The Heavenly Calling - Part 5 — T. Austin-Sparks

We are continuing in the way of this great matter which the Lord has sought to bring before us for these days. This evening we are going to lift out of the whole of this matter one section. But let me remind you of the all-governing truth which we are considering.

God's Purpose in the Heavenly Israel

It is what God is doing in this dispensation in which we live. We must be perfectly clear as to what it is that God is particularly doing at this time in the world's history. Therefore what it is that we who are the Lord's are called into.

The thing that God is doing in this dispensation is the formation of a spiritual and heavenly Israel. And in doing that he is repeating the laws of the old Israel in a spiritual way. He is following along the lines of his ways with the old Israel but now on a heavenly basis and not an earthly.

He has left the earthly basis of the old testament and has moved on to a heavenly basis in the new. He has moved from the temporal to the spiritual. And the spiritual is far greater than the temporal.

Now we are going to see this tonight in the gospel by John. This gospel is all one with the letter to the Hebrews. Because it is just a part of the whole thing that the new testament represents. But John's gospel is the embodiment of this matter of the spiritual Israel in a very wonderful way.

There are two things so clear in this gospel. One is the Jewish background of the gospel. The other is the spiritual background behind the Jewish. And that spiritual background in this gospel is being brought to the front.

And it is being made the ground for the whole dispensation. Well let us look at this. I don't know how far we shall get in this hour. I have sixteen marks of the Jewish background of this gospel by John.

But I promise you that I will just keep to the time. And we will just take as many as is possible this evening. But we note in the first place that once again as in the letter to the Hebrews the introduction and presentation is of God's son.

The Son of God as the Foundation of the New Dispensation

In the new movement of God to the heavenly Israel his son stands right at the door. And we are all familiar with this wonderful presentation of God's son at the beginning of John's gospel. In the beginning was the word.

And the word was with God. And the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. And without him was not anything made that had been made. And there is more to it than that as you see.

The point is that God has funded the dispensation upon his son. God's son is the governing factor in this whole dispensation. God's son is the all-conquering factor in this new age. And now we go on to what I have called the Jewish background of Christ.

And now we go on to what I have called the Jewish background of Christ. And the first feature of these sixteen that I have before me is Jesus as the Lamb of God. On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Verse thirty-six. And he looked upon Jesus as he walked and saith, Behold the Lamb of God.

And he looked upon Jesus as he walked and saith, Behold the Lamb of God. We know that the whole Jewish system was built around the Passover Lamb. We know that the whole Jewish system was built around the Passover Lamb.

The Lamb was the foundation for everything in Israel. The Passover Lamb meant for them the origin of their people. And all their history. It would be impossible to count the lambs that were offered in Israel through those many centuries.

There would have been many millions of lambs slain. There would have been an ocean of blood from all those lambs. And now John beholdeth Jesus and says, The Lamb. This is God's Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God.

Distinguishing Jesus. Marking him out as the unique Lamb. The one Lamb toward which all the millions of lambs have ever pointed. And just as the Passover Lamb was the foundation of the old earthly Israelite.

So we know that this Lamb of God is the very foundation of our whole Christian life. That this Jesus as Lamb of God is the foundation of our Christian life. Yes, he is the foundation for this whole new age.

In that Passover night in Jerusalem. Jesus laid the foundation of the church for this dispensation in the Passover. And while there are other features of the church's life. The central feature is the table of the Lord.

Everything centers in that table. Everything gathers around that table. Everything issues from that table. If you had gone into any assembly of the Lord's people in any part of the world in New Testament times.

You might have found different things in different assemblies. But you would have found one thing that was the same in every assembly. And that was the Lord's table. The Lamb of God at the center of everything.

We only make the statement this evening. And note that right from the very beginning God takes up the principle of the old and makes it the spiritual reality of the new. That which was earthly and temporal in the old Israel is now heavenly and spiritual in the new Israel.

That is the first thing about the Jewish background leading to the heavenly foreground. That is the first thing about the Jewish background leading to the Christian foreground. Now look again at chapter 1 of John.

Moses, the Prophets, and the Open Heaven

In verse 43. Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, We have found him.

Now note. We have found him our own Moses in the law. And the prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph. We have found him our own Moses in the law. And the prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph.

That is the first part of the Jewish background. Moses and the prophets. But we go on. Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

Philip said unto him, Come and see. Philip said unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said unto him,. Nathanael said unto him,. Jesus answered and said unto him,. Nathanael said unto him,.

Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these.

He said unto him, I am ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Do you need to have it pointed out that there's quite a lot of Jewish Old Testament in that section? Do I need to point out that there's quite a lot of Jewish Old Testament in that section?

Jacob and his ladder. It's all there. But Jesus is saying,. But Jesus is saying, there's a transition from that Old to a New. And this transition takes place in me. The prophets and Moses spoke of me.

And the New Israel has a center in me. The Israel that is not Jacob, in which there is Gael. This deep thought and truth in this part concerns the closed and the open heaven. When Jesus said to Nathanael, Thou shalt see the heaven opened.

