THE END OF THE WORLD - GOD'S BEGINNING IN THE CHURCH
THE END OF THE WORLD — GOD’S BEGINNING IN THE CHURCH
The coming of Christ into the world of necessity brought in new things. It was impossible that the Son of God should accommodate Himself to what existed here; He must bring in what was new; yet it is most important to see that God proved His fidelity to Israel and what had been. That is one of the great principles which I have endeavoured to make plain through this gospel. I continue that thought in connection with the passage which we have before us.
I might call this chapter almost the most important one in the gospel. We get the death morally of all that had professedly been for God in the early part of the chapter. Then there is the real point of departure in that which God intended to establish. That point of departure is the living God. This is a remarkable expression which we find continually in Scripture; it is not confined to the New Testament. In connection with Israel going into the land of promise, the passing over Jordan was the proof that the living God was among them. God came out in that character. Such a title as that was doubtless in anticipation of what was coming. What really proved God to be the living God was the resurrection of Christ. We get in christianity the Son of the living God, the Spirit of the living God, the church of the living God, the service of the living God; everything connects itself with the living God. I would not attempt to give any definition of the expression, but it indicates surely One who is entirely above the power and dominion of death. God has come out in that way as the One who can deal with death. Men were powerless as to it, but God can deal with it. He proved this by the resurrection of Christ. The power of death was broken there, and God was proved to be the living God — just as the entry of Israel into the promised land was a proof that the living God [p. 134] was among them. Jordan was a figure of death, and it lay between Israel and the promised land; but the ark of the covenant could bring them through Jordan: “Christ who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings”. The living God has come into view, and the Spirit of the living God. Everything is living. If we serve God at all, it is as the living God we approach Him.
But I want to speak first about the state of death that existed in Israel. We get this brought out remarkably in the beginning of this chapter. A number of things come into view. The unbelieving Sadducees and Pharisees appear first; the Lord warns His disciples of the leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees, then we find that people all entertained their own ideas with regard to Christ; one said one thing and another another. Well, what all that speaks to me of is death. The Lord speaks of a wicked and adulterous generation. A generation that were not faithful to the light they had. That was the character of the world which presented itself to Christ.
If you look at the world, its most important element is its religion. I do not think the world is such, according to the divine idea, when there is no religion. When God established a world in connection with Israel there was a divinely appointed religion. When that world was swallowed up of Babylon, even then there was religion; the god of this world came in in Babylon and established false religion; but you get the religious principle there. There is bound to be that in any organisation which can be spoken of as a world. We get the character here of the world that had been; it is presented in its religious aspect, and we see in every direction moral death.
First they covered up their unbelief by seeking a sign. They were not attentive to what was there before them. And it is the same in the present day. There are plenty who are uncertain of mind, and would like a sign, but such people are not really attentive to what there is. When Christ was present there was abundance of evidence, but men disregarded what Christ did, and [p. 135] asked for a sign. It was the covering up of unbelief. So in the present day. I wonder if infidels have given any real attention to Scripture. I very much question it. They come to Scripture with preconceived ideas, and interpret Scripture according to certain rules of their own, as they would anything in the world. Suppose Scripture to be what it assumes to be — do you think people of that description are likely to arrive at any true judgment of it? They are covering up their unbelief, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, and asking a sign. What attention have they given to discern the true moral character of Scripture? Have they looked at Scripture at all, from a moral point of view, to see what the mind of God is and what is approved of God? If Scripture is not what it professes to be it is the worst imposture in the world; and if it is what it professes to be it cannot be treated as other things on the part of man. Man has such conceit of himself that he thinks he can judge of a sign. I very much doubt the capacity of man to judge of a sign if it were presented to him. In the time to come men will have signs presented to them — “signs and lying wonders” — and they will be taken in by them; so one cannot think very highly of the capacity of man to judge when one has the conviction that they will believe falsehood.
I refer to that as the first mark of the character of the then world, looked at religiously. There was a religious world which presented itself to the Lord, and of which He took account, and it was in a state of moral death. Unbelief was covered up by the pretension of desiring a sign.
The account which the Lord takes of it is this: He warns His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. What I understand by leaven is what is human. Christianity has become leavened. In one of the parables in Matthew 13 the Lord likens the kingdom to a woman putting leaven into three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. The Pharisees and Sadducees had reduced religion to what was material, the Pharisee in one direction and the [p. 136] Sadducee in another. You will find there are two principles in the world at the present time: religiousness with authority, and scepticism. In a sense they are in conflict, and scepticism, that is, infidelity, undoubtedly will gain the day. They are the two most powerful influences in our part of the world.
I will explain what I mean. There is a certain class of mind that will come under authority in religion; they cannot help it; you might reason with them for ever, but you cannot prevent it. They are not all unintelligent people, often the contrary; but religiousness and authority suit a certain class of mind. That accounts largely for the status and continuance of popery — there is a class of mind which prefers that state of things; that is the Pharisee. But there is another and large class that is sceptical about everything, disinclined to believe anything of which the mind of man cannot take cognisance. This is prevalent, but not universal for the reason of which I have spoken. So the Sadducee did not believe in “resurrection nor angel nor spirit”, because they did not come within the cognisance of man.
