The Line of Christ
by
T. Austin-Sparks
Chapter 1 - God's Object in Christ
Reading: Ruth 1:1-5; 4:11-17.
Matthew 1:6-16.
Here
we are in the presence of a, if not the,
all-governing, all-comprehending, all-encompassing
truth, which is that God from the beginning has
worked, and does ever work, on the line of His Son.
His Son is God's starting-point and ending-point in all
His works. Christ is the beginning, and Christ is the
end of the work of God. Christ casts His shadow
forward and backward over all the ages. If at any time
we ask: 'What is it that explains the government and
the ways of God?' whether they be in the nations, or in
the people of God as a whole or in individual lives,
there is always one answer - from God's standpoint that
answer is Christ.
God's Answer in All Things is Christ
What lies behind all God's government and all His
ways? What has God always and only in His eye and
mind in His activities, wherever they are, whatever
they are? The answer is the same - Christ. What is
behind His dealings with us individually or together?
There is only one answer, and that answer is His Son.
His Son is going to be the answer and the explanation
of every activity of God. God has confined Himself to
His Son, has bound Himself up with Christ, will not do
anything apart from Him, but will do all things in
relation to Him. If God is ever found to be against us,
or the world, or any particular course, decision,
situation; or refusing to countenance something,
judging it, it is because He sees that in some way the
interests of His Son are involved in an injury. On the
other hand, if we would find God committing Himself
to us, free to go with us, we must ourselves be wholly
committed to His Son. There must be on our part the
same singleness of committal, devotion, interest, zeal
and jealousy for the Son of God as there is with God
Himself. That is where we shall meet. We shall meet
God in Christ and God meets us in Christ. Just in so far
as Christ has His place, and is really our concern, not
in mind, in
thought and in word only, but in action and in spirit,
so shall we find the Lord.
That is a great general truth which sums up and
comprehends the whole Bible as a book of the
history of the ages of this world.
This little book of Ruth is a classic illustration of
that truth. We start with Bethlehem and we end with
Bethlehem. We start with God disapproving, in
judgment, not in evidence at all, not committed, and
we end with God there in fulness of blessing. Where is
the end? It is Christ. Bethlehem - Obed - Jesse - David - then a leap - and it is Christ. All that is in this book,
which is a beautiful little gem, is really an illustration,
almost a matchless illustration, of this truth: Get on the
line of Christ and everything will be all right in the
end. There may be tragedy, failure, and lots of other
things, but get on the line of Christ and the end is all
right. It comes out like a romance in the end, for all is
well.
But not only is it an illustration of this general truth
which we have just enunciated. It is an illustration of
the meaning of Christ as God's way to that happy end.
The Reaction of God in a Dark Day
The first thing we see here is that because of Christ
God reacts to a state of spiritual declension, weakness,
breakdown, failure and tragedy. This book contains a
reaction of God in a dark day. It opens with a dark day.
We know what it was like when the Judges ruled, and
all about that period of four hundred years. It was
indeed a dark day, a day of declension, weakness,
failure and spiritual tragedy in Israel, and the opening
of this book just shows how it was working out in
famine and death. But God does not leave it there. He
reacts, and He has done so again and again against
those conditions in history because He has His Son in
view. It is a good thing that God never gives up His
Son and never gives up His purpose concerning His
Son. Here we see the turning of the tide. When we
open the book it is as though the tide had gone far, far
out. Everything is stark, bare, naked and unpleasant to
look upon. The tide has gone out, and then there is
that oscillation that we know
when the tide is about to turn - something is going to
happen, and in this book the tide is turning. We go
from here into Samuel, the book of transition and
recovery. Here in this book the tide is turning - on
what ground? What is it that governs the turn of the
tide when things have gone out just about as far as
they can go and everything seems to be lost? God has
His Son in view. The tide is always made to turn by
the heavenly government in relation to Christ. It has
to be more of Christ and not less. 'This won't do for
God. Get into line with God's end, His Son. Things
may go far out and far down, and it may look as
though everything is lost; but, no, if you are on that
line, the tide is going to turn. God is going to bring it
back, and perhaps it is going to be a higher tide than
ever before.'
God is governed by His Son. We shall only lose
everything if we get off God's line on to the line of,
well, our ambitions, things, or whatever of the many
substitutes or alternatives there may be for Christ
Himself; we will lose out. Get right into line with Him
and the lowest tide will turn and come rolling up
again, perhaps to cover more ground than ever before.
