T. Austin-Sparks · 1 of 4
The Place of Christ
Also published in the A Witness and A Testimony magazine in 1956 as an article: The Divinely Appointed Place of Christ.
"Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which entered not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him. But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:9-10).
And alongside of that, one or two other fragments of Scripture well-known to us:
"Canst thou by searching find out God?" (Job 11:7).
You will notice that there is a marginal reference which puts it this way:
"Canst thou find out the deep things of God?"
"The Spirit searches... the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10).
"The unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:8).
"Oh, the depth of the riches... how unsearchable" (Rom. 11:33).
And then we ought to read from John's Gospel chapter 16, the Lord saying to His disciples when the Spirit is come He would take the things that are His, and show them (verses 13, 14).
I think it might be profitable if we just took a moment or two to look at two or three words outstanding in this portion of the first Corinthian letter, chapter 2. You notice the three words: prepared, searches, deep things. "Things God prepared for them that love Him", things which God made ready for them that love Him. The question of course immediately arises: When did God prepare, or make ready, those things? The word is used in different connections, and they throw light upon this question. You remember there was a request made of the Lord when He was here, by a mother concerning her two sons that when He came into His Kingdom, they might sit one on the right hand and one on the left hand, and His answer was that that was for those for whom it was prepared (Matt. 20:23). He could not do that, it was for those for whom it was prepared, already made ready, by God. The blessing of the Lord on a certain man or upon certain ones takes this form: "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34). And one more, Ephesians 2:10, "...good works which God afore prepared that we should walk in them".
Presently we shall touch more definitely upon when that took place, but it is quite clear from these passages that there was a long anticipation of something which goes right back to the foundation of the world, or literally the words are, the laying down of the world, the mapping out of the world. It was then that this was prepared, the things which God prepared right back there for them that love Him.
Then this word 'searches', the Spirit searches all things, and the word does not mean to find out, to discover. It just means ranging the deep things of God. The Spirit's movement is deep, far, and wide, ranging the whole realm of the things of God, exploring.
And then deep things. This very same word was the word which the Lord used to His disciples - "Launch out into the deep" (Luke 5:4, KJV), and Paul used it about his experiences among which he said, "A night and a day... in the deep" (2 Cor. 11:25). Now, anybody who knows anything about the sea will get some idea of the meaning of this word that is employed here: the deep things of God.
So we are led into a very great realm when we come into the realm of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the things of the Spirit, and we are going to ask this question: What are these deep things of the Spirit? And we can only hope to think of some of them, perhaps only one at the moment. What are these deep things, which have been revealed, though never explained? We must not confuse those two things. It is possible to reveal or uncover, bring something into view, without explaining it, and we are not given the explanation to the deepest things of God. We are still left with very great questions about them as you will clearly see as we go on in this series of messages, but nevertheless they have been uncovered, they have been brought to light as immense realities and brought to light for our good.
Christ God's Appointed Heir of All Things
One of the deep things of the Spirit which have been brought to light, and I think the first, is the place of Christ in the Divine scheme of things - a very deep thing indeed, far beyond our fathoming, but nevertheless it is clearly before us in the Word. Going right back again, Hebrews 1:2, speaking of the Son, "Whom He appointed heir of all things". That is His place in the Divine scheme - "heir of all things". He was appointed that when? Well, before all things were created, because immediately it goes on to say, "through Whom all things were created, the worlds were made". He was appointed heir of all things.
You remember His parable in which He quite clearly intimated this thing. The wicked husbandmen who, having stoned the servants, espied the coming of the Son and said, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance" (Matt. 21:38), incidentally touching upon the deep things of Satan. It is an uncovering of Satan's deep work to rob Christ of His inheritance, and that explains the cross, from the side of the enemy, the murder of the Heir with the securing of His inheritance in view. But keeping to the Lord's own word - the Heir of all things - so Jesus, the Son of God, is revealed by the Spirit to be God's appointed Heir. Psalm 2:8, undoubtedly Messianic and prophetic: "Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession." So His inheritance is the nations and the uttermost parts of the earth, Divinely appointed, ordained, and it cannot be set aside. It is heaven and earth, for He said on His resurrection: "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18); the Heir possessing all authority in every realm. So Paul prays that believers, through the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of revelation, might be able to see Christ's inheritance in the , (Eph. 3:18). Here are some of the "all things": the nations, the uttermost parts of the earth, the heaven and earth, and within the church His inheritance. That is a statement of fact. It is a deep thing revealed by the Spirit.
But the point does arise here: God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. These things, then, have a very real meaning for believers. This will take us away from a superficial Christianity. If we can really grasp the meaning of this first thing for ourselves, as believers, it is going to have a very salutary effect upon us.
