"...unto
whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but
with God elect, precious, ye also, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to
offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:4-5).
"But
the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the
charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went
astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister
unto me; and they shall stand before me to offer unto me
the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah: they shall
enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my
table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my
charge. And it shall be that, when they enter in at the
gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with
linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while
they minister in the gates of the inner court, and
within. They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and
shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall
not gird themselves with anything that causeth
sweat." (Ezekiel 44:15-18).
We have
been seeking to see some of the major features of this
spiritual house, remembering the words of the Apostle,
"Christ as a son, over God's house: whose house are
we" (Heb. 3:6). Those features which we have already
contemplated are that this spiritual house has as its
object, in the first place, the setting forth of the
exaltation of the Lord Jesus; in the second place, to be
the vehicle through which the glory and pleasure of God
are ministered to.
The Presence of a Spiritual House the
Signal for Satanic Antagonism
Now for
a little while we will dwell upon the third of those
major features, which is that, in the purpose of God,
this spiritual house is here to minister for the
deliverance and life of the elect. We shall not dwell
very much upon that last word, "the elect." We
need not be particularly taken up with it. It is the
people of God who are in view; the Church which is
foreknown, elect according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father, chosen in Christ before the world was, and
the spiritual house exists to minister for the
deliverance, and to the life, of that people. This is the
great vocation of the people of God, or a part of that
great vocation. So great, so vital is it, that
immediately upon the bringing in of the Church, all hell
was moved from beneath against it. The very bringing in
of the Church was the signal and the occasion for a
mighty move on the part of the enemy, a move along many
lines and by many means, two of which can be clearly
discerned, and indeed are being forced upon our attention
in these days, if we recognize the fact that behind all
that is taking place on the earth at this time there is a
spiritual system of things. That twofold move on the part
of the enemy from the beginning has been, firstly, by
subtle working on the inside to bring the Church to a
collapse inwardly; and secondly to overwhelm it by sheer
force. I think we need say no more by way of indicating
the nature of things. That is indeed Satanic and a
Satanic method.
The
first indication in the Church's history that Satan was
at work was by that secret, inward, subtle movement of
the enemy through Ananias and Sapphira, and it was
pronounced immediately to be Satanic. "Why hath
Satan filled thy heart..." It was something right
from the inside and a subtle movement of Satan to bring
about internal collapse. But for the swift judgment of
God upon that thing, it would have spread like a canker.
It would have worked subtly until the Church was seething
with that sort of thing. Then, not long after, the other
form of Satanic activity became manifest, namely open,
direct, aggressive force to try by direct means to crush
and trample under foot this instrument of God which had
been brought into being; and all that which has been
pursued relentlessly and on an ever-growing scale down
the ages is itself significant as to the greatness of the
vocation of the Church. It is indicative that Satan
recognizes the issue to be himself or the Church: these
two cannot proceed together.
Let me
say again that we are not without ample evidence that the
present world happenings are not merely political and
temporal, but are spiritual in their nature and essence,
and, as even men of the world recognize and pronounce,
they are Satanic in their background. If that is true, we
may come to one conclusion, namely, that it is not just
the suppression of certain peoples on the earth which is
in view with Satan. It is to get at something within or
among the peoples which is a menace to that world
domination of Satan through his Antichrist. If that
really came home to our hearts as it ought to and as it
may yet be brought home more forcibly by sheer force of
circumstances, we should recognize that not only is our
existence as the Church at stake, but that we are up
against the great test, perhaps the final test, of
whether we are fulfilling our heavenly calling.
The Assault of Satan Against Christ in
His House
You see,
the whole effort of Satan from the beginning has been to
destroy the life of God's people here on the earth,
Christ's life in the Church is the objective of Satan in
this dispensation, and, inasmuch as the Church is called
into relationship with the working out of God's eternal
purpose - for the Church is not only called according to
that purpose, but is the elect instrument for the working
out of that purpose - that very fact must involve the
manifestation of the most terrible power that this
universe contains against God's purpose.
