THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBJECTION
J. B. Ikin
1 Corinthians 15: 24–28; Luke 8: 26–30, 35–39; Acts 22: 6–10; 16: 6–10, 14, 15, 22–34; Philippians 2: 1–11
My desire is to speak, dear brethren, of the principle of subjection and how through it God is able to do great things. When we think, and I have thought it myself, of what subjection is, I see that for myself it involves humbling exercises, it involves the subduing of my will, it involves accepting God’s will. God’s will is wonderful. God’s will is that every man should be blessed, but in going through that process which is outlined in Paul’s epistle to the Romans, we see that we have to come to an end of what we find in ourselves, what we have in ourselves naturally, not only to judge the world as a system as God has judged it at the cross, but to judge what I find in myself, self-will. Then if there is any desire as accepting the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, where there is any desire to please God, and I try to do so in my natural ability according to the flesh, it is bound to fail, it does fail, it has failed in me. I am sure you will have found that in yourself. Then we find that we need the Lord Jesus, the One who is the Deliverer, not only my Saviour but the Deliverer from all that I find in myself. Then there is the exercise of not only asking for but receiving and making way for the Holy Spirit; that is Romans 8, how we find this power to please God, wonderful power, the Holy Spirit, what a Friend He is to the believer. And then in Romans 12 we see as a result of all that, we are able to prove the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, to prove that experimentally for myself, and for yourself. We often think of subjection as it relates to ourselves as going through all these moral exercises. But I would suggest that subjection is more than that, as seeing what is perfect in our Lord Jesus.
That is why I read from 1 Corinthians 15 because remarkably it speaks of Him as being subject. There was nothing in Him that had to be subdued. There was nothing that was contrary to the will of God that needed to be subdued in Him. He indeed came to do the will of God. Think of how He came into this very scene as committed to doing the will of God, that as coming into this scene, coming here as Man, not sent into this scene from heaven in that sense; He came to do the will of God, but as coming into this scene He took that position of being sent of the Father. Think of how He was perfectly subject through all His life here, obedient even unto death as we have been reading. Think of that supreme test in Gethsemane where He said, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”, and then, “but not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matthew 26: 39. Think of how the Lord Jesus committed Himself in a remarkable way as subject to His Father’s will, whatever the cost. But then we see that He is now exalted and everything will be subjected to Him. Think of what it will be when, as we have been singing, earth will sing His praises. Think of how every tongue shall confess Him as Lord to God the Father’s glory, when everything will be subject to Him. He must reign until He puts all enemies under His feet. That is a certainty. This world is full of doubt at the present time, but this is a certainty that everything will be put under His feet. “The last enemy that is annulled is death. For he”, that is God, “has put all things in subjection under his feet”, that is the feet of the Lord Jesus. “But when he says that all things are put in subjection, it is evident that it is except him who put all things in subjection to him”. The next verse is remarkable, “But when all things shall have been brought into subjection to him, then the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all”. Does that not elevate what subjection is? Eternally man will be subject to God, wonderfully seen in the Lord Jesus Himself. He will be ever Man, and in Himself we see subjection as God has looked for it in man. It is a wonderful thing to lay hold of.
I read from Luke’s gospel because there we see a man who was subdued, his will subdued. What a triumph of the Lord’s work in him, that he was changed from the control of demons to come under the Lord’s own sway in grace and love. This man was here unashamedly corrupt and no man could control him. It was outside of the ability of the authorities to control him. He was under the complete control of Satan, and yet the Lord was able to meet it and the Lord’s own authority comes in in a very wonderful way. He had commanded the unclean spirit to go out from the man and the man was healed. The man was brought into the presence of the Lord Jesus who loved him, and we see that there he is clothed and sensible at the feet of Jesus. He was subject to the Lord Jesus, a wonderful thing was brought about, a change of ownership you might say, a change of control. Instead of being controlled by what was Satanic in an awful way, he was there at the feet of Jesus. All things will yet be put at His feet. There he was learning, and not only learning what the Lord was able to do, but learning that the Lord Jesus was there for him. He became a lover of the Lord Jesus. Outside of that company who were about the feet of Jesus, was a hostile scene. The whole city it seems gathered to expel the Lord Jesus from their presence; they were afraid and asked Him to go and He went. Think of that, a hostile scene, but what I think is very great and wonderful is that the man is retained in the city under the Lord’s orders.
