ROBERT@kontu.utu.fi (Robert W. Johnson) (09/25/90)
The God of Resurrection
PART III
"We were weighted down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we
despaired even of life: yea, we ourselves have had the answer of death
within ourselves, that we should not trust ourselves, but in God which
raiseth the dead." (II Cor. 1:8-9)
"Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by
day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more
and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." (II Cor. 4:16-17)
"They ... chastened us as seemed good to them; but He for our profit, that
we may be partakers of His holiness." (Heb. 12:10)
"To them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that
are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also fore-
ordained to be conformed to the image of His Son." (Rom. 8:28-29)
"God who quickeneth the dead." (Rom. 4:17)
"I am ... the Living One, and I was dead, and behold I am living for evermore."
(Rev. 1:17-18)
Suffering is the lot of all the inhabitants of the earth. None can evade
it. Some people imagine that if you believe on the Lord and live in His
fear, you will be immune from all ills; yet numbers of Christians are
grievously afflicted, and some who live in vital touch with God are in constant
suffering.
Brothers and sisters; do remember that God allows us to go through all sorts
of distresses for this very reason, that we may know Him as the God of
Resurrection. He constantly leads us into death, because only in death can
we experience resurrection life.
The Bible speaks of two creations, the old and the new. The divine nature
does not indwell the old creation and that is why it has become old. Where
God is there is always newness. The Jerusalem above is called "New
Jerusalem" becasue it is full of God. The first creation, even though it
is the creation of the Living God, has no divine content; but what the God
of Resurrection raises from the dead has a divine as well as a human content.
It combines created and uncreated life. The first creation, though brought
into being by God Himself, is by God Himself suffered to pass into death
that it may emerge in resurrection as a creation of dual nature, i.e., combining
the natures of God and man.
This principle has to be applied to us personally and to all our relationships.
It is possible for fellow-workers, who love one another and work together
harmoniously, to imagine that their mutual love and their cooperation is
a spiritual thing; and others too may regard it as such. Yet it may
simply be a human relationship without any divine content. But one day the
hand of God falls upon it, and the cooperation comes to an end. For some
indefinable reason those fellow-workers can no longer get on together.
They are distressed about it and pray and yearn for a restoration of their
former harmony; but the more they pray, the more it evades them. Then one
day, when they have really died to their old experience, they find themselves
in a new relation--not just a oneness of human nature, but a oneness that
is both human and divine.
Though the old creation has come into being by the mighty hand of the Living
God, He Himself does not reside within it. It is created by Him and it
displays His might, but it does not display His presence. How can the old
creation be transformed into the new? By the incoming of God. But how can
His incoming be secured? This is the point at which a major difficulty
arises. The old nature must be shattered to make way for Him. Brothers
and sisters, everything in your life must pass the supreme test of death
to make a way for the God of Resurrection. If you only know the Living God,
your knowledge will be too objective. God will be God; you will be you.
You need to know the God of Resurrection; and it is only through death that
He can cleave a way for Himself into your life.
Prior to my coming here I visited a large textile factory in Manilla. There
I watched a process whereby certain materials were produced. But after the
perfect fabric had been created I saw a second process take place. That
perfect fabric was plunged into a bath of dye where it lost all its beauty.
It was a sorry sight. But it was in that state that the dye permeated the
fabric and a new element was added to it. So it is with the old creation.
It must pass through a devastating process if it is to be permeated by the
presence of God.
I was deeply impresses as I stood in that factory watching the two processes
and compairing the fabrics that emerged from the first and the second.
They were not different fabrics really, but some of them, passing through a
state that temporily destroyed their loveliness, had a new and permanent
beauty imparted to them.
What is the significance of suffering? This, that the devastation it brings
to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of Resurrection
to impart Himself to His creatures, so that they emerge from the death process
with a divine element in their constitution. The primary purpose of suffering
in this universe, particularily as it relates to the children of God, is that
through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man.
"Though our outward man is decaying, our inward man is renewed day by day."
Through a process of outward decay an inward process is taking place that
is adding a new constituent to our lives.
Beloved brothers and sisters, through hardship and pressure a divine element
is being wrought into the very fabric of our beings, so that we cease to be
colorless Christians, but have a heavenly hue imparted to our lives that
was lacking before. Whatever else suffering may effect in this universe
is incidental; this is primary--to bring those whom the Living God has made
possessors of created life into the uncreated life of the God of
Resurrection. It is in the death experiences which come through suffering
that the life of the creature is blended with the life of the Creator.
We may know the Living God without such drastic experiences, but only through
death can we come to an experimental knowledge of the God of Resurrection.
Suffering is the God-appointed lot of the Christian. The Christians's happiness
is not to be found in external things, but in learning to enjoy God Himself
in the midst of trial. Paul and Silas could rejoice and sing His praises
while they were in prison, because their happiness did not come from outer
circumstances, but from an inner enjoyment of God. In Paul's short letter
to the Philippians, written during his imprisonment, there are over a score
of references to joy. In deep distress in his afflication he was learning
to know Christ, to appropriate Him and to enjoy Him. His outward circumstances
were all conducive to sorrow, but it was in sorrow that Christ was imparted
to him as the source of his joy.
Beloved brothers and sisters, do you want to be partakers of the new creation?
Do you want to know perennial newness? Then you must give your consent to
God when He seeks to lead you through devastating processes. And you need
have no fear, for God knows how to apportion suffering. He is an expert
at matching our suffering to our state. He measures all things with unfailing
accuracy and selects the peculiar trial suited to the peculiar need. He
invariably chooses the lot of each one with this goal in view--an increase
of the divine content in our lives. If He chastises us, it is always "for
our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness." "All things work
together for good to them that are called according to His purpose." What
good? This, "that we may be conformed to the image of His Son."
The preceding was taken from a phamplet entitled "The God of Resurrection"
by Witness Lee.
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Robert W. Johnson
Computer center, The University of Turku, Turku Finland
robert@kontu.utu.fi (InterNet)
robert@firien.bitnet (BITNET)
The preceeding is my opinion and may not express the opinion of my employer
and further more has nothing to do with my employment.