great inheritance - and there is no doubt that he has, for the covenant of promise concerned his seed, 'which seed is Jesus Christ' (Gal. 3:16) - what an inheritance! - remember that the covenant with Abraham was made at the point where God appeared to him and said: "I am God All-sufficient; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 15:1).

'Walk before Me! and be thou perfect.' That is the way of the enlarging inheritance. 'Before Me!' Not before men; not before systems; not before public opinion; and not before your own interests, with an eye to how they are going to be served, and what is going to happen to you. 'Walk before Me, and be thou perfect. I am the Lord All-sufficient'. 'How can ye believe, who receive glory one from another, and do not seek the glory which comes from God only?' This is the way of light; this is the way of power; this is the way of the Spirit. It is the way of 'walking in the light, as He is in the light', and walking with the light in ourselves.

We can, of course, see how all this relates to the Church's witness in the world. We can understand much in the light of that. When the Church was filled with the light of the Spirit, what an effect it had upon the kingdom of darkness, everywhere! But when the Church began to lose that basis of life, it began to lose its influence in the world. The Lord save us!

[Shammu]

Chapter 6 - The People of God and Their Inheritance

Reading: Joshua 1.

"It came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as prince of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the prince of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so" (Joshua 5:13-15).

The counterpart of the book of Joshua is found in the New Testament, especially from and with the Gospel of John onward. When you come to the end of the four Gospels, you find yourself at the self-same place as that which you find just before the book of Joshua opens. That is, a nation has come to the border of the Land of Promise - which border is, in this case, symbolically, the Jordan - and that nation has turned back and lost everything through unbelief. That is how it was before this book of Joshua opens. That is exactly how it was at the end of the Gospels. The nation to whom all the promises were offered for fulfilment came to that border land: through unbelief they were turned back and lost everything: and for the last two thousand years they have been experiencing a living death in the wilderness.

But a new nation springs into being. It is with that that we have to do as we open this book of Joshua, and it is that with which we have to do when we pass from John into Acts. A new nation has arisen out of the death of the old, and is now going in and on to possess.

The Ark of the Covenant went its lonely way through the Jordan. You remember that the Lord commanded that the Ark was to move ahead into the river, then in flood, and that a space of two thousand cubits was to be observed between it and the people. It was taking a lonely way, a way which it alone could take. We all know that that Ark represents the Lord Jesus Himself, and its passage through the Jordan typifies His passage through the Cross. "Ye... shall leave me alone", He said; "and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (John 16:32). There is a space; He took a lonely way through the Cross. No one else can go that way as fully as He went; thank God, it is not necessary. He first met all the overflowing of Jordan - God's judgment, God's wrath, God's separation; it was a terribly lonely way. "Why hast thou forsaken me?" He cried to Heaven (Matt. 17:46). The 'Ark' went that way, to lead the way through for us, that we might have a dry passage, and might not be overwhelmed of Jordan.

I do not think that we really make enough of what He has borne for us, and of how little we have to bear because of that. If we know something of the Cross, if we know something of the fellowship of His sufferings, we know nothing of the judgment of God that rested upon Him. Nothing that we know has to do with judgment - not one whit. As the Ark went its lonely way to lead that people through, so He, by the Cross, has opened a way - a way into the inheritance.

Joshua and Amalek

At that point, Joshua comes into view in full stature, as representing, or indicating, the instrument of God for spiritual fulness. It would be instructive to spend a few minutes on Joshua in that light. Joshua stands for the mighty life and energy of the Holy Spirit. When the Captain of Jehovah's hosts, the Holy Spirit in figure there, joined Himself with Joshua, and joined Joshua with Himself, all that issued and proceeded was by the energy of the Holy Spirit. Everything thenceforth showed the Holy Spirit in charge and in action. Joshua, then, speaks of the Holy Spirit uniting Himself with a vessel for the purposes of the inheritance.

You remember that Joshua first comes into view in relation to Amalek (Exodus 17). Amalek is the type of the flesh, coming out to thwart, to prevent, to straddle the path of Israel, that they should not come into the inheritance. The flesh always does that. Satan has a ready ally in the flesh, and by the energy of the flesh he would always keep the Lord's people out of the inheritance. Joshua first comes in then against Amalek. You see already, well in advance, when he first comes into view, that he signifies that which is of the Spirit warring against the flesh. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh", says the Apostle (Gal. 5:17). Joshua is there, as the energy of the Spirit, to deal with this obstructing and hindering and thwarting flesh, with the inheritance always in view. It is important always to remember that, and to keep it in its place. Why must we walk in the Spirit? Why must the flesh be dealt with? Not just for its own sake, but because the great inheritance in Christ is in view.

