HOW GOD MEETS IMPERIALISM
[p. 102] HOW GOD MEETS IMPERIALISM
Acts 2:1 - 13; Acts 2:33 - 38; Revelation 19: 11 - 16
My thought in reading these two passages is to show you how God meets imperialism. I refer to that because it is in imperialism that Satan has sought to set aside the divine thought in regard to the race of mankind. God interfered with men when they sought to combine in a unity, and He set up barriers, so that the combination should be prevented. God will not allow of any universal combination of men, except as it is under the influence of Christ. He will not admit of any other, and any attempt to bring it about, He regards, to use a military term, as a declaration of war. Any attempt to bring about a universal unity, God regards as open opposition to Himself. Men may not intend that it is in opposition to God; they may endeavour to hide the real motive, or in other words, men may not quite know what the power by which they are controlled intends in the attempt; they may not be aware of it, but Satan is aware of it. Men do things that they are not quite intelligent about; they are impelled to do them by a power that is outside them, for there is a power in this world which is hostile to God, and its imperial motives always are antagonistic to God. All will appear nakedly in the future, when it succeeds in unifying the different nations of the world under one head. When the enemy succeeds in doing that, he comes out openly. That head is supported by him, whose names are given to us in Revelation, “The ancient serpent, he who is called Devil and Satan”. He has got a variety of designations, and they are all given in that passage, so that there might be no mistake as to him, and he gives all his power to the beast. So that it is all now manifested. His great aim from the building of the [p. 103] tower of Babel unto the end is to bring about a universal unity of mankind in opposition to God’s designs. That is his aim.
Now God regards that as an open declaration of war, and the issue has existed from the kingdom established by Nimrod and will continue until the end of the present order of things. Nimrod’s name signifies that he was a rebel, that is to say, he rebelled against the revealed mind of God. He controverted the revealed mind of God and he established an empire at Babel. Where God limited the nations, and circumscribed them, Nimrod attempted to unify them, and bring them under one head.
That is perhaps something that you have not thought much about, but that is what obtains in the world at the present time, an endeavour to bring about a universal unity. I want to show you that God has met that in Christ. It is always attractive to be diverted from what Satan is doing to what God is doing, and what God is doing is all centred in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus appearing in this world was for God’s pleasure. He is the Man of God’s pleasure. We read in Acts 17 that God is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness, and it is by the Man whom He has ordained, that is to say, by Christ. Then it says, “giving the proof of it to all in having raised him from among the dead”. Now, in that sense, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was God’s way of emphasising His approval of Him. The approved Man is raised, beloved friends, the approved Man! Now why was the Lord Jesus approved? We are told that He loved righteousness-He loved it — and He hated lawlessness. He was the opposite of Nimrod. He was the opposite, in fact, of all the great rulers of antiquity. They did not love righteousness. Now what is said of the Lord Jesus is that He loved it. That came out in His path here; it came out in all His ways. Many of us are young people, and, I speak [p. 104] feelingly, young people do right because they fear the consequences. Now I should not weaken that, beloved friends. It is well to do right, even if fear be the motive, but you can see at a glance that it is quite different to do it because you love it. Now what came out in Christ was this, that He loved it; He loved righteousness, and He hated lawlessness. Now, that Man is approved; the Man who loved righteousness and hated lawlessness is the Man to rule. Hence we read that God has undertaken to “judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised him from among the dead”. In other words, the Man who is approved is the Man who is to rule.
Now, what I want to show you, beloved friends, is that He brings in a unification Of the race On the principle of blessing. That is Acts 2. In Revelation 19 it is the same Person. In other words, the Person who gives the Spirit is the Person who destroys antichrist; it is the same Person. If He destroys antichrist He will destroy what is opposed to Himself in me and in you. The Person from whom I have received the Spirit is the Person who destroys antichrist and He destroys him by the Spirit He has given to me. He destroys him with the breath of His mouth. Now, is He going to allow anything anti christian in you? Is He going to place you and me On the ground of anything in the flesh? Is it possible that I have received the Spirit from Christ, and yet be allowed to pursue my own course Of self-will? No! dear friends, it is not possible; my will has to go.
