The Stewardship of the Mystery # 70

The Heavenly Man and the Word of God (continued)

The Necessity of Heart Exercise (continued)

However much we have failed in the past, there is something to be done in this matter. When the Lord has been speaking to us, we should make it our first business to get apart with Him. You would not believe the heart-break it is, to one who has been pouring out that Word, to find that almost before he has finished his message, and the gathering is closed, people are talking on all the trivialities of their domestic and business affairs, on things that can quite well wait. It is not as though there were any serious or critical situation to be inquired into, but mere talk ensues along the lines of ordinary, everyday things. Our point is that there has to be a deliberate transaction with the Lord, if that Word is to become an expression of God in a life; and God can never be satisfied with anything else. God can never be transaction with mere statements, but only with the man as a living expression of His words.

The Relation of the Word to the Cross

That is why the Word is always related to the Cross. The Apostle Paul uses this phrase: "For the word of the Cross is ... the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). It is the power of God. It is the wisdom of God. We know that the word used is the "Logos" of the Cross. The Logos is the combination of a thought and expression in a personal way. It is the Word in a Person, related to the Cross. That is why it is put in this way by the same Holy Spirit of knowledge and understanding, in the Book of Revelation: "And He is arrayed in a garment dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God" (Revelation 19:13). You see the two things, the garment sprinkled with blood, and His name "The Word of God." Then you look into the Letter to the Hebrews, and you will remember that in chapter nine and verse nineteen, you have these words: "...he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself, and all the people. ..." There is the Word and the Blood. It is the Cross that gives the working power to the Word.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 71)