Published as an E-book

by

Austin-Sparks.Net

Email: info@austin-sparks.net

ISBN: 978-1-927219-53-9

In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks' wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely - free of any changes, free of any charge (except necessary distribution costs) and with this statement included.

Our Inheritance in Christ

by T. Austin-Sparks

Messages as spoken, first published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazines 1931 (Volume 9)

Contents

Chapter 1 - Predestination, Preparation, Possession

Chapter 2 - The Inheritance

Chapter 3 - Man's State and Estate

Chapter 1 - Predestination, Preparation, Possession

Reading: Joshua 1.

Joshua is the book of the inheritance in the Old Testament and there are some significant things attached to the occurrences and usages of this word "inheritance". In the Book of Numbers it occurs 35 times, in the Book Of Deuteronomy 18 times, but in the Book of Joshua 44 times; that is striking! Numbers is the book of the ordering of the hosts with the inheritance in view. Deuteronomy is the book of the establishing of the basis for possessing the inheritance, therefore you would expect to find the word frequently. In Leviticus the word "inheritance" occurs but once. Now Leviticus does not deal with inheritance, but with God's rights; it is the book of relationship to God by the altar; the book of approach and access to God, where God's rights are recognised, and God secures His rights by the Cross. God must have His rights before we can get our inheritance, as Leviticus teaches. Then when you come to the Book of Joshua you find the whole subject of the inheritance dealt with, and the entering into possession.

Coming over into the New Testament you find the letter to the Romans does not present "inheritance" in any concrete form, it is a book that deals with the spiritual foundations, and this is its link with the Book of Leviticus.

Joshua, the man (in type of the Spirit) brings to the inheritance. It is important and both interesting and significant to notice when Joshua comes into view.

In Exodus 17 we find Joshua coming into view at Rephidim, the place of the smitten rock, where the waters came forth giving life to the people; type of the life of the Spirit as the inward life of the people of God (see John 4:10-14). Then it is that Amalek immediately comes on the scene as type of the flesh rising up and crossing the path in order to prevent possession of the land, to hinder going into the inheritance. Amalek comes out to withstand Israel, and God immediately brought Joshua in to order the camp.

Immediately you receive the Holy Spirit or experience a fresh filling of the Spirit, flesh rises up, Amalek comes out, "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are contrary the one to the other" (Gal. 5:17). These two are in age-long conflict, in antagonism. It is ever so; when you have a fresh experience of the Holy Spirit, the next thing you find is that you are in a new conflict against the old flesh-life in yourself; this rising up of the flesh within is provoked by the devil because he sees the inheritance in view, for when the Spirit comes the inheritance comes into view, HE has come to bring to the inheritance. So do not be surprised if after an experience of the Spirit the next thing you have to face is this conflict with the assertion of the flesh across the path to hinder your going into possession.

It is only when you have received the Holy Spirit that you know the conflict of the flesh and what is the withstanding of the flesh, those who have not the Spirit have no such conflict of flesh and Spirit; they are not in that realm, but wholly in the flesh realm.

The Holy Spirit has come in relation to the end, and the end is the inheritance in Christ, and flesh moved by Satan rises up to frustrate that end, and to rob you of the inheritance. The peril is that having begun in the Spirit, you might turn aside to make some compromise with Amalek, because of the hardness of the way, the greatness of the cost, by reason of the conflict and forgetting God's word - "utterly destroy Amalek" (1 Samuel 15:3). "Walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4).

This is where Abraham broke down. Isaac, son of the Spirit - he was impossible as son of the flesh (Heb. 11:11,12) - Abraham's faith tested, wilderness conditions prevailed, there was delay of the fulfilment of God's promise, and apparently nothing developing as to Isaac; he had the assurances of God, but seemingly nothing coming to pass: the flesh could not wait, it never can wait for God, so Ishmael is the outcome, with what terrible consequences. And there came a time when Abraham had to cast out from his home and life that which his flesh had built up; this is a terribly painful thing to do, to pull down what he had built up; and this holds many from coming into the inheritance. Abraham had brought something into being by mixing flesh with Spirit, and God will not have it, but says - "CAST IT OUT." This costs shame and sorrow, it is not easy to cast this out, it is shameful, but it must be done, it must be utterly cast out!

