The Octave of Redemption (Transcript)

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 6 - The Advent of the Holy Spirit

In our consideration of the octave of redemption, this evening we are coming to the sixth note in that octave which is the advent of the Holy Spirit.

And as in each other case, we approach the matter with the question: why the Holy Spirit? And we know that the advent of the Holy Spirit did inaugurate a new dispensation here on this earth and it is for us as Christians of this dispensation to know what was inaugurated and what does obtain peculiarly and particularly in the dispensation in which we live.

And when we use that word 'dispensation', we are using a word which means more than just a time period; that is the way in which it is generally and commonly used. We think of a dispensation as bounded in time by certain things, and on a certain point to another certain point. But while the word means that, as you probably know, it means more than that. The word itself means the order or nature of things which obtain in a certain period, what we mean by the word 'economy' - it's the same word in the original - an economy, that is, how things are done, what is done, what are the principles governing the things that are done, how they are done, in any given time.

And I repeat: it is a most important thing that Christians should know what is peculiar to this period in the history of the world, in the matter of what is done and how it is done, and the principles governing the 'what' and the 'how'.

For you and I, dear friends (let us bring this very near home) are people of a particular economy. Failure to recognize that has led to a great deal of confusion and a great deal of weakness. And so it does become important, I repeat, for us to know what is the dispensation or the economy of God which was inaugurated or instituted on that day which we call the Day of Pentecost. Of course, Pentecost only means 'fifty' and it was one of very many 'fifties', but, being perhaps the most outstanding and most wonderful fifty of all the fifties, we mark it out and seem to call it the only Pentecost. However, something happened then which changed the whole economy of God in the government of this world. What that is, I say, is for you and I to understand, and understand quite well.

Let us say it is not just that on that day the Holy Spirit took over the government of things. That was not so. The Holy Spirit had always been in charge of things. He was in charge at the creation: "The Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the deep," and all the way through the old dispensation the Holy Spirit was active. He was there in types and symbols and figures, and oft-times in actual power and wisdom, endowing men. He was there, superintending, all the way. It was not just that He took over on what we call "the day of Pentecost". We have got to understand that He took over on an altogether new basis.

A very big change in the basis of operation by the Holy Spirit took place on that day. And I think perhaps the most helpful way of presenting that is that we should first of all notice the sequence of things in this very octave of redemption, remembering that the advent of the Holy Spirit is a very big note in the octave, or a very important one; it's another part of the whole as a part of redemption. We have been following through these stages, these phases, of the octave, and I have said that there is a follow-on, a sequence in it all. If we could recognize the sequence, we should understand each successive movement in the scale.

Let us look over it. The first note, or phase, of this octave, we said, was:

The Incarnation of the Son of God.

God's Son coming in human form into this world. And those of you who were here will remember that we explained (or tried to explain) that there was a three-fold object in the incarnation. It had three quite definite meanings.

Firstly, the redemption of man. We tried to show the nature of that redemption: from what man has to be redeemed. Secondly, the re-constituting of man according to God's original pattern. And, thirdly, the perfecting of man.

Those three things were taken up by the Son of God, under the title of the 'Son of Man', and in Himself personally they were made true. He was not only the Redeemer, but He Himself was the Redemption. Redemption became personal. It was not only what He did, but He was the redeemed Man. I don't know how many safeguards I have got to put up to what I am saying, you're all on the [key things] in these days to try and find out where the flaw is. Let me say that again. Jesus was not only the Redeemer, and redemption was not only what He did, but He stood there as the personal embodiment and representation of redemption; He was, in representation, the redeemed Man, or the kind of man that would be redeemed.

He then was the re-constituted man according to God's mind. Man, in representation, re-constituted. And listen: and in Himself He was made perfect through sufferings - made perfect through sufferings and trials - not made good or sinless and perfect in that sense, but brought to completion. You understand the word 'perfect' in the Bible does not just mean a state: it means a measure, it means a completeness, an 'all-round-ness', a final realization of the thing. And in Him the perfecting was not making Him better - nothing could do that - but it could, as Man, increase Him. Increase Him! And He did increase, He did increase.

