But by this we at once discern the different purposes of God in His dispensations by Israel and by the church; for the further development of which I have judged this passage of scripture to be thus worthy of more careful notice than is perhaps commonly given to it. It is not as a King holding His citizens in rule, but as the manifester of the Father, making us sons, as we have seen, that the Lord is now fulfilling His pleasure. Through the word and by the Spirit He is gathering all that are “of the truth” (as He speaks to Pilate), filling up the measure of His body the church, which is His fullness.
We thus from this scripture get further evidence of the distinct purpose of God in His dispensation by Israel and the church; a subject that we have often considered. But while we trace these things, may we know the power of them in our own souls more and more! Knowledge without communion with God would only expose our souls to Satan; may the Lord preserve us in so tempting a day as this!
And from all this we learn that the present absence of the Lord is to be interpreted differently as respects Israel and the church. As respects the church, it is gracious; because for them it was expedient that He went away, as by that they have received the Holy Ghost to be in them, to teach them, as the Spirit of truth, the testimony of Jesus Who was the witness to the truth, the revealer of the Father. But as respects Israel, it is judicial; and righteously so—because it was Israel's unbelief and sin that occasioned it. It was by the wickedness of the husbandmen that the Heir of the vineyard was cast out. According to all this, when the Lord left Israel He turned His back on their city, leaving it for desolation, and saying, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Matt. 23:38). He hid His face from them. But when He left His church, He left them in the act of lifting up His hands and blessing them (Luke 24:51). His face was towards them. The one action was judicial, the other gracious. When He left the Jews, He said, “Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto Him that sent Me. Ye shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and where I am, thither ye cannot come.” But when He left His disciples, He said, “A little while and ye shall not see Me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father.” When of old the glory departed from Israel, every ray of it, as it were, was gathered up and not a trace left behind, no present mercy remained (Ezek. 11:23). But when Jesus ascended from the midst of His saints, it was but to give gifts to them (Eph. 4:12, 13); and as He said, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you” (John 14:18). As to Israel, the Lord is now asleep (Psa. 44:23); but as to the church, He is ever wakeful and active, the Advocate and Priest on high (Heb. 9:24, 1 John 2:1).
All this shows the different purpose which the Lord has as respects the church and Israel. The church during His absence is preparing through the Holy Ghost to stand in the glory of the Son; but it is the time of Israel's judgment.
And here I cannot refuse to notice the same distinct and decided teaching as to this, which we get in the parable of the talents (Luke 19).
The Lord is there presented to us as a nobleman who went into a far country, to get for himself a kingdom, and to return; who, previous to his departure, committed his goods to his servants to be occupied for him during his absence; and then on his return took account of them severally, but executed righteous judgment on his citizens, who had plainly told him before he went away that they would not have him to reign over them.
Now in this exhibition of the ways of God we shall find very clearly that the purpose (among others) of the present dispensation is to provide companions for the King in His glory, to give to Him those who shall share the throne of the kingdom with Him. The servants are distinguished from the citizens in this parable. The servants have their occupation during the nobleman's absence; but during that time the citizens are not within view at all. So is it with the church and with Israel. During this dispensation, which is the time of the Lord's absence, the church occupies the scene, and Israel as a nation are forgotten: there is neither Jew nor Greek; whereas after the return the distinction between the servants and the citizens is still as clear. The servants (found faithful) are called into the fellowship of the kingdom, and the citizens are punished for their rebellion. So again with the church and with Israel. The saints of the Most High are to take the kingdom with the Son of Man. They who have continued with Jesus in His temptations are to have a kingdom appointed them by Him, as He receives a kingdom from the Father. They who overcome are to sit with Him on His throne. The saints are to judge the world.
The servants of this parable are not the subjects, but the co-heirs with the returned nobleman; and such are the saints, “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;” they share the dominion with Him. They are not after the nobleman's return to bring forth their fruit, but they will then rather reap the glory of dominion with Him, as the reward of their having brought forth their fruit to Him now in this time of His absence. “Because thou hast been faithful in a very little,” it will be said to the servants by the returned nobleman, “have thou authority over ten cities.” But Israel, in the day of the return of their once rejected but then glorified King, are to meet the vengeance. Israel are the citizens, for Zion is the city of the Great King, and Jesus is the King of the Jews. It is as a King with His subjects or citizens that the Lord is to be associated with the people of Israel, and not as Heir with His co-heirs. And their cry, their rebellious cry, “We have no king but Caesar,” in the day of the returned nobleman, the day of the revelation of Messiah the King, is to be answered thus— “Those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before Me” (Luke 19:27). The present absence of the Lord is not working their repentance; but rather the old rebellious spirit is judicially working in them till His return finds them ripe for the judgment. And thus will that return bring the “day of vengeance” (Isa. 61:1, 2; Luke 4:18-21), “the time of Jacob's trouble” (Jer. 30:7); of trouble such as never was since there was a nation (Dan. 12:1). In that day an alarm will be sounded, for it will be “a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Joel 2:12). “In all the land two parts shall be cut off and die” (Zech. 13:8). It will be a day that “shall burn as an oven,” and, Who, as says the prophet, may abide it? (Mal. 3:2; 4:1).
But let us not forget that the nobleman has returned “having received the kingdom,” and that the faithful servants have been promised their ten and their five cities. Therefore though the rebellious be thus judged, the scene of dominion is not to pass away in the judgment. The cities have been promised as the rewards of service, the kingdom has been received by the nobleman, and this earth, to which the nobleman returns (for the place of his return is the place of his kingdom), must remain for the exhibition of that kingdom, and to be the scene of those rewards. And therefore we read in other scriptures that it is “all peoples, nations, and languages,” the peoples, nations, and languages of this earth which shall be given to the King and His servants. “The Son of Man shall be given dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him.” Judgment then shall be given to the saints of the Most High. “The saints shall judge the world” and shall possess the kingdom (see Dan. 7:13, 14, 22; 1 Cor. 6:2).
From all this then, we gather that this present dispensation is giving a family of children to the heavenly Father, and to the blessed Son of Man, companions in the glory of His throne. These are its purposes. By the ministry of the “witness to the truth,” which is the Son, and “the Spirit” which is the Holy Ghost, the saints are made sons and daughters, for whom are prepared the mansions in the Father's house. They are all one in the adoption of their heavenly Father, equally and surely belonging to Him, “all fitly framed together;” but in the inheritance of the glories of the coming kingdom (for which they are now getting ready) they are not one, as it is said to them, “Have thou authority over ten cities,” and “Have thou authority over five cities.”
And in this is the perfection of the ways of our God: for in this will be found all that quiets the soul while awakening it, all that would lead us forth to service, and yet never take us from our sweet retreat, the full assurance of our Father's equal love. Oh, that the love of Christ may constrain us more and more to be willing servants one of another! This is the only, real dignity, the only true praise. “I am among you as one that serveth,” said the Lord and Master of us all. Whatever the outward aspect and bearing of our life may be, the spirit of service should be the hidden principle. “If we be beside ourselves” —what should we still be able to say? “It is unto God” “If we be sober,” what should we still be able to say? “It is for your cause.” No man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself. This is the only true rule of Christian action, this the hidden and only effectual spring to set all our movements right, as under God and like to Jesus.
(Continued from page 134.)