Now, how is that brought down in us? I do not know of anything more interesting than the wisdom with which the Lord Jesus from heaven brings about His sway in the heart of man at the present time. He proposes to bring about His sway in your heart and in mine, and, in effecting that, He brings about universal unification. His thought in the gift Of the [p. 105] Spirit is that, that the barriers that had been raised up among the nations should be overthrown. If God raises up a barrier, He will not allow anyone else to overthrow it. Any attempt to overthrow it He regards as rebellion, but He has got title to overthrow it Himself.
Now what He does is this. He brings in a Man, and that Man becomes approved. I would advise everyone here to study the gospel Of Luke, and what the gospel of Luke presents is man reinstated. You will all remember Genesis 40, where Joseph is found in prison with the two servants of Pharaoh. One is the chief baker of the king and the other is the chief butler Of the king. They were both found in prison with Joseph. What a wonderful thing to be found in prison with a man like that! More than that, Joseph was attending upon them. That is the present moment outwardly. Well, now, what I want to show you is this, that the light that came out in prison, the light that shines in that chapter, is that man is reinstated. But in whom is he reinstated? He is reinstated in Christ. That is the gospel of Luke. A Man appears whom God approved; God approves the Man, as Luke presents Him. After thirty years of private life it is announced from heaven that He is the Son of God. “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”, Luke 3: 22. On the mount Of transfiguration, in chapter 9, He is owned as the One who is qualified to speak; He is qualified to be heard, the One who should be heard, and, in the last chapter Of the book, He is carried up into heaven.
Now, think of that, beloved friends! Think of the reinstatement of that Man in the presence Of God! He is reinstated. Does not that encourage your heart? Think Of a Man now extending His hands in blessing. That is what the last chapter presents to us. It says, “He led them out as far as Bethany, and having lifted up his hands, he blessed them” (verse 50).
[p. 106] What a Man He was! His hands extended in the blessing of men. That Man is carried up into heaven.
It is not simply received, but carried up into heaven.
Does that not encourage your heart? A Man who is engaged in the blessing of men here upon earth is, carried up into heaven. I have often thought of the breastplate. The breastplate signified that the Lord loved the saints, and the breastplate was for God. It was that which met the eye of God when the Lord was before Him. That is the Man that God delights in. A Man that loved the saints on earth is carried into heaven. Think of heaven being occupied and dominated by a Man like that!
You all remember Psalm 24, “Be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in”. The everlasting doors were opened to a Man like that. He was carried up into heaven, not only that He went up, as John presents it, for it is not a question of the dignity of His Person, but of a Man who can love. Is that how you apprehend the Lord Jesus? That is how I apprehend Him, a Man who can love, a Man that has got the breastplate with all the saints’ names there. That is the Man who is carried up into heaven. Is that not glad tidings? That is the approved Man. He is carried up into heaven, and He dominates heaven!
Now, when He goes there, the sphere of the blessing necessarily becomes extended. He intends to influence, in blessing, the whole race of mankind. The whole race of mankind is to come under that influence.
Suppose they turn their back upon that influence?
Alas! many are doing that. Suppose you turn your back upon the sun? It continues to shine upon your back! That is the present dispensation. The whole race of mankind is to come under that influence. I wish I could make that plain to you; it is the influence of a Man whose hands are extended in blessing, and that is what comes to light in Acts 2, when the Holy [p. 107] Spirit comes down. What does that mean to you and me? It means to me that Christ’s influence in heaven is unlimited. You see what Peter says here: “Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God”. The approved Man is exalted, and, being in the highest place, He receives the gift of the Spirit, and the gift of the Spirit here implies that the blessing is to be universal. “How do we hear them each in our own dialect?”. What language! and there were those hearing “from every nation of those under heaven”. There are none others! Every nation of those under heaven. Who is in heaven? Christ is in heaven. And every nation under heaven must be influenced by Him. Bethany was necessarily a limited spot, although it was a very precious spot to the heart of the Lord. The blessing began at Bethany, but it was limited there. The Man who began to bless at Bethany is exalted to the highest place in heaven, and He continues to bless. Has He blessed you? That is the question. If you have not received the Spirit, I advise you to pray for Him. One loves to hear people asking, “What shall we do ... ?”. The present is a time of giving. It is not a time of demanding, it is a time of giving. His hands are stretched out to bless. What an Administrator the Lord Jesus is! What are you going to do with such light as that? It is a time of giving, that is what it is, and giving from such a position.
