Quickening
Only when
we take a wide view of our fallen estate can we realize in an adequate way the
complete havoc that has been wrought by sin, or the fulness of God's answer to
it all which reaches us in the Gospel. We have already seen that sin has brought
in: —
guilt, and so forgiveness must reach
us;
condemnation, so justification is
needed;
bondage, and we
need redemption;
alienation from God,
so we need reconciliation;
peril of many
kinds, so we need salvation;
profanation and
pollution, so we need sanctification;
corruption, which has
affected the deepest springs of
our nature, so we need the new birth.
We have
now to see that it has plunged us into spiritual death, and we
must be quickened if we are to live to God.
To
summarize,
Because of
guilt, we need forgiveness;
Because of
condemnation, we need
justification;
Because of
bondage, we need redemption;
Because of
alienation, we need reconciliation;
Because of
perils, we need salvation;
Because of
profanation, we need sanctification;
Because of
corruption,
we need new birth.
Because of spiritual death, we need to be quickened.
Our state
is set forth in Ephesians 2: 1, as "dead in trespasses and sins." The
next verse remarkably enough goes on to speak of walking in those trespasses
and sins; but that is because the death there spoken of is death towards
God. Those who are dead Godward are very much alive to "the
course of this world," and "the prince of the power of the air,"
who operates in the "children of disobedience." To be dead towards
God is entirely consistent with being alive towards the world and the devil:
indeed the one springs out of the other.
This is
the fact that underlies the solemn statement made in Romans 3: 11, that,
"there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after
God." That there should be none righteous (verse 10) is bad: it is worse
that none should understand, for that means a state not only of ignorance but
insensibility. It is worst of all that none should desire to understand or seek
after God, with whom is righteousness and understanding and life. To the
natural man there is nothing that is desirable in God. Man is not right: he
does not understand that he is not right: he has no desire
after God who is right. In one word he is dead towards God.
Once these
solemn facts lay hold of us, we realize that our only hope is in God taking the
initiative with us in His sovereign mercy. We are quite well able to take the
initiative in evil, but as regards all that is of God we are dead; and hence
all movement must spring from Him.
God then must
act. But how must He act? Will reformation, education or instruction
meet our case? By no means: there can be nothing until He quickens, for
quickening simply means the giving of life. The very word translated
"quicken" in the New Testament is one compounded of the noun
"life," and the verb "to make" — to make to live.
Now it is
a striking fact that Ezekiel 36, which shows the corruption and moral
filth in which Israel lay, and prophesies as to the new birth which
consequently must be theirs, is followed by the vision of the valley of dry
bones in Ezekiel 37. This sets forth the death towards God, in which
Israel lies as a nation, and it prophesies concerning God's work of quickening,
which must touch them before they enter into millennial blessedness. They
will be brought up by Him out of the graves among the nations where they lie.
There will be a national resurrection, and, says the Lord, "Ye shall live,
and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have
spoken it, and performed it" (verse 14). Once they are quickened they will
understand and they will at once seek the Lord.
The
"wind," or "breath," of verse 9 seems to be identified with
"My Spirit," of verse 14: indeed, the same Hebrew word is translated,
wind, breath or spirit, according to the context. It is interesting to compare
these verses with John 3: 8. There the blowing of the wind is connected with
the Spirit's action in new birth. Here it is connected with His action in
quickening. This should show us how closely new birth and quickening are
connected one with the other, and that they must not be divided from each
other, though they should be distinguished and separately considered, as they
are in chapters 36, and 37 of Ezekiel.
Now if
John 3 answers to Ezekiel 36, John 5 answers to Ezekiel 37. That chapter opens
with the cure of the impotent man. It was as though a fresh stream of life
entered his powerless limbs, and he took up his bed and walked. When challenged
as to this miracle, the Lord Jesus proceeded to speak of far greater works than
this which were His to do — the quickening of whom He will and the raising of
all men. The former is a limited work. Those among the spiritually dead who
hear the voice of the Son of God — and only those — shall spiritually live. The
latter is universal. All in the graves shall hear His voice and come forth in
two classes, to life and to judgment respectively. This will take place at
different times, as we learn from other scriptures.
