BLESSING AND LIBERTY
[p. 157] BLESSING AND LIBERTY
Galatians 3: 1; Galatians 4: 7; Galatians 5: 1
I have been endeavouring, on former occasions, to shew that things foreshadowed in God’s dealings with Israel have their fulfilment in the church. We have been too much accustomed to think that the things there foreshadowed had reference only to Israel hereafter. My impression is that whatever came out had the church in view. The truth of the church was not made known; it was hid from ages and from generations; but it was in the mind of God, and everything was to have its place there. God made clear the end of Israel after the flesh in the prophetic books. It was made known that they would come under the curse of a broken law, and would be scattered over the face of the earth. But they would be gathered again by God, who would bring them into their own land and proper blessing. When that comes to pass Israel will take its character from the heavenly city, because the church has, in the meantime, come in as the centre of God’s ways.
It seems to me that the holy Jerusalem, the heavenly city, is really the Israel of God, and the Israel which will be upon earth will take its colour from that. The same principle will apply also as to the nations. They will walk in the light of the city. The connection of the church with Israel is carefully maintained; the twelve apostles were to sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and yet their names are found in the foundations of the heavenly city; also on the gates of the city are written the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. The connection is very intimate between the church and Israel.
On past occasions I have taken up one or two thoughts on that line. I took up the thought of the house of God. Israel was God’s house, and Moses was faithful in all God’s house. God set up His dwelling-place among them, but the truth of the house is fulfilled in the church. I spoke, too, of the companions of Christ. It is in them that you get the thoughts of God fulfilled. Last time I took up the thought of the flock. Israel was God’s flock. He led His people like a flock through the wilderness, but, after all, the truth of the flock is really fulfilled in the church. The Lord brings that out in John 10. Israel was God’s flock, but they were limited to the fold, and the Lord came to lead His sheep out of the fold. The thought of the flock properly belongs to Israel, but we find it fulfilled in the church at the present time. Israel in the future will take colour from what is fulfilled in the heavenly city.
The dealings of God in the past were in shadow. There was no present fulfilment of the promises. Now we get every divine thought established in the church, and the church is the great light of the world to come. The heavenly city has the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious, the saved nations walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour unto it. No one can gainsay the immense importance, in the ways of God, of the heavenly city.
I am going now to take up other points, in connection with God’s dealings with Abraham and Israel, which are gathered up in the church, and will be also fulfilled in Israel. Israel will have its part in them, but my point, for the moment, is that they are accomplished in the church, so that Israel hereafter will take its colour from the heavenly city. All these things of which I am going to speak belong to us, not in a public way, but they have come to us. They are hidden and unseen, but they are real: they come to us in such a real way, that they exercise the greatest influence over us.
People are too prone simply to believe things. We must believe things which God has made known to us, but we must not end there. The point is, that whatever light God is pleased to give us should be operative in [p. 159] forming us according to God. All that God makes known to us is to have the greatest moral effect upon us to that end.
The two points before me are blessing in connection with Abraham, and liberty in connection with Israel. Liberty is in connection with sonship. This is introduced in the passage I have read. The first thought is connected with Abraham. It was promised to him that in him and in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, and this is spoken of in Galatians as the blessing of Abraham. The blessing of Abraham had come to the gentiles in Christ Jesus. In the beginning of chapter 4 we get the reality of sonship. It had been God’s thought in regard of Israel, and bondage was unsuitable to it. God said to Pharaoh, “Let my son go that he may serve me”. It was inconsistent with the thought of God that His son should be in bondage, and therefore the charge to Pharaoh.
There we get sonship as the calling of Israel and the idea connected with sonship is the knowledge of God, so that one can serve God in holy liberty. If God is to be served, the one who serves Him must be clear of the bondage of evil. In the present time if a christian is in bondage to the world or to man he cannot serve God. He needs to be freed from bondage to Satan, the world, and man if he is to serve God.
These things belong to Israel in a literal way. They will come hereafter into the blessing of Abraham, and will be brought into sonship that they may serve God in righteousness and holiness all the days of their life. In the coming day Israel will take its colour from the heavenly city, in which every thread of God’s ways has been gathered up, for God’s glory.
The blessing of Abraham entirely depended upon the true seed of Abraham, because man as such was really under the curse of God. The law brought man very definitely under the curse, but it was not required to bring man there. That was his place as the effect of [p. 160] sin, and hence the introduction of the blessing depended upon the coming of the seed of promise. Abraham was called upon to offer up his son Isaac, and received him again from the dead in figure of resurrection, and then God confirmed the blessing in the seed. The reason was this, that man was morally at a distance, in darkness, and away from God. God had withdrawn from him. The effect of sin was to alienate man from God, but God withdrew Himself also from man, and man came into moral darkness. The legitimate effect of this is seen in the heathen. Man got into the darkness of heathenism, and, in a certain sense, was forsaken of God. God left the nations to go on in their own way, and they were under the curse of God. That was the true position of man by reason of sin. On the other hand, the idea of blessing is seen in God drawing nigh to man and making him conscious of His favour. Divine favour is the way in which blessing would be known to man.
