The Mystery

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 1 - "According to the Eternal Purpose"

"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will... which he purposed in him... to sum up all things in Christ... in whom also... foreordained according to the purpose..." - Eph. 1:9-11.

The axiom with which we continue this meditation is, that the measure of fulness in our lives, and the degree of eternal effectiveness in our service in relation to God, will entirely depend upon how far we are directly and definitely living and working in relation to God's specific and pre-eminent purpose at a given time.

That statement ought to be carefully considered. It is something which should be allowed to take us aside for a reconsideration of our entire position. If we are really concerned that we shall "apprehend that for which we have been apprehended by Christ Jesus"; if we ever have the slightest reason to wonder about the absolute rightness of our position or value of our efforts; the only confirmatory or corrective thing is to be perfectly clear as to what God is supremely concerned with for the present time.

We must remind ourselves that we have inherited a full revelation of God's mind, and that no one feature of that revelation is adequate to bring us to fulness: we must be in the whole. We must never argue from common acceptance, tradition, from what is about us, or even from a measure of real or apparent blessing, if such argument is meant to support a situation which is less than God's full thought. We are responsible for that full disclosure of God's mind, and we must be watchful against even the good being the enemy of the best. The "fool's paradise" is not the position of those who have been altogether and absolutely wrong; but of such as have missed the way because they have accepted and followed something which had a measure of right in it, but only went so far. Upon this measure something not wholly according to Divine revelation has been built to great dimensions. What, if at last, it should prove to be a triangle standing upon its apex, and therefore top-heavy; the apex being the measure of truth, the rest man's assumption? It would be better if things were the other way up, so that at last they can "bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it." Unless, with all the good intention and motive in the world, the former of these two ends is to characterise much that is believed to be Christian life and service today, such a consideration as we humbly and earnestly plead for is no small matter.

Disillusionment too late is the most tragic thing conceivable; therefore our hearts are in our message and appeal to make sure that nothing less than God's own all-inclusive purpose is that which holds you. It is all too easy in a time like this to despair of a full expression of God's mind, and to settle down to accept what there is, or to try to improve things a little. We can say that everything is hopelessly in ruins and it is vain to contemplate a much better prospect or to stand for something utterly otherwise. Many there be that have capitulated to such a seemingly necessary course which has no alternative. While this must have a place for much more definite consideration before our message is complete, let us say at once that it is in the nature of the supreme test of faithfulness to God whether, in a day of more or less general declension, there are such as will refuse to capitulate to the situation, but stand against it for what they know to be God's own deepest desire. For such, to surrender, means to admit the defeat of God; that He set out to have something which He could never achieve. Thus it is that in every age of general failure God has had that "peculiar treasure" of Mal. 3, dear to His heart because true to His thoughts.

Without delay, and leaving definition for the moment, let us come right on the matter before us. If it is true that so very much depends upon our being actively one with God in His full thought and purpose, we ask at once: What is that supreme object of Divine interest and concern throughout this present dispensation? That is, what is it that so vitally relates to the eternal purpose as to be the object of God's all-inclusive activity in this dispensation? We have seen something of what the Purpose is; now we have to enquire as to what is the instrument and vessel of that purpose, or the means in and by which the purpose is appointed to be realised. We believe that the Word of God gives the answer in one phrase: "The church which is his body"!

The enquiry and answer will take us to three of the greatest things ever disclosed in this universe. These three things are:

1. The eternal counsels of the Godhead.
2. The love and labour of the Divine Trinity.
3. The Church - the object of redemption.

The Eternal Counsels

Is it not a very wonderful thing, beloved of God, that we should be given glimpses into the counsels and communings of the Godhead? We speak "after the manner of men," for we do not know or understand how these communings went on. We have the language of men used to convey the facts, however.

Firstly, there is the timeless time when it took place; "before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4), "before times eternal" (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1: 2, etc.).

Then there is the deliberation. "Who worketh all things after the counsel of his will," "according to the good pleasure of his will," "the mystery of his will," "he chose," "having foreordained," "he purposed," "according to the purpose," "foreordained," "works afore prepared" (Eph. 1:4, 5, 9, 11, 2:10, etc.). See also Rom. 8:28, 29, 30.

