Do
not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but
share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. (2 Timothy 1:8 ESV)
That
which represents the testimony in its fullest and closest approximation to the ultimate
purpose of God, then has to be shorn of much that has been good, necessary, and
of God in a preparatory way, and must be shut up to what is ultimate. The
captivity is not to a conceived truth or a superimposed doctrinal acceptance.
It is wrought into the very fiber of the being by experience following
revelation, and revelation interpreting experience. It is not the championing
of some espoused interpretation: it is that it is the very Life of instruments
and the instrument is that in its very being. It is not a matter of wanting to
be or not wanting to be, but cannot be other, a prisoner, the sovereignty of
God has done it.
This
applied both to Paul and to those who were brought into touch with him. For the
Apostle the settling in to the sovereign ordering of God in his imprisonment
issued in increasing illumination leading to spiritual emancipation. No one can
fail to recognize the tremendous enrichment of ministry as contained in what
are called "the Prison Epistles." If he had been restive, piqued,
rebellious, or bitter, there would have been no open heaven, and a spirit of
controversy with the Lord would have closed and bolted the door to the fuller
Divine unveilings and clarifyings. When all was accepted according to the mind
of the Lord, then "the heavenly places" became the eternal expanses
of his walking about, and earthly bondage gave place to heavenly freedom. So it
must be with every instrument set apart in relation to the higher interests of
the Lord's testimony.
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