C.A.C. It would appear that Matthew is rightly put first of the gospels as linking on with the Old Testament promises.

Rem. Romans 9 would show that.

Rem. And Romans 1, "Come of David's seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power"; He is to inherit the promises. "Son of David" has the Solomon character in view, and "Son of Abraham" has Isaac in view, when the assembly comes into view in a very striking way.

C.A.C. Matthew is written specially to help the Jewish believers and all is linked with the Old Testament. The ancient promises are all taken account of but yet it was intended to lead them on to the new thing -- the assembly. This is the only gospel that speaks of the assembly.

Ques. "The generation of Jesus" would look backwards and forwards. Would it refer to a new generation coming in? These three titles of Christ (Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham) are all promise titles.

C.A.C. So that all turns on "Jesus Christ come in flesh". The whole of Scripture turns on that pivot, you might say. The whole of the Old and New Testaments turns on a divine Person come in flesh.

Rem. Twice it speaks of "his brethren" (verses 2, 11). A company is suggested that is going through.

Rem. There is that blessed Person who is going to bring all in, the Man of God's purpose.

Ques. Psalm 72 speaks of those who "shall fear thee ... from generation to generation" (see J.N.D.'s note). Psalm 122 is the answer. In Timothy it speaks of "the seed of David" (2 Timothy 2:8). What is the import of that?

C.A.C. It is David the king in this chapter (verse 6); all the royal promises were connected with David. It was what pious Israelites looked for chiefly, that the Son of David should come in to exercise kingly power. It involves dealing with everything adverse to God and to His people, which has to come in first before the universal dominion and power that was connected with Abraham.

Rem. This is a great moment; we should let it have its effect on us.

C.A.C. It was not exactly a new thing in the mind of God; He had it in view for many centuries.

Rem. "Whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us", 2 Corinthians 1:20. All had the assembly in view, and what God would secure at the present time. This is a sort of double fulfilment to the promises. At the end of this gospel there is the command to preach to all nations, "baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", Matthew 28:19.

C.A.C. It says, "His name shall endure for ever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall bless themselves in him; all nations shall call him blessed", Psalm 72:17. So that the Gentile must needs come in. You must needs have Rahab and Ruth.

Rem. His name at the end of the chapter, speaks of Him as Saviour. "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins". It is not limited to Israel only; His death is involved.

C.A.C. And He is presented so beautifully in the first two chapters as the subject of affectionate care, which links a little with what we have been seeing in Joash in Chronicles. He is brought forward as a little Child to be protected and safeguarded, and in a certain sense that is the position now. He was infinitely great, but He comes in at the very lowest point, as a new born Babe; nothing

could be smaller or weaker in this world, and I suppose that is why Joseph is more prominent than Mary in these two chapters.

Rem. The first 17 verses are to clarify our minds in regard to the Person coming in, and we should carry these things in our minds throughout.

C.A.C. It is all known to faith and love and is what appeals to us very touchingly. At the present time Christ is only known to faith and love, and it is in the faith and love of His people that He is, so to speak, preserved. Though so great (He is Emmanuel), yet He is pleased to take a form in which He is cared for, preserved and guarded, and those divinely taught are able to take up this privilege. It is most important in view of assembly service and Joseph takes up the responsible side. How wonderful that God should have made known these great secrets, that we should be told that the coming into human form of this blessed Person is a matter of the power of the Holy Spirit. I suppose the Holy Spirit never undertook so great a service as when He became the medium by which a divine Person came into human form; it is expressly said to be of the Holy Spirit. We are permitted to contemplate this great objective fact. While it was the will of God, of the Deity, that one divine Person should come into human form (and He came into it of His own will too, for He came down from heaven), yet the Holy Spirit is the mighty Actor in the matter. Joseph was told that "that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit". I think we should recognise the Holy Spirit's place in the incarnation. Joseph was evidently a man that could be trusted to hold such a secret; it was in safe keeping with him.

Rem. The instruction coming to us is that we should be similarly alert and protective in that way.

C.A.C. The beautiful character of Joseph stands out before us as a model of a righteous man. There are many

things that appear difficult to the human eye; this was shrouded in darkness and mystery. But Joseph does not come hastily to the conclusion of the matter; he gives it consideration and as he ponders he gets divine illumination. And you see the consideration that belongs to a man, not a gracious man, not a merciful man, but a righteous man. It led him to consideration of the matter; he made no hasty conclusions.

Rem. While he pondered the matter, help came.

C.A.C. There is a divine solution to every matter that seems difficult with relation to divine things. God always has one but His people are not always in the quiet sober condition of mind in which they can get it. But here was a man who could get it. No doubt Joseph represents the responsible side, while Mary presents the subjective side. That is our exercise, to be able to have to do with the greatest wonder in the universe. Here is the greatest thing that ever happened, or ever will happen in the universe of God, and here was a man suited to have the handling of it and its very deep instruction. So that it is Joseph who is to call his name Jesus. Joseph is the actor; it raises the question whether we are prepared as divinely taught, to handle the matters connected with the incarnation of Christ. Joseph handles them in such a way that they could not have been better handled; he did everything that was comely and suitable at the moment.

Rem. Joseph is called son of David (verse 20).

C.A.C. Joseph is one of the seed royal and surely in him there was that which corresponded with Christ. According to the position of the moment, Christ present there as a little Child, parental care was needed and Joseph is presented as exercising parental care over the little Child and its mother. The greatest possible things are presented to us in a form that a little child can take in. That is the wonder of Scripture.

Rem. Why does it say, "They shall call his name Emmanuel"?

C.A.C. That is too deep a question to squeeze in just at the end of the meeting!

I suppose the very name Jesus would show itself that a divine Person was coming in. It means 'Jehovah the Saviour'. It is really a divine name; Jehovah or Jah really is 'a Saviour' and the reference to His people is suggestive. A Jew in reading this would have no difficulty to understand what is meant; it is all connected, Jah, 'the Saviour' as having a people and His name being called 'Emmanuel'. It indicates He has certain rights, kingly rights in relation to His people. We need carefully to consider that the coming in of Jesus here is God taking up His rights, not asserting them from heaven but taking them up here. That side of the truth is important. That is really the meaning of the word we so often come across in the New Testament -- 'Kingdom'. No power of evil can deprive God of His rights and everything for us depends upon God asserting them. If He did not every one of us must perish eternally. The very fact that they are taken up in Him that bears the name of Jesus indicates to us how God has taken them up. They are the essential basis of the moral universe. The stability of the universe depends upon the power of God to maintain His own rights. When Adam and Eve disobeyed the command of God all men's rights perished at once and all that remained were God's rights and He at once came in to assert them in the promise to Eve's seed and in the clothing of Adam and Eve. That is God asserting His rights. Whatever men or Satan could do, God maintained His rights to sovereign mercy. It comforts me greatly to think that all my blessing depends upon God asserting His rights. So Paul went about preaching the kingdom of God.

F.E.R. said that our great weakness was that we did not preach it. The kingdom is God asserting His rights. All blessing for fallen

creatures depends on God asserting His rights and He asserts them in Jesus.

Ques. Why is it salvation from sins only?

C.A.C. Nothing attached to His people but sins; I think it is the shutting out of any right on their part but that did not shut Him out from salvation on His part! In a certain sense it was the great question and it attached to people who were recognised to be the people of Jehovah; when they were looked at, only sin was seen to be attached to them. It was possible to men in that condition to get the knowledge of God and it became the very occasion of knowing God. I know God first in my place as a creature with nothing attached to me but sins.

Rem. As to God turning the departure of the Jew to account.

C.A.C. God could not be limited in relation to His creation. "Is God the God of Jews only?" Paul says. If God undertakes to save His people from their sins it is the sure pledge that He will undertake everything. If He undertakes to act for us in relation to those abominable things that are so obnoxious to Him we are entitled to know that He will undertake for us in regard to every part of our creature need. It is the pledge that He will undertake everything. It was 'saved' not only from the guilt of their sins but from the power of them; it is the greatest thing. The Lord said to the paralytic, "Thy sins are forgiven", his greatest need. Well, it was Jehovah the Saviour and when they murmured He said, "Rise up", Matthew 9:6. That is, it is the power of Jehovah to do those things, the one as well as the other. And that is the way God asserts His rights and brings our hearts into subjection to Him because we find we are our worst and bitterest enemies but that God is our friend; He is for us. The bringing out of all this in the life of Jesus was what God was, so that anyone with eyes to see it would see the One who was "God with us",

so that they should call Him "Emmanuel". Joseph could call His name Jesus but we have all to come to call His name Emmanuel. In that which we see in Jesus we are brought to the happy and holy conclusion that that is God. It is amazing how vague and dark people's thoughts are about God, even those of religious people, but the thing is to look at Jesus as He is presented in the pages of the evangelists and to come to the conclusion that He is God, that He could not be other than God. It is dreadful to think of Him merely as a good man. Napoleon said (and he was far from being converted), 'I know men, and Jesus is not a man'; that was to say that He was a divine Person. This particular title of God is to be noticed, Emmanuel. We often find God under the title of 'El' in the Old Testament, which is the God of victorious power. It looks at God as coming into combat with every hostile power, to deal with it victoriously. In the gospels every power of the enemy that oppressed men was completely met in the victorious power of God. In Isaiah 7:14 we get this promise, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, and call his name Immanuel", and then we find in Isaiah 8:8, 9 the land is Immanuel's land: "And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go further, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel". And in verse 10 it says, "Speak a word and it shall not stand: for God is with us". That is, every hostile power is brought to nothing in the presence of Emmanuel, everything that is contrary to Him and to us.

