The Heavenly Calling - Part 2 — T. Austin-Sparks

Now I turn you again to those portions of God's Word which are the basis of our consideration in this conference. I would like to turn your attention again to those portions of God's Word which are the basis of our consideration in this conference.

Companions of the Heavenly Calling

Therefore, holy brothers, comrades of the heavenly call, for we have become comrades of Christ if we hold fast the beginning until the end. We are dealing with one word. It is that word which is here translated partakers.

It is a word which is translated into a number of words in our languages. Here and in some other places in this letter it is partakers. In another place in the New Testament it is partners. In another place it is fellows.

But we spent our time in showing that the best translation of the word is companions. So we translate, therefore, holy brethren, companions of a heavenly calling. We are become companions of Christ. And we said that the New Testament gathers itself around that word.

And that word can really be taken as the key to the whole of this letter to the Hebrews. Companions of Christ and of a heavenly calling. Now we are going on from where we left off this morning. Very sorry for all those friends who were not with us.

Because we cannot tell you all that we said in more than an hour this morning. We are coming to this letter to the Hebrews. And that is its true title. Das ist ein wahrer Name. In den ältesten Manuskripten trägt dieser Brief einfach die Überschrift an die Hebräer.

Aber natürlich richtete er sich an hebräische Christen. Before we can understand its message. You probably know that in New Testament times there was a great conflict between the Jews and the Christians.

Ihr wisst wohl, dass zur Zeit des Neuen Testaments ein großer Konflikt herrschte zwischen den Juden und den Christen. Es herrschte ein bitterer Kampf zwischen diesen beiden Gruppen. Der Apostel Paul, der selber ein großer Hebräer war, hatte ein weit offenes Herz für seine eigenen Landleute.

Erinnert ihr euch an seine Worte? Im Römerbrief. Kapitel 9. Vers 3. Take my kinsmen according to the flesh. He was prepared to let everything go if only his people Israel would accept the Lord Jesus. Er war bereit, alles hinzugeben, wenn nur seine Landleute, die Kinder Israels, Christus annehmen würden.

So groß war sein Wunsch und seine Hoffnung für ihn. Aber er verforscht seinen aufsichtslosen Kampf für die Kinder Israel. In the chapter of the book of Acts, you will see Paul's surrender of that book.

Acts chapter 28. Verse 28. Be it known therefore unto you that this salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, they So he said, seeing that Israel will not hear, we get them up. I give up my great hope for them.

And I turn to those who will hear. Lo, we turn to the Gentiles. And then you come to this letter to the Hebrews. And then we come to this Hebrew letter. And at the end of this letter we see the result of the rejection of Israel.

Hebrews chapter 12. Verse 25. The writer makes this appeal to these Hebrew Christians. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth, how much more shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from heaven?

And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. Whose voice at that time shook the earth, now he has spoken and said, once more I will not move the earth alone, but also the heavens.

For which we shall be kept a kingdom that shall not be shaken. That shaking referred to the destruction which was coming upon Israel in the year 70 A .D. When that happened, Israel would be left without their country, without a city, without a temple, without a government.

Everything was shaken until it completely fell. The result of refusing to hear him that speaketh from heaven. It is in that setting that we have this letter to the Hebrews. On the one side it is an appeal, a final appeal to the Hebrew Christians.

An appeal not to go back from Jesus Christ. On the other side the letter is a great warning as to what will happen if they do. So you have to put this letter right into that setting. It is a letter set in a great crisis of spiritual life.

Jesus Christ as the Test of Everything

And of course it contains an abiding message for all time. Let us look for a minute at the three features which made up that great conflict. And which led to that final division. The first feature was Christ himself.

Christ as the Messiah. Jesus as the Christ. Of course the Jews believed in a Christ. For Christ is only the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah. And the Hebrews believed in a Messiah. But the trouble was they would not have Jesus as the Messiah.

And so as was prophesied, Jesus became the stone upon which they fell and were broken to pieces. It was a matter of the place that they gave to Jesus. Now you could see how this letter puts Jesus in such a high place.

We are going to see that again presently. But Jesus as God's anointed son was the rock upon which they were broken. That was the first great factor in the conflict and in the ultimate division. And we must always remember, dear friends, that the test of everyone and everything is the place which it gives to Jesus.

And we must never forget, dear friends, that the test of everything is the place which it gives to Jesus. If someone comes to you and wants you to accept some system of teaching, they will have wonderful arguments.

They will use a lot of the Bible. What are you going to do about it? You may not be able to meet their arguments. You may not even be able to answer scripture for scripture. But there is one thing that will always go to the heart of the matter.

What place do you give to the Lord Jesus? Do you give him the place of God's eternal son? Do you give him the place of God's eternal son? And everything stands or falls on that. You can try that. And you will find that most of the false teachers will begin to wriggle on that.