He becomes subject to the Lord, not only in relation to all that was past, but he became subject and usable to the Lord as his Master, the One who was able to direct him as trusting him to relate how great things God had done for him, and it was to the city where the Lord was so opposed. You say, Well He wanted to be with the Lord Jesus, and that was a right desire and the Lord really appreciated that. I think He loved him for the fact that he wanted to be with Him but the Lord said, No, and He sent him away saying, “Return to thine house”, I have established you there in your house, “and relate how great things God has done for thee”. So what does he do? “He went away through the whole city”. Think of that, he went right through that great city and what did he do? He was “publishing how great things Jesus had done for him”. He recognised that God was there. Think of that, the great things that God had done for him. O how great is the work of God! What wonderful things God is doing in believers in a hostile scene, where the Lord Jesus is still in rejection. We should be able to publish what great things God is doing in each one, giving an account of the hope that is in us.
I read about Paul because there we see a man who was formerly bent upon persecuting the saints, and here he is giving an account to the Jews, to the Israelites, and he is appealing to them, relating to them his own experience. What particularly struck me in thinking about this passage is that he asked two questions, “Who art thou, Lord?” and “What shall I do, Lord?” Think of how Paul was arrested in his course. Was he arrested by the anger of God? Think of God’s wrath in relation to his own sins. He was arrested by grace, wonderful grace, the appeal of the Lord Jesus. He says, “Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me?” There grace had struck him down and immediately he answers as subject to the Lord Jesus, “Who art thou, Lord?” What an answer he got, an answer that rings through this dispensation! “I am Jesus the Nazaraean whom thou persecutest”. So as we are subject, as we ask questions like Paul asked the Lord Jesus, what an answer we will get, a wonderful answer, “I am Jesus the Nazaraean whom thou persecutest”. What does that mean? The Lord Jesus was in pain in relation to all that was happening to His saints here under the hand of this man Saul. He felt it deeply. Why is that? Because He is inextricably identified with His saints here as the assembly, as His body; that is Himself represented in the saints like Him, formed after Him, a heavenly people because He is heavenly. He is the Head of the body, His body here. Think of how in just a few words God revealed the answer to this question. All that God had treasured up in His mind in relation to this present dispensation, that is that Christ is the Head of His assembly, and all that is for God is thus brought about and there is glory to God, as a result of that wonderful fact that the Lord Jesus is Head of His body, the assembly.
Then he says, “What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up, and go to Damascus”. Now Damascus was just a little time before the place of the objects of destruction for him. He was going to go to Damascus to persecute and destroy the saints there. What is the Lord saying? He said, “Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do”. Think of the Lord Jesus giving him a commission in the very place where he was going to cause in his previous objective such sufferings; and there he was going to find the answer to what the Lord would have him to do. He finds it there in the city, he finds it there in the saints. Think of what was conveyed to him by one who himself was subject to the Lord, Ananias! Think of how the Lord has His own way with Ananias, and how He was able to convince him in His presence, that here was this man who previously was a persecutor of the saints, that he was an elect vessel to Himself. Ananias was adjusted as being subject. Great things were being wrought at this time in relation to what the Lord had in His heart, the things that He was going to give Paul to do, and there in the city the light dawned on him as to the person of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. Think of how straightway he preached that He is the Son of God. Think of how the glory of sonship comes out in a wonderful way through the rest of Paul’s life in his ministry. Think of how it is revealed in the Lord Jesus Himself personally.
I read from Acts 16 because we also see great things happening there. That was how the testimony came into Europe through God’s ways. It was not according to the planning and thinking of man’s natural way; men would not have taken this way. This was the Lord’s way, this was God’s way, this was the way of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit here is seen in His own authority. It says, “having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, having come down to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them”. There you have authority, His authority in relation to His sympathy with all that was going on under God’s hand. So Paul has this vision and relates it. Then Luke in the company of Paul says, “we sought to go forth to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to announce to them the glad tidings”. What a conclusion to come to! That was because they were subject to the Holy Spirit, subject to the Lord Jesus. Great things were going to happen. Outwardly and seemingly it was a disaster, but according to God’s ways it was a wonderful opening into which God brought the testimony into Europe. The first one they find is this woman Lydia; she herself is a subject woman. It is very beautiful to see that, although the Lord had already opened her heart to attend to the things spoken by Paul, she is in a state of subjection because she says, “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord”. It was not that she claimed it. She says, “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there”. What a beautiful spirit, the spirit of subjection! There was a household that was established, that God could use in forming the assembly at Philippi.
