The Heavenly Man: February 2005
Table of Contents
Let Us Go on
Annie Johnson Flint was orphaned at six years old and contracted rheumatoid arthritis as a teenager. She spent most of her life as an invalid in a Christian institution in New York State. Later in life she suffered from cancer and also multiple bed sores, but she was always cheerful and encouraging.
Some of us stay at the cross,
Some of us wait at the tomb,
Quickened and raised together with Christ,
Yet lingering still in its gloom;
Some of us bide at the passover feast
With Pentecost all unknown —
The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place
That our Lord has made our own.
If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross,
His work had been incomplete;
If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb,
He had only known defeat;
But the way of the cross never stops at the cross,
And the way of the tomb leads on
To victorious grace in the heavenly place
Where the risen Lord has gone.
So, let us go on with our Lord
To the fullness of God He has brought,
Unsearchable riches of glory and good
Exceeding our uttermost thought;
Let us grow up into Christ,
Claiming His life and its powers,
The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place
That our conquering Lord has made ours.
Annie Johnson Flint (18571932) r
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Paul: God’s Representative Man
Philippians 3:20
The Apostle Paul is a representative man of this dispensation in his person, ministry and manner of life. His salvation and apostleship illustrate for us the ways of God in this dispensation. We are living in the dispensation of God’s grace. His life is a pattern to us for our lives in this day of God’s grace.
His Person
In his person we see the display both of the grace and the righteousness of the dispensation. Saul of Tarsus was taken up by the Spirit of God in order to represent in him the grace and the righteousness that are now brought to us. He magnifies the grace of the dispensation when he calls himself the chief of sinners, showing that God’s grace could reach and flow even to the greatest of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).
When Paul would make known the character of the righteousness of the dispensation, he speaks of himself as blameless as touching the righteousness which is in the law, but then he sets that righteousness aside as loss and dung (Phil. 3:8). The true righteousness that has been revealed to us through him is the righteousness of God in Christ.
Paul not only displays God’s grace and the gift of God’s righteousness, but he also illustrates God’s present way of displaying His grace in the believer’s life. Paul had to learn that he had mistaken the way of blessing and of glory. He had to learn, as every believer has to learn, that when he was weak, then he was strong, for God’s grace is made perfect in weakness. By his “thorn in the flesh” he represents the believers in this dispensation in their weakness, showing that such weakness is their suitable condition for the present display of God’s grace and power (2 Cor. 12:9).
In the eyes of the world the “thorn in the flesh” is viewed as a blot. The comeliness that a world could see and appreciate was tarnished by this blot. In the Spirit, Paul had wondrous revelations and the secret of God was blessedly with him, but before men there was a stain upon him. All this is in character with the dispensation. The saints are exalted in Christ, but before men they are to be humbled. The world does not know them. The dispensation allows for no confidence in the flesh. God has set the flesh aside as profitless. The man in Christ is not to look at things as man in the flesh does, that is, according to their external appearance. There is to be no measuring or comparing of things by any such rule. By external appearance there was the thorn in Paul that tempted the scorn of men.
The thorn in Paul’s flesh came from the same love as his rapture into paradise. If he had stood in the full intelligence of the Spirit, he would not have prayed for its removal; he had to learn to glory in his infirmities. No one is perfect, but the Master Himself. Favored and honored as Paul and others have been, there is none perfect but the Lord. This comforts our souls. God rests well-pleased in Him forever, but in Him only. He never had a desire to recall, never a prayer to summon back from the Father’s ear.
His Ministry
Paul’s preaching was to all the world, and it represents the comprehensiveness of the grace of God in this dispensation. The good news of God’s grace was to go to the ends of the earth. To illustrate this message of grace for all men, Paul speaks of his ministry as stretching itself on the right hand and on the left, from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum. He had received “apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations,” and he felt himself debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. He spoke to the Jews, to the devout, to the common people and to the philosophers (Acts 17). His purpose was to compass the whole earth. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. He was calling on men everywhere to repent. When Paul could no longer go about with the gospel, being the prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles, he “received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:30-31).
