DELIVERANCE AND ITS END - NOTES OF LECTURES 1895
[p. 297] THE REFUGE OF SAINTS IN A DAY OF DARKNESS
I desire to say a little in regard to the place which is given in Scripture to the heavens and the earth — that is, their place relatively. The apprehension of it may be a help in enabling us to understand the influences by which the people of God are to be governed down here.
We are all much exposed to influences of earth, and I do not think (as far as I know myself) that there is anything by which we are so affected as influences. They are extremely subtle, and one comes almost insensibly under the power of them down here. If you see a violent man you can avoid him, but it is extremely difficult to avoid an influence. It is in the air, as one might say, and we are affected and defiled very often before we are aware of it. Hence it becomes a matter of great moment to know the influences to which we are exposed down here.
The Scriptures begin with the heavens and the earth, and end with the heavens and the earth. I just call your attention to a passage in Peter’s second epistle (2 Peter 3: 7, 13), “We according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth”. Then if you look on to Revelation 21: 1 you read, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth”. Revelation looks on to the accomplishment of that of which Peter speaks. You will notice that the scripture gives precedence to the heavens. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. I have no doubt that this is intentional. It is a principle which will he brought into effect in due time, that the heavens rule; and the heavens will rule morally,
[p. 298] not simply politically. I will come to that presently in connection with our citizenship. But God has, in the first instance, been pleased to make the earth the scene of His ways, and in the main the Old Testament is taken up with the development of those ways upon earth. There is very little about heaven in the Old Testament, and yet it is plain that the heavens had precedence of the earth. God set great lights in the heavens, and they were to rule the earth. Yet in God’s ways the earth comes first into view. In the same way there is a spiritual body, and there is a natural body: the natural comes first into view, and yet the spiritual takes precedence over the natural, as according to the purpose of God. In the Old Testament the course of events is pretty much this: God begins by dealing in discipline with individuals — as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; then you get a nation taken up in connection with the ways of God. There was the throne of God in Jerusalem, and a system of nations, in the midst of which God exercised influence; and after that a succession of beasts or empires. This last has been continued till the present time. The Lord referred to it, “the times of the Gentiles” have to be fulfilled. The times of the Gentiles are going on still, and Jerusalem is trodden under foot. But the system of nations taken up in the Old Testament, with Jerusalem as its centre, looks on also to the future when the throne of David will be re-established; very little of heaven comes into view; just enough to show that it had a great place in the thoughts of God with regard to man.
You get heaven first coming into view in regard to Enoch. Death had come in by sin. Enoch was translated that he should not see death. The effect that faith had on him was this — he prophesied, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his [p. 299] saints, to execute judgment on the ungodly”; he had faith to be translated, as we see in Hebrews 11.
Further on we get Abraham, and heaven comes into view in connection with him. Two things mark him, “He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”; and he “sought a better, that is a heavenly, country”. The fathers were not content with the land of promise; God showed it to them, but they sought a better, that is a heavenly, country. I suppose this means that they sought a country where God dwelt. Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad”. Therefore, “God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city”.
I pass on a little further, and in the book of Isaiah we are told that God creates new heavens and a new earth, and we get another thought; that heaven is God’s throne; the earth is His footstool.
I refer to these passages to show that heaven had a place in the thought of God and in the faith of men; but it was not prominent, and God was unfolding His ways in regard to the earth, which will have their issue in the kingdom in the future day.
I pass on now to the New Testament, and the first thing you find is that there is a stir in heaven, and from that point and forward heaven takes precedence, it gets its own proper place. In the Old Testament, while God was testing man, heaven could not get its proper place. Abraham’s faith went beyond that testing; there is no testing of faith in heaven. I have no doubt the faith of other men went beyond that testing, still in the main the Old Testament is taken up with the testing. But the New Testament is different. It means the establishment by God of all that was in His mind, and [p. 300] from the outset the heavens are astir. The stir is first in connection with the birth of Christ. When Christ was born the heavenly hosts announced — “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. I refer to this, because it shows heaven in motion in connection with the birth of Christ.
You will find it of interest to observe the way in which heaven comes into view in connection with the pathway of the Lord Jesus down here on earth. First the Lord is baptised in due time; the Holy Ghost comes down, and a voice from heaven says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. The same thing occurs on the Mount of Transfiguration. Heaven comes into view in connection with Jesus, and there came a voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him”. I think it is of great interest to see the movement in heaven in connection with the presence of Christ here. It is perfectly natural.
