Books by T. Austin-Sparks

[Shammu]

The Man Child of Revelation 12

Now, I am going to stay for the miserable business of getting rid of a few misconceptions about this chapter. The accepted and firmly held view concerning this chapter is, that this woman is Israel and that this man child is Christ. I will not impute motives and reasons to the holders of that view, but it does seem to me that only a prejudiced mind could hold it, a mind not willing to accept what is, I think, quite patently the truth.

This book of Revelation begins with a pronouncement from heaven that what is going to be shown is "things which must shortly come to pass," and that pronouncement was made years and years after Christ had gone to heaven. It was future. Moreover, when Christ went to heaven, Satan was not cast out of heaven as is the case in Rev. 12; for, nearly forty years after Christ went to heaven, Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, and in chapter 6 we have this revelation of the nature and sphere of the Church's warfare: "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies." Satan was not deposed when Christ was caught up to the throne. Thirdly, the dragon was not cheated of his prey in the case of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus was slain by the dragon, and it is a part of the great and glorious truth that it was through death that He destroyed him that had the power of death, namely, the Devil. Satan, the dragon, thought he had swallowed up Christ perhaps, but he discovered that he had been swallowed up. But the Lord Jesus did not escape the great red dragon by a rapture: not at all. The dragon got him so far and slew him. But therein is the glorious sovereignty of God, and that is another line of truth altogether: God's sovereignty wrought in the very presence of Satan's triumph. But that is not this.

Then this woman is a paradox, a contradiction. She is at one and the same time in heaven clothed in glory and on the earth clothed with trouble and travail. She is clothed with the sun in heaven, and yet in the next breath she is travailing on the earth. Is not that just exactly what we have in the letter to the Ephesians about the Church? In the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus blessed with every spiritual blessing, and yet at the same time the letter shows us very clearly right at the heart of it that the Church is down here and in conflict. She has an earthly walk and is meeting things down here while at the same time in the heavenlies. A contradiction apparently: at one and the same time in heaven glorious and yet on earth in tribulation. That is the Church. Well, is not that enough, though there is a lot more here?

I know there is another interpretation; that this was not only Israel but Christ Himself, and that we are the seed of Christ. But that is only just allowed to go so far. It does not carry us through satisfactorily. But this is the main position held about Israel and Christ, and I say I do not see how it can hold water in the light of even the two or three things that we have just noted.

You see, you have a correspondence here. In Rev. 2 you have these very words addressed to the overcomers in the Church at Thyatira - "He that overcometh... to him will I give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron." Then in the letter to the church in Laodicea we have these further words: "He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne." There is the throne for overcomers and the rule of the nations. Then those very words are reiterated in Chapter 12 about the man child caught up to the throne to rule the nation with a rod of iron. And I do not see that we can divorce those words from Hebrews 2 - "Thou madest him (man) in order to have" (that is the sense of the word) "dominion over the works of thy hands." Of course there is the union between Christ and His own: that is what Hebrews is speaking about. "Christ as a son over God's house, whose house are we..."

So then, having said that much - and I think it is enough, I am not dealing with all the data and points in this chapter - having said that much, we want to come right to our point in this meditation.

The graduation from the School of sonship is to the throne, and it is that throne, with what it means with regard to vocation, to service, to purpose in relation to God's eternal intention, that is in view while God is dealing with us, when God takes us out of the comfortable, pleasant time of spiritual infancy and childhood, where everything is done for us, and puts us into that experience where the thing has to be wrought in us and where, through this deep exercise of our spiritual faculties or senses, we become spiritually responsible sons of God. It is with this in view that God deals with us as with sons. Now, do grasp the meaning of that, what it implies. It implies one or two rather important things.

Spiritual Increase Related to the Throne and the Glory of the Lord

Firstly, it does mean that the deepening of spiritual life, as it is called, or any other terms used for the same thing, is not a matter which is just to issue in our fuller blessing. So often people will bring it right down there to that level of fuller blessing, and we are very often tempted even there, in the time of fire and adversity, to react to this whole thing by saying, Well, if I have heaven, why need I trouble about all this, and why should I go through all this? Here are plenty of people just very happy and contented, they are saved and they know they are saved, and here am I who have sought to go on with God, and I am having the most awful time. It seems to me that I have got the worst of the bargain, by wanting to go right on with God! If we look at it like that, purely from the personal point of view of blessing, we have missed our way, and we shall get into difficulties; because, as we have always sought to point out, when you come out of this spiritual infancy into the School of sonship, you graduate from what is personal as to your own interest and blessing into what is for the Lord and not for you. From that time forward the whole motive is, not what I am going to get, but what God is going to get. That is Ephesians. "That ye may know what is... the riches of the glory of HIS inheritance in the saints." Not what I am going to get now: that will follow, that will be all right, the Lord will be faithful, but it is something else. We have come into the school on the basis of God's eternal purpose, and God's eternal purpose does not begin and end when He has got us born again. God's eternal purpose is only reached when He has got us in the throne. Thus it is the Lord, for the Lord, and what the Lord is after that is the one consideration. It will be glory for me, but that is not the motive of it now. It is this great purpose with which we are called: that is what is governing everything, and it is in the terms of the throne.

So the transition from infancy to the School of sonship, being a very painful thing, and fraught with all sorts of difficulties, brings us nevertheless into relation with that which has been in God's mind from before the world was where we are concerned. Chosen in Christ Jesus "that we should be to the praise of HIS glory." All the dealings of the Lord with us in this school have that throne in view.

[Shammu]

The Explanation of the Mystifying and Painful Preparation

Well then, that is the matter before us in this School of sonship, namely, the throne. My dear friends, I want to get hold of that in my own heart, and I want you to get hold of it. You see, we are so prone to make our sojourn on this earth the big thing; I mean in the matter of what we are able to do, how much we can do and realize and see in our lifetime, and when we find the Lord shutting us up and limiting us and seeming to put us in prison, ofttimes under the strain and pressure of it, when the iron enters into our soul as with Joseph, we begin to think we have missed the way. Life is going and it is all unfruitful; we are not doing anything. It is other people who are doing the thing, we are not. Thus we make so much of this present life in the matter of what we are able to do, as though that were everything, whereas (and this, of course, is no argument why we should be slack about doing) so often the Lord has got His greatest effectiveness in those who have been just shut right up, unable to do anything outside. Is not that the truth about Paul himself? Of yes, it is, and Paul, as we have often pointed out, was the embodiment of the revelation which was given to him of the dispensation of the Church, and when we come to the end of his life, we have Paul, who had had such a wide scope of ministry, who had been able to do so much, we have this man, with all the values that are in him put into prison. But we get the concentrated essence of value from those prison experiences. We get the letter to the Ephesians, and that was worth Paul's going to prison, and anything like that will be worth all that we undergo in the School of sonship which sees a very great deal of what is here on the earth closed down, if only the heavenly may become the far more real and valuable as an expression in us and through us.

But I say I want this to get into my heart, into your hearts, that the Lord is not so much concerned - please do not misunderstand me - the Lord is not so much concerned with how much we do now in this life. He is more concerned with the measure of Christ to which He can bring us in this life... "till we all attain unto the... measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). It will be Christ corporate who will come to take the kingdom of this world in the coming ages, and it is unto that - the fullness of Christ - that God is working pre-eminently in our experience, and that is the thing that matters most. It is the most difficult thing for us to accept; a supremely difficult thing for any active temperament to accept. To some it is martyrdom not to be doing something. It may be God's way of getting the enlargement of His Son in His members, the patience of Jesus Christ, among other things.

God has this great thing in view. The issue comes up acutely and in an intensified form as we get near to the great end. In order to answer Satan, to have His answer in a corporate Man, God has to prepare you and me and a company of his people to take the throne, to be caught up unto God and to His throne, to rule the nations with a rod of iron. That, of course, has reference to tomorrow, the tomorrow of the ages I mean, and there is something beyond that, namely, our reigning with Him for ever and ever, another form of reigning. I aspire rather to the day after tomorrow than to tomorrow. Ruling with a rod of iron may appeal to us naturally, but we would sooner have the glorious reign where nothing wants a rod of iron. "Now unto him... be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations of the age of the ages" (Eph. 3:20-21). It is a big thing for which we go to school for a few years and suffer as we are suffering. It is easy to say that, but it is a painful thing, this school. The Lord knows what He is doing with us. It is the matter of this overcoming, and, in the light of this school or this schooling, we can appreciate the word "overcomer." There is a lot of overcoming to be done. We have to get on top of a very great deal, and the getting on top of many things is leading us to get on top of the Devil and his kingdom. Presently, in the great hour when the sons are manifested, when the man child is caught to the throne, the creation is to be delivered from the bondage of corruption.

