LIFE AND INCORRUPTIBILITY
[p. 334] LIFE AND INCORRUPTIBILITY
John 5: 17-30; 2 Timothy 1: 8-12
The great thought that comes out in this passage in 2 Timothy is that death is annulled and life and incorruptibility are brought to light by the gospel. John 5 is the explanation of it; if you get any entrance at all into the truth in that chapter, you will see how life and incorruptibility are brought to light. They are not exactly brought into effect but brought to light, because there is a hope even in the calling of God; there is the calling and there is the hope of the calling. The hope is heaven.
What I want to bring before you at this time is the line on which life comes to us or reaches us; also of what it consists; and then I want to distinguish between it — that is, life — and the exercises of the way here. You cannot mix up the two. There are the exercises of the wilderness, the difficulties and trials of which we all have our share, and through them we learn the depths of God’s heart. Things are not always quite smooth and pleasant, and I suppose we all find it so in the wilderness; but what I have found out is this, the things which tend to disappoint one naturally we find in the long run to be the best things for us.
It is a great thing to know that all things work [p. 335] together for good to them that love God. People pray that they may work for good; Scripture says that they do. In a way one sees it must be so. If God is above all and through all, of necessity it proves that all things work together for good to those who love Him. If God is supreme — for good is above evil — all things work together for good. But that is another sphere altogether to the sphere of life. We are not tested in the latter, but in the wilderness we are tested, and what we are assured of is that “all things work together for good to them that love God”. But that does not regard us in the way of God’s purpose. As we have often been told, the wilderness was no part of God’s purpose, but part of His ways. It is by His ways we are tested. His purpose is another thing, and life is in the purpose of God. I think in the practical experience of Christians the ways of God and the purpose of God get so entangled that it is difficult to get a clear thought of each.
I make one statement at the beginning, and I think it a very important point: life comes to us on the line of purpose.
I have had it said to me before now, Is not life a necessity for man? I admit that to be born again is a necessity for man, but in the way things are presented in Scripture life comes to us on the line of purpose, and you may depend upon it Scripture puts things far better than we can. It is much better to accept them as Scripture puts them than as we think they should be. A man must be born again. I understand by that that God’s Spirit awakens a man; but life is another matter. Life comes to us on the line of God’s purpose. The passage in Timothy makes it very plain: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works”. Mark that! The holy calling is not on the line of our responsibility, but on the line of God’s purpose “according to his own purpose and grace”. I think when I come to touch on John 5 you will see the immense importance of that.
The truth of the gospel comes to us and gives us relief with regard to our responsibility — or rather in regard to our failure in responsibility. We are relieved in the gospel of two things: the fear of death and judgment. The man who believes the gospel has forgiveness of sins, he will not come into judgment, and he is relieved of the pressure of death. His body which was liable to death (and is still liable to death in a way) becomes the vessel of the Holy Spirit. The [p. 336] believer is relieved both in regard to his responsibility and in view of the judgment of death. Everything is effectuated for the believer on that side.
But life does not come in on that line at all. The line that meets us in regard of our responsibility brings before us that we can have peace with God and favour; and you get also in connection with that line the exercises of the wilderness. The apostle says, “We glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience”, Romans 5: 3, 4. The wilderness comes in on that line and the circumstances connected with it. It is the grace of God meeting all that in which we had failed; and we are relieved of the pressure of death because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Now the other side comes in, and I do not think we can very well learn it till we have learned what is on our side. Then I learn by the Spirit what is on God’s side and that is the light of His purpose, and it is on that line that life comes to us. I would in that light speak of the gospel as that which God uses to bring about His own purpose — His own purpose is life and incorruptibility. Christ “has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility through the glad tidings”. It is no use merely telling people that! If you want them to enjoy it, if you want to lead them into the enjoyment of it you must tell them of that in which it consists.
I can tell you that as I go on I am ashamed of my ministry! I am quite sure that no one who hears me tonight can be so much ashamed of their ministry as I am of mine. I tell you why: because there is so much dogmatism. By that I mean mere statements of Scripture. You must know the thing itself — the blessing — to be able to make known that in which it consists. If I want to lead people into the blessed experience of what life consists of, I must know it myself. It is so even in this world. If I want to make [p. 337] people understand the pleasures of the political world, or the pleasures of refinement, or whatever it may be, I should seek to occupy them with what life in this world is supposed to consist of. And the same in divine things. It is no use dogmatising. If these things are brought to light, of what do they consist? Anyone who claims to know eternal life ought to be able to give some account of what eternal life consists of.