The point before me is this: the heavens were getting their own proper precedence and it meant the superiority of all that was of heaven. It leads on in result to the rule of heaven. We see the “living bread” come down from heaven, not merely a voice from heaven, nor even the Holy Ghost from heaven, but “living bread” come down from heaven to give life to the world. Now you see the source of life. The life of the world is dependent on the living bread come down from heaven.
I would like to point out some of the moral excellencies of what came down from heaven.
All here are doubtless pretty familiar with the idea of the living bread come down from heaven. To begin with, there was in it untainted and unselfish love, a thing hitherto completely unknown in man. There never had been seen the like. Another [p. 301] thing was seen in the living bread come down from heaven — unwearying goodness. This came out in the path of the Lord Jesus down here. You have only to read the gospels to see it. Another thing — there was meekness and lowliness, and with this complete superiority to every influence of earth. And further — there was power and energy against all the force of evil, that could say, “I have overcome the world”. “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me”. I only just put these points before you, as I would like all to reflect on what has come down here to earth, and been set forth in the living bread come down from heaven — perfect holy love, unwearying goodness, meekness and lowliness superior to every influence of earth; whereas influences of a character commendable in the eye of man had no place there. At the same time, Christ was the “lion of the tribe of Judah”, strong to resist every power of evil. Satan had no power at all against the Lord.
Just let me call your attention to Revelation 5: 5, 6 for a moment. I want to point out two expressions brought into juxtaposition: the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Lamb as it had been slain. These expressions come out in connection with the kingdom. The form used for “Lamb” is a diminutive — no doubt an expression of affection — but it is curious that in the two verses you should get the lion and the lamb brought together. All this will come out in the kingdom. When the Lord rode into Jerusalem on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass, He came in meekness. Whoever heard of that in a king? In our modern notions of kings we admire condescension and that sort of thing; but in this King there is meekness. It is recorded of Moses that he was the meekest man on earth. The Lord had title, but with the greatest title He was meek. He said, “I am meek and lowly in heart”. But at the same time, He is the lion of the tribe of Judah; He is strong against evil. We need to measure things according to God, and not according to man. We see people often admiring things that are according to man, not according to God, and this affects one painfully. I have only tried to indicate what came out in the living bread come down from heaven. I could not attempt to describe it fully; I can only take two or three features: love, goodness, meekness, and energy against the power of evil. But what I may say in regard of it is, it was too good for earth. It was living bread from heaven, and that could not find its permanent abode on earth. It came to earth. The Lord will no doubt in result give life to the world, but the abode of goodness must be with God. It is of God and its permanent abode is with God. Though it came to earth for a moment the rapture must take place. It must go up to heaven. That is the principle of Psalm 16. You find in that Psalm something so surpassingly excellent that it cannot remain on earth; it must go up to the right hand of God in heaven. In Revelation 12 the man-child is caught up to God on account of the moral excellence there, which was too bright for earth and must go up to heaven.
Now we come to another point. There must be the continuation of Christ here morally in His body. The church is the body of Christ; and if it is the body of Christ, it must set forth Christ. My body is the vessel in which I am set forth; but it is not impossible to distinguish myself from my body. What a man is gets no expression except through his body; and I take it that is what the church is to Christ, the vessel in which he is set forth. It is said of the body in Ephesians 1 that it is the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. Every lineament of Christ was set forth in the body down here. I look [p. 303] upon the church in that sense as the continuation of Christ. There was thus a witness to the world, and that witness was to be maintained in unity. You get this in John 17: “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. The unity of saints was witness of the unity of the Father and the Son, the witness to the world that the Father sent the Son. This will come out in glory. The body of Christ served that purpose down here; but as Christ belonged to heaven, it is clear the body must go up to heaven. You could not separate Christ from His body. The body belongs to heaven, not to earth. What is set forth in the body was nothing short of Christ, properly speaking. The church left its first love, I know; but if Christ was caught up to heaven, the body of Christ must be caught up to heaven. The man-child in Revelation 12 has been held to be a picture of Christ and the church. Heaven is the place and the expectation of the church.
