THE NEW PLACE ON EARTH
[p. 456] THE NEW PLACE ON EARTH
I desire with the Lord’s help to bring before you the creation of God. There is a prior subject to this, the gospel, but now I only premise this - that the gospel not only relieves us from our misery, but gives us the joys of another place; not the joys of this place, but the joys of another place. Man, turned out of the garden of Eden, became an exile, but by the gospel he is not only like Abel, forgiven, and then having to die, but he is given another place; like Enoch, who was “translated that he should not see death”. Our portion is never to see death, for death is annulled. This is the gospel. Through the gospel of God we are like the prodigal son, not only reconciled to the Father, with nothing against us, but we are brought in to share the Father’s joys in His own house. We are not only relieved from misery here, but we joy with the Father. We have within us, as we see in John 4, the well of water springing up to eternal life. There is nothing from you, though it is in you, but all is from above.
Now, what is your place upon earth? You have been relieved from misery, and you have the joys of the Father’s house. Yes, that is your home, and hence a new question comes before you - What is the place you are to hold upon the earth? Well, you are one of the flock of Christ. This is a word used by both Peter and Paul, and it is the subject which I bring before you this evening. “And I have other sheep which are not of this fold: those also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, one shepherd”. You will see at once in connection with the question, What is our place upon earth? that all is entirely new; nothing is derived from the earth or [p. 457] from man, no help, no support, no countenance, but the Lord is the Shepherd of the sheep.
Chapter 9 introduces us to this subject; it should be read before chapter 10. In chapter 9 we have light, and we see that the light comes from Christ, not from man. There is no question of moral wickedness in chapter 9 as in chapter 8, it is the case of a man blind from his birth, who gets his sight. It is wholly the work of God, and no one will sympathise with the one who gets the light because of the source whence it came. Even his parents are afraid, “for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue”. The Jews were the religious people. First, the man encounters his neighbours, and these pass him on to the Pharisees, who say, “This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day”. Then his parents cast him off, and eventually the Jews put him out of the synagogue.
Now I want you to understand what the position of this man really is. He is one who has learned the grace of Christ, the light has come to him, and the result of it is he finds himself outside everything of man, and that, not merely of the outwardly wicked man, but of the religious man - outside everything of respectability, and of everything set up of God on the earth. And why? Because he owned the One who came from God. Thus he found himself in solitude, but it is the solitude of light. I am bold to say that no one ever understands in his soul who the Lord Jesus is until he has been in this solitude, until he is morally outside of man. When this man who had received the light is in this solitude - outside of man, the Lord finds him, and says to him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” Now, mark what comes out! The man says, “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee”.
[p. 458] When he was with the Lord before, he had not seen Him, for he was blind. But now he sees Him. “And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him”. That is now the position or place of that man on earth - outside of everything here with Christ. It is the new place where you get nothing from man or from earth, you have only Christ. John 10:3 is now true of this man: “The sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out”. He is one of Christ’s sheep whom He has led out. The great point to notice here is that he gained nothing from the fold; the man had been in the Jewish fold, that which God had set up, but now the Son of God has come into the fold, not to stay in it, but to lead the sheep out. Instead of remaining in it where He was entitled to everything, He goes out of it, and leads out His sheep. “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him”.
Here, there is one who has not only received light, but who gets a new and singular place on the earth - a place outside of three things which always go together, that is, religion, flesh, and earth. And what now is his actual position? Turn to verse 9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”. That is his position! In perfect liberty, he goes in and out, and finds pasture. In the fold there was no pasture, it was only preservation, no pasture. But here is a new thing; everything now is from Christ Himself. He says further, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. He was come to bring them into life, and into the knowledge and enjoyment of it, as in John 20: 22. In verse 11 He says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”. Until the shepherd died for the sheep, there could not be entrance into life. Death is upon you, hence you could not enjoy life, nor could any that went before on the [p. 459] contrary, they were all their lifetime subject to bondage through fear of death. Why? Because the judgment must first be borne in order that man might be free of death. Hence in John 6:53 He says, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you”. You must appropriate His death to enter into life. I say this to show you the new character of the position you get on earth. Christ cleared everything out of the way, and now you derive from Him, you have life in Him.
