Substance and Form

It is very easy to lose the substance but keep the form. And the substance comes through denying yourself! You can certainly deny yourself one thing or another, yet still without denying yourself. I do what suits my own taste (Ezek. 33:30-33) but not what does not suit my taste—in other words, I do not deny myself.

The angel of Sardis was dead, but appeared very much alive. He had lost the substance, but retained the outward form. Rev. 3:1. The same was true of the angel of Laodicea. He had become lukewarm; he considered himself to be rich, but that was only when he looked at the form. If he had focused on the substance, he would have seen it in a completely different light. The substance—or one might say, the very point of it all—was, after all, to hear Jesus’ voice and do His will. And that does give a certain form, but the moment I focus on the form, the substance goes adrift. Then you lose the substance, and it all ends up as hypocrisy. And that is precisely what Jesus warned so strongly against.

And the Pharisees had lost the substance but kept the form to such a degree that you would think they themselves would have seen the irony. But no, the form had become their god, so no one was allowed to lay a finger on it—but the substance was gone. And it is easy to look at them from a historical perspective and in the light of Jesus’ words about them, and conclude that they must have been foolish. But they were most likely not foolish, humanly speaking, but they had been deceived by our adversary, the devil.

And in practice, in my own situations, it takes some sharp sailing not to lose the substance. But thankfully, this is possible if I am kept in a burning, fervent love for Jesus! Thanks and praise for that! But we find that it requires complete focus and full surrender and refocusing every day: to hear His voice and do His will, and to deny myself.