NEW CREATION
Subsequent to this the new creation was denied at Reading [c. 1883,] by Mr. C. E. Stuart.
It was said that old things became new, and from that day
to this great ignorance of what is the character and nature of new creation has
marked the opposers, and I am afraid there is still a very imperfect sense of
what new creation really is "the new man which after God is created in
righteousness and holiness of truth".
Those who dwell exclusively on
objective truth can never know experimentally what new creation is; that it is
the great grace of God to give us a state fitted to the reception of His grace,
as the best robe fitted the prodigal for the great supper. Thus God fits us for
the new position which His grace has secured to us.
There is, thank
God, a better and clearer idea now of what the new creation is than there was
thirty years ago; but many of the evangelists do not really apprehend fully
that the old man is removed from the eye of God in judgment.
If this were
truly apprehended they would not address the old man by seeking to work on his
feelings. It is quite right to awaken souls to their lost condition, but the
grace of God is that He has removed that man in judgment.
But I
believe that what is not understood is the nature of the Man, the unique
character of the One, who has superseded the first man before the eye of God,
and until this is apprehended and that we derive from Christ, as members of His
body, there can be no apprehension that He is our Head the source of all
life and power, or of what it is to be united to Him.