CHILDREN OF GOD
[p. 331] CHILDREN OF GOD
The spirit that was manifested against the apostles was the spirit of the children of the devil. The children of God were known by their likeness to Christ. They were practising righteousness and loving their brethren. That spirit which the apostles showed was intended to continue. We are not only the children of God but we are manifested as such. We are liberated from the connections we were in naturally, and brought into new ones.
The world as it is began with man’s departure from God. It was not very evident at first but the fact was there. Man broke away from divine restraint. That is what Scripture calls lawlessness. The Lord Jesus hated lawlessness, but on the other hand He loved righteousness. He recognised every right of God, and hated everything connected with man’s breaking away from God’s restraint. Man’s breaking away from divine restraint opened the gate to the wicked one. When man was under divine restraint he was content with what lay within his reach. When he broke away man began to look after himself. The word ‘self’ came in. The wicked one got an entrance into the world because he could minister to ‘self’, that is, to man’s gratification. Another thing that came in was hatred and that came in by the wicked one. It might begin with jealousy, but jealousy causes hatred and hatred, murder. Cain was jealous of his brother’s offering being accepted and he slew him. “Cain was of the wicked one and slew his brother”.
It is important to see how God has come in to deliver us. The believer is brought into entirely new connections. Following these new connections he is liberated from the old ones. He is delivered from the hatred that is in the world. The very first principle is that we are the children of God. It is the mind of God for us. We have received the Spirit’s testimony of Christ, and in receiving that [p. 332] testimony we are brought into that which is God’s mind for us. In that sense we have been begotten of God. It is God’s mind for the believer at this present time. We come into the light of God’s mind, and consequent upon that, the Spirit is given to us. “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”. The Spirit brings us into attachment to Christ. I mean attachment in the form of a bond. When a man is married to a woman “the two shall be one flesh”. We are married to Him who is risen from the dead. The one who receives the Spirit is brought into inseparable attachment to Christ. It is a connection which does not belong to this world. We are joined to Christ by the Spirit and that is an entirely new thing. None was joined to God until Christ came into the world, and none was joined to Christ until He was raised from the dead. Christianity consists in the reality of these new connections which exist in the Spirit. Christianity does not consist in believing certain doctrines. We start by believing doctrine — the report.
This world is lawless without a head. It will get a false head — antichrist. Then God will set it aside and will bring in another world which He has now before Him. All our connections are with that world which will supersede this one. That world will be displayed in the appearing of Christ. Christianity is ‘vitality’. The Lord Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life”. It consists in living connections with another world.
If we were not married to Christ we could not abide in Him. If we are brought into that relationship to Christ we have a corresponding relationship with our fellow christians, for a very simple reason. They are brought into the same attachment to Christ that we are. The practice of righteousness is the proof of our abiding in Christ. If you practise righteousness you are delivered from lawlessness. The practice of righteousness really means that you give God His rights. Righteousness on the part of God is the assertion of rights. Righteousness on the part of man is the acknowledgment of those [p. 333] rights. The law was the assertion of God’s rights. He proved Himself to be God by the assertion of His rights. His rights are that He should have the affection of His creature. The Old Testament sets forth the rights of God naturally. The New Testament sets forth the rights of God in mercy. The right of God to show mercy is in virtue of redemption. God has shown Himself in mercy that He might have the natural right to love. We admit God’s rights. That is what I should call the first principle, practising righteousness.
Being married to Christ brings us under His influence. He has become a man that He might be the Head of man. I cannot think of Christ without thinking of mercy. If I am under His influence I abide in Him. Then I practise righteousness. No one practises righteousness unless he is under the influence of Christ. I have heard it said, ‘There is no harm in this’, or ‘There is no harm in that’, but if you examine them you will find that self-gratification is at the bottom, and if you make self a centre you are lawless. Being under the influence of Christ you not only admit the rights of God, but you love your neighbour.
Throwing a stone into the water causes many circles, but each circle has one common centre. Christ is the centre, and we are in the inmost circle, and being in that circle, we are not only equally near the centre but equally near one another. Therefore we are not only under obligation to love the Centre, but to love one another. Life is love. Death is hatred. Where love is, life is. Life is going to come in by Christ because He is the blessed expression of the love of God. If we understand these things we shall see the wonderful provision God has made even from the beginning. The very fact that we are delivered from hatred shows that we have come into a scene of love. Having been brought into attachment to Christ we are under obligation to abide in Him. We are known down here by practising righteousness, the admission of God’s rights. Christ came into this world and died for man that man might be married [p. 334] to Him. Therefore He has a claim upon us. We are His. We are brought into the inmost circle of which Christ is the centre.