Joshua came in at that point as the energy of the Holy Spirit to carry on to the end and to secure the inheritance. We see Joshua related to all the spiritual activities of the Children of Israel; it is significant to note he is spoken of when first introduced as the attendant of Moses; who also went up into the Mount with Moses. His name is not mentioned in Hebrews 11. Why is the name of Joshua left out of that great list? Because he represented the Holy Spirit in them all! The activities of God are all carried on in the energies of the Holy Spirit, and it is HE who brings into the inheritance.

Joshua represents the energy of the Holy Spirit in relation to the ultimate thing, which is our inheritance in Christ. Joshua was the energy of the life of the Children of Israel as to their going into the land to possess. "Be strong" - and on that strength the people were strengthened; Joshua the person was the energy of their life. "Strengthened with all might by His Spirit into the inner man" (Eph. 3:16). Colossians and Ephesians are the letters concerning our inheritance in Christ, and it is the energies of the Holy Spirit which are to bring us into the possessing of it.

The letter to the Ephesians declares our inheritance in Christ as a fact. Chapters 1, 2, 3, are occupied with bringing us into the recognition of this. "Having the eyes of your heart enlightened that ye might know." All is related to our inheritance in Christ, and it is the energy of the Holy Spirit bringing us into that. "That God the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of HIM." We need to get the foundations well laid.

From Genesis up to Exodus 11 election is presented, God is choosing according to His own sovereignty and wisdom (and not telling why), an elect line; a man, a family, a race.

Exodus shows us a people though even in Egypt and under cruel bondage, yet a people distinguished from the Egyptians. And as things intensified for them, so did the difference intensify between them. When there was darkness over the land of Egypt it was light where Israel was, they are in Egypt, but GOD hath chosen!

GOD has chosen, predestinated, foreordained; GOD has foreknown and in His foreknowledge He has made certain decisions. The fact is His foreknowledge; and in that foreknowledge He did predestinate. This foreknowledge is not with us, we are to preach Christ to all the world and to give no case up as to being too hard, but to follow on to the end; the issue is with God, and not with us.

From Exodus 12, on through Leviticus and Deuteronomy it is preparation by the Spirit of those out of Egypt, a people who had been marked out in Egypt, and now have been brought out from Egypt. And when you come to the Book of Joshua, you have the inheriting by a Spirit-prepared people; for it is an inward inheritance and position first.

Predestination, Preparation, Possession

1. God knew and predestinated; "Election according to the knowledge of God the Father" (1 Peter 1:2). "Whom He foreknew He foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom. 8:29).

2. By a course of preparation by the Spirit in relation to the nature of the election - a separation unto God.

3. Inheriting on the basis of spiritual preparation to inherit, this means a deep, and oft-times drastic work of the Spirit, in the separating from all flesh, so that now we might come into our inheritance in Christ. God wants us to cross Jordan now, into the land now, and now to have the earnest of our inheritance. This brings us back to the Ephesian letter, "Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit... which is the earnest of our inheritance" (Eph 1:13,14).

The Holy Spirit has come and dwells within the born-again child of God to cause that one to begin to possess now.

We come out of Romans 4 and 5 through 6 and 7, on into 8 where we have the energies of the Spirit in relation to "Sonship" on resurrection ground. We cannot immediately enter into our inheritance, this entering is caused by a deep work of the Spirit within us. We must ever remember the preparation is governed by the Object, and that object is the knowledge of the Lord: making the Lord everything to us experimentally, for the knowledge of the Lord is our inheritance, and is the result of the preparation of the Holy Spirit.

All preparation is governed by the object; and the object is to come to an experimental knowing the Lord, schooled to know HIM, that is the key all the way along. Every experience brings us to know Him, this is the work of the Holy Spirit; and when we come to a knowledge of Him, we are come to the inheritance, for He is the inheritance and we never come to the inheritance until we have a deep experimental knowledge of the Lord.

When Israel left Egypt, they expected to enter the land immediately, and to come into the inheritance at once. They had their eyes on the land things; so a long preparation was needed. First there had to be the wilderness experience to bring to them the knowledge of the Lord, and on the other hand the forty years in the wilderness was necessary to make them to know what was in their own hearts; but it is the knowing of Him by which He governs the making them to know their own hearts. Had we knowledge of ourselves apart from knowing Him, it would be death to us and we could not bear it, so all is governed by this one thing - knowing Him. When you have come there in any commensurate measure, you have come to your inheritance!

