I want
at this point to return for a few moments to the matter
of the boards of the Tabernacle, referred to in our first
chapter, when we saw God's provision for reinforcing the
corners, the turning-points, with an extra board.
Turning-points or angles are always danger spots, and the
Lord has always made special provision for such points in
the course of His people's history. It is something to be
taken up, if ever you are disposed to do so, in the
Bible, and you will see how true it is. I have only to
remind you, by way of instance, of the first chapter of
the book of Joshua. You could not have any chapter in the
Bible which represents a greater reinforcement of
everything, taking up the past to carry it on to the
future. That was a big turning-point, from the wilderness
into the Land, and it certainly needed strength to turn
that corner and negotiate that crisis safely.
In using
again this illustration of the Tabernacle, the point that
I want afresh to indicate is this: that the corners of
the Tabernacle may be taken as setting forth an arrival
at a certain point. That point had, so to speak, a past.
Things had moved up to that point, and from that point
there was a future, a new phase, a new course in the
road. And the reinforcement at the corner was a taking up
of what had been up to that point, and saying, 'Now, we
must safeguard that, we must conserve that, we must
ratify that; we must be quite sure that that does not
suffer loss or is allowed any weakness, in order that
everything that is yet to be shall take up those values
and continue them in strength.' For God does not intend a
fundamental change in things, a change in character, a
change of nature, at any point: He just means that all
that He has done and given shall be carried on safely and
in strength up to and through the next phase.
Now,
when we come to these letters of Paul to Timothy, we have
to recognise that they are the last writings of the
Apostle - a fact which in itself represents a corner
being turned, one phase closing and another phase coming.
It was like that; things changed when Paul went. And it
was because Paul himself was conscious of this that he
wrote to Timothy as he did. These letters are therefore
by way of reinforcing the things of God, taking up what
has been in the past and confirming and consolidating for
the future. That is what God meant by these letters. And
so we find in them first of all what we may call a
retrospective feature, a look-back to the past. Timothy
is taken back, right back to the beginning: to the
beginning of Christianity, and to the beginning of his
own work and ministry.
"Remember Jesus Christ"
Let us
consider the retrospect as to the beginning of
Christianity, which is Christ. Paul makes here a very
strong and a very comprehensive throw-back to Christ, in
two passages - one a recall, the other a very inclusive
statement. The first comes in the second letter, chapter
two, verse eight: "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from
the dead, of the seed of David, according to my
gospel". "Remember Jesus Christ".
We have come to a crisis, we have come to a turn, we have
come to a point where things are changing. What is our
safeguard at this point? "Remember Jesus
Christ". It is only a way of saying: 'Bring HIM
into view again.' That is always God's method at any
crisis - bring Jesus Christ into view again. Whether it
be a crisis in a church, or a personal crisis in our own
spiritual lives - "Remember Jesus Christ". How
often the Apostle resorted to that method of dealing with
difficult situations! At Philippi, for instance, where
there was some trouble, some disagreement, some lack of
singlemindedness, Paul resorted to this method:
"Have this mind in you, which was... in Christ
Jesus" (Phil. 2:5).
I will
not stay to gather up all the material on this point. Let
me just remind you of the big turning-point which we find
at the beginning of the book of the Revelation. What a
turning-point in the Church's history was there! Remember
that the beginning of that book is a representation of
Jesus Christ, comprehensively and matchlessly.
"Remember Jesus Christ". It is always like
that. Suppose you are having a bad time - so bad that it
is creating a real crisis for you. "Remember Jesus
Christ". It is the greatest help in every such time.
Is there some trouble between you and another Christian?
"Remember Jesus Christ". Is there trouble in
the assembly? "Remember Jesus Christ". The
greatest corrective is to REMEMBER JESUS CHRIST.
Christ the Embodiment of Godliness
But here
is this other great statement, in the first letter,
chapter three, verse sixteen: "And without
controversy great is the mystery of godliness" (or
'God-likeness'); "He who was manifested in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
among the nations, believed on in the world, received up
in glory." That is Christianity in a nutshell, a
comprehensive and inclusive representation of everything
upon which Christianity rests. There are other
fragmentary retrospective features in these letters, but
that is enough. The first great throw-back of the Apostle
at this point of crisis and danger is to Christ, back to
Christ; for Christ is ever the standard, not only
backward but forward. At any given point where there are
dangers, where changes are threatened, we must refer back
to Christ, and from that point we have to carry on what
has been of Christ from the beginning.
