Read:
Ephesians 3:1, 4:1; 2 Timothy 2:9 & 1:8.
There is a very real
sense in which the Apostle Paul, in his own person and
experience, was an embodiment of the history of the
Church in this age. Indeed it would seem to be a
principle in the Divine economy that those to whom a
revelation has been entrusted should themselves have it
so wrought into their very being and history that they
are able to say, "I am your sign." To take the
one fragment which is now before us, the end of Paul's
life saw a process of narrowing down and limitation
working itself through by "a great falling
away" on the one hand, and a closing up from the
general to the specific in the case of which (him who)
represented the testimony on the other. This is precisely
what is foretold as to the conditions at "the
end" and it is not a little significant that it is
specially referred to in prophetic utterances to Timothy
- in the end letter. So that this phrase "The
Prisoner in the Lord" occurring as it does in the
last writings, is prophetic in its meaning, and
wonderfully explanatory of the end way of the sovereignty
of the Lord.
What we have here, then
is
I. The
instrument of the Lord's testimony in a place of limiting
by the will of God.
As we read the record of
the incidents which led up to Paul's going to Rome as a
prisoner, and especially when we read the words of
Agrippa: "This man might have been set at liberty,
if he had not appealed unto Caesar" we are not far
from feeling that there were mistakes and accidents, but
for which there might have been a much more propitious
issue, and the ministry of the Apostle at large might
have extended. There may have been times of stress when
Paul himself was tempted to wonder if he had not been
impulsive in that appeal to the Emperor. But as he went
forward, and when the Lord spoke to him from time to time
giving light, it became clear that, however the thing
might have been construed humanly, there was a sovereign
government of God in it all, and that he was in prison
not as the Emperor's prisoner, but as the prisoner of the
Lord.
Perhaps Paul did not
accept this all at once. Possibly he did not realise just
how it would work out. A more or less quick trial and
release may have been put to mind. Some hope of further
ministry amongst beloved saints seems to be absent from
his correspondence. (There probably was a short period of
release from the first imprisonment.) At length, however,
he fully accepted what was becoming increasingly clear as
the Lord's way, and it grew upon him that this was in the
greatest interest of the Body of Christ. Thus we see that
when the time comes for the Lord's people to be brought
face to face with the ultimate and supreme things of the
revelation of Jesus Christ: things beyond personal
salvation: things which relate to the mind of God from
above being saved: then there has to be a narrowing down,
a closing up, a limiting. Much activity that has been,
and all quite right for bringing things to a certain
position and state, now ceases to carry them further, and
something more intensive is needed.
That which represents
the testimony in its fullest and closest approximation to
the ultimate purpose of God, then, has to be shorn of
much that has been good, necessary, and of God in a
preparatory way, and must be shut up to what is ultimate.
The captivity is not to a conceived truth or a
superimposed doctrinal acceptance. It is wrought into the
very fiber of the being by experience following
revelation, and revelation interpreting experience. It is
not the championing of some espoused interpretation: it
is that it is the very life of instruments and the
instrument is that in its very being. It is not a matter
of wanting to be or not wanting to be, but cannot be
other, a prisoner, the sovereignty of God has done it.
II. The
importance and value of seeing and accepting things into
God's light.
This applied both to
Paul and to those who were brought into touch with him.
For the Apostle the settling in to the sovereign ordering
of God in his imprisonment issued in increasing
illumination leading to spiritual emancipation.
No one can fail to
recognize the tremendous enrichment of ministry as
contained in what are called "the Prison
Epistles". If he had been restive, piqued,
rebellious, or bitter, there would have been no open
heaven, and a spirit of controversy with the Lord would
have closed and bolted the door to the fuller Divine
unveilings and clarifyings.
When all was accepted
according to the mind of the Lord, then "the
heavenly places" became the eternal expanses of his
walking about, and earthly bondage gave place to heavenly
freedom. So it must be with every instrument set apart in
relation to the higher interests of the Lord's testimony.
