MORAL ELEVATION
[p. 309] MORAL ELEVATION
Acts 1:9 - 14; Acts 10:9 - 13; Acts 19:1
I am thinking, dear brethren, of how the element of moral elevation is interwoven in this book of the Acts, indeed, it runs through Luke’s service and ministry; which ministry, as most of us know, is intended to support and amplify and make acceptable the ministry of Paul. There is a continual rise, as I may say, from chapter 1 to chapter 19, where he presents Paul as arriving at Ephesus through the upper districts. Those of us who travel have some idea of a physical rise in the earth’s formation until a certain altitude is reached, and so in this book the moral altitude reached on the side of experience, in chapter 19 is that Paul arrived at Ephesus. In the gospel, Luke brings heaven down; for the divine way is to afford incentive to us in our souls’ history, and the gospel of Luke furnishes, among many other things, an incentive to moral elevation in the soul, so that there is a steady rise instead of a steady decline. The decline of the church began in Ephesus; it began at the summit, and it comes down and down, so that the government of God intervenes as the decline reaches a point, and makes recovery impossible — that is general recovery. Today the decline has been enormously accelerated, but that is in the government of God. It corresponds with the demons who, when cast out of the demoniac by the Lord in Matthew 8, request to be allowed to enter into the swine, and entering in, we are told the swine “rushed down the steep slope into the sea”, and “died in the waters”, verse 32.
It was the government of God, there was no hope; It is a most solemn thing that as decline reaches a point God intervenes, and it becomes more rapid; it has thus become more rapid in our own times. The rush down is violent, and so there is all the more need to understand the principle of incline or elevation, which, happily, is [p. 310] available to each individual, but he has got to face the rush and stand against it.
And so the gospel of Luke affords incentive; that is to say, heaven is brought down. The evangelist, in writing to a man, evidently of dignity in this world, one who deserved consideration, addresses him as “Most excellent Theophilus”; such persons deserve consideration where it is due. Persons of distinction in this world are at a disadvantage, whether their dignity is acquired or conferred or inherited, but God does not leave them out because of this; He works in their souls and shows that His work goes on in spite of the disadvantage. Nevertheless, the disadvantage is there and must not be ignored. So Luke, whilst recognising the excellency according to man’s estimate of Theophilus, introduces heavenly dignitaries. If one could see Gabriel or Michael — not to speak of the Lord of glory, for His is supreme dignity! But even in one of the subordinates of the Lord of glory, what dignity one would see! Were Theophilus to stand up beside Gabriel, he would readily listen to Luke, and he did listen to him, for this second treatise shows that he gained in his soul by the first; but considering Gabriel, he would the more readily see what human dignity, what dignity in this world is, that it is but as a flower of the grass. “All flesh”. Scripture says, that is, dignified flesh as well as other flesh, “is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away”, (1 Peter 1:24). It would surely wither up in our souls in the light of a heavenly dignitary such as Gabriel, the glory of man would fail. So Luke introduces Gabriel to us, or to Theophilus, as “standing on the right of the altar of incense”; that is to say, he stood in the place of power, but power in relation to the greatest excellency, for the incense is, typically, the intrinsic excellency of Christ. That is the divine thought as to the altar of incense. Well, that is not the kind of thing that is expressed in the word ‘excellency’ as applied to a governor or a president in this world. God would bring in, you see, intrinsic excellency, and that is not acquired in this world according to man, it is a divine quality; it has come to light in Christ as Man. All excellency according to God has come to light in Christ becoming Man here and moving about this world. Think of the intrinsic excellency, beloved, that was there in that outward form of humility! And there was excellency with Gabriel, at the right hand of the altar of incense. Then again, in speaking to Mary about the Lord, the angel speaks of the “holy thing”, not simply the holy Person — but the holy thing, as referring to what Christ was as intrinsically holy. Not in the sense in which a priest is sanctified by the Spirit, but intrinsically holy. That could be said of none other, and Luke would bring that near to us in the Person of Jesus.
Then in the second chapter of Luke, heaven comes down; not now in specially dignified angels, but in “a multitude”. First, there is one speaking with the shepherds, but the glory that shines round about the shepherds, is the glory of the Lord, not of the angel. In relation to this one evangelical angel, we have the glory of the Lord shining round about the shepherds, so that we have an incentive to moral elevation introduced at once; and then, with that angel, a multitude of the heavenly host appears. So that heaven is brought down in volume, and they were saying, “Glory to God in the highest” There is nothing higher than that, there is no greater moral elevation than that. That is, of course, literal, but it is also moral. When it is a question of what God is as compared with men here. He is called the Highest; but this is the position, it is “in the highest”, glory is there, and “on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. Thus throughout Luke we have the same thread, so that as the Lord enters Jerusalem for the last time, the multitude are saying: “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest”, (Luke 19:38). That is the whole thought now; it is not peace on earth, but it is transferred to heaven. Earth is omitted, for in the rejection of Christ by the Jews it is the heavenly side that God has in His mind as to be seen.