Joshua and the Tent of Meeting

The next occasion on which he is referred to is in Exodus 33. He is spoken of here as "a young man" who "departed not out of the Tent" (v. 11). I think that is a very beautiful touch, not only in the case of Joshua himself, but in the whole spiritual background of this story. What was this Tent? It was, of course, not the Tabernacle, because the Tabernacle was not in existence at that time. You have to go back to the occasion when Moses went up into the mount to receive the Law, and the pattern of the Tabernacle. He came down, and Israel had 'broken loose' and had made a calf, and were saying: 'These be thy gods which brought thee out of Egypt!' (Ex. 32:4). Joshua was there. But, when Moses came down, and heard and saw, he stood in the gate of the camp, and cried: 'Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come over unto me!' Now, from that time onwards, what Moses did was to take a tent, a 'tent of meeting', right outside of the camp, and "everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the tent of meeting" (Ex. 33:7). That was the Tent in which Joshua, the young man, abode, and from which he did not depart.

It is full of significance, is it not? First of all, that Tent out there implied absolute separation from every taint of Satan's touch. Satan had captured the gold of the Sanctuary, and had it made into a calf for his own worship: Satan had turned the heart of the people from the Lord to himself, and corrupted everything. If the inheritance is going to be entered upon and appropriated, that touch and that taint of the corrupting influence of the evil one amongst the people of God has got to be removed, and everything of God has got to be taken out of its precincts. Joshua, therefore, abiding and not departing from the Tent; this man of the Spirit, this man who is to bring into the inheritance by the energy of the Spirit; the man who abides beyond the taint and the touch of the powers of evil, says so clearly that he is not in that world, he is out of that realm altogether. He abides in the Tent of meeting. I like to think that there was one man, besides Moses, who was not a priest, but a man of the people, who was allowed to dwell in the House of the Lord.

[Shammu]

Joshua as a "Young Man"

But then it says that Joshua was a 'young man'. Surely this speaks of freshness - the freshness of youth, with everything before; vision, purpose, a future; a life of energy in the Spirit; no touch of time, or old age, here. It is a very blessed thing. Oh, that we were all characterized by this youth! Here is where a part of our watchfulness and prayerfulness must be observed. It is always such a joy to meet with young Christians, who are reaching out for everything of the Lord; not satisfied with being just saved, but really after all that the Lord means for them. Because there are some of the Lord's people who 'know it all', and have heard it all for years, so that you can hardly say a thing, even about the book of Joshua, but they know all about it - 'Oh, you have gone over that ground again and again!' They are so stale, and everything to them is so stale: it is like bread which has been locked up for years - it has got absolutely dry; and so you cannot say anything to them; there is no freshness. But then you find a group of young Christians, and there is life, there is freshness, and you can give and give.

That is not a matter of years: it is a matter of spirit. And it ought to be like that. If we are going to come into the inheritance, we must always have an appetite for it. If we are going to come into the inheritance, there needs always to be this vigorous spirit, this energy, this reach-out; this consciousness that, however much we know, we know nothing. We see so much before us - that 'land of far distances' that our eyes have seen; and yet, with all that we know, we know that we are only touching the fringes. It ought to be like that to the end: the spirit of youth, and youth's energy, ought to mark us. Sometimes it is very difficult to give a message amongst people who 'know it all', and have heard it all before: there is a sense of heaviness and hard going - simply because there is not this drawing out of a spiritual energy to know, to apprehend. Joshua, then, was a 'young man, who departed not from the tent of meeting.'

The Holy Spirit and the Conflict of Possession

Now, when we come to this fifth chapter of the book of Joshua, to those three verses that we read, we come to what is the very heart and essence of the book of the Acts. With John, the Land comes into view. With Acts, the Spirit takes over. He takes over this whole matter of the inheritance, and of leading the people of God into possession. But it is along the line of conflict. Yes, He takes over in relation to the inheritance, but note how immediately it becomes a matter of conflict. If that Man standing over against Joshua, declaring Himself to be the Captain of the Hosts of the Lord, is (in figure, if not in reality) the Holy Spirit, as we believe He is, note that He has a sword drawn in His hand - He has not come with an olive leaf! He has come with a sword, and it is drawn.

There is going to be not one whit of this inheritance possessed without conflict. We need to make up our minds to that, for that is how it is going to be. There is going to be a withstanding from all quarters. As soon as the matter of any spiritual increase comes into view, then, strangely, sometimes mysteriously, a state of conflict arises. It gets into the very atmosphere, and it comes even from Christian people. Be satisfied with what is called 'the simple gospel', and 'simple evangelism', and you meet no conflict; everybody applauds and accepts, and is on your side. But - set your heart on the whole purpose of God, and you find yourself at once in a realm of terrible conflict. Satan is not going to allow this Church to reach its determined destiny, if he can prevent it.

