THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN HIS SAINTS DOWN HERE
[p. 240] THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN HIS SAINTS DOWN HERE
I only just want to say a word. If one looks at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for a moment what marks that time is marrying and giving in marriage. It is not a good sign in the ways of nature. It gives us an idea of the spirit in which we have to take up these things. It is not as though the Spirit of God had come in to settle us in comfortable circumstances here. Our obligations in our relationships here are to be fulfilled in the light of divine grace. Another thing comes in: Christ and the church, it is a pattern of man and wife. But what I seek to maintain is, all these relationships which are lawful and right are part of God’s ways with us, part of God’s discipline with us. We should neither think too much or too little of them. We may attach too much importance to them, or we may think too lightly of them. My object in speaking is to draw attention to what the great purpose of God is in His saints down here. The passage I read gives us a clear idea of the lines on which God is working. That is, everything at the present moment is according to the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Thessalonians had the idea that the day of the Lord was present; if it were so they would not be in persecution. That is what the apostle brings before them. What marks the present time is that everything is according to the grace of God.
If you get a right idea of the church, it is to be the vessel in which there will be the full setting forth of the grace of God. They were acquainted with the grace of God. They knew what grace had effected for them. They had been freed of the pressure that was on them, but more they had learnt that the church [p. 241] was the vessel in which there would be the full setting forth of the grace of God. Everything is on that line. What is the apostle’s anxiety in regard to them? That the name of the Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them. The first epistle teaches us that we are to be for ever with the Lord. We shall be glorified with Him, but in the meantime the point is that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be glorified in us, whatever we enter on down here. It is better not to be married, considering the times, but if married it is lawful and right. Everything is to be subordinated to one great point that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be glorified in us. God will not have us here for social happiness merely but His desire is that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be glorified in us. What I understand by that is that there should be in the saints the full expression of all that is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is where I see the grace of God expressed. The expression ‘name’ is what is set forth of the grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Him that we get the full setting forth of what the divine thought is in regard to man. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be glorified in the saints. We are to be glorified in Him, and it is right that in the moment that intervenes His name should be glorified in us according to that grace.
That is the setting forth in the saints of the full expression of what the grace of God is. We are often defective in it. How little the name of the Lord Jesus Christ comes to the front. The Lord Jesus Christ is the full and blessed expression of the grace of God towards man, what the pleasure of God is in regard to man. Peace, favour, reconciliation, eternal life are all set forth in the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth of it is to be expressed in the saints here. I desire that all should tend to that end. No one would grudge any happiness to our brother and sister but I am much more concerned that what they have entered on should [p. 242] conduce to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ being glorified in them. The apostle’s prayer was that God would fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness. You cannot disconnect the thought of goodness from God. He will fulfil in us the good pleasure of His goodness and His work of faith with power. There is a work of faith that could not go on, except where faith is. It could not go on if we were in heaven. It is a work that goes on when we are in circumstances of darkness. It is the effect of light in the saints when we are surrounded with darkness. May God direct our attention to what His thought about us is. It is a great thing to see the lines on which God is working, that is grace and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ being glorified and having the full expression in the saints. We all need to be subordinate in our hearts to that end, so that we do not settle here in circumstances of ease and satisfaction. But that we should recognise that what we have to pass through here is really used of God in the way of discipline that no hindrance should come in, but that circumstances may be used of God to that end. I pray earnestly to God that this may be so with our brother and sister, that they may understand the divine purpose in regard to them and every saint that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us, that there should be in them a full setting forth of what the expression of grace is as set forth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.