In verse
21 of this marvellous chapter in John, quickening is attributed to both the
Father and the Son whereas in the next verse the work of judgment is said to
lie wholly in the hands of the Son. The Son, and the Son alone, came forth into
this world to suffer and be set at naught. To Him alone then shall the
supremacy and majesty and honour of executing judgment belong. In the giving of
life however the Son acts according to His own will equally with the Father and
— we hardly need add — in fullest accord with the Father. Equally with the
Father is He the Source of life, for verse 26 is evidently parallel with verse
21 in its sense. As 1 Corinthians 15: 45 says, "the last Adam . . a
quickening Spirit."
Verses 24
and 25 give us the way in which the Son acts in life-giving power at the
present moment. He quickens by means of His word. There are those who really
hear His word; that is, they hear in it "the voice of the Son of
God," and consequently they believe on the Father who sent Him, and they
live. Quickening is not presented here as a work of the Son altogether apart
from the use of means. Were it so presented we should read, "they that
live shall hear." But what we read is, "they that hear shall
live." Life is indeed His gift, but it reaches us in the hearing of His
voice in His word.
In the
light of this chapter we believe we may speak of quickening as the most
deep-seated and fundamental aspect of God's work in us. Such is its importance
that the Father and the Son act together as to it in a special way. A wrong use
is sometimes made of our Lord's statements in verses 19 and 30; "The Son
can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do;" and " I
can of Mine own Self do nothing." These words do not mean that He
disclaimed all power, just as a mere prophet might have done. They expressed in
the first place the fact that in becoming Man the Son had taken the place of
dependent service, acting wholly by the Spirit in subjection to the Father.
This thought seems specially prominent in verse 30. But in the second place
they also emphasized the fact that His essential place in the unity of the
Godhead was such that it was impossible that He should act apart from the
Father. This thought seems more prominent in verse 19.
From this
inner and more hidden aspect of things it was as though He said, "I am so
essentially one with the Father that it is in the nature of things impossible
that I should act apart from Him." It was really the strongest possible
affirmation of His essential Deity. The Father and the Son must ever act
together as the end of verse 19 says. Thus did the Lord accept the
charge of "making Himself equal with God," and not only accept it but
amplify the thought of it. So both the Father and the Son act together
in life-giving power.
In John 6:
63, we discover that the Spirit of God also quickens. The fist occurrence of
the word "Spirit" in that verse should evidently be printed with a
capital, the second occurrence of the word is rightly printed without a
capital. Comparison may be made with verse 6 of chapter 3, where the
distinction is rightly made. The very words of the Lord are spirit and life but
it is the Spirit Himself who quickens. We may say therefore that the whole
fulness of the Godhead — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — is involved in the work
of giving life to such as ourselves.
One
further thing has to be noted. We meet with it both in Ephesians 2: 5, and
Colossians 2: 13 — we have been quickened "together with Christ."
Being "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2: 1), and. "dead in
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh" (Col. 2: 13), nothing
short of quickening would meet our case. Quickening was thus a necessity, but
there was no necessity that we should be quickened together with Christ: that
is the fruit of the counsels of God in grace.
Life
"together with," — in association with - Christ was His thought
for us, and this goes far beyond the bare necessity of the plight we were in.
Life of some sort we must have, if ever we were to be in conscious
blessedness; but life of this sort is the highest and most intimate that can be
known by the redeemed creature. Therefore it is that we read of this quickening
as being the fruit of the richness of God's mercy, and because of His great
love wherewith He loved us. Rich mercy and great love are thus
expressed.
We have
been made to live in association with Christ, inasmuch as our life as quickened
is of His own order — His life is ours. Since this is so, it is possible for us
to be raised up and made to "sit together in heavenly places" in Him.
Having life of such an order as this, we are fitted for such exalted seats. The
wonderful story of our quickening ends in our sitting in heavenly places in the
life of our Quickener.
In the Old
Testament we read of quickening. Ten times or more the Psalmist speaks of it in
Psalm 119. Are we to differentiate between that and what we find in the New
Testament?
We believe
that we have to do so. The Psalmist says that God's Word has quickened him in
verse 50, yet again and again he desires to be quickened. The word is evidently
used more in the sense of being revived, of being restored to more vigorous
life. In Old Testament times man was still under probation. The law had been
given to test him, and life on earth was still proposed as the result of
perfect obedience to the law. Only when we come to the New Testament is the
probation period over, and man formally pronounced to be dead in trespasses and
sins. Hence only in the New Testament does the full truth of quickening appear.
