THE WORK OF GOD
THE WORK OF GOD
CAC We have presented here in a figurative way the work of God in His people, looked at from the side of His own sovereign operations. The scripture ends with, “He is wonderful in counsel, great in wisdom”. I conceive it would help us very much spiritually to understand that something is going on, by the grace and power of God, in our souls which is wonderful and excellent in its character. Things as seen here stand rather in contrast with the way they are presented in New Testament scriptures which often come under our notice; that is, in the parable of the sower. Things are presented there in connection with responsibility, and the prosperity of the seed depends on the character of the ground upon which it falls; therefore there is not altogether a pure result. Isaiah 28 presents the same figure of sowing and its fruits, but presents it from the divine side, from the side of divine sovereignty. So there is a result for the pleasure of God, and for the satisfaction and deep blessing of His people. I thought it might help to look at that.
Ques You mean here it is what God purposes, and works in His people, viewed apart from responsibility?
CAC Yes, it is connected with the counsel and wisdom of God, and it is possible for us to consider, What is God doing with me? Every believer is privileged to regard himself as a subject of the work of God, and it is a work which will result assuredly in that being brought to pass which is for the pleasure of God. I think it is very encouraging and comforting.
Ques If God is working in that way, what should be our attitude towards it?
CAC I think the effect of getting an intelligent apprehension of what God is doing with us would be that in our thoughts and our affections we should become more and [p. 371] more identified with what the blessed God is doing, and that would be a great help.
Ques Is that because we come under His instruction?
CAC It is very suggestive that it says here, “His God doth instruct him in his judgment, he doth teach him”. What we get here is something in which God would instruct and teach us so that we might understand the manner of God’s working with us. What is He doing? It is a great reality, not merely a doctrine; there is no greater reality in the universe than the work of God in the souls of His people.
This scripture would show us how what is brought before us in the gospel of Luke can be realised; that is, that there shall be a hundredfold for God and for His people. It is in Luke that the Lord speaks of “an honest and good heart” — we do not get that in Matthew or Mark — and where that is, the result is a hundredfold for God and His people, because what is secured for God is secured also for His people to be their satisfaction and joy. The fruit of sowing in the land was that there were first-fruits and tithes for God, but also abundance for the food of His people. Whatever is secured in me for God, is also secured for the brethren; I think it is good to see that. We see here how the “honest and good heart” is produced; there is the work of the ploughman and the one who can open and break the clods of his land. The first element in the work of God is that there is a process carried on which brings to nothing all self-confidence. We may learn the force of this from Jeremiah 4: 3, 4. “Break up for you a fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves for Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart”. And then again in Hosea 10: 11, 12 we read, “Judah shall plough, Jacob shall break his clods ... ; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you”. If the ground is fallow it is not prepared for the seed. A breaking up and breaking down process is necessary, so that all confidence in the flesh is removed, a truly contrite and humble spirit is produced, and there is a turning to God — a seeking Him as the alone Source [p. 372] of blessing and good. There are no hard “clods” left unbroken that would impede the reception of the seed, or fail to respond to it. A fine tilth is produced that offers no obstruction to the seed, but which favours a growth in the heart. The work of God is deep according to what is in His mind to bring about. When God began to work with us He had a certain end in view; He had a place for us in His kingdom and He took us in hand that we might be qualified to fill that place for His pleasure and the joy of His people. The breaking up of the fallow ground is very necessary, so that there may be a condition produced in the soul that is prepared for the reception of apprehensions of Christ. What God intends to do is to introduce into our hearts — for this is a heart question, not doctrine — apprehensions of Christ that are going to characterise us in His kingdom.
Ques You were speaking about Luke’s presentation of this; is it because the word of God is sown that results are produced?
CAC Quite so. The word of God brings to us certain apprehensions of Christ; but in view of that, there must be the work of the ploughman, and all clods broken up; that is the work of God. He works that no self-confidence, or self-righteousness, or self-importance of any kind may be left.
The clods are broken up so that there may be nothing left unjudged that would resist what God is going to bring in. He is going to bring in fruitful apprehensions of Christ, and He first of all breaks up what would obstruct the reception and the growth of what he is going to bring in.
Ques Would there be a breaking up of clods in 1 Corinthians?
CAC Yes; a lot of hard clods remained that were not suitable to receive what God was bringing in, and it is often so practically with us, but it is at all times a first essential that fallow ground should be broken up, and hard clods pulverised that there may be receptiveness for what is of God in Christ. God is bringing in all that is of Himself set forth in Christ, and He works with us in view of that becoming fruitful [p. 373] in us. There are many exercises before the soul is brought into that broken state-what Scripture speaks of as a “broken and contrite heart”. Probably it is a state which has only partially been brought about, as yet, with some of us, but it is necessary if there is to be a fine tilth which is ready for the seed. It is the first element in the work of God. We can, at any rate, take account of the fact that God has wrought with us to reduce us, to break up our fallow ground. He would set aside in our estimation all that is of the flesh, that we might judge it in its true worthlessness. But He does this in order that He may bring in apprehensions of a Person in whom is His delight, and bring them in so that we may take character from the apprehensions of Christ that He gives us.
