The Heavenly Calling - Part 6 — T. Austin-Sparks

The Heavenly Calling and the Heavenly Israel

We are occupied at this time with that great thing that God is doing in this dispensation. We are busy in these days with the great work that God is doing today. He is constituting a new heavenly Israel.

He is constituting a new heavenly Israel. And preparing it for the day when its king comes. And it will reign with him forever. The members of this spiritual Israel are called the companions of a heavenly calling.

The companions of Christ. The point at which we have arrived just now is that in the constituting of the spiritual Israel God is following the same line as he took with the earthly Israel. But with the one great difference that with the earthly he followed temporal lines with the heavenly he is following spiritual lines.

But they are both one in principle. We have seen something of this. But we are going to see a little more of it today. I think it must be perfectly true that this is what God is doing. The letter to the Hebrews is the great document of the transition from one Israel to another.

And there are many evidences in that letter of this truth. If anybody has any doubt at all there is one fragment which I think should settle all such questions. You look at chapter twelve of the letter to the Hebrews and read the section from verse eighteen.

For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched and that burned with fire and unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them.

For they could not endure that which was enjoined if even a beast touched the mountain it shall be stoned. For they could not endure that which was enjoined if even a beast touched the mountain it shall be stoned.

And so fearful was the appearance that Moses said, I am full of fear and fear. Well that is the old Israel being constituted at the mount. The word is, to us you are not come to that. That is not God's way of constituting his new Israel.

But ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable hosts of angels and to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made touched.

And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel. I think that settles the matter. I think that settles the matter. If we only had that paragraph in the New Testament then we already know what the difference is between the Old and the New Testament.

We know the difference between Judaism and Christianity. We know the difference from what they were in and what we are in. But that is not all. That is only a part of the whole argument. I will have you note some of the titles that are in this letter which are evidences of this truth.

God's Family and the Companionship of Believers

To begin with, we have God's family. We all know that Israel was looked upon by God as his family. To Pharaoh, God said, let my son go. To Pharaoh, God said, let my son go. And that is so clear that we do not have to pursue that any further.

Israel, the Old Israel, was in a certain sense looked upon by God as his family. And in a certain sense he spoke of himself as their father. Here in this letter of transition from the Old Israel to the New that idea is carried over into the spiritual realm.

Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10. For both he that sanctified and they that are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. For both he that sanctified and they that are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.

In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise. In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me.

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me. You see, that is a whole list of quotations from the Old Testament. They referred to the Old Israel.

Now that Israel has been set aside. But God is taking up in a new way this principle of family life in relation to himself. His son is the firstborn among many brethren. Sein Sohn ist der Erstgeborene unter vielen Brüdern.

Und wir sind Kinder Gottes durch den Glauben an Jesus Christus. Er hat wohl schon beachtet, dass eigentlich der erste Gedanke Gottes eine Familie war. Die Idee der Familie wurde im Herzen Gottes geboren.

Es geht hier nicht um irgendeine offizielle Gesellschaft. Es ist nicht irgendeine Institution. Der tiefste Gedanke im Herzen Gottes ist, dass er uns als seine Kinder haben möchte. And you who know the Bible will be able to quote to yourself many passages.

Such as, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Wie zum Beispiel, so wie ein Vater sich über seine Kinder erwarnt, so erwarnt sich Gott über uns. Wir könnten eine große Zahl von Versen aufführen, die Gott als Vater darstellen und uns als seine Kinder.

God could have made an organization of people into a kind of society. He could have told some from this place and some from there. And then he could have given them the title of some denomination. Und dann hätte er ihnen den Namen irgendeiner Denomination geben können.

Und hätte zu ihnen sagen können, so jetzt seid ihr Glieder dieser Denomination. Ihr bildet jetzt jene Organisation. Aber Gott hatte niemals solch einen Gedanken. Seine Idee ist eine Familie. And Jesus said that he came into this world especially to reveal God as Father.

I have made known unto them thy name. I have given them thy name. Ich habe ihnen deinen Namen gegeben. Und der Name Gottes, der am meisten von Jesus gebraucht wurde, war der Name Vater. Und Gott hat den Geist seines Sohnes in unsere Herzen gesandt.

Whereby we say the same thing as the Lord Jesus said. By the same spirit that was in him. Whereby we say Abba, Father. Now that is of course very elementary. But there is a very great battle for this family conception.

