We proceed to a further small
fragment in this great matter which has been opened to us
concerning the change from the old Israel to a new Israel, which
was declared by the Lord Jesus Himself when He said to the
leaders and representatives of the old Israel: "The kingdom
of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matthew 21:43).
This actually has taken place. As the last many centuries of
history have made perfectly evident, the Kingdom of God has been
taken away from that former Israel, and they are without it all
through this present dispensation. It has been transferred to a
new Israel - "a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof".
We have been seeing how Peter
is the bridge between the two Israels, standing in the gap
between the old and the new, and how by him the old passes and
the new is established, both in his own person, and what was done
in him by the Holy Spirit, and in his ministry. The fruits of a
nation, of the kingdom of the new Israel, are manifested, and we
have been looking at some of the fruits as seen in and through
the life and the ministry of this first of the twelve, the
Apostle Peter.
If you have any doubt whatever
about the truth of this, you only have to look at his first
Letter again. We have said a lot of things, which are true, but
there is that which gathers it all up and presents it to us
concretely. You will find it in his first Letter, chapter 2,
verses 4-10:
"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. Because it is contained
in scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect,
precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.
For You therefore which believe is the preciousness: but for such
as disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, the same
was made the head of the corner; and, A stone of stumbling, and a
rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient:
whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are an elect race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own
possession, that ye may shew forth the excellencies of him who
called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in
time past were no people, but now are the people of God: which
had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
(Note in verse 9: "But ye..."
There is the transition to the new.)
That section does not leave us
in any doubt that the old has been transferred to the new, but in
a different realm and with a different nature. Peter, who had all
the tradition of the former Israel, has come to see that now all
that was there in a temporal way has been passed over to a
spiritual realm. Now all is of a spiritual, and not of a
temporal, character.
There are many things here that
would be helpful for us to dwell upon. We could take up this
whole paragraph bit by bit, for there is so much wealth in it. I
am not intending to do that, but I want to point out one thing in
that connection before passing on to the thing which I feel is
the Lord's word for this time.
The
Location of the New Israel
Here the Apostle says: "Ye
are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
for God's own possession, that ye may shew forth the excellencies
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light." Do you notice that is all in the singular? "An
elect race, a holy nation, a royal
priesthood."
In the old dispensation that
was all concentrated in a place on this earth: in the
temple at Jerusalem. That Israel had its focal point, its unity,
in that geographical centre. The elect race was represented,
gathered into, Jerusalem, and its focus was there. The holy
nation was synonymous with Jerusalem, whither the tribes went up.
The royal priesthood was centred in Jerusalem. That was where
Israel went to see the priesthood, for it functioned in the city
of the great king. They were 'a people for God's own possession':
one thing, with that focal point in the nations.
Now, how does Peter begin his
first Letter? "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the
elect" ... who are centred in Jerusalem? No, not
at all! ... "who are the sojourners of the Dispersion in
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" - and
anywhere else you like to mention. Do you see the point? Wherever
this people is there is a representation of all this. If it is
anywhere in the world, dispersed amongst the nations over the
earth, there it represents, or is intended to represent, all that
is here about the new Israel.
An Elect
Race
If we were to dwell upon that
it would take a long time, but there is one thing that we will
say.
You know that the elect is
something very, very precious to God, so precious that it is
going to be saved (Matthew 24:22). It says that at the end
"there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and
shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were
possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matthew
24:24 - AV). Logically, of course, the elect is not going to be
deceived. It is something very precious to God, wherever it is,
but it is no longer something concentrated in some place on this
earth, whether it be Rome, or Jerusalem, or anywhere else, but it
is scattered abroad in the nations. Not only is it representative
of the new Israel, but it is called upon, and expected, to
function there in this capacity.
A Royal
Priesthood
The priesthood in the new
Israel is not a cult of men wearing certain kinds of robes,
performing a certain ritual, and going through a certain
performance of religion. There are no outward robes on the royal
priests in the new Israel. You, dear friends, if you are in this,
are as much a priest as ever there was a priest in the Israel of
old, and your function as such, therefore, is to "offer up
spiritual sacrifices" to be a sacrificing priest in union
with the King. A royal priesthood is a priesthood of kingship, of
Divine rule, authority, majesty, and united with the Throne, to
function as such.
