Captivity In the Lord # 2

1. The Instrument of the Lord's testimony In a Place of Limiting by the Will of God (continued)

That which represents the testimony in its fullest and closest approximation to the ultimate purpose of God, then, has to be shorn of much that has been good, necessary, and of God in a preparatory way, and must be shut up to what is ultimate. The captivity is not to a conceived truth or a superimposed doctrinal acceptance. It is wrought into the very fiber of the being by experience, and revelation interpreting experience. It is not the championing of some espoused interpretation: it is that it is the very life of the instruments and the instrument is that in its very being. It is not a matter of wanting to be or not wanting to be, but of cannot be other, a prisoner, the sovereignty of God has done it.

2. The Importance and Value of Seeing and Accepting Things in God's Light

This applied both to Paul and to those who were brought into touch with him. For the Apostle the settling in to the sovereign ordering of God in his imprisonment issued in increasing illumination leading to spiritual emancipation.

No one can fail to recognize the tremendous enrichment of ministry as contained in what are called "the Prison Epistles." If he had been restive, piqued, rebellious, or bitter, there would have been no open heaven, and a spirit of controversy with the Lord would have closed and bolted the door to the fuller Divine unveilings and clarifyings.

When all was accepted according to the mind of the Lord, then "the heavenly places" became the eternal expanses of his walking about, and earthly bondage gave place to heavenly freedom. So it must be with every instrument set apart in relation to the higher interests of the Lord's testimony. Then the reading of certain passages in his letters and the record of his imprisonment shows how this applied to others. Take the following:

"Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner" (2 Timothy 1:8).

"And he abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and received all that went in unto him ... teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus" (Acts 28:30).

"The Lord grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus: for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; but, when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me" (2 Timothy 1:16).

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 3)