T. Austin-Sparks · 1 of 6

The Great Governing Reality

Three or four brief passages of scripture, two of which are in the prophecies of Ezekiel, the prophecies of Ezekiel, chapter 1, at verse 26: "And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it, above."

The last chapter of those prophecies, chapter 48, verse 35: "It shall be 18,000 reeds round about. The name of the city from that day shall be 'The Lord is there.'"

The letter to the Ephesians chapter 1, at verse 9: "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him" - that is, in Christ - "unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times to sum up all things in Christ; the things in the heavens, the things upon the earth, in Him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage having been foreordained according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His will. To the end that we should be unto the praise of His glory, we who had before hoped in Christ, in whom ye also having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is an earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession unto the praise of His glory."

Chapter 3, verse 14: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. To the end that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God."

We are going, dear friends, at this time to be occupied with a matter which so clearly springs into light as we read such passages as those which have just been before us: the great governing reality of Divine purpose. In our last time together at Easter - yes, at Easter - we were occupied with what we then called "The Horizon of Christ" - Christ the horizon of all things. Now we follow with what is the complement of that: the horizon of Divine purpose. And in saying that, of course, we do not set aside Christ as the horizon of all things but we only bring alongside of Him that which is the complement of Himself, the purpose, as we have read: "Which God has purposed in Him". The Person and the purpose are complementary. They make one whole. To see, to rightly see the Person is to see the purpose; for the purpose is but the extension of the Person. The Person is explained and defined in the purpose. These two go together.

And may I here pause for this personal emphasis? I am very heavily burdened with the sense of the importance of this word for our time. I think I can say that I have never been more conscious of being burdened with a message for the hour. I say that only to draw you away from a great deal of material that may be employed for the essential importance of our meditation. What I have on my heart to say, I trust will be an inspiration. I trust that it will be an encouragement, an incentive. I trust that it will be instructive. But I know that it's going to be challenging. It may be correction, it may be rebuke, it may cause some offense, but it's got to be said.

We have read from Ezekiel and we're going to be occupied very much with Ezekiel's message. The word of the Lord to Ezekiel in commissioning him was, "Son of man speak unto them whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Speak unto them, son of man." I trust that that second part is quite unnecessary here. There will be no forbearing to hear, I believe we are here in the main because we want to hear; whatever it means. And so I ask you to come with me into this most serious and important of all considerations.

The Horizon of Divine Purpose

In the scriptures which we have just read, you will have noticed that they resolve themselves into two couplets. In Ezekiel the beginning, the beginning of everything: a throne and a man upon it above. That is the beginning: the throne and its occupant. The last word in those prophecies in that whole book is indeed the end: "The Lord is there." And everything that comes between the beginning and the end is directed toward, moving toward, that end, that end which is the end of all things. It's not only the end of Ezekiel's prophecies, it's the end of all the content of the ages. The last thing that will be said will be: "The Lord is there." That is the ultimate expression of that throne, that is the triumph of that throne. That is just what the throne is for: to secure for the Lord a place of eternal habitation in satisfaction, in joy, in pleasure. Under the throne everything has that in view as its end: the Lord is there.

Where? Well, in Ezekiel you know the closing chapters are occupied with a house and with a kingdom. The New Testament is occupied with that. The end is the house and the kingdom and the Lord is there. The end, I have said, is the issue of all the activities of the throne. And that end shows what everything under that throne is moving towards. There's a great deal under that throne, as extensive as its 48 chapters makes perfectly clear. A great deal indeed. But one thing explaining this and that and everything, is the end: the Lord is there.

Dear friends, if you and I want an interpretation, the Divine interpretation, of everything in our history, experience, and in this world, the answer is there. A throne above is governing and governing toward one end. And that end, with all that is contrary to it vanquished and expelled, and the Lord is there. The answer to every challenge, the answer to everything that seeks to put Him out or deny Him a place in you, in me, in His church, in the world, the answer is at last, in spite of everything, the Lord is there!