Three Wilderness Features

There are three things in this wilderness period:-

1. A barren place of dependence. This is a tremendous factor in coming into our inheritance in Christ; for a wilderness is a wilderness, a dry barren place, where you cannot see anything, or feel anything; where if your only resources were in your senses you are at an utter end. It is a barren place of utter dependence upon God, and there is nothing else to depend upon. This is an essential feature in order to possess, a vital factor for obtaining the inheritance. How often God says to His people, "I am your inheritance" (Num. 18:20). "The Lord is my portion" (Ps. 119:57). "The Almighty will be thy treasure, and precious silver unto thee" (Job 22:24,25 A.R.V.).

In Christ you have all that, "For all things are yours... the world, life and death, or things present or things to come, all are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's" (1 Cor. 3:25).

He is shutting you up to exclusion where in that barren place He can be your life and you have to depend on Him for everything; thus you come into your inheritance which is - HIMSELF. It is an utter separation from all and everything unto God.

2. The wilderness is a bounded place of separation, within the limits of God's appointment, where you are separated unto God. There must not be the slightest overlapping with Egypt, "not a hoof to be left behind" and there had to be "three days' journey into the wilderness" (Ex. 8:27). The separation is unto the degree of Divine completeness, it is being wholly separated unto God. God has come in between and defined the limits to our life and what it means to be separated unto God.

3. The wilderness is a hedged place of imprisonment to God, there is no getting out of it, you are imprisoned, given wholly to God and for Him, and know Him as your only object.

God shut Israel into the wilderness and there was no way out; Pharaoh saw that, see what he says about it: "Pharaoh will say... they are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in" (Ex. 8:27).

Yes, the devil knows all about it! He says "the wilderness shut them in" - but, God shut them in. What a place of imprisonment when you have come out wholly for the Lord! Yes, that is the way, the Lord has imprisoned you, and you cannot run away. There are sometimes fiery trials, and often Satan says, quit, quit, and you know you cannot. The flesh would love to be released and find a way out, but you know you have got to go through, and He is holding you. If He had not held you, where would you have been? We would kick and run away, only He holds, and will hold until He has done the work; and you will say, "the Lord did it"; you are hedged by a Divine compulsion.

The Lord sovereignly held the children of Israel in the wilderness, while the testing and training was going on, preparing for the inheritance. And He is holding you while He does the same, you are the prisoner of the Lord, hedged in unto His Divine completeness; the Lord is sovereignly holding and getting us through, the credit is not ours, but His, it is all Grace.

The duration of the wilderness depends upon our maturity in our knowledge of the Lord, until HE becomes and IS our "all in all," He - HIMSELF. When He has His place we come into our large place, for our coming into a large place is on the ground of our personally knowing in a very real way the Lord - HIMSELF as our all; and conquest depends upon this knowledge of the Lord.

There will never be a time when we shall escape the uprising of the flesh; when we are over Jordan the peril of the flesh is still with us, and you find Achan gets up. Again you find flesh manifesting itself in self-confidence in Israel when they are over Jordan and in the land: "And it came to pass when all the Kings... heard how... the children of Israel had passed over that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel" (Joshua 5:1). The peoples of the land were in terror because of the children of Israel; immediately upon which the Lord gave instructions for re-circumcision. Why this upon crossing the Jordan and being in the land? The Lord saw the peril of their taking on the thought of the people of the land about themselves, and making something of them instead of the Lord, instead of making Him everything, so He says, "circumcise".

And beloved, you are never free of the peril of people making something of you as soon as they see you have got something. The Lord says at once, "cut off the flesh."

The Lord is wanting to bring us into a wealthy place, and He is working in the energies of the Holy Spirit with that in view. He has foreknown and always acts in relation to that foreknowledge; the inheritance is in view, and He by the Holy Spirit would bring us into that full place in Christ.

The large place in life or vocation depends upon whether we have the Lord as our LIFE, and not things or people as such, but HIMSELF.

Our emancipation into the fulness of God's provision for us in Christ Jesus, depends upon how far we have let the Holy Spirit sovereignly apply the Cross of the Lord Jesus to all that is not of Himself, until it is only the Lord. This is the Spirit's work, and is not power or sanctification as such, not in a thing, it is the LORD; and when it is the Lord, you have come to your possession and can go in and possess.

