The Horizon of Divine Purpose - Part 6 — T. Austin-Sparks

The Purpose of the Ages in Ephesians

Instead of reading the number of portions of the Word of God, which have to do with our present meditation, I'm going to, for the press, reduce all into two fragments in the letter to the Ephesians, in chapter 1, at verse 9, of a long statement, but this is the part that is the heart of it.

Having made known unto us the glory of his Son according to his good pleasure, which he purposed, pleasure, he purposed, at verse 11, according to the purpose of the ages, which he purposed, of those who have joined us for the first time in this present series of gatherings, come right in, we feel being led to take account of at this time, our following out, said to us in the last series of special gatherings, when we were occupied with Christ, the horizon of all things, in the counsels of God.

At this time, we are occupied with the extension, we're not going to stay with the detail of that, but suffer a very brief word of explanation of our term, to remind you that this word horizon is a New Testament word, although it never occurs in our translations.

It is there in the original language. In our translations, it is translated ordained, or ordained, it doesn't convey to us that word, what the real meaning is. Know that the horizon is the sphere within which, and by which, we are bound to arrange our vision, the limit, it is the description and definition of Christ.

He is God's sphere, our vision, beyond him. He is the limit of the divine activities, for all things with God are in, so much then for horizon for the moment, we come to the other word connected with that, purpose, purpose.

This again is a word, a word, prothesis, you know what a thesis is, that which is presented to some particular subject as intended to govern, use, or outworking that subject, a thesis, or your degree, your doctrine, and that thesis is a contribution which is accepted by the authorities, is going to govern a particular subject in question, in the future they are going to refer to that, their guidance.

And this word prothesis, little prefix pro simply means before, is something before presented as God's governing this whole universe, that is the meaning behind the word translated purpose, in the New Testament, and it occurs, as you know, a number of times, especially in the writings of the Apostle Paul, God's thesis which he has presented before the foundation of the world, is to make his Son the heir and sum of all things, so says Paul here, and when that is so, when that accomplished universal fact, it is God's intention to come right into that in fullness, and dwell there, pleasure and satisfaction, so that the end as we have seen, one of our, the Lord, there are several aspects of this purpose which are going to occupy us throughout this day, if the Lord so leads and helps, this purpose, the word of God is a revelation of the fact, the fact, specific instruments, eternal purpose, that purpose of the ages, God instruments, leave that for a moment, the next thing that is so clear, right through the word of God, from beginning to end, is that the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is unrelentingly putting forth his energies in relation to that purpose, along that line, is one continuous revelation of the energies of the Spirit of God, for something, not just doing it for the sake of doing it, exercising himself and putting forth power, but he has an object in view always, and all the way through, from the very first mention of the Spirit in Genesis 1, to the last mention of the Spirit in Revelation, the Spirit is moving, the energies of the Holy Spirit are continuous throughout history toward his end.

The Judgment of All Things According to God's Purpose

The third thing that becomes perfectly clear, from the word of God, the judgment of all things, this purpose, that is all things are judged, related to this purpose, if they are against it, judgment works to their, and if they are for it, judgment works for their glory, the judgment is concentrated in and focused upon this matter that is called God's prothesis, God's eternal, the three things that you must keep before you, and we'll go on to break up.

Israel's Election as the Channel of the Messiah

Firstly then, the election of specific, the Old Testament, taken that Israel as a nation was elected of God in his own right, and no other ground, whatever, no other explanation, always a mystery, to say he made a mistake, he got the wrong people, just got hold of the wrong type altogether, that argument is a very big argument if you'd like to follow it through in the natural, I did not choose you because you were better than others, essential sovereignty of God, he acted in choosing Israel, he chose Israel in the light of the same purpose, as is here mentioned in the New Testament, but their relationship to that purpose was peculiar, he chose Israel to be the channel of the Messiah, like the womb of the Messiah, through which the Messiah, because that distinguishes, it's through which to arrive at the Christ, through which to bring in the Christ, that purpose governed and characterized the election of Israel.

