That enlargement comes
through straightening is an abiding law of the Kingdom of
the Heavens in this age is a well-known truth. Its
implications are various and its instances are numerous.
One of its too oft unrecognised implications is that efforts
at enlargement in a really spiritual realm only get an
artificial inflation with all the weakness,
unsatisfactoriness, and instability of what is not
spiritually real. True development is not the work of
man, his ingenuity, acumen, efficiency, resource, drive,
cleverness, or enthusiasm. The very law of which we are
speaking has its strength and vindication in the fact
that God begins at zero. When, humanly speaking, there
has remained no hope, and it has been fully recognised
that only God could do the necessary thing, it has too
often been proved that that was just the situation that
He had been taking pains to bring about. "He hangeth
the world upon nothing," is an abiding principle
from the standpoint of the natural man. It is always a
salutary thing for the Lord's servants to pass their eye
over the scriptures and review the zeros of man and the
intervention of God at that point. Such a survey must
ever lead to a recognition that God is speaking in all
ages in the terms of the Cross, and that there
all-inclusively has been for ever established the Divine
law that the "flesh profiteth nothing"; that
the "natural" (Gk. soulical) man cannot
in the things of God; that the Adam species and race
has been wound up and finished. That is the comprehensive
"Adam" zero, and at that point an entirely new
order is instituted, and this is one in which God is
personally resident and dominant by His Spirit.
Henceforth for all Divine purposes direct the
indispensable condition is
"Full
of the Holy Ghost and Faith."
It is here that we
centre the whole emphasis of these messages. Again may we
plead that none will think us merely critical,
disparaging, far less censorious. Surely it is a
justifiable inquiry to make as to whether the above
qualification is the one supreme consideration in all
choices and appointments in the service of God.
In our missionary
Boards and Directorates what has been the basis of
membership? Has it been missionary interest on the part
of Christian men, plus business ability, financial
resource, circle of influence, a name that obtains
confidence? In our church councils, committees, &c.,
has it been by popular vote governed by any one or more
of human considerations? In our methods has it been
thought that an efficient organisation, machinery, plant,
"interest," would secure the end?
Or has it honestly and
truly been that, all other things given a secondary
place, the Lord needs first of all such as being full of
the Holy Ghost and faith known above all things what
"prayer and fasting" mean? When in the
primitive, and free method of the first days the Spirit
said "Separate me Barnabas and Saul unto the work
whereto I have called them," it is a blessed thing
to realise that it was not said to such as were living in
comparative ease and comfort or whose occasional or
second business it was to attend to these things, but to
such as "ministering to the Lord and fasting"
were experimentally sharing the great, spiritual cost
which would fall to those who would be sent forth. It is
so easy to issue instructions, give orders, make plans,
manipulate lives, pass decisions, when these do not
immediately involve those who do so in the spiritual cost
and anguish and conflict. We think that no one ought ever
to be in such a position who has not gone just as far in
the cost, and sacrifice, and who is not just as fully
abandoned with all that they have as those who go forth
"for the sake of the Name." The Lord's ways are
equal, and any unequality is unrighteousness, and this
ties the hands of blessing. The Holy Spirit is free to
take the initiative only in so far as the holy
constituents of that Name are the foundation if the
purpose, policy, methods, means, motives and lives of
such as are associated with holy things. This is
abundantly established in all the scriptures. Sometimes
it is seen in the breaking forth of judgment; sometimes
in reverses and defects; sometimes in stagnation and
arrest; sometimes in the abortion and miscarriage of
labours.
Thus we arrive at the
point where we have to rediscover or re-establish the
great governing concepts of New Testament evangelism.
These may be set down as THE CROSS, THE BLOOD, THE NAME,
THE CHURCH, THE ANOINTING.
The
Power of the Name.
What 'the Name' meant
to the Church at Pentecost is clearly visible in the
record of the Acts of the Apostles. The Lord had said to
them, as almost His last words ere passing from their
view into the heavens: 'It is written, that the Christ
should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third
day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached IN HIS NAME unto all the nations' (Luke 24:47,
R.V.) - showing Calvary, resurrection, repentance,
remission - all linked and bound up in the preaching in
His Name.
