"Peter,
standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and
spake forth unto them, saying... This is that which hath
been spoken through the prophet Joel, And it shall be in
the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit
upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams: yea and on my servants and on
my handmaidens in those days will I pour forth of my
Spirit; and they shall prophesy" (Acts
2:14,16-18).
Not one of us would
have any question that Peter was speaking under the
government and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Believing
that, and having no doubt about it, it is very
significant that he should have added something which
looks like a quotation but which the prophet quoted did
not say. Joel did not say "It shall be in the last
days." Joel said, "And it shall come to pass
afterward...." The phrase "the last days"
is found in other prophets, but not in the passage from
which Peter was quoting. It makes no difference to
Peter's inspiration, but it gives a significance to which
we should pay attention. Under the Holy Spirit's
government, Peter used those words "in the last
days." We have to know what the Holy Spirit meant,
and, seeing that the application was to the time at the
beginning of this dispensation, I think we are not wrong
in concluding that He was indicating that a certain time
and order had come to an end - the last days of that
particular order had come, and now there was an
afterward; in other words, a new day, a new age.
Everything
in This Age Essentially Spiritual
If that is right, then
the book which goes by the title "The Acts" is
the book which introduces a new age; it marks the passing
of certain days, age-days, and the arrival of a new day,
a new age-day. But it not only marks that change, it sets
forth the character of the new day. Among the many very
important things which the Lord's people need to
recognize anew is this - the real Divine nature of the
new day which came in with that recorded in this book.
The established and accepted title of the book is
limiting and, to some extent, misleading. You must
remember that the writer of the book never gave it that
title. Luke, who wrote it, did not call it "The
Acts," nor the "Acts of the Apostles," nor
the "Acts of the Holy Spirit." He did not give
it a title. If it had a title at all, it is in his
introduction, and that purely by inference. "The
former treatise I made... concerning all that Jesus began
both to do and to teach," and the inference is that
this is a further treatise of all that Jesus began to do
and teach. I say, the established title, "The
Acts," is limiting, and, to some extent, misleading
for this reason - that it puts all the emphasis upon
activity, and in so doing obscures the nature of the
activity, the real character of what had been brought in,
the very essence of things; that is, it very largely
obscures the fact that this new dispensation is
absolutely spiritual in every sense. We know how
"the baptism of the Spirit," "the filling
of the Spirit," all that is meant by the use of the
word "Pentecost", has been taken up by men and
interpreted in terms of manifestations, things that can
be outwardly noted - activities, works, done in a certain
kind of heat and enthusiasm and strength and
assertiveness. You know what the general mentality is
when mention is made of being filled with the Spirit. At
once our minds leap to certain forms of manifestation.
But that is not the basic thing. The basic fact is that
something has changed altogether, and there is a new
character given to the new age; and that is that, for
this age, everything is essentially and absolutely
spiritual.
First
the Natural, Then the Spiritual
I think Paul, in his
first letter to the Corinthians, has - not with this
object in view but under the same Spirit's direction and
inspiration - given a full summary of what this
change-over really is. It occurs in a phrase in 1 Cor.
15:46 - "Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but
that which is natural; then that which is
spiritual."
First that which is
natural, afterward that which is spiritual. That is only
saying, in other words, that the days which have gone
were natural days, the days in which Divine things were
manifested naturally, on natural grounds. They could all
be grasped by natural apprehension: men could see, men
could feel. All that realm of God's activity was possible
of observation naturally; but now that has passed.
The
Establishment of the Lordship of the Holy Spirit
"And it shall come
to pass afterward..."; "afterward that which is
spiritual." That represents a Divine order and an
established economy in the arrangement of this world's
history. First that which is natural in everything,
afterward that which is spiritual: and this book (we will
use its accepted title, "The Acts") is the
afterward that is spiritual. And one of the most
wonderful things is that this book comprehends the Old
Testament and changes it right over into the spiritual
realm. The fact that this new day as ushered in and set
forth in this book is a spiritual day is shown in quite a
number of ways in the book itself - pre-eminently, of
course, by the fact that, as never before, the Lordship
of the Holy Spirit is established. He, in sovereignty,
comes and takes charge of everything in relation to
Divine purposes. He assumes the custodianship of God's
eternal purposes and takes them into His own hands - and
that in a very mighty way. He does demonstrate that He
has assumed charge of God's interests in His Son; and if
you can withstand a mighty rushing wind (Acts 2:2) you
can withstand that sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. But in
other ways His sovereignty is seen - amongst them, the
way in which the Old Testament is taken up and reproduced
spiritually, in some matters reversed, in others
transferred. We shall see that in a moment. Again, in the
swift challenge at the beginning, which the flesh and the
natural life met; the Holy Spirit is in charge, and He
immediately demonstrates that here flesh must not
encroach and the natural life has no place. In the case
of Ananias and Sapphira it is shown that things are
spiritual now and the flesh and the Spirit are in deadly
combat. It is a new spiritual age that has come in, and
here that which is natural has passed. First that which
is natural; afterward that which is spiritual.