Ques. Is this all expressed in the kingdom?

C.A.C. Yes, and so it is with everything contrary. If I have a bad temper, who can deal with it? I need Emmanuel. The kingdom is where God is asserting His rights, not against us but for us; not in the way of judging what is evil -- He is not now on that line -- but in delivering His

people from evil so that they can be happy in His rights and so that He can deal with all that is against us. We cannot deal with it but He can.

Ques. Does Romans 7:24 fit in with this? "Who shall deliver me ... ? I thank God ...".

C.A.C. Yes. Now that man has got deliverance he has really got to know Emmanuel, he knows God. If we do not walk humbly we may lose the gain of the deliverance but that does not make it less real. It is essential to me to have God, acting for me in the exercise of His rights, to set me free from everything that is hostile to me and to Him, and everything is hostile to both; it could not be otherwise. It is striking in this gospel that the Gentile got light in priority to the Jew. There was no star for the Jews. "God with us". 'Us' would be all those who recognise Him in Jesus. It is open to any to come into the 'us'; it is those who recognise God revealed in Jesus. It is the thought of power as against all evil.

Ques. "Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them". Would that be it?

C.A.C. When gathered it is in a hostile scene; it is really Emmanuel who is there. I suppose a time comes when we find out what there really is in God for us; as we go on the greatness of the title Emmanuel is expanded to us. Problems and complications that arise in our lives become occasions for us to learn what Emmanuel is; He made a way for Himself to come in. The more we think of it, the more marvellous the incarnation seems to us. He comes in through the virgin conceiving and bearing a son, in that lowly affecting way, but He is Emmanuel, the powerful victorious One. There is everything to encourage a feeble heart. It is like the little pascal lamb that the little children could gather round and pat its head. All this enters into the divine operations. I think God has taken every possible

way to win our hearts.

Rem. In Acts 13:23 it says God has brought Jesus to Israel. He is with Him in all His words and movements.

C.A.C. God attracts attention to His acting so that a special luminary is set in the sky to direct the magi to the One who is born King of the Jews; "we have seen his star". It is one of the unperceived evidences that He is God; it is His star. These men were divinely instructed.

CHAPTER 2

Rem. The movement of the star in the heavens seems very striking.

C.A.C. It was not meant that it should move in such a remarkable way without imparting some knowledge to men. It is a comfort to see that God moves so that men can understand what is going on. God moves in sovereignty so that what He has done and is doing should be understood by men.

Ques. Is the star in keeping with this gospel?

C.A.C. I thought so. God loves to take us into confidence, those He chooses, so these men from the east come with great intelligence expressed in their offerings.

Rem. They wanted to know who He was and what kind of course He was going to traverse.

C.A.C. It is so striking that they moved with divinely given intelligence and that is what is pleasing to God. He would have us enter intelligently into the precious things of Christ. Gold, frankincense and myrrh seem to cover the whole thing with regard to His divine Person and then what belongs to His perfect humanity and then His sufferings. These features are part of all true worship of the Lord. Their offerings represent what was made true in themselves. No offering is of true value if it has not been known in the heart of the offerer. So these men come on the scene with remarkable spiritual knowledge. God will see to it that His beloved Son is known and appreciated. These precious things must be appreciated; it is a divine necessity. If I do not appreciate them God will find somebody who will and He will go thousands of miles to find it.

There was not much appreciation in Jerusalem -- it was troubled -- so He goes thousands of miles. All God's thoughts would come to nothing if He did not work that they should be appreciated. They were able to interpret what the star meant; they were really wise men. It is well to be looking heavenward. If these men had been minding earthly things they would have missed it all! "We have seen his star" -- they were evidently on the look-out.

Rem. "Having opened their treasures", it says. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge would be with them in principle.

C.A.C. And in coming together we should come with treasure; every one furnished with treasure and spiritual intelligence would direct as to the particular kind of offering to be brought on each occasion.

Rem. The woman with the alabaster box of ointment had the treasure to offer with her.

C.A.C. It is good to think of the sovereign side of things. God in His sovereignty puts some light as to Christ into myriads of hearts and gives some treasures. It is going on today, the secret working of God.

Rem. We get some thought of intrinsic preciousness in gold -- what is abiding. In frankincense there is that which is fragrant and precious and myrrh is connected with suffering. The glory side -- the gold -- seems to be put first.

Rem. We get the wonderful manhood and the suffering in Hebrews 1 and 2.

C.A.C. Yes, it links with Emmanuel. Nothing is more precious in the sight of God than that we should have a true thought of Christ. What we can give or do is small but each of us can have a true thought of Christ.

Ques. Would the thought of sacrifice come in in what they brought?

C.A.C. I think that principle enters into anything that is of value to God. Appreciation of Christ must cost

something for it can only come in through a displacement of self. It can only come in through our taking to pieces what we are as in the flesh so that Christ may take its place, but it involves a sacrificial process. You do not get the knowledge of Christ merely by reading the Scriptures or ministry. We get it as we are prepared to drop ourselves and take in His preciousness. I have often said the most interesting part of the gospels is the unwritten part.

Rem. You must explain that!

C.A.C. Would you not like to get alongside these men and learn how they came to such an appreciation of Christ when there was nothing to be seen but a little Child two years old? There are many such cases in the gospels, so we should like to be told how they reached such an appreciation of Christ, but it is not written.

Rem. "From the north cometh gold", Elihu says (Job 37:22).

C.A.C. What do you gather from that?

Rem. It costs something. It is from the north, not from the east, west or south. Whence cometh promotion but from the north?

C.A.C. It is interesting that these men had a course of instruction in a disciplinary way.

Rem. Job knew that when he was tried, "I shall come forth as gold", (Job 23:10).

C.A.C. Job had to learn the value of what he began with. He began with the burnt offering. Like ourselves, we begin with what is precious but do not know its value. It needed a long course of suffering and discipline to teach him its value. We all begin with Christ in a certain sense but we need to learn, through discipline it maybe, to appreciate Him. These men seem to be furnished in a mature way with their knowledge and these things were not to be passed on and blazoned about to those who did not know.

Ques. Is there any suggestion for us in their departing another way?

C.A.C. They did not move in a natural way but as divinely instructed, which is important for us all.

Rem. Fresh knowledge of Christ received involves going back a different way.

C.A.C. The young Child is presented here as cared for and protected by providential means (not miraculous means). So the men do not tell Herod, and Joseph takes the young Child and His mother into Egypt.

Ques. What corresponds to dreams nowadays?

C.A.C. God says "your young men shall see visions" and "your old men shall dream dreams", Joel 2:28. These dreams are divine instruction. That is, there was no scripture to guide Joseph; he was led to adopt the means for the preservation of the young Child. He might have said, 'If this is Emmanuel there is no need'. But He was to be exposed to murderous hatred and to be preserved by providential means in being taken down to Egypt. There was a reason to fulfil Scripture. Like Israel He was to be called out of Egypt too. And His being taken to Egypt exposed all the boys in Bethlehem to the hatred of Herod. They were really martyrs, really dying for Christ, God ordering it in His sovereignty that they should have that honour.

Rem. Jeremiah 31:17 says, "Thy children shall come again to their own border". The Son was coming out. It is comforting as showing that God is going to bring His people through.

C.A.C. Yes. Well, it would be a sorrowing and suffering testimony that was written large on these proceedings. These little children, though unintelligent, were suffering for Christ. "For thy sake we are put to death all the day long", Paul quotes in Romans 8:36, applying to the saints, "For thy sake". Satan's enmity is directed against what

stands identified with Christ. These children were born in the same town and identified with Him. They were the first martyrs for Jesus.

CHAPTER 3

Ques. "The kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh". Is that good today?

C.A.C. I suppose the difference would be that it had drawn nigh then but it has actually come now.

Ques. It is not the visible aspect of the kingdom yet, I suppose. Are there two aspects?

C.A.C. We read in the gospel later on of the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens so that it takes a mysterious character before the manifestation in a later day but it is a wonderful time in the ways of God. I suppose it had drawn nigh when John served. This gospel would rather stress the fact that the Lord was passing through on His way to heaven; what was before Him in His service was heaven. He was going to take His place of might and authority in grace in heaven and men were called to repent in view of that.

Rem. "From that time began Jesus to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh" (Matthew 4:17) would be a kindred thought with John the baptist. That is, it begins with the thought of repentance.

C.A.C. And showing that Emmanuel was not going to be received. There would have been no kingdom of the heavens if He had been received.

Ques. Would you explain why not?

C.A.C. Well, He would have been received here.

Ques. Is it not heavenly rule on earth?

C.A.C. I think the force of it really depends on the fact that Jerusalem has not become what it should be --

the city of the great King. The chapter stresses that the heavens were opened to Him -- a wonderful moment. That is, if earth refused Him, which it did, heaven was ready to give Him a place.

