FAITH'S OUTLET FROM PRESSURE

FAITH’S OUTLET FROM PRESSURE

Luke 21:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:4

These short verses are selected from the Lord’s own words and also from the words of His great servant Paul; they deal first with our souls and secondly with our bodies. There is also a third great component part of man - his spirit, which shall have a place in my remarks; but I am thinking particularly of our souls and our bodies. Our spirits have the greatest place, being first mentioned in the order in which the Spirit refers to our three component parts: “Your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming to our Lord Jesus Christ”. Our spirits are mentioned first. Evidently the greatest component part of man is his spirit. He gets it directly from God according to Ecclesiastes, and the Lord alludes to it as to ^[p. 111] Himself. He commended His spirit to His Father, a most impressive reference to the perfection of His manhood, not that He had a spirit other than Himself. Whilst He was really Man, He was uniquely so, having existence before His manhood, which does not apply to any of us. Becoming Man, He is Himself His Spirit, for he tells the thief that he should be with Him in paradise. They were both going there that day, not through resurrection, but through disembodiment for the moment, but they were both men in that sense. Jesus was as really man as the thief, having a spirit as a man, too, but it was Himself. Coming into manhood He became His own spirit, taking on other component parts of humanity. Personally He never ceases to be God, but yet He is Man, but His Spirit is Himself, as my spirit is myself, but I receive my spirit from God. He was God and came into humanity here. He was personally a divine Person and became His own spirit in manhood, so that it was Himself. “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”.

I refer to this to make the matter clear as to Christ, so that we should not have the erroneous thought that He had a spirit besides Himself.

Incarnation is the thought presented in scripture; that is, “the Word became flesh” - divine Person taking human condition. He was His own spirit, and yet as in manhood, He was really Man. He felt as we do, sin apart, committed His spirit unto God, to His Father;

^[p. 112] as Stephen did in committing his spirit to Jesus, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. You can see therefore how great the thought of spirit is in manhood, especially in Christ. It is Himself. It is inscrutable that He should be so compressed, and it touches the heart, but He never ceases to be Himself. He is Himself always. Yet coming into manhood He compresses Himself and speaks as a man, feels as a man, using the words “My spirit”, and “My soul”, and “My body”. He “emptied Himself, taking a bondman’s form”, Philippians 2:7 Referring to our “whole spirit, and soul, and body”, what is important for us all, in view of what has been remarked, is to understand the analysis described in Romans 7, by which we are enabled to discern inwardly the difference between each- what the spirit is and what the soul is. The body is simple, it is material, but the difference between soul and spirit is not so simple; and in addition to that the mind, and other elements in us are subsidiary to what I am saying. The three main thoughts are the spirit, the soul, and the body, and the analysis in Romans 7 enables us to discern them. The one who describes it apparently went through it before he had the Holy Spirit, but now it is by the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to make the analysis. It is our privilege to do so now. The matter has been gone through experimentally at least by one, and the facts are stated in the clearest manner.