Every step is going to be challenged. Notice: "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon" - yes, "to you have I given it" (1:3) - 'but, there will be a battle over it; there will be battle over your possessing what I have given.' Yes, even though God has predestined and pre-determined it, and it is settled in the foreknowledge and forecounsels of God, that does not mean that we are going to come into it willy-nilly! With all the Divine sovereignty, with all the Divine power, and with all the Divine wisdom, associated with the purpose, strangely enough there is a battle over every inch of it. It is like that.

[Shammu]

The Spirit and the Inheritance in the New Testament

In the Gospel of John, we read that Jesus said: "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth" (16:13). That is Joshua 5:13-15! The Spirit has come to guide them into all the Truth that is in Jesus (Eph. 4:21) - that is the book of Joshua. When He came on the Day of Pentecost, fulfilling the promise and explanation of the Lord Jesus, He came to guide the Church right into its inheritance. I cannot be too emphatic about this, because there are such inadequate, if not wrong, ideas about the Holy Spirit and Pentecost, and so on. Let us understand that the Holy Spirit came for no lesser purpose than to take the Church right on into all its inheritance in Christ. And if our ideas of the Holy Spirit are not poised and directed along this line, we are - if not arresting - at least in measure subverting the work of the Holy Spirit, and the purpose of His coming. The Church has to be brought into that inheritance for which it has been eternally predestined by God; and the Spirit came - in type in Joshua, in reality in Acts - for that one purpose. And this is going to be a conflict which will not end, until the Lamb has overcome in finality.

In the book of the Acts, then, the Holy Spirit does take over in the matter of the inheritance; and He takes over for the conflict of the inheritance. We do not move far into that book before we find the conflict is on. In Jerusalem - whether from Jewish leaders, who kill Stephen; or from the rulers of the pagan world, who kill James and imprison Peter - there it is; the conflict is on. But the mighty Spirit is with the Church in the conflict. He has linked Himself up with that instrument for the great purpose of God. And, when you consider the incidents, and what seem like the tragedies, and look through them, there is a sense in which it can be said, concerning this union of the Holy Spirit with a vessel here on this earth, that 'no man hath been able to stand before it all the days of its life' (Josh. 1:5). There is a sense in which that is true. There has been a withstanding from men and from demons, awful withstanding: but the Church has gone on; the testimony has never ceased in the earth. Even when sometimes it seems to have been driven underground, it comes up and goes on again. Acts, then, sees the Holy Spirit coming, uniting Himself with the instrument, the vessel, and the conflict arising.

When you pass over to the Letter to the Hebrews, you find yourself once more in this battle. For here it is all about the inheritance, spiritually. The Spirit is here, urging the Church, urging the believers to go on, to go on; not to go back, not to stand still, but to go on. The writer points out that Joshua did not bring the people into God's rest (Heb. 4:. It was type, it was figure, but that final fulness of Christ was never entered into under Joshua. But Jesus, and the Holy Spirit - they are going to bring the Church into the final fulness.

When we come to the book of the Revelation, we find that the whole issue of the inheritance has now resolved itself into a matter of 'overcomers'. However we interpret the book of the Revelation - whether as applying to the whole dispensation or to the end of the dispensation - the situation that we find is that the Church as a whole has not gone on. A very large proportion of the Church has either declined, fallen back or away, or has stood still in this matter. Perhaps the conflict has been too fierce, the cost too great, the world too attractive, sin too subtle; but there it is. As we find at the end of the book of Joshua, that the enemy was not finally cast out (for we have the tragedy of the book of Judges): so, in the last book of the Bible, in the Revelation, we find that the enemy has not been fully and finally worsted. He still has territory amidst the people of God. And so, there arises the whole question of the 'overcomers'. The 'overcomer' company, or body, is that which will go on and will satisfy the Lord in the whole matter of His full thought.

All this, surely, indicates our own position. For we are in the dispensation of the counterpart of the book of Joshua: in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit whose one inclusive purpose is to bring God's people into fulness - all, that is, who will be led into that fulness; all who will go on. Not a 'select', an arbitrarily selected company, but all who will. Paul's great word as to his own praying and striving was: "that we may present every man complete in Christ" (Col. 1:28) - every man. It is God's thought for us all. Do not say: 'That applies to some good, large people, who have spiritual capacity and are of a different make-up from what I am.' No, 'every man complete in Christ' - that is God's purpose. If the Holy Spirit gets His way, if He gets His ground - we have to see perhaps later what that is - He can do it with every man.

"Be Strong"

Now, it is because of such a tremendous withstanding, all round, of any kind of real progress towards God's end, that you have this threefold reiteration to Joshua: "Be strong, and of a good courage... be strong... be strong..." (vv. 6,7,9). That is our side. And it is just in that connection, as he is bringing into view the cosmic forces, 'the principalities and powers', that are set against the Church and its inheritance, that Paul uses those words. "Be strong in the Lord" he says (Eph. 6:10); 'be strong... be strong!'

