"...this
mind... which was... in Christ Jesus: who, existing in
the form of God, counted not the being on an equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness
of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, 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, of
things in heaven and things on earth and things under the
earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"
(Phil. 2:5-11).
I feel that there is
one big question which it is imperative that the Lord's
people should face in these days, and if we can answer
that question in a living way and enter livingly into the
answer, very great spiritual values will be secured. The
question is this - What has God revealed as His
supreme objective resultant from the Cross of Christ? The
question which springs out of that is - how has God
revealed that the objective shall be secured and
expressed? Probably it will be that subsidiary question
which will occupy us largely in these meditations,
leading to the answer to the main question.
As we approach this
main question, we may do so by a series of enquiries. Is
the supreme outcome of the Cross of Christ found in there
being so many Christians enjoying the knowledge that they
are saved? Further, is it found in so many saved people
seeking to get other people to the same position -
enjoying the fact of being saved? Further, is the answer
found in having so many saved Christians mainly occupied
with their own sanctification, the way of victory, and a
fuller life? And, yet again, is it to have so many
Christians devoting themselves to the knowledge of deeper
things, the deeper things of God? And if we put all the
four together, have we got the objective, that is, God's full
objective, in the Cross of Christ? All the things
that I have mentioned certainly are part of it; but when
we have them all - salvation, soul-winning,
sanctification, education - does it end there? Are any,
or all, of these the end? Will that satisfy God? Will
that fill up His desire and expectation and be an
adequate outcome of Calvary? Well, that is what we are
going to look at, as the Lord enables.
The circle drawn by all
the things which we have just mentioned may still be a
limited circle in two respects. Firstly, all that may
still resolve itself into something personal - my
salvation, my service, my sanctification, my
spiritual education. Secondly, it may all resolve
itself into something very largely, if not entirely,
earthly, having to do with life here on this earth -
being saved, getting others saved, growing in grace,
increasing in spiritual knowledge. It may be quite an
earthly thing, although, of course, leading to heaven and
having heaven ultimately in view. But is not that, after
all, still a circumscribed position? Again, does it
represent all the meaning of the Cross?
Now all of these phases
that I have mentioned are seen in the New Testament.
Indeed, in a certain sense, we may say that the New
Testament in sections deals with these respectively.
Romans may, in the main, deal with the first - our
salvation. Corinthians may deal with the second - our
sanctification. The New Testament does definitely provide
for each of these in quite a specific and definite way,
but what we ought to recognise is this, that we can
never, by means of any one section of the Word of God,
see the whole purpose of God. We need all the Word of God
for all the purpose of God.
A
People to Express Christ's Lordship
So when we
come really to the Word, we find that the Cross as our
basis and as our way leads on to these, but through them
ever on and ever up to something much more than they are,
either separately or collectively and inclusively, and it
is that ultimate something which is the supreme objective
resultant from the Cross of the Lord Jesus. When I use
that word 'ultimate,' I do not want to divert your mind
from the present. I am not using it in the sense of
afterward, final, in the sense of time; for that ultimate
is now. God has shown that He would have a full
vindication of the Cross of His Son now.
Let me
stay for a moment for an extra word on what I have just
said. We Christians ought to be tremendously interested
in our Christianity, interested not merely as a mental
matter, but as a heart matter; interested in heart really
to discover where we are being led by the whole Word of
God. We read the Bible; I suppose we read a few verses
every day; some do a great deal more than that; but the
Bible is the book of Christians, and we read it more or
less. I wonder how many of us really do approach the
Bible with this one heart enquiry - where is this
leading? What is it all unto? This is not just something
by the way in itself. There is something tremendous,
something immense, involved. There is always a forward
look, a prospect, something in view, something being
pointed to, something toward which we are being urged,
drawn on; and, putting it all together, where shall we
arrive if we see what God has really put into this Word?
How many of you do that? If we do approach the Word of
God with that spirit - with that enquiry coming from our
hearts, that is, born of the very love which has been
begotten in us by the love of God: if we are not merely
interested in Christianity as our religion but as a heart
relationship with the Lord for His satisfaction - if we
approach the Bible like that, desiring to know what it is
His heart is set upon, and therefore what our hearts
ought to be set upon, and if we take the Cross of the
Lord Jesus as the key to it all, we shall find ourselves
led to some very great conclusions, a very great
position.
