THE KINGDOM OF GOD COME IN POWER
The gospel of Mark lets us into the secret of the restoration of a young man, Mark, so as to be with Paul in the testimony. We know that according to 2 Timothy 4, Timothy was charged by Paul to bring Mark with him, for he was serviceable to him for ministry. He was recognised by Paul as being useful in his position in the testimony. Mark had arrived at this point; he had tried previously to occupy a place in the testimony, and he had failed on the point of fidelity and acceptance of suffering, but he was restored; and we can safely say that the secret of his restoration lies in that, having failed, he set out to consider Christ carefully, and he becomes able in the hand of the Spirit to write a gospel, through having before him service in the testimony. So that he begins with these words: "Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God". No details are given as to the birth and the early years of Christ’s life, but the full-grown Man in the testimony is presented immediately, and presented in the One who, as Mr Taylor has said, is God’s ideal, that is, the Son of God. Every thought that God desired to develop in men, in the saints, he has presented in perfection in Christ, and if it is a matter for us of occupying a place in the testimony, we have to learn how to do this by considering Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The mount of transfiguration introduces the final phase of the testimony of the Lord here. In the gospel of Luke, we come to the mount of transfiguration very early. In Mark it is not quite so rapid. At the same time, it can be seen that it is roughly in the middle of this gospel; as if the Spirit of God was particularly concerned with features that characterise the final phase of the testimony. That is why the section of the gospel that runs from the mount of transfiguration to the end has a special meaning now, because without doubt we are in the last days of the testimony down here.
So the Lord takes three privileged disciples up a high mountain, alone and apart, after telling them, “There are some of those standing here that shall not taste death until they shall have seen the kingdom of God come in power”; “come”, that is to say, not that it is seen coming, but seen already come, it was seen come to power. The important point is that the kingdom of God is already known in power, not the kingdom of God that needs to be introduced in the coming day, which is the presentation in Matthew, of “the Son of man coming in his kingdom". But the presentation according to Mark is the kingdom of God already known here in power, and that is really what we need; I am sure we all feel it, if we are to have in last days a place in the testimony of God, which is necessary. It is power, and this is what was presented to Peter, James and John, according to Mark’s account of transfiguration: the kingdom of God already come here, not weak, but in power.
What is the secret of the power? It consists, as has been said, in learning everything from Christ, as was expressed by the voice from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, hear him. And suddenly having looked around, they no longer saw no any one, but Jesus alone with themselves”. They are those who must continue in the testimony; Jesus alone is with them, and they must learn from Him. If the voice had said: Learn from Moses or Elijah; even though they were devoted servants, there was an element of weakness that could have been seen in them by the disciples, but there was no element of weakness there; there is perfection. What they discerned in the Lord Jesus, according to this gospel, is that His garments became shining and exceeding white as snow, such as fuller on earth could not whiten them. We have been told that the fuller refers to the testimony; here the thing is seen in perfection in Jesus. His garments had no need to be purified in any way; perfection is seen in Him, but this must have an effect upon us; we need to see if there is such a thing in us as the purification of our garments. It is an allusion to what marks us, to what men around us can see in us, a special allusion to the associations in which we are seen among men. If we want to have power in testimony, we must ensure that our garments become shining, so to speak, white as snow, such that no fuller on the earth could whiten them, not perhaps that we can apply this in an absolute way to ourselves because we must always purify ourselves. “Let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit”, 2 Cor 7: 1.
One can see how the Spirit of God underlines the extreme whiteness necessary for those who are to have part in the testimony down here. “Touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you; and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be for me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”. This therefore is the secret of power. If we neglect the necessity for purification of flesh and spirit, purification of associations, we will find that we lose power in the testimony down here. Power is the essential point, the kingdom of God come in power, and this is what is necessary in the last days. What they saw was Jesus characterised by the exceeding whiteness of His garments. Our brother has made reference to that fact we are called to consider the depth and also the height. The sufferings of Christ always appeal to our affections, and the apostle writing to the Corinthians, having introduced the necessity not to touch what is unclean, brings before us the way that Christ has gone. He says, “The love of the Christ constrains us, having judged this: that one died for all, then all have died”; that was the position, “that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who has died for them and has been raised”, 2 Cor 5: 14, 15. We are now all in this position in grace, among those who live, and Christ has died for all that “those who live should no longer love to themselves, but to him who has died for them and has been raised”. The Spirit of God would draw our attention to the fact that God has an order of life and interests in relation to Christ raised from among the dead, and we must be entirely for Him, entirely devoted to His interests. We must take our place in accord with the will of God, sanctified by what is here according to His will and for His testimony, and not as having before us some thought to go on in the world, but rather being satisfied with what God gives us, we are free for His service and His testimony.
