During a recent visit to the Far East I was told by a responsible
servant of God of the influence and value of a little book which
was our first publication, and has long been out of print.
Strangely also the question has recently come up from other
directions as to whether this booklet could be reproduced. On
reading it through again, while there are some things which we
would not publish in exactly the same words today, there seems to
be much that is very up-to-date and may very well have a message
for this time - more than thirty years after its first issue.
I therefore propose to give the substance of some of the chapters
in a short series of Editorials or Leaders. The title of the book
was -
The Release of the Lord
Here then is the first part.
Isaiah 61:1-3 (Lev. 25:10); Luke 12:49,50; 4:18,19; Acts 2:1.
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon
Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings
unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that
mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might
be glorified."
"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth
year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the
inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye
shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return
every man unto his family."
"I am come to send fire on the
earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a
baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished!
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He
hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to
the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of
the Lord."
"And when the day of Pentecost was
fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
The book which is known to us as
"The Acts of the Apostles," and sometimes "The Acts of the Holy
Spirit," might truly be named -
The Release of
Jesus Christ.
Luke introduces it with the
observation that he had earlier written the beginnings of the
acts and teaching of Jesus; implying that continuation is now
his object and purpose. But what a change! The former activities
were bounded and limited by time and space, and, at best,
covered but a few square miles of Syrian soil. For the most part
Omnipresence was in chains, except for a few breakings through
of power at a distance. The activities and teaching were almost
entirely limited to a people of one nation and tongue. Then,
by outward urge, persuasion, and encouragement, He caused His
wishes to be carried out; and to the dull minds of the
spiritually unquickened He gave His spiritual treasures;
explanations and reasons being necessary to confidence. Then,
the necessity was laid upon Him of a very slow disillusionment
and unfolding as to what form the end of the phase would take,
because of the controlling personal interests, even in the inner
circle. Pride, ambition, doubt, malice, self-assertiveness,
self-confidence, self-realization, self-defense, like barbed
wires, circled around and wounded Him whenever He sought to move
forward. Ever conscious from the beginning that world-dominion
was His as "Heir of all things," yet He had not a place to lay
His head, and to be "crucified through weakness" was to be His
portion.
What a change! Now He has shaken
off all His chains. Time and space no longer have any power over
Him. Geography, the material things, Satan, demons, men,
nations, thrones, all have been fully stripped off by Him. Now,
by an inward dynamic, in spite of every threat and peril, men
and women are moving out in every direction with a passion for
the glory of His Name. Now, not as an historic figure, known
"after the flesh," but, by an inward revelation of transcendent
magnitude, He is known after the Spirit. Now, the once dreaded,
unacceptable, offending Cross is all their glory. Now, suffering
reproach has supplanted pride; selfless, disinterested sacrifice
takes the place of ambition; a mighty energizing faith - not
their own - has destroyed doubt; they lay down their own lives
gladly and suffer the loss of all things for that Name.
In one strategic stroke He begins
with a multitude representing "every nation under heaven." See
how this fire spreads without artificial and forced agencies.
In the year 33 A.D., a few
Galilean fishermen were seeking liberty of speech in
Jerusalem, and were severely handled as men poor and ignorant.
In the year that Paul died, how
did the matter stand? There were churches in Jerusalem, in
Caesarea, in Antioch and all Syria, in Galatia, in Ephesus,
Sardis, Laodicea and throughout the west coast of lesser Asia,
in Phillippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Rome, Alexandria,
in the chief cities of the islands and the mainland of Greece,
and the western Roman colonies.
A Sad Comparison
There are some significant
omissions from this record of conquests. We never read of the
organizing of a missionary campaign.
Such things as deputations,
lecturers and lectures, exhibitions, appeals, advertisements,
and so on, with all their cost and expenditure of time, money,
energy, all to try to get Christians interested in the souls
of the unsaved, are never hinted at. Any reporting of what
God had done in the regions beyond was never by way of
propaganda or advocacy. Statistics as mental stimulants;
pathetic, tragic, sensational stories as emotional stimulants;
urge and drive as volitional stimulants had no place here, so
far as we can discern. The thing was firstly of the
Spirit, not of the soul. The endeavour to reverse this order is
undoubtedly the reason for a tremendous amount of the weakness
and breakdown of today.