Oh, we believe in Jesus as a great man. Yes, we believe in Jesus as a great man. As the greatest teacher that ever lived. And so on. But if you want us to believe that Jesus is God, we just cannot go that far.

So we cannot go that far. Yes, it is the place that we give to Lord Jesus, who approves and greets everything. That is the first factor in this great conflict that we find in the Hebrew letter. It uses the whole of the first part to magnify the Lord Jesus.

The Heavenly Calling Versus an Earthly Christianity

The second feature is what the writer here calls the heavenly calling. And you have got to put all the emphasis upon that word heavenly. You see, the Hebrews wanted an earthly calling. And all who are like them, even if they are called Christians, just want an earthly calling.

And all who are like them, even if they are called Christians, just want an earthly calling. A Christianity that belongs to this earth and this world. Something down here. Well, we are going to enlarge upon that later on.

But there is a tremendous significance in this little phrase, the heavenly calling. Oh, that is something very much more difficult. That is far away. That is up in the clouds. That is not down to earth.

That is not practical. The heavenly thing. But everything was in that. And we shall see that as we go on. And then there was this third feature. These Hebrews were prepared to be Christians. But it must be a Christianity after their own mind.

It must be a Christianity that allows all the Old Testament system to continue. It must allow Moses to continue. It must allow all the law of Moses to continue. It must allow the temple to continue. It must allow all the Old Testament priests to continue.

It must allow all the sacrifices to continue. We are prepared to be Christians if you will let us bring over our Old Testament into Christianity. But if you say all that is finished, and a heavenly system has taken its place, then we cannot have that.

A Jewish system brought into Christianity. That is a Christianity of ritual and form. Now do you see the force of this word companions of a heavenly calling? Companions of Christ? These companions of Christ are those who are constituted anew on a heavenly and spiritual basis.

They are the ones responding to a heavenly calling. Now we have come to the point of the transition from the natural and earthly Israel to the new spiritual heavenly Israel. Wir sind nun zum Übergang gekommen vom natürlichen, irdischen Israel zum geistlichen, himmlischen Israel.

Dieser Übergang hätte sich in einer göttlichen Folge abspielen sollen. The one ought to have quietly given way to the other. The old ought to have made full place for the new. The old Israel ought to have died, been buried and raised again in Christ.

Das alte Israel hätte sterben und begraben werden sollen und neu auferstehen in Christus. And become the heavenly Israel. The companions of Jesus Christ. But they refused to have it like that. And because they refused to have it like that, they were set aside.

God is just moving on with his purpose concerning his son. And although many were called, few were chosen. There were a few of Israel who were chosen as the companions. Es waren nur wenige aus Israel, die als Gefährten erwähnt waren.

Während die vielen, die berufen waren, es ablehnten. Und so wurden sie beiseite gestellt. Und Gott fuhr weiter in seinen Zwerg des Übergangs zu einem neuen himmlischen, geistlichen Israel. And they positively refused to move on to a heavenly ground.

They refused to move on to the ground of the heavenly man. Hence, as a result, they went the way of Adam. Now, here is a very interesting and instructive thing. Adam was made by God. Adam was chosen by God.

Adam was called by God into relation to his purpose concerning his son. But when Adam was made, he was not perfect. He was innocent. But he was not perfect. You know the difference between being innocent and being perfect?

Well, a little baby child is innocent. Will you say it's perfect? No, it is not perfect. It has got to grow up. And it will only grow up and become perfect as it goes through all sorts of difficulties and troubles.

We call them growing pains. But that is the way of becoming perfect from an innocent child to a full-grown man. Adam was innocent like a little child. Very beautiful. No sin in him. But he was not perfect.

He had got to come to spiritual perfection. And he had still got to be made like God's son. That is what he was created for. Now, God put him on test. Allowed him to be tested. Oh, what a wonderful thing would have happened if Adam had gone through his testing triumphantly.

From the innocence of a little child, he would have become a spiritually full-grown man like the Lord Jesus. And we, the children of Adam, would have been very different people. But he failed in his test.

He did not go the way that God had called him to go. What did God do? Put him aside. And put a curse upon him. And said, that kind of being can never satisfy me. He has refused to go the way of my son.

That is exactly what happened to Israel after the flesh. God made Israel. God chose Israel. God called Israel. And all with his son in view. And Israel refused. Refused to go God's way. Israel was tested as to Jesus Christ.

The four gospels are just full of Israel being tested concerning Jesus Christ. And they all close with Israel saying no to God's way. So God did with Israel what he did with Adam. He put Israel aside.

And put a curse upon Israel. And for these many centuries that curse has rested upon Israel. We will not dwell upon that longer. It comes out again and again in our meditation. Now in this letter you see you have that possibility presented.