That is the viewpoint in the book of Acts from the very outset, and it is to appear in the assembly. We see in these verses in chapter 1 the way the Lord went up, and not simply that He went up, but the manner of His going up. We read of the ascent by which Solomon went up to the house of the Lord; that affected the queen of Sheba profoundly; but then compare that with this! This is not simply going up to the house of the Lord, but the Lord of glory returning to His own place, to heaven. We have to think of what underlies the movement, the Person who was there, the home above so well known, and all the reception that was about to be accorded to Him. The passage says that having said certain things to them, “He was taken up”, but it adds “they beholding him” (Acts 1:9). That is an element that remains. However many there were present the thing was seen by them as far exceeding what the queen of Sheba saw. “They beholding him”, their hearts were in it, beloved brethren. He has been communing with them and now the opportune moment arrives and He is taken up, they beholding Him. The golden thread of moral elevation is there; what they saw, the kind of movement that they beheld, was not to be effaced. The Lord had said earlier that certain should not see death until they saw the Son of man coming in His kingdom. That is another view. One is moved in thinking of the many views of Christ’s movements that were to be beheld. In Psalm 22 He is seen as “the hind of the morning”. That alludes to His resurrection. We often hear of heavenly spectacles that are to be seen, once, it may be, in a hundred years, eclipses and the like — well, now, this is a marvellous thing, “the hind of the morning”.
[p. 313] And those who were up early saw it. I refer to the peculiar privilege of seeing the Lord immediately as He arose from the dead. We read in John 20 of Mary Magdalene coming in early morning, while it was still dark. If I value the agility of Christ, “the hind of the morning”, the grace of His movements, I must be moving early in the morning. It is the best time to get divine impressions; we find in the Old Testament, continually, how things were done early. So there was to be seen on that morning without an equal, the movements of Christ, His graces and affection. With what agility the Lord moved from one to another of those whom He loved! Then, as I said, there is that other view — the Son of man coming in His kingdom. And John the baptist was affected as he saw Him walking; there was grace in that movement also. The Son of man coming in His kingdom is the idea of majesty. All these things are intended to deliver us from the tinsel of human glory. Majesty, according to man, is much spoken of; and dignity in various grades, but Luke would deliver us in a gradual, steady, but certain way, from all vain show. We are not despising majesty as applied to men in this world under the government of God, He recognises it in its place; but in the most effective manner Luke introduces the thread of moral elevation, so that the thing gradually slips away and becomes nothing. What would all the glory of the Caesars or of the kings of this period, be, compared with the Son of man coming in His glory!
Well, all that is an element here: “they beholding him”; they saw Him go up, “and a cloud received him out of their sight”, that was not till they saw Him, till they saw that movement. The faith era begins as He passes out of view. The disciples have thus got in their souls the impression of what God intends to remain in the church, because what we have recorded in words, is just enough to keep us within the banks of the river, so to speak, but what lies within, is the impression that the [p. 314] Holy Spirit reserves and conserves and works into our souls. Therefore, as you progress you will find that gradually the things of this world and the glory of them lose their hold on you; you are advancing, you are ascending morally. You get the impression of the Lord Jesus going up in all the holy affection and the holy intelligence that He had of what He was going into — it was His right to go into heaven. He is received “out of their sight”. It is not just into heaven, but out of their sight, but the impression that they got remains; the faith era begins, and that impression enters into the assembly. Some day we shall understand that movement, for we shall go up, too; it is not a wholly new thing. It is true that Paul says: “Behold, I tell you a mystery”, (1 Corinthians 15:51), and he goes on to say that “we shall all be changed”; and to the Thessalonians he says we shall be “caught up”. The going up of Jesus as seen prepared them for this. The impression of it belongs to us, it is part of our heritage. Why, then, go down in a worldly sense? It is a contrary movement. And so in chapter 10 one is reminded of Jonah; it is the same town of Joppa; it is said he went down to Joppa, and being in Joppa he went down to the ship, and being in the ship he went down to the sides of it. That is the opposite movement, a man fleeing from the presence of the Lord; but happily he was restored. Restoration from such a course is possible even in these apostate days. But you see with Peter how this element of moral elevation appears; he had been going through all quarters in his ministry, according to Acts 9. There is a new chapter being opened up in the service of God, and Peter was in accord with it so far, for he was going to all quarters instead of staying in Jerusalem; not yet the gentile quarters, but he was on the way to it, as it were, instinctively. He was ready for it; at least, he was ready for the lesson God was about to teach him. It is a great thing to be ready for divine instruction: there is a kind [p. 315] of undercurrent in our souls, indefinable it may be, and when God acts we are ready.
