Let us turn to the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 9:14.
How much more shall the blood of Christ,
Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God,
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Here we see that Christ offered Himself without blemish to God, and it also speaks of His blood. We know this is the story of the cross. But it says that, through the eternal Spirit, He offered Himself.
The eternal Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Not only do we see here the story of the cross; we also see the story of the Holy Spirit. We see the cross and the Holy Spirit together.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Lord, we thank You for this wonderful time in which You have called us. We do not know why we are seated here today, but we know that it is according to Your will.
Lord, may Your will through this conference be accomplished, so that Your heart will be satisfied. We thank You for already speaking to us. Last evening You began Your word; this morning we look to You to speak further to us.
Lord, give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we might truly know You. Listen to our prayer. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.
We know that the theme of this conference is The Way to the Eternal Purpose of God: The Cross. This theme has three subtopics:
My responsibility is to speak on the relationship between the cross and the Holy Spirit. The verse we have just read is one of the clearest verses in the Bible explaining this relationship.
The Holy Spirit is called the eternal Spirit. When the passage speaks of the cross, on the one hand it speaks of our Lord offering Himself without blemish; on the other hand, it speaks of how He shed His blood on the cross. Here it speaks of the redemption of the cross.
In the history of the church there was a brother named Andrew Murray. He spoke two very famous phrases that show us the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the cross. These phrases have helped many who loved and followed our Lord because they explain this relationship very thoroughly.
The two phrases are these:
The Spirit leads to the cross,
and the cross leads us back to the Holy Spirit.
We need to go back to the Scriptures—to the four Gospels and to the Epistles—so that we may see how the Holy Spirit leads to the cross, and how the cross leads us back to the Spirit.
In Christ, it is so; and in the church, it is likewise. As it is in the Lord’s life, so it is with the disciples who follow Him. The servant cannot be greater than the master.
Last evening our brothers shared clearly that our Lord became flesh. While He was in the womb of His mother, He was already filled with the Spirit, because He was born of the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who brought our Lord into the womb of Mary.
Brothers and sisters, the God who created the universe is not limited by space or time. When the Lord’s mother went to greet John’s mother, John leaped within Elizabeth’s womb.
Something earth-shattering happened at that time—something that had never happened before. Elizabeth said, “The One whom you have within you is blessed.” The Word became flesh.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
The Word is not limited by time or space. Yet the eternal Word was confined within space and time for thirty-three years. From the very beginning, while He was in the womb of His mother, the eternal Spirit had already begun to lead Him to the cross.
He was already under the shadow of the cross. In God’s heart, the cross was the highest edifice in the universe; therefore, the shadow it cast was also the longest.
Even though the cross was an occurrence on Golgotha two thousand years ago, its shadow had already begun while our Lord was in His mother’s womb. Indeed, that shadow reaches back into eternity.
In Revelation we read of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Strictly speaking, the shadow of the cross was cast backward and forward. The cross is an eternal cross.
This is a mystery. When you see how long the shadow is, you know how high the cross is in God’s heart.
Where did the eternal Spirit’s leading of our Lord to the cross begin? It began when the Word became flesh in the mother’s womb. Not only that: the cross also led our Lord to the manger.
All infants are born in a cradle. If a child is a king, that cradle may be placed in a palace. But when our Lord became flesh, He was born in a manger.
The shepherds were looking for the Christ. Christ was the Messiah for whom they were waiting—the coming King. No wonder the wise men went to Jerusalem to look for the King of the Jews. If He were a king, they assumed that He should be born in Jerusalem, in the most luxurious palace, and placed in the most luxurious cradle in the world.
But the wise men went to the wrong place. The good news was spread abroad that Christ had been born, yet in Bethlehem there was no place for our Lord. The King who came from heaven entered a world that was not ready for Him.
Bethlehem had no empty room for Him. They found Him in a manger.
The manger was His mark. How can one connect a manger with the Christ? Yet the angel told the shepherds that they would find the babe lying in a manger.
The eternal Spirit led our Lord to the cross from His birth. The story of Bethlehem is the story of the manger, and it is already a story of the cross. Our Lord was under the shadow of the cross from the beginning.
For thirty years our Lord lived a hidden life before God. A king would ordinarily receive honor and applause wherever he went, but our Lord was hidden before God. He did not hear the applause of men.
His encouragement came from heaven. Like acacia wood in the wilderness, His life was rooted in a dry land, yet all that sustained Him came from above.
The ark was made of acacia wood, and the ark is a type of Christ. If you go to the Sinai wilderness, you will see acacia trees. From afar they look like umbrellas, but it is difficult to see them as a forest. They usually stand alone.