Twice over we notice that it was said about His early years, up to the age of twelve, and at that time, from that time onwards, He 'grew in stature, in wisdom' and 'grace was upon Him', He was growing! And then, as for the three-and-a-half years, what a tremendous enlargement of patience, enlargement of faith, enlargement of love. He was the Man perfected (and the Scripture says it, it's not what I'm saying) "He was made perfect through suffering"; that is, He was made complete. That's the incarnation.

Then we went on to:

The Earthly Life.

And watching Him right the way through His earthly life, the thirty years and the three-and-a-half, we summed it all up by saying: here is the type of man, here is the kind of man that God is after. He is presented to us under every testing and trying, in all circumstances of adversity, He is presented to us as the kind of man that God intends to have - a true humanity. Not, as we said, a 'theophany', just a transient visitation of God in man-form, but living through into maturity of life as a man from infancy upward, and standing there as One approved of God, approved of God, of Whom God could say: 'In Him I am well pleased': satisfying God as a man. Well, the earthly life was the Man that God intends to have, the Man that God is after presented to us, is there before us.

If only we had eyes to see, and understanding to grasp all that He was - all that He was and all those laws and principles by which He was governed! How different He was (as we tried to point out) from every other man, utterly different, a mystery to all. "Here standeth One Whom you know not". That was not only that He was the Divine Son of God manifest in the flesh, but it was proved true again and again that even as a man they couldn't fathom Him, could not understand Him. The most intimate friends misunderstood, or failed to understand. There's something about Him as a man that's different and inexplicable - the kind that God is going to have.

Is it necessary for me to [go aside], by way of parenthesis and say, in a measure, it may be a small measure, but a very real measure: that is true of every Christian. The world knows us not because it knew Him not. There ought to be about a true Christian something that the world cannot fathom, and there's no use trying to make the world understand, for it never will. There is something different. Don't try to be [shy] and singular and different, for you'll be that, right enough, if you go on with the Lord, the kind of man.

Then we came to:

The Cross.

And in the Cross we saw three things. We saw, one man [thoroughly] exposed. The Cross of the Lord Jesus was a great exposure of man as he is. A tremendous exposure, a tremendous uncovering. Oh, if ever a man divulged what he is like, showed what he is and can do, he did it then. He did it then! If ever it was made manifest that man is really actuated and driven by the devil himself, who has a foothold in him and only needs occasion for it to be brought up, it was done then.

Don't let us think: 'Oh, they were very terrible people! They were very different from us; we are very different from those people, we would never do that.' Wait until you are put to the test. There is nothing, dear friends, of which we are not capable if only circumstances are such as to uncover and show us the depths, the depths of sin in our very nature. Man was exposed in the Cross.

And then, man classified: shown what he is and where he belongs, put into his right category. Is it not true in our own case, as Christians, as really we come under the light of the Holy Spirit to understand our own hearts, to know ourselves, is it not true that we know where we belong? We know where we belong, but for the mercy and grace of God, we know where we would be, we'd go to 'our own place', it's where we belong. And the Cross classified man and showed where he belonged and put him there.

And the Cross put all under death - judgment and death, for "all have sinned". One man exposed, one man classified, one man judged and put away - that's the Cross.

The Resurrection

We haven't dealt with that yet, but it must be mentioned because it's another Man brought in; another Man brought in and attested. Romans 1:4 declares or determines, "the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead". That sums it all up. The resurrection was God's attestation of the Man Who is not put away, but is brought in in the place of the man that has been put away.

The Ascension

And glorifying we dealt with this afternoon and we gathered that all up in this: the new Man installed, representatively, as the First of the sons being brought to glory; the new Man installed in Heaven.

Next:

The Advent of the Holy Spirit.

