Secondly, an instrument in the earth is in view which is inseparably bound up with the purpose of the age. Again, that should carry much more weight with us than it does, and if we are going on with the Lord we are going to come to that fact spiritually, perhaps along very violent lines. You and I will, if we come right into God's specific object for
the age, come right in it spiritually and vitally. We are going to discover that we are people who count for something. That is not said on the natural level; that is said in that realm where we are going to discover that heaven and hell are involved in this matter of securing this instrument, and heaven will b moved to its center and hell will be moved to its depths because of that object, that instrument, that Church or that remnant. It is inseparably bound up with the age purpose and all the kingdoms of the earth are related to it. It touches all the nations in a spiritual way, so that two mighty spiritual hierarchies are drawn in, so to speak, as to the issue, the issue of the government of those nations, and that is being determined in and by the Church. Have you ever recognized that? That the Church is the instrument for the determining of the government of the nations, because it is the instrument of the testimony of Jesus, that He is Lord; and that is the challenge. The Church stands on the side of heaven, and heaven stands on the side of the Church, the Body of Christ, and heaven and the Church confront hell and all its forces with a challenge of government for the nations in all the ages to come. And so as that instrument is inseparably bound up with the purpose of the age, this third thing comes in, that heaven and hell are actively in operation concerning that instrument. That is of immense significance. You may be a professional Christian engaged in much of the organized work of Christianity, but if you come by the Holy Spirit into God's immediate age purpose spiritually, livingly, and range yourself with Christ as Lord, to be witness unto Him and His Lordship in this earth, you range yourself against hell and hell at once takes account of you and you become an object of significance and importance.
Now all that comes into view in the Book of Daniel because that is represented and typified by Daniel and his fellow, and the remnant which issued from their testimony.
Similarity Between Ends and Beginnings
The Word of God Despised
The next thing is that conditions at the beginning are particularly true of the end. Look at the beginning of this period, this age-period of the Gentile world powers as we have it in the Book of Daniel and in the other prophecies which circle around the beginning. You have Jehoiakim and his apostasy. We will have more to say about it, but remember that all that place in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim. Who was he? He was a son of Josiah. That makes things exceedingly serious, for Josiah was one of those good kings of the latter days of Israel, through whom a very blessed revival took place in Israel; who recovered things for God, who was true to God in a day of terrible declension and idolatry, and one of the most glorious fragments of those latter years of Israel's history was under Josiah. And Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah. And Jehoiakim, cut the Word of God to pieces and burnt it. He despised the Word of God. He knew that upon which God had set His blessing. His approval, he knew of days of Divine blessing and the ground upon which that blessing was given, he knew that of which God approved, history was before him in close relationships, he had a godly heritage, but he apostatized, he despised the Word of God. He let go his godly heritage. That was the beginning. He did more than that. He had a brother and he had seen his brother captivated, the King of Egypt deposed his brother and put him in his place and changed his name. He had seen the downfall of his brother because God was against the way that he was taking and that ought to have been a warning to him. He had seen the blessing of God upon his father and the judgment of God upon his brother (2 Chronicles 34:35, 36; and Jeremiah 36).
That is how it was at the beginning, and I have said that the conditions at the beginning are repeated very closely at the end of a dispensation. The Word of God is despised today. There is a godly heritage, there is a history; it is clear to all who want to see where the Lord's blessing rests and upon what it rests. We have not to look back upon our history very far to see where the Lord comes in, in blessing - faithfulness to the Word of God. Yet today that which officially represents Christiandom as Jehoiakin officially represented Israel, in the main, despises the Word of God, sets it aside, ignores its history, takes no account of its godly heritage, and things are in a state of declension, largely apostasy, today. Yes, as it was then so it is now.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5)
Now all that comes into view in the Book of Daniel because that is represented and typified by Daniel and his fellow, and the remnant which issued from their testimony.
Similarity Between Ends and Beginnings
The Word of God Despised
The next thing is that conditions at the beginning are particularly true of the end. Look at the beginning of this period, this age-period of the Gentile world powers as we have it in the Book of Daniel and in the other prophecies which circle around the beginning. You have Jehoiakim and his apostasy. We will have more to say about it, but remember that all that place in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim. Who was he? He was a son of Josiah. That makes things exceedingly serious, for Josiah was one of those good kings of the latter days of Israel, through whom a very blessed revival took place in Israel; who recovered things for God, who was true to God in a day of terrible declension and idolatry, and one of the most glorious fragments of those latter years of Israel's history was under Josiah. And Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah. And Jehoiakim, cut the Word of God to pieces and burnt it. He despised the Word of God. He knew that upon which God had set His blessing. His approval, he knew of days of Divine blessing and the ground upon which that blessing was given, he knew that of which God approved, history was before him in close relationships, he had a godly heritage, but he apostatized, he despised the Word of God. He let go his godly heritage. That was the beginning. He did more than that. He had a brother and he had seen his brother captivated, the King of Egypt deposed his brother and put him in his place and changed his name. He had seen the downfall of his brother because God was against the way that he was taking and that ought to have been a warning to him. He had seen the blessing of God upon his father and the judgment of God upon his brother (2 Chronicles 34:35, 36; and Jeremiah 36).
That is how it was at the beginning, and I have said that the conditions at the beginning are repeated very closely at the end of a dispensation. The Word of God is despised today. There is a godly heritage, there is a history; it is clear to all who want to see where the Lord's blessing rests and upon what it rests. We have not to look back upon our history very far to see where the Lord comes in, in blessing - faithfulness to the Word of God. Yet today that which officially represents Christiandom as Jehoiakin officially represented Israel, in the main, despises the Word of God, sets it aside, ignores its history, takes no account of its godly heritage, and things are in a state of declension, largely apostasy, today. Yes, as it was then so it is now.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5)
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