We come to it through pressure, through fire, through water, but God says:- "I HAVE GIVEN... YOU POSSESS."

Chapter 2 - The Inheritance

We have seen:-

1. The book of Joshua to be the book of "inheritance"; Joshua mentions the inheritance 44 times. The New Testament counterparts are the letters to Ephesus and Colossae; setting forth our inheritance in Christ.

2. Setting forth the basis and preparation for entering into that inheritance.

3. The wilderness as the place of the Spirit's preparation for the inheritance; where we have learned there is nothing but the Lord and He the only One; thus we get to know HIM who is the inheritance. There is no inheriting but by preparation of the Spirit, through a wilderness experience, where you have nothing but the Lord and HE the only factor; this is preparation unto the inheritance.

4. Then the "inheritance" has regard to the authority and government of the Cosmos, this embraces all the world, in it and around it; all this is the "inheritance". This government and authority fell into the hands of Satan, he captured the world and enthroned himself in the heavenlies - the spiritual realm around the world, and from there he rules and governs.

Now the inheritance is with Christ. HE as MAN and for man, recovered the Cosmos. God could have recovered it as GOD and never become man, but the redemption had to be in relation to man as man had forfeited it.

Man, in the eternal purpose of God, is bound up with the government of this world for God's own glory. Since the Lord Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father, all the powers and forces of evil and good are under His control. Satan is out to impress us that he is still Prince of this world, but he is not ultimately and finally so, and now there is ONE over all his working, overruling and directing it to the glory of God. Satan's regime is now within the compass and control of the Lord Jesus; and we being in Christ are translated out of his authority and out of the power of darkness and being in Christ we inherit that which He has recovered. This inheritance is only on the ground of and by the way of the wilderness, the place of spiritual discipline, by which the flesh is entirely ruled out; for where the flesh is the enemy makes a terrible mess.

In the Book of Acts you have a refusal on the part of the Lord's own people to recognise the authority of Satan in this Cosmos, but they acknowledge an overruling by the glorified SON of MAN in the throne - the Lord Jesus Christ; whom God hath made HEAD over all things to the Church which is His Body; and HE is the HEAD of all Principality and Power (Eph. 1:20-23; Col 2:10).

The fact brought out in Acts is, Satan is not really lord; the Believers know ONE, the LORD JESUS, over all the authority of Satan, Who is going to make the workings of Satan serve HIS ends. This is the faith that gets outside of the authority of darkness, which in the face of all the suffering refuses to accept the authority of Satan, but stands in the faith of HIM Who truly reigneth; "the SON of MAN" to whom all authority hath been given in heaven and on earth (Matt 28:18).

Oh! to have the faith as found in the Acts, which possessed "ALL in Christ".

Redemption of the Whole Man

In Colossians we see this "inheritance" relates to man's state and estate; both of which were lost to man and brought into captivity to Satan. The Lord Jesus as MAN redeemed and recovered all in His own Person by way of the Cross, and carried it beyond the power of death out into resurrection and glorification. This is an accomplished thing in Christ; and now man's spiritual state is seen in Christ Jesus glorified: "for whom HE justified them HE also glorified" (Rom. 8:30). Scripture constantly emphasises our being partakers of His glory, not partakers of the glory of His deity, but as glorified SON of MAN; "glorified together with Him." (1 Peter 5:1). All is secured right up to the end in the Person of the Lord Jesus, that is as to man's estate, but there is also his state; our being justified is heading to being glorified. Our inheritance in Christ relates to the whole man's being, spirit, soul, and body.

Everything begins with the spirit, but redemption applies to the rest of man's being, for soul and body are also redeemed. New birth has all its meaning in our spirit, it begins there, but God has not ruled out our soul. He has redeemed it. There is a pernicious thing in dividing spirit and soul; for there are people who have a spiritual life which is a denial of the moral: they get so spiritual that they neglect their families, their business, and so on. Our moral life must be absolutely in keeping with our spiritual life. Domestic life, business life, all must be on the same spiritual level, in the same realm. If you divorce these things the devil will make a horrible mess.