And you notice that each must follow on the other, each is a part of the other. The advent of the Holy Spirit was to take up all those things and bring them down from Heaven, and make them good in you and in me. The Holy Spirit came to make effectual in you and me the redemption for which Christ came and "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" - the re-constitution of man that is set forth in Christ and do that in you and in me, and to take up that work which was perfected in Him, and carry it to perfection in us, to perfect us also, to make us complete unto the completeness of Christ.

So that all the meaning of the Incarnation, in those respects, is the basis of the Holy Spirit's operation.

As to the earthly life, here is the Man, the kind of man that God is after, and the Holy Spirit has come to conform us to that kind of man, to the image of God's Son: to make us Christ-like, in a word. That's the Holy Spirit's work; that's the thing for which He has come. That's a statement of fact that that's a glorious, glorious hope for us.

The Cross... yes, and it is equally true that the Holy Spirit's activity and operation is to constantly bear witness against that man that has been put away. If you and I are really indwelt and governed by the Holy Spirit, we shall know when we touch that man. We shall know that that is prohibited ground; we shall know that there is a notice up there: 'No Trespassing. Keep Off!' . Any Christian who does not know by a sting and a kick-back when he or she touches the old man, is lacking in this activity of the Holy Spirit. Yes, but there is the other side. The Holy Spirit is to keep us off that side, constantly bearing witness against that, but to keep us on the positive side by saying: 'Now, this is the way, the way of Life. Keep off that ground!' Oh Christian, do believe this, do take this to heart: do finish with that old man! Don't be constantly digging him up and looking at him, and meddling with him, and going over him and round him, trying to find something good in yourself - you never will! The verdict of God is that there is "no good". Keep off. Keep on the ground of the other man. He has been exposed, surely you know by this time how bad he is. Why have anything to do with him? Why have anything to do with him?

The Holy Spirit has come to make us know that we must not, and to make us know that there is some other ground upon which we must live our lives, to carry into effect the work of the Cross, the putting aside of one, and making way for the resurrection: the bringing in of Another. And you and I are now by the Holy Spirit called to live upon the ground of that resurrection Man. That's only saying in a phrase, very, very much more about living in the power of His resurrection, living by resurrection Life. Do remember, do remember that the great feature of this dispensation is resurrection! We've left that over, that note and that phase, for the time being. But it must be said in this connection, because these are twin truths, the putting aside of one in order to make way for the other. And the Holy Spirit is working on that ground. He has come to work on that ground.

And then, of course it's all gathered up, all this is gathered up in the Man in the glory, installed above any risks of the earth, any interferences down here, beyond any kind of touch to alter things from this world. He is right above, He is in the glory installed, the embodiment of all these Divine things. And then the Spirit comes to take that up and work it all out in us and in the church. We haven't come to the church yet, we'll stay with the believer.

Now, that is the answer: why the Holy Spirit? To make good the meaning of the incarnation, so far as that incarnation relates to mankind; to make good the meaning of the earthly life; to make good the meaning of the Cross; to make good the meaning of the Resurrection; to make good the meaning of the ascension and glorifying of the Lord Jesus. You see, the Holy Spirit takes up all those, to make them good in believers.

But the Holy Spirit is wholly committed to the Lord Jesus. He has one all-inclusive, all-embracing interest, concern: He is focused with all His attention and all His resources upon the Lord Jesus, to make Him glorious, and that in believers.

So the Lord Jesus said: "He shall glorify Me".

"He Shall Glorify Me"

That is His work. Perhaps it's too familiar a thing to create any kind of stir, but I find a good deal of comfort to my heart from every fresh contemplation of the great advent of the Holy Spirit as centred upon and summed up in this one thing: that all that the Lord Jesus was and has done as Son of Man is the business of the Holy Spirit to make good in you and in me. That gives a ground of confidence for prayer, a ground of assurance of hope. That is His ground. And it is in that way that the Holy Spirit has taken over in this dispensation. That is what He has taken over. That is how He has taken over in a new way, to make good all that the Lord Jesus was and did in the church, which is only saying: in believers, individually and corporately.