Israel's Constitution and History Under Divine Purpose

Now dear friends, I have got to leave a very great deal with you, we here today are not here for preaching, we are here for instruction, for teaching, and I would be very much happier if this platform were not up here and I were just down there amongst you, with the word open, on this Bible study and investigation basis, please adjust your mind to that, because we are really down at work today, with the word of God, suffer that by the way, a great deal has got to be left to you, to work out afterward, I can only make these statements if I were to deal with all that is included in a single statement, I'd want a day for every one of them, but here, characterizing the election of Israel, they were called and chosen according to purpose, why God did choose such a place, to rise upon it from the later dispensation in which we come into the next instrument, the church, I don't anticipate too much at this moment, this is what you see the tremendous, the transcendence of the church, the greatness of the calling of the church, we at once say, well that may apply to some people, it can't apply to me, it wants better people than I am, it wants better stuff than I'm made of, and then you read that we should be unto the glory of his name, the very choosing going to make possible and necessary, the choosing is governed by purpose, not as something in itself, in the next phase, the purpose governing the constitution of that people, after having been chosen, they were constituted, and what a history that is, and what a lot there is in that, see Israel from under all the years, and constituted, and then brought out from Egypt, instituting work going on, everything to do with that constitution, the tabernacle and all its details, the priesthood and all its details, and the sacrifices, details, comprehensive constitution, and constituting of this people governed by a purpose, a channel through which the Christ, everything to do with God's handling of that people and their constitution as something of Christ, you can see that of course in the tabernacle, in the priesthood, in the sacrifices, but see it in their own experience, there's a field again, meditation, but God dealing with them within and without, in the light of the purpose for which he had chosen them, to constitute them a channel through which he would reach his Christ, and bring in purpose governing their history, the history of Israel under the hand of God, through the centuries, up to Christ, in the light of something that God was working toward, the discipline, the discipline, suffering, infinite patience of God, the structure that that history contains in their relationship to God and God's relationship with them, by this one thing, they were intended to be, chosen to be this channel along which God would move and at last reach his son, in the earthly sense, in the historic sense, and in the temporal sense, they were called according to his purpose, the ways of God with them, purpose of God in all, must be perfectly clear, because it's something that does not end with Israel, we come into the next elected, chosen, instrument of the divine purpose, we come to the body, it is called the elect sometimes, we call it, and the New Testament calls it, the church, the difference between the church and Israel, that the church is a thing of eternity, we were chosen in him, before the foundation, is a thing of the earth, and a time to serve at the church, and all of the Christ, but the body, and the very body, this is something superior, far greater than Israel, it is said, we are so familiar, aren't we, with these words, how we love, work together for good, to them that love God, and are called according to his purpose, something very lovely, we cherish, bind to our hearts, as a promise, but note, it's all governed by the last, you are called according to his purpose, you were never called by God just to be saved, as it is to be saved, you were never called by God just to be a Christian, you were never called by God just to be a member of what is called the church, these things may be included by God, and chosen in Christ, from eternity, his goal and end ultimately according to his purpose, the explanation of God coming to us and calling us, the explanation saving grace, not an end in itself, but according to his purpose, according to his purpose, let us weigh every matter, step by step, constituted according to purpose, in the whole realm of creation, species are constituted according to their particular purpose, and it's just wonderful how they fit into the purpose for which they were created, they are adapted to that, they just spontaneously and organically move and work in relation to the very object and purpose for which they were created, you would not like to have to be required and act as many other creatures, you would say, well I could never do it, I could never do it, running its many, many miles and keeping on, keeping on, keeping on, perhaps all day long, I couldn't do it, that horse that stands up so many hours, I couldn't do it, no and you're not a horse because you're not a horse, a horse is feet and legs are constituted to do that, and if you were called upon to do that, you'd soon find that you're not a horse, and so we are different, I for the life of me could not be a woman, changing my form and things like that, I feel so terribly sorry for women often, to be a woman for all that you could give me, I'm not constituted that way, I don't know whether women feel the same about the men, but there it is, the duties for which we are created, if we keep to our own realm, things are not so difficult for us, as other people of another realm might think they are, can go through things a woman is not called upon to go through and if she tries to, she'll get into trouble, that's why you make this world topsy-turvy, born to go through things that a man is never called to go through, but if she keeps in her realm she'll go through all right, it's a matter of constitution isn't it, in creation, and the church, by the Holy Spirit, is being constituted for it's eternal purpose, it's being qualified, equipped, endowed, this great purpose of God, we find on the one side, there are things that we know at present we cannot do, we cannot answer to, but the Spirit of God is working at us, to make possible what naturally is impossible, that's the great difference between a natural and a spiritual man, we know that there are many things that we cannot understand naturally, but that is true, of the species the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, but the spiritual man can, so God you see, is qualifying for the understanding of the things