There must be no weakening; there must be no letting go. The discouragements will be many; the heartbreaks will be many; perhaps the disappointments will be many. The situation will sometimes seem to be impossible, the prospect a hopeless one. But you and I have got to heed this word, for so much hangs upon it. For ourselves, the inheritance in fulness hangs upon this "Be strong": no weakening, no letting go, no letting down. But it may be that those who will be strong can be a strength to others, and therefore for the sake of others a responsibility is laid upon us to be strong. It is not only for ourselves - it is vocational to be strong.

[Shammu]

'I Am With Thee'

And then: "The Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" (v. 9). Do not take that out of its context. The context is, that the "whithersoever thou goest" must be in relation to God's full purpose. He cannot be 'with' you on any other ground - you cannot count on that promise otherwise. It will not prove true, unless you are right on the line of His full purpose. But when it is so, then He commits Himself: He is with us whithersoever we go. 'I will be with thee; I am with thee.'

(1) In Spiritual Leadership

Do you notice that that is said in this first chapter twice over, in a twofold connection? Firstly, it is in connection with leading this people over the responsibility of spiritual leadership. I emphasize and underline that word 'spiritual'. Do not think of leadership as official. Leadership is not official: you are not made a leader; you are not appointed a leader; you are not given a uniform, or a dress, or a badge with 'Leader' on it! Either you are a leader, or you are not; it is a matter of spiritual quality and strength. And spiritual leadership means that you are exercising an influence on others, to bring them on, to lead them on, into God's full intention for His people. The effect of your life is that others, because of you, are being helped on, drawn on, led on. If you have accepted that responsibility, and are seeking to fulfil it for other lives, then this word: 'I am with thee', is yours.

(2) In Obedience to the Word of God

Then, notice the second connection in which this word occurs: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth" (v. . 'Give heed unto it - give heed unto it.' And then: 'I am with thee'. Your whole life must be based upon and governed by the Word of God. You must not be above the Word of God, superior to it; you must not be apart from it. You must be able to substantiate you position by the Word of God: 'Now, does the Word of God say this or that?' Dear friend, the whole question of your inheritance, and of your influence, depends upon whether you adhere to that Word. And sometimes it will not be understanding the Word. But the word is there - it is said; it is said. Don't argue; don't be superior in judgment - it is said...

Oh, that there were more, a good deal more, of this government by the Word of God. That is why we have got to read it, to consider it, to give heed to it. "Observe to do according to all that is written therein", is what it says here. 'Observe to do it.' Are you reading your Bible in order to find out exactly what the Word does say? If the Word of God says: "Children, obey your parents", it says that; don't argue. If the Word of God says: "Husbands, love your wives" - it just says that! Don't say: 'Oh, but... oh, but... oh...' It says that. If the Word of God says: "Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands" - it says that, and no one can take superior ground to that (Eph. 5:22,25; 6:1). You see what I mean; I am taking things out in order to emphasize this point - 'observe to do'. You will be blessed if you do; if you don't, you will not come into the inheritance, and you will have no sphere of real spiritual ministry. Very big questions are bound up with this.

But the main thing is that, when it is like that, the Lord says: 'I am with thee'. We cannot take that promise - 'I am with thee' - with any assurance, unless we are seeing to it that this Word does not depart from us, that we observe it, to do it. The presence of the Lord, and our entering into our possessions in Christ, are both governed by this thing. Do read your Bible to see what it really does say - not what your interpretation is, but what it says. Of course there is a great deal fuller meaning in all the Scripture than we have seen, and we shall get more and more light upon it. But, first of all - What does it say, what does it say? Am I in line with that? Big things hang upon that.

"As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage... This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth... observe to do..."

This is why the Holy Spirit came. This is the ground upon which the Spirit is with us. And this is the purpose that the Holy Spirit has taken up in His coming. He has taken over; and, in all the conflict, in all the suffering, He is sufficient to see us through.

[Shammu]

Chapter 7 - Possessing the Inheritance

We have pointed out that the whole of the New Testament is the spiritual and present-time counterpart of the book of Joshua. Beginning with the setting aside of one nation, and its loss of the inheritance through unbelief, we are shown the bringing into being, by resurrection out from that nation, of a new people, a new nation, by way of the Jordan - that is, the Cross - and the absolute government of the Holy Spirit, as represented by the "man with his sword drawn in his hand" - the "Captain of the host of the Lord". The object of it all? The bringing of the people of God into their full inheritance in Christ. The New Testament is concerned with that in a spiritual way. Those are but aspects of this one great truth: that God, from eternity, has had in mind an elect people, to bring into the fulness of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Now we can find this first chapter of the book of Joshua condensed into two or three verses in the New Testament. Those verses are in the letter to the Colossians, chapter 2, verses 1 to 3:

"I would have you know..." Let us give due emphasis to every part of this statement. "I would have you know". It is easy to see that this is a dominant feature in the first chapter of the book of Joshua - the leaving of people in no doubt in no uncertain position. "I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden."

