God’s Great Stewardship and Our Heavenly Calling

God’s Great Stewardship and Our Heavenly Calling

In Heb. 12:23 we find the expres­sion, “God the Judge of all.” The Lord is the God of all, and He has a stewardship that we cannot com­prehend with our intellect. Let us have a look at a part of this great stewardship.

In Rom. 2:11 flg., we read that there is no partiality with God. In this passage we read about “Gen­tiles, who do not have the law.” Some of them do by nature the things con­tained in the law. Others act against their conscience. All of them will have to give an account of their life “in the day when God will judge the secrets of men.”

Jesus has given us the parable of the five wise and the five foolish vir­gins. They all had a mind to meet the bridegroom. But the end result was not the same for all of them. The re­vival which they all had experienced (Matt. 25:7) did not have the same desired result, because five of them had not understood to take care of their inner life.

In 1 Cor. 3:11-15 we see that we can build on the foundation with various materials. There are those who know how to build with that which is divine and eternal. The oth­ers’ work will burn up. We can be sure that their work was well in­tended, but it was human and did not endure the fire. Such people will lose their reward, yet they are saved, but only as through fire.

In the resurrection we see “each one in his own order.” 1 Cor. 15:23, flg. Here we read of Christ the firstfruits, and those who are Christ’s at His coming. They are the ones who have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father.” V. 24. And on the last day all men will be raised up and judged, each one ac­cording to his works.

Yes, God’s stewardship is truly great. In the midst of all this diversity with such varying results, there are some who have an ear for the heav­enly calling, as we read in Heb. 3:1. A heavenly calling is a calling to live a life that is heavenly, a life that is suit­able for heaven itself, a life in which God’s will is done as it is in heaven.

We also receive some insight into God’s great stewardship from the il­lustrative words in Song of Sol. 6: Sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number. “My dove, my perfect one, is the only one.” V. 9. Just as Adam was promised a helper that was “comparable to him,” so the bride of Christ is also a helper who is comparable to Him.

This is a heavenly calling—that same calling and election which the apostle Peter exhorts us to make sure. 2 Pet. 1:10. This is the calling to live a life in which God’s will is done as it is in heaven. How keenly interested we should be in finding God’s will in life’s small and great circumstances! If we find God’s will, we find that which is good, acceptable, and perfect. Yet nobody finds this without being renewed in his mind. Only then can we prove what God’s will is (Rom. 12:1-3), particularly in the renewal of not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. V. 3.

Oh, to receive grace to find God’s will (which is good, acceptable, and perfect) in life’s situations! The Colossians had faith in Jesus and a love for all the saints. Nevertheless, Paul considered it necessary to pray for them that they might be filled with the knowledge of God’s will “in all wisdom and spiritual understand­ing.” Col. 1:9. They needed it in order to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him. This is our heavenly calling. The apostle Peter calls God’s will “His marvelous light,” and he writes that to this we are called. 1 Pet. 2:9. Through the preaching in the church we have received this light (by way of example) that the way to glory is to humble ourselves in life’s situa­tions and go the way down in our humiliation. This is first of all a light of knowledge. However, we will not find this way unless it becomes a “marvelous light” for us. By walking in this marvelous light, we will expe­rience fellowship and joy. 1 Pet. 1-7. We have been called to this marvelous light. Therefore we must do as brother Sigurd Bratlie sings in song #138 in New Songs: “Keep your calling e’er be­fore you in the midst of trial and need. This you must, if you’re to ripen; in the strife be glad indeed.”

God be praised for His marvelous light and the heavenly calling.