Then he goes on, speaking of reconciliation. How marvellous the thought of reconciliation is! God possesses us in Christ for His pleasure. We were among those who were dead, and we have been made to live in order to be entirely for God’s pleasure. Christ in the presence of God expresses the measure of sanctification in which God sets us in Him; we have to have the sense of it in our souls. How sanctifying this is! It is not a question of certain rules so that we do not do this or go there; it is question of being before God for His pleasure, and this necessarily implies sanctification.
The apostle continues, saying, “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him”, 2 Cor 5: 21. What an appeal to our hearts’ affections, the depths into which Jesus has entered, when He who knew not sin was made sin for us so that God could manifest His righteousness in having the saints before Him in Christ, a righteous answer on God’s part to the depths into which Christ entered when He was made sin for us. There was not in Christ the least trace of what is impure, no trace of the world or of its features. He is the measure of the sanctification in which the saints are set before God for His pleasure. Thus the apostle brings in all this to affect the Corinthians; he says, “be reconciled”, answer in some practical way in your ways, understand that you are before God in Christ. This is the measure of our sanctification. He makes an appeal to them in this way and then he applies it in a practical way, saying: “come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I”, God says, “ will receive you; and I will be to you for Father”.
Now the Lord is taking account of the appeal which has been made to us as to this question of power, recognising how easily we turn aside, in coming in the last part of the chapter that we have read to what is very practical: “If thy hand serve as a snare to thee, cut it off”. The necessity is to be very thorough if what we are doing is in any way a snare to us is underlined by the Lord. It is not a question of legality, it is a question of obedience. The Lord says here: be thorough. “If thy hand serve as a snare to thee, cut it off. It is better to enter into life maimed than to have two hands and be cast into hell, into the fire unquenchable”. You may think that no believer will go into the fire; that is true, but the Lord shows in what direction these things lead. All that leads us away from God and from holy separation that is required to be in God’s favour leads us in this direction, and the Lord shows the character of it in this extreme way. He says, “If thy hand serve as a snare to thee, cut it off. It is better to enter into life maimed than to have two hands and be cast into hell, into the fire unquenchable”.
Then, “If thy foot serve as a snare to thee, cut it off”. Where do our feet go? Let us pay attention to this as those who are separated for the pleasure of God. Are we going to deprive God of His pleasure, and deprive ourselves of power and liberty in the service of God? The Lord insists upon this question because it is a question of power, of power to meet every form of opposition to the truth. He goes on, “If thine eye serve as a snare to thee, pluck it out”. It is a matter of what we look at, of what catches our eyes, of what is before us, of what we may not yet have committed ourselves to. “If thine eye serve as a snare to thee, pluck it out; it is better to enter into the kingdom of God having one eye than to have two eyes and be cast into hell, into the fire where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched”. The presence of the Holy Spirit in us involves this. At the beginning, He came in the character of parted tongues as of fire which sat on each one of them. The Lord says: “Every one shall be salted with fire”. It is a matter of the truth which finds an entrance into our souls continually. The Lord then adds: “Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt”. I believe that it is an allusion to the fear of God maintained in our souls by the Spirit. In the old economy, every offering had to be offered with the salt of the covenant of their God upon it, Lev 2: 13. We are ourselves the sacrifice: we must present our bodies as a living sacrifice. “Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt”.
May we all bear the word of exhortation. May every one be more exercised so that what is necessary to obtain power finds place in us in a practical way, for His Name’s sake.
LONDON
4 February 1958
From Paroles d’Édification Mutuelle
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THE CALLING ON HIGH OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS
Philippians 3: I-15
I have read these verses in order that we might receive something of the stimulation which I believe they are intended to convey; for they have been written by a man of like passions to ourselves and therefore what they express shows what may be reached by any one of us. Indeed, I suppose the epistle to the Philippians largely gives us proper Christian experience, set out before us in Paul who is allowed by the Spirit of God to present himself to the saints as a model. In this very chapter he says, “Fix your eyes on those walking thus as you have us for a model”, v 17. It is remarkable grace on the part of the apostle that he not only presents himself as a model but apparently identifies with himself Timotheus—his true child in the faith. “Have us”, he says, “for a model”.
