Jesus Glorified - the Spirit Given

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 6 - Glory in Christ

Reading: Heb. 9.

"Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8).

"So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22).

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen" (Eph. 3:20-21).

(6) A Sanctuary For God

The Holy Spirit's coming is to constitute a sanctuary for God. Here is the glory of God in and upon Jesus as glorified made to dwell in a sanctuary, which is the church. That gives us a true conception of the church: what it is for, what it is called to live up to by the grace of God, what we must all make our main object; that God in Christ may dwell within and be glorified in us. That is the church; that is the church's vocation; that is the church's privilege. So that Jesus glorified and the Holy Spirit have in view a sanctuary for God.

In Exodus 24 we are dealing with the things which are basic to the habitation of God in the Spirit. Into the mountain certain ones are called, and in relation to it God shows His pattern of the heavenly sanctuary. "And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel..." (Ex. 24:1). Three groups ascend the mount: Moses; Aaron, Nadab and Abihu; and seventy of the elders of Israel.

1. Moses

Moses alone goes into the presence of Jehovah as the Head of the Lord's people, the mediator of the old covenant. The first great feature in the sanctuary is the Mediator, the Lord Jesus as Head of the Lord's people (Heb. 9:15). The Lord's people derive very much from the fact that there is One in the very presence of God who is the one Mediator between God and man, Jesus, who ever lives to make intercession for us. In spite of our weaknesses, failures, imperfections, we are maintained on the way while our hearts are towards the Lord. It is due to the fact that there is One there who is saying continually, in effect, "I have prayed for them that their faith fail not". Let us take stronger hold upon that.

2. Aaron, Nadab, Abihu

Here we have representation in priestly ministry as amongst the Lord's people. Their being there says that the people of God are a priestly people in this world, that they are related to that great priestly ministry. Aaron, Moses' brother, in spirit-principle is relationship with the mediator, and the family comes in in his sons.

The church is called to exercise a priestly ministry towards this world; that is, to speak of those values which are in precious blood, in redemption, in atonement, and the way to God through the sacrifice and offering of His Son. That characteristic of the Lord's people is represented in these three. The church is suffering want, and lack, and is in weakness and poverty for want of a priestly ministry of a spiritual kind. We have to take our priestly ministry far more seriously, and recognise that that is the appointed order, it is a part of the divine economy and something established which God will not overlook. It is the expression here in this universe of the great High Priestly work of the Lord Jesus. It is Jesus glorified and manifested in the church by the Holy Spirit in priestly activity. Priestly ministry means bearing on the heart before the Lord His people, in faith and assurance that He will, through that ministry, have regard unto them.

The Spirit makes intercession. Christ, who is the Advocate on high, has His Advocate within; He who intercedes on high also intercedes here. The Spirit Himself makes intercession according to the will of God. "The Spirit helpeth our infirmity...".

3. Seventy of the Elders of Israel

Numbers represent something in the Word of God, though we must always be careful not to become fanciful in our interpretation, but here is something which is borne out by so many things in the Word of God. Seventy is simply a combination of 7 and 10. Seven is spiritual completeness: ten is spiritual responsibility. So that 70 stands to speak of spiritual perfection in responsibility in divine order.

Elders mean that you have got away from the novice, from spiritual infancy where responsibility cannot be taken in this sense, and you come to maturity. That is God's thought for His people. The elders are people who have come to the place of taking the interests of God to heart seriously. The letter to the Ephesians brings the church into view, the vessel of those purposes, the instrument of those purposes, the full thoughts of God. They are not thoughts of an hour, not thoughts of a dispensation; they are thoughts of all the ages, which embrace the universe.

Are you prepared for the Holy Spirit to do that work in you which is essential to make you what God desires you to be as of that sanctuary? He must, to do that, take you in hand and deepen you to bring about spiritual maturity unto spiritual responsibility, to trust you through His grace with His riches. He wants to bring His people to His fulness, to bring them to have the knowledge of all His thought. To come into that there must be that ministry in the sanctuary of deepening and maturing. That ministry can only be fulfilled as there are those who are being deepened, and deepened, and deepened in the hands of the Holy Spirit. The need is a tragic need. It will only be met as we commit ourselves to the Holy Spirit to do that work in us which will fit us to take responsibility and be able to be entrusted with those great riches for the Lord's people.

 "And Moses rose up early in the morning..." (Ex. 24:4). Rising early in the morning signified two things:

1. A New Day

It is a new day, a new dispensation. That is borne out by the fact that when God brings in His church at Pentecost, it is a new dispensation which is characterised peculiarly and supremely by the church; it is the church dispensation. With the church God has brought in a new order, a new economy, and the necessity on our part is to recognise and grasp the pre-eminent characteristic of the dispensation in which we live. God's whole thought for the dispensation is bound up with the church as a heavenly Body. It is the nature of the dispensation to gather out from the nations a people for His Name, and to mark a separation in them. It is not the day of the earthly Kingdom, not the day of the earthly church, but the day of a heavenly people, a heavenly sanctuary.

2. Energy

A man who rises in the early morning is an energetic man, as a rule. Here is devotion and energy in relation to God's purpose, nothing careless or indifferent. Here is a man that is caught with something that has become with him a new thing, a new day, and he is up early. Listen to the man who is spiritually the embodiment of the principle we are seeking to enunciate: "Striving according to His working which worketh in me mightily, to present every man perfect in Christ". "I would have you know what great conflict I have for you... and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh". There is nothing personal about this. This is divine interest in the saints, devotion to the Lord's concern, that every man should be presented perfect in Christ.

The Altar

"And built an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel" (Ex. 24:4).

The altar is that which marks the division between death and life. If there had been any approaching of that mount without the altar, there would have been death, but coming to that mount by way of the altar, it was life. The altar is always a type of the Cross. On the one side there must be death to all that is of the flesh, that is not of God in man by nature. On the other side the death upon us by nature has been taken in that mighty death of His and proved itself to be a death-conquering death for us, so that through the Cross we live and draw near where God is. Here they are told to stand "afar off"; nevertheless there was coming into proximity.

The Twelve Pillars

A pillar in Scripture is always a symbol of testimony. Jacob set up his pillar. A pillar was set up on the border of the land. The number twelve represents a testimony to the fact that all Israel is standing for the full will and thought of God. The church stands for the testimony that God wills all His people to come to this. The testimony in our hearts is that God's thought for all His people is the fulness of Jesus Christ; nothing less than that. We stand for that. We would therefore seek to have all the people of God in view for the fulness of Christ in devotion.

Young Men Offering Sacrifices

"And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord" (Ex. 24:5).

Again it is a matter of energy. Young men are brought forward in the Scriptures as the symbols of energy. These young men speak of the energy which is in these sacrifices and offerings; the tremendous energy that lies resident within the atoning work of the Lord Jesus - the burnt offering; the tremendous energy that lies in the reconciling work of His Cross - the peace offering. We have to recognise that the precious blood never loses its power, the mighty work of our Lord in atonement and reconciliation is a mighty thing, and the church has got to have the might of that maintained in spiritual energy.

All these are the things which constitute the Sanctuary of God.