of God, and so I could go on, this handling of God with us in reconstituting, reconstituting, and it's not going to be artificial like the man in space, to be kept there on artificial means, something that is not a part of his constitution at all, this is going to be our natural, which we are constituting, that is so different in heaven from what it is, there are many other aspects of this constituting, God's dealings with us, what is he doing, why is he doing this, why this, from an inside out standpoint, but really putting us right way up with heaven's standpoint, reconstituting the church as the vessel of the eternal, as different, all our schools, the election, having said that, a lot of grounded covers, having said it, hiding, peril, and imminent tragedy of the loss, with Israel that tragedy was always very near at hand, and at last overtook them, tragedy of this sense and consciousness and domination of specific purpose, lying behind their history, and behind all God's dealings earlier, some of the characteristics and activities, I have seen what it means, just what it does mean to be in the grip of the spirit of God in relation to his purpose, I don't know that I dare go back over that again, may I remind you that over at the beginning, people took possession of, this is a very expressive word, in the light of one of our sisters, he said, I was apprehended, I trust that nobody knows anything about that in the natural, that no policeman has ever come along and put his hands on you, and taken possession of you, and walked you off to the police station and made you a prisoner, that is what the law calls being apprehended, that's the very word Paul used, I was apprehended by Christ Jesus, and he links the word and the statement with who that was at the church in the beginning, they had all the light and intelligence and instruction about it, but they had the consciousness of it, and it's far better to have the consciousness of the reality, than to have all the documents of the book of Acts at the beginning, my these people, these people are under the Holy Spirit's mastery with a sense, there's something on, there's some big thing, where we are, and what we are, it must be like that, it must be like that, and that has got to be applied, now then we go on from that point, the acting overtook Israel at the end, dealt with by God, the way that the Old Testament reveals, to be the channel through which the Messiah, that very nation killed him, killed the very purpose of their existence, when they slew him, they slew themselves, the very purpose of their existence, they slew him, they slew themselves, as a vessel and instrument of God's purpose, and so God said, you stand aside, you have no place for a thing which is just a thing, whatever I have intended for that, however I may have worked at it, and been patient with it, if after due probation, due time, that that does not move through to my purpose, I never keep it, though I chose it, I never keep it, though I bore with it, though I expended much upon it, I set it aside, now that's a terrible possibility, isn't it, I'm talking about purpose, don't read into this election salvation, I'm talking about purpose, you come to the book of the revelation and I'm going too far ahead, but I must, at this moment, at this point, there you have the Lord speaking to the churches and to one and he says, repent or I will remove thy lampstand out of its place, I have no room for good things, even good things that fail of the essential purpose of their existence, I have no place, anything that does not be a specific object of its creation or its election, Israel failed, in Israel we have got to see how God reacted in purpose, and the prophecies of Ezekiel are peculiarly and especially very object, they are the specific reacting activities of God in relation to purpose, God chooses in the light of one what he chooses, the vessel and instrument of his spirit and his spirit's energy, why I do want here that you should note what I'm going to say, note God's method with Israel, because it throws such a lot of light upon his method with the church, because while the sphere may be different and heavenly, the principles are exactly the same at all times, look at God's method as in Israel we get a lot of instruction on this whole matter, first of all we have noted that the whole body of God's people was called according to purpose, in the first instance according to purpose, how far we allow ideas of specific testimony, specific ministry, specific fellowships away, the whole governing thing, but the whole church, the whole church according to purpose, the idea of the church is a declarable departure from that, distinctiveness of character moves next ministry within its frontiers, in the old testament, in the new testament too, apostles and prophets, not essentially persons, but ministries, to call back, clarify, rebuke, exhort, plead, entreat the lost distinctiveness of purpose in their life and in their way, he does, loss and departure means that he first reacts with the voice of the prophets, or these specific, again, those ministries are never intended to end with themselves, they are a call to the whole people of God, they are intended to be a revelation of God's mind to all his people, everywhere, all who are truly called by the Lord's name, that is their purpose, that is their range, their voice must go into all the earth, their ministry must reach to all the people of God, if all the people of God will not make the response that God wishes, will, desires, note we follow, we follow the old testament closely in this, if as in the case of the prophets, many of God's own people turned a deaf ear, or turned a aspes, was God's next move, the whole people a remnant, a remnant, all in line with God's purpose, a people within the whole who do respond, a remnant to be, on one side, a rebuke, and on the other side, an example to all the others, and dear friends, I want to say here, after very much thought about this, probably I have no difficulty in finding your agreement when I speak of God's purpose concerning the whole church, and that remains, that remains, unaltered, my own conviction is, and I am open to the Lord to give more light, to correct this judgment, if it is faulty, my own conviction is that the local representations of the whole church are God's intended reaction to the Lord's to a general condition, that they are as in remnants, here and there, and I could name the places, there are some here in this gathering this morning, here and there and there, representations of God's purpose, to be a rebuke to the general declension in the whole church, and on the other, what God really wants for all his people.

