"By My Spirit"
by T. Austin-Sparks
This selection re-published by:
Table
of Contents
1. GLORY IN THE FACE
OF JESUS CHRIST
2. GLORY IN THE HEART
3. GLORY IN THE
CHURCH
"By My Spirit"
Reading:
Zechariah 4
The golden lampstand which Zechariah saw was the
symbol of the divine testimony, the out-shining of the glory of God. Lying
behind all God's activities with men, the very reason for man's creation, is His desire to display His glory. The human
race, as a whole, failed to realise this grand
design, but the testimony was taken up by individual witnesses, like Abel,
Enoch, Noah, Abraham and others. In a very real sense the testimony of the
glory of God rested on their shoulders; they carried the enormous
responsibility of being here on the earth where the enemy had almost entirely
succeeded in marring or veiling that glory. These lonely figures were the men
who stood for the preservation of that testimony to God's glory. Then the testimony
passed from individuals to a nation, when Israel was brought into being to be a
corporate vessel of the divine testimony, a people in whom the glory of God
could be displayed. Ultimately Israel failed, so the testimony was transferred
and passed on to the Church, consisting of Israelites to whom Gentiles were
later added. The glory of God certainly blazed up anew in the Church at the
beginning. In the course of time, speaking generally, the Church has also
failed, and it is not without significance that one of the seven churches of
Asia was threatened with an entire removal of its lampstand. The article,
however beautiful in itself, has no significance by its mere form or
profession, but only as the light of God blazes out from it. This is what God
is always seeking, the display of His glory in and through His people.
The great concern and business of the Church is to be a testimony to God's
glory. The one plumb-line which measured Jerusalem was that of the glory of God
in the midst (Zechariah 2:8), and this measurement is what matters for us
today. The final judgment will be based on the degree of glory found in our
lives. Nothing else will be of lasting importance. Those who have lived most of
their lives already and perhaps been active for God,
still do well to face this challenge concerning God's glory, and those who are
only just beginning should know the real standard for all Christian living. We
may well wonder how it can be. Zechariah had the same problem in his day, and
this vision gave him - and us - the answer: "Not by might, nor by power,
but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts".
GLORY IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST
The
only true Witness is the Lord Jesus Christ. Through all those early individual
witnesses, through Israel, and through the Church, all is gathered up into one
glorious witness, the Lord Jesus. All who went before Him, pointed on to Him;
all those who followed (if there was any true testimony to God's glory in their
experiences) took their character from Him; the glory of God is to be found in
the face of Jesus Christ. It is there, of course, by the Spirit. The testimony
of God was taken up at Jordan, where the Spirit of God came upon Jesus, who was
immediately challenged by Satan's offering Him the kingdoms of this world and
their glory in exchange for the glory of God. It always happens in this way:
man is offered this world's glory in exchange for the glory of God. But by that
same Spirit of anointing which had come upon Christ at Jordan He met the
challenge, and He never swerved from the straight path of seeking only the
Father's glory.
It was often a trial, a fiery trial for Him, but the Spirit sustained Him and
kept the testimony untarnished. Later Peter interpreted the fiery trial of
fellow disciples as being connected with this same Spirit's work of glorifying
God, "The Spirit of glory... resteth upon
you" (1 Peter 4:14). How can it be that in suffering and adversity the
Spirit of glory, not of grace only but of glory, rests upon us? It can only be
because the same Spirit who came upon the Lord Jesus to enable Him at great
personal cost to glorify God, has now come to our lives for this express
purpose of establishing and maintaining the testimony. Wherever you find the
Holy Spirit coming, whether in symbol or in reality, you will find that the
immediate outcome is always the glory of God. So it was that the tabernacle was
filled with God's glory. The temple, also, was filled with this glory. At
Pentecost the Spirit came in fullness to the Church, and the result was glory.
That day was a wonderful day of glory for the men who had such a living
experience of God being glorified in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, and the
days following were equally wonderful as every new touch of God's Spirit upon
them brought fresh evidence of God's glory.
Although we accept the fact of Christ's eternal sonship, we are told that as
Son of man He was enabled to glorify the Father by means of the anointing
Spirit. From the beginning of His public testimony to its completion when He
offered Himself through the eternal Spirit, He carried through triumphantly His
Spirit-given testimony to the glory of God. As representative
Man, He lived and suffered for the one purpose of glorifying God, and so
perfectly fulfilled this task that in Him the testimony to the glory of God has
been secured forever. So, then, our fears and sense of weakness must not
cripple us, for He has sent His Spirit into our lives so that in us, too, the
testimony might be maintained and the glory seen. We can claim the promise, "Not
by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit".
This also gives us the answer to the interrogation, "Who hath despised the
day of small things?" (Zechariah 4:10). Out of the large numbers who went
into exile, just forty-two thousand odd were ready to pay the price of letting
go the comforts and security of life in Babylon to return to the land where
God's testimony could be established. They were small in number, weak in
themselves, despised by their neighbours, and they
returned to a land which was desolate, impoverished and afflicted, so that it
was indeed a 'day of small things'. But they were not to be despised, for God
was backing them up as they truly sought His glory. It is no small thing to be
involved in the testimony of God's glory. We should not make a virtue of
smallness, as though there were something important about being despised by
others, but at the same time we shall find that whenever God has called people
to display His glory, He has chosen those who have no glory in themselves.
