By G.V. Wigram
Eph. 6: 10-12.
There are two things which, when considered, bring out into light, in a simple way, the position in which the Christians at Ephesus were standing when the apostle addressed them.
First, we find the intimation of better things to come connected with the scene in the garden of Eden, "The seed of the woman."
Second, that particular development of the truth in which we stand; that that very "Seed of the woman," having had His heel bruised, is up in heaven, the Head of a body, which body is on earth filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.
I should like to rest a little in detail on these two points. They seem to bring out the needs-be of angering for a redeemed people.
When Eve had been beguiled -- when she had got under the power of the adversary -- there was One spoken of by God as "the seed" to come, and, in what He was to do, there was a ray of light for the man and the woman; there was a hope introduced; but a hope which brought with it the certainty of suffering for those who were the possessors of it. If I look at it -- this intimation thus come forth from God -- it is plain that the setting up of a power in opposition to what they sold themselves to, must be at some cost to themselves.
There is great joy in seeing God's Son put in the place of power -- Lord of all -- all put under the sway of this "Seed of the woman." Test your thoughts of the gospel by this; not merely its meeting the need of your lost soul, but my God, setting up His own power in the hand of His own Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
But how could it come to me, devil possessed as I am by nature, without suffering? How can this light come in contact with darkness? It will find that in me which is ever ready to lend itself to Satan, even "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." Can this new thing meet all the evil in me without there being conflict from beginning to end? Our position must be one of endurance -- of suffering -- of wrestling "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places." God is going to establish His power, and that will overthrow all the natural thoughts of my heart.
Observe the exquisite grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in connection with redemption as displayed to us. Are you saved sinners? That enables you to say: "Not a cloud above; not a spot within." Is it something you have done? No; this something God has done for you; and every step of the way afterwards too it is the same; all is God. God will not let the people come out of Egypt under His power, and then leave them under their own wills. When they were out of Egypt He left the way apparently open for them, to prove whether they had a God or not. If they would go back He would stop them; He would not head their retreat. He would break them down; He would have a "willing" people -- would make them take His will for their will: His position for their position; He will make us take His God for our God, as Ruth said to Naomi; He will form us in heart to be willing to have the portion of our Lord here below.
What was the difference between Paul and the Hebrews? It was that Paul was not satisfied just to begin; he would hold fast -- would be "firm unto the end." They went forth, their hearts failed them, and then they let slip.
But these Ephesians had got fast hold of the truth, and the truth had got fast hold of them; so to them Paul writes, led by the Spirit, to strengthen them for conflict. He would have them above the fear of the power of darkness; if these were high, God was higher still. They need not be daunted; He would have them raising their heads; would have them know that there was a living Head for them in heaven, as well as a head in heavenly places to their enemies.
"Be strong in the Lord." -- How could they stand in such a position -- living members of a living Head -- how could they stand down here where He had been, occupying a place between Him and the enemy, and not be suffering? Impossible! -- He, when in this world, was the "man of sorrows." In His grace He had left them down here, that it might be truly brought out that there was such a thing as a heavenly Christ. And all who are partakers of the heavenly portion are born to suffering -- dare not expect exemption from it; far from that, they must be willing and ready to endure it.
I found it one thing, when God, with mighty power, let His light into my conscience as a prisoner in the world, having the joy of salvation, and getting out of the house of bondage; and quite another, the being there alone in the wilderness with the God who has brought me out. It is one thing for God to have brought me out of Egypt; it is another thing for me to be on the other side of the Red Sea. And when He says: How do you like walking with me alone in the wilderness? there comes in the thought of the leeks, and the onions, and the cucumbers; not, as before the deliverance, the pinch of the prison, the oppression of the task-master, the escaping from the spears of the Egyptians under shelter of the blood; but being in the wilderness, having to learn what is in our hearts.