So Peter comes to Joppa, as you will observe at the end of chapter 9. They had sent for him, and as he arrives Dorcas had died, and she was laid out in the upper room. I only refer to that. They also were in the spiritual intelligence in keeping with the moment. There is always a current as God is working, and we come into it as we are rightly exercised. Of course, if will is active and the world is in our hearts, we do not come into it, but if there be desire in a general way to be with God, we come into the current, and I would urge upon you that there is a current now. There was a naughty current at this juncture, and it was about to move towards the western world, and Peter was not left out. What he found at Joppa helped him — that is, the woman was washed and laid out in the upper room and he went up there. Tabitha was raised up there, and delivered back alive. Then Peter is in the house of one Simon by the sea; which is another thing, for the very environment in which God sets us will help us if we are in the way, as the servant of Abraham says, “I being in the way”, for God is in everything; God is moving in everything. That house of Simon was “by the sea” not accidentally, but in the ordering of God. God looks a long way ahead, and it was important that Peter was in this house of Simon. His name was Simon too, but his surname was Peter, we are told. There is not much made of him beyond that; as the heavenly announcement is made to Cornelius not much is made of the person. It was not the great apostle Peter; that is not the point here, it is a question of what Peter really is, and whether he is amenable to the governing principle of the moment, and he was. His name was Simon, but his surname was Peter, there was spiritual material there; and if there be not spiritual material you will not come into the current, nor will you respond to the governing principle of the [p. 316] moment. His surname was Peter; and he is in this house and they are preparing the meal, and now you see he is not idly waiting and resting, as you might wait in an ante room, but he goes up to the housetop — that is the thing. Why could he not pray where he was? He went up These remarks are not accidental, they are to show that Peter was in the current of the moment. I would not be out of a divine current for worlds! Nor would I be in that of the world, for there are the two currents running. And so Peter goes up to pray, and he comes under the influence of heaven in a most remarkable way, for he is in an ecstasy. How many of us know anything about that, beloved brethren? He becomes in an ecstasy. Paul says: To God “we are beside ourselves”, (2 Corinthians 5:13). God takes that way with us to lift us out of ordinary reckonings; thus we have to be prepared for eternity. There are no time limits there, no weights or measures; God is preparing His people for heaven, and we have to get some little education as to what it is to be outside of the reckonings of time and natural limitations. Paul said: “Whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell”, but he knew he was in the third heaven, he knew he was in paradise; it was as a man in Christ. Think of that experience! and it is available. I do not say to the same extent, but there is the principle of being “in the Spirit”, as John says, of being outside time reckonings and becoming accustomed to what we are going into for ever.
Heaven greets Peter. He is on the right line now, and he sees in a spiritual way; he is taken out of time, as it were, and he sees heaven opening. It is not yet that he should go in, but the point is to bring out what the mind of heaven is at the time, for heaven has its mind. Now you come, not to instinct, but to intelligence; so this “great sheet”, knit at the four comers, is let down, and “it came even to me”, he says. Think of heaven occupied with that man as he was there in an ecstasy on the housetop! He says: “It came even to me”. And “this took place thrice”, as if heaven would impress its mind upon him, and what the elevation involved. It is to take us out of nationalism; that is one feature of it. It was “a great sheet knit at the four comers ... Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air”, (Acts 10:11,12). They are all there; these creatures do not know any nation; what, for instance, does a beast know about England or Germany? God intends to impress us with the universality of the mind of heaven, and that is moral elevation; it is smallness to be national now. I do not deny that God took up a nation — of course He did; and He will yet have a nation which other nations will be bound to respect. So the magi in the east saw the star of “the king of the Jews”, and they came to find Him; they were delivered from their own national feeling, they were ready to worship the King of the Jews. Now, the sheet is intended to lift us out of the littleness of patriotism, of national feeling, of family feeling; indeed, out of all feelings that are not in accord with heaven, that we might be like heaven, and reflect the mind of heaven here. That is moral elevation, which is what we are taught here. These messengers of Cornelius were drawing near to Joppa when this happened, everything synchronised to carry out the purpose of God; thus everything happens exactly on time. This man must get the light, and he must get it from a man divinely prepared: one morally great, who has just been in touch with heaven, who has had heaven’s mind brought to him. Thus Peter says: “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptised, which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?” verse 47. The Holy Spirit fell on the hearers of his word while they were listening. It was a wonderful day at Caesarea when Peter was called into service after all this education; he is in keeping with the moment; he is [p. 318] preaching, and he is full of this moral elevation, of this heavenly view. He said to Cornelius, when he fell down to worship him: “I myself also am a man”, and they went into the house, Peter “talking with him” — two men, not a Jew and a gentile. That is the idea that God had in His mind to bring about.