I read about the jailor and his house and Paul and Silas; there they were put into prison so unjustly. Were they complaining? Were they questioning what God had given them to do? Were they questioning that they had been given this commission? The natural man would say, We have made a mistake, this is not God’s way at all, but how are Paul and Silas found? They are there in the prison praying and praising God with singing, in total confidence that what God was doing was the right way. Think of what it was that they were totally and meekly subject to what God was doing, and the Lord Jesus was doing in relation to His own way. His own way is wonderful, past understanding.
and the results are seen here totally under God’s control. There is this earthquake “so that the foundations of the prison shook, and all the doors were immediately opened, and the bonds of all loosed”. Think of it, this great earthquake and what happened! It shook everything, it shook the chains off the prisoners but they did not escape; but what was even greater was the fact that grace shone out in these two beloved men and secured the heart of the jailor. Think of how he was going to take his life, he was in such despair, all his future had gone, everything he lived for had gone through this earthquake and he was going to take a sword and kill himself thinking the prisoners had fled.
But the grace of it, Paul called out with a loud voice to the one who had caused him such suffering, saying, “Do thyself no harm”. Think of the atmosphere of that place, think of how there would have been a need to use a loud voice in those circumstances. There he was in the inner prison and his voice carried right through to the ears and heart of the jailor, and he lost no time. “And having asked for lights, he rushed in, and, trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas. And leading them out said, Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?” All he had to do was to put his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, “thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. That is what the Lord had in mind, a completed house, a completed house that was a subject house. We see the results of it for his household rejoiced together as experiencing and relating to the grace of God. How important such united households are. You sometimes see tragically the break-up of households, the break-up of marriage. How it can affect not only the two persons, the husband and wife concerned, but it can have a devastating effect on the place where they are, the locality where they are; it can weaken the testimony, but let us think of what is positive. Is my household where the man is subject to Christ? The woman, yet having her own links with the Lord Jesus, subject to her husband, that household strengthening the testimony in the place. How important it is. We see a household being a direct product of the ministry of Paul in Lydia and her house, and now there was the house of the jailor. We see it strengthened what was found in Philippi, the assembly that was such a joy to Paul, when he writes to them, his joy and crown, he says. Think of that.
So I read from Philippians because there we see what Paul yet longed for, that there should be an answer in unity. The way that is found is through the recognition of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of the Spirit functioning amongst the saints and the result of it is unity. The result of it is that we “think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing”; that can only be the product of the Spirit, it cannot be by any other way. We see the attempts of the world trying to bring in unity and how dismally that fails. It must be through recognising and being submissive to the Holy Spirit, being subject to the Holy Spirit. And what would the Holy Spirit engage us with? It comes back to the person of the Lord Jesus, His glory, His moral worth, who He is, the One who “emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”. The Holy Spirit would engage us with the person of the Lord Jesus and His present exaltation where He is. He is now in heaven, He is now exalted by God Himself. “Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and granted him a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and infernal beings, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to God the Father’s glory”.
The result of this is great, the result of it is that there is oneness amongst the saints. Why is it great? Because that is the Lord’s desire before His Father. In John 17 there is that wonderful prayer of the Lord Jesus, that they may be one, as we are one” (John 17: 22). The result of that practically comes of being subject to the Spirit. How vital is the service of the Spirit, how willing He is to serve, not only individuals, but as together in our own localities, in our own places. He is speaking to the assemblies in Revelation, and individually he that has an ear is to hear what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies. He is saying things that are very specific to each assembly, but then we are to hear what He is saying in other assemblies apart from our own. Think of how wonderful what He is saying, and He is speaking of the Lord Jesus, about Him and His glory. Well may we be subject, may we learn subjection, not only individually, and in our households, but that we may learn subjection together, that God may not be hindered in the great things that He is doing, for His name’s sake.
Address at Kirkcaldy
7 November 2009