Local Assemblies as a Worldwide Testimony

Local churches are in existence, teaching and doctrine, and just proceeding on a certain line of procedure and technique, but to be an impact upon the whole, be patient with me, I do want to bring it down, are here in the company of Amaluk, here are in the company in Richmond, others in Deel, in Canterbury, and so I could go on, far off, Australia, Ethiopia, and elsewhere, you are here as representing local companies of the Lord's people, and the Lord would say to you, this very day, that you are not there as a company in any one of those places, or all of them, just to be something with a circle round yourselves, having a nice happy time together in an exclusive fellowship, or unexclusive fellowship, if you object to the word, and getting a lot of teaching and doctrine with which you are filling your heads, you are not there for that.

Every one of these assemblies ought to have a worldwide impact, ought to be a rebuke, has lost its distinctiveness of purpose, and that is a contradiction. To be an example, that if there is any seeking to know what God really wants, it shall be found there where you are, it shall be found there, it is a very challenging, but God raises up for this purpose, descended up on high, he led his captivity, captured and gave gifts among men, and he gave some apostles, some prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, what for?

What for? Nothing less than the full purpose that we attain unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and you come back to Ephesians, what's that? That he should fill all things, and that the church should be the fullness of him that fills it.

Something, something that is like a seed plot, is like an overflowing vessel, the content, the deposit, the trust with which is touching ranges far beyond its own locality. We hardly touch our own locality.

Is this putting too much on? I say that this is what the energies of the Spirit would do. It is true, it was true of the churches in the New Testament when they were really in line with the Spirit. When they got out of line with the Spirit, they immediately turned in on themselves and got into a terrible lot of Babylonish confusion and contradiction.

But while they kept in line with the Spirit, far beyond their own doors, people were hearing and talking about them. And out from them, out from them into ever-widening circles and ranges, the testimony went forth in person.

All rumors are not good, but this is the kind of rumor. Now note, and I must come back to emphasize this, God acts sovereignly over this matter of vessels. He acts sovereignly when he is in his way of reaction.

He did, of course, with the whole, as we have seen, the sovereign choice and election. But that sovereignty of God becomes specific when he is in reaction. He, for his own reasons, which he may never explain, and which you can never explain on any natural grounds, he lays his hand upon an instrument.

It may, an individual, purpose reaction to recover what has been lost. Then he may sovereignly act over a remnant here and there. There is no explanation on any other ground that God has brought that company and those companies sovereignly into existence for a specific purpose, not for just a general thing, a specific thing.

Remnant movement ought to be something in itself, again, exclusive. God savors exclusiveness in mentality or in any other way, but God acts sovereignly in this. We are keeping close to Ezekiel. Ezekiel.

Ezekiel's Prophetic Calling and Divine Sovereignty

Ezekiel was a born, trained priest that you can trust. He was a priest buddy, if you like. The training for the priesthood was a very exacting thing. The priesthood had got to be very exact and very exacting.

A very intelligent body has got to handle the sacrificial lamb. And a lamb would never be brought for the sacrifice of the temple when things were right. The best natural judgment having passed it, or blemish or spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

But that is not good enough for the priest. The person who brought it and looked at it and watched it for a long time said, well, I can find absolutely no fault in this lamb, so I take it. But that's not good enough for the priest.

He receives it but he sets it aside for a certain definite period under the closest scrutiny. That sacrifice must never be offered to God if there's a hair of another color from the rest. It's got to be absolutely perfect under the scrutiny of a trained eye.

And sometimes I've said before, the best critics in the world were these trained priests. That's their business. They forgot. They were answerable to God not to offer anything with a blemish. Their training in that matter and in many other ways was a very thorough training.

Ezekiel was a trained priest. The age of thirty, the age when he was to graduate from the school of priesthood into the acts, for that was the age as you know. Picking up the vocation for which he was so thoroughly trained, that about which he knew it all, the day, the thirtieth year of his life when he should have entered upon his priestly vocation, the Lord called him to be a prophet and to leave his priestly work behind and take up another vocation for which he was not trained.

That was the cry of some of these prophets, you know. Jeremiah, you remember, I cannot speak, I'm but a child. I'm not trained and qualified for my job. You've called me to. Ezekiel was called to be a prophet.

And the Lord had to give him a lot of assurances when he called him. Read those first, the first chapter, the first verses. Son of man, I send you to people, not of a strange tongue. If I send you to them, they'll hear you.

I shall send you to the people of Israel. They will not hear you, but speak whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. I make your forehead brass against them. A lot of encouragement needed for this man.

