When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He recognized the government of God and committed everything related to Him to God’s government; as believers in Christ, we need to enjoy His divine provision to cooperate with His government.
The Lord Jesus was a pattern to us; He did not live an easy life, nor was it fair what happened to Him throughout His life, but He lived a life under God’s government and He kept committing all the sufferings, persecutions, trials, and outward things to Him who judges righteously.
On one hand we are under God’s system of grace, and according to this system we as believers in Christ can partake of the riches of Christ freely.
God in Christ has come to be our supply, and as the Spirit He is so available to us; we can exercise our spirit, apply the blood of Christ, and partake of God in Christ as the Spirit at any time and at any place.
However, God has another system, the system of government; God governs all things by judging, and the judgement of God is for the carrying out of His government.
God created the heavens, the earth, and all things on earth, but due to the fall of Satan and then the fall of man, all things are in slavery under sin; all things and people on earth are corrupted and ruined.
God cannot dwell in such a place that is dirty, corrupted, and ruined; so He has to judge all things so that He may clear the entire universe.
Through many kinds of judgements, the Lord God will clear up the entire universe and purify it so that He may have a new heaven and a new earth for a new universe filled with His righteousness for His delight.
God doesn’t judge only the outward things or Satan and his rebellious angels; His judgement begins from His house. Anything in us that doesn’t match God’s government, He judges; in this age we are under the daily judgement of God.
This doesn’t mean that God hates us or wants to destroy us or punish us; rather, God has to judge all things that are not according to His nature and His government, and yet He still loves us very much.
He is a loving Father who would not spoil His beloved children but would rather chastise them for a period of time so that they would be safeguarded and grounded in His love.
So we should not consider it strange when we pass through trials, problems, and situations that seem like fiery ordeals, knowing that our Father God judges all things, and His judgement begins from His house, which is us.
Christ Recognized God’s Government and Committed All to Him who Judges Righteously
When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He recognized the government of God; He lived a human life that was absolutely under the government of God and committed everything related to Him to God’s government (John 6:38; 1 Pet. 2:21-23).
When the Lord came in incarnation He didn’t do His own will but the will of the One who sent Him; He set up a pattern for us to follow, and He kept committing all things to the One who judges righteously.
He committed no sin, no guile was found in His mouth; when reviled, He didn’t revile in return; when suffering, He didn’t threaten, but He kept committing all things to Him who judges righteously.
All things here refers to all the things that happened to Him; again and again, as He was persecuted, mistreated, criticized, and attacked, as He was insulted, He didn’t respond in kind but submitted to God’s government. He kept committing all to the One who judges all things righteously.
This indicates that the Lord Jesus realized that every action and detail was part of God’s judging, His governmental administration, and thus He recognized God’s government and submitted to it.
The Lord kept committing all the insults and injuries that He suffered to the One who judges righteously in His government, the righteous God, to whom He also submitted Himself.
We may read 1 Pet. 2:21-23 and not see that the One to whom the Lord committed all things was not the loving God and the God full of grace, but the God who judges righteously.
We love God as the One who bestows grace and showers us with blessing, the One who is so rich and full of love toward us, but do we know God as the One who judges righteously?
The reason we don’t practice committing things to the Lord who judges righteously is because many times we are so religious and traditional in our reading the Bible and praying to the Lord that we don’t even see this matter in God’s word.
May we saved from our traditional reading of the Bible and our old way of praying!
When we are under God’s judgement, instead of complaining or murmuring, we should commit all things to Him who judges righteously.
The Lord Jesus put His trust in this righteous One, recognizing His government. He lived righteously, obeyed righteously, and died righteously, thereby building up His righteousness as a base for God to justify those who believe into Him.
He put His trust in the righteous One, and He was righteous as a basis for us to take and follow as a model in His steps. He was always under the government of God, and He committed all things related to Him to God’s judgement.
He was suffering, but at the same time He kept committing all to the One who judges righteously. His life was a model for us; He lived a life absolutely under God’s government.