Rem. In Revelation there is a male child caught up to heaven (Revelation 12:5).

C.A.C. Yes. I think we should read the gospels in the light of this. As has often been remarked, the evangelists must have had a deep impression when writing that He was in heaven. They must all have written their gospels in the light of that. I suppose in verse 3 it is, "Prepare ye the way of Jehovah", showing that Jesus is Emmanuel and that He is Jehovah and is about to take His place in heaven, so that there is a wonderful opportunity for men to fall into line with what is now in heaven. It was about to be placed in heaven, what He was here, so that it did not absolutely subsist then but had drawn nigh in a very short space of time. So that we read the gospels in the consciousness that the One of whom they speak is in heaven. He is exercising His rights in heaven and He is very available to men. It only needs repentance and a man to turn from his course to another course in the light of Jesus in heaven.

Rem. "Except ye become as little children ..". is the same thought. It is all on the line of reduction.

C.A.C. There is no place in that kingdom for man after the flesh. He has rejected the King. "We will not that this man should reign over us", Luke 19:14. It is the universal expression of the natural heart of man.

Rem. Nebuchadnezzar would know that the heavens do rule, it says (Daniel 4:26).

C.A.C. That is a different thought. The heavens always did rule; that is, there never was a time when God did not sit as Sovereign on the throne. Nebuchadnezzar had to be humbled to the dust to learn his own nothingness and realise that the heavens do rule. Whereas the kingdom

of the heavens depends on the presence of the Lord Jesus in heaven; that is it involves His life on earth and death, resurrection and ascension. All that is involved and men have to repent in view of that. So that the position is that the heavens were opened to Him, to a Man (He was not actually going there for three and a half years) in His baptism. And in His baptism was set forth in a figurative way that it was to be death here. Baptism is the gate for His followers.

Rem. It must mean then that all would be centred in Him in heaven.

C.A.C. And it shows the kind of repentance that God would bring about now. It is not merely that I have been a thief or liar; that is not so important as to realise that I belong to a world that has rejected Him. That is a far more serious matter than any individual repentance. The true extent of the fall was never known in the Old Testament. The awful condition of man as after the flesh could not come to light before it was exposed by the presence of divine goodness. But the exposure brings to light all there is in God as a resource, and repentance is a wonderful opportunity to escape from myself to Christ. I value repentance more and more. Mr. Darby said that repentance goes on deepening more and more through the lifetime of a saint.

Rem. To give repentance to Israel is in view (Acts 5:31).

C.A.C. It is the greatest possible favour that God could show to His poor creature that He gives him opportunity to repent. Here the proposal is that he should have the Holy Spirit and that he should be set up in a new kind of life with adequate capital to carry on the business. If you would think of God clearing the slate and giving me a fresh start; if I have no capital I shall soon be bankrupt again. But if the Holy Spirit can be given and if it is

possible that those spoken of here -- such persons -- can be immersed in the Holy Spirit, well, there is hope for any one of us! The Lord is introduced as the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit, carrying us to the thought of Him as glorified. It is as the ascended One in heaven that He does it, so the whole position depends on where He is now. Jesus is in heaven and has baptised from there; that is the position.

Ques. Why fire?

C.A.C. The element of fire is necessary so long as we are here in a flesh condition. So in the testimony of the apostle there was that which burnt up all that was of the flesh. It is necessary because of what we are. The Holy Spirit is a necessity.

Rem. There were tongues of fire at Pentecost.

C.A.C. He takes in hand to "thoroughly purge his threshing-floor" and to "gather his wheat into the garner". It is spoken of as His wheat.

Rem. So that the baptism of the Holy Spirit would be in advance of baptism by water, though both are needed.

C.A.C. It is a question of what is genuine here. John was not put off by mere religion.

Rem. In Acts 19 "they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus" and "the Holy Spirit came upon them".

Rem. The name of Jesus is something very precious and so the giving of the Holy Spirit would be connected with the pleasure of God in those who received it.

C.A.C. It is a kind of extension of God's pleasure in those that believe. There is an element come into the soul that is delightful to God. There was something very drastic about John's baptism; it is not like any ordinance that would improve man. It is the setting aside of man after the flesh altogether; he goes out of sight figuratively under the waters of death.

Rem. John is a different-living man from those in

cities. "His nourishment was locusts and wild honey" and "his garment of camel's hair".

C.A.C. There was nothing about him that made anything of the flesh.

Rem. I suppose the record of Naaman suggests baptism. It was the same place -- Jordan, which signifies death.

Rem. They are strong words in verse 7. Would they be preached now?

C.A.C. Yes, it is still true that wrath is corning. The book of Revelation ought to be sufficient to show people there is "wrath to come" even if they did not understand it. The effect would be to show them there is a terrible time coming on the world and all that is going on now is a very feeble shadow of what is coming in dread reality, and men might indeed be moved to flee from the wrath to come. "To await his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from among the dead, Jesus, our deliverer from the coming wrath", 1 Thessalonians 1:10. That is how we know Him as a deliverer from the wrath to come. It is a very needful thing for men to flee from the wrath to come. The apostle says, "There is revealed wrath of God from heaven", Romans 1:18. It was not revealed in the Old Testament and men would be well-advised if they fled from it.

Ques. Is there a thought of God's sovereignty in verse 9, "God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham"?

C.A.C. That is, God works sovereignly. It is an allusion to what He intended to do with the Gentiles, those who had no pretension to life at all, of such material to raise up children to Abraham. So we have the thought of repentance and faith -- the two things necessary on man's part. So wonderful things are suggested here, repentance, faith, the gift of the Spirit and the place of sonship seen in Christ Himself -- God's great and wondrous thoughts as to man brought out at the very beginning, so we can get an

impression of what God has before Him to effect by the glad tidings.

Rem. The Jew too is included in the tree. It is the entire cutting off of man naturally.

C.A.C. And there is something secured that is of value to Christ, His wheat. And there is a hint of the service of the Lord in the use of the winnowing fan. It is "in his hand, and he shall thoroughly purge his threshing-floor". I suppose that process is going on for the discipline of the flesh. It is going on so that the pure wheat which is the product may remain and be stored. This is one of the things worked out in the assembly now. The assembly is the garner; there is no other garner that I know of. It is where the wheat is stored. The Lord's object is to get rid of the chaff and keep the wheat.

Ques. Is "gathered" an assembly thought?

C.A.C. I think it is. The assembly is the garner where what is precious to Christ is stored and He has pleasure in it. What He must have when He comes into the midst and looks round (apart from what is said), when He sees what is of God in each one that is precious to all eternity! What pleasure it must be to Him!

Rem. It is very impressive to see the Lord linking Himself with repentant Israel and then linking Himself with John in this 'us'. It is very affecting.

C.A.C. Yes, it is. We should not naturally have thought of it as righteousness; there was no personal need for the Lord to be baptised.

Rem. "Then comes Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptised of him". Jordan is put before John, showing that His death was a necessity.

C.A.C. Yes, I think His death comes in on that line, but righteousness is viewed from the standpoint of divine grace.

Rem. "To fulfil all righteousness". It seems a filling

out.

C.A.C. Yes, this matter of righteousness was involved in the Lord identifying Himself with the condition of men. It really involved His death. He was coming in on the line of righteousness but it was righteousness identified with God's thoughts of grace for men. It is a little in keeping with Paul's presentation of righteousness. God's righteousness is the manifestation of how He can act in grace towards men so that righteousness and grace are nearly synonymous terms.

Ques. Does not Romans 8, referring to the righteous requirements of the law being fulfilled in us, seem based on what Christ could do in going into death? "For what the law could not do ... God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh".

C.A.C. In Matthew 1 it says, "He shall save his people from their sins". It is Christ very much in sin-offering character in this gospel and would not righteousness enter very much into that, for that is really where death takes place? So all His wonderful service in this gospel is in view of His death. These are His first recorded words in this gospel.

Ques. Is it not the expression in grace of God's righteousness?

C.A.C. It is becoming on man's part to do this. God looks at it as becoming.

Rem. The Lord having in mind His death and linking Himself up with Israel, it would seem fitting that He should take the lead in this movement which would be righteous ness for man to do although it had no claim on Him personally; He would be foremost in it -- hence the "us". And I thought the voice out of the heavens would be the answer to it, that there might be no mistake about it.

C.A.C. I was thinking that. His place in sonship is

based upon this wonderful fulfilment of all righteousness. It does not appear before; it is not declared before He has taken the position that it is becoming to man to fulfil all righteousness. It needed that the Lord should go that way, as it were, to give substance and value to what the people were doing, in taking the ground of repentance and confessing their sins. It would not have gone very far of itself but required that One should come in who was under no obligation whatever and should charge Himself to fulfil all righteousness, regarding it as a becoming thing that man having to do with God should fulfil all righteousness, that everything that was right should be fulfilled. Then the coming in of the Lord and His taking up what was purely a matter of grace prepared the way for God's declaring the great thought of sonship. It could not be declared yet in regard to us, but it was declared in Him personally.

Ques. Is this like the man after God's own heart here?