Then we come to intimacy. In verse 14 He says, “I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine, as the Father knows me and I know the Father”. The same kind of intimacy exists between the Shepherd and the sheep as between the Father and the Son. Nothing can be more blessed and profound than this. The Lord has not only done a great work to deliver you, but He brings you into this wonderful intimacy with Himself. This shows the great change that has taken place in the position of the sheep. There is nothing perhaps on which there is so much ignorance among believers, as the difference between an Old Testament saint and a christian. The Old Testament saint, though an heir, was in the position of a child under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. The difference is immense. An Old Testament saint was happy in God’s favour on earth, yet with death always before him. We can say, death is annulled. We are “passed out of death into life”. Life and incorruptibility have been brought to light. Eternal life in all its greatness and fulness is before us. Death is gone - Satan can no longer stand towards us in his Pharaoh character. He may still act as Amalek and be a tormentor, but we have the promise, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans 16: 20). But death is annulled; we need to be clear on this [p. 460] point in order to be in the enjoyment of life. We have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He entered into death, “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2: 14, 15). When the Lord rose from the dead He breathed on His disciples, and they were then in an entirely new position, out of death, in life, and deriving everything from Him.
The intimacy with Him is not only when we get to heaven, but while we are here on earth. And what is its character? The same as between the Father and the Son. Do you say, I cannot understand it? Doubtless you do not. How can any human mind understand it? But you are not asked to understand it, but to believe it. It is God’s pleasure that it should be so, and it is a great thing to see where God has set us.
Another thing comes out now, not only the new place we have in relation to Him, but what He makes us here upon the earth. The sheep is altered to an immense degree so that you could hardly recognise it, it is so marvellously changed by the favour of God, and it is not from anything derived from man or from earth; the proportions, abilities and favours conferred are acquired from Him; and more, He maintains us here apart from everything belonging to man. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”. We are in His care, under His hand.
Oh! but people say, We have to do our business. Yes, but that is not the subject here. I turn you to Hebrews for that. There we read, “Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13: 5). But here it is the position which we occupy on earth with Christ and it is a great thing to understand that. What is the great [p. 461] aim in christendom? To be acknowledged and patronised by the powers of the world; to use the world’s power. Rome claims it, and she will get it abundantly by and by. But Christ’s sheep are to desire nothing from man or from the earth. I am, as to what God’s grace has made me, brought to a wonderful stature, a stature really suitable for Himself. I am brought into the same character of intimacy, and nothing can surpass that. No saint before ever stood, nor will any saint after the church ever stand, in the same character of intimacy as that which we have with Christ; it is that which subsists between the Father and the Son.
The object of the epistle to the Hebrews is to lift you out of your circumstances, to bear you above them, not to leave you in them. The Lord says, as it were, I want you to go along with me. It is companionship in Hebrews. “We are ... partakers (or companions) of Christ”. It is no use talking of Ephesians if Hebrews is not known. Ephesians is our place with Him in heaven. What I want to show you now is what we have here upon earth. We are companions of Christ. The apostle uses a great deal of scripture to prove that the High Priest is in heaven, to show that if He helps you, it is to raise you to His own height; that is the object reached in the beginning of Hebrews 8: “We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens”. We have what will help us right up there; the help comes from the highest point. Not only are our sins gone, but we have a High Priest for our infirmities, and He is Minister of the holy places, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. We are thus brought into this wondrous position, into company with the great Shepherd of the flock. And where does that consummate? Turn to Hebrews 10: 19, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest”. We are in company with Him in [p. 462] the holiest. I am not going to dwell on that now, but let me just say, you require a fitness for the Lord’s presence in the holiest, as much as you require it for heaven itself, and you could not enjoy His presence in the holiest without fitness for it. You might enjoy the effect of His presence, but how could you be with Him n the holiest with a spot on your conscience? We are not in heaven yet, though we are running the race thither, but we have this great enjoyment of His company while we are here on earth, and we are looking to be with Him where he is.
May the Lord grant that we may be exercised as to the new place in which He has set us here on earth. If we look to Him, we are sure to get light and instruction as to what it is.