Assurance and Understanding

Those three verses tell us what the beginning of the book of Joshua is all about. The emphasis of the Apostle is upon 'standing fully assured' (Col. 4:12): having absolute assurance, certainty, and confidence, as to that to which we are called - both as to that which the Lord really wants, and as to all that the Lord really wants - standing fully assured about that. If, after reading that first chapter of Joshua, you stand back and consider, you have to say: 'There is no doubt about what the Lord means there!' You are left entirely without any question. You are fully assured as to the Lord's mind on the matter, from His side.

"Unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding". Understanding is a great factor in assurance. If you have not understanding, you have not got assurance. "Understand what the will of the Lord is" (Eph. 5:17). It is a tremendous thing for assurance and confidence, really to understand what the will of the Lord is. That is the first, the primary thing, that we need to understand.

I trust that you are set wholly and strongly upon that understanding - that it is no mere passive interest with you. For, you see, when you begin this book of Joshua, you find yourself in the atmosphere of a tremendous energy: there is nothing passive in this whole book. And the whole book is represented in this first chapter. Things are positive, definite, strong; there is nothing weak here; it is all emphatic and imperative. That is a necessary state of heart and mind for coming into the full inheritance. Make no mistake about it - we do not drift into all God's will. We come there by a very definite concern to know what the will of the Lord is.

I am not speaking of day-to-day affairs, either privately or in business; I am not speaking about knowing the will of God in this and that in the make-up of life: I am speaking about that whole will of God lying behind our being called by His grace into fellowship with His Son (1 Cor. 1:9). When that is settled, everything else will fall into line, will be given by God its meaning and value, and all things will work together for good when we are in line with His purpose (Rom. 8:28). 'I would have you know, understand, what the will of the Lord is.'

Conflict

And then, as we have already seen, in relation to that full and entire will of God, there is a great warfare. The atmosphere becomes charged with conflict, as the book of Joshua shows. It is the book of warfare all along. We therefore need to be fully assured, and have clear understanding, as to why it is that the enemy contests this thing so bitterly. There is no doubt that he does; it is perfectly clear, as we have said, that, immediately you go beyond a certain point in the Christian life, and seek to move on with God in the greater fulnesses of His purpose, then you come into a new realm of spiritual opposition and antagonism, arising from every quarter, and coming along every line and by every means. Why is that so? It is most important that we should be filled with understanding on that matter.

Well, you have only to read that letter to the Colossians throughout, and its twin-letter to the Ephesians, and you will soon discover why the conflict. It is no less a conflict than that into which the Lord Jesus, under the anointing and government of the same Holy Spirit, was immediately launched in the wilderness. It came out full and clear at last. The enemy had been trying to get at Him in different ways, but at last the whole thing is dragged out - "the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them" (Matt. 4:. Ah, it is out now; now we know what it is all about! That is no small issue. "The god of this age" (2 Cor. 4:4), "the prince of this world" (John 12:31, etc.), "the prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2), the 'world ruler of this darkness' (Eph. 6:12) - all these titles of the adversary indicate that he has a mighty kingdom and a mighty range of influence that he must preserve at all costs. But he knows that Christ and His Church are destined to oust him from his kingdom, to take it from him, and to supplant him in it for the ages of the ages.

To have 'understanding' on that is to bring some assurance, some confidence, some strength. We need to realise that no less an issue than that lies behind the conflict, which so often focuses down on fragmentary things - what seem to be mere incidents; but their object is the putting of us out, instead of our putting him out. And so we need "full assurance of understanding". There is nothing so weakening and destructive as the lack of understanding. We must ask the Lord to open our understanding.

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(1) A Vital Union

Now, this understanding rests upon several things. First of all, it rests upon a vital union with the Lord Himself; Here is this constant reiteration and reemphasis: "I am with you" - "I am with you" - indicating the union between the Lord and His people. That is the simple but fundamental beginning of this whole matter of the will of God. Until a real, a living union is established between you and the Lord Himself, you do not understand what the will of the Lord is for your life and in your calling by His grace. Again, this union and this oneness with the Lord Himself is basic to an understanding of the whole conflict in which we are found. It is only when that union is established that the conflict begins.

Now note this. While Jesus was the Divine Son of God before birth, and at birth, and during the thirty years of His life, there was something of a special character that happened after His baptism at the age of thirty. That something was that God the Holy Ghost came in a particular way and united Himself with the Son of Man. And then the trouble began; then the conflict started; then the enemy came out! It was to get in between those two - the Father and the Son - in some way that the enemy was making his assaults. I cannot stay with the theology and the doctrine of that; but there is no doubt about it that, all along, the enemy's object was to get between Christ and His Father - to drive a wedge in there, to separate them. That would be his great triumph. If he can do that, he has captured all - the whole battle is his. This union was essential to all the purpose of God; this union was essential, as it was basic, to the whole triumph in the conflict.