In Jewish times, the ordinances of God were all at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was where men ought to worship. The priest abode in the temple, for the dispensation was one that refused to converse with other men, but in righteousness kept the flock of God folded in the land of Judea. Now the dispensation is one of grace, going forth in the activities of love, to gather home the lost sheep that have gone astray upon the mountains. Preaching is, therefore, the great ordinance of God now. Preaching is the new appointment of God, something that is beyond the mere services of a secluded temple. Paul’s preaching of this new dispensation to all men presents the pattern for all of us.
In Paul’s ministry we see what the world would consider to be “the foolishness of God” and “the weakness of God.” Paul gave testimony to the Christ crucified. Christ on the cross was weak and foolish in the judgment of the wise of this world. So Paul and his ministry came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom in the eyes of men. His preaching was not with enticing words, but he was among the saints in weakness, in fear and in much trembling (1 Cor. 2:3).
His Manner of Life
Paul lived on earth as a citizen of heaven, “for our conversation is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). So effectually had he learned Christ and so blessedly was he, through grace, enabled to exhibit the character of the dispensation that the Spirit says he was “unto God a sweet savor of Christ.” So fully was he a pattern of that manner of life to which we are called that he could say, “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.”
Paul’s life was a “manifestation of the truth.” The truth of God revealed to Paul to give to the church was seen not only in his teaching, but it was displayed by his manner of life. His life of faith reflected the truth which he received and dispensed to others. The conduct of faith is always according to the principle of God’s present dealings. As John says, “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” As Peter says, “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9). That is, blessing being bestowed on us, blessing is required of us.
In Paul’s manner of life we trace the spirit of Christ and the great principles of God’s present dealings with the church. The Son of God emptied Himself of the glory that He had before the world was, and while on earth He ever refused to call for legions of angels. So Paul in the spirit of Christ, though free from all, made himself the servant of all, becoming all things to all men for their good (1 Cor. 9:22). In this way his life reflects the unmeasured and untiring love of God, which has visited us in the gospel of the grace of God!
Adapted from Paul’s Apostleship and Epistles, J. G. Bellett
The Christian
Christ Engraved on the Heart
2 Corinthians 3:23
The Christian is a representative of Christ, just as much as the tables of stone were the representation of the law. Christ is engraved on the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Christian is known and read of all men. The world ought to see Christ engraved on the heart of a Christian, just as much as Israel could see the letter of the law on the tables.
It is written on the “tables of the heart” by the “Spirit of the living God.” Thus merely outward conduct (though there must be that for the world to see) will not do, but Christ within, as the motive and end of all we do.
God did not send His Son into the world to bring in a negative Christianity. There must be that result which is worthy of the work. It must be evident through the power of the Holy Spirit. There will be failure, for we are poor, feeble creatures, but the world will see where we are going by the road that we take. A man may get on slowly or stumble, but it is evident what road he is taking.
We look and see that we are devotedly following Christ, with full purpose of heart. We say, “This one thing I do.” But we must take care at the same time not to get into legal bondage by this standard. If I say, “Here is a rule of conduct; follow it,” this cannot reach the heart and the affections. The ministration of the letter brings only failure, condemnation and death, for it prescribes a rule which man, being a sinner, can never follow. It does not change man, but it puts him under death; it proves him “ungodly” and “without strength.”
The Ministration of Death
We may turn even Christ into that letter of condemnation; we may take His life, for instance, and make it our law. Nay, we may turn even the love of Christ into our law; we may say, “He has loved me and done all this for me, and I ought to love Him and do so much for Him in return for this love.” Thus, if we turn His love into a rule of life, it becomes the ministration of death, for the only thing a rule can do is to condemn. With the children of Israel, Moses put a veil upon his face, for they could not bear the sight of the glory — it condemned them. Man tries either to hide his condemnation from God or his conscience from His condemnation. He excludes himself from God — from the glory of His holiness and from His glory as seen in Jesus. And when His glory shall be revealed in the end, it will only bring out condemnation more fully.
