The Gospel of God Concerning His Son Jesus Christ Our Lord

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 8 - The Eternal Purpose and Its Security

"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which He promised afore through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 1:1-4).

The gospel of God, or the good news of God, God's good news, that good news is what the apostle says he was separated unto and what became the theme of his life ministry. And when you look at the theme of the apostle Paul, you find it was a very comprehensive gospel, a far-reaching gospel, a gospel which came out from before times eternal and reaches on unto the ages of the ages, a gospel embracing all realms, a gospel the heart of which and the full content of which is represented by one favourite phrase of the apostle - His eternal purpose. That is the good news, God's good news.

It is good news because everything in the history of this world so far has seemed to be bad news. Everything in this world is very much other than something to contemplate with satisfaction. God has sent good news into a world with so much disappointment, heartbreak, hopelessness, wickedness, sorrow and suffering - such suffering as not one of us could bear to know in its totality. If we knew all the suffering of men and women and children and beasts in this world, our brains would not stand it. Into a world, the full depth of suffering and evil of which is comprehended by God who knows it all, He has sent good news. That news, as I have said, is represented by a single phrase, His eternal purpose, and there are two things to say about that.

What the Eternal Purpose is

The first is what that eternal purpose is. It is comprehensive and it is many-sided, and there are countless details, but there are some statements which, while they include so much more than we are able to consider, do set forth something in a comprehensive way of what that purpose is.

We look to that part of the revelation which has come to us where that phrase is used mainly, and we just see something of what it means, I mean the letter to the Ephesians. Here we have three places in which something of the meaning of His eternal purpose is set forth.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ; even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that" - now you come on to purpose - "we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love; having foreordained us (or, having in love foreordained us) unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved; in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in Him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His will; to the end that we should be unto the praise of His glory" (Eph. 1:3-12).

Oh, weigh every fragment! Unto Himself: sons unto Himself; adoption as sons unto Himself; foreordained us unto Himself by adoption as sons according to the good pleasure of His will! You ask what the eternal purpose is? Well, there it is in part. You want to sit down with that and just read it backwards, that is the way to get at it and so build it up. But that is not all!

"But God, being rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" (margin "in Christ") "(by grace have ye been saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus; that" - you are on purpose again - "in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4-7).

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10).

That is something more of the gospel, His eternal purpose, but that is not all!

"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which for ages has been hid in God who created all things; to the intent" - now you are on purpose again - "that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. 3:8-11).

And that is not all!

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be the glory" - here we are on purpose again, it is looking on - "in the church and in Christ Jesus..." throughout the millennium? No: "unto all generations for ever and ever" (Eph. 3:20-21).

God's eternal purpose! The good news of God concerning His Son! Was there ever news like that? Well now, that is one side of the good news.

The Eternal Purpose Secured in Christ Jesus Our Lord

There is another side. The other side is this: that God has centred and has secured all His purpose in and by this One called Jesus Christ, our Lord, that the whole thing is secured in Him and by Him. You will recognize the tense in which all this is written as to Christ Himself. The declaration is, "whom He appointed heir of all things" (Heb. 1:2). "Of the Son, He says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Heb. 1:8).

Before times eternal, it was all secured in Christ, but then note the tense also concerning that which is included in the purpose, "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world"; "He foreordained us unto adoption as sons by Jesus Christ unto Himself"; "He hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus"; "He has made us to sit in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus." Now you are altogether outside of time, you are in eternity, and you are viewing things from God's standpoint who is eternal, with whom time does not count, and when you view things from God's standpoint as being in eternity, everything is; not, things are going to be, everything is. Down here it may yet have to be realized or worked out, but it is with Him, and He has.

If the Lord Jesus, as the inclusive One, is in heaven, then we, who were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world are there in the thought of God, we are there in the mind of God. We are going to come there, but we are there so far as God is concerned. God has His end because He dwells in eternity. Oh, the thing is secured. The good news of God is that it is secured in Christ. There is no chance about this, there are no risks about this. With God it is secured in and by our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the good news, that is the gospel: the eternal purpose centred in and secured in one Man, Jesus Christ our Lord.