See then the meaning of the day in which we live. See the meaning of the suffering into which we may go yet more deeply, and how it is to be God's answer to this working of Satan that has been going on ever since he made a bid for the place of God's Heir, the Heir of all things. Ever since Satan made that bid and was cast down from the higher to the lower heavens it has been going on, and now it is being brought out in a new way. That is what it is, and you and I, as part of Christ's Body, are called to be God's answer to that, and it is to be so now in a spiritual way. Presently it will be in the full way, the literal way, that the saints will take the kingdom, and He shall come whose right it is to reign. The dominion shall be given unto the saints of the Most High.

[Shammu]

Chapter 8 - "Over All - Faith," and a Final Consideration

READING: Eze. 43:1-2,4-5,7; Eph. 1:12, 3:21; 5:25-27; Col. 1:27; 1 Pet. 4:14; Heb. 10:37-39; 11:1.

In these meditations, we have been looking at some of the major features of God's spiritual house in which we who are the Lord's are living stones. We have been seeking to see what our being living parts of a spiritual house means, and there are two things which remain for this present time, which we trust the Lord will enable us to say. One is something which governs all these matters, and the other is the final feature of this spiritual house. I put it in that way because I think it will be most helpful to deal with these remaining matters in that order, and the one will lead quite naturally to the other, as you will see.

This thing which governs all the features, the spiritual features, of this spiritual house of God is faith.

Faith in Relation to
(1) The exaltation of the Lord Jesus

The first feature which we considered was that this spiritual house, of which we are a living part if we are in Christ, stands for the setting forth in a living way of the exaltation of the Lord Jesus. We saw how that was the first great note in the Church's history on the day of Pentecost.

"God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified" (Acts 2:36).
"Being at the right hand of God exalted... he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear" (Acts 2:33).

It was a glorious expression of, and testimony to, the exaltation of the Lord Jesus, and the Church is constituted for that purpose, to maintain that, not firstly as a part of its doctrine, but as being in itself the living exhibit thereof throughout the dispensation and to hold that testimony in a living way right to the end.

But we shall find that, in that matter, as in all the others, it very soon becomes a question of a living faith. It was not that so much on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit came, and filled them that had believed, baptized them within and without, and in that mighty tidal-wave of the Spirit it was not difficult for them to proclaim and give expression to the exaltation of the Lord Jesus. And that is true in principle, although perhaps not in the same outward way, in the case of every child of God, when they first come into a living union with the Lord Jesus. It is not difficult at that time for us to proclaim, and by our very faces to announce, that Jesus is exalted, Jesus is Lord, Jesus lives. That is our first note of testimony when we receive the Spirit. It is the first thing which expresses itself in a believer. But we all have lived to know that it is not always as easy as that. It does not always come as spontaneously as that. We move into a time when, while the fact remains, we have to hold on to the fact in sheer and grim faith. We have to answer to apparent contradictions to the fact with an attestation of faith; for things rise up and there is a mighty reaction of the enemy to our testimony and to our position, and we have to hold the position in blind faith; not in feeling faith, not in seeing faith, but in cold, blind faith we have to maintain our position that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is exalted, Jesus is on the throne; and it is only by faith being put forth in the fact that we win through, and that testimony becomes a powerful thing in our deliverance, in our very life.

So faith governs this matter, and we shall find that, as we get nearer to the end, the challenge to the Lordship, the exaltation, the Kingship, the enthronement of the Lord Jesus will become intensely severe. It will be a bitter challenge and there will be a situation in which nothing but just faith, naked faith, on the part of God's elect, will keep them standing in the good of that truth, that Jesus Christ, after all, has the reins of government in His hands. If one thing is true about overcomers who do overcome, it is that they overcome by reason of faith; and faith is faith. So let us not, after all that we have heard and all that in which we have gloried, expect that this is going to be anything other than a testimony in faith. It is not going to be a life of knowing by every evidence, by every proof, by every sign, by every sensation, that Jesus is reigning without any question at all. It is not going to be like that. Do not expect that it is going to be like that. The Word of God makes it very clear that it is not the case. Mark the context, for example, of the verses we read from Hebrews 10.

"For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. But my righteous one shall live by FAITH."

[Shammu]

(2) Ministering Unto the Lord

Then we spoke about another feature of this spiritual house, that it is in existence to minister to God's satisfaction and pleasure. That is a very nice idea! It is a very pleasant thought, a very beautiful thing, to think of being in existence to minister to God's pleasure, to God's satisfaction, to God's glory, and perhaps again at the outset we feel it is not such a big proposition. When we are in those first days of the blossom of spiritual experience, we think that the Lord is very well pleased and happy about us, and we are very happy with the Lord, and it is all right, the Lord is getting something. It is not so difficult to think about this matter of ministering to the Lord's good pleasure. But we discover again that, as the Lord's, we are led out into the wilderness. There is a side of our being which has to be dealt with, that side which has been in the habit of having the upper hand, of having the preeminence, of doing all the dictating and the governing, and that has to be put down and another side, namely, that which is of the Lord, has to be brought up, and we come into that realm of which the Apostle speaks - "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other" (Gal. 5:17). There is something going on in us and when we get out there in that wilderness and are in the deep realities of trial, the demand on faith is no light thing. I am thinking of Israel's forty years in the wilderness while the Lord was dealing with them along the line of discipline, to bring them to that aspect of the Cross as represented by the Jordan, where it is no longer just a matter of their being justified by faith, but of being delivered from themselves by faith: and that required a great exercise of faith when the Jordan overflowed all its banks. But it was in the wilderness, and it is in the wilderness that we, under the hand of the Lord, are brought to understand that no flesh can glory in His presence; that in us, that is, in our flesh, no good thing dwelleth, and we have to have that brought home to us so that it is not just a theory, but a desperate and awful reality. So we cry, "Oh wretched man that I am!"

At such a time you have great questions as to whether there is any ministry to the glory and pleasure of God. It seems anything but that! And yet, beloved, when we are going through all that under the hand of God, out there in the wilderness, the very fact that we repose faith in the Lord to perfect that which concerneth us, to carry through that which He has commenced unto the day of Jesus Christ, is something which very much ministers to God's pleasure and satisfaction. Just picture it in its figurative setting with Israel in the wilderness. There was the Tabernacle in the midst, and there was God right in that Tabernacle in the Most Holy Place in the Shekinah glory. He was there all the time in the Shekinah glory inside, but on the outside, well, it was a wilderness all right, and there were those horribly ugly covers of the Tabernacle and the glory was hidden. All the beauty was concealed and the outer covers were anything but beautiful and glorious, and the Lord's people were having a very trying time. But at any moment, in the darkest day, the most difficult hour, when things seemed to be most hopeless, at any moment had you looked inside, the glory was to be found there, and it was just a matter of their faith. If they took the appearances as the criterion, they could say, Oh, we cannot see the Lord; everything looks very uninteresting and anything but glorious, and the situation is a very deplorable one and all this that we are going through and all this lack of sight with regard to the Lord's presence - well, there is nothing in it! We give it up! Again and again in the New Testament, the Lord comes back upon that to warn the Church against such an attitude. "They could not enter in because of unbelief" (Heb. 3:19). And their unbelief worked in this way, "Is the Lord among us or not?" That was the thing that upset the Lord so much that He refused to allow that generation to go into the land. They asked the ultimate question, Is the Lord among us or not?

Why did they ask that? Because of appearances and difficulties. The glory was veiled, and it was only at rare intervals that the glory was displayed. For the greater part, the glory was not seen. Ah, what then of that word, Christ in you, the hope of glory! Now, that is the word the Apostle by the Spirit addresses to the Church, in the Church's time of difficulty, adversity, discipline, trial, of going through things, and he says, in effect, "Ah, yes, that is how it is on the outside, that is how it is in the matter of circumstances, but Christ in you is the hope of glory": and hope that is seen is not hope. Even this is a matter of faith. We do not always feel Christ in us. We do not live every moment in the consciousness that the Lord is inside: but He is, as truly as the Shekinah glory was there within the Most Holy Place when there was nothing on the outside to evidence it. At any moment you would have been able to prove it could you have looked within. So is it with the Lord's spiritual house, whose house are we. He is there and you have to take an attitude towards this outside situation by which the Lord is bringing us into a new realm, a new position, that, after all, it is not the ultimate thing, the pre-eminent thing: the Lord Himself has said, "I will never leave thee." Faith laying hold of that when it seems there is nothing whatever that contributes to the Lord's glory and satisfaction in us, faith laying hold of the faithfulness of God and trusting Him to carry His work in us through to perfection, is itself a ministration to God's pleasure.