God challenges our hearts as to how far we prefer wilderness fare with the living God, to Egypt's fare without Him. Do not be discouraged if you find yourselves on the other side of the sea beginning to count the value of a leek or a melon. You will think of them, just because you are poor wretched things. God counts on what you are; He counts not to find a single amen to one single bit of grace that He has given you. Do not be discouraged, but take care not to fall as Israel fell. They fell, not because they found their hearts did not tally with God's heart, but because of their determination to have their own will -- to have ways and resources that were not God's, and the not seeking in brokenness of heart to know His; this was why they failed.
Take care it is not so with you. He can give you hearts not to know a leek or a melon. There is nothing He cannot do. If I know my God, it is not with me: Oh, the sorrows of the way! but: I am in the place where God would have me. I am with Christ, and it is far better to be without a leek than to be without such a Christ. I can bear the yoke with Christ.
And God can form this in our hearts for us. He does not want to learn that there are no springs in us, but He wants us to look in and see that there are none. We must learn it by failure, or in His presence in communion with Himself.
Just notice the peculiar position of those who came in from the time God gave the first word about the "Seed of the woman," till the time when God shall be all in all. When He set up a kingdom in man's hand, He was obliged to make good certain things against the powers of darkness. When it was an earthly testimony, the Jew found that obedience did not bring him into poverty, but into wealth. But it was not so with the Lord Jesus, and we are heirs with Him. He was poor, yet He did not want -- never wanted. God would take care to feed His Son. And there is a monstrosity comes into our minds when we think with anxious care about our wants, or think that, because we follow One who had not where to lay His head, we are to want. Did not God take care for that Son of His? You would not think of temporal need, and fear it, if you were in the light of the Lord Jesus. It is quite a different thing for Him to hide from you the channels through which He will care for you, and His forgetting you.
This winding up of the epistle is most important. Paul's heart was enlarged; how should he stop short of God's thought about them? He had blessed them with "all spiritual blessings;" how could the apostle help reminding them that these were given to them that they might use them, and that, too, at the present moment for God's glory?
We go to the Lord with a burdened heart, and bring it away with us, because we have the cross still, and do not understand His way. But, when we know Him better, we are content the cross should be there, because He cannot take it off until it has done its work upon us, and so His Father be glorified. We say: The cross is too heavy. He says: No, my Father put it there, and, if I take it off, the flesh will break out; the cross must remain until the will bends to it.
You will often find yourself in a Pi-hahiroth; sit still and watch. Moses' sister was in a very blessed position; the little ark had gone out among the bulrushes, she sits down and watches. It was a blessed place for faith to watch, and see what was done. If you cannot sit still and wait for God, you are not in the right position. Do you say: But we have given all up; now what will the end be? How will the Lord show Himself? -- Sit down before God, and say: Thy ways are too great for me; what wilt thou do?
There is a largeness about His ways that beggars our understanding. It goes beyond His people's requests. Many of the restrictions the people of God suffer come from themselves, because there is not simplicity to say: What wilt thou do? Abraham's intercession stopped at ten; but God goes farther, and takes up the desire of His heart. If I leave God to act He will act much more munificently than if I say: Do this, or do that. -- "He that spared not his own Son, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? "
"The wiles of the devil" are methods -- methodical actings; it does not mean "fiery darts" merely. Leighton observes: "It is not the half-laden caravans he cares to attack." He may retire when the heart is not keeping watch; and elsewhere just come in, and cause the heart fun of joy to get a fall.
Christians want more quietness. There is often too much haste in accrediting what we fall amongst. Much truth may be believed -- many high truths assented to -- such as union with Christ, and the like; and yet it may come out after all, that the heart has never known the taste of grace, not knowing itself the chief of sinners. What, then, is the good of all that knowledge? There has been much of the wiles of Satan in it. You get no good from truth unless it bring your heart into communion with Christ. It is God putting home the points of truth, and making them home-stores, that is really good. There may be quantities filling the imagination, and much talked of, and written about, but the question is: Do I know this Son of God who became Son of man for me? -- He who came down into all my need as a Saviour.