Peter on the Day of
Pentecost, in his first words to men under conviction of
sin, said: 'Repent ye, and be baptised every one of you
IN THE NAME,' &c. (Acts 2:38). To the lame man at the
Temple gate he said: 'IN THE NAME of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk (Acts 3: 6). The power of the
Name he emphasised again to the crowd who ran together to
see the miracle, for he said it was 'faith in HIS NAME'
(v. 16) which had brought about this mighty work. 'IN THE
NAME' of Him 'whom ye crucified' but 'whom God raised' -
he told the high priest - did the man stand before them
whole! (1) 'Crucified,' (2) 'raised,' (3) 'the Name';
here it is again - Calvary and Resurrection, linked with
the power of the Name. 'Speak no more IN THIS NAME,' said
the council, but in vain. The faith of the Church in the
'all power' of the living Lord at the back of His Name,
grew so that WITH PREVAILING FAITH, THEY PLEADED in the
face of the opposition of the rulers of this world, that
'signs and wonders' might be done 'through the NAME of
Jesus' (Acts 4:30).
'We straitly charged
you not to teach in this NAME,' said the high priest; and
'they beat them, and charged them not to speak in the
NAME of Jesus,' but they only rejoiced that they had been
'deemed worthy to suffer disgrace on behalf of the NAME'
(Acts 5:28,42 - Weymouth). The first stripes had fallen
upon martyr souls ready to suffer for the NAME: for the
Name stood for the Person behind it - the risen, ascended
Lord.
Again, as we trace on
in the Acts, we find Philip 'preaching good tidings
concerning the Kingdom' and the all-powerful NAME (Acts
8, 12), and gladly all who believed were 'baptised into
the NAME' (v. 16). We find Saul the persecutor changed
into Paul the disciple, and the Lord saying of him that
he was chosen to bear the NAME before the Gentiles, and
even kings, and to suffer for the NAME (Acts 9:15); we
soon read of him 'preaching boldly in the NAME' (v. 29).
All this, and much
more, shows how the early Church wielded the Name of
Jesus (1) in prayer to God, (2) over Satan's power, and
(3) in preaching the Gospel of the Cross.
But what is the
reason of the power of the Name? Why should it be so
mighty in (1) heaven - i.e., in prayer; (2) over
hell - i.e., over the power of Satan; (3) over
men - i.e., in proclamation of the Message? The
Apostle lifts the veil in his letter to the Philippians,
where he says that the Father gave the Son this all
prevailing Name on the ground of Calvary!
"BECOMING OBEDIENT
EVEN UNTO DEATH, YEA, THE DEATH OF THE CROSS. WHEREFORE
ALSO GOD HIGHLY EXALTED HIM, AND GAVE UNTO HIM THE NAME
WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME THAT IN THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY
KNEE SHOULD BOW" (Phil. 3:10, R.V.).
Then comes again the
threefold power of the Name in (1) heaven, (2) on earth,
and (3) the world below (see Phil. 3:10, R.V. marg.).
The Name therefore
represents, not only the living Lord on the throne, but
CALVARY - in His victory over sin and over Satan. It was
because He was obedient unto death - even the death of
the Cross - carrying through to the bitter end the only
way of victory for fallen man over sin and Satan, that
God gave Him the 'Name.'
Jehovah-Jesus He was
named at His birth as potential Saviour-Victor, but He
had to carry it through in stern reality. He had to reach
the final point of the death on the Cross ere the
birthname could become surcharged with all the force and
power of His finished work; and God gave Him the Name in
which eventually every knee shall bow, 'every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father.'
'Authority' through the
Name of the One Who has all authority in heaven and upon
earth is for every servant of God, and authority in three
spheres of service seems clearly set forth in the
Scriptures, i.e.:-
Authority in prayer (Matt.
28:19,20).
"If two of you
shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall
ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in
heaven. For where two or three are gathered together IN
MY NAME there am I in the midst of them."
"Whatsoever ye
shall ask IN MY NAME that will I do.... ask Me anything
IN MY NAME, that will I do" (John 14:13,14).