In the book of Joshua you start on a very high level, but soon after you come to the terrible tragedy of it; there is a division between the spiritual and moral life. Christ has redeemed our soul and our soul-realm has got to be purified. Spirit relates to spiritual life, soul relates to moral life; and a spiritual life which denies a moral life is a LIE. We have got to see what redemption of the soul means; that our moral life is brought up to the level of our spiritual life; for we have no spiritual life beyond our moral life. The soul-life is in relation to this world and the spirit-life is in relation to the Lord, and both are to enter into redemption, which redemption embraces the whole man: in Christ our bodies are also redeemed - potentially.

In Colossians and Ephesians you start by first seeing all in the Spirit, all in the heavenlies; our spiritual possessions in Christ Jesus in the heavenlies, but it is the same Spirit saying a little further on, "husbands, love your wives, children obey your parents". This is not a coming down but bringing the domestic life up into the heavenlies, regarded as part of the whole. We cannot divorce them, they are both in the same realm and the moral and spiritual have got to be on the same level; if not, the enemy will make confusion.

The earnest of the same Spirit of Jesus which raised Him from the dead is in us to give us a taste of our resurrection life now; the Spirit as resident within us as the life of Jesus by which He conquered death - "But if Christ be in you, though your body be dead because of sin (to which its nature tends) yet your spirit is life (life triumphant over death)... yea, if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead be dwelling in you, He who raised Christ from the dead shall endow with life also your dying bodies, by His Spirit which dwells in you." (Rom 8:10,11 Conybeare). We have now an earnest of the fulness to come - the inheritance. In our spirit we have the germ of resurrection by which either through the grave or by translation our body will be changed.

Christ in Glory as Representative

The Lord Jesus holds in His own Person the state and estate of redeemed man. The question is often raised, is the Lord Jesus still man? I believe He is glorified man in glory (at the same time He is very God). Look at the book of the Revelation, which is history ahead of the New Testament on to the end of the age. It begins with Him in glory and it is a matchless presentation of Him. Then see Him moving through these earthly-heavenly activities, whereby heaven is explaining what is going on in the earth. He is presented as LORD of lords and KING of kings; then at the very end of the book of Revelation, He takes up the title of His earthly life, "I JESUS," this is the very last thing recorded of Him. What does He mean by putting this at the end? Is it not to let all know and to put His seal to the fact that He is still SON of MAN. This is not taking away from His deity. He is very God, yet also very man. In His redemptive work He is very man indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and as man won back man's lost inheritance - yet He IS GOD.

There's a Man in Glory

Whose Life is for me,

Triumphant and free.

He's wise and He's loving,

Tender is He;

And His Life in the Glory

My life must be.

There's a Man in the Glory

Whose Life is for me,

He overcame Satan;

From bondage He's free.

In life He is reigning,

Kingly is He;

And His Life in the Glory

My life must be.

There's a Man in the Glory

Whose Life is for me,

In Him is no sickness;

No weakness has He.

He's strong and in vigour

Buoyant is He;

And His Life in the Glory

My life may be.

There's a Man in the Glory

Whose Life is for me,

His peace is abiding;

Patient is He.

He's joyful and radiant,

Expecting to see

His Life in the Glory

Lived out in me.

In that marvellous position as Son of Man He brings us into relationship with Himself; and all the "inheritance" is in Him - "I JESUS". And that inheritance involves the Church, Christ the Head, we the members - ONE BODY, "Joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17). The Body being a kind of crystallisation of the activities of Christ; this defines the nature of the Church and the object of God's activities in this age - unto the formation of the Body.

Corporate Inheritance

We cannot get fully into this inheritance as isolated ones but only corporately, it is one Body. We are saved as individuals, but saved and sanctified in relation to the Body, to the building up of the Body of Christ. Soul saving has been made an end in itself, sanctification has been made an end in itself; God never meant it to be so, but rather all to be related to the corporate entity - the ONE BODY of CHRIST. Believers staying at anything less than this fall short of their inheritance in Christ, and don't come right through into the fulness of Christ (Col. 2).