These and many other parts of the New Testament make it quite clear that there was definite and precise deliberation in relation to future ages - and this age in particular - before the world was.

Then we have the particular object in view in those Divine deliberations or counsels. The context of the above Scriptures, and much more, reveals that it was a corporate body. The eternal name for this body is "the elect" (see Rom. 8 with context; Matt. 24:23, 24, 31; Col. 3:12, etc.).

The name by which it has become generally known in time is the Church. Whenever the heavenly and eternal standpoint is represented we always have the thing as an entire whole. It is only when there is an earthly operation in time that the individual element enters. Election, fore-ordination, predestination, in the first instance, do not relate to individuals as such, but to a corporate body. All the counsels and purposes of God are bound up with that body; not with individuals. These things we shall see as we proceed. For the moment we stop with this, that at the heart of the Divine deliberations in the "before times eternal," and for the supreme purposes of God in the eternal ages to come was that which is called "the church which is his body."

The age in which we live - that is, the span of time from the ascension of Christ to the removal of the Church from the earth at that coming which is for this purpose - is the age upon which the ends of all other ages, past and future, rest.

"The mystery... which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed." "The mystery which hath been hid from all ages" (Eph. 3:5, 9; Col. 1:26).

"Upon whom the ends of the ages are come" (1 Cor. 10:11).

"That in the ages to come..." (Eph. 2:7).

All those Divine intentions and thoughts relate to this present dispensation so far as their vessel or instrument is concerned. All the past ages waited for and led up to this age. All the ages to come take their character from and are governed by what God does in this age. So, when we catch a glimpse of what Paul saw much more fully by special revelation, we see the Church as the centre and main object of a Divine contemplation of the universe from eternity to eternity. What a contemplation! And we live in the age which is of greater significance than all past ages. We are not spectators who are informed of these things. We are called into this supreme object of the counsels of God; and we are called to be "workers together with God" in this greatest of all purposes.

The Love and Labour of the Divine Trinity

But there are other great things related to this object - the Church. There is the fact that the Church is not just something elected and predestined in relation to Divine interests. This might be true, but it could be as some other things are in the economy of God; a fiat; the result of a creative command; the issue of a law; "He spake and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast." But no; we find that in every hint and suggestion in which the idea of the Church can be traced there are the features of Divine love and labour.

Some of the most sublime statements in all the Scriptures are related to this matter. Take, for instance, the following:

"The church of God which he purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28).

"Christ... loved the church, and gave himself up for it... that he might present the church to himself a glorious church..." (Eph. 5:25).

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls; and having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it" (Matt. 13:45).

"The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (Eph. 1:18).

"I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: ...Ye are an elect race... a people for God's own possession" (1 Pet. 2:6, 9).

These ideas of the Divine love and labour for the Church run through the Scriptures from first to last.

In consideration for Adam the heart of God would not have him alone, and a labour of love ensued. But there was a deeper thought in the Divine mind. Earthly things as instituted or constituted by God were ever intended to represent and reflect heavenly things. This deeper thought is disclosed in words of mystic beauty thus: "We are members of his body. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the twain shall become one flesh. This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church" (Eph. 5:30-32).

Typology contains far too great a measure of this truth for us even to embark upon it; but who has failed to see in Isaac the type of Him who was slain and raised from the dead - the Son who embodies the wonders of an obedience unto death; and resurrection therefrom? Then for this risen son the father's great concern is a bride. To secure her, the servant who is over all his substance is sworn in, takes his long journey into a far country, and refuses to settle down, but restlessly urges that the bride shall come away. No one has missed the hidden spiritual picture (though hidden entirely from that generation) of Christ, the Church, and the Holy Spirit all in the eye and concern of the Father. Thus by many such beautiful fore-shadowings in the Old Testament are we - whose it is to know that which was hidden in past generations - able to see what a place the Church has always had in the love and labour of God. The parable which we have reproduced is a sample of New Testament illustration.