Now, the scripture in chapter 19, is the summit, chapter 10 is on the way to it. You have emphasised in this book the thought of heaven: the sound from heaven, in chapter 2, and the Holy Spirit coming from heaven; in chapter 9 the light from heaven, and the voice of Jesus speaking to Saul, and in chapter 10 the sheet from heaven. Heaven has asserted itself in a peculiar way in the sheet. The full result of all this is seen in Paul: he is the acme of moral elevation from the positive side; and God, as it were, accelerated the idea in him early in his life, fourteen years before, by taking him up. “I know a man in Christ”, he said — it was fresh in his mind — “such a one caught up to the third heaven ... he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable things said which it is not allowed to man to utter”, (2 Corinthians 12:2 - 4). You get two things: “the third heaven” and “paradise”, the third heaven is the elevation, and paradise is the blessedness of the place — these two things go together. So that the apostle was fitted by this experience in a peculiar way to bring out the position of the church, the heavenly vessel, in which the glory of God is to shine throughout “all generations of the age of ages”, it is a wonderful vessel! He arrives, we are told, while Apollos was at Corinth. Apollos, as we may say, was holding the ground in relation to public order. Corinth, in the light of the epistles to the church there, stands for public order in the house of God; but Ephesus stands for the heavenly side: the two things run together. Now, Apollos was at Corinth; that position was held. He had refused to go there at one time, because Paul could not go on account of their state, but [p. 319] he was there now, and it is well that the Corinthian ground should be held. We should not confuse the two sides; that is, all that refers to the heavenly side is Ephesian; and all in the way of announcement or information belongs to the public or Corinthian side. Apollos was at Corinth, a faithful man, a man to be noted. Although not converted through Paul, he was a man for whom Paul had the greatest respect, and he had the greatest respect for Paul; so great was his respect for him that if Paul could not go to Corinth, he would not go; a man mighty in the Scriptures and yet amenable to the instruction of a humble man and his wife — Aquila and Priscilla. That is the kind of man Apollos was. It is of special importance that he was at Corinth at this time. But Ephesians is the heavenly side, and so you find the apostle Paul mentioned here as arriving at Ephesus through “the upper districts” — that is, the summit, as it were; he arrived there on that line; and in Ephesus, in this chapter and the next, we have developed the most wonderful results for God — that is, the assembly. The assembly in its heavenly character, that which as complete, comes down from God out of heaven; and it is in Ephesians, as I have said already, that we are told that there is glory to God “in the assembly in Christ Jesus” — that is the position of it: it is raised up together and seated in the heavenlies “in Christ Jesus”; that is the status it has. It is not simply raised up and set down in heaven, but “in Christ Jesus”; that is the status of the assembly. “To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”, (Ephesians 3:21). A marvellous thing, beloved! God would impress upon us the principle of moral ascent instead of descent, that we might be prepared for what we speak of as ‘the rapture’ — the rapture of the church. Philip could tell you something about that: for in the Acts you have threads introduced that give clues and which develop so that we are prepared for [p. 320] things as they happen. Philip was used in the blessing of the eunuch, and no doubt the eunuch would love to have him go along with him in the chariot — what delightful company he would have been! But we must not make too much of individual company. If we make too much of a individual God will, may be, come in and take him away. So the angel directed Philip first, and then the Holy Spirit directed him, to take his place in the chariot. His service pleased heaven — it pleased the Holy Spirit, too. Jesus was beautifully presented in Philip’s gospel, we may be sure. The Spirit caught him away. Philip was thus raptured. So that the catching up of the saints will not be anything new to him. In keeping with this we see the manner of the Lord’s going up in chapter 1. The angel said to the disciples: “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”. So that the thing is carried right through in Luke’s mind. Then, as if to show that they took in the thought of elevation, they returned to Jerusalem, it says, and the distance is given, and they went to the upper room. This would mean also the avoidance of religious show.
All that corresponds with Ephesians, because chapter 20 of this book records the upper room again. It is the position of the church in the absence of Christ; it stands, I believe, for moral elevation pending the time of actual elevation, so that that elevation will not be new to us. We shall not look back, beloved, as we are taken up, with any longing desire for this poor world — even though we may have occupied a castle in it, we shall go up with delight to our own place, our own home!