The words out of which our consideration is taken at this time are in Luke 12:49-50:
I came to cast fire upon the earth;
and what will I, if it is already kindled?
But I have a baptism to be baptized with;
and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
We shall spend our time this afternoon upon this cup and the consequent kindling of the fire, mainly with a view to taking up the relationship between those two things: that there is no furthering of the fire—all that that means in the progress of the Gospel and the growth of the church—except insofar as the meaning of the cup is established as the basis, the foundation, right in the very heart of the life of the people of God.
Having sought to indicate and emphasize that great law, I think I am taking you to this twelfth chapter of the Book of Acts. As you have heard read, this chapter is a microcosm, a miniature, of the whole great conflict in history—the conflict between the powers of evil and the invincible forces of the Spirit which eventually triumph.
This chapter is so pregnant with phrases and clauses, piled one upon another, every one of which might occupy our whole time. Take some of these clauses—only a few of them. “Now about that time”; “Herod the king”; “he stretched forth his hands to afflict certain of the church”; “he killed James”; “when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further.”
And so we might go on. The whole chapter is full of phrases and clauses like that. Let us look at one or two of them, beginning with, “Now about that time.”
“Now about that time” is significant. Put your finger on that. “About that time”—the answer is a very large one. It has two main features: Herod, and the answer which lies behind Herod much more deeply—the answer in heaven.
I suppose you know that there were six Herods in the Bible. All of them were Edomites in origin; they were descendants of Esau. They were gathered under the symbolic name of Edom.
At last you come to this man, Herod Agrippa, who is the third and last of them properly to hold this title of king. Another before him had officially held that title, and this one is the last to hold it properly. The title of king was taken away after him.
You see, this whole thing is headed up in a long history. You want to read the purposes of God, really get the substance of it, in this historic antagonism between the flesh and the Spirit, between heaven and hell, between Esau and Israel. The long history is here headed right up to this man who now takes the title of king.
I think there is a certain irony in the fact that the Jews should come to be ruled by a descendant of Esau and not of Israel, and that that ruler should be appointed by pagan Rome. You think about that. There is tremendous drama here—perhaps fanciful, but, oh, how deeply instructive. I hope we shall be able to get the force of it as we go on this evening.
“Now about that time, Herod the king put forth his hands to afflict certain of the church.” And seeing that it pleased the Jews, he did it. Why should Herod do this, these pleasing things, at that time?
At first sight, it looks like a simple human matter. But we are in the unfolding of something much deeper. You know, Satan is very deep, but God is deeper still. That is what we have here.
If you look back to the chapter before this, you will find that there was a great famine:
Now in these days there came down prophets from Jerusalem.
And there stood up one of them named Agabus,
and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great famine over all the world:
which came to pass in the days of Claudius.
Now about that time, the simple answer is this: the Jews were very difficult people to rule. That is perfectly clear, of course. But, added to the normal, usual, common difficulty, was a famine. And you know there is nothing—nothing—that leads to revolution more quickly than hunger.
You know this later in the story. These people got very disturbed on the question of food, and it became very acute. There was a seething, a surging, and a rising. Herod must do something to get these people diverted from the trouble, preoccupied. There must be some diversion; something must be done for them to divert their minds from the famine which had come.
If he is going to hold his position, hold these people, and keep them in check, he must do something to please them. In the language of human history, it is a bit of trickery politics, if you like to call it that. That is one part of the answer: “Now about that time.”
Why must he please the Jews? Well, that is the answer. How will he please the Jews? He knows their hatred for the Christians. That is a long story too—the Jews’ hatred for the Christians.
At that time he stretched forth his hand to afflict certain of the church. The Christians were being used to prop up this ramshackle kingdom of Herod. He was using them for his own ends. That is only part of the answer, a very simple one; but it is a terrible answer. Let us get behind it, because Herod is not acting alone.
There is something more, something deeper. The answer is really found in that realm—the satanic realm behind the man. The deeper and more real answer to the question is found there.
Let us look at Acts 11 again:
They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen
travelled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch,
speaking the word to none save only to Jews.
“They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen.” That is a tremendously inclusive word. Yes, something happened; oh, what a lot of things happened! You see, that takes you back to Acts 7. Chapter 7 is the martyrdom of Stephen—the cup.
Stephen is gone. It looks like a tremendous triumph for the enemy. Stephen was a mighty man, a tremendous asset for the church, a man of great value to that young church. I have said, after reading his discourse and studying it, that he was the equal of Saul of Tarsus, at least.
And there he is, gone. It looks as though Satan has really triumphed. But from that very point, the scattering of the believers took place, and everywhere they went they preached the Gospel.
One of the tremendous things that happened was that Peter was led to the house of Cornelius. We are there in the north, and we know what happened there: the door was opened to the Gentiles. A tremendous thing, all coming out of the cup—the cup of the Lord, the baptism into which the church had been brought.
All that is happening: there were added to the church about three thousand, about five thousand. The church is growing. That is the answer. The kingdom of Satan says, “Something must be done about it.”