The Increase of Resurrection
That is the story of Ruth: the turning of the tide
because at the end there is One in view with God.
Note: Christ as God's way always does come back
with greater increase than ever before, for the end is
not less than the beginning, or at any time since; it is
the fulness of Christ. But Christ as God's way always
comes back with this increase on the principle of
resurrection. God holds very truly to His law of
resurrection. With Him resurrection is resurrection,
not resuscitation. It is God's own act, which none
other can perform.
Now this book is first a story of death. We read the
first five verses and see that there is death in the land,
death threatening everyone. This family, afraid of
death, thought to find life somewhere else, and only
found death; the husband and two sons died. Notice
the words at the end - "a restorer of life". That is the
key. This end of God is by His own mighty work of
resurrection, and with Him that is the way of Christ.
You are so familiar with that truth that I wonder if you
really do sense what it means. Listen to it again: God
is the God of resurrection, Christ is the very
embodiment of that unique work of God, resurrection.
Get on to the line of Christ and you are on the line of
resurrection. It just must be so. He is the resurrection
and the life. Get on to the line of Christ and you are on
the line of God in this unique way, that is peculiarly
His own way of life and power.
In Christ Every Embargo Removed
Then, again, here is such comfort for us. Christ as
God's way means the removal of every embargo, and
the very curse itself is dismissed when you get on the
line of Christ. Ruth, the Moabitess - and you know the
embargo put upon the Moabites:
"...a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord... for ever"
(Deuteronomy
23:3). Remember, Balaam was hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse Israel, and when
Balaam was unable to curse directly, he taught Israel
to commit fornication. How? by marrying Moabitish
women. And here is a man, a leading man in Israel,
marrying a Moabitess under God's blessing, bringing
her into the sanctuary of God, over against the
embargo! Is it not strange? How can you account for
it? Only in the words spoken to Peter from Heaven: "What God hath cleansed, make not thou common"
(Acts 10:15). The Cross has done something. In Christ
every embargo is removed, every curse is destroyed,
and there is a way into the sanctuary of God for those
who would otherwise have no way, but would meet
the judgment of God and be under the curse. Get on
the way of Christ and there is no embargo, no curse,
no forbidding, no saying 'No, never!' The way is open.
There is a lot of comfort in that, but I hasten to the last
thing which I think also has a real word of comfort.
Human Failure Turned to Divine Glory
Christ as God's way means the turning of human
failure into divine glory. Yes, Elimelech made a tragic
mistake. He went to the land of Moab, and Moab was
a hereditary enemy of Israel, a thorn in Israel's side.
Elimelech went down there and you see what resulted,
what he involved his wife and his sons in. What a
tragic mistake! What human failure! We could say a
lot about it. He knew better - or he ought to have done.
But there you are! under the stress of life - and how
many people do the wrong thing when spiritual
conditions are at low ebb! They go and do something
because of the state of things in which they find
themselves. Well, we will not be too hard, but,
nevertheless, here is human frailty, human mistakes,
human weakness involving much trouble on the
natural side. Is there any one of
us who can say: 'We have not made mistakes'? I do
not know. I did once hear a dear servant of God say: 'In thirty-eight years I have never been allowed by
God to make a single mistake.' Well, I envy anyone
who could truly say that! The Lord's servants have
made mistakes, and they do. Paul made mistakes. I am
not one of those who believe that Paul did not make a
mistake when he went up to Jerusalem against all
advice, counsel and pleading, and became involved in
a compromise, and all the rest. Ah, but the point is
this: If our hearts are really on the line of Christ, not
on our own line for our own ends or interests, then
God over-rules our mistakes for His glory.
You see, we cut into a Scripture with which we are
so familiar. We divide it and do not finish it -"To
them that love God all things work together for good", and there we stop. But the rest is:
"...even to them that are called according to his
purpose"
(Romans
8:28). What is His purpose? It is centred in His Son. Get on the line of the purpose of
God concerning His Son and weakness, failure,
mistakes (and this is no brief for going and making
mistakes and doing wrong that good may come) are
over-ruled by God for good. There is glory at the end.
And so this story begins with failure, breakdown,
mistake, and tragic consequences in human life, but it
ends in that same family with glory, with joy. "The restorer of life". It is on the line of Christ, you see.
Get on to that line, and with all our faults, our failures,
our mistakes and our tragedies, it will be all right in the
end because God is concerned for the glory of His
Son. If we are too, that is where we shall find Him.
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