A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 4 - The King and His Administration

Reading: Matt. 16:16-18, 17:1-2,5, 22-23,27, 18:15-20.

"God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things... but Christ as a son, over His house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end" (Heb. 1:1-2, 3:6).

Authority Bound Up with Sonship

Our present word is but a further underscoring of what, as a matter of doctrine and truth, is known to most of us - the matter of Christ's authority in God's house, and what that house means to God. "God... has at the end... spoken... Son-wise" (Heb. 1:2) is the literal meaning, and that is carried over to this further statement: "Christ as a son, over God's house" (Heb. 3:6). The context shows quite clearly that it is a matter of His supremacy there, His authority there.

A comparison is made with Moses. "Moses... was faithful in all his house as a servant" - literally 'an attendant', but Moses had great authority even as an attendant in the house of God and we know God stood by His servant and supported him in a very drastic way. But when it comes to Christ, the position is far transcendent even of Moses. Here we are not dealing with an attendant in God's house, however great, however much God committed Himself to His servant Moses. Here we have to do with the Son who is not a servant in the house, but a Son over the house. The comparison, of course, is made in order to exalt the Lord Jesus, and in the first place to indicate His absolute supremacy. But it is a statement which goes further than that and contains more than that.

This matter of authority is bound up with sonship, and, if not the statement, the clear implication is this: that authority is found in the house of God when Christ is in His place, when Christ is Lord. The passages in Matthew make that perfectly clear and settled. The Lord has been speaking about the church and what should happen, and then He makes the statement that, so far as the church is concerned, "What things so ever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things so ever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". He is speaking about the Father in heaven and about the church and the authority in the church when His Name is honoured, when He is in His place. "I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it". The authority reaches out there, comes right in among the Lord's people, and authority is with the church when it is truly the house of God, which it is when Christ is absolute Lord in a practical way.

Christ's Authority and Supremacy in the House

We have said before at one point that this letter to the Hebrews does collect up the Scriptures throughout and embrace them all, and it is very evident that that is true with regard to the gospel by Matthew. There is a close correspondence between this letter and Matthew's gospel, especially in this one connection of Christ's authority and supremacy in the house.

You know that Matthew opens by singling out Christ, distinguishing Him in a particular way. He is "the son of David, the son of Abraham". Thus He is distinguished in sonship, He is marked. David had many sons, Abraham had many sons - his seed was as the sand, as the stars of heaven - and yet when the son of David and the son of Abraham is referred to, it is only one distinguished Son, and that is the Lord Jesus. So Matthew opens by this distinguishing of the Lord Jesus as pre-eminent and as unique among all other seeds and all other sons of David and Abraham. And Matthew's gospel closes with, "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth". This One, distinguished at the beginning, is the One in whom universal authority is reposed from heaven. In between the two the church comes in in a peculiar way. You do not have it mentioned in the other gospels at all in this way. It is Matthew, strangely enough, who has to do with kingship in relation to Christ who brings in the church.

The Holy Spirit is safeguarding and preserving the principle of the authority of Christ, and it is there in relation to the church and then, as all of a piece with it (there is no gospel which brings it out more fully), the authority which is opposed to the Lord Jesus. Right from the beginning you find another authority asserting itself. At His birth there is Herod, that vessel of Satan, seeking the destruction of this One who is to have the universal authority. You find this sinister counter-authority coming out again and again and again in different ways; sometimes personally, directly and nakedly as in the wilderness; sometimes through individuals, some of which individuals were positive enemies of Christ like Herod, and sometimes beloved and close associates like Peter. And not only through individuals but through companies - the Scribes, rulers, elders, Pharisees and so on. But it comes out in Matthew's gospel in a very pronounced way - the two authorities. But my point here is that the authority of Christ finds its expression in and through the church. That is the point, and here in this letter to the Hebrews, that is what is implicit - the house of God and Christ as a Son over God's house, and that Son has been indicated as unique and supreme.

We know so well from the first verses of the letter the pains being taken by the Holy Spirit through the writer to make it clear how far above all others, men and angels, is Christ, and then that transcendence is brought right into the house of God. Well, that is something to observe, to take note of, to be impressed with, but we have to come, of course, to the practical values and outworking of that.