The Ministration of the Spirit
and of Righteousness
In contrast with this ministration of death and condemnation, we see the ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness. The whole life of Jesus was a manifestation of grace. He laid Himself aside for others. He gave Himself to all who came to Him. He had no time so much as to eat; in the midst of a world of wickedness He was the perfect manifestation of the goodness of God. And this was not all: He died for sin, He ascended into heaven, and He sent down the Holy Spirit as a witness to His glory and as the minister of righteousness. So it is now God ministering, not requiring.
If I am brought to look at Jesus, I can say, He bore my sins. I did them, but He bore them; He gave His soul an offering for my sins. He has taken the whole charge of my sin. I trace my sins up to the cross and there I have done with them. They are all gone.
Where, then, do I see the glory? It is in the face of Jesus Christ who has put away all those sins which were revealed and condemned at Sinai. He has entered into heaven because they are put away. In Philippians 2 we see Christ in heaven, not only in virtue of the glory of His Person, but because of the work He has accomplished. “Wherefore also God hath highly exalted Him.”
We are thus able not only to bear the sight of that glory of God, but to rejoice in it. Our souls rest in it. We do not ask to have it veiled, but that we may see every ray of it. Our hearts can satiate themselves there, because it is the testimony to the love of God and the perfect putting away of sin.
What a Christ I Have!
There is also the ministration of righteousness. “Seeing then we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech.” It is not a little hope here and a little despair there, but it is a message of perfect righteousness to the vilest. By the obedience of One many were made righteous. Now, it is God putting in fruit and not requiring righteousness.
What is the practical effect of this work of Christ received in the heart? It is not to make a man careless about sin — not to give him liberty to sin because Christ has borne the wrath due to it. The last verse shows how we are made this living epistle. Contemplating Christ we become like Him. If the Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them to me, I can say, “What a Christ I have!” And there is the spirit of holiness at once. I long for Christ and look at Christ, and thus I become like Him. The very thing which brings an accomplished righteousness to my conscience makes me like Him. Then notice there is no veil on the heart nor on the glory. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us has taken it away. And it is said of Israel, “When they shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.” When Moses went in to the Lord, he always took off the veil, but the children of Israel could not bear the sight of the glory, so he put it on when he appeared to them.
Nothing Between Me and God but Love
Then what is the consequence of this ministration of the Spirit? What follows my knowing that I am the righteousness of God in Christ? I know that God delights in me. I have a constraint upon my heart to serve Him and follow Him. If I think of His love, have I any fear? Though I do fail constantly, God has no afterthought about me or about my sins. There is no uncertainty — nothing is between me and God but the love which has placed me there. I am without spot and in perfect freedom, for He has given Christ for me. It is now, not God requiring anything from me, but God giving things to me, that His Son may be glorified in me. It is not that man may be glorified, but His Son Jesus glorified. God is making a marriage for His Son. We have to be the epistle of Christ. We have this privilege, to glorify and manifest Christ. We should be delighted to be this epistle, cost what it may. Christ died for me, and I have to represent Him. Of course, I may often fail, but the heart at liberty before God will run in the way of His commandments, because the affections are set upon God and the glory of Christ. My life, my daily path, must be an answer to the love of God. I am debtor to Christ, for He loved me and gave Himself for me. What an amazing privilege to be permitted to glorify Him in any little way in our path down here!
J. N. Darby (abridged from Collected Writings, Vol. 21, p. 241)
Christ Revealed in Paul
Acts 20:24-27
“It pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me” (Gal. 1:15-16).
Paul holds a unique place in the revelation of God to man, as the one who was chosen of God to reveal the mystery of Christ and the church, a mystery which had been hidden in God since before the world was made. Although initially a violent persecutor of the church, he was converted in a remarkable manner while traveling to Damascus, and afterward he became one of the greatest servants the Lord ever had. Surely it was characteristic of the grace of God that when the hatred of man put out one of the brightest lights God had in the early church (in the person of Stephen), God reached out to the worst one responsible and said, so to speak, “You come and take his place!” God then makes out of Paul an even greater servant than Stephen. Paul, in a very definite sense, is the minister of the church’s calling, blessings and glory.