The
Deepening Hiddenness of the Lord's Ways
Another thing not
recognized as fully and clearly as it should be is the
deepening hiddenness of the Lord's ways. Have you noticed
this, that, whereas at the beginning there were
manifestations in many directions, in many manners, plain
and obvious, as you move through this book you find that
the Lord is going deeper and deeper, and those things are
not so obvious and conspicuous as they once were? Early
in the book, you can bring the sick and just lay them on
the ground, and the very shadow of Peter passing by heals
them. But "Trophimus I left sick" (2 Tim.
4:20): "Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death"
(Phil. 2:27): "We despaired even of life: yea, we
ourselves have had the sentence of death within
ourselves" (2 Cor. 1:9), says Paul. The Lord's ways
are getting deeper. First that which is natural;
afterward, that which is spiritual. That opens the door
to a very large field.
"The
Acts" a Book of Spiritual Principles
Then there is the fact
that this is a book of spiritual principles, not
necessarily to be taken and imitated, but demanding that
we know the principle which lies behind what is
happening, and stand in possession of that principle. In
that connection, let us remember that this book called
"The Acts" was not written until all Paul's
letters had been written and circulated. There had been
some thirty-five years of missionary activity, preaching,
and teaching through the Apostolic letters before
"The Acts" was written, or before any one of
the Gospels was written, and that to me is of tremendous
significance. You see, they had received the teaching,
they had the spiritual interpretation and meaning, and
then they got the historical record of what happened. It
would be good for us to stay with that alone as one thing
for an hour. You can understand why Paul wrote to the
Corinthians as he did about the manifestations. They were
taken up by the acts, the happenings, the events, the
outward things. He wrote to seek to get them to the
inside of them, and to show that what mattered was not
the things in the first instance, but the spirit behind,
and that love is far more important than outward
manifestations and gifts.
Well, you see, all this
is a very strong foundation for this conclusion, that a
new kind of day has come in, that things now are
essentially spiritual. "Afterward that which is
spiritual."
The
Creations: Redemption by Resurrection
That is a general
setting forth of the situation. Let us begin to get
inside of that and break it up. We said that this book
comprehends the Old Testament and does two things with
it. It reverses some things, and it transfers others from
one realm to another. I will explain that in a moment.
First of all, this book comprehends what we have at the
beginning of Genesis - the creation. The creation, as we
have it in the natural in Genesis, is a work of natural
redemption, the redeeming of a creation from corruption,
from death, from chaos; and that redemption of the
creation at the beginning of the natural was through
resurrection. We can say quite truly that it was a
raising of the natural from a death, from a grave,
bringing it up in resurrection. "First that which is
natural; then that which is spiritual." The
beginning of things here in "Acts" is
redemption through resurrection. The great note of
"Acts," of all Apostolic preaching, is the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Now you see a little
more value in what I said just now about the letters
having been written before. The people who would read the
historic account of things in "Acts" had
already received 1 Cor. 15 and the doctrine of the
resurrection in Romans 6. They knew the doctrine of the
resurrection of Christ, that it was not only for us but
included us, that we were raised together with Him, that
a new creation was brought into being in the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus, that we were begotten again unto a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead (1 Pet. 1:3). The fact of the resurrection is then
set forth in the historic account as the great,
all-governing reality. It is a new creation, it is a
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You break that up
again and you see that inside of the redemption there is
the means employed. Firstly, light and life - two great
redeeming powers and influences. Oh, these
representatives, the twelve - twelve is the number that
speaks of representation - are themselves the embodiment
of this. Look at them before Christ rose, and if ever men
were in the dark they were - groping as blind in the
darkness. See those on the road to Emmaus, and all the
rest - dark, blind, despairing, and for them the
atmosphere was filled with death. He had died; it was the
end of everything. But look at them here! Why, truly,
those who sat in darkness have seen a great light! They
have emerged, the light has broken and, in Christ, has
dawned upon their darkness; they see it all and they are
out! Life with light has brought them into a new world,
but it is spiritual light, it is spiritual life, it is
not capable of being apprehended except in a spiritual
way. People can listen, can see that something has
happened to them, and still be unaffected until the same
mighty influence gets to work upon themselves. It is
something that is wholly and solely spiritual, and the
flesh cannot take hold of it. Let Simon the sorcerer try
to get this on natural grounds! He will find himself
under terrible judgment (Acts 8:9-24). This is something
which can be had only by the Spirit. It is light and life
of a new order altogether; the flesh cannot enter into
this. "First that which is natural; then that which
is spiritual."