The acacia tree survives in a dry and parched wilderness. Its leaves absorb moisture from the air during the night, and in the morning that moisture sustains the tree through the heat and dryness of the day.
This is how our Lord spent His first thirty years on earth. He was rooted in a dry land, but all that He received came from heaven. The smile of the heavenly Father was His greatest encouragement.
Why was He alone? He was a King, yet He was alone. He was the Messiah, yet He was alone. Nevertheless, throughout those thirty years He was under the shadow of the cross.
These thirty years may be divided into the first twelve years and the latter eighteen years. When our Lord was about one or two years old, King Herod sought to kill all infants under two years of age.
Joseph took the Lord Jesus and fled into Egypt. The means for their flight had been prepared through the gifts brought by the wise men: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
These gifts were given to the King of the Jews. The wise men came from the East to worship Him because they knew that He was the Savior of mankind.
If He was the King of the Jews, why did He have to flee? Should not Herod have fled from Him? If the strength of the Lord Jesus was greater than the strength of the Roman Empire, should not Rome have fled?
But our Lord was a fugitive. This King was different from every king on earth. Earthly kings make others fugitives, but the eternal Spirit led our Lord to the cross. The shadow of the cross began when the Word became flesh.
During the latter eighteen years, the impression given to us is that our Lord was a carpenter. His father was a carpenter, and He also was a carpenter.
The whole universe was created by Him. Every tree was created by Him. Yet He took a tree, cut it down, shaped it, and made it into a yoke for an ox.
Our Lord learned from Joseph how to make a yoke. He knew why He had come to earth. He knew that His Father had a will, and He was willing to fulfill His Father’s heart.
He said:
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.
He also said:
My yoke is easy.
Why was He the best carpenter? Because He created every creature and every tree. Yet in humility He learned from Joseph how to make a yoke. He could be obedient to Joseph because He was obedient to the Father.
The yoke He made was the best yoke in the world. If a yoke is not made properly, the ox will suffer under it. But if we are yoked with Christ, we must remember that our Lord was led by the eternal Spirit to the cross.
The yoke was already upon Him. Therefore He said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.” This is the story of the cross.
Step by step, from His birth until the age of thirty, our Lord was brought closer and closer to the cross. The shadow had already been upon Him throughout His life.
When He completed those thirty hidden years, heaven could not remain silent. When the Spirit descended upon Him, the heavenly voice said:
This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.
Matthew records, “This is My beloved Son.” Luke records, “Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.” These were comforting words.
For thirty years He had lived alone before God, rooted in a dry and parched land. He humbled Himself to the point that He imitated Joseph. But because He desired to be our Savior and to accomplish the work of the cross, He walked this way.
The greatest comfort to our Lord was the Father’s word: “Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.” Could there be any music in heaven more beautiful than that one phrase?
The thirty hidden years and the thirty years of aloneness were worth it. We must remember that the cross is not merely tragic. It is a great error to call every tragedy a cross.
The cross has to do with the eternal Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us to the cross. We do not create our own crosses.
Madame Guyon learned something concerning the cross, but she purposely put stones in her shoes. Many people create suffering by their own hands, but that is not the cross. Only what comes from the Spirit is the cross.
For thirty years our Lord enjoyed the sweetest fellowship with the Father. On earth, it was as though He were in heaven. How can that be called a tragedy? At the end, the Father said, “Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.”
Our Lord then continued for another three years. It was as though the water of life had been collecting and collecting during those thirty hidden years. Then He removed the dam, and the water of life flowed out from Him.
Wherever He went, life went. For three years our Lord bore much fruit. The first thirty years were hidden; the last three years were fruitful.
Why could He bear so much fruit? It was based upon the first thirty years of hidden life. The power we have depends upon how much we are hidden in the Lord.
This is how the Spirit led our Lord to the cross. After three years He accomplished the Father’s will. His first thirty years were His life; His last three years were His ministry.
Whether His life, His work, or His ministry, all were carried out according to the Father’s will. The secret of working for God is first to learn to do nothing apart from God.
After thirty-three years, heaven spoke again. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father said:
This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.
At the Mount of Transfiguration, our Lord had completed thirty years of hidden life and three years of ministry. In both His life and His work, He had fulfilled the Father’s heart.
Our Lord spoke with Moses and Elijah concerning His departure—His exodus—which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Having accomplished the Father’s will, He could have ascended to heaven from that mountain.
But He could not ascend at that point, because of you and me. We were sinners condemned by sin. Therefore, the Holy Spirit did not take Him immediately to heaven; instead, the Spirit led Him from Mount Hermon to Golgotha.
