WHAT GOD CAN DO
J.D.Gray
Isaiah 43:1-3 (to “Saviour”); Hebrews 7:23-25; Philippians 3:12-14
What you find in these scriptures is what God can do. That is a great matter for us at the present time, when there is tremendous pressure on us in the city. But it is for every one of us, not just the household concerned. God would bring out His interest in all of us. He says here, I have “created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel”. He is working in the souls of the saints, sometimes more distinctly than others, but much is done in secret. The results may be seen displayed in the assembly as gathered together. God says “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee”; that is a great matter. Every moral stain has been removed, we have been brought back and are cleared from everything that is moral; the price has been paid. The scripture in Corinthians says “glorify now then God in your body” (1 Cor.6:20); that is redemption’s glory. “I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine”. I wonder if we all have had a sense of being called by Him by name, whoever we are.
Here we get two names, Jacob and Israel. It would bring out various features in the man, in what relates to the person; “I have called thee by thy name”. What a strengthening effect being called has on the believer’s spirit, and then for God to say “thou art mine”. Bought with a price; what a price He has paid; “thou art mine”. We do not belong to ourselves; we belong to this blessed One, our God, who says He has “called thee by thy name”. That is special!
The believer is looked on in Pergamos as having a name (Rev.2:17) that is peculiar and distinct to the believer. I wonder if we have all had a sense of that, the name that God has called us by. That is what is proved in the testimony, it is formed here. It is a secret, a secret name which the believer has with the Lord Jesus. It is very precious to have some sense of the distinctiveness of the personality of each saint. “Thou art mine”; what a thing to know that we belong to Him and He has called us each by our name, that secret name; what a name it is for the believer. Oh, to have a sense of Christ’s approbation individually, our own peculiar joy in Christ which no one else can ever know, Christ revealing Himself to the soul in an intimate and personal manner. What will shine out eternally is the blessedness of the features of Christ. The name must relate to features of Christ because Christ is the pattern, God’s pattern.
It says “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee”. There are experiences that enter into the life of the believer, passing through the waters: you find that Christ is with you. What a comfort that is, what an assurance that is. And then “through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee”. Whatever the obstacles are in life’s history; you prove Him. The believer passes through these things, but “they shall not overflow thee”. You may wonder how you got through sometimes; you got through because of the fact that He was with you. And then “when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned”. Daniel’s companions proved that when God quenched the power of fire and there was a man there with them in the furnace that looked like a son of God (Dan.3:25); that was the witness of the king. “For I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour”; what a Saviour we have!
I read in Hebrews because we have heard it said since we were young that ‘we have an all the way Saviour’. What a thing to know the blessed Saviour all the way. He is described as the Priest, and it says that He has the “priesthood unchangeable”. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”, Heb.13:8 (AV). He is “able to save completely those who approach by him to God”. This is a remarkable matter; “able to save completely those who approach by him to God”. God is our object, and this blessed Man is there. The throne of grace is the place where you get your answers, there is a blessed Man functioning there; He is supporting you. You find, sometimes in a distinctive way, when you are going through these pressures, that this experience of the Lord Jesus supporting you is very remarkable. He is not only supporting you here in the testimony, but He is supporting you with a view to “approach by him to God”. He is considering for His God, and He is considering for the believer, He is supporting where weakness might come in and would hinder. You find the support of Christ. It says “he is able to save completely those who approach by him to God”. This word “completely” is remarkable. There is no doubt about it, He has that power, and the believer experiences it. You are desirous of approaching God; it is by Him. I have been more affected later in my life than I was when I was younger about asking in the name of the Lord Jesus. It is a very precious name, and asking in the name of the Lord Jesus (John 14:13) is not taken lightly on the lips of believers. God hears that name, recognises the name of that Person, the name of the Lord Jesus. How precious it is. You are asking, and trusting that God will answer in relation to the name of that blessed Man who is our High Priest. He is functioning there, functioning to support us. The instruction given in Romans 8 shows that the Spirit’s power would enter into it.
In Philippians, He is an all the way Saviour. Paul says “Not that I have already obtained the prize”; he was not claiming to be anything above his brethren, he was in a race. This chapter, as we have been taught, views the Christians’ race as running from the beginning of our Christian lives until they are complete in glory. The prize of the calling on high of God is to be found in heaven. What a matter to have before us; it lifts up our eyes. The children of Israel turned toward the wilderness and saw the glory, (Exod.16:10). When you turn towards the wilderness to see the glory, the eye is not on the wilderness, the eye is above the wilderness as looking to see the glory. Paul speaking as a Christian (Paul does not claim to be an apostle in this scripture) says, “I pursue, if also I may get possession” of the prize. What a thing it is to have our eyes upon the prize, dear brethren. There is a whole range of support on the way; he says “I have been taken possession of by Christ Jesus”. Paul’s life had been revolutionised by Christ Jesus, that Man in the glory. Paul did not know Christ after the flesh, but he knew Christ in glory and his whole life had been revolutionised. We have never seen Christ of course, in the sense of his flesh and blood condition, but we have seen Christ in glory, by faith. There is a Man in heaven and we are on the way to being with that Man. What a thing to lift us up in our spirits, to take account of the Man in the glory, and He is coming! He would encourage us with His coming, “I am coming to you”, John 14:18.
So Paul says “forgetting the things behind”. That is not exactly sins, that is advantages in life here, but “forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue.” So “stretching out to the things before” is the calling of God, “I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. What a completion! What a moment when completion takes place, when the body is changed. The redemption of the body is the final matter. Those of us who are alive at the coming of the Lord will be quickened by the Spirit who dwells in us. Believers will realise then the blessedness of salvation. The first song sung in heaven is the song of redemption; you get that in Revelation 5. What a company will be there, not only the saints of the assembly, but all the saints since Abel. Every one will be there and singing the song of redemption, because redemption will be complete then; every one will be saved completely, all brought there perfectly complete. The work of God is housed now in vessels of flesh and blood conditions with all their weaknesses, but then it will be housed in a house from heaven, eternal in the heavens.
Let us keep stretching out to the things before. Paul’s life was changed. In the ways of God, dear brethren, things can come into our lives which change them and change them forever. That is what you prove in your life here; changed and changed forever. May the Lord encourage us. We can be encouraged, sympathetic with one another and encouraging one another to pursue. God uses circumstances to bring about change. I think He has something in mind that the glory of Christ might shine out amongst us, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Edinburgh
19 March 2013