The Testimony of the Blood # 4

Now these elements are carried forward throughout all the Scriptures. It does not matter where you look: that which lies behind all the conflicts in the history of the people of God concerns the existence of a Divine seed in prosperity and power - spiritually - and the factor which is mainly involved is that of the altar and the blood. Everything hangs on that. This all heads up and finds its supreme expression in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. As with Moses typically, so with Him anti-typically, there was the recognition of the One through Whom this Divine seed would be constituted in its "authority ... over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). So from birth a 'dead set' was made for His destruction - not only by direct onslaught, but by subtle subterfuge to get Him to act upon a level of self by which the Divine protection would be forfeited.

The point at which we meet this whole matter of the  testimony of the Blood is with:

An Elect In Bondage

There is abundant Scripture to show what was the original thought and intention of God for His spiritual seed, and this is a very important matter for the apprehension of the Lord's people. But what particularly concerns us now is its realization. It is not a little impressive that the twenty-seven 'books' of the New Testament at least twenty-one have to do with the bringing of the Lord's children into their right spiritual place. And how many of them are directly concerned with the matter of the actual or threatening loss of spiritual prosperity and ascendency through some form of bondage. There is the bondage of iniquity, of sin and sins, of the Law, of tradition, of fear, of the flesh, of the carnal mind, of reason, of the righteousness of the flesh, the wisdom of the flesh, the spirituality of the flesh, and many other forms of bondage. The bonds of satan are very numerous, and he suits the kind to the case. A prince in chains, a member of the seed royal in servile oppression, is a pitiable sight, and this is what the devil delights in. The 'man-child", whether individual as in Moses and Christ (Exodus 1 and Matthew 2), or corporate as in Revelation twelve, is the object of the dragon's venom. This is the Divine seed.

Think of the sons of the "Prince of God" engaged in building store-cities for Pharaoh, and thus adding wealth and glory to his world-system instead of serving the Lord in freedom and victory! Such is the state of the elect, more or less. From the positions of servitude to sin, self, the world and the devil before salvation, through all the stages and phases of spiritual weakness and defect to paralyzing introspection and spiritual self-analysis, the true dignity of princeliness, of sonship, is assailed.

Now, if we did but know it, there is always some ground for the bondage. satan must have ground. His power cannot function without ground. He was utterly impotent in the case of the Lord Jesus because there was no ground. "The prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in Me" (John 14:30). The ground which issues in defeat and bondage at the hands of the adversary is as varied as the bondage itself.

Is it the natural condition of the sinfulness of human nature, that what is in man is quite unfit and unsuitable for the presence of God? Is it that the Divine will represents a standard of perfection in moral excellence which sets back from God even the very best among men? Is it a secret thing, hidden in the inward parts, which in itself becomes a weapon in the enemy's hand to knock us down? Is it sin done in ignorance, where the intention was good, but where  fuller light reveals that it was wrong after all? Is it sin unconsciously committed, in the sense that we did not even know that we did the thing?

Yes, all these, and many more, are grounds that satan uses - and rightly so, if we fail in one all-embracing respect. This failure is in the matter of recognizing the virtue of the precious Blood, and the worth of Him Who shed it.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 5)