You see that by the contrary. How displeased God was with that generation. Of them He said, They shall not enter into My rest. Why was He displeased? Because they did not trust Him to get them through. They surrendered to the appearances of things in their own lives.

(3) Ministering to the Life of Others

Then the third thing we spoke about was that the Church is here as a spiritual house for the purpose of ministering to the life of others, of the Lord's people, and here the same principle holds good. It is such a good idea, it is such a fine thought: ministering to the life of others, that is splendid! If only that can be, well, it is a great thing to minister to the life of others, and the very suggestion makes us rise up and feel better. But you remember what the Apostle Paul said: "Death worketh in us, but life in you" (2 Cor. 4:12). You see, it is Gideon's fleece all over again, wrung out, dried, and all around wet, and our ministering to the life of others is like that very often. We are just as dry as dry bones, wrung out. We are not conscious of being full of life and ministering life to others, and yet it is often just then that others do receive something, and that is to the glory of God. Oh, we said, we never thought there could be any blessing in it! Well, the Lord was not letting our flesh glory in the giving of life to others, but they were getting it.

You see, it is again a matter of faith. Do not think that this ministering to the life of others is always going to be something of which we are conscious, that we are just full and overflowing with life, and people are getting it. I think more often than not it is the other way round. For us it is a grim holding on to God in faith and others are getting the blessing and we are amazed. It can be so. Have faith then: fulfil your ministry in faith.

"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." (Psa. 126:6)

Weeping, but in faith. The reward of faith is a great "doubtless."

[Shammu]

(4) A Local Corporate Representation of Christ

Then our fourth feature of the spiritual house was that it is here to be a local corporate representation of the Lord Jesus. We meditated upon that word of His, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20), and dwelt upon it as a statement pointing on to the great truth of the Body of Christ, that, wherever there are two or three members of His Body, that is a representation and expression of Christ in that place.

But I again see that so often this is only made good by faith. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst" - but faith has to rise up very strongly and very deliberately and lay hold of that. You see, you may be two or three gathered somewhere, but there may be nothing whatever of an expression and manifestation of the presence of Christ. You have to come together in faith. You have to stand together in faith. You have to put your feet squarely upon His assurance and declare yourself as resting upon that assurance, and as we take hold of the truth that where the Body is the Lord is, it is then that the thing becomes a reality. We do not make it a reality by faith, but we bring out the reality by faith. The Lord looks for a definite standing upon these things and an assertion of faith. We are here; yes, but we are not here just as two or three gathered in the name of Jesus in a passive way. There will be no expression of the Lord's presence when things are like that. We come together in faith and we stand in faith that there is going to be an expression of the Lord by our very being here; and, unless we come together like that, it will be but a congregation, a service, a coming and going. When we come together in a living way with a living faith, it is not an address we have come to listen to, but we have come definitely to meet with the Lord, and the Lord has assured us that, as we are gathered together in His name, we shall meet Him. If that is our spirit, our attitude, there will be something of a living expression of the Lord. Faith is a great factor in the matter of corporate life to make its values real. I cannot go further than that.

(5) Testimony to the Overthrow of Satan

The fifth feature was that this spiritual house is here to testify in a living way to the overthrow of Satan. Well, that is a fact; Satan has been overthrown by Christ. So far as the Lord Jesus is concerned, the overthrow of Satan has been accomplished and established, and on the day of Pentecost there was no difficulty in their believing it, enjoying it and proclaiming it. But they lived to see other days when it was not just like that. They lived to see days when it seemed that Satan was anything but overthrown, anything but disposed. They saw him apparently doing just as he wanted to do, having it all his own way. They saw him bringing to death their fellow-believers and colleagues in ministry. They saw the ravages of the Devil on the right hand and on the left. Does this mean that the thing they once said so strongly and with such conviction is no longer true and they were mistaken even then? Not at all! This matter has to become a matter of the faith of the Lord's people. The overthrow of Satan, so far as this world is concerned, is a matter of the militant faith of the Church.

I simply draw from Ephesians this. When the Apostle has told us of all the armour that we are to put on in this spiritual warfare against the wiles of the Devil, he says, Now above all take the shield of faith. Our English language is poor in expressing what Paul said. Paul did not say "above all" in the sense in which we should mean it. He said, Now over all take the big shield of faith. As you know, the Roman legions had more than one kind of shield. They had the little round shield, which was only for the protection of the face and head against arrows and darts. But then they had the big shield, which could shield them completely, and often an army marched into battle with it over them. As they put the big shields side by side, it was like forming a solid mail roof. They marched under it, the big shield being over everything, covering everything. All else requires this one thing. All else may yield, prove insufficient. With everything, over and above everything - faith! It requires the militant faith of the Church to bring about here what Christ has brought about in heaven, namely, the overthrow of the Evil One. It is by faith now that Satan is overthrown, so far as the Church is concerned, and so far as things here are concerned. But of course, our faith is not in something which is going to be, it is in something which already is, namely, Christ's victory.

[Shammu]

(6) Present Testimony to the Coming Day of Glory

Now I come to the last thing, which has not been mentioned. The final feature of this spiritual house, which comes up with the passages we have read, is that the spiritual house, the Church, is here in the light of the coming day of the fullness of Glory, to stand in the light of that, to receive upon itself the light of that, and to reflect the light of that day that is coming.

In Ezekiel's Temple, you notice how we read that, after all those goings in and out and round about and through and up and down, at last the man led him by the way of the gate which is toward the east and toward the glory. The east is the sunrise, the new day, and it is by that way that the fullness of the glory comes in. The house, you see, stands right in the way of the coming glory. It is there with its face toward the sunrise, toward the glory. That is the type in Ezekiel, but we have many other passages.

"We should be unto the praise of his glory." That is the Church in Ephesians. But there is this passage in Hebrews.

"For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. But my righteous one shall live by faith... Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen."

Here, you see, is a standing by faith in the light of that glorious hope, that blessed hope, and knowing in the heart the assurance of that unseen glory. We are here as the Lord's house to be a present testimony to the coming day of glory. But that is not testimony in word, in doctrine: it is to be in life, in reality. But that can only be in a spiritual way, and therefore it can only be along the line of faith. We have to apprehend the day of the Lord, the day of glory, the coming of the Lord in glory; we have to apprehend that in a spiritual way. There are a lot of people who are apprehending it in a prophetical way, but I do not always find that the study of prophecy results in glory. I find very often that it results in a good deal of death and confusion, and it is not all prophetical students who are living in the glory of the coming day. They are living in the belief of it, in the argument about it, but not in the glory of it. It is no mere doctrinal or mental apprehension of that great truth that will bring the glory of it into our lives, but a spiritual apprehension.

I used to study prophecy a good deal, and the book of the Revelation had a very prominent place in it. But the more I studied it, the more confused I got, the more difficulties I found. It did not get me through very far to glory. But then the Lord gave me a clue, and showed me the spiritual principles lying behind the book of the Revelation, and I was able to apprehend that book in a spiritual way. I do not mean that I spiritualized everything, but I was able to apprehend it in a spiritual way. The cloud was lifted and there was life.