We come now to the way that God took to accomplish that. Blessing was promised in the seed of Abraham; but that, of necessity, involved that the seed of Abraham must remove the curse. In the cross of Christ you get the complete setting aside of man. He is first set forth in his true position relatively to God. Christ on the cross demonstrated the true position of man. He was made a curse by being hanged on a tree, and was forsaken of God. What was forsaken of God was the man under curse. Christ in being hanged on a tree, represented man under the curse of God, which lay upon man in its reality. That was not simply the place of Israel, but of man. It was definitely the place of Israel, because they had brought themselves under a broken law; but what was true in the case of Israel was really true in regard of man universally. Every man is lawless, and Christ represented the lawless man under the curse of God. On the cross we get the demonstration of that. He was made a curse by being hanged on a [p. 161] tree, and entered into all the consequences of the place which He had taken. That is the explanation of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The forsaking was the forsaking of Christ as Man. It was the righteous One who was there; but, for the moment, He represented the lawless man.
What came to pass was this, that the lawless man was terminated. There was the end of the old man. “The truth is in Jesus” is the having put off the old man. There was the termination of the old man, in the ways of God, in the death of Christ. It was not simply that Christ was made a curse and entered into the condition in which man was, but He terminated that man in death. There was no revival of the victim: the priest was revived. Depend upon it that man after that order was never revived. The lawless man was terminated for God. That is one side of the truth.
But what is true on the other side? The blessed truth abides, that in Christ man is made nigh to God. He was raised again from the dead and is now the Head of every man. In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and man is brought nigh to God in Christ, so that the curse is gone with the man that was under curse. Hence you get the blessing of God. You can see that at the close of the gospels, where the Lord comes into His own company. The lawless man was gone; and Christ was among them, and He brought God close to them. In John 20 the Lord breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. He brought God close to them in blessing, and they must have been conscious that God was nigh to them in favour.
In chapter 3: 13, 14, we get two classes spoken of. It is said, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law”, and then, the blessing of Abraham come to the gentiles. Those redeemed from the curse of the law were the true remnant of Israel, and this was with the object that the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles. Blessing could not come to the gentiles without [p. 162] Israel. You must get Israel first, and then the blessing of Abraham reaches the gentiles. That is what came to pass in the church. A remnant of Israel was brought into the church. That is seen in John 20, Christ was there as Head to communicate to the disciples the Holy Spirit. They were brought into the place of the church and made conscious of it, but then the blessing of Abraham reached the gentiles in Christ Jesus that they might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. That is what has come to pass, God has gathered up in the church every thread. In the church you get the Israel of God, and the blessing of Abraham has come to the gentiles in Christ Jesus.
In resurrection Christ comes out into a wider sphere. The ministry of Christ was first to a people after the flesh, but in resurrection the ground is larger. He comes out as last Adam and second Man, and it is not simply to gather in the remnant of the Jews, but that the gentiles might be brought into common blessing with them. They come into the place of the companions of Christ. Those who believed in Christ were the children whom God gave to Him, and they could not be more than companions of Christ, and the gentiles too have that place: hence these are spoken of as “fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God”. The blessing of Abraham has reached the gentiles in Christ Jesus. The reality of the blessing is assured to us in the gift of the Spirit. It is not only that the people of God are forgiven, but they are brought nigh in Christ Jesus, and the proof of it is in the gift of the Spirit. I can believe in the delight of the Lord in John 20 in communicating to man the gift of the Spirit. It was the proof of what had come to pass, and God was brought nigh to them so that they might be conscious of the favour of God.
If you look at the seed of Abraham after the flesh, what sense have they of what has come to pass? Take the mass of professing christians, what sense have they [p. 163] of it? God has brought Himself near to man to make him conscious of His favour. How far do we realise the blessing which has been brought to us in Christ Jesus? The Spirit is communicated to make us conscious of the blessing of Abraham. Instead of being at a distance from God, He has been brought to us. A great many people would like to live piously down here and then go to heaven, but that is not christianity. The first element of it is, that God has brought Himself nigh to us in blessing in Christ, and made us conscious of it by the Spirit. That is brought to pass in the church. Israel will be brought into it in a public way, and will take their colour from what has come to pass in the church.
