THE KINGDOM, THE COVENANT AND THE CALLING
THE KINGDOM, THE COVENANT AND THE CALLING
God is not teaching people that are opposed to Him; you must come under the sway of God. God is going to have honour here when all will be subject to Him.
The heavenly city has a very conspicuous place in the world to come. It is the centre of God’s rule. There are certain things connected with the heavenly city in the millennium which are not connected with the eternal state. There are two descriptions of the heavenly city in the Revelation and they differ considerably.
[p. 522] All the measuring, and the names of the twelve tribes in the gates, all that is connected with the millennium, not with the eternal state. Scripture says, They shall no more say, “Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord ... and I will remember their sin no more”. Grace does not tolerate man’s will; it does not now; “if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother” you come under discipline. Grace reigns through righteousness; it will not tolerate man’s will. Now it is a kingdom not seen, in the millennium it will be a kingdom seen. Christendom will be judged on the ground of the kingdom.
To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is no small matter; you accept the word simply on the testimony of God, but it involves a very great deal. You leave Egypt, the power of Satan, to be under the sway of God. Peace with God was enjoyed when they were on the other side of the Red Sea. They had perfect security from the enemies because they were lost in the depths of the sea. The Spirit has been given in order that the kingdom may be made good in our souls.
But the wonderful thing is that death is the way to God, instead of being the way to judgment. We pass to God through the death of Christ. There is the consciousness in the soul that you have passed from death to life. If we realised more the help we get from the priesthood of Christ we should avail ourselves more of it.
“Minister of the sanctuary” is God’s side.
In connection with the kingdom you apprehend the house, that is, the Spirit is here, and consequent upon that we get divine teaching. The new covenant is divine teaching; it is the Spirit of God teaching us what the mind of God is towards us. It is equivalent to a man making his will. The covenant exhibits what God’s mind is toward us. If I made a will, the way I dispose of my property would disclose my mind. The new covenant is the mind of God towards us, and the Holy Spirit makes it good to us. God says, I will have nothing more to say about sins, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”. The new covenant is disclosing His mind, and that is love.
The “calling” is described in one word, association with Christ, that is the meaning of the calling. No one can change his individuality but by the power of God there is another individuality. A man has a certain set of individual characteristics, and those are changed, “not I, but Christ liveth in me”. You get another individuality stamped upon you, and that by the power of God. The new individuality is Christ.
The old covenant was from Jerusalem in bondage — Hagar; the new covenant from the Jerusalem which is above (Galatians 4).
“No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us”, 1 John 4: 12. By the very fact of being in divine love ... the light of God comes out in us when God’s love is perfected in us. In the consciousness of divine love you are conscious of association with the One who has expressed that love. God’s love consciously known by us is expressed in our love one to another.
In the epistle of John you have:
- Fellowship, that is the lowest point of christian life.
- Growth, varied degrees of apprehension.
- Life of privilege, that is what you are to the Father.
- What God is in you.
- Eternal life, we are in Him that is true.