Take this matter of the coming of the Lord; and, of course, that is the coming of the Lord in glory, when He shall come in the clouds of glory, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints - the coming in by the east of the glory of the Lord. Have you noticed that in any time in the dispensation, when spiritual people have been gathered together, and in their gathering together have been speaking or singing of the coming of the Lord, how spontaneously the glory rises and comes in? Have you noticed that? Now, I do not believe that is merely psychological, and I do not believe it is because we are all thinking of ourselves, and of how great a day it will be when we are delivered from all our bonds. I believe rather this rising of glory is in spite of a very great deal. We have lived long enough, most of us, to know many people who believed fervently and said with emphasis that the Lord was coming in their lifetime and they would be raptured, and they have been in their graves for years. That is enough to turn you away from the whole subject and say, We have heard that before! It is enough to put you among those scoffers of whom Peter writes, who say, "Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Pet. 3:4). You may take that attitude, if you like; but it is in spite of all that that, when you contemplate the coming of the Lord, something gets the better of your mentality, your arguments, and all that bad history, and you find the glory rising. It is so, in spite of it all. Why is it? It was so at the beginning of the Church dispensation, and it has been so in every age: yet the Holy Spirit knew at the beginning that the Lord's coming would not be for a couple of thousand years, at any rate. But nevertheless there has been this spontaneous breaking out of real joy and glory at any moment when spiritual people have been dwelling upon the coming of the Lord. Why is it? Because the Holy Spirit does not live in time at all, He does not belong to time. The Holy Spirit is outside of time and He already has the end with Him and He is the Spirit of the end, and when we really get into the Spirit we are in the Holy Spirit's end. If we dwell in the mind - oh, this reasoning line of things! - out of the Spirit, there is no joy. But when we let go and we are in the Spirit, we find ourselves with the Holy Spirit right at the end. We are outside of time, we are in the glory already in foreshadowing. The Holy Spirit is timeless and you get outside of time and you have everything; you have your finality, your fullness. Thus, when John was in the Spirit in the isle of Patmos, he got right through to the end of things very quickly, the thing which we in time have not reached yet. That is what I mean by apprehending this matter spiritually. Beware of apprehending prophecy as a mental thing. The Holy Spirit in you in a living way will bring you into the good of things. Thus by the Spirit today we should stand with the light of the glorious fullness of the day of the Lord. We should be here as a testimony, not to prophetic things, not to teaching or doctrine about the Second Advent and all the problems connected therewith, but to the spiritual meaning of that. What is it? Why, that is the end to which God has been working right through the centuries, the one thing upon which His heart is set, in which He has His satisfaction, His glory, His praise, His fullness, and the Holy spirit is always there to make good something of that when we dwell upon it. He is there to be to us "the earnest of our inheritance," and to make us know it is a matter of faith, after all.

We do not always feel the glory of the coming of the Lord, we are not always living in the bright shining of that day, but "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen," and when we let go our arguments and get into the Spirit, that is, get really into fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the weight of those arguments disappears, all the seeming contradictions in history go out. The glory of the Lord comes in by the gate which is toward the east.

"Yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. But my righteous one shall live by faith."

The Lord then strengthen our faith and keep our hearts in faith.

The End

Up next; The New Day of the Spirit

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

The New Day of the Spirit
by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 1 - The Old Testament Taken Up in the Book of "The Acts"

"Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them, saying... This is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel, And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: yea and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days will I pour forth of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy" (Acts 2:14,16-18).

Not one of us would have any question that Peter was speaking under the government and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Believing that, and having no doubt about it, it is very significant that he should have added something which looks like a quotation but which the prophet quoted did not say. Joel did not say "It shall be in the last days." Joel said, "And it shall come to pass afterward...." The phrase "the last days" is found in other prophets, but not in the passage from which Peter was quoting. It makes no difference to Peter's inspiration, but it gives a significance to which we should pay attention. Under the Holy Spirit's government, Peter used those words "in the last days." We have to know what the Holy Spirit meant, and, seeing that the application was to the time at the beginning of this dispensation, I think we are not wrong in concluding that He was indicating that a certain time and order had come to an end - the last days of that particular order had come, and now there was an afterward; in other words, a new day, a new age.

Everything in This Age Essentially Spiritual

If that is right, then the book which goes by the title "The Acts" is the book which introduces a new age; it marks the passing of certain days, age-days, and the arrival of a new day, a new age-day. But it not only marks that change, it sets forth the character of the new day. Among the many very important things which the Lord's people need to recognize anew is this - the real Divine nature of the new day which came in with that recorded in this book. The established and accepted title of the book is limiting and, to some extent, misleading. You must remember that the writer of the book never gave it that title. Luke, who wrote it, did not call it "The Acts," nor the "Acts of the Apostles," nor the "Acts of the Holy Spirit." He did not give it a title. If it had a title at all, it is in his introduction, and that purely by inference. "The former treatise I made... concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach," and the inference is that this is a further treatise of all that Jesus began to do and teach. I say, the established title, "The Acts," is limiting, and, to some extent, misleading for this reason - that it puts all the emphasis upon activity, and in so doing obscures the nature of the activity, the real character of what had been brought in, the very essence of things; that is, it very largely obscures the fact that this new dispensation is absolutely spiritual in every sense. We know how "the baptism of the Spirit," "the filling of the Spirit," all that is meant by the use of the word "Pentecost", has been taken up by men and interpreted in terms of manifestations, things that can be outwardly noted - activities, works, done in a certain kind of heat and enthusiasm and strength and assertiveness. You know what the general mentality is when mention is made of being filled with the Spirit. At once our minds leap to certain forms of manifestation. But that is not the basic thing. The basic fact is that something has changed altogether, and there is a new character given to the new age; and that is that, for this age, everything is essentially and absolutely spiritual.

First the Natural, Then the Spiritual

I think Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, has - not with this object in view but under the same Spirit's direction and inspiration - given a full summary of what this change-over really is. It occurs in a phrase in 1 Cor. 15:46 - "Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual."

First that which is natural, afterward that which is spiritual. That is only saying, in other words, that the days which have gone were natural days, the days in which Divine things were manifested naturally, on natural grounds. They could all be grasped by natural apprehension: men could see, men could feel. All that realm of God's activity was possible of observation naturally; but now that has passed.

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The Establishment of the Lordship of the Holy Spirit

"And it shall come to pass afterward..."; "afterward that which is spiritual." That represents a Divine order and an established economy in the arrangement of this world's history. First that which is natural in everything, afterward that which is spiritual: and this book (we will use its accepted title, "The Acts") is the afterward that is spiritual. And one of the most wonderful things is that this book comprehends the Old Testament and changes it right over into the spiritual realm. The fact that this new day as ushered in and set forth in this book is a spiritual day is shown in quite a number of ways in the book itself - pre-eminently, of course, by the fact that, as never before, the Lordship of the Holy Spirit is established. He, in sovereignty, comes and takes charge of everything in relation to Divine purposes. He assumes the custodianship of God's eternal purposes and takes them into His own hands - and that in a very mighty way. He does demonstrate that He has assumed charge of God's interests in His Son; and if you can withstand a mighty rushing wind (Acts 2:2) you can withstand that sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. But in other ways His sovereignty is seen - amongst them, the way in which the Old Testament is taken up and reproduced spiritually, in some matters reversed, in others transferred. We shall see that in a moment. Again, in the swift challenge at the beginning, which the flesh and the natural life met; the Holy Spirit is in charge, and He immediately demonstrates that here flesh must not encroach and the natural life has no place. In the case of Ananias and Sapphira it is shown that things are spiritual now and the flesh and the Spirit are in deadly combat. It is a new spiritual age that has come in, and here that which is natural has passed. First that which is natural; afterward that which is spiritual.

The Deepening Hiddenness of the Lord's Ways

Another thing not recognized as fully and clearly as it should be is the deepening hiddenness of the Lord's ways. Have you noticed this, that, whereas at the beginning there were manifestations in many directions, in many manners, plain and obvious, as you move through this book you find that the Lord is going deeper and deeper, and those things are not so obvious and conspicuous as they once were? Early in the book, you can bring the sick and just lay them on the ground, and the very shadow of Peter passing by heals them. But "Trophimus I left sick" (2 Tim. 4:20): "Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death" (Phil. 2:27): "We despaired even of life: yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves" (2 Cor. 1:9), says Paul. The Lord's ways are getting deeper. First that which is natural; afterward, that which is spiritual. That opens the door to a very large field.

"The Acts" a Book of Spiritual Principles

Then there is the fact that this is a book of spiritual principles, not necessarily to be taken and imitated, but demanding that we know the principle which lies behind what is happening, and stand in possession of that principle. In that connection, let us remember that this book called "The Acts" was not written until all Paul's letters had been written and circulated. There had been some thirty-five years of missionary activity, preaching, and teaching through the Apostolic letters before "The Acts" was written, or before any one of the Gospels was written, and that to me is of tremendous significance. You see, they had received the teaching, they had the spiritual interpretation and meaning, and then they got the historical record of what happened. It would be good for us to stay with that alone as one thing for an hour. You can understand why Paul wrote to the Corinthians as he did about the manifestations. They were taken up by the acts, the happenings, the events, the outward things. He wrote to seek to get them to the inside of them, and to show that what mattered was not the things in the first instance, but the spirit behind, and that love is far more important than outward manifestations and gifts.

Well, you see, all this is a very strong foundation for this conclusion, that a new kind of day has come in, that things now are essentially spiritual. "Afterward that which is spiritual."