If you were to question people today about the blessing of Abraham, I do not think you would find that they understand very much about it. We ought to understand what it means. It stands in contrast to the curse which lay upon man, and which was demonstrated in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We come now to the other point — namely, sonship. In the blessing of Abraham, God spoke to Abraham that he might have His way before him. I do not think that the blessing could be spoken of as fulfilled while God was dealing with man in the flesh, but it has now been brought to pass in Christ. He has necessarily brought God to man. God withdrew from man as the consequence of sin, but Christ has brought God to man, and made the consciousness of it effectual in the communication of the Spirit. But there is another thing, that is, of necessity Christ brings to man the knowledge of God, because in Him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. The truth came out in Him as to what the Father was to the Son, and the Son to the Father. The love of God came out in Christ. God’s nature was revealed in Him. The whole truth of God was revealed in Him. His body was the temple of God, and there was the setting forth of God in Him here. God was revealed that man might know Him, not simply in His [p. 164] attributes, but in His nature. In the blessed reality of His nature lies the spring of all His activities. One might be fearful of the holiness of God, but in Christ I learn that the abode of His holiness is His love. Love is the spring of righteousness and the abode of holiness. The source of all the divine activities is in what God is, and there is no dark part in Him. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. All that He is came out in Christ. “No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”.
And there is another thing in God, He is to be trusted, because there is nothing in Him contrary to His love. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. The death of Christ was the expression of the love of God. Love would not tolerate the lawless man, and God in love removed him, that love might be effectual for man. The practical result of it is that in the knowledge of God, man is brought into sonship. God indicated that even in regard of Israel. Before ever they were put under law, He said, “Israel is my son, my firstborn”. That will be fulfilled in Israel hereafter.
Now the knowledge of God is available to us that we might serve Him without fear, that we might be educated into perfect confidence in God. Our being the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus hangs on the fact that God has appeared in Christ. In Christ God is perfectly revealed that He may be known, and served by those who know Him. Sonship is no good practically to any that have not the knowledge of God. It is the calling of God, and God brings us into His house to mould and form us according to the revelation of Himself and we are affected by that. God is love and we are brought under the influence of love. We are brought to the abode of His holiness — His nature — in order that we may come under the influence of holy love, to serve God.
[p. 165] On the other hand, bondage is entirely inconsistent with serving God. We cry “Abba, Father” in the liberty of the Spirit. We were under bondage to the world, but the divine thought was to deliver us from all bondage. God took in hand to deliver His son out of Egypt to serve Him, and He has come in to deliver us from this present evil world to serve Him without fear. If man is to serve God it is plain that he cannot serve Him without the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God is of the last moment to us. And how are we to get it? There is only one way, by the Spirit of God. You must not suppose for a moment that listening to lectures will bring you the knowledge of God. The first great point is, that He is revealed in Christ; but there is another, namely, that what is revealed is made good in us by the Spirit of God.
In the death of Christ God commended His love to us, but now the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. We are in the light as God is in the light, but the light is to be effectual in us by the Spirit, so that we are formed in the knowledge of God to serve Him without fear. If we are not free from bondage we are not at liberty to serve God without fear. Egypt is not a suited scene in which to serve Him. Israel was to serve Him in the wilderness.
Now, all that has been fulfilled in us as christians. Christianity is living, and the first element of it is the consciousness of divine favour and blessing brought to us in Christ Jesus, and made good to us in the Spirit. All these things will in a public way be fulfilled in the future. The heavenly city will be the light of the moral universe. God will shew in the church the surpassing wealth of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The place of the church is of great moment in regard of the universe of bliss. At the same time the blessing of Abraham, the calling of sonship, and the service of God will be made good to Israel hereafter. Zacharias sang, “that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies [p. 166] might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life”, Luke 1: 74. All that will be fulfilled, but it is fulfilled in regard of us in a spiritual, not in a public way. We come into the blessing of God. Christ has brought Him to us, and we are assured of divine favour and blessing. The knowledge of God forms us according to Himself so that we serve Him without fear.
I would like to see a man here on earth wholly characterised by the knowledge of God. He would be a wonderful man who has been formed entirely by that knowledge. Christianity would be a true witness on earth if we were all in the good of that. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”. If you are disciples of Christ, what have you learned from Him? I would be able to answer, I have learned from Him the love of God, and I know God, and the more I know God the more my heart is established in confidence. I have no fear, perfect love casteth out fear, and without perfect confidence in God I could not serve Him in holiness and righteousness.
That has come to pass in the church, the companions of Christ, the true Israel of God, in it God has established everything that He had foreshadowed, and whether it be Israel or the nations all will take its colour from that which God will set forth in the heavenly city.