The Persistent Purpose of God # 19

The Man Upon the Throne Governs Everything (continued)

The Man Is In His Rightful Place (continued)

But this question arises, "What is the testimony that God wants, and that God wants to recover?" It is the testimony of Jesus. It is the testimony that God has The Man after His heart, and that The Man after God's heart is a certain kind of Man, a Man that is different from all others, and that all authority invested in that Man Jesus Christ. That is the testimony that God wishes to recover. We shall find later on that the House of God is constituted according to that Man, and it is the meaning of that Man that is expressed in the House of God. That is what we shall come to, for, you see, it is the testimony of God in Jesus Christ in the House of God.

So the work of recovery, as we have it in the prophecies of Ezekiel, is governed by The Man in the Throne. And when I speak of it being governed, I do not mean just official government - I mean that it is the character of that Man that governs everything. Then we do move to this House of God. It occupies a very important place in these prophecies. It is a very wonderful House. When we come to it, we shall see that this House is governed by The Man on the Throne. Then we shall come to the river, beginning in the House, flowing by way of the altar out through the court and down through the country, with everything where the river cometh being made to live. We shall see that corresponds to the river flowing out of the sanctuary from spiritual Jerusalem to all Judaea to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Everything where the river comes is made to live. That is a very long river. It is the longest river in the world. It has reached to China. It has flowed through India. It is a river that flows over the whole earth, and wherever the river comes it makes things live. But remember, this river takes its rise from The Man in the Throne. It is all governed by God having His Man in His right place.

Then we shall see the people of God coming into their inheritance. That is another great truth of the New Testament, the Lord's people coming into their spiritual inheritance. That is one of the last things in these prophecies. Again, the Lord's people only come into their inheritance when the Lord Jesus is in His right place. Let us put that around the other way. When Jesus is in His right place, the people of God com into their inheritance. We can never come into our inheritance until He has His right place!

Now look at the Book of Acts - what fullness the Lord's people came into! What a large inheritance came to them! Why did it come? Because the great message of that book is Jesus Christ is Lord! God hath raised Him far above all rule and authority! When Jesus has His place, the Lord's people get their inheritance.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 20)