Do remember this, that what the enemy is after is to get you away from the Lord - to make a breach, create a gap, and then to widen it as fully as he can, until you find that you are here, but the Lord is there: the Lord is not with you here - He is somewhere else. The enemy is always trying to do that, in a thousand ways; because he knows that while you and the Lord are together and continuing together, his hopes fade and vanish. This assurance and understanding rests upon our union with Christ, made and preserved.

(2) Having the Spirit

That, of course, as I have indicated, means our having the Spirit. A Christianity without the Holy Spirit is something which very much gratifies and serves the enemy. An unspiritual Christianity - a Christianity which is not really the Christianity of the Holy Ghost - the enemy loves that, and he will sponsor that; he will seek to build that up. And he has a great deal of success. Many who bear the name of 'Christian' might well be challenged, as Paul challenged those at Ephesus at the beginning: 'When you believed, did you receive the Holy Spirit?' (Acts 19:2). Having the Holy Spirit is the basis of understanding what the will of God is, of understanding the whole purpose of our salvation, and of understanding all the wiles of the devil and the fury of the oppressor.

(3) Walking in the Spirit

But that is not enough. This "full assurance of understanding", because it is a progressive thing and not attained all at once, can only become ours as we walk in the Spirit. Although the day of the Spirit had not yet come, it is what the Lord Jesus meant when He said so much about 'abiding': "Abide in me, and I in you..." "If ye abide in me..." (John 15:1-10). That is explained later, in the epistles, as being the life of 'walking in the Spirit' and 'by the Spirit' (Rom. 8; Gal. 5:16-25; etc.). Our growing understanding, and therefore our growing assurance, depends upon our abiding in, and walking in and by, the Spirit. This is all implicit in the book of Joshua.

(4) The Power of His Resurrection

And then, one other thing. It rests upon the knowing of 'the power of His resurrection' (Phil. 3:10). What a large place the power of resurrection has in this whole book of Joshua. This people was a 'resurrection' people. They stood, in the first place, over against the generation that died in the wilderness. They lived while that died; they, went through Jordan, the figure of death, and came out of death triumphant on the other side. And there is more than that in this book. But they came into the constant experience of the power of His resurrection.

We learn much, you know, along that line; we come to a great deal of understanding and a great deal of assurance in that way. In this battle with death, and in our being allowed, from time to time, to go into, if not in our being taken into, experiences where the circumstances seem more powerful than the life of God in us - where we are really having an experience of death, where the sentence of death seems to have been passed, and we, like Paul, despair even of life (2 Cor. 1:8-10) - it is there that we learn, as Paul did, something about the power of His resurrection. We are thus brought to a greater measure of the full assurance of understanding; and by this understanding we are made strong.

Yes, there is something to learn in those death experiences. We need, when we are in them, to be more 'on the spot' (if I may put it like that), and to say: 'There is something in this experience of death that I must wring out of it - something that is going to be, as it were, 'stock in trade' or 'ammunition' against the enemy. I am going to learn something. I am coming out of this, by the power of His resurrection, and it is going to count in the matter of the inheritance.' The enemy would overwhelm us in those deep hours - carry the whole thing too far, and swamp us. Blessed be God, the Spirit is with us, and He brings us into a thousand resurrections.

This is the fourfold basis of the "full assurance of understanding", and the Apostle calls that the "riches". We are wringing them out of the Land; we are digging them out of these mines, out of these hills, of the Heavenly country. "In whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden". That is a great phrase, is it not? Remember the word to the people: "A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass" (Deut. 8:9b). There were hidden resources, but they have got to be dug out, and it is real spade-work to get hold of the values of a deep and dark place in spiritual experience.

Taking Stock

Now, that sounds all very good and right and inspiring. But you will notice in Joshua chapter 3, something took place which is very often overlooked.

"And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and they removed front gotcha2tim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp; and they commanded the people..." (Josh. 3:1-3).

They lodged before the Jordan three days, before going over it. This is not something to be rushed into; this is not something to be done just as the result of impulse. We may feel that it is a great idea - 'the fulness of Christ', 'the inheritance', these 'treasures of wisdom and knowledge' -wonderful! wonderful! most entrancing! But stay, stay; you are in for a big and a long fight. You are not going to come into this inheritance without real cost and real conflict. Stay! Many a Christian life would have been saved from wreckage if there had been, at the beginning, a little deeper and fuller consideration of what it all meant.