We have often here said at the last some of us will look at one another and say, "Well, we are here. We never thought we would get here. Or at times we thought we'd never get here." That is the glory. At times when it looked very doubtful with many questions, but something more than that is: "the Lord is here." Or if you and I have had our progress toward glory challenged, defeated, and assailed, many a conflict and many a doubt, what about the Lord on that throne? All the universe seems to have been stirred against that throne. It is so today - the explanation of everything that's going on. There's a hand against that throne. There's a mighty power against that throne. The Lord is being greatly challenged in your heart and my heart, in our lives as Christians, in the church. He's being challenged. His place is being disputed. If He can be displaced, then hell will displace Him and leave no stone unturned to do it. If He can be kept from coming into His ultimate full place, then there's plenty in this universe to make it so. Neither He nor we are going to be there without the greatest, the most immense victory in this universe that ever has been. And to shout at the end of all this (and those of you who are familiar with the book of Ezekiel, you know what a lot is in it - what a lot is in it - oh, and what a lot the Lord has to overcome in His people, with His people, and in the kingdoms of this world) and when you get through it all, every incident and detail, and then right at the last, the throne, the Lord is there! That's no small thing.

It is the triumph of the throne which is set above. The beginning and the end. You will notice that in the beginning it is individual. It is that Man on the throne above. We may say, in the light of this whole book, a rather lonely figure on the throne. Just one. When you get to the end of the book, you have a people, you have a people, a kingdom, a whole corporate company in glory, with Him, in service. That's the triumph of the throne.

Now you turn to the so-called "Letter to the Ephesians". You wonder why I put it like that, perhaps some of you know because you are scholars in the Word. Brothers, let me say that this letter was not specifically, specifically sent to Ephesus. It was a circular letter. You read the end of the letter to the Colossians, and you'll find that the apostle refers to two circular letters which he wanted to be read in the churches of Asia. And undoubtedly this is one of them. And I say that now not just to make a technical point, because there's a very vital point here in this. The message is to the churches. All that is here is to the churches and the local churches at that. And the local churches have got to hear all about this and come into line with it. Reserve that for the present.

In what is called the letter to the Ephesians, then - the title has to be given to it for purposes of reference - we begin chapter 1 with the exalted One and "hath raised Him up, set Him at His own right hand, far above all rule and authority". Here is the throne again and the Man upon it, above. When you get to the end of this matchless letter (for never in all the writings under the Spirit of God has there been anything to equal this document) you get to the end, that Individual is with His church, and His church is with Him in glory. Beginning individually, ending corporately, but the end is the issue and triumph of that throne. The church is to come there with Him in glory. That is quite clear, isn't it, in these two letters?

That common factor justifies our bringing together Ezekiel and Ephesians. They are both documents of the throne and its mighty issue in the place where the Lord is, and is in fullness of satisfaction. The Lord is there. Now there are two things which arise very clearly and stand out in clear relief in this connection. One is that there is, over all things and in all things:

An All-governing Purpose.

You're so familiar with that word and with such language that perhaps it fails to strike a chord in you. But I ask you, dear friends, are we not sometimes tempted, even we Christians, to wonder whether there is a purpose in all this that's happening to us, that we're going through? Where is the purpose in it? So often it seems purpose-less. Shall I put it in another way or use another word? Is there a meaning attached to all this that's going on? In our own experience, in the experience of companies of the Lord's people, in the experience of the church, in all that is happening in the world, is there a meaning? Is there a purpose?

Now here you have the categorical statement that He works all things after the counsel of His own will. And you will notice that in that presenting of the Man in the throne, it's in every realm in heaven and in earth, in every realm - it's the things celestial, the things mundane, and the things satanic - He is working to a purpose.

