Editor’s Note: In Isaac’s day, the wells were stopped—filled with earth by the Philistines, rendering the pure, refreshing water they held unavailable. In order to drink, they had to re-dig the wells. The servants of Isaac did so and discovered that they still held the same refreshment that Abraham had enjoyed.
If each generation of believers does not re-dig the wells of divine truth for itself, that precious truth will become a matter of intellect cold and academic. May we have the desire and energy to diligently dig and redig the wells so that our hearts be stirred and our faith strengthened!
The Heavenly Calling of the Church
Many other verses from the New Testament could be quoted to show clearly that the calling of the church is a heavenly one. The church thus holds a unique place in the purposes of God, for at no other time in this world’s history has God called out a distinct people on earth, yet marked them out as a heavenly one. It is true that an individual like Enoch was a type of the church, in that he walked with God in a day of increasing corruption and violence, and “he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5:2424And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. (Genesis 5:24)), no doubt bringing before us (in type) the taking up of believers at the Lord’s coming before judgment falls. Others like Abraham were called of God to walk as strangers in this world and “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:1010For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:10)). Scripture speaks of men like Abel and Noah as being “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:1313These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)). All of these, while precious in the eyes of the Lord, were only types of what was “from the beginning of the world... hid in God” (Eph. 3:99And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 3:9)). When Israel rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah and crucified Him and then rejected God’s gracious appeal from a risen Christ in glory, God used the Apostle Paul to bring out the precious truth of a heavenly people, the church.
The Danger of Giving up the Heavenly Calling
Probably no other single truth has caused so much difficulty in the history of the church. It is a truth that is paramount in all of Paul’s ministry and stressed over and over again. Yet how easily the church gave it up, with disastrous consequences! As another has said, “From the instant that the church loses sight of its heavenly calling, it loses, humanly speaking, all.” To any serious observer this statement will be seen to be true. While our perfect standing before God as a heavenly people cannot change, our character on earth as displaying Christ and our testimony to a ruined world are lost when we give up our heavenly calling.
Satan’s Efforts to Destroy the Truth
Satan tried to stamp out such a testimony in the early days of Christianity, and savage persecution was his first weapon. This did not work, and the church rather grew and multiplied. Persecution served only to emphasize the fact that believers had no place in this world. But then he employed other tactics, and, as we know, they were all too successful. This began rather early in the church’s history, even before the apostles had passed off the scene. In 2 Timothy 1:1515This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. (2 Timothy 1:15), at the close of his life, Paul had to say, “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me.” They had not turned away from Christianity, but rather from that precious truth from a risen Christ in glory that Paul had preached to them. The description of the seven churches in Asia in Revelation 23 shows how far things had progressed, even while the Apostle John was still alive. Later under the Emperor Constantine and those who followed him Christians began to turn in two different ways, neither of which was of God. Let us look at what the heavenly calling means and then see how subtle Satan was in destroying such a testimony.
The Lord’s Thoughts
The Lord Jesus set out the essence of the heavenly calling of believers in His prayer in John 17, when He referred to His own as being “in the world” (vs. 11) but “not of the world” (vs. 14). As a result, He clearly said that “the world hath hated them” (vs. 14) and that hatred persists to this day. As we have already noted, God had always separated His own from the evil of this world, but never before had He called a distinct people to be in the world but not of the world.
The Enemy Introduces Error
Beginning (at least in spirit) even in the days of the apostles, Satan began to introduce that which would seek to destroy the testimony of the church. The tendency was checked somewhat during the terrible persecution in the second and third centuries, but it found its full-blown manifestation in the fourth century and the years following.
On the one hand, some had a desire for holiness, no doubt at first in an honest way. But holiness cannot exist in the soul apart from Christ. Instead of realizing the precious truth of their perfect standing in Christ and thus obeying the command to “yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness” (Rom. 6:1919I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. (Romans 6:19)), they began to try to get something out of themselves while leaving Christ out. Forgetting that they were already fully justified in the sight of God by the finished work of Christ, they tried to achieve a level of holiness in a legal way. Such men (and ultimately women too) holed themselves up in monasteries or convents, or else became hermits, sometimes living for years in caves, isolated huts, or even on the tops of poles, so as not to be contaminated by the world.
All of this ministered to self instead of to Christ. Such individuals were not of the world, it is true, but for all practical purposes they were not in the world either. Physical privation and suffering, adverse circumstances and self-occupation all gave room for Satanic delusions and visions which were hailed by the superstitious populace as revelations from God. The result was the destruction of what Paul had taught.
The Danger of Extremes
On the other hand, some went to the other extreme. Instead of living as heavenly citizens and waiting for the Lord to come and take them home, they began to take part in the affairs of this world. Constantine paved the way by embracing Christianity and making it the official religion of the Roman empire, so that suddenly believers who had been persecuted only a short time before were given positions of responsibility and authority. All of this sounded good, and it was felt that now Christianity would be able to be a force for good in this world by influencing the governments and laws in a right way. Such believers were definitely in the world, but, sad to say, they were practically of the world.
Needless to say, it did not work and ultimately resulted in a worldly religion where Christ was displaced in favor of man. If believers join hands with the world, even in a right cause, they acknowledge that the world can improve itself and must work with the world according to its principles and outlook. The world may want a measure of uprightness in its dealings, but it does not want Christ.
The Current Condition of Christendom
This condition of things persists to this day. We are thankful that during the Reformation God raised up men like Luther, Farel, Zwingli, Calvin and others who were used to restore to us the truth of the gospel. Many were delivered from the excesses that had prevailed for more than one thousand years, but it was not long before that glorious deliverance degenerated into Protestantism, with a mixture of true and false believers. Many of the errors of the “dark ages” were repeated, although in a different form. Then in the nineteenth century God raised up men like J. N. Darby, G. V. Wigram, William Kelly and others who were mightily used to restore to us the truth of the church.
Sad to say, this truth has largely been adulterated with worldly principles in Christendom today, and once again believers are seeking to improve this world by working with it, instead of rendering a testimony against it by their heavenly calling. Still others carry separation to such an extreme that it becomes, instead, isolation.
An Unchanging Path for the Faithful
What then is the solution? Is it still possible to walk in the good of that heavenly calling today? According to Scripture we believe that it is. God’s Word has not changed, and all of what is taught in the New Testament is as much applicable today as it ever was, save that we must recognize that we are not living in apostolic days, but rather in a day when the church outwardly is in ruins. We must remember this and not try to restore that which has been broken to pieces (outwardly) by our failure. Yet where this is acknowledged, God honors obedience to His Word, for the Spirit of God is still here, and the truth of the church as Paul gave it to us remains for our instruction and blessing. When Paul saw the ruin coming in, his instruction to Timothy was, “Continue thou” (2 Tim. 3:1414But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; (2 Timothy 3:14)), and this holds good today.
In our next article we hope to look at some of the hindrances to walking according to our heavenly calling and how these can be overcome.
W. J. Prost