THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY
I have had a definite impression about the triumph of Christianity, and of course this must be associated with Christ Himself. It is a wonderful thing to see that throughout the old dispensation, God brought in a prophetic testimony as to the Man who was going to effect everything for His own glory. David, for instance, was taken from the sheepfolds (Ps.78:70), and met the enemy which kept the people of God in bondage. What a wonderful type David is! We see the Lord Jesus coming in with nothing that related to the flesh, but able to meet the enemy with the word of God (Luke 4:1-13). The Lord Jesus did that, not only in His pathway while He was here in flesh and blood, but finally in His death.
It is a very precious thing, dear brethren, to see that the victory has been complete. David went into the valley and slew Goliath as he had slain the lion (1 Sam.17:34), speaking to us of the power of Christ. Every malign power has been met, and our state has been met. How complete and perfect has been the victory of Christ, not only meeting our guilt but meeting our state. David slew Goliath completely; it says that there was no sword in the hand of David (1 Sam.17:50). When wicked men came to take Jesus, there was nothing in His hand. They came with swords and sticks, but that blessed Man met all of that for God’s glory in the purity of His own devotedness to God and in the purity of His holy Person. The Lord did not meet the enemy with human resources, He met him with all that He was in Himself. It says, “This is he that came by water and blood”, 1 John 5:6. I was impressed on Lord’s day that everything that was in that blessed Man was in His body, that body which had been prepared to meet the whole question of sin and to cleanse the whole universe for God’s glory. So that reconciliation was effected: everything that was required to cleanse from sin and bring in a universe for the glory of God was all contained in that precious body of Christ’s. How precious these things are!
Now in this dispensation, the victory is maintained and continued in the power of the Spirit. It says, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ”, 2 Cor.2:14. There has been no diminution; the Lord says that here. “It is profitable for you that I go away”; those there could hardly conceive how that could be so. Think of the greatness of the incarnation, the greatness of the testimony that the Lord rendered, yet He could use these words, “It is profitable for you that I go away”. There is a victory, a triumph of the Spirit if I might use that expression, in these human vessels. Every time we bury a saint, that comes home to me. The Lord has been able to maintain our dear sister who has just been taken through a long life of testimony right to the end. What a triumph there is. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ”, 2 Cor.2:14.
I would like to get into my soul the greatness and triumph of Christianity. We do not always feel that way; sometimes we get overwhelmed. But if you follow through the Acts, you see the greatness of the power that came into the world, bringing demonstration to the world. What a demonstration it was. The Jew had come to the conclusion that Christ was a malefactor, but in the beginning of Acts it was shown clearly that “God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2:36. What a demonstration to the world, a demonstration in persons. There was power in testimony. And then as you follow it through the Acts, you see in Paul the triumph of the grace that broke him down and brought him into the testimony, so that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ was seen in power in him. Think of Paul standing before Agrippa, a demonstration of the formative power of the Spirit in a man. “I would to God that … thou … should become such as I also am, except these bonds”, Acts 26:29. Then we see the same power in Paul and Silas in prison in Acts 16.
These are examples that come to mind as I speak about it, dear brethren. There are two thoughts in this scripture that we have read. There is the thought of what is demonstrated in testimony, and there is in the section following the enjoyment of privilege. Christianity is a triumphant matter. Let us see that we are in it in power. The power that was manifest in the early days of the dispensation is the power that is available for every one of us now.
Word in a meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
3 July 2001
J. Spinks