It seems clear also
from other words spoken by the Lord that the authority of
prayer 'in His Name' was connected with the coming of the
Holy Ghost at Pentecost. He spoke again and again of
'That Day' and all that it would mean to them. 'In that
Day,' He said, 'ye shall ask me no questions.' (John
16:23, R.V. marg.), for they would understand in
experience what He was now telling them. The Holy Spirit
would so reveal to them their union with the Son, that
one with Him (John 14:20; John 15:7-16) prayer would be
to the Father in His Name, and be the same as Christ
Himself asking, and God Himself giving in response to the
'Name' of His Son.
When the Holy Ghost had
come, 'In that Day' (a) They would ask 'In the Name.' 'In
that day ye shall ask in My Name' (John 16:26). (b)
They would ask of the Father in the Name - 'Verily
verily I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the
Father, He will give it you in My Name' (John 16:23).
'Hitherto have ye asked
nothing in My Name,' the Lord adds, showing that this
'asking the Father' in the 'Name' of the Son - because
united to Him in one life - depended upon the work of the
Holy Ghost in them and through them, when He would come
at Pentecost. Until then - when the Calvary scene would
be over, and the work of redemption accomplished; when
the Resurrection triumph over sin and Satan had come to
pass - they could not know the authority of prayer to the
Father 'in the Name.'
If we briefly glance at
these same disciples after the day had fully come, we
shall quickly see the fulfilment of the Master's words.
The most concrete example will be found in Acts 4:29-31,
when the assembled company prayed to the Father asking
that 'signs and wonders may be done THROUGH THE NAME of
Thy Holy Servant, Jesus,' and the response from God was
immediate and clear: by the Spirit in them they had asked
'In the Name' of the Father, and the Father had glorified
the Son. They had authority through the Name.
Authority over the
forces of evil (Luke 10:17) - 'Lord, even the demons
are subject unto us IN THY NAME ' (R.V. marg.), said the
seventy, and this authority was not withdrawn when the
Lord ascended to heaven, but confirmed as possible to all
who believe by some of the last words of the Risen Lord,
for He said, 'Making use of My authority they shall expel
demons' (Mark 16:17 - Weymouth). This again was
proved as true for the Church of Christ, when, after
Pentecost, Philip, 'the evangelist,' went down to
Samaria, and, whilst he was proclaiming Christ,
('with a cry, foul spirits came out of many' Acts 8:4-8 -
Weymouth), showing that the authority of the
ascended Lord was as truly behind the proclamation of His
Name as in the days when He walked the earth.
Again, in the history
of Paul - not one of the 'Twelve' who had personally
known and heard the Lord's commission of authority, save
as the Risen One who met him on the way to Damascus - we
have a specific instance of the authority of the Name in
the story of the girl possessed by a SPIRIT OF DIVINATION
- just what spiritualism today means in its
actual truth. This lying spirit, crying aloud the truth
in every word it spoke, could not deceive the Apostle,
who, speaking direct to the spirit, said, 'I command you
IN THE NAME of Jesus Christ to come out of her' (Acts
16:16-18 - Weymouth) and the spirit had to
submit and obey.
This authority is
possible only as the outcome of authority in prayer. The
power of the NAME must be proved on high ere the soul can
dare to wield it over the dark denizens of the pit. Then,
as the outcome of knowledge of authority in both these
spheres, i.e., (1) with God in prayer, and (2) over the
unseen forces of evil in the air, comes -
Authority in
preaching to men (Acts 9:43) 'Through His NAME every
one that believeth on (into) Him shall receive remission
of sins.' It was the authority of the NAME, and the
Living One behind the NAME, that made the proclamation of
remission of sins through Him to carry power to all who
heard. In the house of Cornelius 'the Holy Spirit fell on
all who were listening to the message,' bearing witness
to the proclamation in the Name.
'Authority!'
It is written of Christ, 'He, spake as One having authority,
and not as the scribes' (Mark 1:22). 'Opinions!' Nay, men
have 'opinions,' 'views,' 'theories'! But an ambassador
sent from God with His message has authority -
the authority of the unseen but Living Lord who stands
behind His Name." J. P. L.