You see, this was the very burden of our Lord during those last, very full days with His disciples. He stopped His public ministry, withdrew from the multitudes, and gave Himself with concentrated attention to His disciples for many hours before the end. And if you look at those hours and those final days, so tightly packed with this instruction, this teaching, this unburdening of His heart, you will find that the burden of His heart at that time was all about the day that was coming. "In that day...", "In that day...", "In that day...", He was saying. And the day was the day of the Holy Spirit. 'When He is come...', 'When He is come...', 'In that day, when He is come...'. See? He put tremendous importance and value upon the coming of the Holy Spirit, because He knew quite well that all that He had come for, and that the incarnation and earthly life and Cross, would be without value if the Holy Spirit did not reproduce it organically and vitally in other people.

He gathered that, that right up into one so familiar statement: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit". And He said that, as you know, in response to an enquiry brought to Him from certain people who had said, "we would see Jesus". "We would see Jesus…" a strange, mysterious rejoinder: "The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified... Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone…. You will never, though you ask, though you seek, though you are in quest, you will never see the Son of Man glorified, only in His being reproduced in other people, like the corn reproducing itself. There you will see Me, there you will see Me, there you will see My glory." He knew it, He knew it.

And there is a sense in which there is no seeing of the Son of Man, the glorious Son of Man, only in the Church, in believers. Oh! What a poor, poor showing we make of it! But there it is: it's His way. Again I say, He spent those hours and those days concentrating upon this thing: "The necessity, the necessity for all that I have come to be and to do, is that the Holy Spirit comes. It is far more important that He should come than that I should stay. If I stay, I am the corn of wheat alone; if I go, I make room for Him to reproduce." It's the important thing, that is why the Holy Spirit. He taught, therefore, that this was only way to know Him, the only way to see Him.

What does it make you feel like? What ought it to do in us? What effect ought it to have upon us? Oh, surely, first of all, it ought to give us real exercise about this matter of the Holy Spirit having His place in us, and being free to do His work, having no obstruction. No, God, from His side, has moved to remove the obstruction.

Something I would have said if I'd been able to say all that I wanted to say this afternoon was this: that you see when, in the letter to the Hebrews you have Him as the Man installed in Heaven - "We see... Jesus... Jesus crowned with glory and honour" - it is possible for God to get on with His work in relation to mankind. You see: "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the Son of Man, that Thou makest mention of Him?" God's thought is concerning man. Here is the Man to whom men are to be conformed: but there was a great obstruction, a great obstacle that made that impossible, and that was death. Death was in the way. You can never come to that while death rests upon everything. Death - that's the great enemy to all God's purpose. Death was passed as a sentence upon all men and a man's sin in his first father; and so it stands in the way. That man, that race can never come there and be like that.

But "for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour" He has taken the obstruction, the obstacle, and destroyed it. "Through death He destroyed him that had the power of death..." He has tasted death in the behalf of every man. He has taken up the great obstacle and destroyed it and put it out of the way. Now we can come to that likeness! From God's side, you see, the greatest (and if you deal with the greatest, you have dealt with everything) the greatest obstruction to this Divine purpose and its fulfilment, has been removed, the way is open.

But oh, this ought to have the effect upon us of seeing to it that we get off that ground of death and don't touch it, keep clear of it - the death that rests upon the old man. Oh, this is very practical, it sounds mysterious, it may sound abstruse, but it's very real, dear friends, that if you and I do have any truck with ourselves as we are in ourselves, we know that death begins to work. Isn't it true? It's always like that. And the enemy knows it too. If he can set this "wheel of nature" in motion, and get it stirred up and get us involved, he knows he's got us again under the power of death.

The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of Life and He works on the ground of Life, and only on the ground of Life. You and I, therefore, in our exercise should seek to be always on the ground of Life. And do remember that that is God's thought for us, it's Life, not death, it's Life. If we will lay hold on Life, God will react, the Holy Spirit will move. We accept death too easily. The enemy is always offering us death in some form or other and trying to get us to take it on. Take it on, "We're going to die, we're going to die!" If we just get flirting with death in some way or another, then oh, what a playground for the devil that is, he'll spoil everything. It's contrary to the Holy Spirit. May the Lord teach us what that means.

