We shall, by the Lord's
enabling, go on with our consideration of the Church, the
Cross, and the Spiritual Conflict.
So far we have been
occupied with the Cross and the Church; in the first
place seeing that the Cross, in the mind and purpose of
God, is intended to lead immediately and directly to the
Church. Just as the altar at the door of the court of the
tabernacle in the wilderness stood right in direct line
with the sanctuary, and led to it - the priestly ministry
commenced at that altar, and then passed on right into
the sanctuary and found its consummation in the Most Holy
Place - so the Cross of the Lord Jesus stands there as
the very gateway into the House of God, and is intended
to lead the people of God straight through into the
corporate life in union with Christ. And so also in the
temple, the altar is that which leads into the house; and
in the rebuilding of the temple by the remnant back from
the captivity, the first thing was the setting of the
altar into its place, and then the laying of the
foundation of the Lord's house, and the building of it.
So it is in the mind of God always, that the Cross
carries with it the House, and leads to it, and any kind
of Gospel which ends with the Cross as a thing in itself
and does not carry through to a living expression of the
House of God, the Church, is a Gospel which has failed of
its main purpose in God's mind. Well, we have been
emphasizing that considerably, but the reiteration of it
may be useful, for the Lord to revive and perhaps make
clear in a new way what it is He is seeking.
Then we have gone on to
see that when the Church really does come in, it becomes
the great practical Gospel or demonstration of the
meaning of the Cross, because it embodies and shows forth
all that Calvary was intended to mean. God's preaching is
not just a preaching in words, the proclaiming of the
Gospel is not only the enunciation of truths; it is the
practical living expression of that in a people.
Otherwise angels could have preached the Gospel; anybody
could preach it. The Lord has bound up a revelation of
Himself with a people who are the living embodiment of
that revelation, and that is the function and nature of
the Church.
Well now, we move on a
little in regard to the third thing, namely, the
conflict. The Cross and the Church being bound together
in great Divine meaning explain the conflict. From that
very fact conflict results; it just springs up. The
Church embodying the meaning of Calvary is the occasion
of the conflict, and where there is a real apprehension
of the full meaning of the Cross and a practical
expression of it in a people, there you have conflict in
its most intense and persistent form. To say that in
other words, the measure of the living corporate
embodiment and expression of the meaning of Calvary is
the measure of spiritual warfare. The more there is of
the living apprehension of the Cross and the more there
is of a living expression of God's thought about the
Church, the more there will be of spiritual conflict, the
more the antagonism and hatred of the powers of evil will
be manifested, expressed, demonstrated.
The
Supreme Object of the Cross and the Church
Now in this matter of
the conflict, we should begin by reminding ourselves that
the Cross and the Church have one supreme object in view.
It is always helpful to be able to reduce great things to
concrete and direct implications. The Cross is a great
thing, a comprehensive thing. The Church too is a great
and a comprehensive thing. We could talk about the Cross
all our lives, and be moving round to different angles
and aspects all the time. Who will ever be able to
exhaust the meaning of the Cross of the Lord Jesus? We
can talk about the Church in the same way and go on
indefinitely covering new ground in relation to the
Church. It is always beyond us, there is always more; and
yet, when all has been said that ever will be said about
the Church and the Cross, the whole thing can be gathered
into one quite simple and direct meaning. It focuses upon
one thing and one thing only. The Cross in all its
fulness of meaning, the Church in all its mighty, Divine
significance, have one object in view ultimately, and
that object is the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ. Say
what you like about the Cross, say what you can about the
Cross, it all comes back to that. Its focal point is the
Lordship of Jesus Christ in fulness and finality. The
Cross in every phase of its meaning and application comes
to that eventually.
The question raised all
the time by the Cross is, Yes, but how does it work out
in the dethronement of every other authority within and
without the life of the child of God, and the
enthronement of the Lord Jesus in utterness as Lord? That
is the question all the time. We are not dealing with
things in relation to the Cross. There may be many things
incidental, but they are not ends in themselves. There
are things in us, all sorts of things in us, and those
things have to be met by the Cross, and the Cross has to
be applied to them; but never let us think that the
business of the Holy Spirit with the Cross is just to
deal with these things as though they were the end that
the Lord was seeking. No, in dealing with the things, the
Lord has an object in view all the time, and it is toward
that object that He is dealing with every detail, and
that object is the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ.
