Communion

Henry Allan Ironside

Sailing with Paul

God has given us His truth that our thoughts may be fashioned like unto His own. This is to enjoy communion with  Him.  Our  previous  study,  on  standing  and  state, naturally prepares the way for the consideration of this blessed  theme  of  realized  fellowship  with  God,  “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9). He, who has thus so richly blessed us, desires to have us in living, happy communion with Himself, and this is the instinctive desire of every renewed soul. By nature and practice we are alienated and an enemy to God by wicked works, but when grace has wrought in the soul—when new birth has taken place—at
once there springs up a yearning for fellowship with the blessed One whom now we address by the Spirit as “Abba Father” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Now this communion is not a human thing. Man in the flesh can have no fellowship with God. It is only known
and enjoyed in the power of the Spirit. The direct means for its maintenance are the Word of God and prayer. In the Bible, God speaks to me. In prayer, I speak to Him. I use the word prayer here in its widest application; not merely as offering petitions, but as lifting up the heart to God in praise likewise.

We have some blessed examples of this in the experience of Paul. Take, for instance, the first eleven chapters of the epistle to the Romans. In chapters 1 to 8, God, by His Spirit,  unfolds  what  we  might  call  the  glorious,  divine philosophy of the plan of salvation; while in chapters 9 to 11 he unfolds His dispensational ways. What is the result of the soul’s apprehension of all this? It leads to an outburst of praise that fairly bubbles up in exultant joy from the apostle’s soul in verse 33 of chapter 11: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” This is communion; and a most hallowed and blissful thing it is to be taken up with the marvelous counsels and ways of God. In  Ephesians  1  we  have  another  lovely  example  of the same thing. In the early part of the chapter there is a wonderful opening up of God’s eternal purpose. Then from verse 15 the apostle is in prayer that others may enter into and enjoy these precious things, so infinitely beyond mere
human comprehension. Again, in chapter 3, the truth of the great mystery, which we take up in the next section,  is opened up, and in verse 14 he says: “For this cause [that is, because of the power of this truth over his own soul] I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”—and what is the burden of this prayer? That the believers to whom he writes “may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height [of this stupendous mystery]; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (verses 18,19). And once more a volume of praise goes up from his own heart: “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20,21). The truth gets such a grip on Paul’s soul that he longs for all saints to share it, and his heart goes out to God, the Author of it, in unbounded adoration. Again, I repeat, this is communion. It is not a happy feeling or a state of religious excitement. It is the soul’s enjoyment of what God, in His Word, has made known for our edification. He calls us His friends, and He would have His friends share His thoughts. There can be no true fellowship with God apart from feeding on the Word of God. Reading good books will not take the place of this thoughtful meditation on the Holy Scriptures. Undoubtedly, the Spirit-taught soul will soon begin to discern God’s mind, and see His glory manifested even in inanimate nature; but he needs a mind well stored with Scripture to lead him up to this.

And now another important point: there can be no true communion with God while unjudged evil is tolerated in the life. You cannot enjoy God and indulge in sin at the same time; even as you cannot enjoy meditation on the Scriptures while practicing that which is unholy. In Bunyan’s Bible it was written, “This Book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this Book.” Don’t overlook this, dear believer. Be clean. Be practically holy. Then you can enjoy God’s Word and the Holy Spirit will use it as the means of leading out your heart to God and filling your soul with praise. This is being in communion with the Highest. Men talk of being “in touch with the Infinite,” who both ignore the Scriptures as the written Word, and Christ Jesus the living Word. And by that they mean to reach a state of philosophic calmness of mind which, in the case of men proudly turning from the Cross of Christ, is like a blind man on the edge of a cliff refusing the hand stretched forth to save him, and plunging headlong, seeking calmly to assure himself that he would alight on a bed of down in place of jagged rocks. His calmness would be but foolhardiness; and so is all this empty talk of being in tune with the Spirit of the Universe while refusing God’s testimony. Do not be deceived by the sham, my reader. With the Word of God speaking in power to your soul, walk in the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, and you shall know the real and the true. Thus shall you enjoy, on earth, a sweet foretaste of what is to be the everlasting portion of all the redeemed—participation in the joy of your Lord.