The Holy Spirit is committed to the risen Christ, to the making good in us of all that His risen life means, unto final glorification. There's a very full, very full purpose in Christ concerning man, a very full purpose indeed. We spoke this afternoon from Hebrews about that, "Thou madest Him, Thou madest Him in order to have dominion over the works of Thy hands... For Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet... The inhabited earth of which we are now speaking was not subjected to angels, but to man". That's a tremendous calling, a tremendous vocation: the government of this world, in the ages to come in union with Christ.

Do you say: "That's a wonderful idea, a wonderful conception, but what's the practical value of beautiful conceptions and ideas that are afar off in the ages to come?" Well, here with this, I will come to a close. I have to come back to this letter to the Hebrews again. And there are two things that that letter produces after this wonderful presentation of Christ, and man in relation to Christ, and their fellowship or partnership in the government of the inhabited earth to come, there are two things that come out.

One: what God is doing in believers now in relation to that. Do you remember chapter 12? "We have had fathers after our flesh, who chastened us as it seemed good to them for a season, and we gave them reverence: how much more to the Father of our spirits?" What's this? You see the whole letter heads up into this. You're near the end of chapter 12, the summing up. What's it all about? "Holy brethren, partners in the heavenly calling... government of the inhabited earth to come... in union with Christ". That's your calling. But you have got to be trained for it; and what is happening to you now in your spiritual life is your training for that, and it's very practical.

If there is one thing that you and I find that we are having to learn, it is to get spiritual ascendancy. Why does the Lord allow all these things, these adverse things, these trying things? Why doesn't He prevent and save? In order that we might learn ascendancy of spirit, for this government is not official; it's spiritual government. It's spiritual government! You know, the real government of this world is spiritual, isn't it? Behind, behind men and everything else that's happening there's a spiritual system at work, an evil thing. An evil thing. Clear that out of God's universe and put a good thing in its place. It's a spiritual thing, it's going to be a spiritual government, and when you get a spiritual background to this world, what a different kind of world it will be. You see, God is going to make this world a wholesome place by the spiritual government behind it, and that government is going to be put in the hands of the saints.

But unto that, we are going through an awful gruelling, an awful schooling in the hands of the Father of our spirits. My word, this matter of getting spiritual ascendancy. Every day we have got something to get on top of spiritually; something to have put in subjection under our feet. But we've got to co-operate, co-operate with the Lord in this, to bring it under. It gets on top so often, it puts its feet on us too often. But our training, our training is to learn how to bring it under our feet. The Holy Spirit is here for that. In all those words about being "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inward man… strong with the strength of the Lord" - all such words have to do with this, they mean spiritual ascendancy, getting on top. The Spirit has come for that.

And finally, the other thing in this letter to the Hebrews is (and what a lot there is in it) constantly striking the note of exhortation, of encouragement, of warning, of entreaty. The "let us": "Let us go on...". There's so much, isn't there, of warning and entreaty. Why? Because of this high calling, because of this great vocation, because of this very purpose of our new creation and union with God's Son. It's the inheritance: the inhabited earth to come and the government of it.

We need a lot of encouragement, we need a lot of exhorting, we need a lot of warning; it's so big a thing. So big a thing! And I believe that it is that to which the writer refers when he says: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" So great salvation! The "so great salvation" is not just escaping hell and scraping into Heaven somehow - it is all this that is in that very letter: "partners in a heavenly calling".

Well, the Holy Spirit has come, you see, for the very purpose of making that good, making that good. The names by which the Lord Jesus calls Him don't impress us very much when He calls Him, in our language, 'the Comforter'. The Comforter. Well, of course, that's very good: we need comforting; but that's not really the meaning of His Name. It is: 'the One alongside', the One alongside co-operating with you; He's come, and come alongside to be our Partner in this great thing of conformity to God's Son and fulfilment of eternal vocation in the ages to come.