C.A.C. It is at this moment, when identifying Himself in grace with the remnant, that He is saluted as the beloved Son, as if God had peculiar delight in His grace being expressed in that blessed One.

Rem. It had in view others; sonship was now established on that line.

C.A.C. And He saw the Spirit as a dove descending on Him. He saw it.

Rem. It is rather a remarkable expression, "And lo, the heavens were opened to him".

C.A.C. It is not here as elsewhere that heaven is opened to express heaven's delight; it what is opened up to Him.

Rem. He is not addressed personally here but it is in view of others taking note of it.

Ques. Have you a further thought on the opened heavens?

C.A.C. Does it not suggest that heaven was to be the place for man?

Ques. Would it be in keeping with what Stephen saw?

C.A.C. Yes. Is it not the first intimation in Scripture that heaven is the place for man? That entered into the consciousness of this blessed Man, not merely that it was just a fact but it entered into His consciousness that it was so.

Rem. And that necessitated the giving up of the earth. If we accept that heaven is our place we must give up the earth. He had just done that.

C.A.C. Yes, the great thought of God is that man in the relationship of son should know that heaven is his place. He had it in mind in the psalm, "Thou wilt make known to me the path of life: thy countenance is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore", Psalm 16:11. He looks for His portion there.

Rem. The earth was the wilderness now in principle. He was in the wilderness in chapter 4.

C.A.C. Yes. We are sons down here, no doubt, but sonship properly belongs to heaven. This additional thought that the Spirit of God descended upon Him is really very wonderful. All this entered into His consciousness as a Man.

Ques. Does this movement of the Spirit take place sovereignly? He comes here; He is not 'sent down'. He comes sovereignly and as identifying Himself thoroughly and completely and altogether with that One.

C.A.C. Yes, and as a dove; there is perfect rest -- complacency. Such is the character of the Lord's manhood, not only to the Father but to the Holy Spirit. It has often been said we get the first distinct intimation of the Trinity here.

Rem. So it is a passage to be dwelt upon by the saints, showing how pleasurable the Lord was to the Father and to the Spirit of God when He came up out of the waters of baptism.

Rem. All have been baptised but He comes up and He is saluted in this way.

C.A.C. Yes.

Rem. It is wonderful that God could declare that He has found His delight in a Man.

C.A.C. Everything hangs upon that. It changes everything in our outlook when we see that Jesus is the One in whom God delights. It seems very simple to say but it is profound and far-reaching in its application.

Ques. Is it the thought of anointing here?

C.A.C. Yes, when He says, "This is my beloved Son", it is public distinction placed upon Him as the anointing. When He says, "Thou art my beloved Son", it is more the thought of sealing, is it not?

Ques. Does the dove set forth the gentle character of Christ and the gentleness that marks His service too?

C.A.C. Yes. It says, "He shall not strive or cry out, nor shall any one hear his voice in the streets", Matthew 12:19. We see the impossibility of going on with the two men. If we go on with the Man who is the Object of God's delight we must finish with the other man.

Rem. So that baptism becomes a great reality, a great necessity, to us; there is the finishing of the one man and the going on with the One who is God's delight.

CHAPTER 4

Rem. What follows chapter 3 is the temptation in the wilderness, the test which is in the sight of all intelligences created, and brings to light what was incorruptible that was found with Him.

C.A.C. Yes, and it was a necessity with Him that what was there should be tested, as to whether it was real. So that He was "carried" up into the wilderness by the Spirit. He was not sought out by the devil but carried where the devil could test Him. And as a Man He was found in conditions where He would feel human circumstances; He felt what it was to be without food for forty days; it is man reduced to a very low point. It is wonderful that He could be found in circumstances where He could be hungry and weary.

Rem. What He speaks of in answer to the temptations is what is available to man, "Every word which goes out through God's mouth".

C.A.C. Exactly. That is, man's relations with God are the principal thing. Our circumstances are not the principal thing, though they are sometimes practically so, but our relations with God as living by every word that goes out of His mouth are positive, living by communications from God.

Ques. Would it be something like piety, having a vital link with God?

C.A.C. It says of old, "He suffered thee to hunger", Deuteronomy 8:3. If something like that happens to us we become disturbed. We all know, in our circumstances in our small measure, how blessed it is to have some

communication that has come out of God's mouth for us and that is the principle on which man properly lives.

Rem. Is there any special significance in the different spheres referred to in connection with the temptation to which Jesus was subjected, the holy city, the very high mountain and all the kingdoms of the world? I wondered if it had some bearing on God's people in those peculiar relations. The Lord meets the adversary perfectly in relation to each sphere.

C.A.C. Yes. What would be called the natural sphere comes first as presented here and then there is the spiritual sphere, that is the order of things that has to do immediately with God, and finally the sphere of dominion in the world and all that was the subject of prophecy and which comes last in the gospel, having regard to the character of the gospel. It was essential that the One who had proved Himself delightful to God, the beloved Son, should be tempted by the devil; it was part of the divine plan. And so it is with ourselves, we should take account of that. If we take and claim a very high place with God we shall have to encounter great and subtle temptations which will bring out what is real, as with the Lord it brought out how perfect He was.

Rem. Would the consideration of this give us strength to stand?

C.A.C. I thought so. The test was allowed to take an extreme form with Him; such happens very rarely with us. It is very rarely that testing comes in such an extreme form to the saints; God sees to that and will not suffer us to be tempted above what we "are able to bear, but will with the temptation make the issue also, so that ye should be able to bear it", 1 Corinthians 10:13. That is, it is modified; Satan is never let loose upon the saints. I think in respect of the Lord he was allowed to put forth all his ingenuity; he exhausted every device that he could put forth, (there

was no restraint for the Lord) but we have the comfort of knowing that even then he met with absolute defeat.

Ques. Would you say that these three temptations were the climax of the forty days of temptation?

C.A.C. Yes, and it is very touching that the Lord was allowed, if we might reverently say it, to be reduced to the lowest point so if Satan could have had any advantage, he had it; but he could not succeed.

Rem. We cannot think what it must have been for the Lord to have been forty days in the devil's company.

C.A.C. No, we cannot. That is quite beyond us. There was an understanding on both sides. It would seem that the devil was aware of what took place at the Jordan. We may depend upon it, he had been giving attention to the course of that blessed One all through and the delight it was to God, but when it was publicly acknowledged from heaven it awakened in the devil the most intense desire to spoil it, if it was possible.

Ques. Would there be principles at stake here on which everything turned?

C.A.C. Yes, I think the temptation covers in principle all that the devil can bring to bear upon man. In another gospel it says, "the devil, having completed every temptation, departed from him", Luke 4:13. He had ended; he had not a single arrow left in his quiver; that shows the immense range covered by the three temptations. Satan brings forward what the Lord was entitled to in a sense; He was entitled to bread. The Old Testament promises had given that as the portion of man, that bread should be given him. Also a promise was given to the Messiah that the angels should have charge over Him in all His ways. And He was entitled to all the kingdoms of the world, but would He take them on the line of the devil's suggestion?

Rem. Psalm 2 says, "Ask of me, and I will give thee nations for an inheritance, and for thy possession the ends

of the earth". He could have had them for the asking.

C.A.C. And He knew that always. He could have asked His Father and been given twelve legion of angels. It was quite within His power to have escaped the garden and the cross but morally He could not.

Rem. Satan leaves out "in all thy ways".

C.A.C. Satan generally leaves something out or adds something when he is quoting Scripture. Would you not give a prominent place to the feature of obedience here? His perfect subjection shines out here and He will not be turned aside from that by a text of Scripture. I think Satan leads many aside by Scripture who are not in subjection to God. It is the glory of the eternal state; it is the glory of the Head that the Son Himself shall be subject. Well, it has all come out in the temptations; we find God is "all in all" in this chapter. There is a blessed Man come out of heaven and God is all to Him.

Rem. It is "the Lord thy God" here, as if looking at God as supreme and His will as paramount.

C.A.C. Is that not most instructive for us? We should not be moved away by anything from giving God His place and glory. It says of some that "knowing God, they glorified him not as God", Romans 1:21. We are to glorify Him as God. It is the privilege of the youngest believer to say, He is God to me, whatever anyone else thinks! That is they glorify Him as God. And it is very sweet because it comes down to the lowest capacity; It was so with this blessed One, God was God to Him and He would not glorify Himself even by the fulfilment of a promise. God will not fail in His faithfulness under any circumstances whatever.

Ques. What does verse 4 involve? "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that goes out through God's mouth". Does it emphasize dependence? It says in Isaiah, "He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed" (chapter 50, v. 4). He

would not move without God's word.

C.A.C. Quite so. He lived upon it. The great thing is to live upon communications from God. The comment on a brother by a worldly man was, 'This man thinks more of his God than he does of his daily bread'. That is, he had lost his work because he would not compromise his conscience. This man thinks more of his God than he does of his daily bread -- that is a fine testimony! Like the children of Israel in the wilderness we have no resource here; the manna came down from heaven. "He ... suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with the manna ... that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone", Deuteronomy 8:3. It is God's way of saying, 'I have My own way of sustaining you'. God has His own way of meeting need. First He delights to meet the inward need of man which is met by His communications, His own word, as He did with the many that brought their bodies to be healed, with no thought of the other, but He met the inward need first.