That was the loneliest way. Our Lord’s work began near the Dead Sea, one of the lowest places on earth, because mankind had fallen to the deepest point.
Yet His spiritual life and His work were so heavenly that He could have ascended from the Mount of Transfiguration. But because of you and me, He went down through the valley of the Jordan.
He continued lower and lower, until at last He was crucified for us on the cross. During the last six months—the last one hundred and eighty days—the eternal Spirit led Him from the Mount of Transfiguration to Golgotha.
Luke describes this way most clearly. Matthew and Mark tell us much concerning our Lord’s work in Galilee. John shows us His work in Jerusalem. But Luke 9–19 describes what our Lord passed through during His final one hundred and eighty days on earth.
That way was from Mount Hermon to Golgotha. Our Lord could have gone to heaven, but for you and for me He lowered Himself and lowered Himself until He was crucified on the cross.
The way of the cross is described clearly in the Gospels. The Lord said, “We are going to Jerusalem.” Luke 9 tells us that He set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.
A Samaritan village did not receive Him because His face was set toward Jerusalem. The cross is something people dislike. If we walk the way of the cross, people may not receive us.
One person said to Him, “Whithersoever Thou goest, I will follow Thee.” The Lord answered:
The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests;
but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.
This is the way of the cross. The servant cannot be greater than the master. If we follow Him, we must walk the way He walks.
Another said, “Lord, I will follow Thee; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house.” Jesus said:
No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back,
is fit for the kingdom of God.
The one whose hand is on the plow must look forward in order to fulfill the will of God. The way of the cross has no curves. It is the way of holding the plow and moving forward.
The Lord said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.” This is the way of the cross.
In Luke 18, our Lord took the twelve aside and said:
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.
Mark 10:32 says:
And they were in the way, going up to Jerusalem;
and Jesus was going before them:
and they were amazed;
and they that followed were afraid.
The Lord went before them, and they were to follow Him. He then told them what would happen to Him:
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem;
and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and the scribes;
and they shall condemn Him to death,
and shall deliver Him unto the Gentiles:
and they shall mock Him,
and shall spit upon Him,
and shall scourge Him,
and shall kill Him;
and after three days He shall rise again.
From Luke 9 to Luke 19, we see the way that led from Mount Hermon to Golgotha. In Galilee, the Lord sent out twelve disciples to the lost sheep of Israel. But beyond the Jordan, He sent seventy disciples, representing the nations of the world.
This is the description of the final one hundred and eighty days. The Lord went from the Mount of Transfiguration toward Golgotha.
At the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter said, “Let us make three tabernacles: one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” The Feast of Tabernacles was near.
In the Jewish calendar, one cycle centers around Passover, and another centers around the Feast of Tabernacles. Passover is associated with barley and wheat; Tabernacles is associated with olives and grapes.
When our Lord came to the Mount of Transfiguration, both His life and His work had fulfilled the Father’s heart. His life was mature, like a ripe grape. The grape represents the fullness of life.
A grape is at its most beautiful when it is ripe. Yet the purpose of the vine is not simply to produce beautiful grapes. The grapes must be gathered and put into the winepress.
In the winepress, the grapes are crushed. Their beauty is no longer seen in the same way. Yet from the crushed grapes comes wine that can satisfy others.
No matter how poor one may be in Israel, there is wine upon the table. The vine may seem forgotten in the winter, but the wine gives its life for the satisfaction of others.
When our Lord was on Mount Hermon, His life was like a ripe grape. He could have gone to heaven, and only the Father could fully appreciate Him. But how could He give His life to others? How could He bring sinners before God?
When the Lord turned water into wine, He said to His mother:
Mine hour is not yet come.
He is the true vine, and the cross is the true winepress. In John 12, Greeks came seeking Jesus. When the world had exhausted its wine, the Lord said:
The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
He also said:
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto Myself.
Why Golgotha? Because the cross is the true winepress, and He is the true vine.
It was the Holy Spirit who led our Lord to the cross. When our Lord was hung upon the tree, John could see the Lamb of God.
At the time the Jews were preparing for the Passover, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, the priests were slaughtering many lambs in the temple. Historians tell us that there may have been as many as two hundred and fifty thousand lambs.
At that very time there was a voice from the cross:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
He stood in your stead and in my stead. John had said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” He followed the Lamb wherever the Lamb went.
The whole history of the Old Testament raised one question. Isaac asked his father:
Where is the lamb?
There were lambs in the Old Testament, and they shed their blood. But their blood could only cover sin; it could not remove sin. Then John declared:
Behold, the Lamb of God,
that taketh away the sin of the world.