Now in the last verse read Paul calls attention to our minds. He says, “As many therefore as are perfect, let us be thus minded; and if ye are any otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to you”. Our minds are of great importance. We have spoken of the danger of the natural mind and especially of mental ability and mental activity in the things of God and of the need of the believer’s mind being controlled by the Holy Spirit. If the faculty of thinking, the mind as we have received it from God, is to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, then it is very important that it should be properly employed. We are greatly affected by that which we give our minds to. The apostle is concerned about our being minded in a right direction, as the scripture says: “Have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth”, Col 3: 2.
We are greatly affected by our minds; it is through them that we receive light from God. God presents light to us to be received in our minds but, as I have said before, minds that are controlled by the Holy Spirit. In Mark 9 the Lord speaks very solemnly to His disciples, first of all as to our hand, then as to our foot, and then as to our eye. The idea, of course, of the eye is really the mind. The eye is what we are looking at, what we have before us. He says first of all as to the hand: “if thy hand serve as a snare to thee, cut it off”; then “if thy foot serve as a snare to thee, cut it off”; and then “if thine eye serve as a snare to thee, cast it out”, v 47. That is to say, the Lord is calling our attention to what we may do—our hand; or where we may go—our foot; or what we may be considering, what we may be looking at, what we have our minds on—our eye, and in each case He contemplates the possibility of these things becoming a snare to the believer. If we begin to discover that what we do or where we go, or what we are thinking of, what we are contemplating, what we have before us, is in danger of becoming a snare to us, the Lord says, ‘Be drastic about it, cut it off, cast it from you’. He says, “It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire, where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched”. It is a very serious thing indeed, showing the direction in which anything that diverts us from God and His things tends; not that any true believer will ever find himself in the hell of fire, but the Lord is speaking in that solemn way in order to show that that is the direction in which anything that would divert us from the path of God’s will tends. Hence it is of great importance that our minds should be kept under control, should be given to things that are worth occupying them.
You will remember that the apostle Paul in his unconverted days, was travelling on the road to Damascus when he was suddenly arrested by a light out of heaven, and not only was there a light out of heaven, but he saw Jesus. He says later on in writing to the Corinthians: “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” 1 Cor 9: 1. Indeed he regarded it as a stamp of his apostleship. He actually saw Jesus; he saw the heavenly Man. We read in 1 Corinthians 15 “the first man out of the earth, made of dust; the second man, out of heaven. Such as he made of dust, such also those made of dust; and such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones. And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one”, vv 47-49.
I just bring that in so that we may put ourselves in the place of Saul of Tarsus for a moment, because he was raised up by God in order to minister especially to us Gentiles, the wonderful character of the heavenly calling which God has in His mind for those who are reached by the glad tidings throughout this period when Christ is in heaven and the Spirit is down here. “Have I not seen”, he says, “Jesus our Lord”. It was not a humble Jesus that he saw, although when he said, “Who art thou, Lord?” the Lord said to him, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest”, but it was humble saints whom Saul was persecuting, Stephen and many others against whom he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter, disciples of the Lord. It was those home he was persecuting, humble saints with whom the Lord identified Himself and said, ‘Why are you persecuting ME?’ The light that shone into Saul’s soul was the light of the second Man in heaven; characteristically out of heaven. It was “a light above the brightness of the sun” and that light shone into Saul’s soul so that he became impressed with the sense that the saints were being called by the grace of God to a heavenly calling, “the calling on high of God”, as he calls it here, “in Christ Jesus”. Christ in glory was the pattern, the expression of that calling. That is a calling worth holding in our minds and hearts, that we are to be like Christ, for that is what “found in him” means. There will not be a trace left of anything, thank God, that we have been after the flesh, and yet it will be ourselves. It will be ourselves but ourselves in Christ Jesus, in that heavenly order of manhood of which the Son of God is the personal living expression. That is indeed a most glorious order of manhood, for it is One of the Godhead Himself who has become Man in order that a heavenly order of manhood, adequate in its moral glory and blessedness to satisfy the heart of God, should come into being and so that, redemption being accomplished, we might have life in Him by the Spirit.
