AS SORROWFUL, YET ALWAYS REJOICING" (2 Cor. 6:10). Such was Paul's experience. The saved man is a great mystery to the unsaved—happy, yet sad; triumphing, yet troubled; having no sin on him, and yet having sin in him; having no condemnation, and still having fearful conflict; saved now, yet working out his salvation and waiting for salvation. Even among saved, men themselves there is great misunderstanding. Some are engaged more with the triumph side, others with the conflict side of a Christian's experience. We find both most fully brought out in Scripture, each having its own place and importance. The Christian's conflict takes rise and character from his triumph. We get much instruction by looking at the illustrations of a believer's triumph, walk, and conflict as contained in the figures of the Old Testament, for we know that "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15:4). Let us look at Israel's history. We find the Israelites—sheltered by blood from God's hand in judgment in Egypt, and testifying for God in the midst of godlessness.
Redeemed by power, taken through the Red Sea by the power of God's might, and living by faith in the wilderness.
Entered into their possessions, and in Canaan fighting the battles of the Lord. Let us look at these in detail.
I-SHELTERED BY BLOOD
the Israelites in Egypt
"The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, . . . Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: . . . And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. . . . For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12). In Egypt the Israelite had thus a triumph and had also a conflict.
A. Triumph.—He rejoiced because he trusted to the blood on the lintel and in the word of Jehovah God, who had said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." So the Christian in this world rejoices, not in the thought that he is pure and sinless, but in the fact that Christ died for his sins. We see this fully explained in Rom. 3:21-5:11.
God could pass over because the blood was on the lintel.
The Israelite could rejoice because he believed God. Thus God can now justify the ungodly.
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"When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exod 12:13).
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"Being now justified by His blood" (Rom. 5:9).
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The believer can rejoice, being at peace with God.
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"The blood shall be to you for a token" (Exod. 12:13).
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"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God" (Rom. 5:1).
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Sheltered by blood, we feast upon the roasted Lamb with bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and in the pilgrim garb—at perfect peace, for "it is Christ that died."
Heirs of salvation,
Chosen of God;
Past condemnation,
Sheltered by blood.
Even in Egypt feed we on the Lamb,
Keeping the statutes of God the I AM.
In the world around 'tis night,
Where the feast is spread 'tis bright,
Israel's Lord is Israel's light.
'Tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus, our Saviour from above,
'Tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus whom we love.
B. Conflict.—There would have been an unscriptural conflict in Egypt if an Israelite had tried by any and every means to put off the hand that was crying for blood, except by God's own ordained means, the blood on the lintel, which indicated the .acceptance of God's estimate of the value of the blood that He himself had appointed. This unscriptural conflict we find in modern times in man's efforts by prayers, religiousness, penances, and sorrows to live a good life, when God is demanding the death of the sinner for his sins. And how often do we see the sad spectacle of a man in a condemned world trying to get up religion or devotion, or anything else to meet the wrath of God against his sins, when he is condemned already! This is the state of man as depicted in Rom. 1:18-3:20.
But there is a scriptural conflict—namely, the conflict against
THE WORLD
The Christian presents a strange anomaly that cannot be seen perfectly in the figure of an Israelite sheltered by blood in Egypt. He has been taken entirely out of Egypt, and yet he is sent back to Egypt, as Jesus said to His Father in John 17:18 concerning. His followers, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." According to the illustration, every Christian in one aspect—and a very practical aspect—is' still in Egypt, that is, the world, "which spiritually is called . . . Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified" (Rev. 11:8). So Jesus prayed, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15). Being thus in the world and not of it, with souls saved, but with bodies still liable to disease and death, and all creation under the curse, "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life" (2 Cor. 5:4). And "we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we "ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23). These are groans which should not be stifled but encouraged. The more we are in harmony with the mind of God, the more will these groanings be heard —not the groaning of an anxious soul to get peace, which God has already provided and presented, but the groanings of the saint who is waiting for his body to be fashioned like unto Christ's body of glory. This is evidently quite different from fighting against -indwelling corruption. We are like the Israelites waiting till all the chosen of the Lord shall have actually had the blood on the lintel, which will be completed only when the Lord comes. We have been sent into this world to persuade men to come under the protecting power of the blood of Jesus and thus be sheltered from wrath. Meanwhile, our place is described in John 17, where we find that the Christian is—
Given to Christ out of the world (v. 6).
Left in the world (vv. 11 and 15).