When the true Lamb of God arrived, the Spirit led our Lord to the cross. On the cross He stood in our place. All our sins were upon Him.
The Father turned away His face, and the Lord cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He also said, “I thirst.” He went through the pain of hell.
The Lord promised the Samaritan woman that whoever drank of the water He gave would never thirst. Why will we never thirst? Because our Lord on the cross said, “I thirst.”
The Lord spoke to the adulterous woman. He said:
He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her.
One by one they went out. The Lord alone had the right to condemn her, but He said, “Neither do I condemn thee.”
How could God make the unrighteous righteous? If He did so apart from righteousness, God Himself would be unrighteous. Yet though our Lord did not condemn the adulterous woman, He condemned Himself in her place.
If there had been no other sinner in the world but that woman, the Lord still would have had to die for her on the cross. On one hand, He fulfilled the requirement of God’s righteousness; on the other hand, He fulfilled God’s love.
On the cross, our Lord was nailed there to take away sin and to become the Savior of the world. It is our sin that separates us from God.
But on the cross, our Lord took the hand of the Father with one hand and took our hand with the other. In His death, He brought the two together so that we might be reconciled to God.
This is the story of the cross. How do we reach God’s eternal purpose when man has fallen and sinned? The Holy Spirit leads to the cross, so that the eternal purpose of God may be fulfilled.
Through the cross, we are reconciled to the Father. But not only is Christ the Lamb of God; He is also the heavenly Ladder.
On the cross, heaven and earth are brought together again. Sin separates man from God, and sin also separates earth from heaven. But because of the work of the cross, heaven has come near.
Those who have accepted the Lord Jesus are on earth as in heaven. We are brought near through His precious blood and can come boldly before His presence.
The cross brings heaven back to us. It brings us back to Eden. We regain paradise.
Yet God’s eternal purpose is more than simply returning to a sinless garden. God’s will is that we should partake of the life that is in Christ.
The life is in Him. The life is in Christ. Therefore, we must receive Jesus Christ. That is the eternal will of God for us.
John tells us that our Lord’s cross was in a garden. The tree of life was in a garden, and our Lord was crucified in a garden. Peter tells us that He was hung on a tree.
After man sinned, it was impossible for man to draw near to the tree of life. But when our Lord was hung on the cross, that tree became the tree of life to us.
For this reason He said:
I am the true vine.
When our Lord was crucified, He went through the true winepress, and His life was poured out. He left the best wine until last.
That is why Psalm 22 contains such a remarkable prophecy. The four Gospels tell us how our Lord was crucified, but Psalm 22 gives us His own description of what He experienced on the cross.
Under the pressure and weight of crucifixion, He said:
I am poured out like water,
and all My bones are out of joint:
My heart is like wax;
it is melted within Me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd;
and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws.
Psalm 22:6 says:
But I am a worm, and no man.
Why did He say, “I am a worm”? In Hebrew, the word for “worm” is related to the word for “scarlet” used in connection with the tabernacle.
The scarlet dye was obtained from a worm. When the worm was crushed, scarlet fluid came forth, and it was used to dye cloth. Such scarlet became associated with the garments of kings.
These worms attach themselves to trees. When storms come, the mother presses herself against the tree in order to protect her young. The tree pierces her body, and she gives her life for her children.
When the sun shines upon the tree, one can see the appearance of blood, yet beneath that sacrifice new life is preserved. The Lord said, “I am a worm,” because He hung upon the cross for us.
The cross became our tree of life. He gave us a better tomorrow. He Himself passed through the winepress and gave us the best wine.
If He has given us His life, and today His life is in us, then we have a better tomorrow. We have a purpose in life. Step by step, we may be brought into God’s eternal purpose.
But the story cannot end with the Spirit leading Christ to the cross. If we stopped there, we would only see an event that happened two thousand years ago: the Word became flesh, and He was nailed to the cross for us.
How can the Lord’s blood wash away your sins and mine today? Two thousand years ago it was objective; two thousand years later it must become subjective in our lives.
What is the secret? The secret is the eternal Spirit. God is eternal. To us there are past, present, and future, but to God it is always today.
Who connects the past to the present? Who makes the objective subjective? The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. He makes what Christ objectively accomplished subjectively real in us.
Though the cross is finished, it is the Spirit who ministers its fellowship to us. What the Lord accomplished on the cross, the Holy Spirit gives to us in fellowship.
What was accomplished two thousand years ago can be done in us today. We believe, and we are saved. This is the story of the Spirit.