Can we try
- for it will be no more than an endeavour - to set down
in a mere phrase what that ultimate something is? May I
put it in this way? The ultimate is shown to be the
supreme lordship and headship of Christ expressed and
manifested in the whole cosmic realm in and by a body of
Christians in whom the Divine meaning of the Cross is an
experimental reality.
A
Conscious Spiritual Relationship, the Fruit of the
Cross
Breaking
that up further, what does it amount to? Well, in other
words it is this. Firstly, believers living in a
conscious, spiritual relationship which is the fruit of
the Cross. That is the first fragment - a conscious spiritual
relationship which is the fruit of the Cross. It cannot
be anything but a spiritual relationship. We cannot live
in an actual, personal, physical, conscious relationship
with all believers. We do not know them. We know but a
mere fragment of all those who exist. We cannot organise
this thing, bring it within the compass of an
organisation, a society, or anything of that kind. It can
only be a spiritual relationship, but it can be a conscious
spiritual relationship. That it is spiritual does not
mean that it has to be unconscious, abstract, nebulous,
imaginary, something somewhere but undefined. No; a
personal, conscious, spiritual relationship with all
believers; though they may be scattered to the ends of
the earth, yet something has been done by the Holy Spirit
which has constituted those concerned people of a related
consciousness with all other believers. That is
absolutely essential to the ultimate - the expression of
the lordship and headship of Jesus Christ. That is no
abstract, ethereal thing. That is very positive and very
practical, and if the whole cosmic realm is to feel the
impact of that lordship, this conscious, spiritual
relationship is absolutely essential.
All those
powers which occupy that cosmic realm, which have their
government there, have no interest in, or concern with,
doctrines of Christian unity; but they have a great deal
of interest in actual, spiritual relatedness; so much so,
that they have never ceased from the day of Pentecost, to
make it one of their primary objectives to divide the
people of God in their spiritual consciousness. If they
cannot get in between them in other ways, they will try
to set up a sense of distance, of unrelatedness or
disturbed relatedness, because of the tremendous
importance of this matter of a living, practical, real,
conscious, spiritual relationship between the people of
God - something more than mechanical and organised,
something spiritual.
Then, we
spoke of this relatedness as being the fruit of the
Cross, because this can never be brought about apart from
all the tremendous meaning of the Cross of the Lord Jesus
in the realm which is now rent and torn and shattered to
fragments so far as spiritual relatedness is concerned.
This is a universe which has been broken to pieces,
endless pieces. Its harmony and unity have been
completely disrupted, and those cosmic powers are the
forces which have done it, and are doing it. That hardly
needs to be argued. We know it within ourselves - the
battle for forbearance, for longsuffering, for endurance,
for kindness, for patience, for love, for consideration -
all those are very practical matters in the Christian
life. Look at the way this breaking up is at work, these
endless discords in the whole creation, in the whole
universe. There is nothing to meet that but the Cross of
the Lord Jesus; and that is one of the primary meanings
of the Cross to which we are getting at this time - a
people in a living, conscious, spiritual relationship
which is the fruit of the Cross in them and in this
universe. That is why we read those words in Philippians.
The goal is His absolute sovereign lordship and headship.
How do you reach it? "Have this mind in you..."
And what is the contextual implication and application?
"I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of
the same mind in the Lord" (Phil. 4:2). "Have
this mind..." - one mind intervening to overcome two
conflicting minds, and the only mind that will do it is
the mind of Him Who went to the Cross and let go His own
personal and individual position and rights for the sake
of others. The Cross alone will meet this situation. Yes,
the need is for believers living in a conscious,
spiritual relationship which is the fruit of the Cross.
A
Spiritual Position Above this Earth
Secondly,
the need is for believers as so related occupying a
spiritual position above this earth; being here, and yet
with a vast gap spiritually between them and what is here
- and that includes what is here on this earth
religiously, just as much as in other ways; it is
possible to be religiously on and of the earth, in a
religious way touching the earth. You understand that
when I say 'touching the earth' I am not talking about
touching the ground physically, but touching that realm
in which a curse resides. There is a spiritual feature
and factor - it has been cursed. Is that too strong? We
could spend an hour or two in showing how true, that is.