Then the reading of certain passages in his letters and
the record of his imprisonment shows how this applied to
others. Take the following:-
"Be not
ashamed therefore of the testimony of the Lord, nor
of me his prisoner" (2 Tim. 1:8). "And he
abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and
received all that went in unto him. ...teaching the
things concerning the Lord Jesus" (Acts 28:30).
"The Lord
grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus: for oft he
refreshed me, and he was not ashamed of my chain;
but, when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently,
and found me" (2 Tim. 1:6).
Clearly the effect of
these passages is that there had to be a Divine
apprehension and not merely a human appraisal of Paul's
position. Human levels of mentality would have produced
an atmosphere of doubt, suspicion, question, and would
have let in elements of false imputation. Regarded on
merely natural lines, association with the prisoner would
have involved such associates in the suspicion and
prejudice. Doubt of the Lord's servant was very
widespread, and even many of the Lord's people were not
sure of him. But the Lord was shutting up a very vital
revelation to this channel, and for such as were really
in spiritual need, and such as were to stand in a living
relation to fullness of testimony from identification
with Christ in death and resurrection, on to throne-union
with Him, power over "Principalities, Powers"
etc., and on to the ministry "in the ages to
come", there had to be a putting aside of all human,
personal, and diplomatic considerations and a standing
right in there with the instrument where God put it in
honorable imprisonment. For possession of which is to
come through the vessel, there has to be a coming where
the vessel is, without consideration for reputation,
influence, or popularity.
In this way the Lord
sifts His people and finds out who really is wholly for
Himself and His testimony, and who is actuated in any
measure by other considerations and interests. The
instrument in this position of popular rejection is thus
the Lord's means of searching, and it will thus meet
their need.
The other truth remains
here, then, is that
III. Shame,
reproach and limitation are often God's ways of enriching
the whole Body of Christ.
This has always been so.
The measure of approximation to the fullness of the
revelation has always been accompanied by a relative
cost. Every instrument of the testimony has been laid
under suspicion and reproach in a measure commensurate
with the degree of value to the Lord, and this has meant
that, humanly, they were limited to that extent. Many
have withdrawn, fallen away, held aloof, doubted, feared,
and questioned. But as Paul could say "my
tribulations for you, which are your glory" (Eph.
3:13), or "The prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of
you Gentiles" (Eph. 3:1), so the measure of
limitation in the Lord is the measure of enrichment in
His people. The fuller the revelation, the fewer those
who apprehend, or the greater the number of those who
stand aloof. Revelation only comes through suffering and
limitation, and to have it experimentally means sharing
the cost in some way. But this is God's way of securing
for Himself a spiritual seed plot.
A seed plot is an
intensive thing. There things are narrowed down to very
limited dimensions. It is not a great extensive show that
is immediately in view, but things are all considered
firstly in the light of seed. The real meaning of things
is not always recognized there, but you can travel the
world over and find a great many gardens which are the
expression of that intensive and restricted seed plot. If
ever there was such a seed plot it was Paul's prison in
Rome.
All this may apply to
individual lives in relation to the Lord's testimony.
There may often be a chafing against limitation,
confinement, and a restless hankering after what we would
call something wider or less restricted. If the Lord has
willed us to the place where we are, our acceptance of it
in faith may prove that it becomes a far bigger thing
than any human reckoning can judge. I wonder if Paul had
any idea that his prison meant his continuous expansion
of value to the Lord Jesus through nineteen hundred
years? What applies to individuals also applies to
corporate bodies, assemblies, or companies of the Lord's
people scattered in the earth but one in their fellowship
in relation to the Lord's full testimony. May the Lord be
graciously pleased to cause the merely human aspect of
prison walls to fall away, and give the realization that,
far from being limited by men and circumstances, it is
imprisonment in the Lord, and this means that all ages
and all realms are entered through that prison.
From "Toward
the Mark" Jan-Feb 1980, Vol. 9-1.