A Standard-Bearer for the Dispensation
Not only was Paul the one specially chosen to receive from a risen Christ in glory those divine revelations concerning the church, but he was also what we might call a representative man. That is, he was chosen to show, in his pathway through this world, that special character of walk and behavior which is the pattern for this dispensation. No doubt our Lord Jesus Christ is ever the true pattern for us, for none walked as He walked, and “never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). However, our blessed Master did not walk through this world as part of the church, for He was destined to be its Head. He did not, in that sense, suffer for the church in its heavenly character, for the church had not been formed. Thus Paul was raised up, not only to receive the truth of the church, but to be a standard-bearer for the dispensation and to lead the way in which believers should walk.
It is because of this that he could say to the Philippians, “Brethren, be followers together of me” (Phil. 3:17), and also, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do” (Phil. 4:9). To the Corinthians he could say, “Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me” (1 Cor. 4:16). In the same way he could say to the Thessalonians, “Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord” (1 Thess. 1:6). In giving such instructions, he takes the place of a representative man who, by his life and ministry, was showing a pattern for the church dispensation. The special privilege of Paul and ultimately of all who are part of the church is given to us in Galatians 1:1617, where Paul recounts that “it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me.”
It is the happy privilege of every believer in this dispensation, not only to have Christ revealed to him, but also to have Christ revealed in him. We see this twofold character of Christian privilege and testimony exemplified in Paul, and especially in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus. It is to this summary of his life and service that we wish to direct our attention. In recounting how he had brought the truth of God to them and others, he mentions in particular three things that have to do with God, and which are pertinent to Christ’s being revealed to us and in us.
The Gospel of the Grace of God
The first characteristic is found in Acts 20:24, where he mentions “the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” The wording is refreshing, and no doubt the one who could readily identify himself as the chief of sinners was keenly aware of the grace that had been extended to him. It is the only place in Scripture where the gospel is particularly termed “the gospel of the grace of God.” In this way Paul emphasizes grace as being central to his message of the gospel, and it is here where each one of us must start if we are going to approach God. We who are saved had first of all to recognize our complete helplessness before God, and that it was only on the ground of God’s grace that we could have any blessing.
In this way, the grace of God must be central both to our having Christ revealed to us, and to any revelation of Christ in us. God has revealed Himself in grace, and all our blessings in Christ are on the ground of grace. The understanding and enjoyment of these blessings must be on the ground of grace. A sense of this in our souls will produce both happiness and humility, for true Christianity makes everything of Christ and nothing of man. May we ever have a strong sense of His grace in our souls!
Likewise, the gospel of the grace of God should form an integral part of the testimony of every Christian. God is dealing with this world in grace, and we are told in Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Our message to this world is one of grace, although tempered with salt, that we may reach the conscience as well as the heart. But God seeks to draw men by His grace, and our walk and words ought to demonstrate God’s character of grace.
The gospel of the grace of God is the first truth that a lost world must hear, if souls are to be saved. Then too, our own souls are refreshed and encouraged by having the gospel of His grace constantly before us. While Scripture presents the gospel as an individual exercise and not primarily an assembly responsibility, yet it is true that if there is no outreach in the gospel, there is often little blessing in the local assembly. If we continually have Christ revealed to us, but do not have the energy to reveal Christ in us, we become like the Dead Sea. In a body of water that has no outflow, gradual stagnation occurs and the accumulation of minerals renders the water unhealthy and unable to support plant or animal life. It is so with the believer who takes in but does not give out. Let us always seek from the Lord that love for souls and the energy to bring the gospel of God’s grace before them!
The Kingdom of God
The second characteristic of his ministry that Paul mentions is in Acts 20:25, where he says, “Ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God.” The expression “the kingdom of God” is used extensively by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels, particularly in Mark and Luke. It is also used a number of times in the Book of the Acts and in Paul’s epistles. In a general way the expression “the kingdom of God” conveys the moral character that is suitable to God’s kingdom. When the Lord Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King, He also presented the moral character of His kingdom. Man in his sinful condition could not practically live out such a moral character, and thus they rejected the Lord Jesus. However, it remains that there is a walk and moral condition of man that answers to God, and those who recognize the rightful King are called to exhibit that character in this world in His absence.