Christ's Authority Expressed by the House of God

We begin, then, by just reminding ourselves that God is establishing a house with which the authority of Christ is bound up. Is Christ's universal authority going to be expressed? We say, "Yes!" How? By what means? By the house of God. Therefore, for the very expression of Christ's supremacy the house is necessary, and that is why God is building, God is establishing a house - I use the word 'establishing' as the better word than building here. Even establishing is not good enough. The word means quite simply and clearly that God is collecting and bringing in all that which makes a house. Literally, in ordinary, everyday language, it would be - God is bringing vessels and utensils and implements that go to make up a house. Interpreted spiritually, God is fixing up a house. This house, of course, is comprised of living beings coming into sonship as the context shows: "Whose house are we" (Heb. 6:3). God is constituting, establishing a house, bringing it into being, bringing it into being by collecting, bringing together all that which makes a house. God will have everything there that is necessary to His purpose. Now He is doing that establishing, supplying, with all that goes to make a house, and the thing which He has in view is this: that by this means the supremacy of His Son is going to be displayed, expressed, and manifested.

Let us say a thing again we have often said here, that that gives character to the work of God. God is not just getting so many individuals saved as such. It is because that is the mentality of so many - just to get individuals saved, that is the thing that matters and that is all that matters, to get people saved - because that is the mentality, things are in the state of appalling weakness that they are in now amongst Christians fairly generally all over the world. We dare not question whether these people are saved people, whether they have had a transaction with the Lord, but there is a lot to question about their spiritual life and about their real effectiveness and value. There is a lot to question as to the expression of the greatness of Christ. The expression of the greatness of Christ is very limited, and that is very largely due to this mentality of just getting people saved. God is not just concerned with getting a lot of people saved; God is concerned with a house and until the house comes into view, all that God means is suspended and God is very greatly limited amongst His people. We have said that many times, but let us say it again as we pass on.

God Works House-Wise

That leads us to this further word, that God does everything house-wise. This is not just a late idea which has come in. This is an eternal thought as it is revealed to us in the Scriptures; it goes right back before the world was, it is an eternal thought, and it is not far into the Scriptures before we come upon that thought in expression. The house of God comes boldly out in its name and in the implications of it with Jacob at Luz - Bethel, the first time, but very comprehensive: "This is none other than the house of God" - Bethel (Gen. 28:17). You have indicated there all that the house of God means. There is God Himself, the Lord, above in the place of Lordship and government. There is the life here on the earth absolutely governed from heaven, direct from heaven, coming under heaven's government. There is the intercommunication between what is here and what is there, the angels of God ascending and descending. It is taken up by Christ with Nathanael (John 1:51). He is that ladder and it is in and through and upon Him by the Spirit that communication is carried on between heaven and earth; His house here and Himself there. It is at Bethel. And much more; Bethel is a full, Divine thought.

You pass on still to these patriarchs. You come to Joseph; you come through the humiliation and the suffering to the exaltation, and Joseph in exaltation is told by Pharaoh that he shall be over all his house, that all his servants shall take their orders from him, and no one shall move, go in or out, only at the word of Joseph (Gen. 41:40,45). It was the fulfilment of his dream - absolute authority as in the house, so that in the first circle of his own brethren, his own household after the flesh, his own family after the flesh, all their need is met by reason of his authority in the house - and beyond them to the world - everything is in the hands of this exalted lord over the house. You can at once see something of the meaning of the house of God and Christ's authority in it, for these are but foreshadowings.

The Fulness of the House

You come again to the great builder of the house - the twin builders, shall we say - David and Solomon. The house comes into full view with Solomon, and what is the outstanding feature and characteristic of the house of God in the days of Solomon? It is just fulness, abundance. The thing that amazed everybody and overwhelmed the Queen of Sheba was the abundance, we could say the redundancy of things there, the glory of that house, fulness. It is a principle.

When Christ, the greater Son of David, the greater Solomon, is over the house of God and things are constituted under His absolute government, there is no lack of spiritual bread, there is no shortage, there is no smallness. It is like that. Now, this is not theory, this is not just Bible teaching, this is fact and fact which is borne out surely in the experience of many of us here. If you have the Lord's people constituted according to Christ, under His government by the Holy Spirit, that is a place of plenty. You never go away hungry, dissatisfied; it is a place of plenty. It is the place of power, the place of light, the place of counsel and instruction. All that God's house means is found there. It is a place of refuge, a place of safety, a place of comfort. It is a place to which you look, and yet it is not a place, it is a people where you find your help. Is this not true? It is true when things are like that. That is what God is seeking.

God Moves Toward His House

We are saying that God does everything house-wise. That moves in the two directions. God moves always toward His house. He indicates His house, He points out His house; He does not work apart and independently of His house in the normal way. It is quite an exception for God to move apart from His house. I am not saying that He never does the exceptional thing, but the normal procedure of the Lord is to work toward His house. If even a Saul of Tarsus with his great eternal destiny is directed toward the house in Damascus for his counsel and direction and enlightenment and help and deliverance and comfort, and later to the house in Antioch for his commission to be confirmed, if such a one as he requires it and must have it and comes under the government of God for it, how much do we need that provision! You see, it is a principle upon which God works. He works toward His house, and any attempt at work apart from that which is in God's eye and the object of God's concern, will mean that the life is locked up, is defeated; there is limitation. God works toward His house.

