THE SPIRITUAL SUPERSEDING THE NATURAL
I have in mind to say a word or two on the matter of what is spiritual superseding what is natural. We have all no doubt had some experience of the necessity for self-judgment, that is, the displacement of the flesh in favour of what is spiritual. It is not only the flesh that has to be overcome, but it is also the power of what is natural that has to be overcome, although the natural is not entirely set aside while we are here in our present condition. The natural is recognised by God; but at the same time, the Holy Spirit having come, what is spiritual has come in to displace what is natural. That is most affecting, because God is a Spirit and therefore He has in mind that we should know what spiritual conditions are. It means we are to be capable of the closest possible affinity with God Himself, and so He has given us of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. I hope that every one of us, oneself included, will always be all the time increasing in the appreciation of the Holy Spirit of God, for it is the most precious gift that God has given to us, and He is going to be with us for ever; the Lord said that of Him. He said, “It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you”, John 16: 7. He said also that He would be with us for ever, John 14: 16. In 2 John 2 it says, “for the truth’s sake which abides in us and shall be with us to eternity”. That refers, I do not doubt, to the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit of God, for it is in the virtue and power of His presence that the truth is with us to eternity.
It is obviously not natural to us to appreciate the setting aside of the natural, but while the natural is not wrong in itself it is going to be displaced by what is spiritual, and the pledge of that lies in the fact that the Holy Spirit of God has come from heaven—has been sent from heaven, indeed, and has come to take His abode in the saints to be with us for ever. Hence you can see that while the natural has had its place, and still has its place in measure, yet at the same time the divine thought is that it should be displaced as it will be eventually in favour of what is spiritual. That is very attractive. Of course, we all like the natural, but it is a good thing to recognise that the natural is to be displaced eventually in favour of the spiritual, and that means that we are to be brought as near to God as the creature can possibly be brought. It is a wonderful thing to have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us; it means we are being brought as near to God as it is possible for the creature to be brought. We are to learn, therefore, that the natural has to be displaced in favour of what is spiritual.
In that connection it seems to me to be very striking that in the gospel of John the first sign is in connection with a marriage at Cana of Galilee. Now a marriage—and especially a marriage at which the Lord was prepared to be present with His disciples, and which thus had the approval of the Lord—is certainly the best in what is natural. I think everybody will agree with that. Marriage and the joy of marriage, and especially a marriage to which the Lord was prepared to add His presence, must be the best of what is natural. Yet, even in those conditions, the wine ran out. There was nothing wrong with the conditions, only that the wine did not continue. It is very striking that the gospel of John should commence with that, not with some miracle of healing but with the water being changed into wine, because on the line of what was natural the wine had run out. We have to be prepared, dear brethren, for the displacement of what is natural in favour of what is spiritual.
Here in 1 Corinthians 15 we read, “that which is spiritual was not first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual: the first man out of the earth, made of dust”—how humbling that is! How humbling to all of us, and I believe God intends that it should be humbling to us. He remembers that we are dust, the frail condition that we are in. Psalm 103 says that He remembers that we are dust; He takes account of our frailty from that standpoint, that we are just dust. He said to Adam, “For dust thou art; and unto dust shalt thou return”, Gen 3: 19. So we are made to feel how frail we are and as saints that really casts us upon God. It is intended to have that effect that we are cast upon God, and we learn the reality of being dependent upon God. We may enjoy good health, as many do in the mercy of God, and if you enjoy good health the tendency is that you lose your sense of dependence upon God; but actually we are dependent upon God every moment of our lives, and God would have it become so in our own experience, so that we prove all that God can be and is ready to be to us.
It says in the scripture read, “the first man out of the earth, made of dust; the second man, out of heaven”. How wonderful that we belong to the One who is out of heaven, and we are of His own order, too, of His own order of Manhood! From the outset God has had in His thoughts pleasure in men. When the Lord was born the heavenly hosts announced, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. That had come about because Jesus was now born, the Man in whom God was to find His pleasure was already there though in the condition of a babe, but as one has said, What was in that Babe is great enough to fill the world to come and to fill eternity. He is going to fill all thing. s Jesus has already gone up above all the heavens that He might fill all things. Think of that! How is He going to do it, dear brethren? He is going to do it by means of His body, the assembly. I have no doubt that the influence of God expressed in Christ and in His body, the assembly, is going to fill all things; and Christ has already gone up to the dominant position which He occupies and from which He is going to fill all things. Let that have its place with us in our minds! Is it worthwhile going on with anything that has to be set aside if Christ is to fill all things? Is it worthwhile going on with anything that is not going to remain when Christ fills all things? He is going to fill all things; He has gone up above all the heavens that He might fill all things. So I ask again, dear brethren, that we just let that weigh with us in a practical way. Is it worthwhile going on with something that has to be set aside in order to make way for Christ to fill all things? Let us then look at things in the face; let us go on with what is of real value.