Ques. In connection with the angels ministering to Him, does it suggest the answer from God? It is answered from heaven in that way.

C.A.C. Yes, and He is supported from heaven as you say; that is something infinitely better than anything earth could afford. We have been reminded in this gospel that heaven is opened to Him. It is what Satan had tempted Him with: "He shall give charge to his angels concerning thee" What was a commission given in charge to the angels was really carried out.

Rem. Psalm 91:9 - 13 is worth reading. Verse 13 says, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot".

C.A.C. Satan did not quote that, did he?

Rem. It was just what the Lord had done.

C.A.C. Quite so.

Rem. All this is a wonderful background to what came

out in His life as recorded in this book.

Rem. In reference to giving charge to the angels, it is very suggestive that if we put ourselves in complete dependence we shall be preserved. "The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them", Psalm 34:7. Tempting God to do it is quite another matter.

C.A.C. Those who set their love upon God do not need to put Him to the test as to what He will do for them.

Rem. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty", Psalm 91:1.

C.A.C. If we have to put God to the test as to whether He will be faithful or not, it shows we are not dwelling under the shadow.

Rem. That is what I had in my mind.

C.A.C. I have known the time when I should have been very thankful for some outward manifestation that God was with me and for me; I suppose we all know that. But then the whole position of the dispensation is that it is in faith. Do I need some miracle to prove God is for me? "Unless ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe", the Lord said (John 4:48). Signs and wonders are the contrasts to belief. How has God made Himself known to us? In His beloved Son; that is what we fall back upon. He has done remarkable things for us in this life surely, but that is not what we build upon.

Ques. Does this scripture emphasize a need of a knowledge of Scripture as containing a divine record of what God has said, so that we have intelligence in regard to God's thoughts in connection with man and what has come to light in the Lord Himself in taking up the position of Man here?

C.A.C. The Lord moved through the temptation, we might say, in the blessed assurance of the voice from

heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight". That sufficed Him.

Ques. "Though he were Son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered", Hebrews 5:8. Is this part of it?

C.A.C. Yes. We are told He "suffered, being tempted", Hebrews 2:18.

Rem. With reference to the kingdoms of the world, in Luke Satan says they were given to him and the power and glory of them, and the Lord does not seem to challenge that. It puts a different complexion on them, though God has them in view in connection with Christ.

C.A.C. The Lord does not dispute it though it was not strictly true. The Lord speaks of Satan as the prince of this world.

Rem. The kingdoms (in the plural) bring to mind the kingdoms of the world under Satanic influence.

C.A.C. They are represented in Daniel's vision as beasts; that is, they are unintelligent. God may use them, as He does, and dispose of them in His wisdom but they are not to be relied upon in any way; the saints are not to rely on them. Paul found himself in the position of relying upon them; he appealed to Caesar. The result was he got his head cut off!

Rem. Verses 12 - 17 have the wide sphere of the nations in view. It says, "Naphtali is a hind let loose" (Genesis 49:21), and "full of the blessing of Jehovah", Deuteronomy 33:23.

C.A.C. As if the Spirit of God would give prominence to that at the very beginning, the prophetic word having spoken definitely of it.

Rem. The reference to John shows it is connected with rejection here.

C.A.C. Yes; yet God's movements in sovereignty are always to enlarge the sphere of His operations. People think of sovereignty as if it were shutting things up but I

think it is presented in Scripture as opening things out in a much wider character than would be otherwise. If God moves according to Himself it must have a very wide bearing. It is as though the very conditions on the part of man that seemed to shut Him out make Him break out -- it is like trying to stem a mighty river resulting in its overflowing all its banks. And the Lord was acting on His own initiative in leaving Nazareth. His being there was not exactly His own course; He found Himself there in the sovereign disposal of God but in leaving Nazareth and going down to Capernaum He acts on His own initiative.

Rem. When God moves from Himself there is nothing to hamper Him at all.

C.A.C. It was so from the beginning. Adam and Eve had not the slightest idea He would come in in blessing but He came in blessing really in the sovereignty of His love, in spite of all that they were. It was as much as to say that though the outward expression of things was limited to Israel in the course of the gospel it is God saying it is all going to be available to the Gentiles. It was shut up dispensationally to Israel in a way, for the Lord said, "Go not off into the way of the nations", Matthew 10:5. It was, as it were, getting a barrier out of the way. It is well to notice that in Scripture it is God acting from Himself to secure that many should be saved. So there is a great light -- it is remarkable -- a great light arises. Well, it is intended it should rise for us as we read the gospel and shed its wondrous radiance upon our spirits.

Rem. The great light refers to the Lord Himself. There are two lights and the assembly comes in.

C.A.C. Yes, still it is as a lesser light, is it not? And it is good that we should see the pre-eminence of the Lord while the second is a reflected light. It takes on a subordinate character in a creature vessel but the One in whom the great light shines is not a creature vessel.

Rem. It speaks of the light drawing near to them. Without Him we Gentiles would have nothing. Everything hangs upon His coming in in this way.

C.A.C. In calling on men to repent it is really opening the door for men to turn away from everything here and themselves to Jesus.

Ques. The kingdom of the heavens drawn nigh was Himself, in Himself really?

C.A.C. Yes. I think that the kingdom of the heavens did not exactly come into being until He took His place in the heavens. In Matthew He was just passing through on His way to heaven, and everything was really going to operate from heaven. Do you not think that we only know what He is in heaven by knowing what He was on earth? We have no other means of knowing the Lord Jesus in heaven but by tracing His pathway here. But He has not changed; what He is has not changed one bit though His circumstances have changed wonderfully.

Rem. We trace some of His glories in the details of His path here as given in the gospels.

C.A.C. I think they are given to us for that purpose. It strikes me as the most wonderful part in Scripture because by the gospels we become "eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word", Luke 1:2. We move with Him, seeing every action and hearing each word and by the Spirit we can enter into it far more deeply than the disciples did. So the assembly is composed of a vast number of persons who have followed Him here and are formed in His character so as to come out like Him, formed in its affections and morally by what we find in the gospels. We are occupied with the epistles first; they are fundamental, Romans for instance is fundamental.

Rem. Romans teaches us how to get rid of ourselves!

Rem. It is "beyond the Jordan" here and the Lord would secure us for that region.

Rem. Till one is ready to dispense with oneself, one cannot be feeding on the Lord in His pathway in the gospels.

C.A.C. We are occupied with the side of our experience. 'I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad' -- that is me! What is most striking is that you do not get the experience of souls in the gospels, you get hardly a trace of it. It is one of the most marvellous things in the gospels. We are not told about the exercises of Peter and James and John. And that is characteristic of the gospels; persons appear on the scene with an appreciation of Christ and the Spirit says nothing about their exercises because He would fill our vision with Christ Himself.

Ques. These two men come to light, both fishermen. Were they suitable men?

C.A.C. Yes, with the operation of fishing in view. It is the Lord's own action here; He saw them; He says to them, "I will make you ...". There is no doubt about it; men were to be caught for God. I suppose the full result is seen in the last chapter in the commission there.

Rem. "Come after me" is a good instruction for us so that in the power of the Spirit, in the following pages, we see Him livingly in movement.

Ques. Would the two sets of brothers mentioned here portend the thought of brothers in the assembly?

C.A.C. As if the testimony would be set up in that connection? I think that is so. It would show the importance of retaining the brother, would it not?

Rem. Though the gospel is individual work, there is fellowship in the gospel.

C.A.C. It would suggest it is not exactly a single man's service. At Pentecost Peter stood up with the eleven. Peter was the spokesman but the eleven were committed to it.

Ques. They left their nets and so on. What does that

signify?

C.A.C. Are we not measured in service very largely by what we are prepared to leave? "On account of whom I have suffered the loss of all", the apostle said. We are not told historically how it came about but it comes out that Paul had lost everything for the Lord.

Rem. "To all I have become all things" (1 Corinthians 9:22), he said.

C.A.C. He is a true fisherman, is he not? There are two parts of service, the catching of men first and then knitting them together. They are to be held together, as those who are complete. It is the same word used of the saints, when he says, "Be perfected" (2 Corinthians 13:11); it is really 'Be mended'. That is, there were certain rents at Corinth; it is a question of mending nets at Corinth. I think it covers the two great parts of service, the evangelical first, which takes the first place, catching men; but after that you want them to be held together, so that there is no rent in the system that encloses them. I remember Mr. Stoney used to say that a man's natural calling always had some reference to his service; God so ordered it that the experience a man gets in his business or trade or occupation of any kind, in the sovereignty of God, has some bearing on the service that he would render. So Paul is a tent-maker. That is, when he was called in grace he became a true tent-maker to set up the assemblies here in tabernacle form, that is, provisionally, not permanently. So we have the true elements for our service in our natural calling. I remember once when Mr. Stoney was at my father's table he said, 'I was training for the law, intending to move in a circuit, and that is what I am now doing!' My father replied, 'I was a shepherd'. 'Exactly', said Mr. Stoney, 'And you are a shepherd still!'. It served to remind us there are no loose ends in God's ways.