The Creations: Redemption by Resurrection

That is a general setting forth of the situation. Let us begin to get inside of that and break it up. We said that this book comprehends the Old Testament and does two things with it. It reverses some things, and it transfers others from one realm to another. I will explain that in a moment. First of all, this book comprehends what we have at the beginning of Genesis - the creation. The creation, as we have it in the natural in Genesis, is a work of natural redemption, the redeeming of a creation from corruption, from death, from chaos; and that redemption of the creation at the beginning of the natural was through resurrection. We can say quite truly that it was a raising of the natural from a death, from a grave, bringing it up in resurrection. "First that which is natural; then that which is spiritual." The beginning of things here in "Acts" is redemption through resurrection. The great note of "Acts," of all Apostolic preaching, is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Now you see a little more value in what I said just now about the letters having been written before. The people who would read the historic account of things in "Acts" had already received 1 Cor. 15 and the doctrine of the resurrection in Romans 6. They knew the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ, that it was not only for us but included us, that we were raised together with Him, that a new creation was brought into being in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, that we were begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Pet. 1:3). The fact of the resurrection is then set forth in the historic account as the great, all-governing reality. It is a new creation, it is a redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You break that up again and you see that inside of the redemption there is the means employed. Firstly, light and life - two great redeeming powers and influences. Oh, these representatives, the twelve - twelve is the number that speaks of representation - are themselves the embodiment of this. Look at them before Christ rose, and if ever men were in the dark they were - groping as blind in the darkness. See those on the road to Emmaus, and all the rest - dark, blind, despairing, and for them the atmosphere was filled with death. He had died; it was the end of everything. But look at them here! Why, truly, those who sat in darkness have seen a great light! They have emerged, the light has broken and, in Christ, has dawned upon their darkness; they see it all and they are out! Life with light has brought them into a new world, but it is spiritual light, it is spiritual life, it is not capable of being apprehended except in a spiritual way. People can listen, can see that something has happened to them, and still be unaffected until the same mighty influence gets to work upon themselves. It is something that is wholly and solely spiritual, and the flesh cannot take hold of it. Let Simon the sorcerer try to get this on natural grounds! He will find himself under terrible judgment (Acts 8:9-24). This is something which can be had only by the Spirit. It is light and life of a new order altogether; the flesh cannot enter into this. "First that which is natural; then that which is spiritual."

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The Instrument of the Creations - The Spirit

The means - light and life. And then the instrument - "and the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2). We can say that the Spirit of God was the Executive of the Godhead in the redemption of the natural creation. Here, "Acts" brings in that Divine agent again; the Spirit of God bringing out of the dark and out of death into the new life of this new creation in Christ Jesus. It is spiritual.

The Object of the Creations - A Man

And then the object. What was the object of the natural creation? Unto what was it? Well, the object was man, a man whom God had in His eye, a man according to God's mind. Everything was brought into being, and the climax of all was man. First that which was natural - and it failed; afterward that which is spiritual. And here is the man in Christ, the new creation, and he is a new order of man. It is simple and elementary, but it helps us to recognise that we have come into a new day of a different character; it is spiritual now. This book has taken up the very beginning in the natural, and carried it over, passed it through, into the spiritual; and it is saying as clearly and forcefully as anything can be said, This is the true! The natural breaks down and fails, it is transient, it does not abide; the spiritual is eternal, established forever.

Place alongside that word from 1 Cor. 15:46 another one from 2 Tim. 1:10 "...our Saviour Christ Jesus... abolished death, and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel." That is something for us to take hold of. We are all so conscious in this world and in ourselves of the corruptible side. Yes, it is there; but through the Gospel life and incorruption have been brought to light. One of the things said so early in this book is a prophecy taken from the Old Testament and applied to the Lord Jesus "It was not possible that he should be holden of death" (Acts 2:24). Why? Because the word had said "...neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption" (Acts 2:27). "Life and incorruption through the Gospel." And that life is ours; that life within us, in our renewed spirit, is the germ of a spiritual body which is at the other end of the course; first the natural, then that which is spiritual, and in 1 Cor. 15:46 the application is to the body. There are natural bodies - not that which is spiritual is first, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual. "To each seed a body of its own" (1 Cor. 15:38).

Well, the object in view is a man who can never see corruption, an incorruptible humanity. Oh thank God that the Lord Jesus walked through this world for thirty-three years and was never in the slightest degree corrupted; although Satan and all his powers and agents, demoniacal and human, sought to corrupt that Divine One in some way, to ensnare and entrap Him into a taint, a corruption, He was never corrupted in any sense; He triumphed. He went through death and the grave itself and saw no corruption. Thank God, I say, for that, because He is the Firstborn among many brethren who will be indwelt by that same incorruptible life, and who will be eventually that humanity in God's universe for which the universe was created. An incorruptible humanity - that is the prospect. And that is the Gospel - something more than a gospel of just being forgiven; it is a marvellous Gospel that is brought to light. The object - a man; but that kind of man.

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The Reversal of Babel

I dare not take all the fragments of the Old Testament that this book of "Acts" brings into view from the creation. Immediately, without any loss of time, it leaps over to what comes some distance on in the book of Genesis; and here it is not a transferring, it is a reversing. I refer to Babel. You remember what was said about Babel. "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech" (Gen. 11:1) and in that oneness they formed a confederacy to build their tower, to be independent of God, to make a name for themselves; to glorify, to deify a fallen, corrupted manhood. They challenged heaven in their unity, and God said, "Let us go down and there confound their language"; and there came confusion of tongues. He broke them up with His curse so that they understood not one another, and therefore could not work together, could no longer go on in their evil oneness. We know it very well today. Pentecost leaps right in there. There were gathered in Jerusalem that day men out of every nation under heaven. Their countries are tabulated; the Holy Spirit takes great care to see that they are all mentioned. And then a mighty thing happens, a miracle is wrought by the Holy Ghost and the diversity of the tongues of that great concourse is transcended in a moment, so that men exclaim with astonishment "Are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we, every man in our own language..." (Acts 2:7,8). What is the meaning of this? Babel is reversed. The declaration is made - through the victory of Calvary, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the curse is dealt with, and there is a oneness in the Spirit possible for all men, that they can understand the wonderful things of God. God has set His spiritual principle right there at the beginning in this most powerful way, and He has said in an acted principle that in Christ Jesus there is a universality of oneness of a heavenly and spiritual order which cannot be found outside; which is Calvary's answer to Babel.

Now, you do not interpret that naturally, but spiritually. People are always pressing for the natural interpretation. Tongues! Whatever God may do sovereignly in His will in that matter, the fact is this - that very often Satan has simulated that very work, and the result has been more confusion among the saints, and the essential law of oneness has not been established. The test is whether this brings saints into the realisation of their absolute oneness in Christ, or does this make more confusion? That is a very good test as to whether it belongs to that which is natural or to that which is spiritual. When the Holy Spirit really has His place and His way, He brings into a universality in Christ. It does not matter what you are naturally, of what nation or tribe or kindred or people or colour or language, it does not matter at all where you come from or what you are, whether of high degree or low; when the Holy Spirit gets possession, there is a universality in Christ, a blessed spiritual oneness, which is God's answer to the world and to the enemy; God's counter, through Calvary, to Babel.

I know the Church has a long way to go to enter into that, and how great the difficulties are in this matter of so many tongues amongst the Lord's people, all saying different and contradictory things; nevertheless, I hold to this basic law, that, if men were governed by the Spirit, they would say the same thing, they would arrive at the same conclusion; and it is only the intrusion of the natural - either natural judgment, intellect, taking hold of the things of God, or natural desires and inclinations and propensities and wishes and feelings - that results in this confusion of tongues among the Lord's people. If the natural life, mind, heart and will really did come under the power of the Cross and we came on to the ground where we are dead to ourselves and alive only in the spirit, we should be saying and thinking the same thing.

God has simple and very real - even if small and limited - testimonies where He has those who are led by the Spirit; He is able to say the same thing to them and the results are very fruitful. Desolation goes out and fruitfulness comes in when the mind of the Spirit possesses the children of God. They say the same thing; they are able to say - And the Lord said that to me as well! There is a lot in that.

Well, you see very early in this book a very big thing is taken up from the Old Testament and reversed. "First that which is natural: then that which is spiritual." The universality of the Spirit is declared. And, remember, with this goes the universality of the Church. The true Church is of this order.

And then, of course, in "Acts" we have the initiation of the universality of salvation; that is, initiation in the practical sense. Salvation is universal from the beginning, but here was the initiation of its outworking - for Jew and Gentile. Presently we move from Jerusalem up to Caesarea, and something happens in a Gentile company almost identical with what happened in a Jewish company - the Spirit falls, and that universality of the Spirit shows itself now in this, that God is no respecter of persons. All can be saved, Jew and Gentile. Salvation is inclusive; God has no favourites in the matter of salvation.