What is it that we are called to? Are we called to a 'religious picnic'? a life of 'spiritual joviality'? What are we called to? The Lord Jesus left no one in the dark about the cost of discipleship. But - but - how different is the appeal today! You would think that it was all going to be just one unbroken joy-ride - that it was going to conform to the idea of the man who was very fond of skiing, who said: 'My idea of Heaven is one eternal swish downward and no walking back!' You would think that that is the Christian life, from a lot of the things that you hear. The result is, many do not go very far; they either stop too soon, or they just lose out altogether.

So here at the Jordan, before taking the plunge (if I may put it that way), before committing themselves, before going into the river, there were three days' pause, while they weighed it up. 'Do you mean this?' We must be faithful with one another. While we so strongly emphasize the will of God in all this: while we make the appeal to go on, to go on; while we speak of the riches and the glory of the inheritance, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge - we must be faithful, and so we say: Take time to face the whole thing. Lay a sound foundation, so that you will be able to say, when the difficulties come afterward, and the enemy comes in like a flood: 'Yes, but I weighed it up; I weighed it up; I faced what it would involve; I calculated. I am not where I am on a flimsy impulse. Mine is a soundly considered position; I know why I am where I am.' It is very important, for the whole campaign, to pause for 'three days' before you make your advance. Now, of course, that need not be taken literally; but it does represent a state of the heart, a facing of things with God, a reckoning up in His presence.

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Spiritual Resources

There was another aspect of this, as you notice. During the three days they 'prepared the victuals': "Prepare ye victuals", said the officers of Joshua to the people (1:10,11). It is only another aspect of the same thing. You have got to have something to move on; you have got to have some support for this. You really need to have resources for this movement. Presently, when the manna ceases, and the old corn of the Land is fed upon, the situation may change. But here is a crisis; here is a turning point. And, to carry you through this crisis, you must have some real spiritual foundation, some substance.

Here, of course, we meet with the whole necessity of soundly instructing young converts, or young Christians, or those who want to go on further with the Lord. They need to be instructed, provided with the Word of the Lord in this matter. What a sorry and sad situation may exist, of spiritual immaturity, weakness and defeat because just there, at the crisis, there was not an adequate basis of the Word. Let us, then, lay a foundation, truly and surely, and see that we have victuals, we have substance, we have resource, something for our strengthening, to go upon.

Possessing the Inheritance

"Now Joshua was old and well stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and well stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed" (Josh. 13:1).

"And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go in to possess the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, hath given you?" (18:3).

Perhaps you are thinking that the first of these quotations looks like a contradiction of what I was saying previously about the 'young man' Joshua. If you think like that, you must think a second time! There is a good deal of encouragement for the old men here, not discouragement! The main part of Joshua's work began at that point. Up to that point, it is true he had led them in battle; he had led them against the many enemies, and he had subdued the country, but he had not yet brought them into their full inheritance. From this point, you will notice, it is all settling in the inheritance. Joshua does a very great deal, after this, of consolidating everything. That is the point. We must not stop until all that God intended has been entered into. The tragedy, of course, of these people was that they stopped too soon. For that very reason we have the story related in the book of Judges - the most tragic book of the Bible.

The Letter to the Hebrews is one strong argument against stopping too soon. 'Having laid the foundation, let us not go over it again, but let us go on - let us go on' (Heb. 6:1,2). 'Let us fear lest, a promise being left to us of entering into His rest, any one of us should be deemed to have come short' (4:1). That is the great burden and object of that letter, is it not? - to go right on! There are two sides to that.

There is, of course, the imperative. In Joshua 1 you have the imperatives: "Arise, go over..." We must, because the Lord wills it and calls us to it. Then there is the perfect: "To you have I given it" - 'I have... it is yours.' And there is the expressed purpose: "Ye are to... go in to possess". It must be. But if that 'must' should sound hard, should seem to put an onus and a burden and a strain upon the Christian life, remember - when God says it must be, He means it can be. God's commandments are God's enablings. If He says: 'Thou shalt', He means: 'Thou canst'. And because it must be, and it can be, then it should be. Those are the two sides - the imperative, and God's provision for all that He wills. What He requires, He makes possible, He provides for, indeed He commits Himself to it.

God's Commands Are His Enablings

It is a wonderful thing how - difficult, hard, painful and costly as may be this way of the fullest purpose of God, and all the conflict which is bound up and associated with it - it is just marvellous how we do survive, and more than survive. If there is any realm in which the miracle of His sovereign grace and His sovereign power is manifested, it is in this realm of the fuller purposes of God. A life in such a realm is a life of the 'wonderful works of God'. Perhaps that is why He allows it to be such a contested and difficult way, that He might show His wonderful works. That is how we must read the Word of God, that is how we must read Abraham and Paul and others: as men whose lives throughout were subjected to the most terrible testings and tryings, sufferings and adversities, sorrows and disappointments, in one realm, and yet who, at last, triumphed so wonderfully; and we have the record of their marvellous triumph.