CHAPTERS 4 AND 5

Rem. It might be right to view the setting of Galilee and the working out of the Lord's operations in His walking by the sea. He teaches in all the synagogues, and in chapter five it widens out to the whole earth and the whole world, having all nations in view for blessing. "Ye are the salt of the earth ... the light of the world". Following that principle shows the character of those entering the blessing.

Rem. "Teaching" is put before "preaching".

Rem. Teaching in their synagogues is a great thought in Matthew as though there was something available for Him.

C.A.C. There was something in Him available for them! But there was very little recognition of what He was prepared to supply.

Rem. It is a gradual widening out of His appeal to men after His rejection.

Ques. Would the gospel of the kingdom be what we preach today?

C.A.C. Yes. Mr. Raven used to tell us years ago that we ought to preach the kingdom very much more than we do.

Rem. In Acts they were teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

C.A.C. Yes, because men are absolutely ignorant of the way in which God has asserted Himself. You see, God was asserting His right to bless His poor ruined creatures; that is the point at the end of this chapter. A state of things had come about so that God's government acted adversely, bringing all sorts of diseases on men, but God asserts His right to do what His heart dictates for His poor ruined creatures. That should be made clear in the gospel, so it

was connected with the glad tidings of the kingdom. It is a most blessed thing to think that God has exercised His rights in pure grace manward and that He is ready and willing to meet every condition there is on the part of men. I suppose repentance shows there is no difficulty on God's side; the difficulty is on man's side and in repenting he knows the difficulty is on his side and leaves God open-handed to bless. It is really Jehovah, the One who forgives all their iniquities and heals all their diseases.

Rem. "Jehovah who healeth thee", Exodus 15:26.

C.A.C. I was thinking of that; it is very striking.

Rem. Chapter 5 is the thought of teaching.

C.A.C. The element of teaching is very important and should enter into the preaching of the gospel. That is, men are very ignorant and need to be taught, so that the preaching nowadays would hardly be right without including instruction in the knowledge of God and His ways in grace. I think we see in the Acts of the Apostles what a wide range of truth was covered by the preaching whether by Peter or Paul; they went over the full ground of God's ways with His people. God is pleased to deal with men as intelligent beings, is He not? And He is pleased so to speak to justify Himself in the eyes of men. It is not arbitrary; there is a basis of righteous wisdom so that God could call upon His people to reason together with Him.

Rem. The heart is reached through the mind and conscience.

C.A.C. Yes.

Rem. Teaching is in the synagogue, preaching in the open air.

C.A.C. Teaching would be more for those in professed relations with God, did you think?

Ques. Yes, and enquirers; preaching is more for those that go on their way. Wisdom cries like that, does she not?

C.A.C. Yes.

Rem. "They shall be all taught of God", John 6:45.

C.A.C. And we are preaching now in christendom; it is different from the heathen world. Teaching and preaching would call attention to what there was there in the Lord for those who listened. God would give them liberty in all these things that would hamper them in relation to God. No person in this condition can enjoy the inheritance, those inflicted with diseases cannot enjoy the land. God's thought is that everyone should have liberty to enjoy their God-given portion. So if there is anything in me that would hinder that, God would deal with me. It was so that they might have what the Lord came to bless them in. Those thousands the Lord healed could give a very definite account of what the Lord has done for them. They would not simply present what is in the Bible. They would say, I was under the power of such and such a thing and the Lord has set me free. There is something in a personal testimony; we are sometimes too impersonal.

Rem. Like the woman in John 4.

C.A.C. She was so taken up with the Man that all sense of shame that would have kept her silent vanished from her heart. It was obliterated by the Man who filled her heart. Is that not very beautiful? We are often afraid of letting ourselves down and cling to some kind of reputation. If it exalts the Man it ought to be a privilege to let ourselves down. On the other hand we have to be careful not to be talking about ourselves, centering in ourselves; the true testimony would all centre in Him. An intense personal link must have been formed between the Lord and each individual; it was not a matter of generalities. A man would say, 'I was a leper and He healed me', and no doubt the result was meant to be that everyone so healed should be distinctly married to Him. So this gospel gives us assembly formation, how the material is found, a company of persons with such a consciousness of the Lord that there

was not anyone in heaven or on earth that could rival Him. The next chapters would be characteristic of them as those married to Him, as having proved His personal intervention on their behalf by way of deliverance.

Rem. The man in John 9 had found the Person.

C.A.C. The Person had found him! I suppose in the beatitudes the Lord shows the true character of healed persons. He brings it out in an abstract way in this gospel but it is really to bring out the character of those healed wonderfully by His power. This is the kind of person He would make me.

Ques. In verse 22 the sons of Zebedee followed Him and in verse 25 it speaks of the great crowds that followed Him. Then He goes up to the mountain. Is there a difference, I wondered, in following in a crowd or personally?

C.A.C. That is interesting.

Rem. Going up to the mountain is in contradistinction to the plain in order to draw to Himself.

C.A.C. Yes, He becomes the centre of attraction and the centre of a new system of things that took its character from Himself. That is, His disciples would be healed persons, who had had personal contact with Him and had got the benefit of what is in Him. So there is an elevated position in view; He is the centre there and He unfolds the character of this order of things which is far above the level of the world.

Ques. There are two features here, the saints are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Much is involved in it. Would salt as a preservative principle come in in the character of the features we have been considering?

C.A.C. God has been pleased to bring in what would restrain every working of corruption, has He not? And it is new here, not only as present in Christ but as present in the saints. I do not know that He ever says, 'I am the salt of the earth'.

Rem. "Let your word be always with grace, seasoned with salt", Colossians 4:6.

C.A.C. The Lord had introduced the great motive in the three words, "For my sake" (verse l I). Is not that a great motive?

Rem. It should be a great motive for what you gave expression to in your prayer, to be true to the character of the testimony in a difficult day. By and by it will be easy for saints.

C.A.C. Well, that is a very beautiful way of being made overcomers; we never can overcome except by being under the influence of those three little words, "For my sake". If we were thinking of all the presentations in the following chapters it might take the subtle character of self-righteousness, but when it is "for my sake" it is put on a different footing; that is the spring of all. Hence there may be many things we would not do simply on the line of what proceeds from ourselves but if we are governed by the thought that all is for His sake it brings in a different and all-powerful motive, for there will never be a greater motive in heaven than that! The danger is that the power of this becomes enfeebled in our souls, and then the salt becomes insipid, having no longer any virtue and the saints begin to live more or less on the same principles as other people.

Rem. Every offering was to be seasoned with salt.

C.A.C. I think the salt of the covenant is not to be lacking in any sacrifice, particularly in the oblation. The meat offering means it is not of much value for me to speak of the meekness or gentleness of Christ or to give thanks for it unless there is a real purpose of heart to move on that line. I may fail, but it is the real purpose of heart of every true saint not to be content to see things objectively in Christ, but that we are really set to move on the line of "for my sake". It was a new character of testimony

brought into the world. There was not anything like it before. It is really that Christ has the place that self once had. Self was the motive with us all; we cannot deny it. We have turned every one to his own way. But if Christ comes in there is a new orbit, a new principle on which to live.

Rem. The city is linked with light. The holy city has a light.

C.A.C. Yes, so that what comes in in connection with light and the city is "your Father". "That they may ... glorify your Father who is in the heavens". Does it not bring in just the two sides of what governs the saints, that is, it is "for my sake" -- the Lord Himself comes in as a motive -- and then there is "your Father who is in the heavens". All christian testimony is covered by these two things.

Rem. In Revelation the city is shown to John "on a great and high mountain" -- a great height of elevation. We cannot enter into it without coming apart from what is below.

C.A.C. It is rather in contrast to the wilderness where John saw the harlot. We see around the false thing in the wilderness.

Rem. Galatians 2:20 was referred to.

C.A.C. I think that is the reason, so the Lord's words pull us up and help us as to christian doctrine in the epistles. These chapters would exercise us practically as to whether we are crucified with Christ and whether Christ lives in me. "No longer live, I, but Christ lives in me". All this teaching is a question as to whether Christ lives in me. If He lives in me, you would expect Him to come out of me. It is presented doctrinally in Romans 7. All we get here is really in contrast to law. The law says certain things and He says, "I say" certain things. It would help if we understood that we were dead to the law and married to Christ that we might bear fruit to God. So I often say

that what comes out on the mount is the result of being married to Christ.

Ques. Why is, "your Father who is in the heavens" added? Is it the two scenes contrasted?

C.A.C. Did you think it was rather in line with what you were saying of elevation? There is a suggestion brought in of what is heavenly in character, the thought of the Father who is in the heavens. It is far above the level of man. It is good if people see the saints carrying themselves so that they say, 'No human being could do that; it must have its source outside nature', and they attribute it to your Father.

Rem. "A city situated on the top of a mountain" (not a hill) is a very elevated thought here.

C.A.C. Yes, and it would be an impregnable position for the city, especially a city that has all its supplies within itself. When you think of it in a spiritual way, the supplies will never fail.

Rem. The higher it is, the nearer are its supplies.

C.A.C. Yes.

Rem. Saying 'your light' shows that they have it.