The Spiritual Principle Behind Achan and Ananias and Sapphira

Time permits us to touch on only one other thing, which is quite simple in itself. It is very soon in this book that we come upon that tragic incident of Ananias and Sapphira. We have now leapt a long way ahead in the Old Testament. Historically, there is much between what we have just said and this point, but no doubt here is a correspondence in spiritual principle. You remember Achan, and the Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold hidden in his tent. But that is not the whole point. When did it happen? That is the vital point. It happened when Israel had passed through Jordan, in which they, in type, for ever parted with the carnal life. The passage of Jordan in type was that side of their union with Christ which spoke of death to the carnal life which had been predominant in the wilderness. It had all been the flesh, carnality, all through those years, and at last that had to be done away with, lock, stock and barrel. Jordan drew the line between the life of God's people carnally and their life spiritually. Over Jordan, the Spirit of God takes charge as Captain of the host of the Lord, and is the energy of everything from that time onward, testifying to the fact that here the flesh has given place to the Spirit, and they are now typically on spiritual ground. Achan contradicts that, the carnal life breaks out again, and swift and radical judgment takes place. Because we pass into a new day, O Ananias and Sapphira, what you might have done when you lived in the flesh you cannot do now. That is the meaning. You have come into another realm, the realm of things spiritual, and having been buried with Christ and raised with Him, you are supposed to have repudiated all the work of the flesh and its ambitions.

"Acts" being a book of principles shows what God's full thought is for life in the Spirit. This is seen on both its positive side and its negative. Ananias and Sapphira are examples of the negative aspect, showing what the Lord's attitude is toward a calculated action in the flesh when against such the Spirit has been so manifestly in action.

This, then, is a solemn appeal for life on a higher level, but it carries with it a curtailment of certain liberties. For all the values of such a life may the Lord give us the required empowerment and grace.

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Chapter 2 - The Man in the Glory

"And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above." Ezek. 1:26.

"And behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lieth toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar." Ezek. 9:2.

"And he brought me thither; and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate." Ezek. 40:3.

"And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places" Ezek. 43:6-7.

"Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear." Acts 2:33.

"But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." Acts 7:55-56.

"I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven." 2 Cor. 12:2.

In our previous meditation we began to see something of what the book which goes by the title of "The Acts" brought in - that is, a new day, a new age, with an entirely new character: a day which, because of the advent of the Holy Spirit and His absolute Sovereignty in the realm of Divine things, is an age-day which is fundamentally and essentially spiritual in its nature and character. We began to see something of the content of that; and our occupation is with the deeper and fuller meaning of Pentecost.

The Spirit in the Books of Ezekiel and The Acts

Turning back to the prophecies of Ezekiel, no one who has read them needs to be told what a very large place the Spirit of the Lord has in them. A glance at your concordance will at once show you how large that place is. You see that the Spirit is constantly mentioned all the way through - the activities of the Spirit in sovereignty in all kinds of connections with Divine thoughts; and by that alone there surely is a basic link with the book of The Acts, for the same connection is registered by a glance at that book with the one word in mind, the Spirit; it is all the Spirit in the manifold activities of the exalted Lord, His continuation of doing and speaking. So we can say that there is a very close relationship between these two portions of the Scripture as part and counterpart; and it is in connection with some of the features of that that we are to be occupied now.

In our previous meditation we dwelt upon one point amongst others - seeing how the book of The Acts takes up comprehensively the Old Testament and gives it a new spiritual reproduction, interpretation, application, and in some ways reverses the order of the Old Testament. Here we have a grand example of that in the case of what is in the prophecies of Ezekiel. Amongst those things which we saw previously was this - the Spirit of God brooding upon the face of the deep, hovering over the chaos, and then active as the Divine Agent of reclamation, redemption, resurrection, to bring in a new creation. The object of it all in the natural was seen to be man; it reached its climax in the man that was in God's thought. Carried over to the New Testament, we saw that when the Spirit of God came into action in this sovereign way, redemptively, re-creationally, it was all with a Man in view, the Man who is said to be the life-giving Spirit, the last Adam. "First... that which is natural; then that which is spiritual." "The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45,46). The Man is in view.

The Moral and Spiritual Government of the Man in the Glory

Now let us recall the above passages with which we began. In Ezekiel, each of those which we read brought a man into view. There is no difficulty in interpreting the first of them. "Above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne... and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above." Then we went over into the Acts. "Being... by (marg. at) the right hand of God exalted..." "I see... the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." A Man is in view. The correspondence between these passages is evident and in both cases the meaning is the same. You go back to the opening chapters of Ezekiel from which the above words are taken and you find all the Divine intentions and thoughts are being projected, the counsels and purposes of God are in view - the wheels and the living ones and the spirit in the wheels: Divine counsels, the purposes of God in motion - and they are all under the government of this One Who is upon the Throne. All these Divine movements in relation to Divine intentions concerning a people for God are all under the government of that One upon the Throne; and they go straightforward, they turn not as they go; they are not deviating, they are not hindered; they go and they go straightforward because there is One Who is in the place of absolute sovereignty, and nothing, however it may seem otherwise, can really divert His purposes. So in this book of The Acts; whatever happens which seems to be a diversion or a subverting or a hindrance or a contradiction, and however much it seems to be out of the straight way, is found in the end to be compelled, by a governing hand, really to reach God's end and fulfil it, and not hinder it. He is going straight forward. It is because of the Man in the glory. Yes, He is God's Son, very God, but that is not the line of our thought at the moment. It is the Man - "I see the Son of man..." As the Man He is the full embodiment of the perfection of God's thoughts concerning man that is ultimately to be, man that is eventually to occupy God's realm, and as Son of man He is installed, enthroned, established as the perfect model of how things are to be; and God is taking the straight course in the power of the Spirit to that end - to have things according to the Man in the glory. And that Man in the glory is not just officially, but morally and spiritually, governing everything to that end. If He were acting officially, of course, none of these contrary things would be allowed, no one would be able to raise a hand; but He is acting spiritually, and morally in His authority. I mean by that that you and I are not brought to God's end simply by those sovereign acts of the Lord in heaven which save us from all kinds of difficulties. Something has to be done in us, and therefore it must be spiritual and moral government that operates to conform us to the image of God's Son; so that, although there may seem to be hindrances and obstructions and difficulties - and there are - nevertheless, His spiritual government is producing spiritual ends in us which mean approximation to His own likeness. So it is by the Spirit that He governs, and not just as official, sovereign Lord. It is most important to recognize that it is a spiritual government, for it means that everything is spiritual. Ascendancy and triumph and arrival are going to be spiritual, not just natural - we shall not simply be brought there apart from anything that is accomplished in us. We are moving towards God's end by spiritual government within our lives, not merely by a sovereign hand upon us. I think that is quite clear, but it is necessary to say it as we go on.

Now, the point of this first presentation of the Man, both in Ezekiel and in Acts, is that the governing reality is One Who already embodies God's thoughts in perfection, and all government is in relation to Him. He, as God's perfect realisation, sits in the place of absolute authority and holds everything into the ends which God has purposed. There has to be, by the Holy Spirit, something of that accomplished in us if we are going to reach this Divine end.

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"A Man in Christ"

I have taken up a fragment of autobiography from Paul because it is going to serve us greatly by way of illustration. "I know a man in Christ." Now, we believe that Paul was an elect vessel; in a very special way he was chosen of God for a special purpose; and when we look to see what that special purpose is - that is, what singles him out and distinguishes him even from the other Apostles - we are compelled to come down to one thing, that to Paul was committed a revelation of the one new man in Christ: "the church which is His body": the collective, the corporate, man. Then we see also that not only was that revelation and that ministry or stewardship committed to Paul in a specific way, but that it was passed right through his very history. It was something that was caused to go through him, right through his very being, and his whole life was brought by the Spirit of God on to the basis of that revelation and dealt with accordingly; so that Paul, in a unique way, became a representation for the age on earth of this thought of God - a man, the one new man, a man in Christ. He calls himself that - a man in Christ. That helps us to come back to Ezekiel and take these other three particular references to the Man.