"We wrestle." We must not only be prepared for active service -- for going forward; but we must be ready to stand against the immense array of opposing power. And this is much the more difficult of the two -- to hold fast for your own soul what God holds fast for the church in Christ. I do not think the thought of "flesh" and "world" is excluded here, but it is not these only, but their "rulers." It is not only the world, it is the master of the world; not only the flesh, but the master of the flesh, that we have to contend with. It is not a question whether you can break this or that bad habit in yourself, but there is that great power of darkness above you, who only found his match in One. When the Lord was here he tried Him, but could not overcome Him in anything; and the way He acted is ours. The more power Satan put forth, the more Christ left Himself in the hands of God. And none can be a match for Satan now but He who baffled him entirely, and set him aside. Christ did not either exhaust His power in doing it; He carried a perfect righteousness all through. And now I can overcome, because the blood is what Satan can never stand against, and God has said He will destroy Satan under our feet shortly. Trial you will have; you will be tried to the very bottom. Would to God you might be always "more than conquerors;" but depend upon it, whenever you are, you will have nothing to boast in but Christ.
Another thing of importance is faithfulness to others and to one-self. I see two souls, one, perhaps, carrying a burden a thousand times heavier than others; and he walks quietly, just having as much as he can bear, and no more. I see another, with a very little burden, who breaks down. None but God can judge about these two; God and Christ can. Remember you have not come to the end yet. To one who has a trial which seems to him past all bearing, I would say: Cannot you identify yourself with God's counsels? and say "I will glory in my infirmities." -- In judging, you must consider not merely the weight of the trial, but the character of the vessel, and the nature of the strength given. The weakest vessel cast into the hottest furnace if the Son of God be there, will come out unhurt; while the strongest will be burnt up if the Son of God be not there. Is my girdle broken? Shall I say He has laid too heavy a burden on me?
It is a very important thing to see what my walk has been, and what the state of my heart is. Perhaps He will say to me: Your eye is not single enough; you are truly looking to me, and desiring my glory, but you do not see yet how I am sure to meet you. God says: I do count my Christ worthy. Do you ask me to fill you up? Well, I count Him worthy, and therefore I can fill such a vessel as you! It is not a question of whether I will give it to you, but whether I will give it to my Christ.
It is often the case, in trial and conflict, that we give ourselves credit for something more than we have; then he has to make us open our hand to let it go. I must take the place of having nothing, and act simply on what God is, and on what Christ is, and not be vindicating myself as Job did. When God comes in to vindicate, how graciously He does it!
There must be patience. God will try you; He will make you know that the springs are not in yourself; He would have you sure that you have none in yourself, just by your being filled up with those springs that are above, that others may see it too.
Ephesians 6: 13, 14.
One remark I would make as to the quiet way in which the apostle assumes it is all right in the hearts of these Ephesians.
He had drawn a striking picture of how God, to please Himself, spontaneously from His own heart, had come in and taken up a people out of a state of devil-possession, had revealed Himself, and made them members of Christ, His Son at His right hand, the Head in heaven. Last time I was looking at the position taken by God down here, Jesus of Nazareth being up there at His right hand, as the Head in heaven. He has the answer down here in a people who know His name, and who have to make good a certain position according to it, in spite of all Satan can do.
Think, dear friends, what grace! God in heaven making good in you a position by the Holy Ghost, answering to that of His Son in heaven. Grace, for height and depth beyond the creature, reaching to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Grace, which comes down to us under all our ruin, even when we were "dead in trespasses and sins," rolled about by Satan as the withered leaf is tossed by the wind in autumn -- those whom he had in his possession.
Who are you, that in you God should make good this answer? Yet to us He says: You are the proof to Satan, and to the world, that my Son is sitting on high as the Head; and this is the position in which you have got to stand.
How quietly the apostle assumes, as I was saying, that the tone of their hearts was right, as well as that they were ready to live to Him who "died and rose." There is no stirring them up -- no pleading with them to take the position he was putting before them; they are in it. How different the people of God are now! We see them having a thousand objects but the one the Holy Ghost would cause to thrill in us. How ashamed we should be when we see what is around us, and then look closer home, and find our houses unpurged, our heart unjudged, and He still having to say to us as members of that living Head!