Now any moral operation of God does not come within the cognisance of man. If you say it is an impossibility for God to work in any way morally in His own creation, I do not admit the principle! God has constituted certain laws which operate in this universe of ours, and which are unvarying and consistent in action, but I do not think laws which God has constituted can limit God if He chooses to act. It is a weak position to take up, that one is only to believe what comes within the experience of man. The leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees is at work in the world at the present time.
The Lord warned His disciples of these things, and it is terrible to think how they have come into christianity. It has become pervaded by these principles, and is getting much more so. There was a great mass which used to lie in neutrality between them, but that is fading away, and things in christendom are resolving themselves very much into the two principles of which I have [p. 137] spoken. Now my point is, it is all death. You will get the two remaining after the church is gone. The Pharisee and the Sadducee really mean spiritual death.
The disciples took up what was said in a material way, and thought it referred to bread, they were so dull. At last they begin to see that the Lord spoke of moral things.
We come to another point. The Lord questions the disciples as to what man’s thought was in regard to Himself. Some said one thing, and some another. It is pretty much the same at the present day. It is curious that people cannot leave Scripture alone. They do not like it, and cannot understand it; but they cannot leave it alone! Scripture is not learned in the letter; “the letter kills”. Vast numbers of people come to Scripture not in the right spirit, and so are stumbled. The fact of its being inspired shews that you must get it by the Spirit and not in the letter. A great deal of Scripture is the record of the circumstances into which the word of God came. Take the utterances of Job’s three friends, for instance. They were not giving the mind of God, but ‘darkening counsel by words without knowledge’. We need to get at the spirit and thought of Scripture. But one person has one theory, and another another, and all are human and very much akin to the ideas entertained in regard of Christ when He was here. It was a state of moral death. They had no knowledge of Christ. The Lord had done many wonderful works, but they did not apprehend Him as what He was, the One promised; they were darkened by the unbelief that was covered up by asking a sign.
I refer to these things because they shew the state of the world when the Lord was speaking in this chapter. Evil principles were at work, principles contrary to truth, while unbelief was covered up by the pretension of seeking a sign. That is the state of things before the eye of the Lord. There was no life there, all was darkness and ignorance of God. And alas! that it should have to be said, the same state of things marks christendom very much now. Light has been and is there; the Spirit of [p. 138] God is there, but darkness is settling down on christianity. You get these principles revived — a wicked generation, ignorant of Christ.
Now I come to the contrast. All so far was death. I want to touch on the other side, for that is life (verses 13 - 17).
What I would point out is this. All that is of God begins with the thought of the living God. In the beginning of Genesis God did not come out in that character. He was, of course, the living God, but He did not speak of Himself in that way. He created man, and there was no death there. Man has come by sin under the dominion of death, and the expression “the living God” is in contrast to the condition in which man is found. I do not think it is so much a question of what God is in Himself as of what He is in regard to man. He is above death, and by that fact can deal with death. The power of resurrection is in the hands of the living God in regard to man.
The next thing is “The Son of the living God”. It was revealed to Peter that Christ was the Son of the living God. This is morally antecedent to the beginning of Genesis, for, behind all that comes in, there the living God was. It is a great comfort to know that, whatever might come in, God was never taken aback. Sin and death came in; man became subject to death, and after death the judgment; but the living God was behind all.
He had His own way and His own purposes before Him. Then there came a long period of the reign of death — four thousand years; and then is revealed the real starting-point of the living God in the Son of the living God. Nothing could be established for God till the Son of the living God came in. He must be the Head and centre of all that is for God.
The Son came out to declare God, and to do this in accomplishing redemption. Redemption is a very important point to my mind. I have spoken of it as God taking up rights that properly belonged to Him. He had the right of redemption in regard to man, and the Son of [p. 139] the living God came that that right might be taken up in the death of Christ. But if Christ died, He must be raised again. He could not be holden of death. Peter says, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. How could anything that proceeded from the living God be holden of death? The great thing is to be of the living God. The Son of the living God entered into death that He might annul it, but could not be holden of it. He entered into death because God saw fit to take up that liability in regard to man that He might discharge it. Resurrection declared who Christ was, but He was just as much the Son of the living God when He spoke to Peter as in resurrection. Have you apprehended the starting-point of everything for God? The Son can begin a new world because He is the Son of the living God.