Speaking generally, this whole
matter of the world-mission of the Church is on pre-resurrection
ground today. The Lord is not straitened in Himself, but He is
straitened in His people.
On the one hand, there is a need of
workers, for almost half the human race is without the knowledge
of Christ; and on the other hand workers are often ready to go
forth, yet there are no means to send them. A third condition,
almost more tragic, abounds, that of the spiritual breakdown of
many who do go, so that 'converts' are not really and genuinely
born from above with the Spirit of sonship becoming truly
resident within. Demon powers persist in dominion and challenge.
A policy of slow absorption of 'Christianity,' through
education, familiarization, and so on, as a compromise between
failure to work upon the basis of genuine regeneration and an
honest acknowledgment of the same with its practical
implications, has been adopted. Finally there are the many who
return home with lost assurance.
Surely all this stands in direct
contrast to the spirit and experience of the New Testament. It
is not difficult to go on at great length making distinctions
between the two standards, that of the New Testament and that
which has largely been since, but the more important thing is to
display the secrets of that former glory.
We are convinced that He Who is
"the same yesterday, and today, and for ever," desires to have,
and can have, His work on the same plane to the end of the age,
and that in some parts of the world it is happening in a way
very similar to the early days.
Here then begins an enquiry into
the nature of the work of the risen Lord in "the Church, which
is His body."
We ask, first of all, is there any
phrase which embodies the conception, the motive, and the
dynamic of this spontaneous world-conquest at its beginning?
We think that there is such a
phrase, and it is this:
The Testimony of
Jesus.
This accounts for everything when
possessing as it possessed them. Let us look it up.
"Who bare witness of the Word of
God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev.1:2).
"I was in the isle that is called
Patmos, for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus"
(Rev. 1:9).
"I saw underneath the altar the
souls of them that had been slain for the Word of God, and for the
testimony which they held" (Rev. 6:9).
"And the dragon waxed wroth with
the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed,
which keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony
of Jesus" (Rev. 12:17).
"I am a fellow-servant with thee
and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus"
(Rev. 19:10).
"And I saw the souls of them that
had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus"
(Rev. 20:4).
"Even as the testimony of
Christ was confirmed in you" (1 Cor. 1:6).
"They will not receive of thee testimony
concerning Me" (Acts 22:18).
"Our testimony unto you was
believed" (2 Thess. 1:10).
"Be not ashamed therefore of the
testimony of our Lord" (2 Tim. 1:8).
"Ye shall be My witnesses"
(Acts 1:8; same root in Greek as 'testimony').
"Must one be ordained to be a witness
with us" (Acts 1:22).
"This Jesus did God raise up,
whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32).
"Raised from the dead; whereof we
are witnesses" (Acts 3:15).
"Not to all the people, but unto
witnesses" (Acts 10:41).
"With great power gave the apostles
their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"
(Acts 4:33).
"And they overcame him because of
the blood of the Lamb, and because of the Word of their
testimony" (Rev. 12:11).
The New Testament, read in the
light of these passages, shows very clearly that the remarkable
story which it recounts is that of a testimony. It remains for
us to ask what this testimony was. To clear the way for the
positive answer we must say something as to what this
"testimony" was not.
1. "The Testimony
of Jesus"
Was Not a Teaching
There is nothing in the whole story
upon which to rest an argument or affirmation that the Apostles
went out to the world with 'The Teaching of Jesus.' They were
not propagating new doctrines or a system of truth. The teaching
resulted from the acceptance of the testimony, the expounding of
its content followed that acceptance and was kept for believers
only. It was a result, not a cause. The most they ever did was
to substantiate their testimony from the Scriptures, and affirm
certain facts concerning the Person of Christ.
2. "The Testimony
of Jesus"
Was Not a New Religion
'Christianity' was not set over
against or alongside of other religions and made 'comparative.'
It was some time before some of the Apostles themselves realized
the implications of their testimony in the matter of their being
emancipated from Judaism. Great as the change was, they did not
at first realize that they had been taken out of their
'religion.' Later they found that they were out and committed in
spite of their own prejudices, and had to do their thinking and
discussing after the thing had become a fact in embarrassing
experience. See Peter in the house of Cornelius, and the events
of Acts 10, 11, 15, etc.