God has always been obliged to strip His instruments of their own glory. A
Moses, full of Egypt's sufficiency, must go for forty years to the backside of
the desert to be emptied out and made to confess his complete inadequacy before
he can become an instrument for the display of the glory of God. There were
times when some of the Israelites did try to despise this now humble Moses, and
he made no attempt to stand up for himself, but God soon made it manifest to
all concerned how wrong it was to despise him. The glory of God appeared at the
gate of the tabernacle and took up the challenge. Sometimes it takes the Lord
years to get us sufficiently emptied, weak and small, so that we can bear His
glory in our lives, a fact which may well explain some of His dealings with us.
When He has got us small enough and empty enough, then there is a chance for
the working of His Spirit in glory.
GLORY IN THE HEART
The
testimony to the glory of God must of necessity be a heart matter. Ezra tells
us that when Cyrus made his decree that the house of God should be re-built in
Jerusalem and every facility be granted to those who would return to do the
building, he did not make it a command that all Jews should go back. Had he
done so, they would all have been compelled to return, and such compulsion
would have given little prospect of glory for God. The decree was really an
appeal for volunteers, "Who is there among you of all his people? His God
be with him, and let him go..." (Ezra 1:3). Like the original work of the
tabernacle, it was entrusted to those who were of a willing heart, for God's
testimony will always be a heart matter. Those who have personal interests in
view are entirely out of keeping with the objective of God's kingdom and glory.
So it was that only a comparative few returned to the land when the opportunity
arose, the great majority having settled in and largely become a part of the
life in Babylon where all the glory was for man. Their interests and future was
so tied up with that realm that it would have involved a tremendous upheaval to
extricate themselves and return to a land of poor and
unpopular people with only God as their security and hope for the future. It
was because so many were not willing to pay the price that for those who
returned it was a day of small things. Nevertheless it was not to be despised -
far from it.
The Lord Jesus Himself always stressed this heart aspect of discipleship,
pointing out that without the denying of self and the daily taking up of the
cross, the kingdom could never be fully possessed. The end which God has in
view is something much more than mere personal blessing. He is looking for
those who will share with His King the responsibility for the glory of His
kingdom. Such a calling will find us out if we have personal interests, for it
demands hearts which are consumed with jealousy for the glory of the Lord. The
Holy Spirit will always support such an attitude, for He Himself burns with the
same intense jealousy. This has nothing to do with a craving for special
teaching or mere negative dissatisfaction with things as they are, but
signifies a real heart hunger for more of God's glory. I am not referring to
the people who are eternally disgruntled and full of criticism, those who will
never be contented anywhere at all; but I wish to concentrate on the believers
whose hearts are really groaning in travail for the full will of God. Such
people sense that there are divine purposes which are not being realised, and they are on full stretch for a testimony of
greater glory for God. It was a similar concern which stirred men's hearts to
obey the decree of Cyrus. The Jews who remained in Babylon were not without
God's blessing, but the remnant were full of concern not for themselves but for
greater glory for the name of the Lord, and this made them ready to rise up and
leave everything, if only that could be realised. To
them - and to us if we are their spiritual counterpart - the promise is most
reassuring, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit". We cannot
pay the price, nor go through with all that is involved, in our own strength.
We do not have to. The Holy Spirit is ready to take full responsibility for the
glory of God, both in our own lives and also in the testimony of God through
us.
GLORY IN THE CHURCH
The
message of Zechariah's vision is that the testimony of God, which is the glory
of God, can only be established, confirmed and perfected by the Holy Spirit.
The testimony of God is not a teaching, a system of truth, but an experience in
life. We must be very clear about this, for we may have a great grasp of
doctrine, knowing all the explanations of divine things, and yet miss the
essential, which is spiritual glory. It may be true that divine glory will
require sound teaching and correct order, yet these in themselves may constitute
a dry technique, a mere framework, an empty shell. It is true that the
tabernacle was constituted and constructed according to God's own commandments,
even down to the last pin, but it did not and could not function until the
glory of God came into it. Again, the temple's plans and arrangements were
given by God in a detailed pattern, yet it stood empty and valueless until the
glory of God filled it. The testimony is not technique; it is glory. What a sad
thing it is when would-be upholders of God's testimony are legalistically and
meticulously pre-occupied with people's procedure, and even their dress and
appearance, carrying heavy burdens themselves and imposing those burdens on
others, when what God wanted was just a chance to display His glory.
It is possible, of course, to argue that just as the Old Testament insisted on
correct form before the glory came, so in New Testament days the coming of
glory will be dependent on careful insistence on right doctrine in the
strictest correctness as well as on a perfect form of procedure, but surely
Pentecost was the other way round, so far as men here on earth were concerned.