The story cannot end at the cross. The cross leads to the Spirit. If we stop at the cross, everything remains objective, like a basket of fruit hanging beyond our reach.
The Lord does not intend for us merely to admire the cross from a distance. After He died, He rose again and ascended for us. Then the Holy Spirit descended.
When the Holy Spirit descended and came to abide, He led us into all truth. Objective realities became subjective experience.
John shows us that the day our Lord was crucified was the very time of the Passover. As the people of Israel were preparing to slaughter the lambs, our Lord was being crucified.
During the Passover season, there was also the Feast of Firstfruits. Fifty days later came Pentecost. These three are connected:
Firstfruits is based upon Passover. The day after the Sabbath during that Passover week was the Feast of Firstfruits.
The year our Lord was crucified, Passover fell on the day of His crucifixion. He rose on the third day, the day after the Sabbath. He is the Firstfruits.
His resurrection is based upon the cross, just as the Firstfruits is based upon Passover. Then, fifty days later, came Pentecost.
When we speak of the cross, we are reminded of Passover. When we speak of resurrection, we are reminded of Firstfruits. When the Holy Spirit descended, it was the day of Pentecost.
The Lord said:
Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die,
it abideth by itself alone;
but if it die,
it beareth much fruit.
This is the story of harvest. Christ is the Firstfruits. Three days after His crucifixion, He was the first One to burst forth from the tomb.
Death is not the purpose. Life is the purpose. Death is the means to the end. Through resurrection, He gives us life.
At Firstfruits, a wave offering was presented before God. But Pentecost is the climax of the harvest. At Pentecost, the grain becomes loaves.
Each grain must be crushed. Each grain loses itself. Then oil brings the grains together into one loaf. Oil typifies the Holy Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit baptized them into one body. The one hundred and twenty were like grains that had been crushed into powder and brought together by the Spirit.
Then there were two loaves waved before God. This speaks of Christ as the bread of life, and it also speaks of testimony. It is the testimony of the church.
What is the church? It is Christ expressed through those whom the Holy Spirit has baptized into one body. Pentecost was the time of harvest, and the church was born.
This is how the cross leads to the Holy Spirit. Christ was crucified, raised after three days, ascended to heaven, and the Holy Spirit came. We were baptized into one body—Christ and the church. This is God’s eternal purpose.
The cross led our Lord to Pentecost. In Revelation 5, there is a Lamb standing in heaven as though it had been slain. The Lamb has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
This is the story of Pentecost: from heaven down to earth. What kind of Spirit is this? It is the Spirit of the Lamb. It is the Spirit of the cross.
When the Holy Spirit led our Lord to the cross, that cross was the cross of the Spirit. It was not merely a wooden cross. It is not a cross to be idolized or physically reproduced. It is the cross in its spiritual reality.
When the cross leads us back to the Holy Spirit, that Spirit is the Spirit of the Lamb. That is the Spirit of the cross.
Outside of the redemption of the cross, there is also the fellowship of the cross. In the Bible, these are two distinct aspects of the cross:
The Lord said:
If any man would come after Me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross,
and follow Me.
This is the fellowship of the cross. Paul spoke of fellowship in Christ’s sufferings. He also said:
I have been crucified with Christ.
This also is fellowship with the cross. We sang yesterday that Christ could descend into Bethlehem thousands of times, but if the Spirit has not worked in us, Christ cannot live in us in experiential reality.
It is through the Holy Spirit that we receive the fruit of the cross. On one hand, there is the redemption of the cross; on the other hand, there is the fellowship of the cross.
Many know only the redemption of the cross. Yet the Holy Spirit desires to work the work of the cross within us. If we separate fellowship from redemption, we fall into the error of those who practice self-made asceticism.
The true cross is the cross of Christ. When the Holy Spirit applies what we have received from the Lord, it becomes our cross in fellowship. Everything is based upon the redemptive work of Christ.
The Spirit who led our Lord to the cross now brings us into the fellowship of the cross. The same principle applies to us. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and all things work together for good.
Not every tragedy is a cross. But if something comes to us through the intercession and leading of the Holy Spirit, it becomes part of the cross in our lives.
The Spirit leads us to the cross, and the cross leads us to the Spirit. What is the result? Those who love Him are conformed to the image of His Son.
This is the harvest: to be conformed to His image. This is God’s eternal purpose.
Now we understand why the cross is the way to the eternal purpose of God.
May the Lord speak to us. Let us pray.
Lord, we commit these words unto You. Breathe upon them, and interpret them so that everyone may understand. Lord, do not let us go unchanged. Use these words to speak to us.
May Your will be done. In the Lord Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.