The Greatness of God's Christ
What is
God's purpose? Well, it has to do with the first thing
with which we were occupied in relation to this House of
God, namely, the exaltation of God's Son to the throne of
the universe. That is God's purpose comprehensively,
inclusively, and the Church is called in, not only to
share that exaltation, but to be instrumental in the
working out of that purpose. If that be true, then, we
repeat, that involves the manifestation of this terrible
power of Satan; because the exaltation of the Lord Jesus
to the supreme place is not a mechanical nor automatic
thing. It is a spiritual thing, and it is accomplished by
spiritual power. That is why we are designated
"living stones." We are not just bricks being
put together: we are part and parcel of the very life of
Christ and of God's purpose concerning Christ, and it is
that life of His in a final, full manifestation in the
Church which will be the display of the glory of the Lord
Jesus. The Lord Jesus cannot be manifested in glory as
supreme Lord in God's universe until the elect come
through to that place of absolute triumph over all the
power of death, and thus it is by the Church's triumph
that the glory of Christ is displayed. It becomes
therefore a living matter, a spiritual matter, and not
just a cold, lifeless, mechanical thing. We are in
something very real. We are going to know that, to reach
God's end, the instrument by which that purpose is worked
out to its completion has to come up against the last
fragment and ounce of Satanic power. It involves the
drawing out of Satan's power to the full in order that
God may display how great His Christ is.
That is
the principle which has run right through the Word of
God. You can see it standing out again and again in
conspicuous instances, one of which is contained in the
word addressed to Pharaoh: "For this purpose have I
raised thee up that I might display in thee my
power." Pharaoh therefore was allowed very much
liberty. When Pharaoh in the very first test refused God,
God could have come in and crushed him and destroyed him
out of hand, and that would have been the end of Pharaoh.
But God drew him on, drew him out, once, twice, thrice,
on to ten times, the full measure of Pharaoh's resource;
drew him out and all that was instigating him, in order
that, showing how much power there was against God, God
could come in at last and show how much greater He was
than the greatest that was against Him. It is only a
foreshadowing, a type. But, you see, it is not with mere
Pharaohs or dictators that we have to do. We are up
against the full power of Satan himself. I say the Church
is up against that and the Church, as being the
instrument of reaching God's end and fulfilling or
working out God's purpose, has therefore to be proved
absolutely superior to Satan. Where the Lord gets His
life into His people, the one certain thing which will
happen to that people is that they will be instrumental
in drawing out death against themselves. It is true. It
is remarkable, is it not? You wonder why it is that, the
more closely you walk with the Lord and the more you are
set upon God's full thought, the more you seem to be
drawing death upon yourself. One thing with which you are
always in conflict is this death-working activity of
Satan. That is a part of our vocation. We do not like the
idea, we inwardly shrink, and all that is natural about
us feels very bad at the thought; but we just have to put
all that on one side and trust the Lord in facing facts.
We have to face spiritual facts. Therefore we take note
of this, that, if it is true that this spiritual House,
this Church, this Body of Christ is in existence as the
instrument by which God is going to fulfil His purpose
concerning His Son, then that can only be as all Satan's
power is drawn out and exhausted, to the end that, in
that Church, the life whereby Jesus conquered death
should be manifested as greater than all the power of
death itself.
You see,
then, the steps. The first is that the presence of a
spiritual House here is the signal for Satanic action.
The second is that the whole effort of Satan is set
against Christ's life in that House, that Church, that
Body. The third is that the very working out of God's
purpose through the Church, the House, necessitates the
drawing out of Satan's power and the Church's experience
of something very terrible, in respect of what Satan's
power is, all to one end, namely, the bringing out, not
of the greatness of Satan's power, but the greatness of
God's Christ. That is the goal.
The Course of the Conflict
It is
quite clear that, through history, Satan has had a
Satanic succession of instruments on the earth. He
started with Cain. "Cain was of the evil one,"
the Scripture says, "and slew his brother."
Right down through history as disclosed in the Old
Testament, you have Satan's unholy succession of
instruments. Again and again you come upon them. There
they are lying in wait right to his hand for death
purposes. There is Doeg the Edomite to hand, subtly to
hand, watching for his advantage, with his eye upon God's
king. There is Haman, the Agagite, scheming and planning
for the death of all the Jews. So Satan has had his
succession of instruments for the death of God's people
right up to today. They are at work today and we know
their names. But God has had His line of succession all
the way through from Abel onward. Now these, every one of
them, drew out the power of the adversary. Abel drew out
the power of death through Cain. It seems as though he
went down under it, but it is not so. In the long run we
know otherwise, and he, being dead, yet speaketh. His
testimony remains. Thus every one of these links in the
chain of God's successors has drawn out the adversary to
display his power, and then eventually, although in their
lives here on the earth they may have gone down under
that power, the triumph is with that life which was in
them, with the Lord whom they served. That is how it is
now.