To the Hebrew Christians God is saying by this letter do not refuse him that speaketh from heaven. But here is the other side to the story. Israel positively refused God's heavenly calling. Just at that point God's eternal plan is revealed.

God's Eternal Purpose and the Heavenly People

That is a heavenly people with a spiritual nature occupying the heavenly kingdom. A place in God's creation. That is what God eternally intended. He intended that before he called Israel. And he called Israel to be a people like that.

And he called Israel to be a heavenly people with a spiritual nature. I don't know how much breaks upon you as I say that. For me I see so much that I despair of ever being able to tell you about it. I do not know what to say and what not to say.

Because I've only got ten days in which to say it. But the point is that just here when Israel refuses God presents his eternal plan. But the point is that just here when Israel refuses God presents his eternal plan.

Namely a heavenly people of a spiritual nature. Now the whole of the New Testament is the body of truth which relates to this eternal will of God. Let's just look at that very hurriedly. We will take the four Gospels.

No we are not going to study the four Gospels. We are just going to look at them. If you take up these four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You get some general idea of what they contain. And then you stand back from them.

You are able to see two lines of movement right through the four Gospels. Two movements running alongside of each other. On the one side there is the Jewish idea of the Messiah. Auf der einen Seite die jüdische Auffassung des Messias.

The Jewish Messiah. Der jüdische Messias. The Jewish idea of the Kingdom of God. Die jüdische Auffassung des Königtums Gottes. And the whole Jewish system. Und das ganze jüdische System. Is there running along here.

Da finden wir es in Bewegung. Alongside of it and over against it. There is something that is different. Alongside of it and over against it. There is something that is different. There is God's idea and Heaven's idea of the Messiah.

Nämlich Gottes und des Himmels Auffassung über den Messias. That is very different from the Jewish. And it is always in conflict with the Jewish idea. There is God's idea and Heaven's idea of the Kingdom of God.

Es gibt eine himmlische und göttliche Auffassung über das Königtum Gottes. And it is very different from the Jewish idea. Und diese Auffassung ist sehr verschieden von der jüdischen. There is the Jewish idea of the King.

Wir haben die jüdische Auffassung über den König. What kind of a king they want and what kind of a king they are going to have. Welche Art König sie wollen und haben möchten. That is running along one side through the four Gospels.

Das läuft auf der einen Seite durch alle vier Evangelien durch. Alongside of it and over against it is God's idea and Heaven's idea of a king. Aber auf der anderen Seite und im Gegensatz dazu haben wir des Himmels und Gottes Auffassung über den König.

The Two Lines Running Through the Four Gospels

Behold thy king cometh unto thee meek and riding upon an ass. Hier, dein König kommt zu dir, demütig und auf einem Esel sitzen. That is not the Jewish idea of a king. Das entspricht nicht der jüdischen Auffassung eines Königs.

How can a meek man riding on an ass overthrow the mighty Roman Empire. Wie kann ein ganz mütiger Mensch auf einem Esel reiten das römische Reich überwinden. That is not our idea of a king. Das ist nicht unsere Auffassung eines Königs.

And we will not have this man to reign over us. Und wir wollen nicht, dass dieser Mensch über uns herrscht. You see the two lines running through the four Gospels. Seht ihr, diese zwei Linien laufen durch die Evangelien.

The Hebrew idea. Die hebräische Auffassung And the heavenly idea. Und die himmlische Auffassung. And that is the very meaning of the four Gospels. Und das ist die eigentliche Bedeutung der vier Evangelien.

When you get to the end of the four Gospels. Wenn wir ans Ende der vier Evangelien kommen You have the Jewish idea rejected fully and finally by God. Sehen wir, wie Gott die jüdische Auffassung vollkommen und rechtlos ablehnt.

And on the other side, God's idea introduced and established forever. Und auf der anderen Seite, dass Gottes Auffassung für immer gegründet und eingesetzt wird. Two thousand years have proved that. Zwei tausend Jahre haben darunter beweist gestellt That one idea of an earthly system is gone.

Dass die eine Idee eines irdischen Systems zusammengebrochen ist. There has been nothing of it for two thousand years. Es ist nichts davon übrig geblieben in zwei tausend Jahren. On the other side there is God's idea of his kingdom.

Auf der anderen Seite aber haben wir Gottes Auffassung eines Königs. That was introduced when Israel was rejected. Und diese Idee wurde eingeführt, als Israel verwachsen wurde. And God has been going on with that for two thousand years.

Und Gott hat damit weitergewirkt während zwei tausend Jahren. And we are here tonight because that is true. Und wir heute Abend sind hier, weil es so ist. We have God's king. Wir haben Gottes König. We are in God's kingdom.

