THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Administration
Message Three— Living a Christian Life under the Government of God
Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:17; 2:21-24; 4:17-19; 5:6
I. The Epistles of 1 and 2 Peter are on the universal government of God—1 Pet. 1:1-4; 4:17; 2 Pet. 2:3-4, 9; 3:7:
A. The subject of 1 Peter is the Christian life under the government of God, showing us the government of God especially in His dealings with His chosen people—1:2.
B. The subject of 2 Peter is the divine provision and the divine government, showing us that as God is governing us, He supplies us with whatever we need—1:1-4; 3:13.
C. God governs by judging; the judgment of God is for the carrying out of His government—1 Pet. 1:17; 4:17:
1. Because 1 and 2 Peter are concerned with the government of God, in these Epistles the judgment of God and of the Lord is referred to repeatedly as one of the essential items—1 Pet. 2:23; 4:5-6, 17; 2 Pet. 2:3-4, 9; 3:7.
2. Through various kinds of judgments, the Lord God will clear up the entire universe and purify it so that He may have a new heaven and a new earth for a new universe filled with His righteousness for His delight—v. 13.
D. The judgment in 1 Peter 1:17, which is carried out by the Father, is not the future judgment but is the present, daily judgment of God’s governmental dealings with His children:
1. The Father has regenerated us to produce a holy family—a holy Father with holy children—vv. 3, 15, 17.
2. As holy children, we should walk in a holy manner of life (vv. 15-16); otherwise, in His government God the Father will become the Judge and will deal with our unholiness—4:15-17; Heb. 12:9-10.
E. The disciplinary judgment in the government of God begins from the house of God—1 Pet. 4:17:
1. God judges everything that does not match His government; therefore, in this age we, the children of God, are under the daily judgment of God—1:17.
2. God uses fiery ordeals to deal with the believers in the judgment of His governmental administration, which begins from His own house—4:12, 17.
3. The purpose of this judgment is that we would live according to God in spirit—v. 6.
II. The preciousness of Peter’s writings is that he combines the Christian life and God’s government, revealing that the Christian life and the government of God go together as a pair—1 Pet 1:17; 2:21, 24; 3:15; 4:17; 5:5-8:
A. The Triune God has passed through a long process in Christ and has become the life─giving Spirit to indwell us; this is for our Christian life—John 1:14; 14:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.
B. At the same time, the Triune God is still the Creator of the universe and its Ruler—1 Pet. 4:19.
C. Although we have been born of God to have a spiritual life and to be a new creation, we are still in the old creation—John 1:12-13; 3:3, 5-6; 2 Cor. 5:17:
1. For this reason, we need God’s governmental dealings—1 Pet. 1:17.
2. In order for the Christian life to grow, we need the discipline of God’s government—2:2; 4:17; 2 Pet. 1:5-7.
III. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived a human life that was absolutely under the government of God, and He committed everything related to Him to God’s government—John 6:38; 1 Pet. 2:21-23:
A. The Lord kept committing all His insults and injuries to Him who judges righteously in His government, the righteous God, to whom He submitted Himself; He put His trust in this righteous One, recognizing His government—v. 23.
B. When God counseled Christ as a man, Christ’s inward parts were one with God and instructed Him through His contact with God—Psa. 16:7; Isa. 50:4.
IV. Jacob’s history is a picture of the discipline of the Holy Spirit—Gen. 47:9; 48:15-16a; Heb. 12:9-11:
A. The discipline of the Holy Spirit refers to what the Holy Spirit is doing in our outward environment, to His arranging of all people, things, and happenings, through which we are being disciplined—Rom. 8:28:
1. Under God’s sovereignty, through his sufferings in his circumstances and through God’s direct dealing, Jacob was transformed and matured so that he became Israel—35:10.
2. As our natural life is dealt with through the discipline of the Holy Spirit, Christ is constituted into us—Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:17a.