Ques. In Philippians 2:15 we get the thought of shining. It is the same thought as the light in the holy city -- luminous, having come into the heart. What would the bushel be?

C.A.C. Anything that would hinder the shining. We all know what it is to keep the light hidden when it might shine out for the benefit of others. All sorts of things come in.

Rem. Sometimes it is legitimate occupation.

C.A.C. There is one bushel that I think is very effectual; when the saints feel how poorly they can express what is in their hearts and they are so obsessed with the thought of their own incompetence that they do not say anything! Well, that is a very thick bushel; it does not let much

through. What does it matter, if I do blunder and make a fool of myself, if I get out a little word about God or about Christ? It does me good sometimes to make a fool of myself? I know it does me!

Ques. Did you say, 'it did' or 'does'?

C.A.C. Well, it does so. I find myself calculating as to whether I can say something suitable to persons and while I am calculating the opportunity passes. One poor little timid word, that makes you shake while uttering it, may be used of God to let divine light into a heart that never heard it. You always feel thankful when you break through and get a word out, do you not?

Rem. It is a word to us all; it is to me!

C.A.C. If we thought more of the worthiness of Christ, more of the "for my sake", we should not be quite so slow about it. And it is not only words but "that they may see your upright works". That is something seen. But it is no good speaking if my works do not correspond. We shall have to pray that Christ may be more the filling and satisfying portion of our hearts and then one's works and ways will commend Him, and what we say will explain them.

Rem. It is not to commend us, but "your Father who is in the heavens" is glorified.

C.A.C. That is very important. They discern the source is outside nature. Then the Lord is careful to show that though He has come in, giving everything a most wonderful and glorious character as connected with Him, yet the Old Testament is not to be overlooked; the law and the prophets are all to be regarded.

Rem. He magnifies the law.

C.A.C. I think we have proved that in recent years. The Old Testament has been wonderfully brought out in its spiritual import; it gives us a great deal of detail we should not otherwise have. So He speaks of the "iota" or "tittle". We have to learn to pay attention to the little

bits in the Old Testament that we overlooked before.

Ques. "Being dead to the law". Would you open that up a bit. It is not setting aside the law?

C.A.C. No, but setting aside the man that was found in relation to the law. "Ye are become dead to the law by the body of the Christ". It is the man who was under the law and utterly failed at every point. That man is dead. That is really the root of the whole thing. Having got a new husband, everything takes on a new character. The law demands but gives no support. The new husband gives His company and support and the sense of His love and so is the more endeared to us as we lean upon Him. If people are under law they never carry it out but if dead to law and married to a risen Christ they do not break the law, they do not steal or murder, or even covet what their neighbour has.

Rem. In verses 18 and 19 there are those who are called "least" and "greatest", as though there were stages in the kingdom of the heavens.

C.A.C. Yes, and all the commandments are not of equal importance, which might sound like a wrong thing to say. "One of the least commandments", it says. Indeed they asked the Lord which was the greatest commandment and He told them at once certain things were the greatest commandment. One mark of a perverted mind is when we attach great importance to small things and perhaps overlook something much more important, such as the Pharisees who paid tithes of mint and anise and cummin and omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith.

Rem. The "tittle" would have to do with the construction of the letters.

C.A.C. Yes, much like our stops. It is important we should not overlook them. Hymn 2 verse 2 is spoiled by the full stop at the end of the fourth line which should be

a comma. What has struck many of us in dear Mr. Taylor's ministry is what attention he pays to details. Sometimes the most striking thing he says turns on one detail, perhaps a word or letter; "And to thy seed" -- not seeds (Galatians 3:16); the Spirit of God reasons on one letter. Some will not believe the Bible is inspired verbally but it is!

Rem. "Bone of my bones" in Genesis 2:23 is often quoted, 'Bone of my bone'.

C.A.C. That fits in with what we are reading in Matthew. It supposes that the saints have been formed out of the substance of Christ or they could never be such a vessel for the testimony. They have derived really from Himself.

Rem. These are features of the kingdom.

C.A.C. Does it not show (verse 2) that God is the God of measure.

Rem. We would take account of that principle on the kingdom side.

C.A.C. Yes, each one of us has his measure. The apostle speaks of the God of measure (2 Corinthians 10:13) and He apportioned a certain service to Paul; on the divine side the thought of measure is introduced, because it speaks of God having "dealt to each a measure of faith", Romans 12:3.

Rem. "To each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ", Ephesians 4:7.

C.A.C. Well, that is a great matter. It is on the responsible side here; it is the one who does away with one of the least commandments who shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens, showing that it is a serious matter to set aside anything that is in the will of God; it is simply disqualifying ourselves for any enlargement in the kingdom.

Rem. The place in the kingdom is according to the path here.

C.A.C. Yes, the whole time in a general way. It is also true that our places in the kingdom are assigned sovereignly. There was a sister once who wanted a good place for

her sons and she was told it was reserved. The principle of divine sovereignty enters into everything and it is good to bear that in mind. We might think we had been a little more faithful than the rest of our brethren, separated from what is dishonouring and in a path of obedience, but it was a matter of sovereignty and it was the sovereign leading of the good Shepherd. Everything that is blameworthy we set down to our own account, anything creditable we put down to sovereign mercy, so Paul said he "obtained mercy".

Rem. To do away with one of the least features of the whole law would suggest a flaw in the law.

C.A.C. The Lord magnified the law and made it honourable. He made it greater than it was. And I suppose after all the only righteousness that will count in the kingdom is Christ. They will have to learn that Jehovah is their righteousness. Well, if we have the Lord as our righteousness we have a righteousness that far surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

Rem. "That we might become God's righteousness in Him", it says (2 Corinthians 5:21), and "she shall be called: Jehovah our Righteousness", Jeremiah 33:16.

C.A.C. Yes, and that is all the fruit of atonement, the result of the One being made sin for us who knew not sin that we might become God's righteousness in Him, that is we are in Him for righteousness.

Ques. How does verse 18 apply today?

C.A.C. I suppose every thought of God in regard of men must be substantiated and we know how it has been substantiated by the complete setting aside in the death of Christ of the man who came short, and the establishment of everything in Christ that is according to God's good pleasure. After all, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was a cloak of hypocrisy.

Rem. "That the righteous requirement of the law

should be fulfilled in us", Romans 8:4.

C.A.C. And that after and on the ground that righteousness has been imputed to them without works. The beauty is we begin with a perfect, divine righteousness in Christ; we have not to work up or down to it. Everything works out in detail from that point. Understanding this would help us in the working out of things practically. It is a much higher standard here. I suppose we would not like to kill a brother but we might possibly call him a fool! The value of a brother is understood because he is set up in divine righteousness. Well, I ought to be careful what I say about him.

Rem. It shows how the whole thing is carried out in affection for the One who is the centre of all, so it is that Person who says, "I say unto you".

C.A.C. All these chapters really turn on two things, that is, He says, "for my sake", and then He speaks of the Father. They are the most wonderful motives introduced. As we keep these divine Persons in view every detail comes into adjustment. And it leads to the brother being valued; one would be careful not to be lightly angry with him, much less say anything that is contemptuous. These things are very practical.

Rem. The first test after the fall was, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

C.A.C. We are tested in that way; we soon get away from the thought of what the saints are in the estimation of divine Persons. 'Raca' means stupid or worthless -- a term of contempt. It is a serious matter if a brother has something against me (verse 23). The whole point of it is that brother is an important personage to us. It is incumbent upon us to be reconciled before we bring our gift to the altar. It comes on your own conscience -- "There ... remember". It rather suggests that the altar is the place where things come to your mind. It is not that it comes

to his mind but to the mind of the offerer. Sometimes a brother thought he had a wrong when he had not. It is not when your brother remembers but when you remember. The altar is approach to God and offering service, and the Lord suggests that at such a time it will come to your mind. This beautiful sacrifice of praise I intended to offer cannot be offered till I have put this right -- put myself right with my brother. The gift waits there; it is not that it is not acceptable but something keeps it in suspense. It is the working out of exercises of soul; there is nothing legal about it. We go to pray and it comes upon us that we have said something we ought not and we had better put it right. I suppose these are great assembly principles. You find sometimes the grievances go on for months and years; that is not the Lord's mind. It should begin with the person that has done wrong and thus it is very happy. He had not to be admonished and warned and so on but his memory acts -- his brother has something against him. Here it is the working of the person's own memory, and the Lord expects that of those who profess to be spiritual. It is something like the priest that has been anointed (Leviticus 4); of all others it is said the offering should be brought when it should come to their knowledge. It suggests that one in priestly nearness will recognise that he has done something wrong. It does not take a long time to act.

Rem. It suggests we should have an altar in our house.

C.A.C. Yes, it suggests that when you draw near to God you become very sensitive and remember something. It is a happy thing to watch in operation.

Rem. Do sisters come into that?

C.A.C. Well, a sister is a brother from this point of view. I suppose the privilege of approach was never vouchsafed in such a large measure as it is to the saints of the assembly. Of old, as to the gift and the altar it applied literally, but the principle applies today.

Ques. The kingdom enlarges into the assembly, would you say?

C.A.C. Yes. Anything unsettled interferes with the service. If a brother has done something to me I do not exactly enjoy his thanksgiving and praise.