3. "The Testimony
of Jesus"
Was Not a New 'Movement'
No plans were laid.
There was no policy. Organization was entirely absent, and any
which subsequently had to be admitted was forced upon them by
the embarrassment of the very vitality of things, and then it
was of the simplest.
A thought-out campaign did not
exist. To set up, launch, form, bring into being, or found a new
society, sect, 'church,' community, was not in mind. They did
not set out for such, and although their testimony gave
distinctiveness to all who believed; although outsiders labelled
them and misinterpreted their motive and purpose; the
distinguishing feature was life.
What then was "The Testimony of
Jesus"?
All-inclusively it was the
proclamation and affirmation of a fact. That fact was - and is -
The Universal Sovereignty and
Lordship of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, established and
vindicated by the resurrection from the dead.
This testimony has two sides. The
objective and historic fact, of which they had many infallible
proofs, had become demonstrated in the power of that
resurrection by the Holy Spirit in "the church, which is His
body" - in all its members, in all its activities. That life,
which in Him had conquered sin, death, hell, Satan, and had
carried Him from "the lowest part" to the "far above all
heavens," had been implanted in them by the Holy Spirit sent
down from Heaven.
The "testimony of Jesus," then, is
that Jesus lives universally triumphant, and the Church is the
"pillar" (or monument) of that truth. It is His resurrection
Body, possessed of His risen Life and administered by the Holy
Spirit, as the repository of that Life.
The testimony of Jesus is in
effect a life - His Life. Not a mode of life, but a
vital, infinite force; indestructible, irresistible,
incorruptible; a vital force mediated to the spiritually dead
wherever there is a readiness and willingness to believe on the
Lord Jesus.
It burst the old molds,
"wine-skins" of tradition, worn-out systems, man-made orders and
forms.
It sets aside even those things
which were once raised up and greatly used by God, but
which have ceased to be living, and are only past history. Even
Judaism ceases to count here. The testimony of Jesus liberates
captives, and a word spoken by its power is as an irresistible
challenge to "let My people go." Lazarus must come forth when
He, "the resurrection, and the life," commands through His
Church. This life, issuing forth from the risen Lord as within
'the Body' by the Eternal Spirit, is the compelling power of the
world-mission and testimony of Jesus.
There is no precedent in the New
Testament for appealing for workers or missionaries. This
is at best but a sorry alternative or necessity. When the Holy
Spirit is really in possession and the life is manifested, then
He takes the initiative in all work and workers, saying,
"Separate Me... for the work whereunto I have called them."
Great emphasis is laid in the New
Testament upon receiving the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the
Spirit of the universally Sovereign Lord - "the Heir of all
things." His mission is world-wide, cosmic. World-vision,
world-passion, world-vocation, are the inevitable, immediate
result of the establishment of His Lordship within. It cannot be
otherwise. Then what is the matter that this thing is not
spontaneous with so many? Why do not the Lord's people spread
the Testimony by simply talking out of a full heart? Is this
also the indictment of Acts 19:2–5?
Is the cost a deterrent by which
the Spirit is quenched? It will cost. To no place did
the New Testament witnesses go with the "Testimony" but what the
enemy - the dragon - made war. It was up to him to do so, for he
stood to be a very great loser. It was the battle for dominion.
This was his unwilling compliment, his unintentional
congratulation. They represented something and possessed
something which made hell angry and afraid.
The Lord's purpose and method in
this age is to bring into resurrection-union with Himself two
or three in every place and to 'add unto them such as are
being saved.'
It is an accretion of life,
not enticement, 'attraction,' advertisement. Here again the Holy
Spirit takes the initiative when a true testimony is borne.
The greatest need of the hour is a
revitalizing of the Lord's people with His risen life by the
Holy Spirit. May we soon see this, and come to the place where
everything - tradition, system, common acceptances, forms and
molds, prejudices, personal interests, reputation, prestige,
compromise, the opinions of others, policy, and so on - will be
sacrificed, if needs be, for LIFE, and the true and
living TESTIMONY OF JESUS. So shall He find His release
again and scatter the fire anew.
THE EDITOR.