What a commencement that was to Saul’s spiritual history! No doubt God had begun a work in him. I have very little doubt that new birth had already taken place, for the Lord says that Saul was kicking against the goads. The light flooded his soul, when he saw that light above the brightness of the sun. It shone into his heart and he got an impression of the “calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. I have no doubt it greatly increased with him as time went on. He was caught up to paradise some considerable time later—caught up as far as the third heaven and into paradise, the scene of God’s own delights. What would he see there? Whom would he see there? It is a remarkable thing that we do not read anything about what he saw; we are only told about what he heard. He “heard unspeakable things said which it is not allowed to man to utter”, 2 Cor 12: 4. But what would he see? I think we may say safely that he would see Jesus there, and Jesus as filling the scene with His own exceeding moral excellence; the moral excellence of a Man, a Man out of death. Jesus is the first who has been in death and has been raised up from amongst the dead—a selective resurrection. God intervened in His own power to bring out of death the Man in whom He found His satisfaction. All that was adequate to fill heaven was there in the presence of Jesus, but it is to be expanded in myriads of saints, all called with this calling on high of God in Christ Jesus.
The apostle is setting these things before us, dear brethren, and doing so as in prison. His circumstances were not favourable or easy; they were rather the reverse. He was in prison, unjustly so, and not only that but brethren were adding to his tribulation by preaching Christ of contention. Brethren in Christ were adding to his tribulation by preaching Christ of contention. I suppose they were preaching a worldly, popular gospel. Paul was true to the gospel he had received. He would preach a gospel in keeping with the holy and heavenly calling; but there were those who would preach a popular gospel, escaping the reproach of Christ by presenting things on the level of the natural mind and they were doing that of contention, thinking it would add tribulation to Paul’s bonds. Think of what that would be to a sensitive spirit! That was the kind of circumstance in which we find Paul speaking in this elevated way, presenting to us the height of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus and how he was determined that nothing should deter him from it.
So he says to the brethren, “Rejoice in the Lord” or “Rejoice in Lord”—not exactly or exclusively rejoicing in the Lord personally though no doubt that is included, but “rejoice in Lord”, that is to say that we are rejoicing in that position. We are in the position here of “in Lord”, which means we are in the testimony connected with His name, a testimony involving suffering; involving testing and reproach, but he says “Rejoice”. Be in the position rejoicingly. We are all in it, or we should be in it—in the position here on earth which comes under the lordship of Christ and bears His name. He says, “Rejoice in Lord”.
Now he says, “See to dogs, see to evil workmen, see to the concision”. The concision is a term which Paul coined in order to describe those who took up the terms of the truth without going the whole way in it. They would speak about circumcision, doubtless, but would take it up in a way which was just the opposite to its true spiritual meaning. They would retain some place for man in flesh. We know, of course, that the Pharisees made a great deal of circumcision as a thing that would add something to themselves in the flesh, and that is what the concision would do. So Paul says that they were to see to that kind of thing. He says “We are the circumcision”. You remember what he says in his epistle to the Romans. “He is a Jew who is so inwardly; and circumcision, of the heart, in spirit not in letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God”, Rom 2: 29. Paul was concerned about reality and sincerity and going the whole way. We are constantly tested, dear brethren, whether we are going the whole way. And the way to keep ourselves in the direction, at any rate, of going the whole way, is to keep Christ in glory before our minds and hearts as the expression of the calling with which we have been called, and then to bear in mind that He has reached the position which He is filling in glory, as Man in the presence of God, by way of death and burial. It is most important to keep in mind, as having Christ before us where He is, that He has reached that position by way of death and burial and then of resurrection—the power of God operating in resurrection, taking Him out from amongst the dead. Paul says that he hopes to arrive at that.
He says that he wants “to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if any way I arrive at the resurrection from among the dead”. That is an expression conveying that the One who is thus raised from amongst the dead is approved of God. God shows His approval by taking Him out from among the dead. When the Lord Jesus was raised from among the dead by the glory of the Father, the Father’s love and power were operating, hand in hand, to take out from amongst the dead the Man who is so delightful to Him, and leaving in death all the others who were in their graves at that time. One has often thought of it. There were great men in their graves when Jesus lay in His grave—Alexander the Great and others—great men in this world’s history, philosophers, leaders of human thought and so on, but God left them all in their graves, every one of them save One and that was Jesus. That is resurrection from among the dead. It has a most sanctifying effect upon us; it helps us to come to a judgment of all that is of man’s greatness in whatever direction that greatness goes. It helps us to come to a judgment of it when we see that God has intervened in power and raised from among the dead Jesus our Lord.