But then we come to see God working at His purpose down here and so the next phrases or clauses deal with the time aspect of this, and we shall see that there are two aspects of that activity of God, "which He promised before by His prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning His Son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh; who was declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead". Now, you have here two things, and the second one is divided.

Firstly, that all prophecy was a promise of this good news. That is the statement, "which He promised afore through His prophets in the holy Scriptures". All prophecy was a promise of this good news. That means, as the Lord Jesus made clear on the Emmaus Road, that all the Scriptures were leading up to Him. "These are they which testify of Me." All the Scriptures had Christ buried in them. God had Christ as the inclusive One of all His eternal purpose and always had Him in view from the beginning. Never a prophet opened his lips but there was a relationship to Christ in his utterance. It all bore down upon that, and it is all a great comprehensive promise. He was promised by the prophets in the Scriptures.

Then the second thing is God's faithfulness and power. This divides itself thus - "Who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh". That is one side, "Who was declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead".

Now, if you can see, that represents two dispensations, two aspects or phases of God's eternal purpose in Christ. One has to do with Israel, the other has to do with the church. The one is as to things on the earth, the other is as to things in the heavens.

"Of the seed of David according to the flesh". We need to go back a bit in our New Testament to the book before Romans to get our clue and our ground in that connection. "And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, that God has fulfilled the same unto our children, in that He raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He hath spoken on this wise, I will give You the holy and sure mercies (or blessings) of David" (Acts 13:32-34).

"Of the seed of David according to the flesh". "The sure mercies of David". I want us to get hold of those words and what they signify, because we are dealing with the faithfulness and power of God in relation to the eternal purpose as He works it out in time here among men. It is all fixed and settled in eternity, but the faithfulness and power of God are demonstrated, manifested, and put forth in relation to the practical side of it here. The sure mercies of David. What are the sure mercies? Well, I think we can have no better statement of the certainty in this connection than we have in Psalm 89:29: "His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and His throne as the days of heaven."

As the ages of heaven - that is pretty sure! That is not all. "Once have I sworn by My holiness: I will not lie unto David; his seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as the faithful witness in the sky" (Psa. 89:35-37). There is a statement of surety! God leaves nothing to chance in this. God says with very surety it shall be, and it shall be as certain as the sun and the moon. If the ordinances of the sun and the moon can be brought to an end, so can the seed of David. But they cannot. The witness in the skies is firm surety.

Now listen to that statement in Acts 13 again: "His promise is fulfilled in that He raised up Jesus". God has done it, has fulfilled that. "Of the seed of David according to the flesh" - "His seed shall endure for ever". God, raising Jesus from the dead, has secured all that was promised to Abraham.

But again, the sure mercies of David, and I like what that signifies. When the Lord was giving His promise about David's throne, you notice it is not only his seed, but his throne, and no one ever being lacking in relation to the throne, that there should never cease to be someone upon the throne of David. He said this about David: "If his children forsake My law, and walk not in Mine ordinances; if they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. But My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips" (Psa. 89:30-34).

Oh, the mercy of God! "The sure mercies of David", if God had acted other than in mercy after David had died and Solomon went wrong, there would have been no seed of David, nor a throne of David. But it was because of His mercy towards that iniquitous posterity, His mercy for His oath's sake, for His covenant's sake, for His promises' sake; He deals in mercy. The sure mercies of David. And that secures the earthly side of things.

Oh yes, that explains the present history of Israel. The sure mercies of David still obtain for Israel. You cannot wipe out Israel; you cannot wipe out the earthly kingdom of the sons of Jacob. It is fixed as the sun and the moon because it is a part of God's eternal purpose concerning His Son. The very end for which He was born of the seed of David is to be realized. There shall be a kingdom on this earth of Israel restored with Jesus on the throne, but that is only half of it.

