The Pathway to Life In God # 4

The Pathway to Life In God # 4

V. If it die .... much fruit (John 12:24)

"The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit ... The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is of heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthly; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:45-48).
"He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hated his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (John 12:25). Also Matthew 10:39; Matthew 16:25; Mark 8:35).

The Spirit, in full possession of the heart, has still His two-fold work to do. It is His mission to bring to death all that is of the earth, earthy, that He may communicate the Spirit-life of the Lord from heaven. From His throne in the heart, He will work in steady progression from center to circumference, death and life alternating in degree after degree, for the Spirit must make room in us for the building up of the new creation, so that we may be no longer children tossed about but attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).

We must surrender the life derived from the first Adam, if we are to share the life of the Lord from heaven.

That subtle thing we call life, which animates these human organisms, can be either of God or of the earth. This life need not be visibly wrong, but its activity can be of the creature, and not the inworking energy of the Creator. (Compare John 3:21; John 8:28; Colossians 1:29).

We must be separated by the Cross from our own life (Luke 14:26), as much as from our sins and the world-spirit, if we are to become spiritual, or of ripe age, in the kingdom of God. Otherwise we shall live a mixed life, and even our service will be partly spiritual, partly of ourselves, instead of being truly in that Spirit, and of the Spirit.

The question of the bondage of sin may have been settled and the Holy Spirit may have gained the citadel, but, through ignorance, the soul may hinder His work in gaining the circumference for the manifestation of the life of Jesus.

To cooperate with Him at the right stage if His working, will enable Him to fulfill His deepest purposes; He simply asks faithfulness up to light. In the earlier stages He uses the believer, if faithfully obedient right up to the measure of grace, even though there remains much to be dealt with in following on to know the Lord. The believer must be led on to be assimilated to the death of Jesus (Philippians 3:10), if he is to bear much fruit, for the Master Himself said: "Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth ... alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit ... he that hateth his life ... shall keep it unto life eternal" (John 12:24-25). The seed they sowest is not quickened into life till it hath partaken of death (1 Corinthians 15:36).

The Word of the Cross

"The Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit" (Hebrews 4:12).

The Spirit works through the Word of God. The thought in the original of this passage suggests a sacrificial knife. The whole being given up to God, and sealed by the indwelling of His Divine Spirit, must be dealt with through and through. His Word must pierce even to the dividing of soul and spirit.

The Holy Spirit reveals to us the earthy life, as we are able to bear it, and as He does so, to our dismay, we discover how much of our own life has been mingled with what we thought purely spiritual. He shows us the corruption of all that springs from this source, the uselessness of all our creaturely activity in the service of God, all human effort.

He drains us of all our power, strength, wisdom, and knowledge. We once thought we were capable, and had "gifts" that He could use; now failure is over all. "Ichabod" seems written upon the work of God in which we gloried, a blight is upon it, and we cry, "I have spent my strength for nothing."

In addition, our emotional life seems gone, and we are aghast at our "hardness". We think we are backsliding and seem powerless to help it; everything appears unreal to ourselves, and we almost think we are hypocrites; we would fly from our work, if we dared.

Yes, this is the pathway to the life wholly centered upon God, all must go to death, even our love which craves for response, to make room for God, and for His love which loves without response, and is pure and unselfish.

The Spirit also unveils another form of the life of nature in spiritual things, which is most subtle. We may call it "consecrated self", self with its riches of past experience, its nervous anxiety for God's glory, its desire for success, its seeking to be the greatest in God's kingdom, its craving after signs and experiences. Its ceaseless cry is "Bless me, bless me, O Lord"; it runs after spiritual enjoyment in meetings; it criticizes God's messengers; it looks down upon others not at its own point of spiritual experience; it talks over where people are spiritually; it forces "truth" before souls are able to bear it; and it under-values the work of God in the earlier degrees.

Let us note the change; once it was self for self, now it is self for God.

The Divine Spirit deals with this subtle form of the soulish life by, apparently, withdrawing all the spiritual riches once given, power in prayer, love for souls, grasp of the promises, consciousness of God's presence. He permits failure through trifles which once did not touch us, and allows the self-hood, with all its peculiar personal characteristics, to stand forth in our sight in all its hideous loathsomeness. All these things were visible to Him, but they were hidden from us, while we were occupied with our heart experience of His gracious Presence and power.

At last we know ourselves. We struggle to regain our old footing, but all seems vain and we are in despair.

The stripping is vividly picture in Job 19:6-21 and the cry of the soul in its bitter anguish in Psalm 88.

~Jessie Penn-Lewis~

(continued with # 5)