The Rule of the Heavens # 14

The Rule of the Heavens # 14

The Testimony And Its Vessel Unto The Time Of The End

The Universal Range Of The Eternal Purpose

We resume our consideration of this subject by asking - What is the thing that is really upon our hearts as the burden of the Lord at this time? What is the object which we have so strongly in view?

A Primary Object Of Present Divine Need

My answer is, without any hesitation or equivocation, that I believe and feel most strongly and intensely that what the Lord is after, what the Lord needs, what the Lord is seeking to possess Himself of, is a vessel in such relationship to Himself and His throne in the heavens, as will bring that throne and that heavenly dominion and authority very mightily to bear upon the whole spiritual system of His enemy, upon the principalities and upon powers and upon the world rulers of this darkness and upon the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies, as they have control of this cosmos. What the Lord is seeking after is a vessel that is in such a relationship to Himself that it will register the throne of God upon those forces and upon the cosmos.

Now that is what is weighing with me tremendously, and that is the burden of these days. That has been the thing central to the six gatherings which we have already had as we have been dwelling largely in the Book of Daniel, and what we are going on with today is not a departure from that, it is only a following up, a continuation, for we said earlier in the conference that the Book of Daniel and the Letter to the Ephesians have very much in common. The principles are the same. And so as we are perhaps more in Ephesians now than in Daniel so far as the actual scripture is concerned, we are still dealing with the same matter. In the Book of Daniel we saw four men, and the Lord making One, in the midst of them, forming a vessel, an instrument for the registration of the rule of the heavens upon the spiritual forces operating back of world systems, and we saw the breaking in of the government of the heavens again and again as those men operated in fellowship with the throne of God. And that is where we are and everything is gathered up into that, and I do trust that with all that may be said or interesting or informative, we shall see that the center and heart of the whole thing is just that God shall have in us individually and collectively, where He may place us on this earth, vessels, an instrument in such a spiritual union with Himself in the heavenlies that the heavenly thing may be wrought out.

That brings together the testimony of Jesus, that is, as in Who the Lord Jesus is and what He is in the appointment of God the Father, the position that He holds, and what is related to Him as to the history and consummation of the universe. The testimony of Jesus, Sovereign Lord, and the vessel as eternally foreknown, foreordained, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, brought into being in time, and as is seen by the scripture, joined with Him in His heavenly position for that testimony not only to men, but to men by reason of having dealt with the spiritual powers and intelligences back of men.

Now then, we are able to speak a little more about the vessel of the testimony and we are looking at the matter of the vessel as mainly a corporate and collective thing, that is the Body of Christ; but specifically at present that company which is moving, and which the Lord is seeking to bring into that advanced position with Himself, in relation to the heavenlies. Not all the members of the Church which is His Body are there, or are going on there, but the Lord will from His people obtain a company which will be the vanguard of the whole, and which will go on with Him and take the heavenly place and be His instrument for the breaking through and leading a way for the others. That is the peculiar vessel upon which the heart of the Lord is set, and we believe that we are here in relation to, not God's second or third thing, but God's first thing. It would be very good if one could take that for granted, that everyone here is here because their hearts are wholly bent upon God's first thing, and they will never be content with anything less than that. Well, God's first thing is taking the heavens with Him against those forces which now are opposed to Him in the heavens.

The Universal Range of the Eternal Purpose

I think just one word here extra of a very general character might put us into line with the whole purpose of God. That is, that we should remind ourselves of the cosmic nature of everything in the purpose of God and in the Person of Christ, and in the work of Christ. That word cosmic may not convey to all of you what it is intended as used, but the intention in using it is to indicate the range of God's purpose, and the range of everything relative to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. The range is not just the limited compass of a few saved people. It is not just the salvation of so many individuals, and it is not just the salvation of a company out from the nations. All these may be stages, steps toward the ultimate; but God has swept the ultimate from the beginning and it is cosmic in its range; that is, it embraces the whole world with all the nations, every inch of territory and all the realm surrounding and encompassing the world; how far beyond that we do not know, only by fragmentary suggestions; but we do know that the whole world and the whole encompassing realm of the lower heavenlies, and super-heavenlies are involved in this purpose of God in the Person of the Lord Jesus and His work. The fall was not just the fall of man; it was the fall of creation. It was not two people who fell and involved their progeny; it was the fall of a whole creation, and every part of that creation was involved in that fall, touched by that fall. Sin and death, which are the two issues of the fall, were shot through the whole creation, and everything is touched by sin and death; and the very atmosphere, air, heavenly realms around the creation is saturated with this spiritual defilement and occupied by sinful elements and death elements, fallen intelligences, "the prince of the power of the air". That was the range of the fall. Redemption is cosmic. It is not just the redemption of man, let alone a few men, it is the redemption of the whole cosmos. While we do not believe in Universalism, so called, that even the devil himself is going to be redeemed and saved and put back in a place of honor. We do NOT believe anything like that!

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 15)