THIS WORLD AND THE WORLD TO COME
THIS WORLD AND THE WORLD TO COME
Genesis 3, Luke 15; Ephesians 2:19
The Jews as a nation are a standing testimony to the Scriptures, and so is christendom. Each were foretold in their present development as the kingdom of heaven and the mustard tree; and to dismiss as mere fables what we find in Scripture is to do so to our own destruction. God has allowed confirmatory testimony to that which Scripture refers to. The decay of God’s house was also predicted in the seven churches. There is no phase in the church’s history down here, never a moment in which Christ had not His mind, and He is pleased to let this be known.
[p. 275] What took place in Genesis 3 has great significance. It meant the complete break up of the system which God had established as the foundation of this world. Verse 22, etc., shows this clearly. Cain is the type of the Jew as murderer of his brother (Christ) and now a vagabond upon the earth, but by-and-by brought into earthly advantages. “He builded a city, and was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ”, etc. In Genesis we find roots of truths which are brought to light and confirmed throughout Scripture. Adam as head of the garden where God had placed him as centre of blessing to the earth, should have dispensed this blessing from that spot to all around in God’s creation. But he had to be driven out of it, and so God’s ordering of blessing for this world was broken up, and in a sense God Himself was morally driven out of the world He made by man’s sin. It was all broken up for Him. But the moment this world’s moral foundations were broken up, God had before Him the world to come, and everything since then for Him has been in view of this. “We are not brought to mount Sinai”, etc., but to that which speaks of eternal blessing to come through grace. The first principle of this world now broken up was innocence, but the principles of the world to come are centred in Christ crowned with glory and honour. The great answer to God being driven out of this world by man’s sin is that man brings Him in by building Him a house to dwell in. “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from among the dead”. If man drove God out, it is man who brings Him in. This is God’s principle. It is founded upon redemption, all things being purged by blood. It was impossible for God to go on with man after the flesh, so Christ had to establish a footing upon which God could be with man according to Himself. So in resurrection He established a ground whereon we are brought to God in association with Himself. John 20 gives it to [p. 276] us after peace had been made, and He comes into the little company of His own. Christ had not given up manhood, but He had forever left every order of man down here. Redemption was accomplished but Christ was still man, and not ashamed to call them brethren. The link was now the Holy Spirit, and He could- say “he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one”. He was no longer with them after the flesh but in a new order. This is the real force of reconciliation. Where distance existed there was now complacency, not in Jew or gentile, but another man, our association with Him depending upon the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. These are the great principles of the house of God, i.e., redemption accomplished, and Christ on new ground in the presence of God, and we with Him there. We have lacked in the apprehension of the house of God by limiting it to what is here instead of Christ’s place there. We get the thought of the house of God in chapters 14 and 15 of Luke. God has found a ground upon which He can receive the Gentile without interfering with the rights of the Jew. This causes the merriment in Luke 15 where the elder brother is the Jew.
He is not encroached upon as to rights. He does not care for the house of God: he is apostate, but God’s house is maintained in christianity. The true hope of Israel is maintained in the spiritual house, but Israel’s portion is not hindered. The sanctified company are they who are quickened together with Christ and maintaining His rights in His house as Son. Christendom has abused this by going back to Judaism and rites and ceremonies. We are companions of Christ in spiritual affections. Our bodies shall be quickened when He comes, but meanwhile we are to be “holy and without blame before him in love”. The merriment is over the gentile who is taken in upon the ground of mercy for sonship and association with Christ, while Israel’s portion remains untouched. “All that I have is thine” remains true, while “it is meet that we should make merry” tells out the joy of God in finding a way to admit the gentile upon a distinct footing. In Ephesians 2 we get the household of God composed of living stones, and God’s household is His house. “The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands”. Christ in resurrection has established a ground in the Father’s presence upon which Jew and gentile are brought in one family by one Spirit to the Father, and this is the household. We are buried with Him (out of sight) and quickened with Him as companions in living association and these make the living stones of the structure builded together for God’s habitation. The first man drove God out, the second Man brings Him in, and brings us in in order that we may bring God in, the basis being redemption. The Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost and formed in a little company then gathered the house of God upon earth. The house of mere profession must not be confused with this. It properly belongs to the land of purpose across Jordan. We stand morally before God according to what the second Man has accomplished for Him, and are called to carry out the obligation in endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
1899.