Ques Do the different kinds of seed mentioned here set forth the impressions you are speaking of?
CAC It is interesting that we get here the thought of variety in the seed. In the gospels there is no variety, we are not even told what kind of seed it was. But in this scripture there is variety, and each kind of seed is sown in its own place. There is no broadcast scattering on the wayside, the thorny ground, the stony ground, and so on; there is a prepared place for every different kind of seed.
I would encourage every young believer to think of himself or herself like that. God has taken me up and has put me through humbling exercises that answer to the ploughing and breaking of the clods, but in doing so His intention was to give me apprehensions of Christ that should mark me in His kingdom. God is not putting exactly the same impression of Christ on every one; there is variety.
Ques Do you think the work of God is suggested in John l, where you have different apprehensions of Christ?
CAC That is a most interesting scripture because you see there what might be represented by the different kinds of seed, there is variety of apprehensions of Christ. The two disciples got an impression of Him as the Lamb of God; then what was presented to Peter was the Messiah, which being interpreted is the Christ. Philip finds Him as the One who [p. 374] had been the subject of all prophetic testimony, and then He is known to Nathanael as Son of God and King of Israel.
They all had different apprehensions, and I have no doubt that those apprehensions characterised those men in the kingdom of God; they became fruitful for the pleasure of God and also for the good of the brethren. It has comforted me to think that God has brought certain apprehensions of Christ before me which were exactly fitted to qualify me for the place in the kingdom which He has assigned me. I think it would do us good to get away from the side of imperfection, to think of the blessedness of what has been brought to us by God in His grace. He has given to each of us a distinctive apprehension of Christ; that has been brought about with us all.
Rem Whether dill or cummin or wheat or barley, the seed is fruitful.
CAC Yes, it seems to suggest variety, and each is put in its appointed place, so that the very place where we were born, and where we came under divine influences, and the very character of the ministry of Christ that we came into contact with was ordered of God. We need not think that if we had been somewhere else things would have been better. It has been ordered of God that certain impressions of Christ have been brought to us in the seed of the word so that they might become fruitful in us. Many different apprehensions of Christ are necessary to compass the whole truth. He is too great for any individual to compass; He is great enough for the whole assembly, and, if one may so say, God distributes apprehensions of Christ amongst all saints so that each one has his particular feature. This is illustrated in the twelve apostles. They had not all the same apprehension of Christ; and this is set forth by their names being on twelve different precious stones. The names of the twelve apostles are on the foundations of the heavenly city; they will be known there, but each one has his own distinctive glory. John’s name is not on the same stone as Peter’s; all the names are on different stones, and each will reflect or radiate the light of the impression [p. 375] of Christ which they have. Such variety as that goes to make up the testimony today. The saints are the subject of divine grace and work, and God is giving to each just the apprehension of Christ that He intends. It has often been said that every gift is an expression of Christ. It is what a brother or sister knows of Christ that indicates what has been allotted to him or her. We see in Romans different activities amongst the saints as one body in Christ, and the same thing appears in Corinthians; there is the thought of distribution in a sovereign way according to God’s will and pleasure.
Ques How do we reach these things?
CAC The point is that they reach us; it is what God has brought about. An impression of Christ is brought by the word of God into honest and good hearts, and that is so with every one who is a subject of the work of God. On the responsible side we must admit perhaps much weakness and failure, but there is a view of things according to which we can see that the wisdom and working of God has appeared in the whole of our spiritual history; the very place where we were born and brought up, the influence we came under, the setting of our spiritual lives has all been ordered in the wisdom of God, so that certain apprehensions of Christ have come into our hearts. It is a comfort to know that this has not happened in a casual or accidental way; it has come about in the wisdom of divine working; the more we get that into our souls the better.
Ques Is there a way in which we can further the work of God or hinder it?
CAC I think God would have us identified in thought and affection with His work, and it was in my mind in suggesting this subject that we might be thoroughly interested in the work of God, and that we might identify ourselves with it.
Ques Is abundance of bread corn the end?
CAC Yes, that is the end in view. We pass over from the sowing to the threshing, which I understand to represent the disciplinary ways of God with His saints. His reducing ways come first; the ploughman’s work, and breaking up the clods, then we get the enriching part of His ways, the bringing of seed in variety. Impressions of Christ in great variety are brought into the hearts of the saints by the work of God.
Lastly, the disciplinary ways of God are set forth in the threshing; each one is dealt with in divine wisdom, so that I have just the discipline that I need, and you have just the discipline that you need. It is divinely appointed. As under God’s hand there is nothing to repine about or murmur over, and nothing for us to wish otherwise.
Rem The reducing process brings us to the knowledge of God and discipline follows on that; we recognise the hand of God, the hand of the One we know and have learned in the reducing process. It says, “His God doth instruct him”.