I will attempt to make plain what I mean from John 5. I only refer to 2 Timothy for that one point — life and incorruptibility come to light by the gospel. But the line on which they come to us is the line of divine purpose. “The resurrection of life” (verse 29) is incorruptibility — that is where it comes in there; but the first point is life. What the Lord says is, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (verses 24, 25).
The order in these chapters I think is this: in chapter 4 we get the communication of the Spirit; in chapter 5, the raising up of the man; in chapter 6, deliverance from the world. They make up in that sense a very complete whole, and every part is an absolute necessity to every one of us. You do not start at all on the Christian course till you have the Spirit. How are you going to reach eternal life without the Spirit? So the Lord says, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. You want the power within. It is a well within springing up.
Now I come to the raising up of the man. How is the man raised up? That is the point. Even when the man is raised up there is still another thing — he wants to be emancipated from the influence and control [p. 338] of the world. That comes out in chapter 6. All three chapters are, as I said, an absolute necessity; all are equally important, but I do not dwell on chapters 4 and 6, I confine my attention to chapter 5.
It is interesting just to notice that in chapter 4 you have the Spirit in relation to us; in chapter 5, the Father is in relation to us; in chapter 6, Christ is in relation to us. The whole blessing of the believer is bound up with the revelation of God. It is very blessed to know that the Son has taken the place of administration for the Father’s will to effectuate His purpose. He communicates the gift of the Spirit in order that everything may be brought about subjectively in those who are the objects of the Father’s will. It is not simply the revelation of the grace of God, but the revelation of the Father’s pleasure. Where we are raised up, where we come into the truth of life — the sense of it and the joy of it — is in the revelation of the Father’s pleasure. And I believe it is there we are all of us very defective. I do not think a person will sigh for deliverance from this world until he gets a little insight into the Father’s pleasure. It is a most wonderful thing that it should be revealed to us, and that we should be privileged to live in the light of the Father’s pleasure. I believe that is where a man is raised up from what I should call the weakness of nature. What is the result? He passes outside of all connected with his own responsibility. He has come into the light of that scene where everything is of God and for the Father’s pleasure. He may have to come back and take up all the things of this life, but the great thing is he is privileged to leave them — to be for the moment as if they were not; to leave the wilderness in order that his soul may enter into the pleasure of the Father. And when he gets into the light of the Father’s pleasure there is no disturbing element; nothing to harass; it is a scene of perfect serenity. It is a wonderful scene opened up [p. 339] to us! Do you think when Paul went into the third heaven he found any disturbing element there?
I have been struck lately, in looking at the beginning of Revelation, to observe that the apostle is allowed to see the ruin of the church — its failure as the candlestick, and then he is caught up to heaven and there the throne is established; there is no disturbing element. He finds the throne and the Lamb, and everything peaceful and serene there and nothing to disturb. We should not find any disturbing element there. There is a great deal here! But if by grace you can pass for an instant by the Spirit into the light of the Father’s will, you have passed into a scene where there is nothing but serenity.
The extraordinary thing is that such a thing should be possible in such a scene as this! In a scene where we are tested in God’s ways with us, it is wonderful to pass into such a scene as that. I know something about the pressure of things here — I think I have had my share; and I know the effect upon my spirit. But I think I can see the use God is turning it to. He brings out what is in my heart, and the deeper you go the worse it appears; things in your heart are brought to light which you had scarcely dreamed of! If God brings everything to light, we know it is to do us good in our “latter end”. When we get to the end we shall be able to say our foot did not swell and our raiment waxed not old. We cannot say it perhaps while we are in it — at least I do not think many of us do; but we do at the end. God will have effected His purpose and brought out all in us, but we shall be conscious it was to do us good at our latter end.
But that is not my point now, but rather the power that has come in to enable the Christian to leave all these things down here that his soul may pass for a moment to the blessed light of the Father’s pleasure. There are two great things which come out in the chapter: the one is the Father’s will, His pleasure,
[p. 340] and the other is the honour of the Son. The Son has come out to make known the Father’s will, and because He has become man His honour is guarded. That is carefully stated. But bear in mind these two points: the pleasure of the Father and the honour of the Son. If we had not this chapter I do not think we could understand the pleasure of the Father. “The Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth”. That is a wonderful thought to my mind. Do you not think the Father has pleasure in what He is doing — in His works? When God created all in the beginning He had pleasure in His works. There is not a word in the passage that refers to the responsibility of man. It is the Father working for the satisfaction of His love. You cannot understand this chapter if you do not see that love is underlying it all and that love is the motive that prompts everything. “The Father loveth the Son”.