It is plain that the witness of the church has been completely obscured. It is vain in the present day to talk much about it. In a general way saints have lost all idea of the truth of the body of Christ: hence unity has been almost completely surrendered, and it cannot be doubted that the church has lost very largely its proper place of witness. It has left its first love and lost its true place on earth. It has taken a worldly place, and has come under the power of earthly influence, and has lost its own proper heavenly light and lustre. The body is here, I know, as the Spirit is here; but it is clear that the heavenly light and lustre have been obscured. The point is — what remains for us?
I see a great principle in Scripture, pointed out years ago, that when failure has come to pass in [p. 304] any dispensation, it is no use to go back to the past; you must go on to what is to come. You find that in the old days. There were those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem, and who waited for the Redeemer. This is seen in Luke’s gospel, in Simeon and Anna and others.
What have we to look for? I think, for the heavenly city. That led me to read the passage in Philippians 3. Things had gone very much to the bad in the apostle’s days — the mass were minding earthly things. Then it is that he says, “Our citizenship is in heaven”. I think it is when things have gone into decay that the citizenship comes into view.
Another thing becomes prominent, and that is eternal life. It was not so prominent a thought when the church was in its first estate, but comes more into view when things are in decay. It is seen in the later epistles, as was pointed out years ago, that the apostle Paul speaks of himself as apostle in connection with the hope of eternal life. The city and eternal life belong properly to the world to come; but they become prominent when the church has failed in its proper place as witness on earth. Then we are cast very much on the city and eternal life. “Grasp eternal life” the apostle says to Timothy.
But what I want to refer to is the thought that “Our citizenship is in heaven”. I do not think you can know much about this practically except as you know something about the heavenly city. The idea of a city in Scripture is that of a source and centre of light and rule and blessing. Jerusalem was that in some sort upon earth. You find many expressions of this in the Psalms. Jerusalem was compact, the joy of the earth, the gathering centre of the tribes, and so on. The divine idea, I do not doubt, was that the city of the great King was to be [p. 305] a source of light and rule upon earth. If that was true of the earthly city, how much more of the heavenly city! We want to be well acquainted with the heavenly city. I should recommend every one to seek to become acquainted with the moral features and excellencies of the heavenly city. In the idea of rule upon earth in the present time there are many elements, for example, diplomacy, expediency, might; but you may be confident that no principle of that kind can have any place in the city of the living God. In the heavenly city all must be according to God and suitable to His nature; there can be nothing in the city that is contrary to any attribute of God. You may take that for granted. The walls are great and high; everything will be excluded that is not consistent with the holiness of God. It will bear being measured. All is according to the righteousness of God. All His rights are maintained there. The righteousness of God has its proper place there, and so I might go on. You get perfection of light in it. “Its light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal”. The throne of God and the Lamb are there — the moral sway of God and the Lamb are absolute and complete. The river of living water flows from it. It is a source of living water to the nations — health giving influences issue from it.
I allude to these few features, for if you do not understand a little about the heavenly city you will not understand much about our citizenship being in heaven. All is according to God, and no attribute of God can find any contradiction in the heavenly city. You have to take that into account. And another thing is said, “Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother”. There is liberty. And yet another thing is said, “From whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall [p. 306] change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself”. It is a great thing to take into account the moral power connected with the Lord Jesus to subdue all things unto Himself. And it is in connection with the heavenly city that the heavens get their proper precedence. The earth ceases to have the place it had: heaven comes into prominence, and it will ever have precedence. Light and rule have their source in heaven. The earthly Jerusalem will never have quite the same place again, because the heavenly city comes in and the throne of God and of the Lamb are in it. The kings of the earth bring their glory and honour unto it. Nothing enters into it which defiles; all that is unworthy and contaminating is excluded by the very power and energy of life that marks all that is of God.
I only just sought to bring these things under your notice, for it is interesting to see that though God for a time continued His ways on earth, yet heaven is to have precedence, and the time has come when heaven is in view. In the New Testament it comes very much to the front, and when you get the consummation of God’s ways the heavenly city comes out to give light and bear rule on the earth.
We have to accept the fact that our being here is in a way a witness to it. All has failed in the church. Its light has become obscured by an immense mass of unholy profession, which bears the name of Christ upon earth. It is not much good going back upon the past; we want to have fully and continually in view the marks of that which will be prominent in the world to come, it is of great moment that we should understand that our citizenship is in heaven, and that we have only to await the coming of the Lord from heaven.