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THE RULE OF NEW CREATION

A. C. Craig

I want to say something with particular bearing on those breaking bread. It says, “as many as shall walk by this rule”. That is new creation’s rule. For a walk you must have a rule. You cannot walk anyhow. Taking on Christianity, you have to have a rule. I want to bring that point before you, beloved brethren. God introduced the thought of rule early. It may be something that we are not too inclined to hear about; we might be saying there are plenty of rules and regulations. It is a divine principle, you cannot walk haphazardly here. You take on Christianity, especially if you break bread, and when you step out to break bread you are under scrutiny; divine scrutiny, and also from those around, from the angels too. When you were baptised that was not the case. Your father and mother took responsibility for your baptism, you do not remember anything about it maybe, but nevertheless they had you baptised. Are the boys and girls listening now? They took responsibility for you, to bring you up, but the time came when that responsibility descended on you, and you knew it. It may be when you told the first lie, when you came to the consciousness of that. You knew it was a lie; you knew what the truth was, and you told a lie. Now you have come to your consciousness, from that moment your responsibility to God was direct, you had come to your responsibility. When you broke bread, that was your own matter. That was not your parents’ matter, that was your matter, and as I said, you immediately come under scrutiny.

That is a solemn thing, and you need a rule. As I said, God introduced the idea of rule early. There was the first day, the second day, the third day, and on the fourth day there was rule. The great light in the heavens, the sun to rule by day, and the moon to rule by night. In the first day there is the suggestion of what took place in the incarnation, “Let there be light”, and it is said “it was good”. That was a great day for God, incarnation. All was dark before, there was nothing for Him until Jesus came for all was dark. But light came in, that was the first day. The second day was under review, it speaks to us of the Lord’s pathway here and the opposition that He sustained, “so great contradiction of sinners against himself”, Hebrews 12: 3. That was not good, and so you do not have it said it was good; it was not good, a perfect Man here in perfection and He suffered the contradiction of sinners against Himself. He was rejected, refused. Then the third day you have the waters gathered together in one place, that is like the cross. The waters were gathered together in one place, there was judgment, but the dry land appeared. You have the grass, the shrubs and the fruit trees all at once, and all marked by life and power, but no rule yet. But when you get life, animate life, you will get rule. The fourth day illustrates the book of Acts where Christ is on high, the Sun, the great Ruler of the day, where you get it reflected down here when the three thousand persevered in the teaching and fellowship, in breaking of bread and prayers (Acts 2: 42). That is the rule down here reflected from above in the moon. There you have that very same rule found down here. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread and prayers. The rule was down here. You go through the book of Acts and you find that rule in evidence. We need rule. When you come to the school of Tyrannus, there is such a need (Acts 19: 9). Pupils’ will should not be operating there, not under Paul as the master, this is high school. You get the primary in Antioch where they were first called Christians (Acts 11: 26), that is the primary where you get the uniform and the badge. When you come to high school, you come to strict rule that all might pass out with honours. That is the idea in this school of Tyrannus, his name implies rule.

We are to have our walk under rule, under control, especially new creation’s rule, that is a fine one. You get in chapter 5 of this epistle, Galatians, we walk “by the Spirit”. If you follow up the footnote there you will find that rule entered into that, rule by the Spirit. In Galatians 2 you get one of the leading brothers and he is not walking straightforwardly. Peter is a leading brother and he is not walking straightforwardly, “according to the truth of the glad tidings”, that is the rule there. It is a very solemn matter to be a leading brother, to be a leader in the locality, because the younger people are watching how you walk. It is a serious matter, you are under scrutiny, and people are watching how you walk. He did not walk straightforwardly, “according to the truth of the glad tidings”. Things are coming up, brethren, things are arising in the world, things are happening every day, and we are not to be insensible as to the things that would ensnare us. You could become a millionaire in a day. I hope we are all free of that. Watch these things, they are a snare. There are other things as well that I could easily mention; even Peter did not walk straightforwardly. In Ezekiel 1 there are four living creatures and their wings are spoken about, their faces, but so are their feet. It says they had “straight feet”. These were God’s agencies, but they had straight feet, and it says “the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled as the look of burnished brass”, Ezekiel 1: 7. What is that? “They sparkled”. Do my feet sparkle? If I am found in shady paths, in places where I should not be, do my feet sparkle? It says, as burnished brass, the judicial element is there. You are walking judicially, walking carefully. That is a great matter in our walk. It is in all the great epistles over and over again. As I said, we are being watched.