The mark of the curse is just this, that it does not
matter how far men seem to advance and develop and
produce and achieve; running alongside of every
'advance' (?), and keeping pace with everything that is
called progress, every achievement, every invention,
every production, there is the element of a curse which
will turn that against man for his own undoing. The very
thing that he discovers, invents, produces, for the good
of the world, turns out for the world's destruction. In
the day in which we live we are faced with the fullest
development of that principle of the curse that has been
known in the history of this universe. When men make such
a marvellous discovery and achieve such a marvellous
thing that in a split second they can wipe out tens of
thousands of people from the earth with one experiment,
what are they going to do when they let loose the
developed thing? Invention? Progress? Oh no, there is a
curse attached to everything in this creation. Man's
undoing is found in his own ingenuity. But that is a very
intense and strong aspect and expression of this
principle. This earthliness has become very refined in
many respects; very religious; but still earthly, still
something tied down here with its expectations, hopes and
enterprises all here. It is not necessary, I think, to
follow that unpleasant line very much farther.
But to
return to this second fragment of the general
presentation - we are thinking of believers living in a
conscious, spiritual relationship which is the fruit of
the Cross, occupying a spiritual position above this
earth, and who are concerned with earthly things only so
far as those things relate to higher interests, heavenly
purposes. They are a people living in the realm described
in that unique phrase of the Apostle Paul "in the
heavenlies in Christ"; a heavenly people; which
means much more, of course, than we are saying at the
moment.
Ever-Increasing
Spiritual Fulness
Thirdly,
the need is for believers who, because of this living,
conscious, spiritual relationship, the fruit of the
Cross, and because of this spiritual position above the
earth, are characterised by ever-increasing spiritual
fulness; for when the Lord gets people like that and in
that position there is no stagnation, no limitation.
There is constant, increasing, spiritual fulness. They
have resources, and they have plenty, and far more than
they can consume upon themselves. That is not fiction,
that is fact. The whole Word of God bears down upon this,
that the Divine thought is also a thought of fulness.
Wherever you find God reaching His end, it is all by way
of fulness. Is it the tabernacle or the temple? - then it
is filled with His glory. Is it the river of God? - it is
full of water. Is it the trees of the Lord? - they are
full of sap. Is it the waterpots? - they are filled to
the brim. Is it the Church? - then it is "the
fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:23).
So we could go on. The Divine thought is always along the
line of fulness. And I said, this is not ultimate in
time, this is for now - a people who have more than the
ordinary, more than just enough to make ends meet or
hardly that. The fulness of Christ - that is God's end by
way of the Cross, and to be known now.
The
Rule of the Heavens Expressed
Then
fourthly, and finally for the moment, there is need of
believers who, because of the three things already
mentioned, are showing that the kingdom of the heavens is
a spiritual reality and who are extending its range
actually - showing that the heavens do rule, and
that they rule through the medium and by the
instrumentality of a people, a heavenly people, after
this kind. The bringing of the impact of that supreme
rule of the heavens to bear upon the cosmic forces of
this universe is the vocation of the Church of which we
are speaking, of a people like this; and that is the
meaning of the Cross ultimately. Where does the Cross
lead to? Your salvation, my salvation? Yes, of course. Is
that all? And then that I should be busy to get other
people into that position? Oh, yes, of course, without
question. And then that you and I should be growing in
grace progressively, in sanctification, being conformed
to the image of His Son? Oft yes, a hundred times yes,
without any question. And that we should be increasing in
the knowledge of Him, growing in our apprehension of the
things of God, that our spiritual education should go on
uninterruptedly? Yes, all that is in the will of God. But
is that, or are all those things put together, the end?
No, the end of the Cross is that the whole realm of evil
spiritual powers and intelligences should meet the impact
of all that - that there should be a practical
registration of it all objectively.