Here it
says that Christ is the embodiment of godliness, or
Godlikeness. It is a mystery: 'great is the mystery of
God-likeness'. The Greek word (eusebeia) combines
the thoughts of worship, devotion, and piety. Here Christ
is said to be the inclusive, comprehensive embodiment of
all this - God's likeness indeed. Now that has a very
practical application in this letter, for the real
purpose of God in the Church is God-likeness, or
conformity to the likeness of God's Son. It is the great
dominating purpose and objective of God in our very lives
as His people. How shall we explain or define godliness?
It is Christ - the reproduction of Christ, the expression
of Christ. It is the bringing of Christ into the present
situation. He is the embodiment of godliness.
Incorruptible Life in Christ
Just
consider for a moment who Christ is. I am sure that many
of us Christians have not really understood Christ - and
we do need to understand Him. You see, Christ was more
than one man among many, albeit better than the rest, a
real improvement on all other men. You might find
somewhere a man of very high moral character, of
unimpeachable integrity, and you might say, 'A splendid
specimen of moral uprightness and goodness - and Jesus
goes one better.' No, He is not just one better than the
best. He is not one man amongst many, although better
than all.
Let me
put it another way. The goodness of Jesus was Divine
goodness, and not human goodness. It was by Him, Jesus,
that life and incorruption were brought to light, through
the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:10). The very best specimen of
mankind, morally, that you can find is still corruptible:
he can still be corrupted - he has the seeds of
corruption in his nature. But not so Jesus Christ. There
is no corruption, there are no seeds of corruption, in
Him. It is incorruptible life that has come with Him. And
the life that He gives to the child of God is
incorruptible life. That is not ourselves, what we are;
it is a distinct gift which, while being in us, is apart
from us. And mark you, that is the key to our spiritual
survival, in spite of a world of corruption, and a nature
of corruption. He has given to us His own incorruptible
life. Life and incorruption have been brought to
light through the Gospel.
Let me
say to young Christians: Be very wary of an insidious
deception - partly through unfortunate mistranslations of
the Scripture, but more through common language and
phraseology about immortality, the 'immortality, of the
soul'. The Bible does not teach it! The Bible word, where
the translators of the Authorised Version have put
'immortality', is really 'incorruption' (see R.V.) - and
incorruption is quite a different thing from what men
mean by the immortality of the soul. They lump all men
together in this and by their word 'immortality' lift us
on to a level to which we do not all belong, and to which
we can never come naturally. Incorruption is the TRUE
immortality.
But
immortality is thought of as continuity of existence, and
we will allow that for the soul; but there is a very
great difference between continuity of existence and
incorruption, incorruptible life. Eternal life is a
different thing altogether from just continuity of life.
It is a KIND of life, a CHARACTER of life.
It is the life which we have IN CHRIST. You
see, this goes to the root of the whole matter. We have
got to get right back to Jesus Christ. Christ is
different from all other men in the essential nature
which is in Him; and, when He gives us His own life, we
as Christians are different essentially, with the biggest
difference possible, from all other creations - because
this is an eternal matter.
The Counter to Corruption
Now Paul
sees corruption coming into the Church. Moral laxity, and
all sorts of things which belong to this fallen creation,
to this evil world, were creeping into the Church in
Paul's day; corruption was manifesting itself in the life
of God's people. What is going to be done about it? "Remember
Jesus Christ"! For just consider: you and I have
another life, through Christ, and we have got to live on
the basis of that life, and to remember that it is not
necessary for us to be corrupted. We have in us a life,
the mighty life of God, which in Christ has overcome
death and corruption, for man. "Remember Jesus
Christ"! Remember that, in Jesus Christ, there is
that which went through all corruption untainted, and it
is still possible - and blessed be God, it has been
proved actual again and again - for a child of God to
walk in white raiment in the midst of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Where Satan's very seat is you may find saints walking in
purity. It is the marvellous miracle of the Christian
life that we can be subjected to all the filth and all
the horror, all the corruption and pollution of this
world around us, and still go on, unstained, untainted.
So, when
corruption is assailing, is seeping in, remember: your
life is a different life from that. That is not your
life, that is not for you; that is not your way, that is
not the way of Christ. THIS life is not one
imposed upon you by law - it is something in you by
power. Thank God for this miracle. A young man or young
woman, without a great deal of knowledge, instruction, or
teaching, or experience, has to go out into this world,
and, without another Christian anywhere near, be
surrounded by people of the lowest type, and that young
man or woman can be kept by the power of God unpolluted.