He speaks here not of motives but of position. He supposes the soul to have a character suited to that of sons of such a Father -- of vessels sealed by the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit. How different the church of God was to what it is! They had a single eye -- one object -- seeking in everything Christ's glory -- light bearers in the world. And what decrepitude in us! how it shames us!
With regard to this armour for the church militant, whose soldiers are you? -- God's? -- And what for? Pleasure? or conflict? And how far are your hearts interested in the conflict? Are you only taking it because "no cross, no crown?" or has it taken hold of your hearts as the spring of your souls?
"Her seed shall bruise thy head." -- How far are you counting that all connected with Satan is shortly to be bruised? But nothing connected with the Son of God shall be bruised; He will not let you be, because you are connected with His fortune. How far does that tell on your hearts?
Then with regard to this conflict, is it for ever? No! there is a time when rest will come: "They shall learn war no more." There will be a happy end to it all, but now we are learning to endure. And, as to the service whilst we are in it, what provision has Christ made for us? -- This brings us to the armour.
"Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth." -- Do you know the value of a girdle in regulating and increasing strength? As Christians we cannot do without the girdle; it tells home upon us, and speaks much of the grace we have to do with. Truth is the girdle; it comes searchingly home, it surrounds us. Have you a clear idea of what it is? Can you put it into other words so as to satisfy yourself? There are certain things true to God's mind, and certain things which are not true. His word tells us this. If you have His word close round about you, you will find it uncommonly searching.
The eye of Christ was always on God's word. When Satan came to Him, He could say, That is not truth. I am bound to what is truth. -- Satan tried to misapply truth, and what is misapplied is not truth. It was not that Satan could not quote Scripture; he did; but he applied it to Christ, not as One going down, down, down -- as the Servant come to do His Father's will -- but as thinking of Himself and not God. Truth was the girdle to Him, and He had power to endure. What a contrast in Peter. "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee." He was not a Nazarite -- his heart filled with a single desire; with him it was not always the thought: Where is my God in this thing? So there was weakness.
I believe if this were entered into more in our own souls, it would explain much as to our failure in walk. There is such a thing as the truth of God -- God's thoughts about you -- coming down into your very circumstances, which, if applied to you where you are, will be the strength of the Nazarite to you, and, while faithful to Him who has separated you, none shall be able to bind you. It will be ever with you: "Lo, I come to do thy will."
The thought I have about the girdle is not that it is merely truth in contrast with error -- God's truth about Christ, and the like; but it is truth coming down to me here, and encircling me right round where I am in my circumstances. People are often astonished at what happens to them -- borne down where they expected to stand. When I look back, I see that I have not had the experience of Paul "in all things more than conquerors," if I have not had the girdle on. I should avow it. Perhaps I was a soldier for myself, and not for Christ. Perhaps I have had a girdle on of my own, not the girdle of truth.
How far, I ask you, is your eye single? The single eye is that which sees God as He is. None but Christ did that perfectly. Many saints who have heard about the grace of God, and can confess that they are the chief of sinners, yet, when you get to their hearts, you do not find mercy and grace there, and the knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ, as you should expect to find it. It is a very solemn thing to see how imagination may dress up and play with truth; the mind filled with fantasies, instead of the heart being in the dust before God, bowed down in His presence, and tasting, as individuals, mercy and grace.
Do you know God for yourself? Are you familiarised with God in Christ -- that Christ who is the model God Himself looks at, and has given to you? Has God looked into your heart in power to show you Christ, in whom is all His delight, as the One into whose likeness He would have you moulded? He has seen loathsome, creeping things in there, and He has made you to see what you had no idea of. Christ is to be there, instead of everything else, in the end: but you will see at first how mercy alone suits you. If you do not see what a horrid black thing you are in contrast with Christ, you have no true thought about God's mercy, and should not take the place of a soldier, but go and look for "the girdle of truth." You must have it quickening and taking hold of your heart, or you will not be able to take the place of one fighting the good fight of faith.