In heaven, it is true, everything was perfectly according to God in Christ, and
that was how the glory came down to the Church here on earth; but so far as the
disciples were concerned, the doctrine and the procedure followed. The Church
began with the glorious fullness of the Holy Spirit. Because of Christ's
exaltation the glory was available, the anointing Spirit was released. The Church's
experience was that it was the dynamic which came first, so that it was after
they had the glory that they began to know what they should teach and how they
should act. We must have it this way. It must be 'by My Spirit'. We can do
nothing about the testimony until God acts. I cannot help to glorify God; you
cannot help either; nothing that we can prescribe or provide can do it. The
most perfect order will not bring glory. The most correct teaching will not
ensure it. It does not come by our abilities, our understanding, our
personality or drive, for nothing from man can produce this glory - it is only
by God's Spirit.
The glory is itself a testimony. If we are bringing in the glory, people will
want to know how they can get it. What is the use of answering them with the
'Thou shalts' and the 'Thou shalt nots'
of legalistic teaching when they find no glow, no radiance, no power, but only
an empty shell? The plumb-line which will show up their deficiencies is not
that of Christian ideas or religious practices but the testimony of the glory
of God in Christ. We begin with the glory; the whole emphasis is as positive as
can be - glory by the Holy Spirit. The only negatives in this verse are
connected with the futility of human power and ability.
As we have said, the testimony of God here on earth is to be found in the
Church. This is variously described as God's house, God's temple and Christ's
body, but in each case the essential factor is the indwelling Spirit. This is
really what is meant by the phrase, 'the glory of God', namely the reality of
His presence. The vessel of Testimony has as its sole object the making
immediate and actual of the presence of God and fellowship with Him. Of course
God is everywhere, and can be met anywhere, even in the most isolated and
remote spot a man can encounter God. The Scriptures indicate, however, that God
has a wish for something more immediate than His universal presence. They speak
of God dwelling with men; making His habitation among them; and then they
describe the final triumph in the words, "The tabernacle of God is with
men, and he shall dwell with them" (Revelation 21:3). This is something
more immediate and actual than the all-pervading fact of the deity, and so the
Church has as its object the presencing of God in a
more personal and conscious way for the purposes of His fellowship with man.
This is what the Holy Spirit has come for, to make the presence of Christ a
vital reality. The titles of 'house' or 'temple' are mere finger-posts, all
pointing towards the person of the Lord Jesus. His very name, Christ, means the
Anointed One, and it is by the anointing of the Spirit that God is present. The
Lord's name is not only 'Jesus'; it is also 'Emmanuel', God with us. Christ is
the true house of God, but since we are 'in Christ',
we share in the reality of God's glorious presence.
So it is part of the Spirit's work to build us and hold us together so that
there may be a united testimony to the glory of God. God needs something more
than a heap of stones - even if they are living stones - if He is to have a
properly constructed dwelling. Christ needs more than many members, even though
they are living members, since a body can only function if its members are
coordinated and integrated in vital relationship. Now although there are many
members there is only one anointing; we either share His anointing or we do not
know its power. The anointing upon Christ is the same anointing as that which
we receive, and in us as well as in Him its one purpose is to express God's glory.
It is the anointing Spirit who makes the Church to be the house of God, and the
house is one because Christ is one. We must never be caught in the mistake of
imagining that those who hold the truth of the one body are more in the reality
of it than those who do not. Those who know nothing of the teaching are as much
part of Christ's body (if they are in Him) as those who feel that they have
received so much light on the subject. We must beware of the schisms which come
because of the things which we know and others do not, for light alone can
easily cause divisions. "Is Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:13).
That was a challenge made to the church whose members were so ready to boast of
their knowledge and so partisan in their attitude to various spiritual
teachers. These were the very people whom the apostle described as being a
temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16), and also warned very solemnly against
destroying that temple. How is the temple destroyed? It is by trying to divide
Christ, by making parties and groups among the Lord's people, often by wrongly
imagining that they are superior to other Christians because of the teaching
they have received or the teacher whom they follow. This is an offense to the
Holy Spirit, and a sure way of thwarting God's desire to show forth His glory.
The Lord Jesus has so identified Himself in the Spirit with all who are His own
people, that what is true of Him is also true of them, and what is done to them
is really done to Him. So it is that practical love towards any of His members
opens the way for His Spirit's working and, conversely, carelessness,
indifference or antagonism towards other members of Christ is a sure way of
quenching the Holy Spirit. It may be that this is the explanation of there
being so much less glory among God's people than there ought to be. The moment
we grieve the Spirit, we begin to dim the glory. It is in their life together
that God's people form the golden lampstand into which He will pour the golden
oil through His own golden pipes. Let us not accept any less
objective than God's glory when we seek His fullness, for the Holy
Spirit's presence among us is specifically promised for the express purpose of
providing a testimony to that glory. God's negatives ("not
by might, nor by power") are but to make way for His glorious
positive - "but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."
This selection re-published by:
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