I love that word, ‘Heaven’! I do not know what you think about it. You will find here in the opening of this chapter that the sound is said to come out of heaven. Now suppose you had loved Jesus on earth; suppose you had loved Jesus as Peter had loved Him, and John and the other apostles, and you had seen Him go up to heaven as they did. What would you expect the next thing from heaven to be? What would you look for? I would look for some sign that would suggest something as to the One I had seen going in there. I would look to hear of something [p. 108] changed there. There was a change in heaven when Jesus went in there; the One who dominates heaven is the Blesser. What an influence! What an influence upon earth! “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades ... ?”. You cannot bind them. The influence of Christ is irresistible; you cannot bind it. It is the influence of the Blesser. Well, the question is whether you have come under it. The Lord wants to influence us. Have you come under the influence of Christ in heaven? The sound, it says, came out of heaven. Oh! what a sound it was! It was no bruit of war. No! beloved friends, it was the Holy Spirit of God, and He came down in such wise as to fill. It says, “There came suddenly a sound out of heaven ... and filled all the house ... . And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit”. The Lord Jesus showed by that one fact that the reign of blessing had begun. Now, I would appeal to you, have you received the Holy Spirit from the Lord Jesus? That is the greatest possible gift that He can give you. “Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which ye behold and hear”. He received Him, and shed Him forth. It was the administration of blessing. Now, what I want you to notice is that the gift of the Spirit here brings about the overthrow of human imperialism. If you are not possessed of the Spirit, it is as certain as anything can be that you will be incorporated in some society of this world. You will find yourself involved in it in some sense. The only hope for you is to come under the influence of the Lord Jesus in heaven. The gift of the Spirit implies complete deliverance from worldly combinations. You can understand these men of Jerusalem raising the question of what they should do. They were convicted, pricked in their hearts. It was one of the [p. 109] most remarkable addresses that ever had been. There could not have been such a sermon preached before. It was the first sermon preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Peter says that later, “declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven”, 1 Peter 1: 12. I want you just to ponder the situation. Peter stood up with the eleven, not with the one hundred and twenty. The one hundred and twenty had received the Spirit, but they were not all preachers. They were not all commissioned to preach. The twelve were commissioned to preach, and the preachers are to stand up. Peter stood up with the eleven, with the commissioned preachers. They were entrusted with the preaching. It is entirely a mistake to say that the assembly is entrusted with the preaching. Peter stood up with the eleven; he had the support of the eleven preachers.
It was a wonderful address. He preached the gospel by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, and we are told that they raised this question, “What shall we do, brethren?”. They were convicted, and Peter’s reply is, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you”. There is no such thing as repentance in companies. There is such a thing as love in companies, but there is no such thing as repentance in companies; it is each one of you.
I wonder if anyone is convicted? Do you know what brings conviction? The goodness of God. And here was the most remarkable expression of the goodness of God. The Holy Spirit had come down from heaven. Jesus had received Him from the Father, and had shed Him forth, and there He was in their midst. It was the goodness of God. “We hear them speaking ... the great things of God”. Suppose you search the profane histories of the world, what do you find? I do not say that we ought not to be acquainted with the histories of the world, in a sense, but you will find the record of the exploits of the men [p. 110] of the world, the wonderful works of men. What is going to be the end of all that? Not one trace of it will remain, not one trace! Beloved friends, not one trace of the exploits of a man like Napoleon will remain. His name will never be remembered in the world to come, nor any other here before him. Every trace of these men and all others will disappear.
Now, what about God’s imperialism? What about God’s Emperor, I may say, because that is what the Lord Jesus really is? He is “King of kings, and Lord of lords”. What about the record of His exploits? They will be the theme of our conversation in that day. And so it is now: “We hear them speaking in our own tongues the great things of God”. That is the Christian’s employ; it is what we are engaged with, the great things of God, and it is by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Those who have received Him are engaged with the great things of God. What employ that is! That is what will engage us in the future day. The records will be kept (there is no question about that), and the histories in that day will disclose to us the wonderful exploits of the Lord Jesus, what He did in the domain of death!