The exhibition of this moral character involves not only a clear knowledge of sins forgiven, but also the recognition of our being delivered from the power of sin by the death and resurrection of Christ. In order for that new life in Christ to be manifested in our lives, it must be recognized that we have died to sin. Such scriptures as Romans 6:1-12 and Galatians 2:19-20 clearly bring before us that we have died to sin through the death of Christ and that now we are to walk in newness of life. Baptism is the outward sign of our taking this place and identifying ourselves with the death and resurrection of Christ. To the extent that we recognize the inherent sinfulness of our old Adam nature, we will exhibit our new life in Christ practically in our walk and will have that moral character that is suitable to the kingdom of God.
The importance of this cannot be overemphasized, for our Lord Jesus Christ is honored and glorified when our walk is pleasing to Him. The world cannot see our hearts, but our lives are an “epistle . . . known and read of all men” (2 Cor. 3:2). Sad to say, the walk of believers has all too often been out of character with the kingdom of God, and as a result their testimony has suffered. While this does not excuse those who do not believe, it is a solemn reflection on those who profess to know the Lord when their lives are a bad testimony instead of a good one. In matters such as personal uprightness and honesty, the believer ought to be an example of Christ. In the matter of immorality, such things should not be so much as “named among you, as becometh saints” (Eph. 5:3). It is reported that in most western countries, the divorce rate among so-called fundamental believers is about the same as that among unbelievers. What a commentary on our position as belonging to the kingdom of God! May we be thoroughly exercised to pay attention to our walk and ways, and to seek more and more to realize that we are “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).
All the Counsel of God
The third characteristic of Paul’s ministry is mentioned in Acts 20:27, where he says, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” This is perhaps most germane to Paul’s teaching, for all the counsel of God involves Paul’s peculiar position as the one to whom the truth of the church was revealed. He could say concerning these precious truths that were revealed to him, “Of which I became minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given me towards you, to complete the word of God” (Col. 1:25 JND). Until the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, the revelation of God was not complete. Likewise, until Paul received the truth of the church from a risen Christ in heaven, the revelation of all the counsel of God was not complete. Paul was given the final revelation from God to man and completed the Word of God. Others might add details, such as the Revelation given to John many years after Paul had been martyred, but Paul had already given us the truth of the church in which all is displayed. It is in the “full knowledge of the mystery of God” that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden (Col. 2:2-3 JND). We will never understand the Word of God, nor be able to look intelligently on events in the world around us, unless we see clearly the purposes of God to head up all things in Christ, to bless the church in heaven, and to bless Israel on earth. These purposes were especially given to Paul to bring out.
May we value our privileges, as being called to live in this dispensation of God’s grace, and thus to be able to enjoy the knowledge of “all the counsel of God”! The Lord Jesus could say to His disciples, “Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them” (Luke 10:24). Surely we have been privileged to see far more than even the disciples, and yet how indifferent we are sometimes to the revelation of God’s counsels! God wants us to enjoy now in our hearts what He is going to do in the future, particularly in exalting His beloved Son! The believer now has common interests with God, and he looks forward to being associated with Him in all that bright glory!
May we be willing to share these counsels with others, too, for Paul’s expressed wish was that he might “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Eph. 3:9). God has revealed His purposes in His beloved Son, and this brings us back to the gospel, which does not first of all concern man in his need, but rather “His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:3-4). But God wants to bring lost, guilty sinners into association with His Son, in order that He might display “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). What a display of His grace!
W. J. Prost
The Purpose of God in the Vessel
2 Corinthians 4:6-7
“Because it is God who spoke light to shine out of darkness who hath shined [or ‘lit a lamp’] in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us.”
