| Article | The Corporate Vessel
There are two titles or designations of the Church, which are, to my mind, supreme amongst the designations. The first is "Christ": "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12). That seems to be the very highest designation of the Church. The ...read |
| Article | The Crisis of Pentecost
Christianity is built upon two great facts, the facts that God raised Jesus from the dead and the fact that the Holy Spirit makes this a reality in the life of the believer. Jesus risen; the Spirit given: these are the two foundations of our faith. There is no real knowing or living until the Holy Spirit comes, and comes in.
It is He who throws li ...read |
| Article | The Cross and Ministry
The second letter (to the Corinthians), as we know, is the ministers' letter! It tells us what a minister is from the Divine standpoint when the Cross does its work. Moses, the minister of God, is brought very much into view, ministering in the old covenant, declaring the thoughts of God, revealing the Divine mind. That is what a minister is. A min ...read |
| Article | The Cross and the Deliverance of the Mind
There are few, if any, more malignant causes of spiritual paralysis than a mind unrenewed or unguarded. We learn by bitter experience that the main objective of the adversary as the most important means to his ends is the mind. Nine-tenths of the trouble with both the individual child of God and the fellowship (or arrested fellowship) of the Lord's ...read |
| Article | The Cross and the God of Hope
"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
'The God of hope fill you... that ye may abound in hope!'
As you know, the apostle has worked his way up to this point through a long and detailed argument. He has covered the whole course of things fro ...read |
| Article | The Cross of Christ
Zero. The dictionary tells us that (a) Zero is the point in the scale of the thermometer from which positive and negative quantity is reckoned.
(b) In military operations, the point of time from which the start of each movement in a timed programme is at a specified interval.
The combination of these two definitions is exactly what we mean when w ...read |
| Article | The Crown of the Incorruptible
"An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you..." (1 Peter 1:4)
The verdict of the long run, that is, what abides as incorruptible when all else has passed, is the verdict upon life and work. How much will be found afterwards to the praise and glory of God? That word 'incorruptible', then, is ...read |
| Article | The Cry of the Elect
Reading: Luke 18:1-8.
The common interpretation of this parable is that it is a lesson in, or an exhortation to, importunity in prayer, and it has been generally used in that connection. While undoubtedly there is that element in it, that is altogether too limited an interpretation. If you look at the setting of the parable, you will see that it ...read |
| Article | The Curse of the Earth Touch
In searching for a sentence that will serve as a window through which what we have in view can be seen the one that seems most potent is
The Curse of the Earth Touch.
To understand what is meant by those last three words is to have an explanation of an immense amount of history, spiritual and temporal.
We must begin by re-emphasizing the fact ...read |
| Article | The Danger of Coming Short
"Lest any one of you should seem to have come short" (Hebrews 4:1).
For those who, like the New Testament writers, have a real burden and sense of responsibility for the spiritual life of God's people, one of the most heart-breaking things is the way in which so many who gave promise of going right on with the Lord are caught in some side-track ...read |
| Article | The Deliverance of Souls
An Exodus Accomplished
Reading: Luke 9:27-36; 2 Pet. 1:16-18; John 18:33-37; Col. 1:13.
"There are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God."
"My kingdom is not of this world."
"...who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his ...read |
| Article | The Divinely Appointed Place of Christ
"The unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8).
"O the depth of the riches...! how unsearchable...!" (Romans 11:33).
"Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not and which entered not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him. But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all t ...read |
| Article | The Earthly Man and the Heavenly Man
"Jesus... said... Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born from above (R.V.M.), he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
These words and nearby verses are used almost exclusively in speaking to the unsaved, and, of course, originally they so applied. But I am remembering that John wrote this many decades after the incident. The ...read |
| Article | The Eternal Reward of Labour and Suffering
Reading: Numbers 27:1-7; Joshua 15:13-19, Romans 8:17.
I have just one thought that I want to pass to you here. It relates to inheritance. In the New Testament that word is found to compass quite a lot. In the first place, inheritance is there shown to be a matter of birthright; then it is extended to a bequest, a gift; and then still further it ...read |
| Article | The Face of Christ
The face of Jesus Christ embraces all that is signified by "the Man Christ Jesus" from eternity to eternity in relation to God's thought, God's will, God's design. It is all behind that face. That is what we mean when we say: Catch a glimpse of the face of Jesus Christ, and you have the wonder of all ages - the glory of God from eternity to eternit ...read |
| Article | The Fellowship of His Sufferings
"That I may know him and... the fellowship of his sufferings" (Phil. 3:10).
"I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ... for his body's sake, which is the church." (Col. 1:24).
"...to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Heb. 2:10).
"...he him ...read |
| Article | The Fellowship of His Sufferings
"The Sufferings Of Christ Abound Unto Us" 2 Cor. 1:5
Read: 2 Corinthians 1:3-5; 2 Corinthians 6:8-13; 2 Corinthians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 11:23-28; 1 Corinthians 4:9-13; 2 Corinthians 1:8-10
There is a very great deal summed up in the passages we have just read, but what I have on my heart to say will be confined to two things; firstly, the suffer ...read |
| Article | The Final Call of God
History is marked by a recurrent crisis which has three aspects. Whenever God has considered that the time has come for judgment, that ordeal by fire has involved these three issues. Judgment is not only penalty or punishment; it is firstly discovery and uncovering. Then it is discrimination and putting things in the category to which they belong b ...read |
| Article | The Flame of a Sword
"He placed at the East of the Garden... the flame of a sword which turned every way..." Genesis 3:24.
A glance at the context will show that this deliberate act of God was a precautionary measure against fallen Adam and his race as now "flesh," attempting or assaying to touch or appropriate that which symbolises the holy Divine Life of the ages. ...read |
| Article | The Food Question
In times of national emergency one of the most vital considerations, and one that very largely governs the issue, is that of the food supply. To conserve it is a primary feature of both defence and aggression. To keep it from falling into the enemy's hands is a tactic of victory. If this is true in the natural and earthly realm, it certainly is tru ...read |
T. Austin-Sparks