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Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Testimony of the Blood # 3

The Incorruptibility of the Blood

The next related factor in the Blood as the Life is its incorruptibility and indestructibility. These elements go together and are one. What is incorruptible is indestructible. This is a life over which death has no power. Death has been met in the power of this life. Hades has been entered and plundered in the power of this life. satan and his entire kingdom had had their might exhausted by the power of this life. He Who was and is this Life, now lives for evermore, as the Testimony to the universal triumph of His own Blood over every force that has stood in the way of God's end.

By this imperishable life He has perfected salvation. Nothing of old was ever perfect, because the mediators constantly changed by death; death breaking in all the times meant no completeness. But this High Priest perfects for ever, because He lives after the power of an endless, "indissoluble", life. Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost, the ultimate and final end (Hebrews 7:16, 23-25).

By this imperishable life He has bound His own to Himself. They share this life by new birth, and they will never die. Death is not cessation of being; it is something spiritual. Life triumphant over death is spiritual, and means ascendancy over sin, self, satan, death. In other words, it is power and victory.

By this indestructible life the Lord Jesus has inaugurated a ministry and a work which will persist to is ultimate consummation, in spite of every force of earth and hell which may be against it. Mighty empires and powerful hierarchies have been brought to ruins in setting themselves against that which He said He would build. "The gates of Hades" have NOT prevailed, intensely as they have striven.

It is a blessed thing to be in and a part of that work which shall abide for ever. For a man's work to go to pieces when he is withdrawn is no compliment to him. It only means that it was man's work, not God's. Like kingdoms, men rise and wane. Are we seeking to make a name for ourselves?  This is very short-sighted, at best. The testimony to which God is reacting relates to a work which stands and persists when every destructive  force has spent itself. This testimony, and such a work, are in virtue of the Blood of the Lord Jesus. It is therefore necessary for us to seek to recognize this fact, to understand, as far as we can, why it is so, and to know our position of victory because of the Blood. Unto this threefold apprehension we shall begin at the ultimate issue of the testimony, which is -

The Divine Seed In Prosperity and Sovereignty

It is this that satan cannot bear to contemplate, and against which he is bitterly set, because it represents a menace to his kingdom at every point.

There is a very great significance attached to the introduction of the Book of Exodus with 'the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt". The title "sons of Israel" represents their dignity as sons of "a prince of God." They came into Egypt and were in great prosperity and strength, while yet a separate and unabsorbed people. This dignity, prosperity and power came to be regarded as a distinct peril to the king of Egypt, and he projected a plan for humbling them, bringing them into bondage, and making them rather to contribute to his own prosperity and power.

Thus Exodus presents, firstly, God's mind concerning the princely dignity and spiritual prosperity and ascendency of the "sons"; then the activity and object of the adversary concerning them; and finally the Divine thought and intention established in the realm of "far above all rule and authority" in virtue of the shed blood of chapter twelve. So then, sonship and sovereignty are the two factors present throughout. Sonship is the basic principle. Sovereignty is the issue involved in the conflict. The Blood is the instrument by which both are established. "These are the names of the sons of 'the Prince of God' ..." is the introduction. "Let My son go, that he may serve Me", is the challenge to Pharaoh; and "Thou hast refused ... behold, I will slay thy son", is the sovereign factor at issue (Exodus 4:23).

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 4)

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