When you come to the works, think for a moment of the character of the works. “The Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them” (verse 21). It is the pleasure of the Father. Man is in a state of spiritual death; the pleasure of the Father is that He raiseth up the dead and quickens. It is what the Father does for the satisfaction of His love. I believe it to be a point of the greatest possible moment, because if I live I live for the pleasure of God; it is not merely that I am forgiven, that grace has reached me; and I do not think grace brings about the response of love. I think love brings about the response of love. Scripture puts it in that way. “We love him, because he first loved us”. The grace of God gives Him the greatest possible claim upon us, but it is the love of God which produces the response of love. If God raises up the dead and quickens them the motive is love. It is very much like what we get in Ephesians 2: “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us ... hath quickened us together with Christ”. The spring in God was His great love. If life reaches me, if I am brought into the light of it really, I am quickened for the satisfaction of God’s love.
I believe that has to come home to our hearts. The Son came here to effectuate the Father’s will; the spring of His pleasure was His love. That is what we are brought into here. And the Lord goes on to the thought of incorruptibility here, too. I do not think it only refers to the soul but goes on to the complete thing. I have no doubt of present quickening — of course it is now in the power of the Spirit — but I think it goes on even to the quickening of the body, and brings in not only the thought of life but of incorruptibility also. But my point is this; you do not understand the thought of life unless you understand that what is effected is the result of the Father’s love. Life is known and enjoyed morally in the presence of the love of God, that is, of the Father. There I get the enjoyment of love.
Just think of it for a moment! Suppose you and I are the objects of the Father’s love, what could go wrong with us? Is it not a scene of perfect serenity? What could be wrong there? To think that He loves me! He has quickened me because He loves me! That is the secret! What I am in the presence of the Father is not for my satisfaction but for His. It goes further in Ephesians 2, raised up and seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus; but here it is we are quickened for the Father’s love. The Son came to carry out the Father’s pleasure, and the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that Himself doeth. Everything was made known to the Son looked at as a man down here for the Father’s pleasure.
I add one word more. You will find directly that you want another thing, and that is deliverance from the world, and that brings in the thought of the love of Christ. I was under death — under the judgment [p. 342] of God — and Christ in love came into death in order that He might show me the way of life. I die to live. These questions of life are all questions of love, not merely of grace. If it is a question of being quickened, it is to live in the light of the Father’s love; if it is a question of deliverance, it is to appropriate the love of Christ. Who could appropriate judgment? What you appropriate is the love that brought Him into the place of death in order that we might accept death and find through death a way into life. The moment a man accepts it, he is delivered from it. If I accept death to sin, I am delivered from sin; if I accept death to the world, I am free from it directly. We are so slow to do it. The only thing that will enable us to die is the love of Christ. It comes before us Lord’s day after Lord’s day how Christ came down to die. The moment you accept it you are delivered from all here. He came to show us the way to life that we might live in the light of the Father’s love.
As I have said, life comes to us in the way of purpose. If I live at all, I live according to the Father’s purpose, and every purpose of God is the fruit of His love, for the simple reason that God is LOVE. It does not satisfy God merely to forgive. There is another thing which is the great spring of all God’s purpose — the love of God. God will work; no one will hinder Him, He will work for the satisfaction of His love, and if you are quickened it is that you may live in the light of God’s love. Can you conceive anything more blessed? I very much question if an angel lives in the light of God’s love in that way. What could be more amazing than to know that I am an object of God’s love! Christ came down into the place and state of death where we were to show us a way out of death into life. We have to go back to the wilderness, but I go back another man; the love of God is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit.
I do not think I could present to you anything [p. 343] more important than to distinguish between the purpose of God and His ways. We are so apt to mix them up. The love of God has opened to us a sphere which is entirely outside His ways, and into which you have present entrance, because the Son has come forth to effect His purpose. The Son has taken up the place of administration in order to communicate the power by which I can enter into these things. In Ephesians we read, “Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father”. There is that blessed sphere of the Father’s love, and Christ has taken the place of Lord in order to give effect to His Father’s will, and in His administration to communicate the gift of the Holy Spirit in order that we may live in the Father’s love. The Holy Spirit conducts us through the wilderness; I quite admit that.
It was just that which was before me, to distinguish these two things because they are of great importance. God’s ways with us will come to an end, but with the ways of God we have the purpose of God not only brought to light, but effectuated while we are in the wilderness. It is not simply brought to us as light, but the power is brought to us in the wilderness by which we can pass out of the wilderness into the light of the Father’s will.
May God give to us understanding! It is very interesting to see how the blessing of the Christian is linked up with the revelation of the Trinity — the divine Persons, and that it is not simply a question of grace, but a question of love. I do not think it is grace alone that effects love. When once I get the apprehension of the purpose of God and see that it is the fruit of His love, then we love Him because He first loved us.