The Persistent Purpose of God # 18

"The Man Upon the Throne Governs Everything (continued)

We asked a great question when we started these studies. "Has the book a message for the present dispensation?" The answer can be given in three fragments from the New Testament. One is found in John 6:62, from the lips of the Lord Jesus Himself, "What then if you should behold the Son of Man ascending where He was before?" You see, that introduces the question about the right place of the Son of Man. "What ... if ye should behold the Son of Man ascending where He was before?" The second passage comes from the lips of Stephen in Acts 7:56: "I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." This reveals that the words of the Lord Jesus have been fulfilled: "I see ... the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." The question has been answered.

Now the third passage includes both of those and goes beyond them. That is in Hebrews, chapter one, verse eight: "...of the Son He says, "Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever." You see, that passage goes back to where He was before, the Son of Man ascending where He was before. Thy Throne is from evermore, and it carries on to eternity - "Thy Throne ... is for ever and ever." This is said of the Son, but Jesus speaks of Himself as the Son of Man, the son of man upon His eternal throne - "Above the firmament a Throne and the likeness as a Man upon it above."

The man In His Rightful Place

First of all, God has His Man. We spell that with a big "M". God has His Man, The Man that He ever wanted and intended to have, and now that Man is in His rightful place, the Man is where God intended Him to be. Just keep hold of those two things because, as I have been saying, they govern everything. At last God has His Man. There is a sense in which God has been seeking for that man all through the past. God created Adam to be such a man, and God has been in quest of the man after His Own heart all through history. God has found The Man in His Own Son. That is the full meaning of the Incarnation. God has provided Himself with a Man, and that Man is now in the place of God's appointment. He is in His right place. He is in the place of government. This answers to Psalm 8:6, "Thou madest Him to have dominion." All the dominion and authority is vested in this Man. Now we must note that everything is governed by that! The preparation of the servant of the Lord is governed by that! The ministry of the servant of the Lord is governed by that! All ministry must take its character from that Man in the Throne!

Then you move right through this great book, and you come into the judgments of God, the judgment upon the Lord's people first and then the judgments upon the nations; and all these judgments are governed by the Man in the Throne. After the judgments, you come to the recovery of God's testimony. The recovery of His testimony is according to The Man in the Throne. Now, we could stay a long time with that, but we must leave its greater fullness until later on.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 19)