Wir befinden uns in Gottes König. We are under God's government. Wir stehen unter Gottes Herrschaft. Well, that is what the Gospels, the four Gospels say to us. Nun, das sagen uns die vier Evangelien.

Of course that is not all. Natürlich ist das nicht alles darin. But that is the general conclusion of the four Gospels. Aber das ist die allgemeine Zusammenfassung der Evangelien. Later on again we are going to see the details in the Gospels, or at least one of the Gospels, which shows how true that was.

Und später werden wir noch Einzelheiten sehen in den Evangelien, oder wenigstens in einem Evangelium, das wir betrachten werden. That the four Gospels show the rejection by God of those who rejected His Son.

Aber die vier Evangelien auf ganzes zeigen uns die Verwerfung Israels oder die Verwerfung jener Menschen durch Gott, die Jesus verworfen haben. And on the other side, God bringing in that which was according to His Son and establishing it forever.

Und auf der anderen Seite, wie Gott stark eingeführt hat, was seinem Sohne entsprach und das Bett gegründet hat. So that the very gates of hell have not been able to prevail against it. So dass die Pforten der Hölle nicht dagegen aufgekommen sind.

From the Gospels to Acts: The Transition from Old to New

You move from the Gospels to the book of the Acts. Und wenn wir weiter gehen von den Evangelien zur Apostelgeschichte. And in this book you have two features. So finden wir darin zwei Merkmale. First of all, you have the feature of transition from the old to the new.

Zuerst einmal das Merkmal des Übergangs vom alten zum neuen. With God, the transition is complete. Bei Gott ist dieser Übergang vollkommen. But with His people, it is made slow because they are not ready to accept it.

Aber bei seinen Kindern geht es langsam, weil sie nicht bereit sind es anzunehmen. The transition was slower than it ought to have been. Der Übergang ging langsamer von starten als es hätte sein müssen.

Because James, the head of the church in Jerusalem, still wanted to have something of old Israel. And even Peter was very, very reluctant to abandon Israel and go right out for the Gentiles. Und sogar Petrus hatte sehr Mühe, Israel ganz auszugeben und sich zu den Nationen zu wenden.

Und sogar der liebe Barnabas wurde in dieser Schlinge gefangen. Und Paul sagt mit Trauer in seiner Stimme, sogar Barnabas. The people of Israel were very slow to give up their tradition. But you see that God is going on.

James, Peter, whoever it may be, if you are not coming on, I am going on. If you are not going on, I shall leave you behind and find others. And because they were so slow, he brought in Paul. And Paul got things going.

The transition was complete with Paul. And he was God's instrument of completing the transition. Er war Gottes Werkzeug, um diesen Übergang fertig zu machen. Der Galaterbrief ist das Werkzeug, womit dieser Übergang vollendet wurde.

Durch diesen Brief erhielt der Judaismus einen endgültigen Schlag. That is Judaism in the Christian Church. You pass from the book of the Acts and you come into the letters, what are called the Epistles.

The Epistles and the Heavenly Nature of God's People

And what have you here? Just the full body of teaching concerning the heavenly and spiritual nature of the people of God. It is applied to a whole variety of connections. There is one state of things in Corinth.

There is another state of things in Galatia. Another state of things in Ephesus. And so on. But applied to all these different conditions is this one thing. It is God's intention to have a heavenly and spiritual people.

And all the letters, every letter in the New Testament has something to say about this heavenly nature of the people of God. Now as I must close and apply that letter to the Hebrews. And this letter, the whole meaning into this letter there flow many tributaries.

And so we close where we began. And so we close where we began. There I am the heavenly revelation. A man who was wholly on the ground of Jesus Christ and wholly on the ground of God. Now later we shall go further with this and deal with many of the details which we have only mentioned in general.

Encouragement to Young Christians

But I feel I must say this as I close this evening. But I feel I must say this as I close this evening. There are many young Christians here. And perhaps you don't know your Bible as well as some older Christians do.

And you do not know all the Bible background of what I have been saying. And you do not know all the Bible background of what I have been saying. I hope this will make you want to know your Bible better.

But perhaps there is quite a lot that I have said that you don't understand. Now this is the one thing that I do want you to understand. You will come to understand all the other as you go on. If you hold fast your beginning firm unto the end.

If you really do commit yourself to the Lord Jesus you will come to understand. But that is not what I was going to say. But that is not what I was going to say. What I was going to say is this. What I want you to realize is that you have a very much greater Christ than ever you have imagined.

The Christ to whom you have given yourselves is a very great Christ. The call of the Lord which you have answered in accepting the Lord Jesus is a much bigger calling than you have any knowledge of. I just want you to go away with the impression my eye has come into something.

And this is big enough to fill my whole life. So don't worry about what you don't understand. But do realize how great a Lord is your Lord. And what a great thing is the heavenly calling. We pray.