Paul goes on to show us that, speaking soberly as a man, he had as much he could boast in as anyone might have; everything that would give him status and acceptance amongst man in flesh Paul had, but he says, “I count also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”. It is not sentimental or extravagant language; it is what Paul had arrived at by contemplating the exceeding moral worth of the Man Christ Jesus. We are called upon in this epistle to discern and approve the things that are more excellent and, having that in mind, we follow the apostle in tracing the moral excellence in the spirit and movements of the Lord Jesus. Paul shows us who He is in His Person. “Subsisting”, he says, “in the form of God” He “did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God, but 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 unto death and that the death of the cross”. It is a tracing by the Spirit of God, through Paul, of moral excellence seen in the Man Christ Jesus. He is the heavenly Man. He is the One in whom we are called; called to a heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. “Emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form” is a striking expression. “Taking his place in the likeness of men” was in itself a tremendous stoop, but having taken that place He did not assume the greatest place amongst men but “humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”.
When God took account of these movements of Jesus, having all the history of the first man before His mind and all that was so repugnant to Him that had come into expression in the history of man, what rest of heart God would have in Jesus! There was nothing to disturb. We can understand the Holy Spirit of God coming out of heaven in bodily form as a dove and resting on Jesus—an expression of divine complacency even before the Lord had completed His course as a Man here. Obedience did not attach to Him as in the form of God, but He, having become Man, entered into a condition and position to which obedience, being proper to man, applied, and thus obedience was found worked out by Him in detail in a perfect way. So He was obedient all through His course even unto death, and that the death of the cross. Obedience was tested and answered to perfectly. We can understand then the Spirit of God saying “Wherefore God has highly exalted him”. The exaltation of Jesus is intended not simply to be a fact that we hold in our minds, but to work in our souls so that we see God’s appreciation of the moral excellence of the Man Christ Jesus. That is exactly what God is seeking to bring us all to, because it is a question now of our having part in “the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. It is a calling that is morally exalted. It takes its character from Christ Jesus. It will work out in our being ready to obey, for one thing. Obedience has become morally elevated in our minds by the obedience of Jesus. It will work out in our not seeking a place for ourselves. You remember on one occasion, when the disciples were disputing who should be the greatest, the Lord took a little child and set it by Him, alongside Him. Matthew says that He set it in the midst, as though all the disciples were to look at this little child, but Luke says that He took a little child and set it by Him, as though to say ‘This little child is the kind of person suitable to be alongside of Me’. The mother of the sons of Zebedee asked the Lord that, in His kingdom, her two sons might sit one on His right hand and the other on His left, and the Lord answered that it was not for Him to say who should sit on His right hand and who on His left. I think the disciples would get an impression that it is not someone who is seeking a place for himself who would be qualified for such a position, because He took a little child as an object lesson of the kind of person who is in keeping with the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus.
So the apostle, in the light of all this, in the light of the moral excellence shining in Christ and of the complete rejection by God of every other kind of man (seeing that Christ has been raised up from amongst the dead), says that he esteemed all that would have added distinction to him as in the flesh to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. In what way was he pursuing? I believe he understood that the divine objective to be reached was that he, in common with all saints called by the glad tidings, was to be found exactly like Christ now. The conforming of our bodies to His body of glory will be a very simple matter indeed with the Lord. It will only take the twinkling of an eye, but bringing us into moral conformity with Him is not, if one may so say, a simple matter. It is a process, it is a lifetime matter. It is what God is occupied with from the moment we are converted to the moment we are taken home to be with Christ. It is a question of conformity to Christ; that is the standard God is working to. He has one Man before Him—a Man in heaven who is before the mind and heart of God; there is absolute perfection there, and He is bringing the saints into accord with it. It has often been remarked, and helpfully so too, that when God brought the first man into being, He did not begin with a babe. He began with a perfect man, and then after that everyone else (with the exception of Eve) had to grow up to that condition. Everyone else commences small and has to grow up to God’s standard; that is a principle with God. He has a Man, Christ Jesus, before His heart and He intends that, by the Spirit, Christ should be before our hearts. We have to grow up to that, and all His ways with us have that in mind. The apostle is found with confidence in God, accepting His ways, whatever they are, in the understanding that they are going to work out in this wondrous way of conformity to Christ. If Paul was in prison wrongfully, he was not repining, he was not murmuring, but accepting in his spirit that it was part of God’s ordering for him so that the moral excellence of obedience should work out in him. It had been seen perfectly in Christ and now it was being worked out in Paul and he accepted it in that light. If