What is the other half - the heavenly side? "Declared the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead". Acts 13 deals with the Israel side. It is all about Abraham and Israel, an appeal to Israel. But when you come to Ephesians, you have got the church side. Whereas the Israel side was established for ever in and by the raising of Jesus Himself from the dead, it is personal. It is personal as to the Lord Jesus in that He raised Him from the dead. When you come to the church side, you have the plural resurrection. The word "by the resurrection of the dead" is in the plural. Literally it should be "the dead ones", and it means Christ and Christ plus, and the church comes in before you get through Romans. You know that is so, and you are carried over at once to Ephesians: "The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit..." (upon the throne of Israel? No, not now) "at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion..." (Eph. 1:19-21). You have the universal kingdom, the heavenly throne. That relates to the church, but here you have the two things again: God's faithfulness to His eternal purpose and God's power.

When the Lord is dealing with Israel, it is always on the ground of the fact of Christ's resurrection. It is the fact that God raised Him. Israel is going to be established on the fact of the resurrection. Israel has got to accept the fact. The one thing that Israel refused and denied, the one thing that they would not have, was that Jesus was risen. You can see Israel all gathered up into Saul of Tarsus. He is the embodiment of the Israel mind, mentality, and attitude about Jesus, and Israel will not have the fact that Jesus is risen, and Israel is going to be established upon the fact. So, whenever the testimony in the New Testament goes out to Israel, the note of the testimony to Israel is that Jesus was the Son of God and proved that by His resurrection. The gospel to Israel always begins on that note, continues on that note, and concludes on that note.

But when you come to the church, you have got something other and something more. You have not just the fact, you have got the power of the resurrection. When you are dealing with the church, you are always dealing with the power of the resurrection, not the fact of it, and I believe that is a very searching thing for us. We all believe in the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus, but that is not enough to constitute the church a vital and effective thing. The church has got to be constituted not only on the doctrine, on the fact, but on the power of His resurrection.

So you come to Ephesians, "the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe". We all believe in the bodily personal resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but we can believe that without it making any difference to us. You tackle any Jew on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and see what a difference it is going to make if he accepts it. It is going to upset everything for the Jew, for the Jews, to admit that Jesus is alive. It simply wipes out the whole of their history since Jesus died. It is going to make a tremendous difference. We are not affected by the fact, but we are affected by the power which is in the fact.

So the church has got to come in on the ground of the power of His resurrection, and it is the power which works right through from the death to the throne. The fact will bring Israel to an earthly throne, the power will bring the church to the universal throne. So, you have got these two sides: Israel and the church - the two aspects of God's purpose: the earthly and the heavenly, the resurrection in its double significance being basic to both; and the faithfulness of God in raising Him from the dead in relation to the sure mercies of David, and the power of God in raising Him from the dead in relation to the church's heavenly reign. Romans 1:13 is about Gentiles, not Israel. Paul says, "That I may have some fruit in you (Gentiles) also". It is about Gentiles.

We must recognize that, so far as Israel is concerned, Jesus has to be recognized and accepted in terms of His identification. That is, Israel has got to identify Jesus of Nazareth, and Israel will be saved and brought into the sure mercies of David by identifying Jesus of Nazareth, and they will identify Him because He is risen or has been raised. The identifying of Jesus is only possible on the ground of resurrection. God's proof that He is His Son is that He raised Him from the dead, and Israel identifies Him by resurrection, and that is where Israel stands.

But the church does not stand on the ground of identifying Jesus. The church stands on the ground of sharing the power of His resurrection. Oh, it is important that you and I, who are called according to His purpose, we who are in the thought of God from all eternity, should know the ground on which we stand, and how important a matter it is that we should know what it is to share the power of His resurrection; not only to identify Him as God's Son, but to share the power of His resurrection. That is what makes the church, that is what characterizes the church - not that it believes the doctrine of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus alone, although it does believe that, but you will identify the true church by the fact that it is sharing the power of His risen life and manifesting that. We are called unto that.

Now, with one little further word about resurrection, I am going to close this present occupation, just pointing out one or two of the things which are conveyed by the phrase, "the resurrection of the dead".

First of all, here in this letter of the gospel of God concerning His Son, that resurrection is the proof of our acceptance. This is where we, in the practical and actual way, enter into the eternal purpose, for, although we are chosen in Him and we are in Him from God's standpoint, we have to come into where we are. We have to get to the place where we are. Something has got to happen, and the first question that will arise as to our getting into the place of our foreordination is that of our acceptance. We have got to be accepted in the Beloved. Acceptance is a big question, seeing what we are. But here is the simple statement in Rom. 4:25, He "was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification". Just get the weight of that.