It goes on to say, “Such as he made of dust, such also those made of dust; and such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones. And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one”. What a transformation is going to take place, and that too in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye! We can hardly conceive of these things, the immensity of divine power which is going to raise the dead and change the living in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. I think we ought to be ready for these things and to keep before us that that is what is before us. What kind of manhood do you think is great enough to satisfy the heart of God? His good pleasure is in men. We read in Proverbs 8 about wisdom and that wisdom’s delights are with the sons of men. It refers to how God has committed Himself to wisdom in all that He does. “I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find the knowledge which cometh of reflection” (Prov 8: 12 ), then verse 22, “Jehovah possessed me” (that is, wisdom) “in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from eternity, from the beginning, before the earth was”. That is to say, before God commenced any operations in creation He committed Himself to the idea of wisdom, that everything He was going to do would be done in wisdom. That is a great matter. “When there were no depths, I” (that is, wisdom) “was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water ... When he prepared the heavens I was there; when he ordained the circle upon the face of the deep; when he established the skies above, when the fountains of the deep became strong; when he imposed on the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him his nursling” (or the alternative reading is ‘his artificer’). ‘Nursling’ suggests one who is peculiarly an object of affection, and points, I believe, to Christ. But the alternative reading ‘artificer’ is suggestive of the Spirit of God, so that whether it be Christ or whether it be the Spirit, you find that God is committed to Christ and He is committed to the Spirit as the Persons by whom He will effect all His pleasure.
It gives us a great idea of divine wisdom to see that on the one hand it necessitated the coming into manhood of One of the Godhead, because God’s pleasure was in men. How could God find a man great enough in all that He is morally and personally to satisfy His heart? Only by One of the Godhead taking up manhood. It is a most wonderful thing that only by One of the Godhead coming into manhood could God find a Man personally and morally great enough and adequate to satisfy His heart. Hence the incarnation is the great central point of eternity. You might say surely that the death of Christ and the accomplishment of redemption would be the centre of everything, and I am not belittling that in the slightest, but the longer I live the more I can see that the great central point in God’s ways and the acme of His wisdom is in the incarnation, One of the Godhead coming into manhood. You can realise that God’s pleasure in men is assured once One of the Godhead enters into manhood, because then you have a Man of an order who is morally and personally great enough to satisfy the heart of God. Then the wonderful thing is that through grace, redemption being accomplished to clear out of the way all that stood in the way, we have part in the manhood of Christ by the gift of the Spirit. We partake in His Spirit in His own order of manhood before God. What dignity it places upon us, dear brethren! We want to see that we do not allow anything in ourselves that is inconsistent with the dignity that God has placed upon us. He has anointed us, He has sealed us, He has given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
This passage in Proverbs goes on: “I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men”, chap 8: 30, 31. I just want to stress the importance of what is natural being superseded by what is spiritual. That is what God is aiming at, and the Holy Spirit has come in order to make it effective in us. It is because God Himself is a Spirit that He is pleased to bless us with the Holy Spirit that we might be brought into the closest possible contact and affinity with Himself. Nothing less than that will satisfy the heart of God.
May the Lord help us, dear brethren, to see the importance of the natural being superseded by the spiritual. “That which is spiritual was not first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual: the first man out of the earth, made of dust”. Think of that, made of dust, how humbling it is! The great men of this world acquire a name and they achieve great things for the moment; then the time comes when they die, they just go to dust. How humiliating it is! But God remembers that, He remembers that that is our condition, and He does not leave us in that condition. He shows us mercy while we are in that condition, but then the moment is coming when in the twinkling of an eye all those who have fallen asleep shall be raised, and all that are living shall be changed, and we shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall be always with the Lord. We are in the light of what is spiritual and eternal, and it is very shortly to be brought in. So may the Lord help us to give place more to what is spiritual. We do not disallow the natural but it is not to obtain the first place with us. What is spiritual is to have the first place with us because God has given us His Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless the word for His Name’s sake!
BOURNEMOUTH
18th May 1968
From Ministry of the Word, 1968
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