A Holy
Nation
Do you remember what we have
said about holiness? 'Holy' in the Bible means being completely
separated from all that is not God to all and only what is God,
being separated unto God. 'Holy' and 'sanctified' are the same
word, with the same meaning - completely God's, with every other
link severed. God's holy people are a holy nation among the
nations, but different from the nations, a holy nation in the
world, but different therefrom. Peter says: 'You are not now a
temple made with hands, built with stone, after the old order,
but you are a spiritual house, wherever you are scattered, and
God only sees one. However so many parts there may be, with very
many miles between, God only sees one spiritual house, composed
of spiritual stones. Jesus Christ is not so many corner stones,
but one corner stone of the whole.'
There is here another one of
these remarkable allusions to Peter's former life in the days of
Christ's flesh, and it is more than interesting. I sometimes feel
that these allusions almost touch a vein of humour as Peter in
his mentality is picking it all up and transferring it. He says
here about this new spiritual house that is being built in this
dispensation, that this is the fulfilment of the Old Testament
statement: "I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect,
precious...", and then he goes on: "A stone of
stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the
word."
'Peter, I am going up to
Jerusalem, and there I am going to be delivered into the hands of
wicked men. They will crucify Me...' 'No, Lord, never! This
shall never come to Thee!' "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art
a stumblingblock unto me." "They stumble at the
word." This is wrought into the very fibre of Peter's
spiritual life. How the word of the Cross was a stumblingblock to
Peter! What Paul said about the Jews was true of him: "The
word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness... we
preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock" (1
Corinthians 1:18,23). It was an offence to them, and the word
'offence' is, as you know, the same word in the original as
'stumblingblock'. The Greek word is 'scandal', 'offence' or
'stumblingblock'. Peter fell headlong when the Lord Jesus spoke
of the Cross, and He said: 'You are an offence, a stumblingblock.
You are a scandal to Me. Get thee behind Me!' Ah, Peter has
pulled over here, and to the unbelieving people he says: 'This
whole new spiritual house, and all to do with it, is not believed
and therefore you stumble at the word. You go headlong over this.
It is a rock of offence. The word of the Cross is an offence. But
to you who believe is the preciousness.' That is the difference
between the old and the new.
Well, I have said that we could
see so much more about this change from the old to the new - the
new house, the new sacrifices - but I want to give the short
remaining space to one special thing in this Letter.
The
Return of Grace
First, we note how Peter
himself represents this new Israel in the transition, and the
tremendous thing that had to be done to make that transition from
the one to the other. We have been seeing what a transition it
was in Peter's case. We have really only been glimpsing it, but
it was a tremendous thing that happened in this man! Look again
at the former Peter, the Simon Peter before what the Lord Jesus
referred to as his conversion - "when once thou hast turned
again" (Luke 22:32) - and remember the fulness of selfhood,
and his assertiveness. If anyone is going to speak first, it will
be Peter, and if anyone is going to speak loudest, it will be
Peter. If anyone is going to take the floor before anyone else,
it will be Peter. He was asserting himself all the time.
"Thou shalt never wash my feet" (John 13:8), and then,
seeing that there is a possibility of losing something and that
by changing his attitude he would get something more: "Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." ... 'I
will have all that I can get.'
You see this strength of
self-assertiveness, his self-sufficiency all the time: 'I will
never forsake Thee. Though all men forsake Thee, I will never do
so. I will go even unto death with Thee.' Such self-sufficiency:
and we could enlarge upon this side of the man - how full he was
in himself! Then see this man being undone, really taken to
pieces and emptied. It was a terrific thing! You would hardly
believe that in so short a time after making these assertions,
these bold, self-confident assertions, this man should be found
totally unable to carry out what he said he would do. He was
stripped, emptied of it all, undone; and the last word of that
scene is: "And he went out, and wept bitterly." He was
broken, shattered, desolated and emptied. But that was necessary
for this passage through into the new realm, this new Israel,
this new spiritual position. And so I say Peter himself is a
representative of the kind of thing that has to be done to make
the transition from one Israel to the other.
With you and with me it may not
all happen between the morning and the evening, and it may not
ever go like that in one day, but, believe me, the principle
holds good. Dear friends, it is going to be just in the measure
in which you and I are emptied of ourselves that we know the
meaning, the power, the glory and the preciousness of the new
Israel and of the Lord Jesus. That is why the Lord takes pains to
empty us. It may be spread over many years. Indeed I think that
when it starts, and we do not so rebel that we bind the Lord's
hands so that He cannot go on, it goes on until the end of our
lives. On the one side making us say 'NO!' to our own weakness
and our own foolishness after all, to our own emptiness and
undone state. That is on the negative side, but on the positive:
our utter dependence upon the Lord, so that if it were not for
the Lord the situation would be hopeless. That is Peter,
representing this new thing that has come in.