If some organisation gets broken up, we don't worry very much about that. Not even if the United Nations breaks up, we don't worry very much about that. But we are always filled with grief and shame when a family breaks up.

We feel that there is something about a family which carries a very sacred idea. What a bad thing it is when a family becomes divided. When children are against one another or children are against parents.

When the husband is against the wife and the wife against the husband. And so on. And that is a mark of the devil's work at the end of the dispensation. There is nothing more terrible in our time than the break up of family life.

That is true, isn't it? You may not know very much about that in Switzerland. But you go to the United Kingdom. You go to America and to other countries. And you will see that there is a perfect landslide in this matter.

The lists of divorces are terrible. The poor children who are left without father or mother because of the break up of that relationship. This is a blow at the deepest thing in the heart of God. But it does not stay there.

The most distressing aspect of this whole thing is in the family of God. There is nothing more terrible in this universe than the break up of God's family. The devil does not so much mind our denominations and our organizations.

But he does object to this family business. It is God's most cherished idea. I think it is one of the most precious things of times together like these. Here we are representing quite a number of different nationalities.

Many of us have never met before on this earth. We have not shaken hands with one another yet. But we are all rejoicing here together as a family. The family spirit is the most precious thing. And it is the very hallmark of the heavenly Israel.

And it is the very hallmark of the heavenly Israel. I have often said when speaking about the heavenly Jerusalem as it is presented symbolically at the end of the bible that it only has one street. The same writers have led us astray on this.

They talk about the streets of gold. The bible says there is only one street of gold. Dear friends, we have got to live on one street for all eternity. What do you say about that? How are you going to get on with your neighbors?

Don't worry, it will be a very happy thing to live on one street. You see, it will just be a family. And when the whole family is just one it is not a bad thing to live next door to each other. Well, that's just a way of speaking of this.

You know what I mean. This is a spiritual relationship. Father, big elder brother, an all uniting holy spirit, holy brethren, companions in a heavenly call. It is a glorious thing to have companionship.

The House of God and Its Spiritual Order

Well, I leave that there. This very first idea of God in the old Israel is carried over spiritually to the new Israel. The second thing, as you will see, is the house of God. Chapter 3 of Hebrews, and verse 5.

Moses indeed was faithful in all God's house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken of. But Christ as a son over God's house, whose house are we if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end?

You notice what that said? Moses was faithful in all God's house for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken. Moses was faithful in all God's house for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken.

When is the afterward? It is now. Whose house are we? The house of God is something carried over in principle by God from the old to the new. Peter says that we are a spiritual house. But there is one thing that needs to be made quite clear here.

When we use this word house, we usually think of a place in which people live. And that is not the meaning of the word here. I don't know whether you can understand the change that I'm going to make. Do you know the difference between a house and a household?

A household is quite a different thing from a house. The household is two things. One is the people who dwell there. And the other is the order that exists there. It is a house with a certain kind of order.

This is God's house composed of his people who are under his order. You know God is a God of order. He is not only concerned to have things done. He is concerned to have them done in his way. It matters just as much to God how things are done as whether they are done at all.

God's house is a house which is ordered by God. Everyone in this household has to be in subjection to the spirit of God. Everyone in this household has to come under the headship of Jesus Christ. Now of course I could take the whole conference on the house of God.

But if you look into God's ordering of the life of Israel in the old dispensation you will see how particular God was as to what was done and how it was done. On the day of Pentecost God's spiritual and heavenly house was brought in.

And God had his own order. And you will see how in those first days of the life of the church two things were happening. God was demanding that his order should be observed. Even the apostles had not come to fully recognize God's order.

They were holding on to something of the old order. And when the Lord told Peter to go to the house of Cornelius the Gentile Peter said, not so Lord. This is not according to the old order. I was not brought up.

The old system says I mustn't do that. No Lord. But the Lord is Lord of his own house. And he made it perfectly clear to Peter that he had brought in a new order. And he made it perfectly clear to Peter that he had brought in a new order.

That was a new Israel. Things have changed. The cross has made the great change. Call not that which God has cleansed unclean. We are moving on a new basis. Well, Peter came to see it. Of course that was not the end of the difficulty even for Peter.

But I think when we get to Peter's letters We get to a Peter who has fully accepted the new order. A spiritual house, says he. Offering spiritual sacrifices. And so on. But I was saying that in the end you have two things.