You cannot read that eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews without marvelling every time. I say to myself: 'I could not do it' - and we all know that we could not do it. Listen! "These all died in faith, not having received the promises" (v. 13). What are you going to do about that? They died without receiving the promises! One after another died without receiving the promises. And yet it says: 'They died in faith'. They did not die saying: 'God promised and He has not fulfilled; God is not faithful to His promise. I give it all up; I cannot believe God any longer.' "These all died in faith, not having received..." - "in faith, not having received..." I say, I could not do that. But God can - the grace of God can. And it is a long list that we have here.

And so, what God calls to, He enables for. It can be, because, from God's standpoint, it must be. I trust that you have seen something of the clearly defined lines of God's will and God's purpose for us, in having called us into fellowship with His Son. You can see what it involves us in, but you can see that God has committed Himself to that. When we are on this line, He will say: 'I am with thee whithersoever thou goest.'

The End

Up next;  The Holy Spirit's Biography of Christ

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The Holy Spirit's Biography of Christ
by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 1 - The 'Parchment', the 'Pen', and the Purpose

"For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).

"He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10).

"My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be fully formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).

"...to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

"...being made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh" (2 Corinthians 3:3).

It is very important for us to recognize just what those last words are saying. What is the meaning of 2 Corinthians, chapter three and verse three? To begin with, we can break it up into three things.

Firstly, it says that the Holy Spirit is writing a life of Christ. Secondly, this writing of the life of Christ is in the inner experience of believers. Thirdly, this biography of Jesus Christ is for all men to read. Is that perfectly clear? Well, let us break it up again.

THE PARCHMENT

We will begin with the parchment. You know that the New Testament was written originally upon parchment. At one time the Apostle Paul asked someone very particularly to bring his parchments to him, and probably they were his epistles. Now he says that the Holy Spirit is writing a life of Christ on parchment, but this parchment is the inner life of believers. He says: "Not in tables of stone", and although he does not actually say so, he means that it is not on parchment. The writing material of the Holy Spirit is the inner life of believers. The born-again believer has a new inner life upon which the Holy Spirit can write, but the one who is not born again is not suitable parchment for the Holy Spirit. The Apostle said quite a lot about that in the first letter to the Corinthians. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them" (1 Corinthians 2:14). In other words, the natural man is not suitable writing material for the Holy Spirit, and it is only the spiritual man who is suitable for the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord Jesus said this to Nicodemus, who was very familiar with the parchments of the Old Testament. He knew all about those manuscripts, but the Lord Jesus told him that he was not suitable material for the Holy Spirit. He could not receive Him, and therefore he could not understand what He was doing. The Lord Jesus told him: 'You must be born again, for you must be a new man to understand what the Holy Spirit is saying.'

This new man is made alive to the Holy Spirit and is sensitive to Him. We have here a tape recorder, and all that is being said is being received because the tape is sensitive. If anyone coughs in this meeting we shall hear it for months, and perhaps for years to come! So it is with the spirit of the new man in Christ. The Holy Spirit is writing a life of Christ, and I do trust that we are all going to be very sensitive to Him in these days.

THAT WHICH IS BEING WRITTEN

The next thing that we note is that the spiritual experiences of believers are a repetition of the life of Jesus Christ, and it is upon that statement that our morning meetings this week will be founded. It may take you some time to understand it, but I do want you to recognise what this word is saying. The Holy Spirit is writing a biography of Jesus Christ, and it is a spiritual biography, written in the spiritual life and experience of believers. All that which was true of the Lord Jesus, excepting His deity, is going to be written in our spiritual experience. That is a tremendous statement! And it is going to be a tremendous thing to recognise. You have spiritual experiences, things come into your spiritual history; but if you understand what the Holy Spirit is doing, you should realise that He is writing something about the Lord Jesus, and that something that was true of the Lord Jesus is being reproduced in you.

You will recall the passages which we read: "Foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son... Christ fully formed in you... that he might fill all things." Our spiritual life belongs to the "all things", and your spirit is one of the "things".

Let me repeat: The Holy Spirit is now writing a biography, the life of Christ, in the spiritual history of the Lord's people.

SONSHIP THE BASIS OF ALL GOD'S WORK

The first great thing about the Lord Jesus was His Sonship, and the Holy Spirit is writing sonship in us. Remember that sonship always relates to God's purpose, for it is the beginning and the end of His purpose, which is in humanity. While Jesus Christ, as Son of God, is God Himself, sonship relates to humanity. It is in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus that His Sonship is manifested. You see, I am leaving deity aside, for the deity of the Lord Jesus is not something that will be reproduced in us, but, leaving His deity aside, the Holy Spirit is writing His sonship in us. The little fragment that we read said: "That he might be the firstborn among many brethren", and by new birth we receive the gift of sonship.

So, sonship is the basis of all God's work. It begins in Jesus Christ, and then it is carried on in the born-again believer.