Well now, certain things are necessary before you can ever hope to take up this great matter of your walking according to the rule of new creation, as it says, “as many as shall walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God”. That is like Jacob, that is why I read of him, the Israel of God. We have Abraham in Galatians 4 and Isaac, and it would not be complete without Jacob. That is why Paul refers to that, the Israel of God, the great light. It is the supreme light of the Old Testament, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That was the light that was made known in Exodus 3, “I am ... the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3: 6). There is no greater light in the Old Testament. That is the light they had in their dwellings, they cherished that light when all Egypt was dark. It is a great matter that we have light, the light of the God of resurrection in our homes. But the question in this epistle is circumcision, or uncircumcision. Paul comes to it here, he says, “For neither do they that are circumcised themselves keep the law; but they wish you to be circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6: 13, 14). It is a double crucifixion, and you could never ever hope to walk according to the rule of new creation if you do not face up to the double crucifixion. Younger people, have you ever read Mr. Darby’s tract, ‘There is nothing like the cross’? Read it then. Not only is it the means by which we get clearance from our guilt, but too it is the great means by which the world can pass away, and you can pass away. These things are necessary before we can touch this matter he speaks about as the rule of new creation; so we speak about this double crucifixion. The world being crucified, that is something. You take your place by the cross.

Paul says, “far be it from me to boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”. You think of the place that the cross had in Paul’s life, in Paul’s mind, in Paul’s way of estimating things. How far does it enter into our calculations, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? How far does it fill a part of your prayers in the morning before you go to work or school? How much does the cross enter into our minds as the means by which I can get clear of the world? How far has the world been crucified to me, come to an end?

We had the other week in Edinburgh, Peter’s two references to the passing away of the world. That is the literal thought. Peter refers to it almost in one breath, the passing away of the world, then the rushing noise, the two ideas are there. We are to come to the end of the world; this is the moral side of that. This is equivalent to what Peter speaks about literally. This is the passing away of the world for Paul; he stood by the cross and that is what he sees, he sees the end of the world. What a thing that is. Paul would not boast in anything else. How he uses the cross! So should we use the cross, the means by which I can see the whole thing disappearing. Think of the world disappearing! How much, beloved brethren, do the things of the world hold us? Why not take your place by the cross and come to an end of it, crucify it. It is openly, publicly, exposed, for what it is. That is what the cross does with the world.

What is its glory, the things of the world what are they in the presence of the exposure that took place at the cross? The whole thing is publicly exposed. That is the idea of crucified; not only brought to an end, but openly, publicly exposed. That is necessary. You could never hope to touch this matter of walking according to new creation’s rule unless it is so. There must be a complete negation of everything, the world and all that is in the world. We are held by it sometimes, we are ensnared by it, its wealth, its culture and all that is going on fast to final removal. But then he says, “and I to the world”. That is something else, and that is necessary as well. It means come to an end of myself so that there is no affinity between the world and me, and no affinity between me and the world, there is no response to it. That is necessary. While the world is crucified it goes on publicly, it still goes on, it has still its snares. But the insulation against it all is for me to be crucified, so there is nothing about me that would answer to it. What a thing that is. I say again, beloved brethren, it is necessary that we might walk according to the rule of new creation.

Coming back to those straight feet that those creatures had in Ezekiel, you think of the Lord Jesus, He had straight feet. You must come to Him, and yet He was the One who was on the cross, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ; but what feet He had, how they sparkled. Do you not think that that woman who came in and washed them and wiped them and kissed them and anointed them, do you not think they sparkled to her? O, He had straight feet, and straight the path that He trod. O let us contemplate that. The way to it, for us, is by the way of this double crucifixion, that the world is finished with me and I am finished with the world. I have not anything that would contribute to it. You think of that, the complete negation of everything.

Well that tests me, and I should not say anything that I am not somewhat in the good of myself; but that tests us all as to how the world is negated and I am negated, crucified openly, publicly exposed. There is nothing in the world that assists me to walk in the path of new creation by that rule. That man in Luke 8 who was found sitting, clothed and sensible at the feet of Jesus, do you not think that he felt those were lovely feet? “How beautiful ... are the feet of him that announceth glad tidings, that publisheth peace ... that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”, Isaiah 52: 7. He was translated from a demon dominated world into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. Do you not think the feet of Jesus were lovely to him? Or she who sat and listened at His feet, do you not think that she thought these were lovely feet?

They had just come from the mount of transfiguration. How His feet would sparkle. He was sparkling all over. What a person Christ is, what a person Jesus is. If you want to gain help to get the good of the cross, go in and sit at His feet. He will help you, and the Spirit will help you to accept this serious decisive matter of the double crucifixion. You could not get over to new creation apart from that. The way is entirely blocked, but the way out is in acceptance of this by the Spirit’s help as in the previous chapter. We call on the Spirit to help us, to finish with the world and to take up our walk here in new creation’s rule. The Lord Jesus never walked by any other rule than the rule of new creation. In the old creation, He was among men in flesh and blood condition Himself, but He walked consistently always according to the rule of new creation. What a person He is!

I read about Jacob just to illustrate this matter, for after all, doctrine is doctrine. But when you get something to illustrate the doctrine that helps, helps all of us, helps me, and I need that. It helps the young people to get an illustration of it. You see the thing worked out in Jacob as I said. That is what Paul said, “peace upon them ... and upon the Israel of God”. We have had Abraham and Isaac, now we come to Jacob, and the complete thought. These three men give you a complete picture of what is before the writer. Jacob is facing a crisis, and God is going to help him. God will always help us in these matters. If our faces are set in the right direction He will help us. Jacob is a most difficult man, he had been a schemer, he got himself rich, but he sees it passing away. All his cattle and all his possessions, they go, they disappear, and he is left alone. It is like his whole world that he had for all those years as he had laboured to increase his substance; he speaks about it in this chapter, he says, “with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two troops”. He had all this wealth. But it is all crucified, so to speak, it all passes away and he is left alone, just himself. That is one side of it, so to speak, it is the world crucified to Him, it all disappears.