Make no mistake about it. We've got to get hold of this anew. We'll be in complete confusion, bewilderment, and utter weakness unless we are sure on this one thing: there's a meaning in what's happening. There's a purpose to which that throne is working in all things. All things according to His purpose. That is the thing under which we are going to be gathered, I think, mainly in these days: the all-governing purpose.

The second thing that comes so clearly to light in these two books and, of course, everywhere else, but here it stands out so conspicuously: the mighty energy of the Spirit of God.

The Mighty Energy of the Spirit of God

No one who has read the prophecies of Ezekiel has failed to see that here is a book of the energies of the Spirit of God. We shall come back to that, of course, a great deal, we mention it. When you take up this letter to the Ephesians, you meet the Holy Spirit, you meet those energies strengthened with all might by His Spirit in the inward man. A fragment, but a mighty fragment.

Here we are then in the presence of these energies of the Spirit of God in relation to this all-governing purpose. Of course they're here in two connections. In Ezekiel we have Israel: the historical, earthly, and temporal side of this great proof of purpose and Holy Spirit energy. In Ephesians here is where it's the church, and not Israel, and here within the realm, not of the historical and earthly and temporal, but the eternal, the heavenly, the spiritual. But, although that may be true in two realms, earthly and heavenly, the principle is the same, the truth is identical. A great purpose is in view, and the Spirit of God is committed with all His energy, to realise that Divine purpose. To Him all it means, of course, it's just a statement, in the Hebrew it's the name Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there. But oh, how comprehensive it is. What a lot there is in that.

Now, in both cases - Israel and the church - there is this common thing: they were both chosen by God for one purpose, and that purpose? The testimony of God in this universe. Israel was chosen for that. The church is chosen for that. And both Israel and the church are dealt with by God in the light of that one inclusive purpose.

Look at God's dealings with Israel, many-sided dealings; long, patiently drawn out dealings. All His dealings with Israel are in the light of the purpose for which Israel was chosen - the testimony of God in this world. Enlarge the horizon and you'll see that the church is chosen, not as a thing of time in the earth, but chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, and for this identical purpose, the testimony of God in this universe.

What Governs God's Dealings With Us?

With you, with me, with His people, with His church, what is it? To recognise it is truly to help, to fail to see it, is to miss the way entirely and wander and wander as Israel wandered. What is the Lord doing with you, with me? Why is He dealing with us as He is? Why all these dealings of God with us? To at last, at last, have us individually and together with all others who form that holy sanctuary as a Place where He can be without restraint, without limit, without any clouds or shadows - where it can be said of you, me, and of all believers, "The Lord is there", the Lord is there!

And, dear friends, if we have the most simple, fragmentary experience of that, what a blessing it is. Is it not true that our one coveting, and longing, and yearning is the presence of the Lord? The presence of the Lord! We set that [foremostly], the very first thought when we come together. We know that everything depends upon that, that if that is realised, everything's all right. If only we in our individual Christian lives know the Lord is with us, what a lot we can stand up to and go through! And to have that as not something periodic, occasional, coming and going in consciousness, but in fullness and everlasting fullness, without any variations at all. Everlasting full consciousness of the presence of the Lord and no other presence! Well, that is surely the end to which our hearts reach out. What is true day by day is the object of our hearts forever, that the Lord may be present, the Lord is there.

If in a company of the Lord's people, people can come in and say, "Well, this or that, whatever you've got to say, you meet the Lord there! The Lord is there." That's the answer to everything. What more do you want? Without that "everything", you've nothing. Yes, He's dealing with us in this way to this end. As with Israel, so with His church and its members.

Now, this is a Divine revelation, this, with all that it demands, and all the means and the methods that the Lord has ordained for realising it. This, dear friends, is the mystery which has been revealed. This is the purpose which He has purposed in Christ Jesus - to gather together all things in Him. This is the revelation which has come in this dispensation peculiarly. The "purpose of the ages" as it's called here, the purpose of the ages is this. And I do stress and underline that. It's the revelation.