That leads me to the thing that
I want particularly to emphasize at this time, in the light of
what I have just been saying, and in that setting - the undoing
of this man.
What is Peter's characteristic
word in this Letter? I have no doubt that Bible students would
give it to me at once! It is the word 'grace'. It does not take
more than about ten minutes to read this Letter, and when you
have done so you have read the word 'grace' twelve times.
Unfortunately it is not always translated as 'grace'. I do not
know why the translators changed the same word into another
English word. Twice they have translated this same word into
'acceptable', but, including those two occasions where the
original word is still the same, the Apostle uses the word
'grace' twelve times in this very short Letter.
You know how he begins his
greeting: "According to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be
multiplied" (1 Peter 1:2).
Then in verse 10:
"Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched
diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto
you." The prophets looked forward to what we have, and
there it is: the grace purposed for this new Israel. It is the
inheritance of this new Israel, and the prophets prophesied about
it long before.
We turn to chapter 2, and here
we come upon the other unfortunate translation, but in putting it
right we have something very rich:
"For this is acceptable,
if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering
wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are
buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do
well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God" (verses 19,20).
Now put it right:
"For this is grace, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering
wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are
buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do
well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is
grace with God" (RV margin).
You will see at once that Peter
uses the word 'grace' in an altogether different way from Paul.
Paul uses this word tremendously; indeed, it is almost a
characteristic word of his, but his use of it is always 'God's
grace toward us'. We call it 'unmerited favour', justifying us,
who are not just at all. "The riches of his grace, which he
made to abound toward us" (Ephesians 1:7,8).
Peter has a different angle on
this matter. Of course, he would agree with Paul, for this whole
experience of his is based upon God's favour toward him. Just
think of the grace of God toward this man! But what is he saying?
'Out of the grace which has been so marvellously shown in my
case, I have to show grace from myself outwardly in this world of
difficulty and of suffering. That grace has to have a reaction
toward people and toward things. That grace which God has shown
to me I have got to show now when I am under stress, trial and
difficulty, buffeted for being right and doing the right thing,
and unjustly accused and made to suffer. There must be no
retaliation. I must endure patiently.' That is the return of
grace - the grace of God in us as a return action, in order to
'show forth the excellencies of Him'.
That is a wonderful way of
using the word 'grace'! But it is very practical - Peter is very
practical. He says: 'Look here, you are being treated unfairly,
unjustly, and you do not really merit what you are having to put
up with. It is not because of wrong in you. You can be bitter,
rebellious, resentful, if you like. You can give as good as you
get. You can retaliate.' But Peter says that is a breakdown of
grace. If, when things are like that, you take it patiently, then
that is grace. You see, this word 'acceptable' is quite a good
word: "acceptable with God". The meaning is there, but
it is not so apparent, is it, as when it is translated correctly?
'This is grace with God: suffering wrongfully and taking it
patiently.'
Now we are all put on the spot
over this! This human nature of ours is not like that! Mine is
not, at any rate. Is yours? Have you got any fighting nature?
Have you any self-strength? Have you any soul strength? Do you
say: 'I am not going to take that lying down'? Well, that is just
what is here. Grace is: Taking it lying down and letting them go
on.
This is a new order of things,
is it not? So different from the old Israel! It is a new realm:
grace in its reactions to persecutions, misrepresentations,
slanders and everything that is unfair and untrue, keeping your
tongue still, your lips closed and refusing to vindicate
yourself. This is grace with God.
In the last chapter I mentioned
one other thing and I am not going to return to it in detail -
the relationship between husbands and wives and wives and
husbands when the situation is difficult because either may be
having to put up with something difficult from the other. The
Apostle, as you remember, said (in chapter 3:7) that the basis of
that relationship is that they are 'fellow-heirs of the grace
of life'. If they are true, both of them being born again,
they have a common ground - Divine life, the grace of life, and
they must always seek to react to one another upon the common
ground of what is of the Lord in each other. It is not always
easy, but it is a very different kind of life from the old realm.
We just mention that, and pass
on into chapter 4:10: "Good stewards of the manifold
grace of God". Here we are again on very practical
ground. The Lord has given you a gift of some kind. It may be a
gift of a temporal kind, such as means, or a gift of influence,
or it may be that you have a spiritual gift of some kind.
Whatever it is, you have, by the grace of God, some resource,
something in your hand, something that you possess. It is
something that the Lord has given you, and He has given it to you
to use. Whatever it is, it is a stewardship that has been
committed to you, and that stewardship has to be exercised upon
the principle of grace. Grace does not mean keeping to yourself
what you have, and withholding from others what you could give.