He was pointing to an entirely new dispensation. The one characteristic of the Old Testament Jewish system was a closed heaven. You know that it was on pain of death that any man came into the presence of God in the Old Dispensation?

What a terrible place that was, that mountain where God was. Thunders and lightnings and earthquakes. That even Moses said, I do exceedingly fear and quake. And so terrible was the sound that the people doth not draw near.

And so terrible was the sound that the people doth not draw near. That even if an animal touched the mountain, it must die. The whole system, every system was put together in this word, keep away. Come in here where God is and you will die.

Jacob said, I feel God, I must die. A closed heaven. No way for the people into the presence of God. No way for the people into the presence of God. Everything said, stay out. People knew that. It was a terrible thing to come into the presence of God.

It just meant death. The high priest had to have very special provision to go into the most holy place. And in making that provision, God said, lest he die. So the Jewish system was a system of judgment and death.

A system of the closed heaven. No way through for man. That said, Jesus, you shall see the heaven open. And the way between heaven and earth, between God and man, made clear. And I am that way. By my own blood I will open heaven.

Therefore we can come to him by the new and living way which he has made for us in his blood. Therefore we can come to him by the new and living way which he has made for us in his blood. Jesus said, I am the way.

No man comes to the Father but by me. The third Jewish feature is also the closed heaven. And the second feature of the new Israel is the open heaven. And we are to enjoy that tonight. We do not stand outside in fear and trembling wondering whether peradventure we dare draw nigh.

Oh, this new dispensation is a better one. This new Israel has privileges which the old never had. That is what God is doing in this dispensation. He has done it in his son. And many, many who have been shut out are now finding their way in.

God has provided for all an open way in his son Jesus Christ. God has provided for all an open way in his son Jesus Christ. We go on to the second chapter of the Gospel of John. And in the first eleven verses which we will not read we have the account of the marriage in Cana of Galilee.

Cana and the End of the Old Covenant Marriage

Know or should know the story. Know the marriage in Cana of Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was bidden and his disciples to the marriage. And then the wine failed. Mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine.

Jesus put her back. Said my hour has not yet come. Mother of Jesus said to the servants whatsoever he said unto you do it. Then when Jesus knew in his heart that the fathers time had come and that was a very important factor.

Remember that Jesus would never move on any ground whatsoever but the knowledge that his father wanted him to move and he waited for that. And remember that Jesus never did anything without having in him the knowledge that the father wanted him to act now.

When he knew in his heart that the father said yes go on. He said to the servants fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. He said draw out now and bare to the ruler of the feast.

And they drew out and bare unto the ruler of the feast. When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine. And knew not whence it was but the servants which had drawn the water knew the ruler of the feast call it the bridegroom.

When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine. And knew not whence it was but the servants which had drawn the water knew the ruler of the feast call it the bridegroom. He said unto him every man set it on first the good wine.

And when men have drunk freely then that which is worse thou hast kept the good wine until now. And he said unto him every man set it on first the good wine. And when men have drunk freely then that which is worse thou hast kept the good wine until now.

Now where is the Jewish background? He instituted his marriage with his people. In the old testament it was a marriage covenant that was made in the Passover. Jeremiah referred to that when in chapter 31 and verse 31 he spoke of the day when the Lord took them by the hand and became a husband unto them.

Jeremiah referred to that when in chapter 31 and verse 31 he spoke of the day when the Lord took them by the hand and became a husband unto them. And that was in the Passover night. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing at Cana.

He had a social disposition and therefore he of course was quite happy to attend marriages. That might be true. But that is not the meaning here. But that is not the meaning of this story here. Jesus always acted on the spiritual ground.

The marriage between God and Israel had broken down. The marriage between God and Israel had broken down. Israel had violated the terms of the covenant of marriage with Jehovah. Israel had, as the prophet said, become an adulterous nation.

They had gone unto other gods. And they had broken their covenant with the Lord. And the marriage broke down. Here you have it in Cana in figures. I don't know what was going on behind this. But we can judge from a lot of other things.

That God was behind this failure of the wine. Because of the spiritual significance the wine just had to fail. It represented the old marriage relationship which had broken down. It had come to an end.

There had got to be a new marriage. And there had got to be a new marriage supper of the Lamb. One had broken down. The salvation of the marriage relationship between God and His people is in Jesus only.

It was He who saved the situation here. And everybody knew that something very wonderful and supernatural had happened. This was not natural. This was not earthly. This was heavenly. This was spiritual.

This was supernatural. So is that marriage relationship between Christ and His church. Und desgleichen ist dieses Eheverhältnis zwischen Christus und seiner Gemeinde. Da ist eine Bewegung zwischen diesem alten Israel, das versagt hat, zu einem neuen Israel, das durch seinen Herrn lebt.

Christ as the True Temple

Wir gehen weiter zum nächsten. This is number four in the series. Verse thirteen of chapter two. Note again. And the Passover of the Jews was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Und Jesus ging hinaus nach Jerusalem.

Und er fand im Tempel die Ochsen und Schafe und Haugenverkäufer und die Wechsler da sitzen. Und er machte eine Geißel aus Stricken und rief sie alle zum Tempel hinaus, sowohl die Schafe als auch die Ochsen.