Thank You Lord Jesus for setting up a pattern of One who suffered on our behalf yet didn’t revile but kept committing all to Him who judges righteously! Amen, Lord, You recognized God’s government, lived a life that was absolutely under the government of God, and committed everything related to You to God’s government. We want to learn from You and even be one with You to commit all the injuries, problems, and trials to the One who judges righteously, submitting to God’s government so that we may enjoy Him and His blessing!
God Grants us His Provision so that we may Cooperate with His Governmental Dealings
As believers in Christ, we need to realize that we are under God’s government; we need to respect God’s government and learn to acknowledge God’s government (1 Pet. 5:6).
We must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt us in due time, even in His time. This is the desire of God in His government; He wants us to be humbled and, whatever we pass through, we should commit all things to the One who judges righteously.
As God is governing us, He also supplies us with whatever we need; God grants us His provision so that we may cooperate with His government (2 Pet. 1:1-4; 3:13).
On one hand He supplies us, and on the other, He judges us; His provision is for us to cooperate with His government.
The subject of 1 Peter is, A godly living under God’s governmental administration; the subject of 2 Peter is, The divine provision (for us to live such a life). In 2 Pet. 1:1-4 we see the divine provision that God grants us – the equally precious faith in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
In this provision from God we have the equally previous faith and a double provision of righteousness – the righteousness of God and the righteousness of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Christ as our Savior died for us in His righteousness, and based upon his righteousness, we receive the precious faith so that we can follow and live the model that He left for us, that is, so that we can live out a life of righteousness.
We are partakers of the divine nature (v. 4) so that we may live a life under the government of God. Having such a divine rich provision, we should not think that the fiery ordeal among us – coming to us for a trial – is strange, as if it were a strange thing happening to us (1 Pet. 4:12).
The fiery ordeal refers to the burning of a smelting furnace for the purification of gold and silver, like the metaphor Peter used in 1:7.
We believers are like gold that is being purified in a furnace; this is God’s way to deal with us in the judgement of His governmental administration, which begins from His own house (4:17-19).
It is for us, the believers in Christ, the members of the household of God, that we should pass through the fiery ordeal; it is the means used by God to carry out His judgement to purify us.
On one hand He provides us with the riches divine provision and, on the other hand, He brings us through the fiery ordeal to purify any dross that we may have.
We need to be purified. The way we are purified is not simply through more teaching, more fellowship, or more meetings; rather, we all need to pass through the burning furnace to burn away our dross.
God is wise; He arranges all things and sovereignly places us in certain environments, with certain people, and allows certain things to happen to us to be like a fiery ordeal to burn away our dross.
He deals with us in His governmental dealings to burn away anything that is not according to His nature.
He inwardly supplies us with a rich divine provision so that we may cooperate with His governmental dealings; in this way we are supplied and ready, even enabled, to go through the furnace.
We shouldn’t pray for more fire or more trials; rather, we should eat God in His word and partake of the divine nature so that we may be inwardly supplied to face the fiery furnace and allow the Lord to remove anything of the dross in us.
Lord Jesus, thank You for giving us the rich supply and provision for us to cooperate with God’s government. Keep us enjoying the divine provision day by day, being infused with Your element through Your word, partaking of the divine nature, and enjoying the equally precious faith, so that we may be able to go through the fiery ordeals. Dear Lord Jesus, keep us one spirit with You as we go through the fiery ordeals so that we may allow You to burn away any dross and purify us, removing anything that doesn’t match God’s holy nature and adding more of the divine element into us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Rick Scatterday for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Peter, msgs. 1, 13 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 2, The Governmental Administration of the Righteous, Holy, Faithful, and Loving God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– I must tell Jesus all of my trials; / I cannot bear these burdens alone; / In my distress He kindly will help me; / He ever loves and cares for His own. (Hymns #787)
– Not by gain our life is measured, / But by what we’ve lost ‘tis scored; / ’Tis not how much wine is drunken, / But how much has been outpoured. / For the strength of love e’er standeth / In the sacrifice we bear; / He who has the greatest suff’ring / Ever has the most to share. (Hymns #635)
– Given us, given us, God has given us / Precious faith, power divine, greatest promises. / We believed, we received, now we have all three; / By these we may grow unto maturity. (Hymns #1211)
About aGodMan