brethren were preaching Christ of contention, his spirit being affected by it, he would say, ‘This is just another opportunity for the obedience of Christ to be worked out in me’. There was no spirit of murmuring. You say, ‘It is easily said, but not so easily worked out’. I quite agree. This is why Paul asked for the prayers of the saints and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. All these things are practical. The calling on high of God in Christ Jesus has in view the practical working out in the saints, bringing them into conformity with Christ. So Paul in the light of that counted all things loss that he might gain Christ and be found in Him. Then he says, “Not having my righteousness which would be on the principle of law, but that which is by faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God through faith”. He goes on to say, “to know him”. One has often been impressed with this, that such a one as Paul, with his unique knowledge of Christ, should, near the end of his course, say that he desired to know Him, as though he felt there was much more to be known. His desire was to know Him and, he says, “the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings”. The power of His resurrection is operative towards us and then the apostle was desiring the fellowship of His sufferings. It may be we do not desire it. One challenges oneself. I believe the point is that the apostle discerned in the sufferings of Jesus such moral excellence that he desired to have some part in sufferings of the same kind. It is not, of course, atoning sufferings. The Lord Jesus is alone in atoning sufferings but there are many other kinds of sufferings which the Lord had, as in testimony here for God, as governed entirely by the will of God, and the apostle says that he desired to have some part in the fellowship of His sufferings because he could see moral excellence in those sufferings. Such moral excellence must be answered by God with resurrection from among the dead.
You will remember that in Luke 20 the Lord speaks of those “who are counted worthy to have part in that world, and the resurrection from among the dead”. That is, the saints will have part in the world of glory that is about to come in, and in the resurrection from among the dead, on the ground of being worthy of it, but that is, of course, the result of what God works in our souls. The work of God may be greatly hindered in us if we have not the right objective before us, and on the other hand it can be greatly furthered if we keep the right objective before us. That is what Paul is saying he did. “One thing—forgetting the things behind”. He kept one object before him. Whatever his past history may have been he says, “forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue”. He can leave it all with the Lord and can speak of “the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. What a prize it will be to find ourselves with Christ in glory! We shall be free from all that is attached to us in the flesh and yet it will be ourselves. Just as Paul is found in Christ, it will be Paul, the one who in days of responsibility here was once Saul of Tarsus. It will be the same man, yet entirely different, found in Christ. The chapter shows how we can align ourselves with what God is doing by keeping the great objective before us of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. So Paul desires the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, being conformed to His death. Think of someone desiring to be conformed to Christ’s death! The culmination of His path of absolute devotion to God’s will and complete surrender to that will was death. Paul, as devoted to the saints in love, saw moral excellence in it and he says, ‘I would like to be brought into conformity to it, if any way I arrive at the resurrection from among the dead’. Now he says, ‘I have not already obtained the prize, but I pursue’. “I pursue, if also I may get possession of it, seeing that also I have been taken possession of by Christ Jesus”. The goal is one thing, the prize is another. The goal is the end of the journey. The prize is what is obtained at the end of the journey. He had his eye on both. He would not be diverted, and that brings us back to what we started with, what our mind is on, what our eye is occupied with. “If thine eye serve as a snare to thee, cast it from thee”. It is a question of being drastic with anything that hinders us from keeping before us the object that is before God, Christ Himself in glory. The second Man out of heaven is the expression of what God has in view for the saints. It makes things simple if we take things up in this way. Nature cannot do it, and hence Paul asks for the prayers of the brethren. He asks for their “supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (chap 1: 19), feeling the need of both in order that Christ might be magnified in his body whether by life or by death. The more the calling on high of God is before us, the more Christ will be magnified in our body, whether by life or by death. We have thus a remarkable example of how unselfish the apostle was in that he tells us he had a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is very much better, but, realising that for the saints’ sake it was better he should continue a little longer, he says, “I know that I shall remain”. That meant to remain in prison conditions, in adverse conditions, but for the sake of the saints he was prepared to do so in order that they might prosper.
The Lord would help us to face these things in the light of our wonderful calling. Paul himself sets out the idea as light from heaven, something which reached him at the very start. God impressed him at the very start with the light of a Man in glory and the sense that the saints were bound up with Him. The saints’ calling was bound up with a Man in heaven. Paul saw that light; it coloured his whole course and here, nearing the end, he is found pursuing it in singleness of eye and heart and encouraging us to do the same. May the Lord help us to do it for His Name’s sake!
TORQUAY
8th February 1958
From Words of Grace and Comfort
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