"A merchantman." Oh, Divine Merchantman, with all Thine expert knowledge of what is good in the way of pearls: Thou hast told us that Thy great understanding in these things led Thee to regard the Church as a pearl of great price, rewarding all Thy quest, and justifying Thee in selling all that Thou hadst to buy it! What an "all" that was! Did ever one in earth or heaven have as much to let go? Then that pearl must be of immense account to Thee! "The church of God which he purchased."

From parable in the Gospels, we turn to direct and positive statement. The outward journey has reached its limit. The report of Him is far-flung enough for Him to ask His disciples what the general reaction to that report is. This enquiry elicits an answer with names as widely apart but messengers as similar in ministry as Elijah, Jeremiah and John the Baptist. But the feeler is not one of curiosity or vanity; it is intended to lead up to something. Is there that in the disciples' own perception which will afford some ground of hope and assurance that the great thing in His heart will soon come into being? He knows that from this farthest point of His earthly journeyings He must now turn back to Jerusalem and - the Cross. But what is it all for? The Cross is to see the birth-throes of His soul's travail. Isaiah's prophecy about the travail of His soul is to be fulfilled there, and what is the issue? That depends in the first instance upon the answer to this question, "But who say ye that I am?"

Only if we realise what hung upon the answer can we enter into or appreciate His exclamation. Peter cried, with a flash of Divine illumination or revelation, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Whereupon Jesus broke forth with "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona!" It is an exclamation of gratification. Why? Because this is the ground upon which that for which He had come, that for which He was going to the Cross, could be, and would be, realised. "Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:13-18). "My Church!" "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it." "From that time began Jesus to shew unto his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem and suffer... and be killed, and the third day be raised up." "Upon this rock."

If it were necessary we could add much more which would show the Divine love and energy in relation to the Church, but any unprejudiced mind will see.

The Church - the Object of Redemption

It hardly seems called for that we should follow on to the third point; that the Church is the object of redemption. This is involved in what we have said. Our object is not to speak of redemption, but to emphasise the fact that redemption primarily relates to a corporate body; the elect as such. While redemption becomes a wonderful thing for, and to, each individual who enters into its meaning; and it must be a personal and individual thing; in God's eye, in Christ's eye, and in the Holy Spirit's eye, the Cross relates to the ransoming of the Church. We would urge a reading of the Ephesian letter with this in view.

What is in that letter is the Church; nobody questions that. Then note, "...in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace... in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained... unto the redemption of God's own possession" (Eph. 1:7, 11, 14).

Follow this through Chapter 2 and you find that it all relates to the "one body" (verse 16).

There is always a great need for making the redemptive work of Christ an individual matter, but we cannot say how strongly we feel that one of the chief causes of weakness in the Lord's people and Christian work today is the absence of an adequate spiritual apprehension of the essentially corporate nature of all that God has done and with which he is concerned! This will find some expression and explanation again and again in this message, and we trust that the tremendous values and gains of this truth will become clear.

While it is the blessed privilege of every redeemed one to cry, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me!" it is important to remember that such a standpoint is ours, what we get from redemption. There is another; it is what God gets. "The church of God which he purchased with his own blood." "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it." We leave you to decide which is the greater, that which we get or that which He gets. As there ought always to be a swift movement from the personal to the corporate in the believer's life, so there ought to be a quick movement from our blessing and good to God's pleasure and satisfaction. The latter is in the Church in its fulness, not in individuals as such. "To him be the glory in the church."

We started out by saying that the measure of spiritual fulness in life and service will depend upon the measure of our apprehension of, and co-operation with, the specific and pre-eminent purpose of God. Our last words would lead us to see that our blessedness will be but the reaction upon us of God's pleasure and satisfaction. Surely it is a great thing to have His joy made full in us! Of all the joys in heaven, the greatest and most consummate is this:

"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah; for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let US REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDING GLAD, and let us give the glory unto him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready" (Rev. 19:6-7).

Link this with Eph. 5:23-32, and you see that the "wife" is the Church.