"Ye Are Come to Zion" - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 03/20/24
Dear Saints,
This message
originally posted October 1, 2014.
My
notes:
As
Doug introduces Chapter 4, he gives a sweep of the history of Israel leading up
to the first Advent on to the purpose for which the Book of Hebrews was
written. "The Book of Hebrews was written for the Laodicean state and
condition of the church in our generation. When you come to Zion, you have come
out of anything that has to do with a shadow that is not the substance and
reality which is in Christ."
As
Hebrews 12 is taught, how many understand it is not only a history lesson of
how God judged Israel culminating in 70 A.D. with the destruction of the temple
and Jerusalem, but it is a prophecy of coming judgment, first in the church,
and then Israel and the nations. The church will not go through the Day of the
Lord (7-year tribulation), but will go through its own tribulation prior to the
rapture. See WARNING!!! To the Church (scroll down to view) where I go into more detail. Check out Haggai 2:6, 21 cp Hebrews 12:26).
"God is going to shake everything in the church that can be shaken in
order that that which cannot be shaken, that is, that which is according to
Christ, might remain. And that's coming! The shaking that's coming to the
church, this day of visitation, is as certain as God using the Romans to
destroy the Jewish temple and that whole system of religion in 70 A.D."
"There's
a change that's about to occur, and we, as the members of the body of Christ,
are going to be caught into a similar (to 70 A.D.) vortex in the very near
future. We can expect some radical changes in this nation and the world
beginning with the church." Brother Sparks adds: "Yes, a mighty age
crisis is represented by the letter to the Hebrews - nothing less than the
passing of a system or an economy."
I
wonder if in these last days of the church age when persecution of the church
comes here in the west if Christians will be designated an outlawed terrorist
hate organization. Don't be surprised if churches lose their tax exempt status
due to their pastors being convicted of hate speech and terroristic
indoctrination. It's always been in the IRS regulations that churches are
extremely limited on speaking about politics or recommending certain candidates
for office.
[Sparks]
"Dear friends, it is no exaggeration to say that you and I have come
actually to live in a time when the whole complexion of things in Christian
tradition is changing." Doug adds, "... and will be eventually swept
away in the same kind of crisis that we see in 70 A.D. that swept away Judaism,
and all those Christians who didn't get out."
[Sparks]
"There is a time fixed when God will sift out everything in Christianity,
sift it all out, to find out just how far the real purpose of its existence is
being fulfilled, and the things which can be shaken will be shaken... We shall
come to that crisis individually sooner or later... Sooner or later, it will be
found out whether we are Christ-ones or not, whether it is Christ; how far it
is Christ."
As Brother Sparks speaks of the way
missionaries cannot operate as in time past, he says, "There is a change
coming... it is going to be in another way, on another basis, by other
means." Doug adds, "Yes! It's called 'the day of visitation'
producing the effects in a remnant of people that will manifest Jesus Christ as
the bright morning star. And that will be something that never happened in
history, except in a foundational way in the Book of Acts."
[Sparks]
"...you are being tested now according to Zion - whether you stand or
whether you stumble." This brings to mind the passage in 1 Corinthians 3
about us standing at the bema seat where what was 'wood, hay and stubble' will
be burned in fire, and only that which is 'gold, silver and precious stones'
will pass through the fire and be that used to determine reward and placement
as to whether or not we rule and reign with Christ. As Doug and many of us
prayed for years, "Lord, burn what is wood, hay and stubble now in our
lifetime so all that is left is gold, silver and precious stones, and therefore
be no loss at the judgment seat of Christ." The gold, silver and precious
stones are that which corresponds to the life of Christ in us, "tested
according to Zion".
[Sparks]
"... what God is trying to do with us in our experience is to make us know
Him for ourselves, and have nothing second-hand, but direct. That will not make
us independent of one another, it will make us perhaps the more dependent upon
one another, but it has got to be like that. God will shake everything that can
be shaken, in order to find out how much there is of that kind: conforming to
Zion." It's not what we know about Christ that will count for eternity -
Satan knows more about Him than we do - but what is of Christ formed in us, and
to what degree we are conformed to the image of Christ.