It does not mean letting others suffer loss when you could do
something to meet their need, whatever it may be, spiritual or
temporal. Grace in us demands that we do all that we can to see
that others are ministered to. That is grace - 'as good stewards
of the many-sided grace of God', which just means that to one the
grace of God has given this, and to another that. It is not the
same to everyone, but everyone in this new Israel has something
to give.
I could take you back to the
Old Testament and illustrate that. What about the building of the
tabernacle? Everyone had to give something - gold, silver, wood,
fabric. Everyone had something to contribute, and they were
called upon to minister what they had. Now we have passed over
into this new spiritual Israel, and what have we got that others
would benefit by? It is a violation of the principle of grace to
keep it to ourselves and not let others have it. Well, perhaps
that is too self-evident to need emphasizing, but you see that
Peter uses the word 'grace' in this connection, meaning that
every member of the spiritual Israel should be a contributing
member in some way or other, and not just a receiving one. There
are far too many passengers in the Church, far too many who just
sit with open mouths, taking it all in, and never giving
anything. I hope that does not apply to anyone here. Grace means
that we are a giving people. We have something to give, and we
are giving it, and we ought to have something to give.
"Likewise, ye younger, be
subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with
humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace to the humble" (v. 5). I like this
very much! You would miss it very largely, except for the obvious
surface statements and words, unless you knew exactly what lies
behind this in the original language, and then you would see at
once what Peter is talking about. Supposing I give it to you:
"All of you gird on the apron of humility to serve one
another." Now where are you? You are back in John 13, where
Jesus laid aside His robe and put on the apron of the servant -
girded Himself with the apron of the servant. Peter has not
forgotten that! "Now all of you put on the apron of the
servant to serve one another; for God resisteth the proud."
Peter was very, very near to that at that time: "Never wash
my feet!" Why not? Peter was too proud. "God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." Grace is donning
the servant's apron to serve one another. Need we say anything
more about that? This is the true grace of God.
"And the God of all
grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after
that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect,
stablish, strengthen you. To him be the dominion for ever and
ever" (v. 10,11).
Grace triumphant through
suffering. Peter is at the end of the Letter now and is only
going to have one more use of this word. But he has said a lot in
this Letter about suffering - the sufferings of Christ being
shared by the members of this new Israel... "Think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial among you, as though a strange
thing happened unto you" (4:12). Yes, he has a lot to say
about sufferings, and they were sufferings! You do not perhaps
know that when he wrote this Letter the great persecution under
Nero had broken out. Paul was beheaded, and how long there was
between that and Peter being crucified we do not know, but he
remembered and mentioned it here, in 2 Peter 1:14, that he was to
put off his tabernacle even as the Lord had shown him. And where
did the Lord show him that? In John 21:18: "When thou wast
young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest:
but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands,
and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest
not. Now this he spake, signifying by what manner of death he
should glorify God." Although it is not recorded in the New
Testament, the tradition is quite strong that Peter was
crucified. The difference between Paul's death and Peter's was
this: the Romans could not crucify a Roman citizen, and Paul was
a Roman citizen, so he could not be crucified. But anyone of
another nation could be crucified, so Peter was crucified and
Paul was beheaded.
So now it was the time of
suffering. Paul meets the ultimate of that suffering and Peter is
about to meet it. It was a time when all the Christians
everywhere were being terribly persecuted, but here Peter says:
'Through the suffering of this little while there will be grace
sufficient to make us triumphant.' Grace triumphant in suffering!
I would say that we are not always overwhelmingly conscious of
that triumphant grace, but what I could say is this: After a
fairly long life, and knowing a little bit about this, the marvel
of the triumph is that we are still found going on with the Lord,
when a hundred times, if it had been left to us, we could have
gone out. It is a terrible thing to say, but it is possible to
come to such a place that you would wash your hands of
Christianity altogether when you come to know the real state of
things in the realm of Christendom. Well, that is a shocking
thing to say - but for the grace of God where would we be through
all the sufferings? However, here it is: "After that ye have
suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, stablish,
strengthen you."
Now, with all this about grace
in this Letter, what is the final word? "Grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter
3:18). 'Grow in your patience, in your forbearance, in your being
silent under provocation, in your enduring suffering, in the
difficulties of your relationships - let it be growing in grace.'
You will see how hurried one
has had to be and how much one has had to leave out, but that is
enough! I can say more in an hour than you can fulfil in a
lifetime!
Let us go away and ask the Lord
for grace, that the word which He has spoken to us shall
really be, as with this man, in our very being, and that this
shall be the kind of people that we are.