The Vision of the Tabernacle |
Vessels unto Honor |
Calling on the name of the Lord (v. 22) is the first tool we can use to be cleansed. The Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim. 2:19) and we are identified by Him as we call on His name. Among all of God’s creatures, only we human beings can call on Him and by doing so, identify ourselves with our Master.
The story about the last moments of Stephen’s life gives us an indication of what calling on the Lord produces. The Bible records that while Stephen was being stoned, he was calling, “Lord Jesus,” and said, “Receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Before this, Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God (v. 56). The Bible says that Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Heb. 12:2); how then could Stephen see Him standing? We believe that this was the Lord’s response to the calling of the one who was being stoned. The fact that Stephen was calling on the name of the Lord before his executors surely indicates that he was one who called all the time. In reality, this was a characteristic of the early Christians (Acts 9:14).
Paul says that we are saved by calling on the name of the Lord (Rom. 10:13). This not only refers to being saved in our spirit the day we received the Lord, but to being saved every day from ourselves, our soul-life, our ego and from living for ourselves. The more we call on the name of the Lord, the more we become vessels unto honor (2 Tim. 2:19, 22).
The second way to cleanse ourselves is to depart from unrighteousness, that is, to not walk in sin. In 2 Timothy 2:22 we read, “But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” Timothy was a young minister of the new covenant. Because he was young, he was surely tempted by the lusts of the flesh. Some young people suppose they are very strong and capable of overcoming the desires of their flesh. However, this is the deceit that the enemy sows into their mind so they will fall into his trap, making them useless to God. Because Paul knew this, he did not insist that Timothy should courageously confront the lusts of his flesh or use some spiritual resource to reject the youthful lusts, but rather gave him the simple, but very practical and efficient advice: flee from lusts.
On one hand, that young man needed to flee, and on the other, to seek those who called on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. No doubt, if we flee, but keep our distance from the brothers and do not contact them, we are still liable to stumble and fall into sin. Therefore, the best way to flee from the world and from lusts is to be with the brothers, participating in the meetings with them, praying, calling on the name of the Lord, pray-reading the word, speaking to one another about the word and singing psalms and hymns.
In addition to fleeing, we must seek righteousness, faith, love and peace. This means to seek the Lord so that He may be our righteousness, our faith and our love. The more we pray in this way, the more we receive peace. Christ is righteousness, faith, love and peace. Christ is everything we need on order to be cleansed. By seeking Him with those who call on Him out of a pure heart, we allow the Treasure to grow within the earthen vessel and in this way manifest the excellency of the power that comes from God and is not out of us. In this way we are filled with power. Then when Satan comes to try to discourage us, either through outward situations or inward feelings, because we have been keeping up a living, organic contact with the Treasure in us, we will quickly call, “Oh, Lord Jesus! Oh, Lord Jesus!” and be helped immediately. When Christ grows in us we no longer trust in ourselves and we seek Him in every situation.
Gravity attracts all things toward the center of the earth, but an airplane, apparently not knowing this law, flies freely through the air. How does it do this? It has a power, the motor and the aerodynamic design, that help it to overcome gravity. Something similar happens to us. The more the trials and difficulties try to pull us down to the earth and to ourselves, the more we have the power of the universe - Christ, the God-man who overcame death, resurrected, became the life-giving Spirit and now lives in our spirit. Hence, Satan and the negative situations cannot stop us from seeking the Lord and enjoying Him.
God needs each one of His children to be willing to be made a vessel unto honor in His house. He will do this if we want and accept His “way of working,” which is for us to deny our self and allow Him to destroy our natural life. We need to call on the name of the Lord all the time, seeking Him with a pure heart with other saints. In this way the situations of trial will bring us deep spiritual benefit because we will die to our self and the life of Jesus will be manifested in us. The church and the saints are benefited through this because more of the divine life is able to flow freely from us to others.
In the next chapter we will see how fervently the Lord desires that every child of His would seek Him desperately with perseverance in order to live in His presence. Only in this way will we be fully cleansed and become His overcomers. It depends on our strong decision.
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