The Man with the Inkhorn

We have seen the standard, the model, the representation, the inclusive One. We have seen that that is set to govern all the activities of God in a spiritual way. Now, break that up. The next presentation of a man is that of a man clothed in linen with an inkhorn by his side; and what is he doing? The One in the glory - for so we may speak: although it does not say this actually, this is the conclusion - the One in the glory is taking account of the state of things here, and especially amongst the Lord's people, those who bear His Name; and the state of things is said to be very, very much other than according to that Man. There is very little that indicates the Man in the glory here; that is, there is very little of the Lord's thought in any fulness that can be discerned. But the man with the inkhorn, clothed in linen - and we must not stop with all the details - is taking a note of everybody; he is singling out, he is listening, he is looking at faces, he is watching, he is looking inside of hearts, and whenever he finds a man who sighs and who groans because of the state of things, he puts a mark on him; such a one is a marked man before heaven. The man with the inkhorn is a Man from heaven, a Man here with the Divine thoughts, and where He finds a real heart exercise, a heart sorrow and burden, a sighing and a groaning because God has not got what He ought to have - all things according to Christ - He marks that as something of account.

"I know a man in Christ." Listen! "I... fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church" (Col. 1:24). That is in the spirit of what we are saying - a man with a great burden of concern and travail because God's thoughts are not found expressed amongst God's people, that is, Christ is not being reproduced in the spirit of His heavenly Manhood. This man in Christ on another occasion said, "My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you..." (Gal. 4:19). This is a man sighing and groaning because there is such a coming short of that Divine thought in the people of God. Such an attitude results from a work of the Spirit of God, and the implication is this, that Pentecost in its outworking - or the presence of the Holy Spirit here - will mean that those in whom the Spirit operates and has His way will never be able to rest short of God's full thought for themselves or for others. They will be deeply exercised and burdened and will be drawn into the travail of Christ, to fill up that which is lacking of His sufferings for His Body's sake which is the Church. This man in Christ is a marked man, he is marked from heaven as one whose whole heart is taken up with this great concern that what is there should be found here: that what is true of Christ, the Man in the glory, should be more fully expressed here in this new man, the Church, the Body. That is an operation of the Holy Spirit; and if you tell me that the Holy Spirit is having His way, and yet there is complacency with things that are not according to Christ, I say that is a contradiction; it cannot be. If you are perfectly satisfied with things as they are in yourself or in other believers, and have no real concern that there should be a full conformity to the image of Christ and that the whole Body should be brought to the measure of the stature of a man in Christ, the Spirit of God is not doing His work in you. Pentecost in its deeper meaning will produce that. The very fact that so soon after His advent the Church moved out as by Divine urge to seek the members of the Body and then to bring them into full conformity is proof positive that the Spirit of God is seeking to perfect a Body, a manhood, according to that Man Who has been revealed as in the glory. The man with the inkhorn signifies that - that the Spirit of God produces a heavenly concern and takes note of where that concern is.

The Man with the Measuring Reed

The next chapter, chapter 40, brings in the man with the measuring reed, and his appearance is as that of brass. He is in type but the expression of Christ, God's full measure, coming here to show where things come short, and to indicate where this is lacking and that is needed, and what the Lord wants as to His exact measure of Christ. It is what Peter called Judgment beginning at the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), for brass typifies judgment. Paul also was very exercised about measurements. You know what he says about them; measurements as to the House, the Church, the Body; the length and breadth and height and depth; the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. All that he wrote and said on the numerous matters of the life of the Lord's people we must interpret in the light of this, that it is a matter of the degree in which there is a coming short of Christ. The Lord is very greatly concerned about spiritual measure, although His people are not so concerned; and this man is really Christ, the Man in fulness, coming down to be like a measuring rod beside His Church, and to say, This is where you are not true, and you must adjust; this is where you have excesses, and they must go; this is where you have deficiencies, and they must be made good. It is the Spirit of God at work all the time to see to it that in all details we are according to Christ, the Spirit of God working in relation to that perfect measure that is in heaven, the measure for this Body, for this collective man, in all its parts.

And then how detailed is this man with the measuring reed! He takes the prophet in and out and round about and up and down and through, and is measuring all the time. He measures the gate, the porch, the threshold, the court, every chamber; everything is measured. He says, in effect, that God has His thought for every part, the details matter to Him, and the Spirit has come to check us up on all matters of detail which relate to God's purpose in calling us in Christ. A man in Christ who is governed by the Spirit of Christ will not be lax and careless about anything, even the smallest things. But, while this may sound difficult, a high standard that could bring us into a good deal of burden, bondage and legalism, let us remember that the Spirit of God has come to accomplish this very thing - not only to judge but to do what is needful. That is the other side of Paul's great ministry; not only the pointing out of what comes short or what is in excess, but to say, The Spirit can make it all good - He is here to do that. That is why in Paul's letters to Corinth (particularly the first), where so much had to be indicated as disorderly, as not according to Christ, the Holy Spirit has such a large place. Yes, He is here, not just as the judge, but as the helper of our infirmities, to correct the wrong, to bring about conformity to Christ.

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The Place of His Glory

Then in Chapter 43 there is the man speaking out from the place of the glory, saying "Son of man, this is the place of my throne where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever." Paul, the man in Christ, uses words which explain that when he says, "Unto him... be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever" (Eph. 2:21), and, coupled with that, "a habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22). You can see the Divine thought. What is the place of glory where God will dwell? It is no place on this earth as geographically located or materially constructed. It is a spiritual sanctuary, a habitation of God through the Spirit. It is something which has been spiritually constructed, constituted and perfected, and His dwelling and His habitation will be there, and it will be the place of His glory unto all ages for ever and ever. What is it? In other words it is the realisation in a people of that conformity to the image of His Son. God, by His Spirit, is working to make us a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, for His own habitation. "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, ...and I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21:2-3); "...the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God" (Rev. 21:10- 11). This is none other than the corporate man in Christ perfected and glorified. That is a vision of Christ and what Christ means in the thought and intention of God. It is a revelation of that for which the Spirit has come, and an explanation of what the Holy Spirit is doing to get rid of all in us which cannot be glorified. Having brought life and incorruption to light by the Gospel, He is working unto that day when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, this mortal shall put on immortality, and death shall be swallowed up in victory, when the Church is a glorious Church where God Himself is found without restraint and in which He is worshipped in His universe. The Man in the glory, being at God's right hand exalted, established, settled, is the assured realisation of God's end. He cannot be there without His members. He cannot go on there alone. All the meaning of the presence there of Christ, the Son of man, would be stripped from Him if His Church never came there, made like unto Him; there would be no meaning in it at all. He is, after all, but the Firstborn among many brethren; He is bringing many sons to glory. The Spirit of sonship has come, not to try and do something, not with a hope that it may be; He has come in all the sovereignty of that One there, and it is going to be. Settle your faith in this. However many questions you may have as to yourself, however often you may despair in yourself and be on the point of giving everything up - and who that knows his own heart does not know the frequent temptation to do this? - yet there is no need for despair. There is another view, there is something else going on. The Spirit has come, He is within. He sees One at the right hand of God, and in spite of our despair about ourselves, in spite of the discouragement and impossibility that we find in ourselves, the Spirit of God is holding us to the Man in the glory, and going on with His work; and it is not until we abandon faith in the omnipotence of the Spirit of God that hope departs and despair settles down. While we will believe that the Spirit of Christ has come in all that omnipotence of the exalted Son of man, and is in us to do the work, hope springs eternal, there need be no despair. He is working in sovereignty.

I do believe that this book of The Acts, as it opens, says so loudly and clearly this one thing - that out from heaven the Spirit of Almighty God has come in sovereignty to see things through. Let Herod do what he likes, let the kings and the nations have their confederacies, let all conditions work adversely, let Satan and all his forces operate, the Church goes on and these very things are drawn right into the train of Christ's triumph and made to serve the Divine ends. The things which befall work out for the furtherance of the Gospel, and the very things which look like disasters and calamities prove, at long last, to be complementary things under the sovereignty of the risen Lord. The Spirit of God is in charge. Oh, that our faith may settle there and deliver us from our despair! There is a Man in the glory; the Spirit of God has come and has entered into us with just one object - to make all things abound toward the reproducing of that Man in us, in measure individually, and in the collective measure of the individuals in one glorified Body, Christ corporate. What possibilities! What a prospect! May the Lord give us a new vision of His beloved Son and a new heart confidence and assurance that He Who hath begun a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.

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Chapter 3 - Abraham's Seed

We are considering the deeper and fuller meaning of what came in on the day of Pentecost - the nature and order of an entirely new day in this world's history, that nature and order being essentially spiritual: a new order and character introduced by the advent of the Holy Spirit to constitute everything immediately spiritual; not indirectly and ultimately, but immediately spiritual.