There is the movement of the spirit of God concerning the new order. But there is the movement of the evil spirit against that new order. You have that terrible episode of Ananias and Sapphira. We have that terrible episode of Ananias and Sapphira.

They violated the new order of God's house. They brought in their own personal interests. And Peter summed it up in this way. Warum hat Satan dein Herz erfüllt, dass du dem heiligen Geist gelogen hast?

Denn an jenem schrecklichen Tag wurde die neue Ordnung auf den Kopf gestellt. Satan übte einen Schlag aus, auf dieses neue Israel. Und um zu sehen, wie eifersüchtig Gott über seiner himmlischen Ordnung wacht, achtet darauf, was mit ihnen beiden geschah.

Gott hat deshalb das Prinzip sehr klar niedergelegt. Und er wacht eifersüchtig über seiner himmlischen Ordnung. And that nothing but trouble can follow if we get out of God's order. While God's order is suspended, everything is in confusion.

Heirs of God and the Promise of Inheritance

Well, that's enough about the house of God for the time being. Whose house are we? Then another conception. That is the heirs of God. That is introduced with the Lord Jesus himself. In verse 2 of chapter 1.

Whom he appointed heir of all things. In verse 14 we are spoken of as heirs of salvation. In chapter 6 verse 17 we are spoken of as heirs of the promise. In Romans 8 verse 17 Paul says that we are heirs of God and joint heirs of the promise.

In Romans 8 verse 17 God calls us heirs of God and joint heirs of the promise. In the heathen area Israel was to be the heirs of God. The promise was made to Abraham. And his seed should inherit the earth.

Abraham. And his seed should be the possessor. Israel was to be God's heir. They ought to have become joint heirs with Jesus Christ. But they killed God's heir. They said as in the parable of the Lord Jesus, this is the heir, come let us kill him.

They killed him who was appointed heir of all things. And in so doing they robbed themselves of the inheritance. Now comes in the church. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. The church is the heirs of the promise made to Abraham now.

And his whole letter to the Hebrews has to do with the inheritance. The great inheritance to which we are called. As the companions of the heavenly calling. And the appeal of this whole letter to us is, see that you don't miss the inheritance.

They lost it through unbelief. You can lose the inheritance. So the letter uses Israel by way of illustration. The terrible possibility of Christians losing the inheritance. You notice this little word, if, that occurs so often?

We are made companions of Christ if we hold fast the beginning from end to the end? Whose house are we if we hold fast? That's a very big word, that little word. A lot hangs on that word. We are not talking about the loss of eternal life.

We are talking about the purpose of salvation. The purpose of salvation is a very much more important thing even than being saved. Paul says that there will be a lot of people who get into heaven having lost everything.

All their life work will go up in smoke. They themselves will be saved, yet so as by fire. Everything but their salvation lost. You want to just get into heaven, yet so as by fire? No, this letter says there is something more than being saved.

There is the great inheritance. We can miss that. Read the letter again in the light of that. But our point is that this principle of being heirs of God is carried over into the heavenly Israel. I will just mention one or two other things without very much comment.

The Heavenly Jerusalem and the Unity of God's People

The next thing that is carried over from the old to the new is the city of God. You look into this letter, you will find that on several occasions the city is referred to. And in that passage which we read, we are come to the heavenly Jerusalem, the holy city.

Now Israel of course had their life centered in the old earthly Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the center of their unity. They were all united because of that city. That is why their males had to go up to Jerusalem so many times every year.

We have those wonderful psalms of ascent. They came from the north and the south and the east and the west. Wonderful caravan to Jerusalem. They were singing the songs of Zion. Those psalms about Zion are wonderful psalms.

Glorying in their city. And finding the expression of their national unity in Jerusalem. It was the center of their government. Their whole national life came out from Jerusalem in government. But Jerusalem was everything to them.

The writer to this letter to the Hebrews is speaking about the approaching day when that will have gone forever. Or to satisfy the people who believe that the Jews are yet to occupy Palestine and have another Jerusalem.

It was gone for a whole dispensation. Or to satisfy the people who believe that Israel will again remain in its land and have its city. Jerusalem was put aside for a time. Jerusalem today is the actual symbol of division.

The Jews have one part and the Arabs have another. And they cannot live in peace together. It's the symbol of disunion. With God it does not stand. It has been given over. That he has brought in his heavenly Jerusalem.