Someone perfectly put it: “These men that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” That is the explanation: “Now about that time.” Out of this baptism of suffering into which the church had been brought, the fire was spreading.
The enemy is moved, and deeply moved. He puts forth his hand—and there is a hand behind the hand—to afflict certain of the church. He kills James with the sword, and when he sees that it pleases the Jews, he proceeds further.
A little success, and he thinks what it will do for him. Satan is carried on by his own momentum.
Turn away from that for the moment to the other side of this drama: the sovereign kingship of the Lord. Look at it in three things: Herod puts forth his hands to afflict; an angel of the Lord smites him; and the Word of God grows and multiplies.
It is a wonderful contrast, is it not? You begin the story with Herod putting forth his hand, and you end the story with Herod being eaten of worms because he gave not God the glory. You begin the story with the church afflicted, and you end the story with the Word of God growing and multiplying.
That is the story of another thing. It is the story of two kings hitting themselves against each other. I said at the beginning that it is the microcosm of this long history: the conflict between the forces of evil and those invincible forces of the Spirit which always, in the long run, triumph.
But here an upsetting question arises. When you think of the beginning—“He killed James with the sword; and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further, to take Peter also”—the question clamours for an answer. Why did God allow this kind of thing?
Why did He not intervene before James was killed? Why did He not stop this thing before Peter was thrown into prison? God allowed it. Why does God allow that kind of thing?
That is another key to another large history: God’s permissive will. God allows it. Here are His servants—His useful servants—to be killed or cast into prison, allowing the church to suffer like this. God allows it.
The answer, dear friends, is deep within the cup. You get down deep enough into the cup and you will find the answer. In other words, it is deep within the cross.
God, in the mystery of His will and His way, uses the church, as He used Israel, to draw out the evil forces to their own destruction. God moves in a mysterious way.
Is it the church, or is it the forces against them, that He destroys eventually? Well, you see the answer in history. Here in this chapter, in representation, God has done that.
Here you have Herod and the Jews in league. What a tremendous pending affair! God is drawing him out, drawing him out, drawing him to the limit of his own resources, and then going on and on until Herod has exhausted all his resources.
Then God, by His whole judgment, breaks him. God has patiently been drawing it all out. That is the story. The church, I say, in the mystery of God’s ways, is suffering from the enemy, and God is drawing the enemy out by the church—drawing him out and extending him.
When his cup of iniquity is full—godlessness beyond repair—that is the issue. But the church has worked it out. The sufferings of James and Peter and the church in those days accomplished that.
But is not that sound right in the cross? Look at the cross. In the cross, the extending of all the powers of earth and hell is seen. You would say, “Is there anything more that they can do?” When you see Him there on the cross, and know how it was brought about, and all that went to bring it about—the whole sum of human and satanic malice and spite—are you able to say there is more that they can do? No.
What is going on there? Satan is being brought to his end. That is the answer. You see, it is in the cup; it is in the cross. It is an integral part of this whole matter.
The sufferings of Christ, which are bound up with the life of the church, are working, working, working, effecting the enemy’s undoing, and for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
We have just got to go on with patience in these things. “Here is the patience of the saints.” Remember that word? If you can see that, you will understand what is happening.
On the one side, there is havoc in the kingdom of Satan, bringing him to an end. On the other side, there is something working for spiritual increase and spiritual progress.
God uses the work of Satan for Satan’s undoing. It is the church, and it is the saints, through whom this battle is fought out. Now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenlies is made known the manifold wisdom of God through the church. You see what is happening in the unseen.
The Word of God progresses. It is the cup, I think, which involves the fire. That is His way. God uses Satan’s work for his own undoing, and for the progress of the Word, for the church’s advance, and for the glory of God.
All that is wrapped up in this anguish of fellowship with His Son. You and I have had a good deal of difficulty in understanding why Paul should long to know the fellowship of His sufferings. It is one of the most difficult prayers for us to pray.
But here you see it. That is the way of the progress of the Gospel. That is the way for the destruction of the things that are against. The fellowship of His sufferings—that is the heart of the cross of the Lord Jesus.
All this, you see, rests upon the cup. The cup ceases to be an object, ceases to be just a thing. It becomes something living, something potent, something that cuts a mighty furrow in the universe.
Yes, friends, when you come to the Lord’s table next time, may God give you some large conception of what is taking place in His universe. It is touching everywhere. It is the representation of something living—something living.
This blood speaks. This blood tells. This blood counts. Blood is vital. That is a terrific force against individualism.
Yes, it is true. We accept the message of the passion. Let us recognize that in faith it represents a tremendous victory. It will be successful, because it is the way of the cross.
I cannot help thinking of a lot of things as I read and ponder how this might have turned out so differently. We must see where it was all wrought out.
On the one side, there are all the terrible beings, all this long, long history of factors: the Jew, Herod, the prison, the soldiers, and the forces of evil within and without. These are things which symbolize hell—great, great forces, difficult forces, all things which are against.
They are not just words. They are tremendous things, all of them, viewed from the natural standpoint. On the other side stands the sovereign Lord, working through the cup to bring forth the fire.