I said
that this can all be personal after all - my salvation,
your salvation; my sanctification, your sanctification;
my life of victory, your life of victory; my education,
your education. It can all be very largely individual and
personal, and it can all be something here, so that
people gather into little groups on the subject of
sanctification, others on spiritual education, others on
soul winning. Oh no, that is not God's meaning ultimately
in the Cross of the Lord Jesus; but He intends that by
all those means, along all those lines, this end should
be reached - that the whole system of darkness and evil
and wickedness should be cast down and brought into
subjection to the absolute lordship and headship of Jesus
Christ; that every knee should bow to Him. And that
should have a very real beginning now where you and I are
concerned in this spiritual relationship. It should be a
practical thing now, extending and expanding, so that
this kingdom of the heavens, expressed through this
people, should be registering itself and occupying
widening territory so that the power and dominion and
evil of the Evil One is being more and more limited. That
is the thing for which the Cross of Christ really stands.
It brings in the individuals in every stage and phase of
the spiritual life, but it goes beyond. It is this cosmic
impact that is the ultimate justification of the Cross of
the Lord Jesus.
The
Needed Discipline of the Cross
Well, that
is a challenge to us. At the outset I said that we, as
the Lord's people, have to face a big question and I want
to say again I do not think it is the question merely of
our personal salvation. And it is not just the question
of our being more zealous soul-winners. With us it should
have become a reality long ago that there is a deep and
earnest concern in our hearts for the salvation of
others. It is not a question merely of our personal
holiness. God forbid that we should overlook any
necessities in that direction, that we should be closing
our eyes to sins and defects in the spiritual life; but
even so, there is something greater than that in view.
And as for our seeking to know the deeper things of God,
what shall we say about that if it is not going to work
out somehow in this realm where we are conscious of the
activities of spiritual forces, in this realm into which
we have to move - some in this country and some in other
countries - where the main problem is not flesh and blood
but principalities and powers, the dark things of this
universe, those awful, sinful, evil forces which are at
work? If we do not reach out to that our quest has failed
and will leave much to be desired. That is the big issue.
What has God revealed as the supreme result of the Cross
of Christ? It is that His Son should be in the place of
supreme and absolute sovereign headship in this universe,
which will necessitate the deposing of every other
sovereignty and name and authority. And the Word of God
says that that is going to be done by that self-same
Cross having been wrought in a body of Christians to
bring them to the place where through them, because in
them, that sovereignty, that headship, has been
established.
It is a
big matter, and it involves us in something very real in
the way of spiritual discipline. You cannot go to college
or institute to learn that. You cannot get that by
conferences and meetings. You cannot get that along any
academic lines. This involves us in a very real
transaction with the Lord that that Cross, with all that
He means by it, shall really do its work in us; and He
has endless ways of doing it. The very nature of the work
of the Cross involves this, that its operation will
always be along the line that we do not like, that we
would never choose. If we could have the Cross adjusted
to our situation, it would be a very easy Cross. But no;
it will always go against the grain; that is the nature
of it. It will always call for that which we would never
choose. When the Lord leads us on to consider the way
that He has indicated, the way for reaching His end, we
shall come up against those things. We shall then see
that this whole cosmic battle has its centre in us by
nature, and it has got to be settled there, at the
citadel of the individual's being; and the citadel is the
will. Oh, it is one thing to talk about cosmic warfare,
about authority over the powers of darkness! Looking out
into the battle, anybody who has any experience does not
talk lightly about that. They talk very carefully and
very prayerfully; for the whole thing, after all, is not
outside us, it is in us, it begins in us. It
is a matter of your will and my will. The dethronement of
Satan and of all his mighty kingdom was accomplished by
the will of one Man being utterly in subjection to His
Father, and so far as He Himself is concerned He has left
the enemy completely worsted and cast out. He has left
the enemy in being, not annihilated, in order to bring us
to the same place as He Himself has come to, and it will
be along exactly the same lines - the battle of the will,
taken up on countless points, until Satan no longer has
any place or ground in our will, and he is undone. If the
Lord will, we will follow that out more closely later on.
You see
the big question. Oh, it is a big question! For my own
part, though I have been convinced about this matter for
years I have never been more strongly convinced than I am
today that the one need is for a people to rise up in
virtue of an in-wrought work of the Cross to meet these
evil forces which are against the purpose of God. May the
Lord produce such a people in part, though it may be a
small part, through these meditations.