These verses express a marvelous purpose of God! To light a lamp within us, and so deal with us that He may reduce our earthen vessels to a transparency in His hands — in order that the glory of God, shining in Jesus on high, should shine out from our hearts, that we may be God’s lanterns in a dark and Christ-rejecting world.
Some have referred to Gideon’s lamps and pitchers (Judg. 7), as an analogy of the glory of God shining out of our earthen vessels. However, the lamps in Gideon’s day shone out only when the pitcher was broken. Here, the vessel is not broken but is rendered transparent. All the hindering elements of flesh are so attenuated (lessened and made thin) that the “treasure” possessed by the vessel may shine forth undimmed. Thus Paul says in verse 10, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifest [shine out] in our mortal flesh.”
Paul, a Shining Vessel
The circumstances through which Paul was passing when he wrote his letters to Corinth are worthy of our serious consideration, for they show how his own vessel was being made more transparent for the shining forth of the glory of God. His feelings and circumstances entered into all the texture of the teaching which flowed from God to us in his letters. As his vessel passed through the trial or exercise, his heart was trained. His affections were formed by these things, and he was sustained and supported of God in the sorrows of the way, so that “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Paul had drunk from the living stream at the fountainhead of all blessing (John 7:37-38). His thirst had been quenched by Christ. And so his inner man — the mind, the heart, the soul — became the means of refreshing streams to others. That which had consoled his own soul in its sorrow was a consolation to others. The Father of mercies so blessedly filled Paul’s soul with all His consolation in Christ that it overflowed, and the stream passed on in living power, producing fruit in the desert sands of the world where he went.
Paul had to learn how to live in the power of that which he would teach others; his purpose was to bear about in his body the dying of Jesus. How could he be helped in this? By being delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus may be manifest in his mortal flesh. This is God’s reward to those who seek to live in the power of what they teach and know.
Paul in Affliction
After he had written his first letter to the Corinthians, a very deep anguish filled his soul. The energy of the Spirit, in which he had been sustained when he wrote to the Corinthians, had waned, as he waited in anguish for a reaction from his letter. He feared he had lost the beloved Corinthians. How had they received his letter? Was it too hard, too severe? In deep exercise he repented of having written it. “I did repent,” said he, speaking of his tried heart’s exercise (2 Cor. 7:8). There was a greater death than that of the body, which hovered over his life; his soul died within him, as it were, in the bitterness of his sorrow. Some have passed through this kind of death. Only those who in some measure have passed through it understand it. Paul could not even rest in his spirit at a great and prosperous work at Troas, but he went in search of Titus that his soul might be relieved by news of Corinth from Titus (2 Cor. 2:13).
Pressure after pressure he endured at the hand of the potter, for he was but the clay upon the wheel, growing up under the skillful eye and hand of the Master. All these varied trials fell in crushing soul-death on him. God was attenuating the opaqueness which still remained, that the light might shine forth with brighter power, that the treasure of his heart might be more clearly seen, and that God’s purpose in the vessel might be manifested without hindrance.
Then at last, Paul was comforted by the coming of Titus” (2 Cor. 7:6). What a time of soul-comfort now followed! He said, “We were comforted in your comfort; yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all” (2 Cor. 7:13). Well can he say, “O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.” He can pour forth his heart’s teaching. He is unhindered in his joy.
What a moment for the true servant! What a moment for the people of God! Little did they realize how the servant’s heart was hindered in the ministry, how the springs of God were dry to them because of their state, and how at that same time the servant had to learn fresh lessons of death working in himself. His brightest word had become dull, because the Spirit of God was grieved, and their hearts were dull of hearing. God had to be a rebuker of both servant and people, instead of rivers of refreshment in a thirsty land.
The Gospel of the Glory
Now in Paul we find that sovereign mercy is the basis of the gospel of the glory. This is what Paul calls “our gospel” (ch. 4:3). What was this gospel? By it “this treasure” was communicated to Paul, who stands here as the representative man — the pattern to all. Sovereign and free mercy shone in this man’s life more fully than in any other. He said, “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.”