The
Instrument of the Creations - The Spirit
The means - light and
life. And then the instrument - "and the Spirit of
God brooded upon the face of the deep" (Genesis
1:2). We can say that the Spirit of God was the Executive
of the Godhead in the redemption of the natural creation.
Here, "Acts" brings in that Divine agent again;
the Spirit of God bringing out of the dark and out of
death into the new life of this new creation in Christ
Jesus. It is spiritual.
The
Object of the Creations - A Man
And then the object.
What was the object of the natural creation? Unto what
was it? Well, the object was man, a man whom God had in
His eye, a man according to God's mind. Everything was
brought into being, and the climax of all was man. First
that which was natural - and it failed; afterward that
which is spiritual. And here is the man in Christ, the
new creation, and he is a new order of man. It is simple
and elementary, but it helps us to recognise that we have
come into a new day of a different character; it is
spiritual now. This book has taken up the very beginning
in the natural, and carried it over, passed it through,
into the spiritual; and it is saying as clearly and
forcefully as anything can be said, This is the true! The
natural breaks down and fails, it is transient, it does
not abide; the spiritual is eternal, established forever.
Place alongside that
word from 1 Cor. 15:46 another one from 2 Tim. 1:10
"...our Saviour Christ Jesus... abolished death, and
brought life and incorruption to light through the
gospel." That is something for us to take hold of.
We are all so conscious in this world and in ourselves of
the corruptible side. Yes, it is there; but through the
Gospel life and incorruption have been brought to light.
One of the things said so early in this book is a
prophecy taken from the Old Testament and applied to the
Lord Jesus "It was not possible that he should be
holden of death" (Acts 2:24). Why? Because the word
had said "...neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to
see corruption" (Acts 2:27). "Life and
incorruption through the Gospel." And that life is
ours; that life within us, in our renewed spirit, is the
germ of a spiritual body which is at the other end of the
course; first the natural, then that which is spiritual,
and in 1 Cor. 15:46 the application is to the body. There
are natural bodies - not that which is spiritual is
first, but that which is natural; then that which is
spiritual. "To each seed a body of its own" (1
Cor. 15:38).
Well, the object in
view is a man who can never see corruption, an
incorruptible humanity. Oh thank God that the Lord Jesus
walked through this world for thirty-three years and was
never in the slightest degree corrupted; although Satan
and all his powers and agents, demoniacal and human,
sought to corrupt that Divine One in some way, to ensnare
and entrap Him into a taint, a corruption, He was never
corrupted in any sense; He triumphed. He went through
death and the grave itself and saw no corruption. Thank
God, I say, for that, because He is the Firstborn among
many brethren who will be indwelt by that same
incorruptible life, and who will be eventually that
humanity in God's universe for which the universe was
created. An incorruptible humanity - that is the
prospect. And that is the Gospel - something more than a
gospel of just being forgiven; it is a marvellous Gospel
that is brought to light. The object - a man; but that
kind of man.
The
Reversal of Babel
I dare not take all the
fragments of the Old Testament that this book of
"Acts" brings into view from the creation.
Immediately, without any loss of time, it leaps over to
what comes some distance on in the book of Genesis; and
here it is not a transferring, it is a reversing. I refer
to Babel. You remember what was said about Babel.
"And the whole earth was of one language and of one
speech" (Gen. 11:1) and in that oneness they formed
a confederacy to build their tower, to be independent of
God, to make a name for themselves; to glorify, to deify
a fallen, corrupted manhood. They challenged heaven in
their unity, and God said, "Let us go down and there
confound their language"; and there came confusion
of tongues. He broke them up with His curse so that they
understood not one another, and therefore could not work
together, could no longer go on in their evil oneness. We
know it very well today. Pentecost leaps right in there.
There were gathered in Jerusalem that day men out of
every nation under heaven. Their countries are tabulated;
the Holy Spirit takes great care to see that they are all
mentioned. And then a mighty thing happens, a miracle is
wrought by the Holy Ghost and the diversity of the
tongues of that great concourse is transcended in a
moment, so that men exclaim with astonishment "Are
not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we,
every man in our own language..." (Acts 2:7,8). What
is the meaning of this? Babel is reversed. The
declaration is made - through the victory of Calvary, in
the power of the Holy Spirit, the curse is dealt with,
and there is a oneness in the Spirit possible for all
men, that they can understand the wonderful things of
God. God has set His spiritual principle right there at
the beginning in this most powerful way, and He has said
in an acted principle that in Christ Jesus there is a
universality of oneness of a heavenly and spiritual order
which cannot be found outside; which is Calvary's answer
to Babel.
