"And it
came to pass after these things, that God did prove
Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Here am
I. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom
thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one
of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Genesis
22:1,2).
"For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son"
(John 3:16).
"By faith
Abraham being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had
gladly received the promises was offering up his only
begotten son" (Hebrews 11:17).
"Now I
rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my
part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ
in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the
church" (Colossians 1:24).
During these
meditations we have been moving along the line which
leads into the heart of God. We have been letting Abraham
be our teacher in this matter and have seen how he moved
step by step toward that place where God could speak of
him as 'My Friend'. No more glorious crown could be put
on the head of anyone than that!
I want now as quickly
as possible to dwell upon the last step into the heart of
God, which is oneness with God in His passion - one with
God in His suffering and in His joy. All the other
aspects of oneness with Him meet at the Cross, and the
deepest fellowship that can be had with Him is found in
fellowship with His sufferings. When Abraham was obedient
to the Lord's command: "Take now thy son, thine
only son, whom thou lovest", he
certainly did reach the point of absolute fellowship with
God, who Himself gave His only begotten Son.
Abraham had been called
upon to make many offerings in his life; many sacrifices
had to be made from the day that he left his own country,
but there was no sacrifice like this one, which touched
him at the point where it cost him more than anything
else. This was more than all the other sacrifices, and
so, at last, he stepped right into the heart of God.
That Scripture which we
read from the Letter to the Colossians - with many others
like it - makes it very clear to us that we are called
into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. This is not
His sufferings which were atonement for sin; there is
never any atonement about our sufferings. But leaving
that aspect out, it is quite clear in the Word that we
are called into the fellowship of His sufferings. The
sufferings of Christ are a gift to His people. The
Apostle Paul says: "To you it hath been granted
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but
also to suffer in his behalf" (Philippians
1:29).
Jesus offers us the cup
and says: 'Will you drink of My cup?' While it is the cup
of remission of sins - and we would grasp that with both
hands - He also says: 'This cup is fellowship in My
sufferings', and too often our hand is very slow to take that
cup.
I think I have told you
before of an incident I experienced in India. We were
gathered at the Lord's Table and there were two very fine
young Indian men sitting in front of me. I explained what
was the meaning of the cup and the loaf, and then
everyone rose to receive them. These two young men rose,
and, having explained what the cup meant, I offered it to
them. They both hesitated for a moment - they were
weighing this matter up - and then one of them bowed his
head and accepted it. The other shook his head, as much
as to say 'No, I cannot.' One went out of that meeting
with much joy in his face, and the other went out with
his head bowed and no joy.
Fellowship in the
sufferings of Christ is something that is offered to us
as a gift, and it is always fruitful. The sufferings of
Christ are always fruitful sufferings. We could not get
many more people in here this morning, but this packed
room is a testimony to the fact that the sufferings of
Jesus are fruitful sufferings, and we know that this
could be repeated thousands of times all over the world
today. And we have a picture in the Word of God of how it
will be in the end: "Ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands... a great
multitude, which no man could number" (Revelation
5:11; 7:9). Indeed, the sufferings of Christ are fruitful
sufferings.
Although we may not
always feel it to be so, fellowship with Christ in His
sufferings is the way of fulness of blessing. Did you see
what followed those words to Abraham about offering his
only son? "And the angel of the Lord called unto
Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, By myself
have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this
thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as
the sand which is upon the sea shore" (Genesis
22:15-17). Fellowship with Him in His sufferings is the
way of fulness of blessing. There is always a second time
with the Lord. The first time was: "Take now thy
son... and offer him", and the second
time was: "Because thou hast done this thing...
in blessing I will bless thee." The Lord commits
Himself to those who commit themselves to Him. You can
see that in verse 16 of this chapter, and here is one of
the many 'I wills' of the Lord. How often the Lord says
'I will' to His people! It is usually some blessing, but
here it is Himself. The Lord gives Himself to those who
share His sufferings.
But this blessing is
not just a personal thing for ourselves. See how
extensive this blessing was! 'Abraham, however much you
may be blessed, you will not just be one by yourself.
Many, many others will come into blessing because you
have shared My sufferings.' It must be like that, because
God is like that. If we want to be a blessing to others
we must accept fellowship with our Lord in His
sufferings, and if we will accept it, we shall certainly
be a blessing. The Word of the Lord is not 'I will bless
thee' only, but 'I will make thee a blessing.' The Cross
always cuts deeper channels in our lives, but God does
not cut deeper just in order to leave it like that. It is
in order that there may be more room for His fulness.
It is a universal law
in all creation that increase only comes by travail. You
may think this is rather a depressing note on which to
finish a conference! I am sorry if it seems like that,
but I cannot offer you any other way of blessing. There
is no other way of coming into that fulness which we all
desire, so this is not a message of despair. God only
knows how much it may cost us, but where there is cost
there is preciousness, that which is precious to the
Lord. Paul says: "I... fill up on my part that
which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh
for his body's sake." May we have grace
to take the cup and go forth to suffer, if needs be, for
the sake of our Lord, because it is not only the
sufferings of Christ: it is the joy of Christ.