We must
be very careful of our deductions, and in one connection
especially, namely, with regard to the fact that the Lord
gives the enemy a good deal of rope, and the enemy gains
many advantages and has a large measure of success. But,
remember, Satan's power and Satan's success are not in
spite of God but because of God. If you can draw that
distinction, you will be greatly helped. Satan's Power is
not in spite of God, but because of God. God is allowing
it. It is under the sovereignty of God. God is simply
drawing it out, extending it, and when the cup of
iniquity is full, then God will come in and show how
overwhelming He is. That is the end. Beware of your
deductions when you see evil having a great measure of
success. Understand what God is doing. He is not going to
show His power against the thing in its infancy. What
power of God would that be? No, God displays His power
when a thing is fullgrown.
Now,
while I must not diverge and get on to another very
important aspect of what we are considering, I would here
point out a very startling fact with reference to the
matter of sonship. While sonship, which is
full-grown manhood, is a Divine end, and with sonship
comes the manifestation of glory, (that is, when things
have become full, then glory is manifested -
"waiting for the manifestation of the sons of
God,") sonship is also a principle operating on the
side of Satan. The Lord Jesus said to those Jewish
rulers, "You compass sea and land to make one
proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold
more a son of hell than yourselves" (Matt. 23:15).
He chooses His word - fullgrown expression of hell. A
terrible thing! But, you see, all that happens on that
side under the sovereignty of God is bringing things to
maturity before judgment comes in. The sovereignty of God
requires that iniquity must come to the full, and its
coming to the full is not because God is impotent or
unable to cope with the thing. It is not in spite of God
but because of God; and God is going to answer the sum of
Satan's power through the Church. Thus, in the end, it
will be "unto him be the glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus unto all ages for ever and ever."
The Church's Vocation
Now
then, what is the vocation of the Church in relation to
all this? We are here, as we said at the outset, for the
purpose of ministering to the deliverance and life of the
elect. The real ministry arises in a day like this. It is
the ministry of intercession, priestly intercession:
"a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices." We are being launched into
our vocation now perhaps as never before as we see the
enemy coming out more fiercely and terribly against the
life of Christ in the Church. We are here to stand in God
for that life, and we have to be very careful in this
matter that we are not put off our ministry by any
subtle, secret working of the enemy. We cannot say too
much about this secret internal activity, this propaganda
of the spiritual powers to put the people of God out of
action by breakdown and collapse from within, and it is
in this very connection that we have those assurances and
exhortations with regard to our access unto God. Let us
remember that these comforting words about access, of
being allowed even boldness to draw nigh, are not just
for our own comfort and satisfaction. It is this vocation
that is in view, and I believe that is proved again by
the action of the enemy. Is he not continually trying to
get the people off their ministry of prayer by throwing
some doubt upon their acceptance, their access, bringing
them under accusation and raising up the sense of some
kind of spiritual barrier between them and the Lord so
that the very heart is taken out of prayer. "What is
the good of praying? There is that and there is that and
the other thing about me; my very state keeps me from
prayer." Ah, yes, and if we act upon that
accusation, on the one hand it is a sheer denial of the
value of the Blood, setting it aside, which is what Satan
wants, and on the other hand it is playing into his hands
and giving him the advantage over the people of God.
Remember, all interference with our prayer life is a
strategic movement on the enemy's part to destroy our
vocation and to gain the advantage over the people of
God. We are here for the deliverance and life of God's
people. That is the very purpose of the Church's
existence.
Now,
will you take that as more than something just said? Will
you listen to that from within? If you truly are a child
of God, will you pray at this time that you may both see
and accept all the meaning of the fact that you are a
part of Christ's Body, a living stone in the spiritual
house, and that your very existence as such is in
relation to the life and deliverance of God's people
everywhere. You are not an individual, you are a part of
a house, and that house is God's means of deliverance and
life for His people everywhere in this in intensifying
conflict with the power of death and darkness. We exist
for that, and if we are not ministering to that, we are
denying the very object of our existence. Do take that to
heart, because there is no option about this. It is not
an optional matter whether we fulfil an intercessory
ministry or not, and pray for all saints at all seasons.
You are not invited to come and do that IF YOU LIKE.
That is not the House of God. We have to see that the
House of God is not some inanimate lifeless thing. It is
living, and the very marks of its life are that it is
active, energetic, in a spiritual way; and it is
characterized by the spirit of intercession. The position
is not that you have prayer meetings at different times
and people pray or do not pray according as they feel
like it. The House is characterised by intercession, and
it is that which determines whether we are corresponding
to the very nature of our life as God's children. If we
were really living up to what we are in Christ, whenever
there is an opportunity to pray, we would be on the mark.