Und die Münze der Wechsler schüttete er aus und die Tische warf er um. And to them that sold the doves he said, take these things hence. Make not my father's house a house of merchandise. His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal of thine house shall eat me up.

Now note particularly. The Jews therefore answered and said unto him, what sign showest thou unto us, seeing thou doest these things? Die Juden nun antworteten und sprachen zu ihm, was für ein Zeichen zeigst du uns, dass du diese Dinge tust?

Jesus antwortete und sprach zu ihnen, breche diesen Tempel ab und in drei Tagen werde ich ihn ausrichten. As was this temple in building and wilt thou raise it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

Er aber sprach von dem Tempel seines Leibes. Als er nun aus den Toten auferweckt war, gedachten seine Jünger daran, dass er dies gesagt hatte. Es ist nicht nötig den jüdischen Hintergrund hier auszuzeigen.

Der jüdische Hintergrund ist dem Tempel enthalten. Dem Tempel in Jerusalem. Für sie bedeutete der Tempel alles. Und Jesus spricht zu ihnen von der Zerstörung dieses Tempels. An einer anderen Stelle sagt er, dass kein Stein über dem anderen gelassen werden soll.

Was soll denn am letzten Platz treten? Denn Gott muss einen Tempel haben. Und Jesus sagt, ich bin der Tempel des neuen Zeitalters. I am going to take the place of this old temple. And I am going to be all that that temple represented, but in a fuller and better way.

Was the temple the place where men thought that they would meet God? Men will meet God in me in a more real way than that. Was the temple the place to which people went to be taught about God? They will learn more about God in me than ever they learned in that temple.

Was the temple the place where men went to worship God? It will be in me that men will come into touch with God for worship. And that leads us to that wonderful revelation which we have in the New Testament.

The revelation of Christ and all his members being made one temple for God. Christ is our temple. In him we find all that ever a temple was intended to be. Oh how people have gone astray about this. I go to many places that are called churches.

And the word is applied to the building. And when you hear people praying in those places, they usually put it something like this. We have come into thy house today. We are glad to be in this place, the house of God.

And they are talking about the building. My dear friends, you don't need a special building to give God a temple. Where so ever two or three are gathered into my name, there I am. Where so ever two or three are gathered into my name, there I am in the middle.

People who are gathered into Christ, who are put into him, build the temple of God. It is not a special building, but it is people who are put into Christ Jesus. That is what God is doing in this dispensation.

And you know a lot of people have lost their special buildings. Quite a lot are not allowed to meet in special buildings. But they are gathering in two or three in some place hidden away. But they are gathering in two or three in some place hidden away.

And they rejoice in all the privileges of the house of God. Because the Lord is there in their midst. No, the temple now is Christ and those who are in union with him. So he said, in this way which they didn't understand, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

So he said, in this way which they didn't understand, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Christ in his resurrection is the temple of this dispensation. I wonder if inside of Christ he was smiling when he said that.

He knew that he was just tripping them up. He knew what they would say. Forty and six years was this temple building. It looked as though he had deliberately misled them. It looked as though he had deliberately misled them.

But he was leading on to the nature of this new dispensation. That's only number four out of sixteen. I have ten minutes left and I will just take another one. Chapter three. And everybody knows John chapter three.

Nicodemus and the Need for New Birth

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. But there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. And you know the rest of the story of Nicodemus. I will not read it all now.

But what have we got here in Nicodemus? But what have we got here in Nicodemus? Certainly we have a representative of the Old Israel before us. He is of the sect of the Pharisees. And they claim to be very representative of Israel.

And he is a ruler of the Jews. He is indeed Israel in representation. He is a son of Abraham after the flesh. He is the embodiment of the seed of Abraham after the flesh. He is the embodiment of the seed of Abraham after the flesh.

What does the Lord Jesus say to him? Actually he says the following to him. A son of Abraham. An inclusive representation of the children of Abraham after the flesh. You an embodiment of Israel. I look upon you Nicodemus as all the seed of Abraham after the flesh represented.

I look upon you Nicodemus as all Israel present here tonight in you. And Nicodemus in that representative capacity you must be born again. And you Nicodemus in that representative capacity you must be born again.

The seed of Abraham after the flesh cannot enter the kingdom of God. You know that is Paul's argument in his letters to the Romans and the Galatians. There is a natural seed and there is a spiritual seed.

And Jesus was saying to Nicodemus in his representative capacity the natural seed of Abraham doesn't stand. Israel after the flesh is no more. You must be born again. There must be a seed after the spirit.

In other words there must be a new spiritual heavenly Israel. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And there shall no flesh stand before God. That which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Therefore I said unto you you must be born again. The new Israel of this dispensation is the Israel of the born from above ones. These are not sons of Abraham but they are sons of God. We are back at chapter one.

But to them that believed he gave the right to become the sons of God. The great deal of difference between children of Abraham after the flesh and children of God after the spirit. And it is not only a great difference.

It is an improved species. Altogether a higher race. A heavenly people. Well with number five we must close tonight and go on perhaps if the Lord wills tomorrow night and see if we can get nearer to six feet.