Not of the world (v. 14).
Hated by the world (v.. 14).
Kept from the evil of the world (v. 15).
Sent into the world (v. 18).
Preaching the word to the world (v. 20).
"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14).
II-REDEEMED BY POWER
the Israelites in the Wilderness
A. Triumph.—A quickened soul is first exercised about what he has done—that he has sinned. Then, as we have seen, he gets peace because he is forgiven through the blood of Christ, who died for him. But he very soon finds out a further distress, not arising from what he has done, but from what he is—a sinner. This is described in Rom. 5:12, "As by one man sin_ entered into the world." He has been sheltered from God's hand in judgment, but he finds he requires a new life in which to serve God. The Israelites found themselves, after having been delivered from the death of their first-born, with rocks at either side, foes behind, and the sea before. So the Christian was born a sinner, his own sinful nature is unchanged and unchangeable, and the law of God is against him—three obstacles much more terrible than those of the Israelites. Many a quickened soul in such a case is ready to cry, "Hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?" (Exod. 14:11). "Who shall deliver me?" (Rom. 7:24).
God does not say, "I have taken you away to die," but He says, "go forward" (Exod. 14:15). God is for us, and His power is exercised through death, through the territory, the last domain of law. Man's extremity is God's opportunity. A way is made in the sea. "The Lord saved Israel that day out of the hands of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore" (Exod. 14:30). This deliverance points not so much to Christ dying, as to Christ "raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25), not to justification by blood, but "to justification of life" (Rom. 5:18) in Christ as risen from the dead. "For if when we were enemies, We were reconciled to God by the death of, His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life," that is, His life in resurrection. Not only are we out of the house of bondage, but we are out of the land of Egypt. Every Christian has a right to say, "Not only has God sheltered me by blood, but He has saved my soul by His power; not only have I peace with God, but God is for me; not only has God's hand been stayed from visiting me for my sins in wrath, but God's hand has been manifested in destroying all my enemies; not only am I not condemned, but there is no condemnation (Rom. 8:1);
not only did Christ die for me, but my standing is in Christ risen from the dead." "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again" (Rom. 8:34).
Pilgrims and strangers,
Captives no more:
Wilderness rangers,
Sing we on shore.
God in His power parted hath the sea,
Foes all have perished, His people are free.
By the pillar safely led,
By the manna daily fed,
Now the homeward way we tread.
'Tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus, our Shepherd here below:
'Tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus whom we know.
B. Conflict.—There is an unscriptural conflict here also. How am I, a sinner in the world, under law, to get out of my old standing in Adam and get into the wilderness with God?
If the Israelites had tried to scale the rocky precipices on either hand, the barriers of nature, instead of taking God's way by a new and supernatural path altogether, this would have been an illustration of a quickened sinner trying to climb the mighty obstacle of being "born in sin," this mountain of his nature, instead of taking God's way out of it, as seen in Romans 5:19, "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
If the Israelites had turned on the foes behind, and had tried to fight their way through instead of standing still to see the salvation of God, this would have been an illustration of a quickened sinner trying to fight against and extirpate his evil nature, or make it better, and thus try to get delivered from the wages of sin instead of taking God's way of "eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
If a quickened sinner were attempting to get deliverance from the power of the law of God and its righteous demands by trying to make that which cannot be subject to the law of God a willing servant, he should be as the Egyptians, trying to get through where faith alone could walk, "which the Egyptians assaying to de were drowned." That is the doom of man's efforts, but in Christ Jesus we have died, we have risen. RECKON therefore yourself dead indeed unto sin. It is not that we feel dead to it or are dead to its motions, but as Christ died to it, so we reckon ourselves dead. Therefore, when I find such a holy law inoperative in bringing my God-hating nature into subjection, instead of crying, "Who shall deliver me?" (Rom. 7:24) and stopping there, I look back on all my foes dead on the shore. Christ's grave is empty now, and God looks at me as in Christ Jesus, and every question of sins and sin is settled for ever. Christ, my sins, and myself, were all nailed to Calvary's cross. I believe this fact, that Christ is risen. I accept God's meaning which He has attached to this fact, that I am now not in my sins. I can now sing, in spirit, the triumph song of Moses on the wilderness shore of the Red Sea, and truly say, in the language of Romans 8, "There is therefore now no condemnation to me in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
However, a scriptural conflict now begins, namely, the conflict against
THE FLESH