At the least we should be alive to it, and, whether we
prayed audibly or not, we would be in it; it would be
spontaneous. Life is spontaneous: and so intercession is
a part of life, which is spontaneous. If the Spirit of
the Lord really has His way in us, we will be people of
intercession. We cannot help it, it will be so.
But unto
that, we have to watch these points where our
intercession is assailed, and the points at which
intercession or prayer is assailed are numerous.
Remember, a basic point is this matter of access. We have
to be sure of our access unto God, and to be sure about
it, we have to know the infinite value of that precious
Blood, and we must not be deterred by anything, for
the Blood forbids us to be deterred. That Blood exists to
deal with anything that would deter us. Yes, we may fail,
we may blunder, we may breakdown; there may be those
things which grieve us and grieve the Lord, but oh, let
us recognize that the precious Blood makes possible the
keeping of the shortest accounts with those things, so
that instantly, right now, and not waiting until we have
got over the violent reaction and sting of our mistake
and feel a bit better, that precious Blood must be
appropriated to deal with that. Let us remember that all
this persistence of the enemy to lay us low has something
more in view than just laying us low. It is to destroy
our spiritual vocation in prayer and thereby to give him
opportunity for assaulting and oppressing the saints. We
are responsible for the life and deliverance of the
Lord's people. That is what we are here for.
The Church and the Power of the Throne
Seeing
that is so, it is necessary for us always to bear in
mind that, while for ourselves, as sinners, God's throne
is a throne of grace, it is also a throne of judgment for
the enemy. What to us is the throne of grace is the
throne of destruction to Satan. We have not only to come
in boldness to the throne of grace for ourselves and for
the Lord's people needing grace, we have with equal
boldness to come to that same throne as the throne which
spells the undoing of Satan. Always remember there are
two sides to that throne. There is the grace side and the
judgment side; the grace side for us because of the
precious blood, and the judgment side for the Adversary.
This
latter aspect of the throne is that which comes so
prominently into view with Esther. It had to do with the
undoing of Haman's devices. We have to recognize that the
throne has not only to be in the midst of the Church as
the throne of grace, but in all its meaning as the throne
of Divine power for undoing the work of Satan. It is a
different aspect of prayer, a very important one. You and
I should know the touch with the throne against the enemy
on behalf of the Lord's people. That throne must be in
the Church.
A Final Word on the Trust Committed to
the Church
Well
now, we must close, and we do so by just gathering it up
in this way. This whole trust of the life of the people
of God is given to the Church. That is a tremendous thing
to say, and an equally tremendous thing to contemplate. I
know that, in a very true sense, all is secured in Christ
in glory, but it is equally true, according to Divine
revelation, that there has to be an outworking, and this
latter is committed to the Church. We are workers
together with God. We were created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God foreordained that we should walk in
them. The Lord has put this tremendous trust upon His
people, the working out of His purpose, which is the
deliverance and life of His people unto that glorious
consummation - the display of the greatness of Christ in
His people, through His people.
You see,
when Christ comes, He is not just coming to be seen in
glory, to be manifested as the glorified, glorious
Christ; not just that. He is coming to be glorified IN
His saints and to be marvelled at IN all them
that believe. Christ's glorification is to be something
in the Church at last. Unto that, you and I and all the
Lord's people are given the trust of working it out. The
Lord gives us light. Then, while He is not out of touch
with us, in a sense He stands back and says, Now then,
that is your business; I have given you light, now get on
with it! We are all the time appealing back to the Lord
to do it. Lord, come in and do this! Lord, come in and do
that! The Lord's attitude is, Get on with it! I am here,
I give you the supply of the Spirit, but I have made
known to you what your business is: do your business! Oh,
that the Lord's people would rise up and recognize that
He has committed to them this great trust of working out
His purpose, of ministering to the life of His people
unto that glorious consummation, when the very greatness
of Christ shall be displayed in that people. That is our
business: and so it is not for us continually to appeal
to the Lord for Him to do it as apart from us, but for us
to get to the business of prayer and intercession, and in
this way minister His life to His people, bring about the
deliverance of His people by prayer, standing in touch
with His throne for their deliverance from the Evil One
and the power of death.
Now, if
the very deliverance and life of God's people is at our
door by God's appointment, that is no small thing. I
believe that the Word clearly reveals that the Church
exists for the purpose of taking up this question of the
Lord's glory, the Lord's triumph, the Lord's greatness,
as that which is to be ultimately displayed in the
triumph of His people. It is our responsibility. The Lord
give us grace to accept it and to commit ourselves to it,
and may we be very much before Him that we shall be
found, not as those coerced to pray, but marked by the
Spirit of intercession as the very evidence of our life.