You might be brought into a crisis, what would the world be to you? What could the substance of the world be to you? God can create these crises and bring about a .situation where you are left to judge. Jacob must face his brother Esau, and God is encouraging him because the chapter begins with two camps of angels; but it all passes away, he is left alone and a man wrestles with him. He comes to himself now.

His possessions, his world, so to speak, has disappeared, now it is himself. He has been a clever man, he has been a successful man in the world, but it is not going to help him, and he knows that; there is nothing to help him to face up to the matter of Esau. It says, “And Jacob remained alone”. Notice that, “Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn. And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the joint of his thigh; and the joint of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him”.

I want to speak about this painful matter. It has been a long struggle. It is not the world now, it is not his possessions, his wife and children; it is Jacob, it is himself. That would be the more difficult to get rid of; for the acceptance of, “I to the world”, may be more difficult because of what I am and what is innate in me. God will help us, that is the point. He is set to help us, and He will come down and wrestle with us. A Man wrestled with him, a Man out of heaven, and the Wrestler said to Jacob, “Let me go, for the dawn ariseth”, a new day. Jacob holds on. It is all in the divine scheme, how heaven would act and wrestle with Jacob all night. It is all to bring out the strength of Jacob but that he will need to give up in the end. It is a long struggle sometimes with us. But this principle of dislocation is a painful matter. In another way it is the truth of the application of the cross, dislocation. There is no connection, it is painful, “I to the world”. That is the idea. There are others in scripture I could use to illustrate where there was dislocation. It is a very painful matter, and in a way it is never healed, it is permanent. Then it goes on, “And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And he said to him, What is thy name?

And he said, Jacob”. That is it, Jacob, that is his confession. That is the first time he ever said Jacob in his life. He said he was Esau one time. You think of the things that you can get up to, all to escape the truth. He was a schemer, he told his father he was Esau, and all the time he was Jacob. Then at another time he said he was Rebecca’s son. He had come to his uncle and he said he was Rebecca’s son. Now he sees this struggle is coming to an end, in his thigh being dislocated, and he said he was Jacob. That is it, “I to the world”. He is coming to an end of himself and admitting it in saying. Jacob. “And he said, Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed”.

Very wonderful that is; how in these wrestlings that we have, struggling, ups and downs and so on, God credits us with having prevailed. He will allow us to gain a victory. That is what God can do, what Christ can do; for the Man would be the Lord Jesus as He comes down and has to do with us personally. Jacob was left alone, just by himself. Then He wrestles on until He gets this out of Jacob, and names him Israel. So Paul says, “peace upon them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God” as to those who walk according to new creation’s rule. What is governing me in my walk? Is it this world and all that it has built up, its arts and sciences, its technology and all these kind of things? What is governing me? What controls me? Or is it my self-interest or what is in me, a man or a woman, is it my desire after things? The divine Visitor would wrestle with us and allow us to gain a victory and come to this point of Jacob, “for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed”. It goes on, “Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, How is it that thou askest after my name?” He reserves that until he comes to the meeting. He will tell him His name in the meeting, that is Genesis 35 when they come to Bethel, He gets his name told there. “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel—For I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved.

And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him”. The sun rose upon him as if he was the only man living, and that is true, what a different man he is. The sun rose upon him. A fine thing that when you get some sense of the divine favour, God’s favour!

I would encourage us to go by the rule that he sets for our walk, and it is laid out clearly in scripture how we should walk and please God. That was Enoch, he walked and pleased God, and God took him. The sun rose upon him. God makes his sun shine on people, He would make it shine on you. I would draw your attention to the fact there are no cattle, there are no herds, all that is finished. He has finished with all that. Jacob is just himself, no wives, no children, just himself. He is coming out in this character of Israel, has power with God and men, he is princely. Think of that. How wonderful it is in a man here below. He says, “I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved. And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him; and he limped upon his hip”. That is it, he is walking according to another rule. He is not even leaning on his staff here. He is entirely independent of everything. He is walking according to a new principle. He limped upon his hip. I suggest to you, that is another rule, the rule of new creation. Jacob is finished, he is limping on his hip. He is a far better man limping on his hip than he was before. He has come by way of the cross. He has seen an end of himself, end of the world and all his possessions; he is alone now, but he is going on with having seen God’s face and the sun shining on him. “Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew that is over the joint of the thigh”. That is to say, that others come to it too, others come round to the fact of what Jacob set out as a model. We come to that too and get the gain of what others have been through in that respect. But I suggest to you that he was walking according to the rule of new creation.

I commend this to us all, that we are governed and ruled by another world, and by the principles of another world, a new creation altogether. As I said to you, that was the principle that governed that blessed One, the Lord Jesus, in His pathway here below. May it be true of us too, for His name’s sake.

Address at Grangemouth
19 November 1994

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