PREPARATION
[p. 444] PREPARATION
Romans 9: 22 - 24; Acts 9: 15, 16
The verses in Romans 9 have in mind persons prepared for glory, “vessels... prepared for glory”. The passage in Acts 9 also refers to persons, or to a person named Paul, a vessel, but prepared for service.
Perhaps you will see that I am concerned about preparation. The word is applied to many things, such as the heavens — God prepared the heavens, and the ark — Noah prepared the ark. There are many outstanding things, one most definitely outstanding, namely, the body which God prepared for His Son. He said, “A body hast thou prepared me”. I am thinking now of the many sons whom God is bringing to glory, and the preparation connected with them. The passage in Romans 9 would undoubtedly include them, for it says, “us, whom he has also called”, meaning the vessels, or the persons, “that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory”.
In Acts 9 we have Paul in mind, and he is called “an elect vessel”. I am thinking of him as prepared for service on earth. We can understand that service on earth requires special preparation, in view of the conditions of the service, whereas the vessels that are prepared for glory in Romans 9, even ourselves, as it is said, would have in mind what is to be exercised eternally, and therefore I have alluded to the passage in Hebrews 2 which speaks of God bringing many sons to glory: “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings”.
I am thinking of that, particularly in view of what has been transpiring on the earth, and what God has [p. 445] in view, perhaps not yet evolved, not fully come to light, but undoubtedly the severity of the testings and the sufferings implies corresponding results. The Leader of our salvation has been made perfect through sufferings. I am seeking to show how the extreme unspeakable sufferings which the brethren have endured in recent times are surely to result in something in keeping with them, and that it is in view of preparation for glory.
The Lord Jesus in His prayer to the Father says, “The glory which thou hast given me I have given them”. Further he says, “That they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. We are not to share that; we are to learn what glory we are to share, and what we are not to share, but what we are to behold, and I would say that what the Lord has in mind is sonship, what He has given us. He has taken great pains with us, especially of late years, and He has included the sufferings I have alluded to, not that I have endured them, but I have gone through them in spirit with the brethren, I hope, and I hope also to share the results, and I connect that with the word prepared in our verse in Romans 9, “vessels... prepared for glory”. What pains have been taken with us, from the outset, and throughout the history of the assembly, so that this work of preparation should proceed unhindered! It is nearing its end now, for events on earth are not accidental in their application to us; they are purposed. They are among the “all things” that “work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to purpose”.
You can see the words preparation and purpose run together, and also that the sufferings of Christ were also purposed. Not that they were imposed on the Lord, for He came into them. “A body hast thou prepared me”. Nothing was ever forced by the [p. 446] Father on Him. Things that He says of Himself in the days of His sufferings here below we marvel at, such as that which He says of His Father, or of Jehovah, “He wakeneth morning by morning... mine ear to hear as the instructed”, Isaiah 50: 4. Let no one think of putting the Lord in that class now, or that we should assume to pray for the Lord in those settings, or circumstances. He has gone out of these for ever. He is indeed the object of sympathetic prayer in the Psalms, but He has gone out of these circumstances for ever. He is over all now, exercising His authority “over all, God blessed for ever”. Therefore, we require to have in our minds clearly the facts, and yet not fail to learn from all His utterances, which are, like pure gold, to be meditated upon, so that our constitutions should be like His. Nevertheless He is unique, and He is never less than what He was. If He came into these circumstances of suffering, and He did, He came into them: “A body hast thou prepared me”. That body was not prepared and then entered in afterwards; it was simultaneous. He became flesh; He did it. We are to understand that, dear brethren, otherwise we become darkened in our minds, and erroneous in our thoughts. He did it, He became flesh; “the Word became flesh”. The condition He took was taken simultaneously, as by Himself, and so He “dwelt among us”. Marvellous that He should, and that He should dwell among us! “And we have contemplated his glory”, says John, the one whom Jesus loved. Marvellous! He came in and went out among the brethren. “I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”, Luke 22: 27. Who would speak of Him now as a servant? No one who loves Him, or reveres Him, nor would such say of Him, He is our brother, and yet He came in amongst them, singing amongst them, as it is said: “When they had sung an hymn”, but He said, “In the [p. 447] midst of the assembly will I sing”. That was by Himself. I mean to say that is the attitude He took up; He did it Himself. The circumstances were afforded, He afforded them; it was in the assembly. He built the assembly; I am not saying God did not. Christ loved the assembly and gave Himself for it, but God also purchased it “with the blood of his own”, as we read in the Scriptures, so that I am speaking now simply in the way of warning, because we are enjoined to be accurate, and I am endeavouring to be. We are challenged as to it. The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. I hope everyone listening to me now is ready to challenge what I am saying. I do not want it to pass unless it is scriptural, and so, as I said, the Lord says, “A body hast thou prepared me”, and the ark was prepared, and so were many other things, and here in our verses we have persons, or vessels, prepared for glory. I am using the word glory substantially, not as a mere suggestion, but really and truly. It is a time of glory, and the Lord said, “The glory which thou hast given me I have given them”. It is not, ‘I will give them’, but “I have given them”, and I would say, dear brethren, it is the glory of sonship. Not that our sonship is equal to His. No, and yet it is sonship, whether His or ours, and the Father gives it to Him, and He gives it to us. So I can understand how, in the blessed Lord’s mind, we have been prepared for glory in heaven, because what is in heaven is in mind. It is the heavenly side that is now stressed amongst us. Christianity properly is a heavenly institution. For a little while God lingered with the Jews, and it brought out His patience. He would have His patience known, and He would also carry out His promises made to the fathers, and so this chapter, Romans 9, begins with that, and then refers to the Lord Jesus, as “over all, God blessed for ever”.
