Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

It was perfectly consistent for the disciples, previous to the day of Pentecost, to pray for the Holy Spirit since He was not given till that memorable day and could not be given until Jesus was glorified. Compare John 7:39; John 16:7 and Acts 19:1-6. We believe the form of prayer given to the disciples was suited to the transition state in which they were until the coming of the Comforter. From that time it holds good that, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Where would be the force of this if the Church of God were confined to one definite form of prayer?

It is well for Christians to most attentively consider the vast difference between God’s people — their standing, their calling, their hope — before and after the death and resurrection of Christ and the consequent descent of the Holy Spirit. This is very little seen or thought of; hence the low spiritual conditions, the darkness and doubt, the legality and distance, the cloudiness and mistiness so painfully observable among many of God’s beloved people. How rarely do you find souls enjoying accomplished redemption and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! There is everywhere a strong tendency to take merely Jewish ground. People are under law as to the state of their conscience. Little is known of the conscious possession of eternal life, sonship and the sealing of the Spirit. It is deemed presumption for anyone to have the full assurance of salvation. And yet, by a strange inconsistency, persons who speak thus deem it possible for some who have made great attainments in holiness and the divine life, to have assurance. This is presumption because it bases assurance upon something in us, even though that something be by the Holy Spirit, whereas Scripture bases our assurance and peace, not on anything in us, but upon accomplished redemption by Christ. This makes a grand and all-important difference.

The difficulty of your friend arises from not seeing that the Church as such is not before the apostle’s mind in Galatians or Romans. He is speaking of believers and the ground on which they are individually justified before God. They are justified by faith, as Abraham was. Hence they are morally the children of Abraham. And though Abraham did not and could not belong to a body which had no existence except in the purpose of God until the Head ascended into the heavens, still most assuredly all the Old Testament saints will share in the heavenly glory. Many are perplexed as to this point because they make it a question of comparing individuals one with another. If it be a question of personal worthiness, holiness or devotedness, Abraham might stand above the most holy and devoted among us. But it is simply a question of God’s dispensation arrangements, and if any be disposed to find fault with these, we are not going to argue with them. Some today have a way of turning the subject into ridicule which savors far more of wit than of spirituality or acquaintance with the Word of God. But we trust that we will never surrender the truth of God to escape the shafts of human ridicule.

The Church is on earth. It seems strange to have to affirm so obvious a truth. True, it is in ruins, but still earth is its sphere inasmuch as the Holy Spirit is on earth and He is the One who unites the members to the Head and to one another. Now, while it is true that the visible unity of the Church is gone, yet we are responsible to “endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” and in order to do this we are to yield our souls to the action of the whole truth of God, whether that truth be found in 1 Corinthians or in 2 Timothy.

We have to recognize and mourn over the ruin, and confess our own share in that ruin, but we must not lower the divine standard or surrender a single tittle of divine revelation. It is our holy privilege to walk in the light of the very highest truths, notwithstanding the broken state of the professing body. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). These words set forth the real ground of the Assembly. They were uttered before the Church was set up and they will hold good to the end of time. “Scripture cannot be broken.” “Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.”

Thanks be to our ever gracious God, He has not left us to walk according to our own vague and desultory thoughts or the commandments and doctrines of men. He has poured the heavenly light of His own Word upon our path, and that gives a certainty, a stability and a wonderful peace.

The Holy Spirit has given us the three grand distinguishing titles — “The Jew, the Gentile and the Church of God.” Sadly, that which calls itself the Church of God has become a corrupt thing, a vast mass of baptized profession. But clearly that which is called Christendom is no longer viewed as being on Jewish or Gentile ground, nor will it be judged as such, but according to the profession which it takes up. Hence the appalling solemnity of Christendom’s position. We believe it to be the most terrible moral blot in the wide universe of God, the master-piece of Satan and the destroyer of souls. Oh! the awfulness of Christendom’s condition; the awfulness of its doom! No human language can set it forth. May all who truly belong to the Church of God be enabled to yield a calm, clear, decided and consistent testimony against the spirit and principles and ways of that terrible thing called Christendom.

The “other sheep” of John 10 are those who are called from among the Gentiles to form, with those of the Jewish fold, the “one flock” under the one blessed Shepherd. In Ephesians 4 we have the further truth of the “one body” composed of Jew and Gentile and united by the Holy Spirit to the living Head in heaven and to one another on the earth.

In John 20 Mary illustrates the present relation of the Church with Christ. We do not know Him after the flesh. We are linked with Him, not as the Messiah on earth, but as a heavenly Christ. Thomas represents the Jew who must see to believe. Matthew 28 presents our Lord in His Jewish relations, and we find the women holding Him by the feet. This teaches us in the most blessed manner that He will yet resume His links with Israel according to the promises made to the fathers. We must remember that the Church forms no part of the ways of God with Israel and the earth.

The terms “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” are not always synonymous, though sometimes they are. Take Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” We can easily see that “kingdom of heaven” would not do here. This latter is a great dispensational term, applying to the time during which the King is rejected and the kingdom, in consequence, in mystery instead of in manifestation. The term “kingdom of God” is sometimes applied in the same way (Mark 4:30; Luke 8:10). Also, it has a moral and personal application which distinguishes it from the phrase, “kingdom of heaven,” which is unique to Matthew. Accept our warmest thanks for your most kind and interesting letter. Its tone and spirit are pleasing and refreshing in a day like the present. May God bless you very abundantly!

No passage could more distinctly teach the two resurrections than the very one which your friend has quoted in opposition, namely, John 5:25-29. There is “the resurrection of life” and “the resurrection of judgment.” It may be that your friend bases his objection on the fact that the word “hour” is used, but this has no force whatever since in verse 25, the same word is applied to that period during which the Son of God is quickening dead souls — a period which has already extended nearly 2000 years. Now if the word “hour” be applied to a period of nearly 2000 years, what difficulty can there be in applying it to a period half that length? We consider that Revelation 7:1-8 refers to the saved remnant of Israel, the nucleus of the restored nation.

Ezekiel 37 refers to the future restoration and blessing of Israel. The closing chapters of Ezekiel shall, most surely, have their accomplishment in the nation’s history. The temple will be rebuilt and the worship restored. The sacrifices, instead of being typical, will be commemorative. Thanks for your devotional lines. We greatly enjoyed their tone and spirit.

We take those charming passages in Isaiah in their full force and beauty, as setting forth the wonderful blessedness of that time when our beloved Lord shall reign from pole to pole and from river to the ends of the earth. How the heart longs for that time as we toil along through this sin-stricken world where all is so contrary to the Spirit and mind of Christ.