This incorruptible life is very practical. Jesus is
different. He is not just better than the rest; He is
different, basically different from the rest. That is the
truth about Jesus, and that is the truth about the child
of God: not only a bit better than other people, but
different. The life-principle is different. Is that
important? Surely it is, if we are to negotiate this
course safely to the end.
"Thou
hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled
their garments" (Rev. 3:4, A.V.). That is a
testimony - "even in Sardis". And it is a
throw-back to chapter one of Revelation, where Jesus is
seen clothed with a robe down to His feet - the white
robe of incorruption. "I am... the Living one; and I
became dead, and behold, I am alive unto the ages of the
ages" (Rev. 1:17,18, R.V, mg.). So He says, as
clothed in this white garment down to the feet. What does
it mean? Surely this: that He has been thrown in His
death into the cesspool of human iniquity for us -
"He was made sin for us, he who knew no sin" -
and has come out undefiled, triumphant, in a white robe.
And "thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have
not defiled their garments" - what is that? It is
just His victory in the lives of these people in Sardis,
where things were morally very, very black indeed.
"Remember Jesus Christ".
Young
man, if you are shortly going to get your call-up into
the Forces, well, you are going into it. You may not find
another Christian near to help you. You may be out of
touch with all means of grace outwardly; it may mean a
crisis for your spiritual life. Many have lost out at
that turning-point. "Remember Jesus Christ".
Remember - Christ in you is there as the power of an
incorruptible life. It is possible for you to go through
and come out triumphant because of Jesus Christ. And what
is true in that connection is true in all others. You see
the difference between Jesus Christ and all other men,
even the best. His goodness was a different goodness.
Christ's Knowledge Spiritual, Not
Academic
Take a
move round to another angle from which to look at Him-
His KNOWLEDGE. Now, no one will question or
dispute that Jesus had a very wide knowledge, was
tremendously well informed, was very rich in His
understanding. Everybody in His day had both to recognise
and to acknowledge it. Even His critics and enemies
raised the question: 'Whence hath this man this
knowledge?' He spoke as one having authority, and not as
the very knowledgeable men, the Scribes; there was
something extra here. But His knowledge was not the
knowledge of the schools. He never went to college or to
university. He had to work at home, hard and long, for
that pittance to keep mother and brothers in food and
raiment. He was not able to earn in order to put aside a
nest-egg against a rainy day - if that is not mixing
metaphors! - for, when it came to going out on His life's
work, He could not afford a lodging, He had nowhere to
lay His head. He had to work a miracle to pay His taxes.
No
wonder they asked: "How knoweth this man letters,
having never learned?" (John 7:15). How does He get
this knowledge - knowledge which has extended and
exhausted all the brains ever since His day? And they are
still at it. Look at all the libraries that have been
written on Him and His sayings! - and still we come back
and wonder what He meant when He said this and that; we
still have not fathomed it. So everybody will acknowledge
that He had a very, very large knowledge: but whence was
it? We say again: It was not the knowledge of the
schools; it was something other and something different
and something else. Well, we Christians have the answer;
we know. But, mark you, that difference is THE difference
between Christ and all others - the 'knowledgeable'
people; and the difference between every simplest child
of God and the wisest amongst men.
"Remember
Jesus Christ". There is a source and a kind of
knowledge, by which we can be got through, which all this
world's princes of knowledge do not possess. It is a KIND
of knowledge. I want to enlarge upon that later, but
I am making the statement here. Unless we have this kind
of knowledge, this spiritual understanding, this
spiritual intelligence - this intelligence which is
different, which is other, this mind which is the mind of
Christ - we are not going to negotiate these critical
corners in Christian life and experience and in the work
of God. We need understanding more than the best
understanding in this world to get round these crises.
How are we going to negotiate this situation? It may be
that you are facing such things. You are exercised; you
are wondering - How are we going to get round this, how
are we going to get through this? Well, there is a kind
of knowledge, a kind of understanding, a kind of
spiritual intelligence, available to the child of God,
that will get us through. That is very true in experience
and in history. If we had not known the Lord at certain
times, where should we have been? Our knowledge of the
Lord saved us. And many times our knowledge of spiritual
principles has saved, our knowledge of how God does
things has been a tremendous standby in times of need.