We see in the book of Joshua, two inheritances are mentioned, one by Moses to the two and a half tribes, the other by Joshua and Eleazar to the nine and a half tribes. Note the significance of this - all went over Jordan, but not all entered into their possessions. The two and a half tribes inheritance given by Moses was with stipulations, "bring us not over the Jordan." They had an inheritance, but a lesser thing than God had intended for them. They went over Jordan to stay for a bit; but it was a different going over from that which the nine and a half had; the two and a half was an objective going over, while the nine and a half was a subjective thing (speaking in spiritual terms) they went right through to possess. And today there are those who are content with something less than God intended them to have; content with a bit of the inheritance, and are not out for the fulness of it; this means an eternal loss of something which could have been theirs.

Ephesians and Colossians take you back to Romans 6 and 8; but are much beyond Romans. In Romans 6 you have going over Jordan, identification with Christ's death, and in Romans 8 it is having the Spirit and taking possession; but this points you on to Ephesians and Colossians and the inheritance in Christ in the heavenlies; it is "Christ in you" subjectively. There are those who have got an inheritance (Romans 6), they have got the Spirit (Romans 8) but their inheritance is so largely outside of themselves. This explains so much that we see and why the call for "overcomers" who will go right through and not be content with something less than God's full purpose for them in Christ Jesus.

Both Ephesians and Colossians take you back to Romans 6, "to the circumcision not made with hands" (Col. 2:11,12). In Romans you have an apprehension of all that Christ has done in an objective way; and in Ephesians and Colossians it is all that Christ has done in you, subjectively, and a going on unto the end, unto the full inheritance. "If ye continue in the faith" (Col. 1:23). "If we hold fast... firm unto the end" (Heb. 3:14). This is not a question of salvation but of fulness in Christ; and not to only just get something down here: God wants to bring us right into all the fulness there is for us in Christ Jesus.

Joshua marks the point where preparation is intended to give place to full inheritance. God meant something great, but these two and a half tribes are content with something less; this explains the constant urge in the New Testament, to go right through to that for which we were predestined - the full inheritance.

The great feature in all this is the rolling away of the reproach of Egypt; those days of bondage under Pharaoh! It is the putting away of the flesh, so that now everything is "in Christ" and of Christ, and in the heavenlies and by the Spirit; everything - resources, methods, wisdom, relationships, manner of life, ways - and there is no drawing on the flesh; and unless God does all by Christ, nothing can be done. We draw on Christ for all; our words, judgments, deeds, steps, all out from God for spirit, soul and body; yes, for life itself - all out from Him who is now our life, "To me to live is Christ".

At the End of Ourselves

In the wilderness the whole of our natural life is brought out, and we come to know our weakness and emptiness; that we have nothing. Thus it is that we now find everything in Christ and so can go over and possess. What is the secret of possession, of coming into our inheritance? It is that we have come to the place where all things are "in Christ" and HE is everything - our very life and being. Our flesh is cut off and we know as the deepest thing in our being, that unless God does everything in us by His Spirit, all is of no value. We must come to an end of our own working in order to come into His fulness.

It is so easy to sit down in our weakness and nurse ourselves, but the Lord says at that point, "Arise and possess." Your inheritance is not here on earth, it is in Christ in the heavenlies; not in yourselves, your fulness is in Him. It is ever HIS FULNESS over against your emptiness; HIS STRENGTH over against your weakness; your inheritance is ALL HE IS, as typified to Israel by the land flowing with milk and honey.

Paul says of Timothy, "he worketh the work of the Lord" (1 Cor. 16:10). There is to be an end of our works so far as we are concerned, nothing of us, as out from ourselves; but God says, in effect: "with your nothingness I will possess the heavens and the earth."

Oh! to be such a people, chastened and emptied of self, for the Holy Spirit by His energies to display the moral glories of the Lord Jesus in us and so through us. "To the intent that now unto principalities and powers might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God." (Eph. 3:10,11). "That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace... for we are His workmanship." (Eph. 2:7,10).

Chapter 3 - Man's State and Estate

"To the intent that now unto principalities and powers might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God." (Eph. 3:10,11).

"That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace... for we are His workmanship." (Eph. 2:7,10).

The Inheritance an Inward Thing First

We want to get to the heart of this matter, which is to be in a position where we possess. The Lord is wanting us to be somewhere and to possess something in that place; and unto that God has to take us through experiences; but He always has that end in view - to possess the inheritance; and He is moving towards His end, getting us to a spiritual position within, where Christ is our inheritance.