We come now to another point. The Lord had come into contact with men on earth; men had become His companions. He had spoken of them in that way: “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations”. If Christ had come into such a place as that men could be His companions, can the grace of that be lost? What a wonderful expression of grace that was! It was a great thing in the eye of God. It proves the greatness of the Son of God that He could come into such a place. If He came down to be their centre, that they should be His companions as here after the flesh, you may depend upon it they will be His companions in resurrection. A thought so full of grace could not be lost. He said that they should eat with Him at His table in His kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. He valued their companionship; it is morally the beginning of the church — not dispensationally, I admit. Christ had come into such a place in grace; but if the Son of God would have companions here, He will have them, too, when He is revealed in glory and power. The truth was a revelation of the Father to Peter. “Flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens”; and the Lord goes on to say, “On this rock I will build my assembly”. That is on the confession of Himself as the Son of the living God. “And hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. A most wonderful and blessed truth comes out. There is His assembly, and the great privilege in it is, His mind is there. If we would desire to enter into the mind of Christ we should not find it among the priests at Jerusalem, if they were there; that used to be the case, and people got light by going to the priests. We shall not now find the Urim and the Thummim or anything of that kind. Christ has His assembly, and His assembly is the place where His mind is. Some may perhaps be disposed to ask, where shall I find the assembly? I could not tell you, but I can tell you this, if you regard His assembly, and are seeking to walk in the light of it, you will find great gain. Many will endorse that, I am sure. We have all been in different associations, some in one and some in another, and I do not think we found there the mind of Christ. What brought me out from what I was in was this: thoughts were brought to me that I had never heard of, and I desired to be in the truth of Christ’s assembly. You may say, It is very little light I have. That I admit; but whatever I have, I have got it where I am.
There is nothing more wonderful than the assembly of Christ. The powers of death and evil are not going to prevail against it. The assembly of Christ is still here. The gates of hell have not prevailed against it and are not going to, and I will tell you why: because it is living. Christ lives in it, and what Christ lives in cannot be prevailed against. The apostle Peter takes up the thought in his first epistle, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone ... Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house”.
I think all will recognise the great importance of getting back to what is vital from what is merely doctrinal. I admit the importance of “sound doctrine”, but the great point is to be exercised to get into what is vital and of Christ, and it is against that that the gates of hell shall [p. 141] not prevail.
The assembly is composed of the companions of Christ. The companions of Christ are His friends, and He makes known His mind to His friends. You might ask, Are not all christians friends of Christ? I admit they are; but they have to come to that place away from the world which disallowed Christ. Then they will find that Christ makes known His mind to them as being His friends. “I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you”. Do you not think that is as true to us as it was to His disciples? Not in the same direct way perhaps, but it comes to us none the less in the power of the Holy Spirit.
One word in regard to those who were the first to be brought into this place. Evidently it was the disciples. That proves the fidelity of God to the Jew. The foundation of the assembly was made known to Peter, and the disciples were brought into it: they were Jews. The remnant of God’s people were the first to come into the place of the companions of Christ, but it could not be limited to them, because all was established on the ground of resurrection, and the Jew had no claim to that. Everything in regard of them had expired, and if so, they had no claim to anything on the ground of resurrection more than any other; and yet God was faithful; He brought a remnant into the church on the ground of resurrection. Further light came out making known the truth in its application not only to the Jew but to the gentile. In connection with the advent of Christ you get such developments, for it was an absolute impossibility that the Son of the living God could accommodate Himself to limits accepted in the mind of man.
I have only one word more to say, it is in connection with the expression, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven”. I have spoken of the necessity of resurrection coming in. If the Son of God went into death, and rose again from the dead, He must be set in heaven in order to be the light and centre of God’s universe. If He had accomplished righteousness, then it [p. 142] appears to me that He must be the Sun of righteousness. He must be the source of light and rule in regard to men on the earth.
What I understand by the kingdom of heaven is the light and rule of what God has set in heaven. The best illustration I know is that of the sun. God set a great light to rule the day, and He has set a great spiritual light to be light and rule for man on earth. The moment we apprehend that God has set in heaven the Man who accomplished redemption, it is evident that the principle on which He is going to rule down here is grace — so that men on earth should not be under law but under the light and rule of grace. It is very simple. It operates in this way. In the light of Christ in heaven man receives forgiveness from God, and what he has received is to become the spring of his conduct on earth. You find this coming out in chapter 18. I owed ten thousand talents, so to speak. God has forgiven it. In what light am I going to walk? While denying ungodliness and worldly lusts I am going to walk in grace. That is what is preached.
The Lord said to Peter, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, not the keys of law but of the kingdom of heaven. That was given to Peter that he should go forth in order to bring man into the rule and light of what is established in heaven. That was the mission on which the Lord sent out Peter. You find at the beginning three thousand were converted — brought into the light of grace, affected by it. They did not take their fellows by the throat and say, “Pay me that thou owest”; they walked in christian fellowship and grace. That is the principle of the kingdom of heaven. I have received forgiveness of all my debt, and grace is the principle that rules and governs me in my conduct on earth.
When the kingdom of heaven was first preached Peter was the preacher. A Jew, one who had been a companion of Christ. God proved His fidelity to the Jew in this. And on the other hand you cannot limit the sun to any particular nation. The gospel must go out to all God’s [p. 143] creation under heaven. All will understand that; though the one first sent out to preach the kingdom of heaven was a Jew.
The more you look into the matter the more you will see that in connection with the coming of the Son of God you must have new and greater things. The Son could not be limited to what existed; but it is equally true that God took care to prove His faithfulness in regard to the Jew. That principle comes out all through. We have to take into account things new and old. God proving His fidelity to what was old, and yet at the same time bringing to light other things consequent on the Son of God coming into this scene.