“Our Gospel” comes from the glory of God. It comes forth as a ministration of righteousness and of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:8-9) — no more as the ministration of “condemnation” and “death.” “Our gospel” shines out from the face of Him who accomplished the work. God seated Him on His throne as a witness to the estimate of the work which He accomplished.
The Treasure
What was this treasure which he possessed? The “treasure” was this — all that was brought forth from the glory of God, as found in Christ there, and as possessed in the vessel of clay. The vessel received the treasure into the heart, and then came the attenuating process, which prepared the vessel to better display the treasure. The light was taken in through the exercises of the conscience, and it shone out through the exercises of the heart. The “life of Jesus” needed to shine out from the earthen vessel. The momentary lightness of the affliction worked to enlarge the capacity and give in result a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
And what a strange vessel for such a treasure! Paul would not allow his vessel to conceal the treasure but fully displayed it. Chapter 3 of this letter explains this by recalling a moment in Israel’s history when His sovereignty and mercy shone out when Moses came down from the mount the second time. As Moses came down from the mount, with the second table of the law in his hand, the skin of his face shone with the brightness of this fresh and suited name: “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth.”
This was the purpose of God with the earthen vessel; this was the process to make it become what He desired. The light of the glory in the face of Jesus shone in the holiest on high, and on earth in the chosen vessel.
Adapted from A Chosen Vessel,
F. G. Patterson
Note: Some of the Scripture quotations are Patterson’s own translation of the Greek.
Let’s Never Forget
Let us never forget that love is God’s nature, and we are to represent Him on earth. You say, I have no gift; possibly so, but you can love. That every Christian can do, and it is more valuable than the brightest gift, because love is the nature of God and seeks the blessing of others.
W. T. P. Wolston r
Present Warfare There Must Be
If anyone represents God in the world, there must be warfare, because the enemy is there.
J. N. Darby
The True Mother’s Heart
1 Kings 3:1628
The Heart That Loves
Two harlots came to Solomon the king, each claiming to be the mother of the living child. Solomon, with the wisdom given to him of God, discerns that whoever loves the child most is the true mother. “God is love,” and “love is of God” (1 John 4:8,16). Love is the standard, both in the Old and New Testaments (Matt. 22:37,40; 1 John 2:710). “Then spake the woman . . . for her bowels yearned upon her son” (vs. 26). Her heart was filled with love; it was not selfishness for her son. “And she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.” The love of the true mother’s heart was made manifest by her willingness to give up her own claims in order to save the child. She interceded for the child, not for her rights to have the child. This is true love. “Teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children” (Titus 2:4).
The Sword of Judgment
The wisdom of Solomon became renowned by his use of the sword to try the two harlots that claimed the living child. Both women had been negligent in the proper care of their child. The sword of judgment was applied to test their hearts. It revealed both the good and the bad of the two hearts. It revealed who really loved the child and who had a selfish desire. The selfish harlot had imputed her guilt on the true mother rather than submit to the loss of her own child because of her failure. This same lack of self-judgment became apparent when Solomon applied the sword of judgment to the living child. She would rather see the child die than judge the cause of the problem.
When the true motive of each heart was apparent, Solomon stopped the execution order. The purpose of the sword was not to destroy, but to reveal the hearts. “And mercy rejoiceth against judgment” (James 2:13). Solomon applied the right mixture of love and judgment. These two things are the basis of the Lord’s hand of discipline upon us. “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” (Heb. 12:6).
The right combination of these two things is what is needed for us as Christian parents. Though we do not have a Solomon present with us, we have the wisdom of the Word of God to guide and help in our families. May we then apply these two things to ourselves and our families in dependence and obedience to the Lord. “Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).
D. C. Buchanan
Theme of the Issue
God chose the Apostle Paul to display a complete pattern and model of everything that a Christian is supposed to be. We are called to exhibit that pattern in our lives and to follow him as he followed Christ.
“It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me [Paul], that I might preach Him among the heathen” (Gal. 1:1516). “Brethren, be followers together of me” (Phil. 3:17).
Your Brother and Your Companion
“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9). John stands here a representative man for others as well as ourselves.
J. N. Darby