This is not a conflict to obtain peace, not a conflict to get deliverance from condemnation, not even that sympathetic and God-honoring groaning of Romans 8:18-28, but conflict against myself. It is not the conflict against the world. If we look at Israel as the illustration, we find that there were no Egyptians in the wilderness, only Jehovah's congregation is there. We are now shut in with God. God's enemies are our enemies; we are on His side, even against ourselves. We have been crucified and raised; we have sung the song of victory; we triumph in Christ Jesus, and now we have conflict in earnest with our own evil natures. The man who realizes that he has got once and for ever into the standing described in Rom. 8:1 ("There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus"), with all his triumph realizes tremendous deadly conflict, not around him, but within him, not struggling to get acceptance with God, but keeping his body under, looking at his own unchanged and unchangeably evil nature within him with something of the abhorrence of God—every day confessing his sin, every day requiring the Advocate. After the Israelites had sung the triumph song on the wilderness shore of the Red Sea, after they had received the pillar cloud to guide them, bread from heaven to feed them, and the water from the rock to refresh them, "then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim." Does this not give us an illustration of -the lusting between the flesh and the Spirit as seen in Galatians 5:17? "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other." This "lusting" or warfare goes on, not that we may cry, "O wretched man . . . who shall deliver?" but "that ye may not do the things that ye would" (lit.). This is a tremendous personal reality in every saved man. At the same moment that he is rejoicing in Christ Jesus, he has no confidence in the flesh, which is still actually within him, and thus he has a warfare every day against himself.
Read Exodus 17:8-16, where we get the account of the conflict. Joshua, the captain of the Lord, fights with Amalek (son of Eliphaz, eldest son of Esau); Moses is on the hilltop with the rod, holding up his hands in intercession to God, supported by Aaron and Hur, one holding up each arm, for as long as his arms were held up Israel prevailed, and Joshua discomfited Amalek with the edge of the sword. An altar is raised, called "Jehovah my banner," for the Lord will have war with Amalek, not once for all, but from generation to generation. This all takes place after the Red Sea has been crossed.
This gives us an illustration of how the Spirit of Jesus fights against the flesh. The Advocate is with the Father on high, and He is Jesus Christ the righteous, the spotless High Priest, making continual intercession for us. The Spirit overcomes the flesh by the Word of God. This is all after we have joyfully sung the victory anthem recorded in Romans 8. "There is . . . no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." And indeed we have a specimen of the mighty sword we are now to wield by the Spirit in us in the practical exhortations laid down in the last chapters of the epistle to the Romans, commencing with chapter 12.
As the Israelites found that the sword of Joshua and the prayers of Moses routed the heathen Amalek, so the Christian finds that there is nothing like the truth of God, the authority of God, the sword of the Spirit, accompanied by the intercession of Jesus on high for the rebellious flesh within him. All the wilderness conflict has this character. "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no." (Deut. 8:2).
Beloved brethren, seeing then that ye are "risen with Christ . . . mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth."
We have triumph because we are. forgiven. We have conflict because we sin.
We have triumph, for we are saved. We have conflict because we are sinners, although saved.
We have triumph over our Adam-nature, for we are not in Adam, but in Christ. We have conflict within us; for, alas, we often "walk as men."
We "are not in the flesh"; therefore we have triumph. The flesh is in us; therefore we have conflict.
We are "not under law"; therefore we have triumph. Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments"; therefore we have conflict. We are not (rab votiov) under law, neither are we (avollot) lawless, but we are (gvvovoL) inlawed—that is, under authority, or duly subject to Christ.
Christ has 'taken charge not only of our salvation but of our conflict and our walk. Grace saves, but grace also teaches. Neither is it by an internal power only that we are guided, but by external authority, or commandment. We do not walk in the paths of righteousness merely because we see them to be righteous, but because God has ordered them. The former would be self-pleasing; the latter is God-pleasing. If ever the question should arise between what I feel and see to be right and what God says is right, then I must obey God rather than my own feelings. Abraham did not understand how it was right to sacrifice his son, but he believed God and offered his son because God told him to.
As long as the Israelites were in the wilderness, they were seen in themselves as needy and sinful, while God was proving Himself bountiful and gracious. We find a wonderful illustration of God's provision for the Christian's need very near the end of the Israelites' march. In Numbers 31 we have a sad picture of their murmurings, and at verse 6 we read, "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."