CAC God has brought into our affections what has great value; what is of Christ has value, and we have to come to it that nothing else has. What I am naturally, socially or intellectually has no value; the only thing about me that has spiritual value is that which God has brought into my heart which is of Himself in Christ. When we see that we begin to appreciate the disciplinary ways of God of which we are all the subjects. Some have discipline in their health, some in their circumstances, or in their families, and some in connection with the trials and difficulties of the path of faith, or perhaps a combination of all. We are all under discipline, and one object of it is to teach us how to separate between what God has brought in and what is natural to us. The threshing is not for punishment, but to secure a pure result.
God is working to secure a pure result of His own operations, that what he has brought in in His grace shall — be separated from what is natural, so that we become characterised by the fruit of grace and not by natural features. Even after we have received impressions of Christ into our hearts there is still a great deal left that belongs to the natural order, and the discipline of God is always to get the two things into their right places, and to bring about that there shall be a pure result for the garner of God, and also for the comfort of the saints.
[p. 377] Ques It is encouraging to get our eye sometimes off the responsible side?
CAC Yes, then we have God before us and what He is doing. That is very important because there are many influences that tend to turn us aside from that. It is right to consider the responsible side, and to allow the full weight of the parables in the gospels about the different kinds of ground; but when we get to the honest and good heart we have got to the divine side; that is, to the side of what is the product of a work of God. Then the seed is wholly of God, it is His word, and the particular character of the impression of Christ which is put in each heart is of God. It is of God that you should have your impression, and that I should have mine. Now it has to be worked out for the pleasure of God and for the satisfaction of His people.
Ques Are the responsible side and the divine side indicated in Philippians 2: 12, 13; “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to his good pleasure”?
CAC The two things in a certain way coalesce; all the fruit of grace in responsibility will ultimately coalesce with the fruit of divine working according to purpose, so that they come together.
Ques Does the different treatment for each kind of seed here correspond with God’s different disciplinary ways with us?
CAC What is important is that we should recognise the wisdom and perfection of God’s ways with each one of us; we are apt to question the ways of God with us, but we should remember that He is dealing with us in the proper way to secure the purity of the result. You may say, You do not know what my discipline is! But God knows, and He will not send the horses or the cart-wheel over the dill or the cummin; they are dealt with by the staff and the rod; they would not bear the cart-wheel, they would be crushed; there is divine wisdom in the application of discipline to each one of us. Whatever I have that is a trial to me, it is good to [p. 378] recognise that it is just the appointed thing for me, and it is exactly suited to free the work of God from natural elements, so that there may be a pure result for God and for the happiness of His people.
Ques Does John 9 illustrate this?
CAC Exactly; the man got impressions of Christ, and he thoroughly identified himself with those impressions. He says, “I was blind” — I have finished with that now — “now I see”. He so identified himself with the work of God that was manifested in him that the Pharisees and the synagogue, and the whole surroundings in which he had been, all lost their power. No doubt he got his discipline; it meant something for a Jew to be put out of the synagogue; it was the cutting off of everything that had constituted his religious life; but even such a discipline as that only freed him from hindrance, and left him free to worship the Son of God in the outside place. That is how discipline works.
Bread corn is treated most severely; the cart-wheel and the horses go over that. Paul was a man over whom the cartwheel went. I do not suppose any man ever had a more severe and prolonged life of discipline than Paul. He could say, “Death works in us, but life in you”. What a result for the saints! Not only did Paul benefit, but the saints benefited too. I have said sometimes to people under severe discipline, ‘What are you praying about?’ In most cases they say, ‘I am praying that I may get the good out of this that the Lord intends’. I have sometimes suggested that they would do well to pray that the saints might get the good that the Lord intended by their discipline. Do you not think that would be good? One form of discipline that may come upon the saints is that they may lose a brother of great value and spiritual help; he is taken away. What for? You may depend upon it, it is part of the threshing process; we may get to lean on a brother in such a way that it may be the greatest spiritual gain to lose him. It may expose a weak point, but the discipline will result in our being strengthened at that weak point; whatever the discipline is it is divinely appointed, the rod and [p. 379] the staff and the cart-wheel and the horses are all appointed as being the very best means that divine wisdom could devise to attain its own end.
Ques Did not the discipline Paul went through, especially as a prisoner, yield gain for the saints?
CAC Quite so; what a lot of bread corn there was!
There is not only sinful flesh, but a whole system of things connected with what we are naturally, which is not spiritual, and which will not do for the kingdom of God. That kingdom is a spiritual sphere, and the threshing is to eliminate those elements which will not do for the spiritual sphere. The result is that bread corn becomes available as fruit for God and for the nourishment of the saints.
Ques Will God see to it that the saint gets the good of the discipline through which he is passed?
CAC The ways of God in wisdom work inevitably that way. It may not appear as if all saints got the good of their discipline, but we cannot always judge as to this. If there is really a small result for God it indicates that one has a small place in His kingdom. We are disciplined as part of that which is of value to God; and whatever discipline comes upon us has in view the gain and the advancement of what is of God. I believe God would have each of us to take courage. One might say, I feel I have a very small impression of Christ. Well, cherish it; it is the work of God; you would not have it at all but for the work of God. Pray for its increase and maturing. To those under discipline I would say, Do not be discouraged; it is the dealing of God; it is to bring out more definitely and without mixture what is of God in your heart.