When He in sovereign purpose took an elect individual, Abraham, He immediately brought His purpose for choosing him into view; and associated the elect one with the land, linked the "call" with the end - "the inheritance."

We were chosen in Christ before the world was, and with that He linked the inheritance; "Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world... having foreordained us unto the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself... He purposed to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; in Him 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" (Eph. 1:4-11 A.R.V.), God has that always in view and all His dealings with us are unto that end, and it is towards this He has been moving through the ages.

This inheritance must first be an inward spiritual thing; must be a spiritual thing within us before we can come into our possession of it. Possessing the nations in Christ is quite impossible until we have reached a certain spiritual state, that is, ascendency in spirit, sovereign rulership in Christ Jesus in our own spirit. We have got to have sovereignty within us before we can manifest sovereignty without.

This is in view in Joshua, preparation for what God has, and intends, to accomplish. This wilderness and all its meaning is the place of preparation by God unto possession of the land. Our longer or shorter stay in the wilderness depends upon our knowing the Lord in experience, this Knowledge of Him governs the length of our stay in this desert place.

Let us get back in mind to that wilderness in which the children of Israel spent forty years, remembering they could cross it in eleven days and that they had a good objective ahead of them; yet year after year passed by, ten years, twenty, thirty, thirty-nine years passed and it seemed the end was still no nearer, not in view, just as far away as ever, there is nothing but wilderness. It all seemed a hopeless thing and the land most remote. This was their mental state, and there was nothing to give them any encouragement as far as eye could see, their soul life was starved. There was nothing for them in the realm of senses, nothing to gratify the natural man.

The Goal is the Lord Himself

What is God after in this procedure, by this method? He is after this - it has all got to be a spiritual state before it can be a literal thing. This inheritance is not in things, not even good things in relation to God, or Divine things as such; we are not to have our eyes fixed on any object as on the earth, the Lord is not out to give us something here of earth, yet a possession that we can possess here. What God is after is that HE should be our possession, and that is the final test of everything. Starved in even what we have a right to because it is from the Lord, and you know the Lord called you to it, yes even in the very thing you have taken direct from Him, starved! This is His way until we are content to possess the LORD (and not His things) as our sole inheritance and only possession; till we can be in the wilderness with barrenness all around, but we are possessing and knowing the Lord, HE is our fulness, even in a desert place.

Not even souls saved as our possession, no not our work. The greatest thing that matters is to have the Lord, to see the Lord, to possess the Lord; and unto this the soul or natural realm is kept in a wilderness. Again and again a crisis has come to us along that principle, and the Lord has had to ask us, is it some thing or ME you are after? Am I more to you than anything? The wilderness experience leads to the discovery that it is not always and only HIMSELF. Some demand things of the Lord and He gives them, but He sends leanness into their souls (Ps. 105:15). We have lived to see this, when we have said, "If the Lord does not do this we are not going further," and He has given it. We have insisted to have what we have wanted and got it, and found we have been after some thing, and as with Ishmael it had to be cast out. It's not the work, or ministry, or things developing, even the things of the Lord, but it is the Lord HIMSELF who is to be our goal. And if we insist on something or things, sometimes He says, "you can have it, but to your loss."

This is what the wilderness does, we come to the place where the Lord is our goal and our end. "Seek ye the things that are above" (Col. 3:1). The Holy Spirit energises in us to do this thing and to bring us to the place where it is for us utterly and only the LORD HIMSELF. Colossians 3 ends where Colossians 2 begins (there are no divisions into chapters in the original writings) and that is where you are brought by Jordan, when you are clean over the place of the cutting off from the cravings of your flesh, from knowing after the flesh - our sense, seeings, feelings, or of having to have something tangible in our hands as it were. No it has to be all of faith when we can say even in the terrible wilderness "I believe God and He is my portion for ever, for me henceforth life is Christ 'To me to live is Christ.'"

In the wilderness gap a reducing process is going on and a bringing home to these people with a new emphasis their littleness. Even Joshua is not mentioned with any glory but called the minister of Moses. The man himself is taken no note of, but there are features in the record which stress the nothingness of the instrument, thus showing it all to be of God's grace and energy (Joshua 1). And notice there had to be a space between the Ark and the people "about two thousand cubits by measure" (Joshua 3:4). Yes, there is a big space between the Lord Jesus and us; He is infinitely greater, and He goes into death the dimension of which we do not come into, we should have been swamped in its floods and lost; it is at a distance and on a much less scale we go through, but the shadow of it. If He had not met that in advance of us, we should not be able to go through, but because of what He did, we go through on dry ground (Joshua 3:17).