Some have
thought that quickening is very advanced truth; that, for instance, a man may
be born again and yet quickening lie ahead as something to be reached much
later, as a kind of climax to God's work in him. Does Scripture indicate this?
It clearly
does not. Until quickened by Divine power we are dead. It is the very beginning
of God's work in us rather than the climax. It would however be true to say
that it is truth into the full import of which we are slow to enter. Almost
invariably we begin by understanding truth as to the forgiveness of sins and
salvation. This matter of life, and more especially life together with Christ,
begins to impress us later in our spiritual history. We must not however
attribute to the thing itself, what may quite rightly be stated as to
our apprehension of the thing. The thing itself is the fruit of a Divine
act: our apprehension of it the fruit of Divine teaching.
In John 5:
26, we read that the Father (1) raises up the dead, and (2) quickens them. Are
we right in differentiating between the two things? And, if so, what is the
difference?
We believe
that there is a distinct difference. In John 11: 25, the Lord Jesus says,
"I am the resurrection and the life." Resurrection is one thing and
life another; though for us they are very intimately connected.
For the unconverted dead they will be divorced. They will be raised and
their once dead bodies reanimated, though not quickened, since their
resurrection will be that of judgment and not of life, as verse 29 shows.
Colossians 2: 12, 13, also presents resurrection and quickening as quite
distinct things We are quickened already but resurrection in its fulness is
before us. When that moment comes our bodies will be instinct with life, in
keeping with what has already taken place as to our souls.
We have in
Romans 8: 11, a word about the quickening of our "mortal bodies." Is
that something that takes place in the present, or is it to be in the future?
That is in
the future. It is that God "shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." In the previous verse we have,
"The Spirit is life because of righteousness." Both statements
refer to the indwelling Spirit. He is life to us in an experimental and
practical way now. He will quicken our mortal bodies presently, whether
He does it in resurrection, for the saints who have died, or by the change of
which 1 Corinthians 15: 51 speaks, for the saints alive when Jesus comes.
Some
people however claim that this quickening of our mortal bodies has to do with
the healing of disease: that it is what shall be done for us in the present, if
only we claim the fulness of the Spirit.
Yes; and
in so saying they read into the passage what is not there. There is nothing
about disease or healing in the context. It is not our diseased bodies but our
mortal bodies that are to be quickened. In our present condition our bodies are
liable to death; when quickened they will no longer be subject to death. If the
mortal body of the believer really were quickened now, he would be immortal as
to his body; that is, beyond death, and not merely beyond disease.
So our
reply can be twofold. First, there is an "if" in the verse, but it is
not, if we claim the fulness of the Spirit, but, if the Spirit dwell in us —
which He does, if we really are believers. Second, it is not healing that is in
question but the giving of life from a Divine source. When quickened the mortal
body is no longer mortal. It is perfectly obvious that this has not yet taken
place with any saint living on earth. If Paul's mortal body had been quickened,
for instance, the heads-man's axe would never have laid him low. He would
still be walking amongst us!
The Lord
Jesus, as the Last Adam, quickens according to 1 Corinthians 15: 45. We
are right, are we not, in connecting this with the present?
Certainly.
He stands in contrast to the first Adam in that verse; not merely in
being "spirit," in contrast with "soul," but in that
He is not merely "living," but the Life-giver. Verse 36
of this chapter reminds us that quickening only applies to that which is
dead. Now we were dead spiritually, and quickening of a spiritual
sort has already reached us from the last Adam. As the Head of a new race, He
has already imparted life — His own life — to us who are of His race.
But then
this chapter goes on to consider the case of our bodies which are still
mortal. We must bear the image of the heavenly Adam even as regards our
bodies, and so the great change will reach us at the coming of the
Lord. Then "this mortal" will "put on immortality," and
this will be the quickening of our mortal bodies, of which Romans 8: 11
speaks.
When that
is accomplished, and "Death is swallowed up in victory" (verse
54), the work of quickening as regards ourselves will be carried to its
final completion. Then the word that we "shall reign in life
by One, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5: 17), shall be fulfilled. Not only in
life, but reigning in it, and that for ever.
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