He wasn't qualified for it. It's a sovereign act of God. I understand you say, oh, well, God will choose those who are really naturally qualified and trained. Don't you believe it? Don't you believe it?

He may use some qualifications and some training sovereignly afterward. They may come in very useful and we do not despise them. Otherwise, we should be setting Paul aside. But Mark Hill, when God acts, he does not act on natural grounds like that.

He is a sovereign act. And this applies to ministries. It must be, it must be God choosing. If you and I get into a position for which God has not called us, it's going to be terrible tragedy, exposure.

We will sooner or later be a laughing stock and we'll be wanting to get out, get out as quick as we can, out of any door. We can only be in this because God has put us in. Put us in. It doesn't apply to individuals.

It does in the word of God and it does now. But remember the same principle is passed to the remnant or to the company in the first instance. How we've gone astray over this. How Christendom has gone astray.

The Sovereign Formation of New Testament Assemblies

Organized Christianity, as we call it, going out, set up churches, set up testimonies. Here and there. It's all there. God have mercy on us. What's the result of that? We don't get very far with that.

No, this thing must come out of the sovereignty of God. All those churches in the New Testament were acts of the sovereignty of God. Look at them. Look at Philippi. Was that an act of the sovereignty of God?

No doubt about it. Paul saw in a vision the man of Macedonia. This is the sovereignty of God. Cancelling out certain other things and directing his attention thither. And he said we assuredly gather. The Lord had called us to preach the word there.

So he went. But there he met the difficulty the opposition at once hell rose up to say no, not here. But the sovereignty of God said yes, here. Jails, earthquakes, anything got to contribute. Come under the divine sovereignty.

This is a thing which God has done. Oh that every one of our assemblies were like that. That God has done. Go back and pray about it. These things have got to be borne out of heaven by the Holy Spirit of God.

They have to be there and to function because for no other reason there wanted their testimony in that place. Wanted the lamp stand there. Wanted the vessel. The point then is the sovereign act of God reacting toward the whole purpose it must be like this.

If it was true of Ezekiel, it's true in the New Testament. You notice John the Baptist was born the priesthood. By birth a priest. By birth a priest. Father Zechariah was a priest. He was a Levite by birth.

But did John ever act as a priest? You may say in principle perhaps he did when he pointed to the lamp. But he's not a functioning priest. He's a prophet. He's called the greatest of the prophets. He's a prophet.

And what is his function as a prophet? Sovereignly in the power of the Holy Spirit from his very birth. Is it not to rebuke the departure of the nation? Is there greater than that? Is a priest forever?

After the order of Melchizedek his highest function is his function of priest in redemption. But even he had to suspend his priesthood while he became a prophet. It was not until the end in John 17 and on from there to the judgment hall, to the garden and the judgment hall and to the cross that he took up his priestly function.

Jesus as Prophet and Supreme Example of God's Requirement

At that time it had been in suspense while he was functioning as a prophet. That is what they said. We, Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet. Mighty indeed it was to rebuke the nation and my word he did that to show in his own person what God required of his people.

To suffer and lay down his life is God's inclusive and supreme example in the history of this world. To react against this loss of distinctiveness of powers amongst his people. To recall, to rebuke, to express from that very point this afternoon.

Continuity, Corporate Calling, and the Fullness of Christ

If you will seek to keep continuity in your spirit and mind, how can we gather this up, focus it? Have you seen? You may not be an individual. You may not be an Ezekiel. You may not be a Paul. You may not be any one of these particularly chosen vessels in an individual sense.

But you may be a part of a remnant. And this is very testing. So many people want to be something themselves, personally. Have their ministry. Fulfill a ministry. Go out preaching and the most difficult thing for them is to be content with being one of a company chosen of God for a specific worldwide purpose.

And to be in that with all their heart. That's testing. But to thank God for all those dear faithful people of his who do not revolt against such a position, ambitious for their own personal ministry, but are content not to just be passengers, not just to be a passive latent part of an assembly, but who are there on the spot in prayer gatherings and in every function of the company to be a contributing factor toward a corporate purpose for God.

What would we do without all those people who are not Ezekiels or Pauls or anything like that, but who are there because they feel, I'm a part of something. I'm not that something. That something does not focus in me.

But I'm a part of something that God wants as expressive of his mind in this place and in that place. And I give myself to that. Go back, dear rank and file as you're so often called. Go back again to your company where you are.

Don't worry if God has not sovereignly made you what people call a prophet. But see to it that you are functioning relatedly with others there to be for God his vessel and instrument for, it must be, rebuking.

It really must be.