|
Chapter
XII
THE CROSS AND THE FLESH
COULD THE FLESH SPEAK as
it faces the Cross, it C would be forced to use the language of one, Amiel,
(as recorded by Amy Carmichael). After he had received at the hands
of his doctors the verdict which was to him the arrest of death he said,
"On waking, it seemed to me that I was staring into the future with wide-startled
eyes. Is it indeed to me that these things apply? Incessant
and growing humiliation, my slavery becoming heavier, my circle of action
steadily narrower? What is hateful is that deliverance can never
be hoped for, and that one misery will succeed another in such a way as
to leave me no breathing space, not even in the future, not even in hope.
All possibilities are closed to me, one by one."
To the flesh the Cross is
God's verdict, God's "arrest of death." Paul traveled a long road to learn
"that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.' "Is it indeed
to me," cries the awakened believer, "that these very things apply?"
It does seem to take a long time to learn that the mind of the flesh "is
enmity against God." It is therefore "not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be." The verdict has gone forth, the sentence executed.
The only cure is condemnation, crucifixion, death with Christ. The
flesh with all its foul brood has been put to the hanged man's doom.
To the accursed tree, Christ nailed the flesh with "the affections and
lusts." There, Christ reversed all the processes of nature; the old life
was terminated to make room for the new, for death can never inherit life.
And "the mind of the flesh is death."' The flesh has about it "the smell
of infernal associations. It stinks." Since its mind is already death,
God sent it to its own place--the Cross.
In speaking of "the flesh"
as contrary to "the Spirit," Scripture refers to the whole of human nature
in its fallen condition. We read of the wills of the flesh,
the desires of the flesh, the mind of the flesh, the wisdom
of the flesh, the purposes of the flesh, the confidence Of
the flesh, the filthiness of the flesh, the workings of the
flesh, the warring of the flesh, the glorying of the flesh.
Scripture mentions those who walk according to the flesh, after
the flesh, make a fair show in the flesh. Man's emotions,
his reasonings, his powers--all his thinking and willing and energy--are
under the lordship of the flesh. The flesh must 90 to the Cross.
It must be made to face the fact and made to say that "deliverance can
never be hoped for, all possibilities are closed to me in such a way as
to leave me no breathing space, not even in the future, not even in hope.
It is to me these very things apply." The Cross seizes hold of man's fleshly
self-life, and carries it to judgment, a judgment so final that it spells
death.
Amiel indeed felt it "difficult
for the natural man to escape from a dumb rage against" such an inexorable
arrest. It is worse than difficult; it is impossible. But with
God, the impossible becomes possible. Those who have been born again
have gone through this judgment in the person of Christ. To the unbeliever,
God says, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." But to us
He says, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." We are assured
of this that "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts." And as we yield ourselves continually unto God,
as those who are alive from the dead, we experience that liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free. The word of assurance is that, "if the Spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit
that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, [and he
seems about to say to the Holy Spirit; but he turns to say] not
to the flesh, to live after the flesh" (Rom. 8:11, 12). The flesh
has been judged and our position is "in the Spirit."
Even though the believer
has emerged from the muddle and mixedness of Romans 7 through Paul's command
"reckon ye also yourselves to he dead indeed unto sin," the fact remains
that he will discover many ways in which self seeks satisfaction through
the as-yet-unredeemed spheres of his being. The flesh, the body,
all "our mortal coil" is evidently still present in Romans 8. That chapter
presents many ways in which mortification must set in. The victorious
believer will become aware of many forms of self which must yet be dealt
with. We shall discover: In our service for Christ, self-confidence
and self-esteem; in the slightest suffering, self-saving and self-pity;
in the least misunderstanding, self-defense and self-vindication; in our
station in life, self-seeking and self-centeredness; in the smallest trials,
self-inspection and self-accusation; in the daily routine, self-pleasing
and self-choosing; in our relationships, |
|