God raised Him from the dead. Why did He raise Him from the dead? For many reasons, but among them, this one: for our justification. Do you realize that if Jesus had never risen or been raised from the dead, there would have been no justification? God has a Man raised from the dead and in His own presence who is a Man without sin, upon whom sin was laid, (now be careful how you take my words) who was made sin, who was not inherently sinful but sinless, but made sin in our place, upon whom our sins, our transgressions, were laid, and who, in that hour, was looked upon by God as us in all our sin and transgression, and then turned away from by God as something absolutely unacceptable, to be rejected eternally if God remains turned away. What hope is there? But supposing that Man is raised from the dead, altogether free from that sin, from that transgression, and is now presented as a Man as us, as us. Just as He was us there in sin, now He is us in sinlessness. God accepts Him and accepts us in Him because He is our representative in sinlessness and has made us accepted in the Beloved. He was raised for our justification, just as if nothing wrong had ever happened. "Raised for our justification" so that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus constitutes the first glorious step of our coming into that to which we have been called and appointed from all eternity. Accepted!

But then the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is something more in relation to the eternal purpose, and that is shown to us in Romans 6:4: "We were buried therefore with Him through baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life."

"So we also". The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the pattern and standard of our new life. Newness of life!

How can we illustrate, how can we get hold of this? Supposing you had been plagued and burdened by a weight of disease in your body for many years so that there were many things which you could not do. That thing was with you all the time, handicapping, limiting, defeating, making everything impossible. Whenever you were asked to do something, you had to say, "I cannot!" Whenever there was something you wanted to do, you could not do it. Then one day you found the right kind of doctor and he took you in hand and in a very short time there was no trace of that disease left, it was all gone. What a change! No longer would you be governed or hampered by the old conditions. You would say, "Well, all that is past now, all that is gone! Everything is different. I have got a new life! I can do what I could not do." Newness of life! That is a poor illustration, but the resurrection of the Lord Jesus means for us a newness of life which means that an old state of life has gone, and now we have new capacities, new powers, new abilities. We have a whole new world.

Oh, the wonders of resurrection Life! What things are done by resurrection Life! A new world, an open heaven, a new knowledge of the Lord, a new ability! It still remains that in yourself you are at a discount as much as ever, but now, in spite of yourself, you are doing what you could never do. Things are going on now which are not you, not the old man. They are the results of the risen Lord within. Newness of Life! His risen Life is the pattern of our lives. "Even so we also...".

I am going to close with one further emphasis upon the note which has run right through these messages. Coming back to that favourite passage, Eph. 1:18-20, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the power by which the purpose of God is going to be realized.

Purpose comes up in Ephesians, as we have seen, tremendous purpose, the contemplation of which might make us feel that it is something too great, too wonderful, altogether beyond possibility. We look at ourselves and say, "How can it ever be? 'That we should be to the praise of His glory...'. Me? Me to be transformed into His image and be filled with His glory as a member of His Body? Me to provide God with the riches of His inheritance? 'The riches of His inheritance in the saints'. Me, this worm of the earth, climbing up and ever up, beyond all, far above all, to be seated with Him, to come where He says I am!" And so much more as to the vocation of the church throughout the ages to come! As we saw in our previous meditation - the emptying of the lower heavens of the whole power of Satan. Me? Why, I do not have a very good time in the smallest onslaughts of Satan now! I do not come out very well in the battles with the enemy now! How can all this be? How can it be perfected and consummated? By what means is this possible?

"The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand... far above all". That power is the power of the eternal purpose for its accomplishment. The apostle just wants to shout a doxology and says, "Now unto Him that is able to do" - not to contemplate doing, but to do - "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us" - what power? - "the exceeding greatness of His power which He wrought in Christ" in us - and, because of that power - "unto Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever."

If you cannot grasp all this, just let the blessed influence and impact of it come upon your heart, and say to yourself, "I do not understand very much of what has been said, but it seems to me that God has some great thoughts which He intends to realize, and in Christ Jesus He has made provision for realizing them, and my faith in the Lord Jesus will make over to me the power for the realization".