Now, you do not
interpret that naturally, but spiritually. People are
always pressing for the natural interpretation. Tongues!
Whatever God may do sovereignly in His will in that
matter, the fact is this - that very often Satan has
simulated that very work, and the result has been more
confusion among the saints, and the essential law of
oneness has not been established. The test is whether
this brings saints into the realisation of their absolute
oneness in Christ, or does this make more confusion? That
is a very good test as to whether it belongs to that
which is natural or to that which is spiritual. When the
Holy Spirit really has His place and His way, He brings
into a universality in Christ. It does not matter what
you are naturally, of what nation or tribe or kindred or
people or colour or language, it does not matter at all
where you come from or what you are, whether of high
degree or low; when the Holy Spirit gets possession,
there is a universality in Christ, a blessed spiritual
oneness, which is God's answer to the world and to the
enemy; God's counter, through Calvary, to Babel.
I know the Church has a
long way to go to enter into that, and how great the
difficulties are in this matter of so many tongues
amongst the Lord's people, all saying different and
contradictory things; nevertheless, I hold to this basic
law, that, if men were governed by the Spirit, they would
say the same thing, they would arrive at the same
conclusion; and it is only the intrusion of the natural -
either natural judgment, intellect, taking hold of the
things of God, or natural desires and inclinations and
propensities and wishes and feelings - that results in
this confusion of tongues among the Lord's people. If the
natural life, mind, heart and will really did come under
the power of the Cross and we came on to the ground where
we are dead to ourselves and alive only in the spirit, we
should be saying and thinking the same thing.
God has simple and very
real - even if small and limited - testimonies where He
has those who are led by the Spirit; He is able to say
the same thing to them and the results are very fruitful.
Desolation goes out and fruitfulness comes in when the
mind of the Spirit possesses the children of God. They
say the same thing; they are able to say - And the Lord
said that to me as well! There is a lot in that.
Well, you see very
early in this book a very big thing is taken up from the
Old Testament and reversed. "First that which is
natural: then that which is spiritual." The
universality of the Spirit is declared. And, remember,
with this goes the universality of the Church. The true
Church is of this order.
And then, of course, in
"Acts" we have the initiation of the
universality of salvation; that is, initiation in the
practical sense. Salvation is universal from the
beginning, but here was the initiation of its outworking
- for Jew and Gentile. Presently we move from Jerusalem
up to Caesarea, and something happens in a Gentile
company almost identical with what happened in a Jewish
company - the Spirit falls, and that universality of the
Spirit shows itself now in this, that God is no respecter
of persons. All can be saved, Jew and Gentile. Salvation
is inclusive; God has no favourites in the matter of
salvation.
The
Spiritual Principle Behind Achan and Ananias and
Sapphira
Time permits us to
touch on only one other thing, which is quite simple in
itself. It is very soon in this book that we come upon
that tragic incident of Ananias and Sapphira. We have now
leapt a long way ahead in the Old Testament.
Historically, there is much between what we have just
said and this point, but no doubt here is a
correspondence in spiritual principle. You remember
Achan, and the Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold
hidden in his tent. But that is not the whole point. When
did it happen? That is the vital point. It happened when
Israel had passed through Jordan, in which they, in type,
for ever parted with the carnal life. The passage of
Jordan in type was that side of their union with Christ
which spoke of death to the carnal life which had been
predominant in the wilderness. It had all been the flesh,
carnality, all through those years, and at last that had
to be done away with, lock, stock and barrel. Jordan drew
the line between the life of God's people carnally and
their life spiritually. Over Jordan, the Spirit of God
takes charge as Captain of the host of the Lord, and is
the energy of everything from that time onward,
testifying to the fact that here the flesh has given
place to the Spirit, and they are now typically on
spiritual ground. Achan contradicts that, the carnal life
breaks out again, and swift and radical judgment takes
place. Because we pass into a new day, O Ananias and
Sapphira, what you might have done when you lived in the
flesh you cannot do now. That is the meaning. You have
come into another realm, the realm of things spiritual,
and having been buried with Christ and raised with Him,
you are supposed to have repudiated all the work of the
flesh and its ambitions.
"Acts" being
a book of principles shows what God's full thought is for
life in the Spirit. This is seen on both its positive
side and its negative. Ananias and Sapphira are examples
of the negative aspect, showing what the Lord's attitude
is toward a calculated action in the flesh when against
such the Spirit has been so manifestly in action.
This, then, is a solemn
appeal for life on a higher level, but it carries with it
a curtailment of certain liberties. For all the values of
such a life may the Lord give us the required empowerment
and grace.