B. Genesis 32:22-32 relates a vital and crucial experience in the life of Jacob—his being broken:
1. The Lord “touched the socket of Jacob’s hip at the thigh muscle”; the touching of the socket of Jacob’s hip at the thigh muscle, the strongest muscle in the body, signifies the touching of Jacob’s natural life, his natural strength—vv. 25, 32.
2. After Jacob was broken by God, outwardly he was the same as before, but inwardly his natural life had been dealt with; it was not the outward living that was touched by the Lord but the inward, natural strength that was broken by Him—33:1-4; 32:25, 32.
3. Jacob’s experience shows us that God has to break our natural life, that He has to touch our natural life in a drastic way—Gen. 32:22-32.
V. As believers in Christ and children of God, we should live a Christian life under the government of God—John 3:15; 1:12-13; 1 Pet. 4:13-19; 5:6-8:
A. The Epistles of Peter reveal the Christ who enables us to take God’s governmental dealings administered through sufferings—1 Pet. 1:6-8; 2:3-4, 19, 21-25; 3:18, 22; 4:1, 15-16; 5:8-9.
B. We should pass the time of our sojourning in holy fear, that is, in a healthy, serious caution that leads us to be holy in all our manner of life—1:15, 17.
C. We should be humbled under the mighty hand of God, which carries out the government of God—5:6:
1. In verse 6 the mighty hand of God refers to God’s administrating hand seen especially in His judgment—1:17; 4:17.
2. To be humbled under God’s mighty hand is to be made humble by God; however, we must cooperate with God’s operation and be willing to be made humble, lowly, under His mighty hand—5:6.
D. We should commit our souls to the faithful Creator—4:19:
1. God can preserve our soul, and His loving and faithful care accompanies His justice in His governmental administration.
2. While God judges us in His government, He cares for us faithfully in His love; as we are suffering His disciplinary judgment, we should commit our souls to the faithful care of our Creator—Matt. 10:28; 11:28-29.
E. In the death of Christ we have died to sins so that in the resurrection of Christ we might live to righteousness under God’s government—1 Pet. 2:24:
1. God’s government is established upon righteousness (Psa. 89:14a); as God’s people living under His government, we must live a righteous life.
2. The expression live to righteousness is related to the fulfilling of God’s governmental requirements—1 Pet. 2:24:
a. We were saved so that we might live rightly under the government of God, that is, in a way that matches the righteous requirements of His government.
b. In Christ’s death we have been separated from sins, and in His resurrection we have been enlivened so that in our Christian life we might live spontaneously to righteousness under the government of God—Rom. 6:8, 10-11, 18; Eph. 2:6; John 14:19; 2 Tim. 2:11.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE MEANING OF THE DISCIPLINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The discipline of the Holy Spirit which we are now considering does not refer to the inward discipline of the Holy Spirit, for that is the function of the Holy Spirit within us as the anointing. The discipline of the Holy Spirit refers to what the Holy Spirit is doing in our outward environment; it refers to His arranging of all people, things, and happenings, through which we are being disciplined.
The major work of God toward us through the Holy Spirit, aside from the Holy Spirit as the anointing, is in His outward discipline. These two aspects comprise almost the complete work of the Holy Spirit. For example, Romans 8, which speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit, tells us in the first part how the Holy Spirit, which contains the law of life, is able to set us free from sin, and how that through Him we can put to death the deeds of the body. This chapter also tells how the Holy Spirit guides us so that we may live according to Him, and finally, how He helps our infirmities and prays for us. All these activities are the work of the Holy Spirit within us as the anointing. In the latter part of this chapter we read, “To them that love God, all things work together for good” (v. 28). This speaks of the discipline of the Holy Spirit in our outward environment. The work of this outward discipline coordinates with His inward moving and leading. The Holy Spirit arranges and determines all that comes upon us according to the will of God. Although in many instances this causes temporal pain and trouble, yet in the end it is for the good of those who love God, that they may be conformed unto the image of His Son. This arrangement is what we mean by the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
Why does the work of the Holy Spirit within us require the coordination of outward discipline? Because usually the inward working of the Holy Spirit alone is not sufficient. We can say that the inward working of the Holy Spirit is largely for the obedient ones, and the outward discipline of the Holy Spirit is largely for the stiff-necked ones. When the Holy Spirit moves and anoints within us and we obey the feeling which He imparts, God’s will is accomplished and His attributes are increased within us. Therefore, the inward anointing of the Holy Spirit is to some extent sufficient for the obedient ones. However, if we are stubborn, if we do not obey the inner anointing and rebel time after time, the Holy Spirit is compelled to raise up an environment to chasten and discipline us, thereby causing us to submit. Therefore, the anointing of the Holy Spirit within us is a sweet act of God’s love toward us and is His original desire, while the outward discipline of the Holy Spirit is an act of God’s hand, an act which He is compelled to perform. It is something additional.