Secondly, when they are clean over Jordan, and about to take possession of the land, another thing happens, "Captain of the Lord's hosts appears" (Joshua 5). "Art thou for us or for our adversaries?" which of these two? "Nay!" To what does that "Nay" belong? It covers both questions: No, I am not with you; no I am not with your adversaries, but as Captain of the Lord's hosts I am come, and if you are in the Hosts of the Lord, I am in that. He is in that which stands wholly for God and with a people who are wholly the Lord's and while they in holiness of life and purpose are all wholly for God, in that thing or that people He is Captain, and so we come under His Sovereign Headship, but there must come into this nothing of Man. The Holy Spirit is not going to recognise the flesh, and says, "No, I am not with a company of people as a people, but am only in and in control of that which is wholly the Lord's."

Thirdly, that which comes up with Jericho is the final proof of all we have said. Jericho represents the key to the seven nations: seven, the Divine perfection of possession by conquest; so the nature of Jericho's conquest is the key for everything, and shows why it was necessary for the Lord to make clear to them that HE was not with them as men but only so far as they were utterly and wholly for the Lord.

The Perfecting of Faith

The nature of Jericho's conquest is purely a faith movement, it is not the impulsive hot action of man but the Divine perfection of faith in God related to the perfection of possession, where they are able to say, "We can be silly in the eyes of the world and jeered at by it; for the inheritance is ours, we have got it, all we have to do is to believe God and obey Him." If you can go out into the world with that as a settled background, that you have the LORD, and can say, "we have got HIM, HE is the inheritance, we KNOW HIM" you are where the enemy is in defeat before you, and it can be a dry wilderness all around you, but the 'LORD is your portion' and you can say, "I know God" then you have entered His rest. Rest and inheritance go together; Christ is GOD'S rest, the rest that remaineth, God's Sabbath.

If we are going out to preach the Gospel, we have got to be where all our questions have ceased, for when we are questioning, "Have I made a mistake? Did God mean me to come this way? Are we wrong?" we are in weakness, rendered unfit for fighting, nor can we fight till we have entered into His rest and until we have come there we have not come into the Inheritance, the two are brought together, the one goes with the other. Yes, difficulties existing, and starvation all around, but we can rest there in spite of these things, because we know GOD. That is coming into the inheritance, into perfect satisfaction with the Lord Jesus.

What is rest? Christ is the sum total of rest, God's perfect satisfaction and ours too. We shall never be able to possess in the nations our possession in our redemption in Christ Jesus until we come into the inheritance of rest in HIM. That is where Paul was, he had come to that rest in Christ. See him on his way to Rome, how easy it would have been for him in that shipwreck to have questioned everything, as to whether he had been in God's will in appealing to Caesar and so being sent to Rome. How the enemy could have got in with all manner of cruel doubts, suggestions and questions; but Paul was in fellowship with God and saw the marvellous overruling of God through all. He was the only calm one on the ship in the great storm. He took command and gave the orders (Acts 26:22,36).

The Lord is after getting us inwardly resting in HIMSELF. Unrest, anxiety, is ever the ground of defeat. Uncertainty about the Lord brings weakness and defeat; the Lord sets great value on BELIEVING GOD - faith in GOD. In the list of the heroes of faith in Heb. 11, the Holy Spirit records Rahab the harlot, and links her with Abraham in James; she believed God and leapt out of one realm into another, because she believed God and put her faith into action. Rahab comes into the list of Hebrews justified by faith; yes she, the one time heathen harlot, now justified by faith, has her place in the House of God. Does this not show forth the GRACE of GOD? Likewise you get the Holy Spirit going outside the covenant people after the "Man of Ethiopia" (Acts 8); and in Acts 9 we have Saul of Tarsus, the Asiatic; Acts 10, Cornelius the European. GRACE is a wonderful thing, it links Ethiopia, Asia, Europe together in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; FAITH being the basis for all that God does.

"JESUS the author and perfecter of faith." (Heb. 12:2).