The Voice of the Spirit the Governing Factor

One of the primal features of this new day is this - take careful note of it because it is the key and the basis of everything - that the voice of the Spirit is to be taken account of rather than what is going on in the religious world around. It is that which cleaves things asunder, puts things into two different realms in this book. With this new age we see on the one hand in the religious world that which claims authority with power, position and influence, which has established itself and taken possession, but which is shown to be something which is not according to the Spirit of God. On the other hand, over against that, we see what is brought out into such clear, manifest relief, that to bear and to take account of the voice of the Spirit of God may be, and very often is, another thing altogether. You recall Stephen's defence. You know that he comprehends the whole of this history. He starts with Abraham. "The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham" (Acts 7:2). That is the beginning of this religious history, and he traces right through stage by stage until he arrives at the murder of the Lord Jesus, and he sums it up in one great declaration, sweeping away the whole ground of that established thing on the earth, and saying, as comprehending it all, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51). Something spiritual, a taking note of the voice of the Spirit of God, is something very different indeed from an established religious order on this earth, and very often runs directly counter to it. That is a strong statement but it is said in order that we may immediately get to the very heart of what it is the Lord is seeking in this present age - a people of a spiritual life who are governed by the Spirit of God, who take account of what the Spirit says, and are obedient and conform thereunto. It is a spiritual people God is after in this age, not religious people. Paul has built a very great spiritual structure upon this very principle. A large part of his letter to the Romans and the whole of his letter to the Galatians and of the letter to the Hebrews - whoever wrote that letter, I think there is little doubt that the influence of Paul is found in it and it comes altogether into line with the other two on this very matter - is occupied with the sole object of pointing out that traditional religion is one thing and life in the Spirit is another; that religion as here on this earth in all its forms may be one thing, while what is of the Spirit of God may be altogether another thing. That is what Paul set out to make clear, and he built this tremendous edifice upon this fact. If you read Galatians carefully in the light of that, you will see that that is what he is after - to divide between this religious thing and this other which is of the Spirit.

You notice that Abraham has quite a place in this book of the Acts. Note, for example, the following fragment:

"For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him" (Acts 2:39).

If you want to know what that promise is, you have to turn to Galatians, and you find at once it is linked with Abraham.

"...that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Gal. 3:14).

"For to you is the promise." That is the word on the day of Pentecost, and it refers to the coming of the Spirit.

"...who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises" (Rom. 9:4).

Abraham has quite a place here in this book in relation to the Holy Spirit, the promise.

The Seed of Abraham

The first thing we see here is that the challenge of the new age, the new day and its meaning, was first presented to the seed of Abraham, and the nature of the challenge was that they should become a spiritual seed of Abraham as something more than a natural seed. The significance of the day of Pentecost is just that. Now by the coming of the Spirit a transition is to be made, a change is to take place. The natural seed of Abraham should become a spiritual seed of Abraham. There is a difference between the seed of Abraham and the children of Israel. The seed of Abraham is racial; the children of Israel is national. We shall speak about that when we come to the elect nation. Here the racial side of things, the seed of Abraham, is in view; but Paul makes it perfectly clear in his letter to the Romans and to the Galatians that those that are of the Spirit are children of Abraham, not those which are of the flesh. We have said before that Paul's letters were all written and circulated before ever the book of the Acts was written, so that the spiritual things were already there established in the teaching of the Lord's people, and the people were able to interpret this survey of the history in the light of spiritual things; and that is exactly what we are doing now. We have the spiritual interpretation of Acts right in our hands. We have the letter to the Galatians in our hands before ever we approach this book of the Acts, and what does it say? Well, the challenge to the seed of Abraham is that they are not established before God on natural grounds: they can only be established before God on spiritual grounds. What they are naturally is not what God is seeking, but what they are spiritually. "First that which is natural; then that which is spiritual," and it is that which matters. That is the object of the Lord - a spiritual seed of Abraham.

A People Not Numbered Among the Nations

We have much by way of illustration as to what God's thought was for this spiritual seed. He chose sovereignly in grace. You know how Paul argues that the law did not exist when God chose Abraham and his seed; that choice was not on the ground of law at all, not of works, not of anything that was in them or that they did or tried to do. It was just in His sovereign grace that He chose and marked them out; and the remarkable thing is that that nation has borne its own natural characteristics right through history which have never been lost. I remember the late Samuel Schor saying that in any part of this world he could always, without a word, detect a Jew, no matter how much the Jew had been absorbed into the nation. That is saying a lot. I think he used the phrase "a son of Abraham"; that was his way of speaking. The mark is there, something which distinguishes, embodying a spiritual principle which is brought out in this new spiritual race belonging to this age - but not now of Christians marked off by their physiognomy nor by their language, nor by their particular country. There is no doubt that the hand of God was upon Balaam, although he was not a very willing and joyous prophet under the hand of God; but the Spirit of God made Balaam say about Israel as he looked from the top of the mountain: "It is a people that dwelleth alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Num. 23:9). There is surely a spiritual principle there that this spiritual seed of Abraham which has been brought in with the Day of Pentecost is a people distinguished from all other people, whether by physiognomy or not. I believe that if we are living in the radiance of Divine life, there will be something of it betrayed by our faces. At any rate, the world will know something if we are really living in touch with the Lord, and there will be a language which only the spiritual can enjoy and understand.

[Shammu]

There will be those spiritual counterparts of the seed of Abraham, a people different from all the rest.

Now, the tragedy of what is called 'the Church' has so often been, and perhaps is more today than ever, that that distinctiveness is being lost. It seems today as if a set is being made in some way to remove all the offence and all the difference, and to get us near to people without anything that clashes, in the hope of winning them. Yes, that is what is going on in the religious world around; it is a conforming to this age. But what came in at Pentecost is fundamentally this, that this people of the Spirit are so utterly different in the very centre of their being, different altogether from all other peoples: and their power and influence lie in that fact. You cannot fit them in with other things, and it is not because they are awkward and difficult and deliberately irritate people, but there is that which, by reason of their spiritual constitution marks them off; and if they did but know it, this is the secret of their influence in the world. The progress and increase of spiritual life mean this, that the gap widens all the time between the children of God and those in the world who are not such. That is not to be taken literally in this sense, that we begin a mistaken system of hiving off, shutting ourselves up, getting out of touch. That is a wrong application of the principle. The Lord Jesus is pre-eminently our example in that He could move in any circle, and He did so deliberately - publicans and sinners, all classes - He moved amongst them, but His power over them, was in His basic difference from them. Let us be careful how we are caught in this great movement of conforming to this age. To conform is to lose spiritual power. Well, spiritual seed is what God is after, a spiritual seed of Abraham.

A Seed of Promise

What was that seed? It is said to be according to promise. The Apostle marks it out by that word "promise." He distinguishes thereby between Ishmael and Isaac. God never promised Ishmael; he was not the son of promise, therefore he never stood before God in the fulfilment of His thought and intention. He came into conflict with the whole thought of God. But Isaac was the son of promise. What does that mean? It does not mean that God just said, I will give you a son. The promise means more than that. It means that God had taken His place with Isaac, God had committed Himself to Isaac. He never committed Himself to Ishmael. A promise is something more than a verbal understanding or undertaking. It is a committal. I have given my promise, and my name, my honour and all my resources are involved. If I am a man of honour, then I am committed, with all that I have, to see that the realisation of the purpose in that direction is brought about. I am committed up to the hilt when I have given my promise. God was committed to Isaac, and that is why it was not possible for Isaac to be eventually swallowed up of death; he must be a child of resurrection. If he dies, God's honour is involved and goes down with Isaac. Isaac was the son of promise in that sense, that God was covenanted to him. "In Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Gen. 21:12).

Now you know how Paul works that out in his Galatian letter, and it comes back into Acts. He works Acts out in his Galatian letter. Again, the seed of Abraham is not that which is natural, but that which is spiritual. "They that are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham" (Gal.3:7). They that are of faith are Abraham's seed. "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many: but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ" (Gal. 3:16).

God is committed to that spiritual seed, that counterpart of Isaac. He is that Son of resurrection. "...whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should beholden of it" (Acts 2:24). Why? Because God is bound up with Him, God is in Him, God is one with Him. And we are all children of Abraham in that sense by faith, and all sons of God through faith, in Christ Jesus (Gal.3:26). That is how it is worked out - the spiritual seed of promise to which God is committed, and which cannot therefore be engulfed of death, but must know all the Divine resource in the power of resurrection.