From the supernatural birth and
works of the Redeemer we move on to
The
Supernatural Death of Christ
There has been a big move in
recent times from that 'New Theology' (so-called) which
pronounced the death of Jesus a death just like that of any other
martyred hero. We remember hearing a prominent preacher in one of
London's most famous churches saying that "many a British
soldier had died a more heroic death than Jesus did". Even
those who remain in the liberal school of theology have moved
much nearer to the conservative position. But still there remain
controversies over the supernatural, and there are still
reservations as to the supernatural nature of Christ's death. We
are not talking about the Crucifixion; that is, the manner in
which He was put to death. The Crucifixion and the Crucifix are
given their place in the realm of human sentimentality, sympathy
and tragedy, and are therefore linked with the human and natural
aspect. As far as we can see, the Crucifixion has only one
supernatural feature, and that is in its fulfilment of
long-before prediction: the prediction of 'hanging upon a tree'
(Deuteronomy 21:23). The death of Christ is an entirely
different matter.
A cross or a crucifix has often
been - and still is - used as a charm, and thought to possess
some magic influence or power. It may be regarded as a
superstitious emblem, and be worshipped. To it is given (in the
imagination of the devotee) a reality as to the bodily sufferings
of Christ. By concentrating intensely upon the physical agonies
of Jesus it is possible to produce psychic effects in the form of
actual pain in body and mind. Something akin to the heresy of
transubstantiation (transferring spiritual meaning to material
substances) is believed to take place, as in Roman Catholicism it
is believed that the bread and wine actually become the
body and blood of Jesus. This is in the realm of mysticism and
magic and not in that of the truly Divine supernatural.
The death of Christ is
different. It is a spiritual power which affects every
spiritual realm. Its ultimate horizon is death itself. It begins
by teaching the cause of death, which is sin. It proceeds to
touch the results of sin in human life. It brings the believer to
spiritual victory in this life and at the end. It ends in the
final abolition of death when "death is swallowed up in
victory". This is all above nature. Sometimes, in the
discretion of God, the death-victory of Christ means actual
healing of the human body supernaturally. More generally it means
- by faith's appropriation - Divine life in the human body where
healing is not effected, but above-natural sustenance and ability
make life a continuous miracle.
While the New Testament speaks
about "the cross of our Lord Jesus", it means not the
wooden gibbet, but the work in the spiritual realm which was done
there and then. That work, was wholly supernatural.
The
Resurrection of the Redeemer - Supernatural
If we strictly confine this
matter to actual resurrection, that is, not resuscitation
or any other explanation, the only ground of argument is that of
whether or not it actually took place. Resurrection in reality is
something outside of the natural realm; it is God's act alone.
There are only two main answers
to the question, if question there be. One is the fact and
phenomenon of Christianity. There can be no doubt or question
that New Testament Christianity had as its foundation the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That accounted for
the phenomenal change in the first Apostles and preachers. That
gave birth to the Church - "Begotten again to a living hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter
1:3). That was the dynamic of progress; the power of survival;
the secret of reproduction when massacre and slaughter were
vented upon "those of the Way". It was the undying
power which defeated and dethroned great world empires. The theme
could extend us to volumes, but when history has borne its
witness to this supernatural aspect of the Redeemer, there
remains the testimony of present and abiding experience. Amid all
the so-much-to-be-deplored features of Christendom's defaultings
and contradictions, there goes on in the multitudes of devoted
and committed individual believers a living testimony to
"the power of his resurrection" in endurance,
sustenance, survival, and victory. These are the answer to the
argument and the contention. The risen Christ is proving that He
is alive by means of the onslaught of death and suffering upon
those in whom He lives. Perhaps that explains the mystery of
their adversities. Resurrection is always God's vindication of
those who suffer for Him, and His seal upon what is of Himself.
Our next consideration will be
the supernatural nature of the Church.
The
Church: A Supernatural Body
It has often been stated that
the Church had its beginning on the Day of Pentecost. We know
what is meant by the statement, but it is not true. The Church no
more had its beginning on that day than Jesus Christ had His
beginning the day or night when He was 'born' at Bethlehem. We
are clearly told that the Church - the Elect - began in the
councils of God 'before the foundation of the world'. The one
difference may be that the Son of God actually existed
'before the world was', while the Church was 'foreknown' and
therefore existed in the knowledge of God who is eternal. In this
very real sense the Church is eternal and not of time. Says the
Apostle, in writing his great Church document, "he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world".
This, then, is the first aspect
of the supernatural nature of the Church. Pentecost and Jerusalem
were the 'Bethlehem' of the Church, the birth into this world and
in time. The Spirit of God has taken meticulous and strong
measures to make it clear for all time that the birth of the
Church, and therefore the nature of the Church, was quite
supernatural. All the features of that event were above the
natural. "The Holy Spirit sent down from heaven" was
inclusive and characteristic. This was not something of men, of
this world, or in any sense ordinary. It could not be accounted
for on any ground but a breaking in of God and Heaven. This is a
wholly spiritual thing answering to Christ's dictum: "That
which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The Spirit of God is
not at the command of man, neither in time nor place, but, like
the wind, 'bloweth where (and when) it listeth'. The Church - the
true Church - never was, and never is, a man-made thing.
It is something born, not made.
This principle abides for ever
and should govern both the Church universal and local. The local
should take its character from the universal. Not man-made,
formed, engineered, or manipulated, but the organic product of
the One Corn of wheat which fell into the ground and died, and
has ever since in the same way been reproducing in every nation.
The local church, like the universal, should be a birth, and the
work of man is not to create or institute it, but, firstly, to
bring Christ there, and when the Holy Spirit has joined men and
women to the Lord by inward relatedness, anointed and
Spirit-governed men function as instructors, exhorters,
pastors, under-shepherds, etc. Because this is all by the
anointing and not by human wit and wisdom, the growth of the
Church is like its birth, supernatural. The verdict upon every
aspect of the true Church should be: 'God did it, not man,
fundamentally.' In the beginning spiritually responsible men, who
were "filled with the Holy Spirit", fasted and prayed
concerning ways, means and persons relating to the Church, thus
showing that nothing was left to them, but all had to come
continually from Heaven, as at the inception on the Day of
Pentecost. The true Church is the embodiment of the absolute
sovereign lordship of the exalted Christ, and, therefore, as all
hell failed to prevail against Him, so "the gates of hades
shall not prevail against it". Its survival and victory will
be supernatural to the end.
But here enters the need for
discerning and discriminating between the natural and the
spiritual, or supernatural, in church matters. This will engage
our attention in the next chapter.
[Unfortunately,
this series of messages was never continued so there is no next
chapter]