Because the discipline of the Holy Spirit is such an unpleasant thing, God in His original thought put greater emphasis on the inner anointing, which is of a positive nature, than on the outward discipline, which is of a negative nature. But judging from our condition, the discipline of the Holy Spirit is most needful, because we are by nature rebellious, lawless, and disobedient. We often disregard and disobey the moving and enlightening of the Holy Spirit. It seems that His anointing alone, which is His sweet act, is not enough to accomplish His purpose, but that we need in addition the outward discipline as the coordinating factor to chastise us and deal with us that we may be subdued. Therefore, the discipline of the Holy Spirit must not be neglected in our experience. (The Experience of Life, msg. 12)
A BASIC THOUGHT IN PETER’S WRITINGS
In this message and in the message following we shall have a thorough review of all the matters in chapters one through four related to God’s governmental judgment. The concept of God’s governmental judgment is a basic thought in Peter’s composition of this Epistle. God’s judgment as seen in 1 Peter may be likened to the hub of a wheel. If the hub were taken away from a wheel, all the spokes would collapse. Likewise, if the thought of God’s judgment were removed from the books of 1 and 2 Peter, these Epistles would lose their basic structure.
God’s judgment began to be exercised in the Old Testament, and it has been continually exercised throughout the generations. Today God is still judging. In the New Testament we see that God’s judgment begins from His own household and ends with the burning of the old heaven and the old earth. That burning will be the last step of God’s judgment. When that last step of judgment has been completed, the new heaven and the new earth will appear. This means that when God has thoroughly cleansed the universe through judgment, there will be a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness will dwell. This is a matter of God’s governmental judgment.
I am burdened that all the saints, especially the young ones, have a clear understanding of 1 and 2 Peter. In particular, we need to see that the subject of these two books is God’s government carried out by His judgment. (Life-study of Revelation, msg. 1)
THE DAILY JUDGMENT OF GOD’S GOVERNMENT
First Peter 1:17 says, “And if you call upon as Father the One who without respect of persons judges according to each one’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear.” Peter “is not speaking of the final judgment of the soul. In that sense ‘the Father does not judge anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son’ (John 5:22). The thing spoken of here is the daily judgment of God’s government in this world, exercised with regard to His children. Accordingly it says, ‘the time of your sojourning’ here” (Darby). This is God’s judgment on His own household (1 Pet. 4:17).
Since these two Epistles are concerned with the government of God, the judgment of God and of the Lord is referred to repeatedly (2:23; 4:5-6, 17; 2 Pet. 2:3-4, 9; 3:7), as one of the essential items. It began from the angels (2 Pet. 2:3-4), and passed through the generations of man in the Old Testament (2 Pet. 2:5-9). Then in the New Testament age it begins from the house of God (1:17, 4:6, 17) and continues until the coming of the day of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:10), which will be a day of judgment on the Jews, the believers, and the Gentiles before the millennium. After the millennium, all the dead, including men and demons, will be judged and perish (1 Pet. 4:5; 2 Pet. 3:7), and the heavens and the earth will be burned up (2 Pet. 3:10b, 12). The results of the varied judgments are not the same. Some judgments result in a disciplinary dealing, some in a dispensational punishment, and some in eternal perdition. However, by all these judgments the Lord God will clear up and purify the entire universe, that He may have a new heaven and a new earth for a new universe filled with His righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13) for His delight.
