See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,
which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather
than on Christ. (Colossians 2:8 NIV)
It is absolutely useless, dear friends, to refer to tradition and say, Well,
God did this in the beginning, and this is the place where the oracles of God
are found and the temple of God is and the great tradition of Israel as the
chosen people. It is here, and we rest on that. No, tradition will not support
now. History will not support now. Institutions will not support now. It seems
as though God has no regard, at length, for temple or ark or altar or
priesthood. He cries through the prophets: Away, away with you. I want none
of your sacrifices Isaiah 58. What a chapter! Cry aloud, spare not,
lift up thy voice. Then, what follows? Yet they seek Me daily, and
delight to know My ways. I will have none of it, says the Lord. I will
have none of it. These are not the sacrifices I want. This ritual is not what I
am after. This traditional system is not what I desire. It is a spiritual
state. And only on that can the Lord associate Himself, ally Himself, to
Zion....
If you look again at this letter to the Hebrews, you will see that we are come
to Zion. We are not come to some thing, some religious thing, some tradition, we
are not come to historic Christianity if I may put it that way we are come to a
spiritual situation which is calculated to startle us. Oh, we say, We are in
the day of Grace. This is the dispensation of Grace. True! Is the Letter to the
Hebrews on any other ground than the ground of Grace? Surely not, but do you
know that in this letter the most awful things in the Bible are written? How
shall we escape (we, we escape,
we Christians, we believers of this dispensation) how
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? ...Our God is a consuming
fire... it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.
This is said to these people, these Christians; and other things like that are
said. But I am pointing this out, that this letter is written in the day of
Grace; and it is a day which brings into view not some new Christian system, not
the formation of a new Christian tradition, but a spiritual condition, without
which everything else is as nothing. You have come to Zion, yes, but you have
come to the controversy of Zion. You have come, we have come, to the great
battle of Zion; and it is a spiritual battle.