[p. 448] How we love to afford Him that place! In that time of patience, which the epistle to the Hebrews develops, God would have it understood how glorious His blessed Son was in the midst of them, and hence in the first chapter of Hebrews He selects passages from the sayings of the saints, for they are to be glorified; and therefore in all our sayings, words, and conversations, there should be something to contribute to the glory of Christ. Chapter 1 of Hebrews unfolds the glories of Christ, and amongst these is sonship, and in chapter 2 we have this stated: “It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings”.
But it is sonship I am speaking of. I believe it is the time of it. The Lord has been pleased to manifest Himself to us in the opening up of the truth of sonship as applicable to Himself. He took another condition, namely manhood, and in that condition sonship applies. So it is said, “The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father”. In Hebrews 2, God is “bringing many sons to glory”, and I believe that the sufferings (we have often spoken of the sufferings of this present time, but I am alluding to the special sufferings, what is recent amongst the dear brethren, especially in these countries where I am now), that these sufferings are in order to bring about glory; that is, to bring about fitness for glory. We are about to enter it. The Lord Jesus has entered it alone. What can we say about Him? What is His occupation, to speak reverently? He is there; heaven must receive Him. It is a definite decree; He was carried up into heaven, and He is there. But He is not on His own throne; He is on His Father’s throne, the throne to which sonship belongs. Through all these centuries, what is engaging Him? The assembly is engaging Him. He is not ruling the [p. 449] world, nor Israel yet. All these things are in abeyance, but He is thinking of the assembly, what is nearest to His heart.
You will remember the way Isaac dallied with Rebecca (Genesis 26: 8). That is the word, not ‘sporting’, as in the Authorised Version; the proper word is “dallying”. The Lord, in that sense, speaking reverently, has the assembly in view; it is already said that God has “raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”; she is therefore constituted suitable to be the bride. Presently she will come out literally as such, a bride adorned for her husband, but the Lord is, as it were, dallying with her now. When thinking of her, He is thinking of the times entering into the service of God which are His part. We read of Moses’ part in certain scriptures. Well, the Lord has His part in the service of God. He is thinking of His assembly, that part of the service — the Lord’s supper; it is not the Father’s Supper, it is the Lord’s supper, and we are to understand how He waits for us while we partake of it. How it affects His heart as we take the bread and the cup, and think of Him in it. We are thinking of Him where He is, not where He was, although that may enter into it, but it is where He is, and He comes to us. I have spoken of dallying; I would be careful in using such a word, but it is scriptural and it belongs to the present time, not when He is ruling Israel or the nations. It is a question of what He is doing now before the restitution of all things, the things spoken of by the prophets since time began. With all happenings the Lord is conversant, of course, but He is thinking of the assembly, and of it only; not that He is not observant of everything else. He is a divine Person; He is the Christ; He is at the right hand of God, but at the same time He is not on His own throne, nor occupied with what belongs to that throne yet, but occupied with His Father’s throne, and with the assembly.
He says, “The glory which thou hast given me, I have given them”, and then, “I desire that they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. You will see how the Father and the Son have holy converse in regard to the assembly. They have, and is it not worth while to them that the assembly should be the assembly, that the word should apply to us? It is not an abstract idea; it is the very thing. I believe the Lord has brought about the recent circumstances to effect it more fully, so that this matter of glory should be before us. We are vessels of mercy prepared for glory, and, as I said too, God is bringing many sons to glory, it does not say “to heaven”, for it is a question of glory, and how the glory is brought about by sufferings. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed to us, and then, in addition, there are the moral sufferings resulting in glory as seen also in the Lord Jesus. The Leader of our salvation is made perfect through sufferings. It is a question of what belongs to us, dear brethren, and that our Leader was made perfect through sufferings. God is thinking of Christ, and He is thinking of us; of course, He is thinking of Israel too, and the nations as well, but He is thinking now of Christ and the assembly. I am not saying that God is not governing the universe, looking after it too, for not a sparrow falls to the ground but is known to Him, but then there is this that I am speaking of, what belongs to the Father and the Son, that is to say, the glory of Christ and the glory of the assembly. So these verses have this in mind, vessels of mercy prepared for glory. What a moment it is! I have no doubt many brethren here think of it as I do, but certainly I am [p. 451] impressed with it. What is heaven thinking of? It is in a waiting attitude for the advent of the assembly to heaven. That is the great point in heaven’s mind just now. It is a great thing to have the thought of heaven. “Whom the heaven must receive”, says Peter, “until the times of restitution of all things”, and Christ is up there. He is received up there; we are not told what He is doing there; He is at the right hand of God, and carrying on a gospel service, but all in view of the assembly; that is what He is engaged in. This great matter, which has never happened before in the history of mankind, is it not something to Christ? It is to bring about what divine Persons are engaged with. Heaven is waiting for the assembly to go up; the time is ripe for it. I am not speaking in a prophetic sense, but one understands what is going on. Servants are prepared for effective service, and are numerous; surely He has something to carry on. He is carrying on one thing, that is the gospel, and the assembly. These are the great topics in heaven now, and we, dear brethren, belong to that. God is preparing us for heavenly glory, for the position that is proper to Christ and His bride, the heavenly city which will come down like a bride adorned for her husband. She is complete, according to the prophetic book of Revelation. She is viewed as coming out of heaven, not having any earthly history at all; it is a question of what is coming down out of heaven. She is suitable for the Bridegroom. “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly”, and we want to be that characteristically.