You remember in Numbers 21 it says, “In the book of the wars of Jehovah”. Did you ever read that book? It is the Christian’s military literature. “The wars of Jehovah”-it is what He did. What did the Lord Jesus do? He went down into the domain of death, and He fought there. He went there for us. He met the foe there, and we are told that He annulled him through death: “Through death he might annul him who has the might of death”. That is what the Lord has done for us. I advise you to read the book of the wars of the Lord. It will have a great place in the library of the world to come, and it will be a well-read book, but we have it already. They were speaking of the great things of God. In regard to that, unity is brought about just in that way. It is “from every nation of those under heaven”. I do not say that all the nations were brought in yet. That was looking forward to the ministry of Paul, when all these nations should be visited with the gospel, and should receive the Holy Spirit. Paul said “that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable”. The apostle Paul received a commission from Christ, and he went out amongst the gentiles; he preached the gospel to them, and they were converted and received the Spirit. All the nations were represented, and were brought into a unity. They were sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they were offered up to God, so to say, as a sacrifice: “carrying on as a sacrificial service the message of glad tidings of God”, Romans 15: 16. Now that is what was effected, and we have come into that. It is a unity. What kind of a unity? A unity of spiritual affections. That is what it is, and that is the great testimony to the imperialism of the Lord Jesus. I use that word advisedly; it is perfectly scriptural. Imperialism in the hands of the Lord Jesus implies a unity in spiritual affection. Who comes into that unity? Peter indicates here how it is come into; he says, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you”. Repentance is toward God; it sets you right with God morally. Baptism cuts you off from the world. Every Christian should be baptised. If you read the gospel of Mark you would be led to believe that, if you were not baptised, you could not be saved. “He that believes and is baptised shall be saved”, Mark 16:16. Repentance sets you right inwardly with God. You know that God has rights over your soul, and God forgives you, but baptism is the counterpart of that. Baptism is not for God; baptism is for man. Baptism sets you apart here in this world. It means that you have severed your connection with the world. You receive the Holy Spirit, but is it to set you up in this world? Is it to make you a great man in this world? Not at all; it [p. 112] is to enable you to be true to your baptism. So he says, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you”. Many a man is content with repentance, without the confession that is involved in baptism, and so he never comes into the good of salvation. Baptism is a public severance from the world. It is “for remission of sins”. You get a good conscience from God through the blood of Christ. I have often said you never get a good conscience till you get a bad one. The light of God shining in gives you a bad conscience. You are convicted as a sinful man, as Peter was in the boat, but the remission of sins through the blood of Christ gives you a good one. A good conscience implies that you can lift up your face in the presence of God as perfectly free in His presence. Then there is not only a good conscience but a full heart, for it says, “And ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. What will the Holy Spirit do for you? He will fill your heart with joy and peace in believing. I do not say there are not other things, for there are. But it implies that He will fill your heart with Christ. You have got no more links with the world. He maintains you in accord with your baptism. You do not want the world now.
Were these people sorry for their decision? No, beloved friends, they were happy; they were contented; they were partaking of their food with gladness of heart. They were happy in this wonderful gift, in the remission of sins and the gift of the Spirit. That is the effect of the Lord’s presence in heaven; it brings about unity here, the unity of spiritual affections.
Now, what is He going to do in the future? He is going to exercise the same power as He is exercising now. It says, “Whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath” or spirit “of his mouth”, 2 Thessalonians 2: 8. It is the same Spirit as He breathed into His disciples. He has not two spirits. It shall be His instrument of destruction. What is toward men now [p. 113] in blessing shall soon be against men in judgment. It is because of open revolt against God. Now I want to make the point clear in Revelation 19. The Lord Jesus comes out as the divine Emperor. The gift of the Spirit implies that He has power to bring about divine unity in blessing. In future, He comes out with the name written upon His garment and upon His thigh-”King of kings, and Lord of lords”. He is upon a white horse, which is symbolic of imperial power, and His armies have white horses, all significant of imperial power. In connection with the opening of the seals in chapter 6 we have a black horse and a red horse, and so on, but Jesus has a white horse. It is significant of imperial power, and he who sets himself up as the antichrist is consumed by the spirit of His mouth.
My time is gone, but I want to make clear to you how God in Christ has met the conditions that have arisen in the world through imperialism, how testimony is seen now in the different nations being brought into blessing representatively and brought into unity in the power of the Spirit, and how in future when the mystery of iniquity comes to a head, it will be destroyed by the spirit of Christ’s mouth. It will be destroyed by Him who comes out as King of kings and Lord of lords. It is here now, but it has not yet come to a head.
May the Lord give us, before that time, to receive at His hand! His hands are outstretched in blessing, and our part is to receive. May He give us simply to receive the blessing, and come into that blessed unity of spiritual affections!