As long as the Christian is in this world, he will have sin in him, and his power against it is Jesus crucified. The Son of Man lifted up on the cross is what withers up practically and daily our rebellion, waywardness, and perversity. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
Iii—Seated in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus
The Israelites in Canaan
A. Triumph.—Israel under Joshua got through the Jordan, as Israel under Moses got through the Red Sea. All Canaan was theirs, "From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast" (Joshua 1:4). This was the land flowing with milk and honey, the land in which they were to have long life and prosperity, the land wherein they were to dwell and be fed. The Israelites were blessed with all temporal blessings in earthly places in Canaan. Of us, as Christians, it is now said that God "hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Certainly, we have many blessings which we never think of and never have thought of, but we can think of none which we do not have in Christ. Every Christian has Christ—nothing less. He may not know all. Who does? We strive that we may know Him, that we may grow in grace, and in "the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour." In Christ every Christian is blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.
He is quickened, raised, and already seated in heavenly places in Christ. Therefore, according to the illustration, he is in Canaan as to his triumph; for,
as Christ is, so are we in this world. He is dead, risen, seated; so are we, in Him (Eph. 1, 2, 3).
Canaan possessors,
Safe in the land.
Victors, confessors;
Banner in hand.
Jordan's deep river evermore behind,
Cares of the desert no longer in mind.
Egypt's stigma rolled away,
Canaan's corn our strength and stay,
Triumph we the live-long day.
'Tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus, the Christ of God alone;
'Tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus, 'tis Jesus whom we own.
B. Conflict.—There is an unscriptural conflict here, as we have seen in Egypt and the wilderness. This conflict is said to be "not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12). There is more in this simple statement than might at first appear. We are in the world; we are not of it. Our work is not to fight to put the world right. This is the mistake of all who, have taken, or may take, the sword to fight the Lord's battles in this dispensation. We are here to act in grace as children of the Father and to save men from the world. Our enemies are spiritual, not men in the flesh. We are not sanctified Jews, praying Psalm 109 and slaying men, women, and children. That was the right thing in Canaan; it is the wrong thing in the places in which we stand. Not only is bloodshed wrong, but the principle goes down to every wrestling with the weapons of this world. Have I been cheated? What is my remedy? To go to law? No. But then I shall suffer loss. Very well, suffer (1 Cor. 6:7; 1 Pet. 2:20). The believer is done with all "flesh and blood" conflict. He may be called a fool, a madman—one that has no interest as a citizen and as a politician, a person of Utopian ideas and transcendental schemes. He is content to be so styled. Moreover, he is not to retort. His life is hid with Christ in God. All contact with the world's ways can but defile him. "Flesh and blood" is not the platform on which he wars. World philanthropists he may admire; world reformers he may be thankful for. But he hears his Master say, "Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead" (if decently buried, so much the more agreeable for us). But there is a scriptural conflict, namely, the conflict against
THE DEVIL
All Canaan was given to Joshua. But we read that the Israelites had to enter in and take possession of it personally—"Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you" (Joshua 1:3). They had to fight for every inch of the land. First Jericho fell, then Ai, until Joshua routed thirty-one kings. Read Joshua 12. And after we are told that we are already raised and seated in Christ, that we already have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, the conflict is put before us in the very heavenly places where we are blessed, as Joshua's fighting with Canaan's kings was in Canaan.
This conflict is not against the world nor the flesh —we have considered these already, but it is against Satan the accuser, wicked spirits ruling the darkness, and demons that hate the light (Eph. 6:12).
What are they? "Principalities and powers." They possess strength of evil, strong wills, more powerful than ours. They originally derived strength from God, and their apostate will rises from themselves.
What do they do? They have power over the world as governing it, for it is in darkness, and they are "the rulers of the darkness of this world."
C. Where do they dwell? They dwell "in heavenly places," and thus ever endeavor to obtain a religious and delusive ascendency over us, for they are "spiritual wickednesses." And what do we require for these foes? This is not Pharaoh keeping us in bondage, not Amalek fighting with us, but the Canaanites disputing our own possessions. The former two we were saved from; these foes we have to meet, recognizing their true purpose, to keep us from our rightful places as the redeemed of God. We fight, clad in the armor of God. "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [heavenly] places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Eph. 6:10-18). This is neither to "get peace," nor to avoid condemnation, nor to get into "heavenly places." This conflict is not with the judgment of God, nor the law of God, nor sin within me. This conflict is against the wiles of the adversary, who, day and night, tries to deprive me of all that God has given and all that faith enjoys.