And so it is with the
Church. Oh, how many things there are about the Church
which are wonderful and glorious to contemplate; its
nature, its function, its vocation, and so on. But none
of these things in the mind of God is an end in itself.
The Church ultimately exists for one thing only, and
that is this sovereign, Headship of the Lord Jesus.
Everything that we have to say about one another, about
related life, about fellowship, about corporate
expression, about functioning, and all the other things
to do with the Church, they are only on the way to this
other thing, that the Lordship of Christ, His sovereign
Headship over all things to the Church, might be in
expression. There is one thing central to this universe
in God's thought into which everything else is gathered,
and that is the Lordship of His Son Whom He made heir of
all things, through Whom also He made the ages.
The
Focal Point of All Satanic Opposition
Well, if that is true,
we are well on the way to understanding the conflict;
because the Lordship of Christ is the one focal point of
all Satanic challenge and opposition. Never let us think
that the antagonism of Satan relates to mere details,
mere incidents, relates to us or to things. No, Satan has
a comprehensive view of the situation. He is able to take
in the whole range of things, and to see the significance
of details, and if he focuses upon any detail, as he
does, it is only with his far view, his whole view, that
he does it. The end that he is after through everything
is this matter of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Yes, he
may focus a good deal of attention upon a relationship,
upon two believers who are brought together, who have to
live together, and he may bring a great amount of power
and stress and cunning to bear upon those related lives
in order to divide them. Do you think he is interested in
dividing people as such, and that, when he has done that,
he will be satisfied because that is done? Never! That is
not his object at all. In making that division, he has
something very much bigger in view, and that is the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. And so our relationships as
just two people carry with them the great significance of
the lordship of Satan or the Lordship of Christ, and
anything between just two simple children of God resolves
itself into no less a matter than the ultimate thing in
God's universe. The ultimate thing may be bound up with
just two simple children of God in their related lives.
And what is true in
that, is true in a countless number of things which in
themselves may seem to be very insignificant and hardly
worth taking account of. How petty many things seem, how
paltry! You almost blush to talk about them as things,
they are so silly, and yet somehow or other Satan is most
interested in them. But do you think that Satan is petty
or paltry in that sense, just wanting to make a lot of
silly mischief here and there? Oh no, we give him credit
for something more than that. His kingdom is at stake,
and in all these silly little matters, so absurd and
ridiculous, there is bound up this mighty issue of the
Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Thus in all these
matters, the Cross has to have a very deep place; in our
relationships, in the twos and the threes, and the little
circles, so that Satan does not get in and secure a
foothold to destroy this expression of the Lordship of
Jesus Christ. The Cross has to be there. The Cross
carries with it, not just the dealing with failure,
little things in the lives of God's people: the Cross
carries with it the immense issue of the Lordship of
God's Son.
The Church, therefore,
takes up that meaning of the Cross and is to be a company
of the Lord's people on this earth which represents the
overthrow of Satan's power, in his destruction of
oneness, fellowship, relatedness, co-operation, and this
bringing into view of the absolute Lordship and sovereign
Headship of Jesus Christ. The Church is for that. This is
the question bound up with the Cross and with the Church,
namely, Christ's Lordship, and Satan is interested in the
Lord's people only in so far as this ultimate thing is
being really affected.
You see, you can have
what is called "the Church", and what are
called "the churches", with no knowledge
whatever of this spiritual warfare. This real spiritual
conflict in the heavenlies against the forces of evil is
a thing which is altogether foreign to that which is
called "the Church" here in this world. They do
not have any fights, any battles, any warfare. It is
something outside their ken. Why? They have got no impact
of a living knowledge of the Cross. The Cross with them
is a story, a history, a doctrine, a creed, not a mighty
inwrought reality and power. Immediately it becomes that,
they will know the fight. Satan does not trouble where
there is no living working of the Cross. That is not the
Church. You cannot have a church without the Cross, and
you cannot have the Cross without a living expression
which provokes the powers of evil. That is the Cross
according to God's mind.