"The
prisoner of the Lord" (Ephesians 4:1).
"Thanks
be unto God, who leads me on from place to place in the
train of His triumph to celebrate His victory over the
enemies of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:14, Conybeare).
It is a
matter of vital importance that in our relation to the
Lord Jesus for the outworking of God's eternal purpose we
should have a right conception of ourselves. Among the
many designations by which the Apostle Paul expresses his
conception of himself, that of the "prisoner of the
Lord" is by no means the least significant. This
designation had in his experience various aspects. There
was that which related to the literal imprisonment at
Rome, true; but there were others....
But even
this captivity in Rome was not regarded by him as a
captivity to jail or jailor - to Rome, Caesar, or
circumstances - but as a captivity to Christ. In other
words, he was a captive by a foreseen and foreordained
purpose of God, and all was according to the divine
schedule.
There was
a sense in which such imprisonment meant liberty. His
body may have been in chains and under close guard, but
his spirit was "in the heavenlies in Christ
Jesus"; and he was traversing the limitless realms
of divine truth and revelation. To those who live in the
Spirit there are no limits to spiritual influence and
effectiveness. The prisoners of the Lord have realized
this in all ages.
The
spiritual experience of the Apostle had become the ground
of the great revelation that the prisoner of Jesus Christ
is such because he is not in the slightest degree free to
draw upon his own resources.... Paul is a sign to us in
this matter, for of all men he knew best that he was
entirely and utterly dependent upon the Life not his own.
Even his physical body was dependent upon the inner
quickening of the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from
the dead.
He had no
life of his own for the work of God. The sentence of
death was in him - the lord of death was ever against
him; death beset his course seeking to get its advantage
at every point, and but for this energizing within by the
Risen Lord the great purposes of God could never have
been accomplished. It was not the Lord's will that it
should be otherwise; in fact, we might truly say that the
Lord would have it thus, and Paul himself realized that
it was for the safety of the revelation that his own life
should be staked through and pinned down. Thus it would
be impossible for him to move in any self-directed way
and act as out from himself without immediately coming up
against the fact that he had no life from above for such
a course, and therefore it would prove fatal to seek so
to essay. Thus he was a prisoner of the Lord because of
his utter dependence upon the Lord's Life for all
service.
The
principle is an abiding one for all who are "called
according to His purpose." If there should be the
full recognition of the principle... and obedience to
this law, then the working out of it in physical weakness
and suffering might be modulated accordingly; but who is
there that, with large resources of personal energy, will
not draw upon them, count upon them, and - almost
unconsciously - make them in themselves a factor of
strength.
This was
Paul's dangerous tendency at the outset, and so might it
be with the majority of those whom the Lord would
greatly use. Because of this, they have to be brought
to the place where, by reason of their own weakness and
utter insufficiency, they draw every breath by the Holy
Spirit... and come to realize that the Risen Lord, as
within them, must live their life for them. It is thus
that the Master secures for Himself the greatest
percentage of real spiritual life and work... and
protects His own interests against the judged and
condemned flesh that seeks to glory in His presence.
Much has
been said about the wonderful intellect of the Apostle,
just as it has concerning his energy. But in this respect
the Apostle himself would have pointed out, with equal
emphasis, that the spring of everything was the Spirit of
wisdom and revelation as a specific endowment in Christ.
He of all men would have most strongly discriminated
between reason and revelation - between the judgment
acumen, and intellectual resources of man and that wisdom
and discernment from heaven which comes by revelation.
For all
spiritual service, spiritual revelation is essential and
indispensable - our speaking, our plans, our methods, our
times must be by revelation. So many there are who have
schemes and enterprises - visions and undertakings - for
the Lord, but who are falling far short of real spiritual
effectiveness.
A mentally
conceived purpose and desire for God is not adequate...
even though it be an assent to a program as contained in
the Word of God. What is in the written Word by
revelation of the Holy Spirit must also be in the spirit
of each servant of God in the same way. We shall be held
to this if we really are abandoned to the Lord and
walking not after the flesh - even in Christian service -
but after the Spirit.
On the one
hand, one may essay to go here and there in the general
conception that the Lord wishes work to be done in such
places, but to our surprise and temporary bewilderment we
may find that the Spirit suffers us not. On the other
hand, we may find that - while everything according to
our judgment and the arguments of Christian men would
dictate a certain course of restraint - we have to go
"bound in spirit" in the face of all.
