One Step More

One Step More

We have spoken about the way in the footprints of the Lamb. Now let us investigate the goal of that way. Only he who has a goal before him will hasten onward and with joy overcome the difficulties of the way. The destiny of the Christian is the visible union with the Lamb. In Ephesians 5:31-32, we read: “. . . and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the Church.” Consequently, to be “one flesh” with Him is more than to be one spirit with Him. Two young people become engaged because they are of one spirit; but both look forward to the day when they shall stand by each other’s side as man and wife. So is it with Christ and the Church. The Church longs for the moment when as the Bride, she shall stand with a glorified body at His side.

When the Scriptures speak about the eternal destiny of the believers, it gives them two names: “a kingdom of priests,” (Rev. 1:6) and “the wife of the Lamb.” (Rev. 19:7). This has not yet been fulfilled in us. At best we are this in a spiritual sense; but this is not the perfected state. A merely spiritual interpretation, especially of these two names, is a great hindrance to the coming of the Kingdom of God.

We must learn to understand that we have to do with a Person and not with things, that we must not stop with our experiences, that spiritual enjoyment is not sufficient: we must press on to something much higher. Not long ago someone said to me: “Only recently has it become clear to me that we are not concerned only with personal salvation. Conversion is an experience; the forgiveness of sins is an actuality; peace with God brings deep joy. But all these things, which we have experienced and must possess, are not themselves the goal, but only the means of attaining it. Our destiny is a visible union with the Son of God. We must, therefore, not stop here lest we be numbered among the foolish virgins. For through all this the Kingdom of God is not furthered to any great extent—and this, of course, is of first significance.” We ourselves are saved in order to help in the salvation of others, and this salvation includes not only the lost world but the whole creation which groans in pain. When Paul speaks of the proclamation of the Gospel, he enlarges the circle to include all men; but when he speaks about salvation, he makes the circle yet larger and includes within it the whole groaning creation. (Rom. 8:19-23). The travail of creation does not concern God’s ear, but ours. The earnest expectation of creation is not for the revealing of the Son of God, but for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19). Thereby some responsibility for the redemption of creation is laid upon our shoulders and written as a debt on our account. This gives us a larger vision of our task and tells us that our ultimate goal cannot be “to come to heaven” in order to rest forever there.

He who stops here does not understand his calling as a Christian and does not know what the real issues are in our time and for the future. We are all members of Christ’s body; He Himself is the Head and from Him “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth” awaits a complete salvation. (Rev. 5). We may stop only where Christ, our Head, stops, and He is finished only when He has laid all things under the Father’s feet, in order that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:20-28). Until that time our blessedness consists in serving (Rev. 22:3), that together with the Son we may bring a lost world into subjection to the Father. Thus, will the Kingdom of God come, as Jesus has taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer. The final and perfect state is, therefore, not the “Kingdom of the Son” but the “Kingdom of the Father,” for this is the Father’s house. The Kingdom of God has two aspects: an earthly aspect and a heavenly aspect. The earthly one is the “Kingdom of the Spirit” in which we now live, and the “Kingdom of the Son” which is fast approaching; the heavenly one is the “Kingdom of the Father,” where He is Father and all those present are His children.

God never gives up but always begins anew. Every time things seem to go backward, the Lord, nevertheless, wins a step forward, as we see in the history of the Kingdom of God. Jesus began with twelve men. To them He gave His Holy Spirit. According to Acts 15:14, they were given the task of “gathering a people for His name” among the Gentiles. When this is completed, the Lord will come again in order to begin anew with this saved people, and by them “show light” (Acts 26:23) to those who yet sit in darkness and the shadow of death. This is concerning the “first fruits.”

According to the Scriptures, it is not now the work of the Holy Spirit to convert the world, but to choose out a people from the world. In Acts 15 we read about the first general meeting of the servants of Christ. There they agreed as to the lines along which they should work, and as to the goal they should seek to attain. The goal was clearly and definitely marked out. This also concerns us. Every work that is not done according to these directions cannot be confirmed by the Holy Spirit.

It is not enough that we give people guidance as to conversion to Christ; we ourselves must lead them to Christ. Then we are doing a work according to the instructions given by the Holy Spirit, a work which has significance for the Kingdom of God. The conversion and life of many believers have value only for their own personal salvation, but not for the Kingdom of God. There is a difference between “dying happy and saved”—as we sometimes say—and serving God as a king and priest in the coming Kingdom! Paul says to the Corinthians that he is “jealous over them with a godly jealousy” in order that he may “present them as a pure virgin to Christ.” To the Philippians he says that if he does not attain to this goal, he has run and laboured in vain. (Phil. 2:15-16). Oh, how many of our labourers, seen from this viewpoint, will on that day will be seen as a “great mistake” and will receive the mark: “In vain!”

Yes, many a work will be seen to have been a great mistake! Thus, we can understand why, in spite of all the work being done, so little is accomplished. The seal of the Spirit is lacking! And more than that, because one does not work according to the plan of the Holy Spirit, one grieves the Holy Spirit by the very work one desires to carry out for God. For in the light of their context, the words, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit,” point forward to the day of salvation—that is, to the coming of the Lord. Every member of the body of Christ who halts and does not allow himself to be led on to maturity, grieves the Holy Spirit, the Master-builder of the body of Christ. This hinders the development of the whole body. When I sin today, I sin not only against God and against myself, but I sin against the whole body of Christ, of which I am a member. Thus, too, we are to understand the deeper meaning of that word: “Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.” (1 Cor. 12:26).

We must not stop with assurance of salvation, for this, according to Hebrews 6, belongs to the beginnings of the Christian life, but not to the full growth. There is something much deeper than assurance of salvation, and that is the consciousness that we belong together with Christ. We are called and chosen, predestined from eternity for the Son. There is a great difference between these two things: whether I consider myself as one who is “found” or as one who is “chosen.” There is something accidental about being found, but when I am chosen, I acknowledge the eternal grace of God over me.

Scripture designates us called and elected, and we must always stand on scriptural ground. When a person is converted, he begins the life of fellowship with God; but God’s beginning with that person reaches back much farther, all the way into eternity. In Ephesians 1:4 we read that we are “chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.” And in John 6:37, Jesus says: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me . . .” If I have come to Jesus, it proves to me that I am among those blessed souls whom the Father has given to the Son. If we have understood this truth of our belonging together with the Son of God, we shall do three things:

1. For the first time we shall thank God from the depths of our heart that we have been born as a human being—a thing which perhaps many of us until this hour have never done. Then the moment has come when the love of God is richly shed abroad in our hearts. God is justified in our spirit. (1 Tim. 3:16). We are touched with that spiritual nobility which lifts us above the joys and sorrows of our earthly life. (Isaiah 58:14; Deuteronomy 32:10-13).

2. We no longer shall draw the Word of God down to the level of our experience, as we so long have been doing. Instead, we shall permit the ideals and goals of Scripture to stand, and shall strive toward them, as Paul says, “that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.” For we do not receive the Word of God merely with reference to our feelings, but with reference to what God feels and has need of.

3. We shall live as strangers in this world. Its pleasures no longer shall attract us, and its sufferings no longer bring us down. When Rebekah had seen her bridegroom, Isaac, she dismounted hurriedly from her camel and veiled her face. From that moment she did not want to please any other, did not want to be attractive to any other than to him. Such will also be our attitude when it has become clear to us that we belong to Him.