THE RESULTS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF JUDGMENT
Disciplinary Dealing
We have seen that the results of the different kinds of judgments are not the same. Certain judgments result in a disciplinary dealing. This is true of the judgments we experience today. Persecution, trouble, and illness are God’s judgments resulting in a disciplinary dealing in this age.
Dispensational Punishment
Other judgments result in dispensational punishment. Dispensational punishment refers to punishment during the thousand years, during the millennial kingdom. The kingdom will be a dispensation. Defeated Christians will suffer a punishment during the coming age. That will be a dispensational punishment.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, some believers will suffer during the dispensation of the kingdom in the coming age (Matt. 24:48-51; 25:24-30). For them, that period of time will be a time of darkness with the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25 clearly indicates that when the Lord Jesus comes back, the faithful servants will be rewarded and the unfaithful ones will be punished. Some Bible teachers say that the unfaithful servants in Matthew 25 are false Christians, whereas the faithful ones are genuine Christians. This understanding is not logical nor correct. How could a false Christian be counted as a servant of the Lord? Furthermore, how could a false Christian be raptured to appear before the judgment seat of Christ? Instead of following the interpretation that the unfaithful servants are false Christians, we believe the pure Word of God. The Bible says that when the Lord Jesus comes back, we shall all stand before His judgment seat. In 2 Corinthians 5:10 Paul says clearly that we all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive a reward according to what we have done. If we have done a faithful work, the Lord will give us a prize. But if we have been unfaithful and have failed the Lord, He will give us some kind of punishment. That will be a dispensational punishment during the millennium.
Eternal Perdition
Other judgments will result in eternal perdition. As we have seen, the judgment upon men and demons at the white throne will result in eternal perdition. Therefore, we can see three kinds of results of God’s governmental judgment: disciplinary dealing, dispensational punishment, and eternal perdition.
CHRIST LIVING UNDER GOD’S GOVERNMENT
In 2:23 Peter says concerning Christ, “Who being reviled, did not revile in return; suffering, He did not threaten, but kept committing all to Him who judges righteously.” According to the usage of the verb “kept committing” in Greek, “all” needs to be inserted here as its object, referring to all the sufferings of the Lord. He kept committing all His insults and injuries to Him who judges righteously in His government, the righteous God, to whom He submitted Himself. This indicates that the Lord recognized God’s government while He was living a human life on earth.
In no other book of the New Testament are we told that the Lord Jesus lived under God’s government. Peter is the only one who tells us of this. In 2:23 Peter indicates that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was under God’s government. Because the Lord lived under God’s government, He committed all His sufferings to God. Here Peter does not speak of God as the faithful One, but as the One who judges righteously. The reason for this is that judging righteously is a matter of God’s government.
GOD’S USE OF FIERY ORDEALS TO PURIFY THE BELIEVERS
In 4:12 Peter says, “Beloved, do not think that the fiery ordeal among you is strange, which is coming to you for a trial, as a strange thing happening to you.” According to what we have covered concerning this verse in one of the preceding messages, “fiery ordeal” here means burning. It signifies the burning of a smelting furnace for the purification of gold and silver, like the metaphor used in 1:7. Peter considered the persecution the believers suffered as such a burning furnace used by God to purify their life. This is God’s way to deal with the believers in the judgment of His governmental administration, which begins from His own house (4:17-19).We all need to pass through the burning furnace. God puts us into a burning furnace, into fiery ordeals, to burn away our dross. This is regarded by Peter as a judgment in God’s governmental dealing with the believers. (Life-study of Revelation, msg. 15)