May
24
In the past God spoke to
our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in
these last days He has spoken to us by His Son (Hebrews 1:1,2 NIV).
What was the tragedy of
the old Israel? Of course, the tragedy of the old Israel, finally, is their
dismissal. Their dismissal: “The kingdom of God shall be taken away from
you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”
That happened, and it stands today. The kingdom of heaven taken away – not for
that Israel, but for another! The tragedy of Israel is that they are dismissed
from the dispensation, or the dispensational movement of God. This has lasted
for two thousand years. How many more years we do not know, probably, not so
long, but you leave that alone.
Here I am going to upset
a lot of you: you leave Israel alone for the time being. You will only get into
terrible confusion if you get down on this earth with an earth touch in these
things.... You see, you go on like that and it leads to confusion if you come
down onto this earth. Leave it alone and see what God is doing, and God is
doing a spiritual thing, not a temporal thing. I could take an hour to enlarge
upon that last phrase, “not a temporal thing.” Do you see, in the sovereign
activities of God, that now He is confounding and confusing and breaking down
all temporal representations of His heavenly kingdom?!
Men are trying to set up
local churches after New Testament order. You have never had more confusion in
local churches than you have today. They are trying to set up things,
constitute things, Christian movements, Christian institutions, Christian
organizations, and they are all in confusion and do not know what to do with
one another. You may think that is an exaggeration, but you see what I mean?
God is breathing upon every temporal representation in order to have a
spiritual expression of Christ! That is the heart of what we are saying, and
that is what is here.... This new Israel is so much greater than the old
because Christ, this Messiah, is so much greater than their conception of a
Messiah... I am talking about the greatness of this One Who is introduced in
Hebrews: “God, ...hath at the end of these days spoken in His Son, Whom He
appointed Heir of...” an exclusive party? – No, “of all things.”
That is Paul’s great word all the way through: “all things, ...all things,
...all things,” and in the end, “to sum up all things in Christ.”
And if I need to safeguard, I am not talking about universalism. I am talking
about God’s ultimate realm and sphere where it will be nothing but Christ.
By T. Austin-Sparks from: But Ye are Come
Unto Mount Zion - Chapter 2
This photograph is by Charlie Burnell.
No comments:
Post a Comment