The book which goes by
the title ''The Acts'' is the book which introduces a new
age; it marks the passing of certain days, age-days, and
the arrival of a new day, a new age-day. But it not only
marks that change; it sets forth the character of the new
day. Among the many very important things which the Lord
's people need to recognize anew is this, the real Divine
nature of the new day which came in with that recorded in
this book.
The established and
accepted title of the book is limiting, and to some
extent misleading. You must remember that the writer of
the book never gave it that title. Luke, who wrote it,
did not call it, ''The Acts'', nor ''The Acts of the
Apostles'', nor ''The Acts of the Holy Spirit''. He did
not give it a title. If it had a title at all, it is in
his introduction, and that purely by inference. ''The
former treatise I made... concerning all that Jesus
began both to do and to teach'', and the inference is
that this is a further treatise of all that Jesus began
to do and teach.
I say the established
title, ''The Acts'', is limiting, and to some extent
misleading, for this reason: it puts all the emphasis
upon activity, and in so doing obscures the nature
of the activity, the real character of what had been
brought in, the very essence of things; that is, it very
largely obscures the fact that this new dispensation is
absolutely spiritual in every sense.
We know how ''the
baptism of the Spirit,'' ''the filling of the Spirit'',
all that is meant by the use of the word ''Pentecost'',
has been taken up by men and interpreted in terms of
manifestations, things that can be outwardly noted,
activities, works, done in a certain kind of heat and
enthusiasm and strength and assertiveness. You know what
the general mentality is when mention is made of being
filled with the Spirit. At once our minds leap to certain
forms of manifestation. But that is not the basic thing.
The basic fact is that something has changed altogether,
and there is a new character given to the new age; and
that is, that for this age everything is essentially and
absolutely spiritual.
I think Paul, in his
first letter to the Corinthians, not with this object in
view but under the same Spirit's direction and
inspiration, has given a full summary of what this
changeover really is. It occurs in a phrase in 1
Corinthians 15:46: ''Howbeit that is not first which is
spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is
spiritual.'' First that which is natural; afterward that
which is spiritual. That is only saying, in other words,
that the days which have gone were natural days, the days
in which Divine things were manifested naturally, on
natural grounds. They could all be grasped by natural
apprehension, men could see, men could feel. All that
realm of God's activity was possible of observation
naturally; but now that has passed.
''And it shall come to
pass afterward...''; ''afterward that which is
spiritual.'' That represents a Divine order and an
established economy in the arrangement of this world's
history. First that which is natural in everything;
afterward that which is spiritual, and this book (we will
use its accepted title, ''The Acts'') is the afterward
that is spiritual. And one of the most wonderful things
is that this book comprehends the Old Testament and
changes it right over into the spiritual realm.
You go back to the
opening chapters of Ezekiel and you find all the Divine
intentions and thoughts are being projected; the counsels
and purposes of God are in view - the wheels and the
living ones and the spirit in the wheels: Divine
counsels, the purposes of God in motion, and they are all
under the government of this One Who is upon the Throne.
All these Divine movements in relation to Divine
intentions concerning a people for God are all under the
government of that One upon the Throne; and they go
straightforward, they turn not as they go; they are not
deviating, they are not hindered; they go and they go
straightforward because there is One Who is in the place
of absolute sovereignty, and nothing, however it may seem
otherwise, can really divert His purposes. So, in this
book of ''The Acts'', whatever happens which seems to be
a diversion or a subverting or a hindrance or a
contradiction, and however much it seems to be out of the
straight way, it is found in the end to be compelled by a
governing hand ready to reach God's end and fulfill it,
and not hinder it. He is going straight forward. It is
because of the Man in the glory.
Yes, He is God's Son,
very God, but it is the MAN (''I see the Son of
man....''). As the Man He is the full embodiment of the
perfection of God's thoughts concerning man that is
ultimately to be, man that is eventually to occupy God's
realm, and as Son of man He is installed, enthroned,
established as the perfect model of how things are to be;
and God is taking the straight course in the power of the
Spirit to that end, to have things according to the Man
in the glory.
Pentecost in its
outworking, or the presence of the Holy Spirit here, will
mean that those in whom the Spirit operates and has His
way will never be able to rest short of God's full
thought for themselves or for others; that what is there
should be found here - that what is true of Christ, the
Man in the glory, should be more fully expressed here in
this new man, the Church, the Body. What is the place of
glory where God will dwell? It is no place on this earth
as geographically located or materially constructed. It
is a spiritual sanctuary, a habitation of God through the
Spirit. It is something which has been spiritually
constructed, constituted, and perfected, and His dwelling
and His habitation will be there; and it will be the
place of His glory unto all ages for ever and ever.
What is it? In other
words it is the realization in a people of that
conformity to the image of His Son. God, by His Spirit,
is working to make us a glorious Church, not having spot
or wrinkle or any such thing, for His own habitation.
''And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out
of heaven from God, having the glory of God (Rev. 21:2-3,
10-11). This is none other than the corporate man in
Christ perfected and glorified. That is a vision of
Christ and what Christ means in the thought and intention
of God. It is a revelation of that for which the Holy
Spirit has come, and an explanation of what the Holy
Spirit is doing to get rid of all in us which cannot be
glorified! Having brought life and incorruption to light
by the gospel, he is working unto that day when this
corruptible shall put on incorruption, this mortal shall
put on immortality, and death shall be swallowed up in
victory; when the Church is a glorious Church, where God
Himself is found without restraint and in which He is
worshipped in His universe.
The Man in the glory,
being at God' s right hand exalted, established, settled,
is the assured realization of God's end. He cannot be
there without His members. He cannot go on there alone.
All the meaning of the presence there of Christ, the Son
of man, would be stripped from Him if His Church never
came there, made like unto Him; there would be no meaning
in it at all. He is, after all, but the First-born among
many brethren; He is bringing many sons to glory. The
Spirit of sonship has come, not to try and do something,
not with a hope that it may be; He has come in all the
sovereignty of that One there, and it is going to be.
Settle your faith in
this. However many questions you may have as to yourself,
however often you may despair in yourself and be on the
point of giving everything up, who that knows his own
heart does not know the frequent temptation to do this?
Yet there is no need for despair. There is another view;
there is something else going on. The Spirit has come, He
is within. He sees One at the right hand of God, and in
spite of our despair about ourselves, in spite of the
discouragement and impossibility that we find in
ourselves, the Spirit of God is holding us to the Man in
the glory and going on with this work; and it is not
until we abandon faith in the omnipotence of the Spirit
of God that hope departs and despair settles down. While
we will believe that the Spirit of Christ has come in all
that omnipotence of the exalted Son of man and is in us
to do the work, hope springs eternal; there need be no
despair. He is working in sovereignty.
I do believe that this
book of ''The Acts'' says so loudly and clearly this one
thing: out from heaven the Spirit of Almighty God has
come in sovereignty to see things through. Let Herod do
what he likes; let the kings and the nations have their
confederacies; let all conditions work adversely; let
Satan and all his forces operate; the Church goes on and
these very things are drawn right into the train of
Christ' s triumph and made to serve the Divine ends. The
things which befall work out for the furtherance of the
Gospel, and the very things which look like disasters and
calamities prove at long last to be complementary things
under the sovereignty of the risen Lord. The spirit of
God is in charge.
An extract from "The New Day of the Spirit" Chapter 2. First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Sep-Oct 1947, Vol 25-5