Let us see how all this bears upon us. Some look upon a Christian as out of Egypt, now in the wilderness, and waiting to reach Canaan. This may have some truth in it, but it does not convey the whole truth as to our position.
Others look upon it thus: We are in Canaan by faith; we are in the wilderness in fact; and we may be in Egypt, wilderness, or Canaan as to experience. Again, there is truth here, but I do not think it is exactly put as subsequent Scripture warrants.
Let us briefly sum up all the above:
HEB. 11 : 28-30
I.—"Through faith he [Moses] kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them."
Exod. 12; Rom. 5:1-11. Triumph by blood.
John 17; Rom. 8:22-28. Conflict with the WORLD.
II.-"By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egypti.ans assaying to do were drowned." Exod. 14:15; 15; Rom. 8. Triumph in power.
Exod. 17:8-16; Gal. 5:17. Conflict with the FLESH.
III.-"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days."
Josh. 1; Eph. 1. Triumph in our inheritance.
Josh. 12; Eph. 5. Conflict with the DEVIL.
"All these things happened unto them for ensamples [types]: and they are written for our admonition" (1 Cor. 10:11). By faith, therefore, according to the above parallel, we are in Christ, who is far above all Egyptian judgment, all wilderness weariness, or even all Canaan conflicts. In actual fact we are still in the world; and in individual experience we still have clouds and sunshine, joy and sorrow, storm and calm. There are three things the Christian has to distinguish: his standing; his state; his experience,—his standing before God, his state in this world, and his own experience as he passes through this world.
THE CHRISTIAN'S STANDING
All Christians are by faith in the eternal calm of God, possessing everything that the work of Christ has secured: We are far above all principalities and powers in Him who is alive forevermore, who is the Living One, and was once dead. We are as near to God as Christ is, for we are made nigh by His blood; we are as dear to God as Christ is, for Jesus, speaking to His Father, says, "Thou . . . hast loved them, as thou hast loved me" (John 17:23). In Him we possess all the fulness of God. But as to fact, we find another side of the truth, which is—
THE CHRISTIAN'S STATE
According as we look at it, all Christians are still in Egypt. Not an enemy is really destroyed. The world is around us and against us. We are sheltered by blood, and still we are in a condemned world. We are eternally justified, and by grace we are saved persons; still, in plain English, in Scripture language, we are just where we were as to our surroundings.
Again we are, as to fact, still in the wilderness, requiring guidance by the eye of our Father every day. As the Israelites of old had no signposts nor highways in the trackless desert and were guided by the pillar of cloud, so human wisdom and human advice can never direct the Christian in his heavenward journey. God's Word is His light. As the Israelites, marching through a barren wilderness, had to get their bread daily from heaven, so the Christian gets no food for his new nature in that which his fellow-men all around him enjoy. He says, "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Every day the Israelites required the water from the rock in the dry and parched land; so the Christian daily drinks the truth of God. Christ is his daily refreshment. These are for our weariness. The Israelites likewise had Joshua to fight, and Moses to pray, against their foe Amalek; so we have the Spirit to war against the flesh and our Advocate with the Father. Jesus presents the blood for us on high, and daily we require our feet to be washed from all earthly defilement. These are God's provisions for our sin.
Again, as to fact, we are in the Canaan conflict, following our Joshua through all his wars, which are our wars. Every Christian is really, as to fact, in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in Canaan, at one and the same time. Different aspects may be more prominently ours at one time than at another, and this constitutes experience. The experience of Christians is not always Christian experience.
THE CHRISTIAN'S EXPERIENCE
What do we find the everyday experience of Christians to be? According as a Christian understands what his standing is and what his state is, so will be his experience. But every Christian's experience must be "a walking with God." He may be, as to experience, sheltered by blood, hardly knowing it, like an Israelite in Egypt not realizing the safety that there was under the blood-sprinkled lintel. A Christian may be consciously at peace with God by the blood, but still trembling under the fear of coming into condemnation, like an Israelite not seeing the path through the sea, trembling lest Pharaoh's host destroy him. But such a Christian will be walking with God up to the light that he has. He may be rejoicing on the solid ground of Christ risen, having forever done with all against him, and consciously having God now for him, and he thus walks with God, like an Israelite who has passed through the Red Sea and has entered upon the wilderness journey. And, finally, a Christian may be walking as in heavenly places, like an Israelite through the Jordan and settled in Canaan. This believer is God's workmanship and is now getting into the mystery of His will (Eph. 1:9), having lost sight of the thought of his own salvation, being absorbed in God like the aged pilgrims who have told us that for years they had never had a thought about their own salvation—as the aged Bengel said, "The same old terms." And it is only when in conscious experience we have been taken thus-far that we can study God for His own sake and for what He is. This is the furthest we can reach here.