Yes,
remember Jesus Christ. He had a knowledge which was more
than all the knowledge of this world, and different: it
was that which He had by the Spirit. These letters are
themselves proof positive of this. Here is the new
situation arising, and the big question is, How is the
Church going to get through this crisis without disaster,
without calamity? Well, the letters are just full of a
knowledge, are they not, which meets the need: it is the
knowledge of Christ. Do you know that Christ is mentioned
twelve times in each of these letters? They are very
brief letters; you can read them through in a few
minutes, both of them; and Christ is referred to 24
times. When you get any word dominant like that, it
surely gives a clue to what it is all about. Paul here is
coming back with Christ: it is CHRIST, it is CHRIST
- He is the One upon whom we should draw.
Christ's Influence Spiritual, Not
Psychic
So much,
then, for the matter of His knowledge. A word about His INFLUENCE.
It is indisputable that He had an immense influence.
His presence always made itself felt. He could not be
anywhere without it being known that He was there.
Without any need for Him to speak, things began to come
out; His presence was a powerful presence. That does not
need proving or enlarging upon. This mysterious influence
and impact - what was it? Some people, of course, have
tried to explain it psychologically: that He had a
powerful psychic effect upon people. They have summed it
all up in the phrase, 'a tremendously strong
personality'. Well, they may think that if they like, but
that is not the answer. His influence, His impact, was
something other than the psychic, something other than
just a strong personality. It was essentially SPIRITUAL.
Evil spirits recognised His presence - demons cried out
in His presence. This is not psychic; these are actual
entities and intelligences. It is a registration upon the
spiritual world.
Influence
is not just a matter of having a strong personality, or
being able to make a strong psychic registration wherever
you are. That is a false conception of influence. So far
as men and this world are concerned, you may be without
the training of the schools and all the values of a rich
education; you may have had nothing in your birth and
inheritance and upbringing to make you an important
person or a strong character: and yet you may exercise a
very great influence, you may count for something more
than all that. It is true again - and here is the miracle
of it all - that "God hath chosen the weak things...
and the things that are not", that He may destroy,
may nullify, may bring down the things that are wise, and
the things that are strong, and the things that are. It
is so often a, humanly speaking, very insignificant
little person who is counting mightily for God. There is
a great difference between natural influence and
spiritual influence.
In the
churches in the book of the Revelation, we find that the
testimony had lost its power and its influence in the
world; and so it is today, very largely. What is the
remedy? It is, as we have sought to indicate, the
recovery and the reinforcement of spirituality.
Spirituality is a tremendous power. Really spiritual
people, be they what they may from this world's
standpoint, are the people that count; they are the
people of influence, and they are the people that are
needed in this world. God needs spiritual men and women
for the preserving and carrying on of His testimony. He
needs reinforced spirituality. "Remember Jesus
Christ". You can only account for Him - in His
knowledge, in His influence, as in every other way - by
the anointing of the Spirit. "God anointed [Jesus of
Nazareth]... who went about doing good, and healing all
that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with
him" (Acts 10:38). It was the anointing. And we have
the anointing - the same anointing. And so His AUTHORITY,
to use the word of Scriptures, was not that of
personality; it was SPIRITUAL authority. How we
need that! His judgment of things, His insight, His power
of discrimination, was not just human sagacity, not just
a high level of human shrewdness; it was spiritual
wisdom. This is what Paul argued out so thoroughly in his
first letter to the Corinthians.
The
point is this: Jesus Christ, Jesus the Anointed (for that
is the meaning of "Christ"), is different, and
superior. What was true of Him then is true today. In the
way that I have indicated - wisdom, understanding, power,
judgment, and everything else - He needs to be brought
right into every spiritual crisis. "Remember Jesus
Christ". It is all by the anointing. If we have any
sense whatever of the real need today in the Church,
amongst God's people - yes, and in ourselves - because of
things as they are, as they have become, or as they are
threatened, do not our hearts beat with Paul's in all
this? We can take up Paul's concern. You see, this man
just poured out his heart in these letters. There is
something of a yearning, if not of a breaking heart, in
the way in which Paul here says: "O Timothy" -
"O Timothy, guard the deposit". That cry, that
ejaculation, that bursting forth of his heart which is
found through the letters, not just in that language, but
in other forms, reveals Paul's tremendous concern about
this matter of spiritual life, the reinforcing of
spirituality.
We ought
to share that concern with Paul today; we ought to feel
like that. Are you concerned about spiritual things? Are
you concerned about the way that, speaking generally,
things have taken - the declension, the departure, the
diversion, the dropping down, the differences, that have
come about since the beginning? Are you concerned? Well,
remember that it must be not just a sighing and groaning
over it, but an intelligent concern, in the full and
clear realisation of what the solution is - the
reinforcement of spirituality in ourselves and in the
Lord's people. May the Lord give us the concern of
His servant in this matter!