The Persistent Purpose of God # 34

The Messenger Must be the Embodiment of His Message (continued)

"Son of man" (continued)

So this man-principle speaks of three things. First of all, a presentation - God presents His ideas, and then a representation of something that expresses that which is presented, and then a declaration, a preaching concerning that. The thing is presented as a Divine thought, and then the thing is represented in a Body, and out of that comes the message.

Now, brethren, have you got those three things? First there is a vision, the Man is presented. You see the Man in the Throne. You get God's idea. God's idea is manhood, manhood of a certain character. From that God has a representation of this something which embodies the idea, and then when God has got that  which embodies the idea, there is a message. We must not put it in the other order, preaching it first. We must first of all have seen it, and then there must be an expression of it. There must be that to which we can point and say, "This is it." The message must come out of something that actually exists according to God's Mind.

I think I need not stay with that any longer, but, you see, that applies firstly to Christ. You must first of all have seen the Lord, and then that must have produced something in you so that it is not only objective and abstract, but the Lord has done something in you as you have seen. And then out of that comes your ministry.

The same applies to the Church. First there must be a revealing of the Church, and then there must be a representation of the Church, and out of that exists a definite expression of the Church - the message goes out. It is almost impossible to preach the truth unless there is something behind it. It is essential that we are able to say, "This thing works, and I can show you where it works." That will become very clear when we come to our next consideration in Ezekiel, but I do hope that you have got hold of this first idea, the principle in this first title, "Son of man." There is a great deal of the Mind of God in that title.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 35)