You have come to the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem. We have been made to sit with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. All our unity as the new Israel is centered in him above. There will never be true expression of unity amongst the Lord's people only when they have a heavenly uniting Lord.

Our unity is in heaven, not on earth. Our unity is in heaven, not on earth. And our government comes from heaven, not from the earth. As Paul says, we are fellow citizens with the saints. Our life is hid with Christ in God.

God's thought concerning the city has been carried over to the spiritual Israel. Then the next thing, the flock of God. These are all wonderful conceptions of the old Israel. If that Israel was God's family, the house of God, the heir of God, the city of God, so Israel was thought of as God's flock.

Christ as the Shepherd of God's Flock

God's sheep. He led them like a shepherd, it says. That idea of course lies behind the cry of the prophet Isaiah. All we like sheep have gone astray. Israel was God's flock. He was Israel's shepherd. We shall dwell more fully upon that later.

Indeed it's a very large matter in this new relationship to the Lord. One of our sixteen things in John's Gospel. But God has carried this over. It's a very precious thought of God concerning the heavenly Israel.

We are the sheep of his pasture. So when we come to the end of this letter to the Hebrews, we have this beautiful word. Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep.

Our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. There's a sense in which that spreads itself back over the whole letter. The companions of Christ are his sheep. My sheep know me and I know them. My sheep hear my voice.

The Kingdom of God and the Fulfillment of Israel's Foreshadowing

And they follow me. I give unto them eternal life. That's a grand idea for sheep, isn't it? We'll just leave it there for the time being. I remind you of the last thing and close for this morning. It is the kingdom of God.

We all know that Israel of old was God's kingdom. King, the kingdom over which God was king. Do you remember that when they chose Saul to be king? Do you remember that when they chose Saul to be king?

This brought great sorrow to Samuel. And he turned to the Lord and spoke to him about it. And the Lord said to him, Sie haben nicht dich verworfen, sondern sie haben mich auf ihren König verworfen. Israel war Gottes Königreich.

Und das ganze alte Testament hat sehr viel darüber zu sagen. Aber wenn wir zu diesem neuen Israel kommen, was a lot there is in this letter to the Hebrews about the kingdom. I will not ask you for the moment to look at all the references.

But the last of them is this. Wherefore receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Weshalb er nun ein Reich empfangen, das unerschütterlich ist. Und die griechische Zeitbestimmung sagt, indem wir daran sind, ein Reich zu empfangen, das unerschütterlich ist.

Wir sind sein Königreich. Menschen, die unter seiner Herrschaft stehen. I have a lot to say about that later. But I think we have said enough this morning. To show that this is a very real thing. In a spiritual way we have come into all that which was foreshadowed in Israel of old.

Dem alten Israel zu sehen ist. Zu jenem Israel sagte der Herr Jesus. Das Königreich der Himmel wird euch genommen werden und denen gegeben, die die Frucht davon bringen. And Peter said, we are a holy nation.

The inheritors of all that God ever meant for his people. In us, that is in his true church of this dispensation. God is in process of realizing all that which he had foreshadowed through many, many centuries.

Knowing God's Eternal Purpose in the Church

Well, these are many words. They are wonderful ideas. But I hope they go further than our heads. I hope they go to our hearts. We are a very privileged people. The great need of our time is for Christians to know what God has called them unto.

They do not know, dear friends. You can go over this world and find Christians in the majority who have no idea of these things. They know that Jesus came into the world as the Son of God. He lived his wonderful life.

Did his work. Gave his teaching. Died in a tolling death. And rose again. And is coming again. But they don't know one bit of what it all means. That is what it is all unto. The great eternal purpose of God in it all.

They are mostly quite ignorant of the things about which we have been speaking today. And that is why Christianity is in such a deplorable state today. They have not been given true instruction. Sie sind nicht richtig gelehrt worden.

They have not a true understanding of God's great purpose in his church through Christ Jesus. It is a very wonderful thing that we have come into in this dispensation. Es ist etwas wunderbares, in das wir im jetzigen Zeitalter hineingekommen sind.

And I say again, I hope it goes to your heart and deeper than your heads. And when I have said all this, your heads may be tired. And you may be feeling that just now you can't take much more. Sorry to tell you, I have only just at the beginning.

There is much more of this very thing that God has to reveal yet. And a little more perhaps he will show us this week.