John 1: 35 - 42; John 1: 1 - 3 The announcement made by John the baptist with regard to the Lord attracted the two disciples to Him as followers, and led to the enquiry, “Master, where dwellest thou?” One thing is certain, the Lord was not found among the high ones of earth, or in homes [p. 278] of ease, but in lowly circumstances among the poor of this world. This was His actual place of abode as Man upon earth. His answer to those who enquired was “come and see”, and when they found where He dwelt they were detained there. Spiritually this is the point with us. There is no question as to where the Lord dwells now, though actually once in an earthly habitation where the disciples found Him. He dwells now with the Father, and it is His desire to make known to His own where they may find Him. It is certain He has left this world, and we meet to announce His death which has forever detached Him from all in this scene. He has died to all here, and He lives now in an entirely new circle and order of things. He is outside this world and its systems of things, but He comes to His assembly where He makes known His present abode, saying to His own thus gathered, “come and see”. Are we ready to respond to this invitation, and to be detained in His presence? He dwells now with the Father, and it is in the affections of His Father that He is found in connection with His assembly. “The Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me”, etc. This is outside all earthly circumstances, but it is where He dwells. He waits to carry our hearts there, meeting us when gathered in assembly to draw us consciously to His dwelling place in the Father’s affections that we may share His joy! His disciples as in 1 John 1 had seen and handled Him when manifested upon earth, and in a deeper and more blessed way we may now have fellowship with them in reaching Him where He dwells today! And this indeed is the holiest, into which there is no other entrance than through response to divine affections, where we are free to go and see where He dwells, and abide with Him there. 1899.
[p. 279] Deuteronomy 12 There were two characteristics of the land of promise, i.e., rest and gladness. Though morally we have wilderness responsibilities, the soul can enter now upon the ground of purpose, which answers to the land. This is to serve God here in the line of His will. People do now what is right in their own eyes, but in the land all is ordered according to God and His purpose. God can only be worshipped and served according to His mind across Jordan. All that is centralised as the worship of God is according to the Spirit. The practical result of losing the sense of the Spirit’s presence is people doing right in their own eyes. There are two points of practical moment connected with the presence of the Holy Spirit, first the establishment of the kingdom of God in the believer’s soul individually, and second the Spirit has baptised into a body. The house of God composed of living stones gives character before Him of a family. Man’s failure of it cannot alter this. One characteristic of this is the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Also that holiness belongs to the house. It is properly placed on the other side of Jordan, because unity brings in eternal life and is connected with purpose. Baptism has to do with the house of God (not the profession side) and it is not only buried with Christ but risen with Him, so if a man is in the house according to God he is on the other side of Jordan in the fellowship of the Spirit’s unity. The unity of the Spirit can only be arrived at in the mind of the Spirit, with man’s will set aside. It is an impossibility to arrive at unity by the will of man. Only by the love of God can unity be arrived at. The Spirit is here to set aside the will of man, and unity can never be arrived at except in the power and light of the love of God. John 17: 21 and 23 is both for now and by the heavenly city future. God never comes in practically until unity is brought about. If you are to get “the fatness of his house” every heart must come under the instruction of divine love which produces unity. The holiest is connected with the house of God, and this is connected with rest and gladness. The consciousness of what we are to God should characterise our ways as to worship and service. We are “quickened together with Christ”, so we can worship and serve in the light of His love. Righteousness is manward, holiness Godward.
1899.