I have only a few minutes to speak of Acts 9. The great servant portrayed there should be before our minds, because the Lord calls him “an elect vessel to me”. Ananias was somewhat concerned at first, perhaps in unbelief; but he did his work well after he understood it. After we understand things it [p. 452] makes a difference. Ananias was made to understand things which he did not understand, and afterwards he was a good brother, a good servant. He did the right thing. The Lord had called Paul an elect vessel unto Him, and He was to show him what great things he must suffer; and Ananias went and did what he was told. I want to do that, and I hope everyone here has in mind to do what he is told. There is much to be done. What your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, but there is such a thing as being sent, and Ananias was sent; he went and put his hands on Saul, and he said, “Saul, brother”. We have often dwelt on these words, and yet it is not out of place to bring before us now the idea of brother. I believe there would be no quarrels, not that I have not had to do with them, but Jehovah said to Moses, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?” That word comes down the ages. We had not heard of Aaron before, but this is how God introduces him to Moses; the great mediator was to have the brother. What can any of us do without a brother? How valuable they are, and Jehovah said to Moses, “He goeth out to meet thee”, Exodus 4: 14. A brother is coming to meet you. Will that not make up for many difficulties? It will. “When he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart”. If ever there was a brother on earth it was Saul of Tarsus, and Ananias says, “Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus...” But it was all to make Saul a suitable vessel, a vessel elect unto the Lord. It is a question of doing things, what is to be done, and who is to do it, and the Lord’s mind about us, what can He call us, what distinction we are to have, because the Lord is no man’s debtor. He has His distinctions, and every brother in the service is to have a distinction, and the brethren ought to know it, and have him in their hearts according to it, according to the Lord’s estimate of him. So Ananias went on to make Saul what he should be. “Arise... and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name”. If there be sins, secret or otherwise, let them be washed away; the Lord’s service cannot go on where they are. Even in a Saul they had to be washed away, and it was his responsibility to do it, to have it done. And so it is with persons who have to be baptised, have it done, we cannot go on with the Lord’s service without removing offensive things, anything that can be called sin or sins, Ananias remarked, “Why lingerest thou?” Sins hamper us in our service to men and to God.
I thought I would venture to bring forward this passage as to glory — vessels of glory. We are to be vessels of glory in our service down here, not what we are up there. Romans 9 refers, I have no doubt at all, to heavenly glory, and for a period which we call eternity because we have no minds capable of naming it otherwise; it has to have limits in our minds, but not in God’s. We read in Ephesians 3, for instance, that “in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height...”; all this is a question of limits, but nevertheless we go on to infinitude, namely, “that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”. That is where we are to be, although always recognising our limitations; it is well that we should, but at the same time we are to be filled unto all the fulness of God. How much might be said of that — the fulness of God! In Christ “all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell”, Colossians 1: 19. So that, while acknowledging our limitations, as we should, at the same time there is this, that we are to be filled unto all the fulness of God. I now venture to bring forward this matter of Paul. He is our apostle; he is the apostle charged with the ministry of the gospel, the ministry of reconciliation, and the ministry of the assembly. What a charge! What offices! What a man! We may well [p. 454] glory in it; not that we should glory in a mere creature, but the Lord has made him all that, and Paul said, “I magnify mine office” so that we are to have him in our minds. The Lord spoke of him as “an elect vessel to me”; then what he was to suffer, and then there is the servant (Ananias) coming forward and he does the thing that was needed.
I might speak of many others as illustrations of vessels for present service, and I feel it important to do so because of the many young men that are coming forward. We learn from Paul and from those who come after him, but especially Paul, who says, “Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life...” It is a question of Paul, and he is to be understood in our souls as an elect vessel, a model for all vessels, and all have to be held for Christ. What an array of vessels that will be! What glories are in these vessels — vessels of mercy prepared for glory!
May God bless the word!