God Works From His House

God works from His house. Really there would be a very great deal more effective work, fruitful work in the world if it were less of the individual, less of the mere organisation, and more of the house order where a truly spiritual people under the authority of Christ by the Holy Spirit stood behind what is being done. The work then would be far more effective, and the enemy would be far more countered than he is.

Authority over the enemy calls for the house of God, and God moves out through His house. He says to the church - "What things so ever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and what things so ever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven... For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:18-20). He is in the midst, the Son over the house, the One to whom all authority is given in heaven and earth. God moves always house-wise. Remember that. It may just be the solution to some of your problems when you are not getting through. You are trying to get through on an individual line; it will not work if you are coming into God's full intention. If you are trying to get through alone, you will not do it. If you are trying to carry on by yourself, it will not work; you will just get so far. If you want to go farther, you will have to have something more in relatedness.

Do take this seriously, because it is possible for us to accept the truth as truth and for us to have a kind of association with what we call the house of God, and yet for us to be right in the midst of the thing and be a detached one; attend all the meetings and yet still be a detached one, really not in, just holding back all the time with questions and reservations and disaffections and there, but not there; in, but not in; accepting the truth, believing it all, and yet one by yourself or two by yourselves in the midst of the whole. There is a lot of that that goes on, and that means limitations to those concerned and injury to the house of God.

Remember it is a fact for all God's purpose - house-wise is absolutely essential, and you have got to be right in. You have to find some way of getting over those things that keep you out: you have to make it your business to get them removed. I beg you to just raise this question: is my limitation, my hold-up, my defeat, my weakness, due to some detachment on my part, some independence on my part? It is a question which may carry a lot with it.

Learning House-Life

That leads us then to this final word for the moment. If God is constituting a house with the great object of bringing the fulness of His Son into expression in every way, and especially the authority of His Son in this universe, we have to learn house-life. It is a very important realm of education, a vital one, a very valuable one - to learn house-life. We get a great deal of knocking about there.

We know that to live collectively makes very serious demands upon us. It comes right up against our individualism and our crankiness and our peculiarities and all that, whether it be positive or negative, which is other than a corporate life. I say positive or negative. The positive, of course, are those things that stick out, that have got to be cut off, rubbed off, the awkwardness about us, those positive factors which make it very difficult for us to go on in a life of fellowship, in a house life. The negative is just as bad - that drawing back, that reserve; yes, even our natural reticence and reluctance and reserves and shrinking - the Lord has to do something with people who are negative just as with positive.

Some are not assertive, they are the retiring ones, always retiring in attitude, in spirit and in behaviour, and that natural retiringness may be a weakness in the house of God. The Lord has to do something, not to make us assertive, but to make us positive contributors to the house. It is both ways. It is very practical, but when it is like that and the Lord is dealing with the weak and the shrinking and the retiring ones and making them strong in spirit, they count in the house of God. How many of you have been associated with a company of the Lord's people for years, and have never become a positive factor? You are always there, but what is the positive contribution you make on that side? And on the other, where things have to be eliminated and rubbed off, disciplined and smoothed down? We have to learn this house life, because bound up with it is no less a matter than all that is embodied in Christ as a Son over God's house.

I said at the beginning that this is no new information, but it is a new emphasis, it is what the Lord would say to us. He is concerned with a house, a spiritual house, and His concern with that house is His concern for His Son, to bring out all the glories of His Son, and they cannot be brought out just in separate individual lives; it requires the relatedness, the 'together-ness' of the Lord's people to bring out the many-sidedness of Christ: His glories, His virtues, His splendours. And it requires this corporate life of the Lord's people to bring through the authority of Christ over the powers of evil, the enemy himself, and over all his workings. That brother you see, you cannot call him the devil; that awkward brother, you cannot cast him out as you would the devil; he is a brother, he is in the church, but there is something of the devil working through that brother, and you have to get behind the brother to the thing working through him and bring in the authority of Christ upon that which is working through that brother. And that authority comes in in two or three of the church. The thing is indicated personally; if accepted, it is all right. If not, then the collective action begins - first the church represented by two or three, and then, if that is refused, the whole church, as it may be there, coming into action in the authority of Christ - binding, loosing.

May the Lord use His word to make way for a fuller expression of the Lord Jesus.