LIBERTY
[p. 17] LIBERTY
2 Corinthians 3: 17; Mark 2: 23 - 27; John 10: 9
The subject I had in mind in reading these scriptures was liberty, the liberty wherewith Christ sets us free; and in which He desires us to stand fast. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”, 2 Corinthians 3: 17. There is some difference in the expressions “the Spirit of the Lord”, “the Spirit of Christ”, and “the Spirit of Jesus”. These expressions are all found in Scripture. The Spirit of Christ was active in the Old Testament times; Peter tells us this. It was the Spirit in which the Lord Jesus spoke to men before the flood. He spoke through Noah. Peter connects the Spirit of Christ with the testimony in the Old Testament. He says Christ was quickened by the Spirit by which also He went and preached to the disobedient when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah. He also mentions the prophets who spoke by the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1: 11). These prophets inquired and searched “what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow”, but he also says: “To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves but to you they ministered those things, which have now been announced to you by those who have declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit”. The Spirit of Christ stands in relation to the testimony or ministry of the word, (1 Peter 1: 12).
All ministry ought to be in the Spirit of Christ; it gives us the thought of the anointing, because Christ is the anointed One; He is God’s Anointed. “The Spirit of Jesus” speaks of what the Lord was as Man on earth. We read of how the Spirit of Jesus forbad the apostle Paul to go from Asia into Bithynia (Acts 16: 7).
[p. 18] The name of Jesus speaks of what He is for all men. The Lord desired the gospel to be preached in Europe and not to be limited to any special province. “Jesus” is His personal name and speaks of His interest in men. “The Spirit of Jesus” seems to be most prominent in the gospel of Luke, whereas “the Spirit of Christ” relates more to Mark’s gospel and “the Spirit of the Lord” to Matthew, for there He is King. We have His generation in Matthew to show how He is King. The wise men from the East asked: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?”. In Matthew 5, Matthew 6 and Matthew 7 the Lord often emphasises His words by: “I say unto you”, pointing to His own authority, but I think the expression “The Spirit of the Lord” also indicates something very precious, namely what we find in 2 Corinthians 3: 17, where the word “the Spirit of the Lord” speaks of what is living; “The Lord is the Spirit”. The Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of christianity, and “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”.
We find here the authority, which brings the love of God into our hearts. In order to bring about this state in us the Lord Jesus uses His authority sometimes perhaps through severe discipline, but all is in view of us getting the love of God into our hearts. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth”. Thus we find that through the Spirit of the Lord we have liberty now with unveiled face to behold the glory of the Lord. There exists no veil over His face at this time; the veil is on the hearts of the Jews now. But we behold the glory in the face of Christ; we have liberty to do so, and we love to do it as it is the most delightful face in the whole universe. We do not fear to look upon it, although He is God. In a day to come when He shall sit upon the great white throne, His face will be severe and dismissing, for then He shall judge all who have rejected Him.
John says, “I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled”, Revelation 20: 11. But how different His face appears now! How gentle and attractive! It shines with the glory and love of God, and we are changed into the same image while we are looking at it. This shows clearly that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
In Mark 2 we find how the believers come into this liberty in a practical way. There the Lord leads them into liberty, and we learn it from what He did when He went through the cornfield. It was not accidental. He went through on purpose. It does not say that the Lord Himself plucked the ears of corn, but He went that way so that the disciples should get the liberty to do so, although it was sabbath. The sabbath, as we all know, was a symbol of the old covenant, and many at that time insisted upon the sabbath being hallowed in order to keep the people in bondage. But the Lord would lead His disciples out of this bondage into the liberty that He had brought about. He could say: “The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath”. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”. He had now in mind to lead His people into liberty by Himself going through the cornfields.
The same bondage exists now in the systems of men, but the Lord will show us a way out from them, the way of liberty. So the disciples do as the Lord does, but they do more than just follow Him; they pluck the ears of corn and eat. Is it not the Spirit of the Lord who is leading here? Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, not liberty for the flesh, nor liberty to go into the world, but liberty to enjoy what God has provided for us. We are not bound by religious forms and ceremonies; the apostle says, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving”. And even far more than this, we are free to enjoy all that God gives us in Christ, apart from every human organisation. That is the reason why we do not keep the sabbath now, for we are not under law, but under grace. The Lord has Himself broken down these hindrances and barriers. If we knew and enjoyed this liberty more, our meetings would be more characterised by the Spirit of the Lord, and not by the spirit of the world.
The apostle reminds the Corinthians of what was theirs, saying, “All are yours; and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s”, 1 Corinthians 3: 22. We are now brought into a wonderful sphere of blessing. Human leaders would contradict these things. They would say we ought to acknowledge the laws and statutes of the different systems, but during more than a hundred years there has been strife between these people’s decisions and the liberty which the Lord has brought about, and we ought to hold fast this liberty. Christ was Lord even of the sabbath, and when the Pharisees accused the disciples, He reminds them of what David did. The shewbread was solely for the priests to eat, but when David, the rightful king, fled before Saul, the king whom God had rejected, of what use were these things? Everything was in disorder and ruin. David acted here in the Spirit of the Lord, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath. We see in the Old Testament why the sabbath was instituted. It stood as a symbol or seal on the old covenant; it was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. The Son of man is able to bring in the sabbath in a new way. God has first to show us its proper meaning. He will bring in the sabbath in an entirely new way in a day to come.
In John 10 the Lord points to Himself as the good Shepherd and likewise as the door of the sheep. In Mark 2 this liberty was brought in in view of helping [p. 21] the disciples out of bondage, but here in John 10 we are led in to Him. This liberty can only be reached through Christ, for He is the door, and He has pasture for the sheep; they “shall go in and out, and find pasture”, John 10: 9. It is a liberated soul whom the Lord describes here. He can depend upon such an one, and allow him to go in and go out and find pasture. How much has not the Lord Jesus done in order that we may find this liberty, enjoy it, and maintain it!