The standing of every believer before God in Christ Jesus, known only by faith here, is the same, and is independent of his realizing it or enjoying it.
The actual state of every Christian upon the earth is likewise the same. What an anomaly any Christian is in the world! A son of God walking through a God-hating world, with a God-hating devil its head, and having within him a God-hating nature; the fact being that every- Christian, as to conflict down here, is in Egypt, in the wilderness and in Canaan.
The experience of every Christian is not the same, but varies in different people and in the same person at different times, according as he knows his standing before God, knows his state, and walks in the Spirit. Thus we find the reason of so much seeming contradiction in Scripture, and in the writings of God-taught men. I am sometimes confronted with a passage in a man's writings and asked, "Do you believe that?"
"Yes," I answer.
Then I am asked, "And do you believe that?" concerning a directly opposite statement (seemingly).
Again I say, "Yes," because I find the same expressions in God's Word. They all reconcile themselves in our own consciousness if we are submissive enough to wait and learn God's mind.
I wish that you, my Christian reader, may distinctly see the difference between what the Christian is in God's sight, and what he is in this world, and also why there is so much difference in individual Christians. There is one path, and but one path, in which our God and Father would have us walk. It is the path of His own Son, as we in conscious sonship witness for Him as if we were in Egypt, the wilderness, and Canaan, taking sides with Him against the world, against ourselves, and against the devil. This is Christian experience. But, alas, this is not always the experience of Christians. This may be because of their not rightly dividing the. Word of truth or their not seeing the truth in its many aspects. If we draw up a few seeming contradictions from God's Word concerning the Christian in parallel columns, if we read down one of them we shall find the experience of some Christians. Again, if we read down the other, we shall find the experience- of another class of Christians. However, Christian experience is the harmonious and scriptural blending of both. (I wonder what angels think as they see such sons of God here?) Did not Paul know this strange contradiction? I saw an infidel tract the other day which was intended to prove the Bible to be false by drawing up in parallel columns about a dozen contradictions found in Scripture, such as, "Whosoever is born of God sinneth not," and "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves," etc., and I thought, "Are the infidels really so far back?" I commend the following four dozen, instead of one dozen, to their notice, and I promise more when these are understood. The poor infidel never heard of a new creation and an old in the same man. He knows only the old, and patches it.
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Well known.
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Yet unknown.
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Behold we live.
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Dying.
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Always rejoicing.
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Yet sorrowful.
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Making many rich.
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Yet poor.
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Possessing all things.
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Having nothing.
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Ye have put off the old man.
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Put off all these.
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Ye have put on the new man.
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Put on therefore.
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Who can be against us?
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World, devil and flesh.
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Who shall lay anything to our charge?
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The accuser accuses the brethren day and night.
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Who is he that condemneth?
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We judge ourselves.
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He that is born of God sinneth not.
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If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves.
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We are not in the flesh.
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As long as we are in the flesh.
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Not under law.
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Keep my commandments.
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He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life.
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We live if ye stand fast in the Lord.
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The Lord's freemen.
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Christ's slaves.
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Being made free from sin.
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Blood cleanseth (not has cleansed) us from all sin.
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Accepted in the beloved.
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We labour to be accepted (in service).
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We are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
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The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
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God, who always causeth us to triumph.
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What great conflict I have for you.
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We are already saved.
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We are working out our salvation.
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We are waiting for salvation.
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Let us therefore as many as be perfect.
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Not as though I were already perfect.
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Ye are complete in Him.
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We pray that we may stand complete in all the will of God.
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Seeing ye have purified your souls.
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Let every one that hath this hope in him purify himself.
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Ye are unleavened.
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Purge out the old leaven.
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Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
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When he shall appear we shall be like him.
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Always confident.
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With fear and trembling.
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Through death Christ destroyed him that had the power of death.
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The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
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Everywhere and in all things—
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To be hungry.
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To be full, and
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To suffer need (Phil. 4:12).
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To abound, and
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Let not sin therefore reign.
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Dead to sin.
