THE PROCLAMATION - THE SPIRIT - THE KINGDOM - SALVATION
[p. 233] THE PROCLAMATION — THE SPIRIT — THE KINGDOM — SALVATION
Our approach to God must in its order be the converse to His approach to us; on man’s part the first thing apprehended is the proclamation, then the new covenant, and then reconciliation. If you look at things on the divine side, God begins with reconciliation, then the new covenant, and then the proclamation. What we come to last is that with which God began. God started from the holiest; and the holiest is the utmost point we reach. It is evident that if there is the thought of approach to God, we must approach God by the way God has come out to us. Christ is the way. If God has come out to us by Christ, we must approach God by Him.
We come first into the good of the proclamation, then of the new covenant, and then to reconciliation — no one is prepared for the second step if he has not taken the first. The overture that God makes to man in the proclamation (verses 47) does not in itself express all that is in the mind of God, but everyone must begin by receiving that overture. The gospel includes reconciliation, because it is the glad tidings of the glory of Christ, and the glory of Christ is that all things are reconciled by Him. The very beginning of God’s way was “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself”.
The gospel starts with the fact that God has secured a Head by whom He can approach man in grace. In His name — is in the name of the One who died and rose again. There is one Man risen out of death, and everything in the gospel depends on the fact of “one Man” risen; if He is not risen, there is no gospel.
[p. 234] If God had not secured everything for Himself, there would be nothing for man. We cannot attach too much importance to resurrection. Everything hinges on it, for it is the principle of God’s ways in recovery. The existence of christianity is a witness to one Man risen. All Scripture is witness to it. The simplest element of the gospel is the great truth of one Man risen, and the proclamation is in the name of that Man. “Repentance and remission of sins” are preached “in his name”. God has taken pains to vouch resurrection. Christ appeared to above five hundred brethren at once. The proclamation is to all nations; in consequence of the casting off of the Jew the gentiles are brought within the scope of God’s testimony. Resurrection is a fact in which everybody is concerned. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”; hence resurrection concerns everybody.
Forgiveness comes to a man in this world. David got forgiveness. “There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared”. Justification goes beyond forgiveness, because justification is that you are clear of every reproach as connected with the world’s system, in order that by the grace of God you may be identified with God’s system; you are out of the one and brought into the other. Forgiveness does not take you off the old platform; justification does — practically it is justification of life — hence you are clear of the world’s system. Justification is of no account without works; works prove that you are connected with the divine system — they are the expression of vitality. Abraham’s and Rahab’s works proved this. The truth of justification is more for those who have received the proclamation. Forgiveness is connected in christianity with the removal of the man; when he is forgiven the next thing properly is baptism. A man is forgiven not exactly to live, but [p. 235] to die with Christ. In Acts 2 remission of sins is connected with baptism; they go together.
The proclamation is a final test to every man — “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit”. The Spirit is given consequent on the reception of the glad tidings. A man believes the report, and receives forgiveness of sins and the Spirit. The great point in the Acts was that man should participate in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that was the reason of the proclamation. God could not bless man apart from repentance on man’s part; it is due on man’s part because he has departed from God. God has not departed from man. Repentance is a privilege God has granted to man, and is connected with man’s responsibility. “God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent”, etc.
The door of repentance is open to every man. If there were no forgiveness, there would be no call to repentance; repentance and remission of sins cannot be divorced. A person who is repentant owns his position relatively to God and the right of God to judge. The great end to be reached in it all is the gift of the Spirit; receiving the Holy Spirit brings into the kingdom, for the kingdom is established in the power of the Holy Spirit — “the kingdom of God is ... righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”. The kingdom is really salvation. The Lord is the only one in the whole universe who can hold back the forces of evil, therefore salvation is of the Lord. The great point of the Spirit is that it brings God into the soul, where before there was only man. It is God getting His place in the soul, so that man comes under the moral sway of God, and that is the kingdom. The kingdom is established to maintain God’s tender plant: all that which He is working in Christ Jesus; and which had its beginning in Christ.
[p. 236] The Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning of a new system: God is working in connection with that; His work is very tender, and may be to a large extent spoiled. The kingdom in its present aspect is established to shelter and maintain the work of God in man’s soul. God is working in connection with a heavenly system, of which Christ is Head. Christ will give the law of God to the universe; He could say “Thy law is within my heart”, and it was so that He might give it to the whole universe of bliss; the whole system is built up on a Man.
The kingdom is maintained in order that this work of God may not be destroyed by the working of the power of evil in the world. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it, and is safe”. There you get salvation; we want to know the power of that name; Christ is true to His name. Christ is a tower of strength to His people. “We are more than conquerors through him that loves us”. The King and Priest go together, “the counsel of peace shall be between them both”. He is the power and strength of His people; we have salvation and security in the kingdom. We need salvation while we are in a scene of evil, or we might be overcome by it; it is deliverance from all the power of evil here; it is in Christ Jesus; you are borne along, carried, and kept by Him. The enjoyment of salvation is that you are connected with another system; no one enjoys it otherwise. The kingdom is connected with the Son of God’s love and that system of which Christ is Head. “Lord” expresses the power and authority of God; as Head Christ is the starting-point of a system. Lordship continues until the kingdom is given up, but headship probably continues for ever. Seeing how liable we are to be overcome by the world, how important is the power and strength of Christ in order that the tender plant which God has planted should be nourished and kept! You become strong in [p. 237] the Lord when you are identified with the divine system. In 2 Thessalonians 2: 13 the apostle says, “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth”. That is the Spirit’s power here.