Then
again, it is not sufficient to have received revelation,
but - for the transmitting of such - a special enablement
of utterance is necessary. Few men have received greater
and fuller revelation than the Apostle Paul, but how he
besought the saints to pray that he might have utterance!
And this emphasizes the principle of our complete
imprisonment to the Lord Jesus, so that every word, every
step, every undertaking shall be as out from Himself...
and not of ourselves.
Now in his
declaration of God's leading him on "from place to
place in the train of His triumph" (2 Corinthians
2:14), the Apostle suggests other aspects of this
imprisonment. He draws for us a picture of the victorious
return of a Roman general from campaign. As the general
approaches the gates of the imperial city, his
distinguished prisoners are fastened with chains to his
chariot. The whole populace has turned out to greet him
and applaud his prowess. He sweeps through the gates and
then - at a given point - the procession halts. He makes
a speech, telling of his conquests, and then - with a
wave of his hand toward the prisoners - would make them
the evidence of his triumph. In effect he would say,
"These prisoners speak for themselves of the truth
of what I say." Then the procession would move
forward and the same thing would happen again and yet
again. It is these prisoners who are on show for his
glory and are used to celebrate his triumph.
Paul takes
up this historical background and uses it to illustrate
his own relationship to the Lord Jesus. As Paul was led
by the Lord from place to place, he in himself was the
evidence of what Calvary and its triumph means within a
man. Many would remember Saul of Tarsus - his pride, his
vehemence, his forcefulness, his intolerant and bitter
opposition to the followers of Jesus of Nazareth - how
that he would stand at nothing, even to the hurling of
women as well as men into prison... and fully consenting
to the murder of the young man Stephen. And here is this
man - the same, yet another - suffering for the
"Way" that he persecuted, no longer bigoted,
proud, bitter. He who once would brook no interference
with his schemes now shows infinite patience with those
who oppose themselves. He who once in wrath would breathe
out threatenings and slaughters against those whom he had
made his enemies, now - when even carnal believers
criticize, malign, misrepresent as at Corinth - would
write to them one of the most glorious pieces of
spiritual literature ever penned, showing how love - even
the love of God in Christ - when it gains the ascendent,
suffers long, is kind, envieth not, is not puffed up,
behaveth not itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, keeps
no record of evil, and never gives up. Surely this change
would speak for itself, and this man's testimony would
ever be... as in his life... a celebration of Calvary's
victory. He was on show to the glory of Christ... and was
being led from place to place thus to celebrate His
victory.
But there
was another vital aspect of this imprisonment. Paul
realized that the great adversary of Christ was holding
sway in the world. He had his hands upon man; he was
having things his own way; he was throwing a world
darkness around the mind of man as a precaution against
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus from shining in unto them. And yet, Calvary
was victory; and the Prince of this World was cast out,
and principalities and powers were stripped off, but how
was this to be wrought out for the deliverance of man?
So the
Apostle conceived of himself as being led in the
triumphal train of his Lord to meet the enemy in back of
the situation in all those places of the Divine
appointment, and there to have the celebration of
Calvary's triumph in the form of a small company who
would maintain in their place the testimony of Jesus -
even the testimony of His mighty Calvary conquest.
So the
Lord would lead Paul to a place, and there the enemy -
recognizing the significance of his presence - would stir
up all his resources against him. It might seem that the
first encounter ended disastrously, as at Philippi or
Lystra or Ephesus, but there was no element of disaster
in the spirit of the Apostle, and he firmly held on for
the celebration to be complete. We know the issue - how
that in a phenomenal way in a few short years, the
testimony of Jesus was triumphantly established in a
multitude of places, each of which was itself strategic.
What a
conception of our relationship to the Lord! All our own
programs scrapped, our own schemes set aside, our own
resources ended; dependent to the last degree - even to a
word - upon the Lord as our life, chained to Him as
prisoners, having no freedom to think, speak, or act for,
or of, ourselves; and then led by Him from place to
place, and in each place almost immediately encountering
a deluge of Satanic opposition - the terrific efforts of
the enemy to make it impossible for us to stay there; and
yet, held in spirit, ready to die for the testimony of
Jesus, that testimony at length represented perhaps in a
small company - a nucleus - His triumph celebrated, His
victory declared. So dotted here and there, as marking
the stages of a triumphal march, the scene presents the
witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord to the
glory of God the Father - each of these testimonies a
prophecy of His possession of all the earth.
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jul 1927, Vol 5-7.