"And having on the breastplate of righteousness." -- I know not how better to take this up than by contradicting two errors. The Protestant error, in connection with justification by faith, has been to make the righteousness of Christ applied to a person who has been previously occupied with Christ -- imputed righteousness. This is untrue. The Romanist says there is no such a thing as imputed righteousness. The Protestant would establish some ground for Christ's favour by his own happy feelings and so on; and, when these are gone, the whole process has to be gone through again of getting his soul into that state once more. He only sees imputed righteousness, and not imparted; and this error has arisen in answer to the Roman Catholic notion of imparted righteousness only, with no imputed righteousness. These say, when you have overcome all the evil in you, God will give you the benefit of imparted righteousness.
But the breastplate is not according to either of these views. It is something covering the front of the person all over, and protecting it. Is it that a certain power has come inside me, and will in the end cast out all evil? No, it is more than this. The Christ that spake to Saul, took him up, and made him one with Himself; Christ's life throbbed now in Saul. The members here are in vital union with Christ the Head, and this union links them up in one life.
Where do I begin when I talk of righteousness? With God. I say: It was righteous of God to raise Christ from the dead, and thus to vindicate Him as worthy of all glory; it was righteous of God to show out what the world was, to show out the impotency of Satan, and to show out what He Himself was, too, by raising Christ from the dead and putting Him there on the throne of God, everything put into His hands by right and title. "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Here is the perfectness of righteousness.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins;" there is value in the blood to put them away. But there is more than that. He has stores of righteousness in that One up there, which He could throw over the sinner. But He does more than that. He makes the pardoned sinner one with that Christ -- with that righteous One. God looks at us not in ourselves, but in Christ; and thus the righteousness I have is perfect; it is "the righteousness of God."
The tempest-tossed conscience, knowing its feelings about sin, but not seeing the full measuring out of its guilt on Christ, needs to see the question of sin for ever settled -- needs to see it as connected with the great plan of God. The foundation is Christ. The separate stones do not give the value to the building; it is the temple as a whole, and the foundation on which it stands. The righteousness of God, who "when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ." Different this, to the thought of a white robe thrown over me.
It is not my mind at work on God's truth; it is God's truth at work on my mind. If you have the unction from the Holy One, you need to look to God to have His truth so brought home to you. A person may be holding truth himself, instead of having it as a girdle round him. There is all the difference possible in our grasping at truth, and truth holding us.
The righteousness we have is not only imputed, which gives the idea of something thrown down to me from a distance, but it is mine by the power of a life communicated. Life is there; the seal of the Spirit is there. To be without any power but my own would be agony: for then all the purposes of my heart must be found, like Peter's, to be insufficient. God must keep all, as well as lay the foundation. The Spirit of God teaches me, that it is the righteousness in life of a Christ who has died and is risen. Christians want quietness, but it must be quietness of life -- of resurrection life. I would rather be a poor, dark, uninstructed one living on Christ, than have all the blaze of truth without Him. The one who has intercourse with the living Christ has the power of life.
There is no power of living Christ, and quitting ourselves like men, but by living out here the life He has communicated to us. Of course it is no question now of guilt upon the conscience: there would be no living Christ to us unless He had been a dead Christ. But I would rather see any one in bondage, not knowing what to make of the contrast between himself and the Christ who has given him forgiveness and divine righteousness, than to see much liberty, in the sense and knowledge of grace, and no self-loathing at the contrast. Doubtless, I am to have liberty, but God would have me see myself, and learn that I shall be a blessed person when I awake in His likeness.
Oh, beloved friends! one thing is pressed much on my heart for you -- for many whom I see individually, and for all collectively. It is that you may feel the importance of living, practical holiness before God. Having life -- having righteousness -- to which nothing can be added, and from which nothing can be taken away, as the living members of Christ before the throne, you should individually most earnestly seek to walk before God.
"Selections from the Writings and Ministry of G. V. Wigram."