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Risen with Christ.
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Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.
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I am strong.
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When I am weak.
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We have an anchor sure and stedfast.
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Make your calling and election sure.
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They shall never perish.
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Lest I should be a castaway.
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Why as though living in the world.
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The life which we now live in the flesh.
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I am dead.
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Nevertheless I live.
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We are sanctified, justified; Christ our sanctification.
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We pray that we may be sanctified wholly.
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Seated in heavenly places in Christ.
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We are in the world.
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Bear ye one another's burdens.
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Every man shall bear his own burden.
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Your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost.
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I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.
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Saved from sin.
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Chief of sinners.
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Justified by faith.
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Justified by works.
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Sanctified by blood and will of God.
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Sanctified by the Word and Spirit.
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Saints by call.
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Purified by progress.
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We (Christians) shall not come into judgment.
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We (Christians) must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
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All these seeming contradictions are thoroughly explained when one sees the difference between our standing and our state. If I reckon my standing according to my state, I am in a low and God-dishonoring experience. If I bring the power and character of my standing to mold my state, then I shall have a happy and God-honoring experience.
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The Lamb on the cross has purchased all.
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The Lamb from the throne, when He returns in power shall claim all, and actually take all.
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In Egypt it is the blood of the Lamb.
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Romans and Galatians show us the power that brought us out and keeps us in Egypt.
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In Amalek's fight it is the blood of the Lamb who is the Advocate on high, that is presented.
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Hebrews looks at the Christian as always in the wilderness.
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It is by the blood of the Lamb that the accuser of the brethren is overcome. Clad in God's .armor, we fight.
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Ephesians is the book of our Canaan.
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Soon faith will be fact. May our blessed Lord grant it. Not at death will this be true of the whole Church of God, but when He returns. Our experience will then be both what faith and fact are; our state shall then be as our standing; our standing shall be our state. We shall then be like Christ, soul and body. Do we not long for the time when the last of the Church shall be under the shelter of the blood-sprinkled lintel, and we shall be caught up together from a doomed world, when the last conflict with Amalek shall have been fought and his remembrance blotted out for ever, the flesh for ever left, "sins and iniquities remembered no more for ever," when the accuser of the brethren shall have been cast out of the heavenly place and every opposing spiritual wickedness shall have been routed, when our Joshua, by His judgment warfare (Rev. 4 to 22) shall have cleared the inheritance? Then, in the splendor of the Lamb on the throne, we shall be manifested as the sons of God, the Body of Christ, the Bride of the Lamb.
Fellow Christian, are you making your experience the standard for your walk? This is wrong.
Are you making your state your standard? This also is wrong.
But God would have us make our standing our standard. This honors Him. This gives conquering power.
Our attitude now is to wait calmly for the hour when all will be ours in fact and also in experience which is now ours in faith only, when our standing shall be our state. Even the Apostle Paul does not yet possess all; he is waiting with the Lord for that which he was waiting for while here—not to be "unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life" (2 Cor. 5). This is why resurrection, not death, is our hope. This is why we wait for the Lord's coming for us and not for our going to Him. We do not wait for happiness merely, we wait for what will bring to a close this great paradox between standing and state, and also terminate that unseen state of disembodiment of the souls with the Lord in Paradise. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be LIKE HIM; for we shall see him as he is. And every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I John 3:2).
The world, the devil, and the flesh give you conflict. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost give you triumph.
Praise the Lord with hearts and voices,
Gathered in His holy name;
Every quicken'd soul rejoices,
Hearing of the Saviour's fame.
Praise the living God who gave us,
Lost and ruin'd as we lay,
His beloved Son to save us,
Bearing all our sin away.
Praise the Lord for all His guiding,
Snares so thickly round us lie;
We in His own light abiding,
Are directed by His eye.
Praise Him for His long forbearance;
How our sin His heart must pain;
Righteous is His loving kindness,
Cleansing us from every stain.
Praise Him, enemies assail us,
As we through the desert go;
But His sword can never fail us,
It shall silence every foe.
Praise Him for the manna given,
Falling freshly every day;
Jesus Christ, our Lord from Heaven,
Is our food through all the way.
Praise Him for the water flowing,
Freely in its boundless tide;
Christ the smitten Rock we're knowing,
Pierced for us His wounded side.
Praise Him through the desert marching,
Onward to the golden shore;
For our Saviour we are watching,
And we'll praise Him evermore.