Rem. It is how it affects the whole service of God.

C.A.C. The offerer is hindered by remembering his own wrong-doing, not by what the brother has done. It will not take very long to be reconciled if a man has forgotten all about it! If he is a spiritual man he has applied his blind eye to it and his deaf ear. It establishes his confidence; I know quite well by experience. If one confessed to me I should think, 'This is a genuine brother, I think much better of him than I did before'. The offering service is affected by these grievances, and the Lord says if they are not adjusted the consequences may be very serious. No doubt this refers to God's people. They had the chance of being reconciled and the consequences to the Jews who had refused have been terrible. They have been cast into prison and will not come out till they have paid the uttermost farthing. God is giving men the opportunity to be reconciled; that is why so few people are killed in these air raids and God is concerned that men should be reconciled. There are terrible raids and very few killed -- well, who does that? God would have men reconciled; He does not want men killed.

Rem. "Be ... wise ... Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way".

C.A.C. That is the character of the present time, that man is really in the way with God. It is an acceptable time, a time of salvation. God has righteously many things against man and in that sense is the adverse party, but He is not using it but sending out His servants to beseech men. He might put it to their account but He does not do it. So we warn men about the wrath to come, but it is an opportunity to be reconciled to God. It is beautiful -- as if God

comes and walks beside men, 'Here I am close beside you, if you want things put right, here I am'. Oh, God is wonderful! The more you think about God and His ways with men the more you are impelled to worship Him. Many revile Him and say all sorts of hard things about Him and yet this is His true character. If I compel God to act according to His righteous government woe betide me; it will be terrible. So when Paul preaches at Antioch he speaks of the forgiveness of sins, but then he adds, "beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish". We must remember that God is God, not to be trifled with; if men despise His goodness that leads to repentance there is nothing but His severity left. We see the holiness of divine judgment; nothing could be passed over. Any sin that I am doing, even a word against my brother -- do I believe that that would consign me to the lake of fire but for the death of Christ? But that is the truth. If people do not get right with God there is no escape. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" There is no way out of prison if we neglect the opportunity of grace.

Rem. There is healing in the plain but formation on the mount; there must be a removal to where He is.

C.A.C. Yes, it is evidently very selective.

Rem. It is a restful attitude of the Lord; it is not a matter of teaching and healing but of repose.

C.A.C. It is satisfactory to Him; it is a position of reconciliation really.

Rem. Here the twelve are getting instruction.

Rem. There were a large number of believers but not much formation with them because they were not prepared to leave the plain and go up; the pathway was too testing for them. He would draw every one up from that position to where He can teach them and form them. It is testing to

ascend and to come to the position of another level where these traits are produced.

C.A.C. Because they are really features that come out personally in Christ, and we must all own that is the only thing that will stand because the Lord says if a man hears His word and does not do it he is like a foolish man building his house on the sand which will come to nothing.

Rem. It says He shall sit on His throne. It gives great prominence to Him, does it not? If any is competent to teach it is He. It is very beautiful in that way.

C.A.C. It all refers to conditions that are present on earth while things are in disorder, not what will mark saints in the millennium or in heaven, for some of these features will not be there. No one will be persecuted for righteousness' sake in the millennium, still less in heaven. It is hardly necessary to mourn or be meek or to hunger in the millennium; it all refers to conditions here. There will not be much required in millennial conditions. The word for "meekness" in Hebrew is the same as 'affliction' which suggests meekness is only a quality to be developed under affliction. So it is a practical question as to whether we have been so married to Christ, whether there is a personal link so affectionate between Him and us, that we are able to exhibit these features of Christ, features of those that are married to Him. It is really learning what is pleasing to God in man in these present conditions of suffering and man's pride exalting him on all hands. It is like the considerations of love in 1 Corinthians 13. It is humbling to us to contemplate them. The sooner we entertain the thought the better for us. We do not expect it is going to be easy and comfortable, do we?

Rem. Verse 30 does not mean cutting off the hand actually.

C.A.C. The act of cutting off the hand would not help matters!

Rem. It is helpful to notice that the eye is often linked with the heart.

C.A.C. Nothing is to be suffered to move us out of the path of discipleship, however important and desirous it might be naturally. If we do allow anything, it is a most serious matter, for to go out of the path of discipleship is really to be on the way to hell. It is sometimes well to view things in their issues, is it not?

Ques. Why should it be the right eye and the right hand?

C.A.C. Well, it is what you would set the greater value upon naturally, if it interferes with the path of discipleship, is to be cut off. The Lord does not say to us that it is going to be an easy matter to be a disciple.

Ques. Have these verses an assembly setting?

C.A.C. It shows that the relationships set up by God are not to be violated. No doubt Jehovah's relationship with Israel was the marriage relationship, just as the relationship of Christ to the assembly is the marriage relationship, and anything that would interfere with faithfulness to the divinely instituted relationship is a most serious matter.

Rem. We ought to know what might be a snare to us.

Rem. The eye has a great place in reading and is a snare often.

C.A.C. We all find it out for ourselves. We each know what may draw us out of the path of discipleship and it leads to hell. Many of us have learnt to pluck out that eye and cast it away, otherwise we should be going on the path to hell. The literature of the world is a snare for the young but there comes a time when you cannot go on with it. It is an impossibility. You must pluck the eye out. I know I came to that point myself. You find that it is not a mere trifle but on the way to hell. The Lord puts it in a most serious light. We have no licence to tone down the Lord's words and empty them of meaning. Each one must find out for himself what it is; I cannot judge for you. It is a

matter of individual exercise and liberty; if it works against discipleship then it must be cut off. It is wonderful that at the outset the Lord should say this at once, to show that the path He proposes is a very difficult one. Many reading the sermon on the mount think it is impossible. The Lord would have us know that the path of discipleship is impossible to nature, and can only be entered upon as coming under the power of His name and Person and as supported by Him at every step. The Lord supposes that something has come in to operate in the hearts of men to cause them to take a course against everything that nature and the flesh would desire, but it is worth it!

Ques. Would Peter walking on the water illustrate it?

C.A.C. That illustrates the point. If we would accept that the christian life is an impossibility to human nature it would help us, but by divine grace and attraction and the support of the Lord Jesus it becomes possible.

Rem. The very first diversion from that path is to be dealt with. There is committal to a certain course and nothing is allowed to divert one from that; there is no release from it.

C.A.C. Yes, and the Lord has called us after Him so that we might take on His character. What is the use of a christian profession that leaves us without the taking on of the character of Christ? What is the worth of it? A mere profession is not worth much if it does not lead to the desire to take on His character. We may fail in it and break down over and over again, but when we do so it is a matter to grieve over. How the Lord would show that that would enter even into the use of words -- swearing is a matter of the use of words. Man naturally likes to strengthen what he says but the true disciple must be content to speak simply and to say what he means.

Ques. Does it touch the matter of taking an oath here?

C.A.C. If I was called upon in a court of justice to take

an oath, I should have no difficulty about it, because that is not a question at all of my own rashness in committing myself to something but of submitting to what the government has ordered to secure that a man should speak the truth. The christian does not object to their bringing in God's name to strengthen things. For the christian the taking of an oath in a court of justice does not make an atom of difference to his statement; he would be just as particular about his word as he would be about his oath. I would not object to the recognition of God. It recognises the supreme claim of God. I am glad they do. I do it in subjection. The Lord refers to people taking an oath in their own rashness and adding unnecessary words to what they say. It should not be necessary for a disciple to do any such thing. It applies, in the principle of it, to careless talking and saying things without regard to what they really mean.

Rem. "Be not rash with thy mouth", Ecclesiastes 5:2.

C.A.C. A very wholesome word. We should take care that we do not take God's name in vain even in His service, that we think seriously of what we say.

Rem. Matthew 26:63, 64; The Lord answered when adjured (cf. Leviticus 5:1).

C.A.C. Showing the Lord accepted the voice of adjuration. If you hear the voice of adjuration and do not tell what you know, you are guilty according to Leviticus 5:1.

Ques. Would you tell us what the swearing does apply to? Is this to make us more careful in our speech?

C.A.C. The positive word is that our 'yea' is to be 'yea' and your 'nay', 'nay', and that is an end to it.

Ques. What about the case of the one who cannot back up what he has strengthened by an oath?

Rem. There was Peter's oath to the Lord that he would never forsake Him, and he did.

C.A.C. Yes, he swore just the opposite before very long.

Rem. It is well not to go beyond your power, just saying 'Yes' or 'No'.

C.A.C. So that man is accepted who swears to his own hurt and changes not. That is, you stand by what you swear even if it is to your own hurt.

Rem. Swearing by heaven because it is the throne of God or by the earth because it is the footstool of His feet shows that God will never give up these things.

C.A.C. The Lord had in mind that we should not use divine things or divine names without considering what they mean. It is possible to use spiritual things in a way that is really profane and the Lord would deliver us from that. It is possible to use the Lord's name in a religious way repeatedly without real reference of heart to Him.

Rem. As to the city of the great King.

C.A.C. What God is as King as well as what He is as Father is set forth in the Lord Jesus. Divine things are to be spoken of with sobriety and care; they are not to be carelessly spoken of. It is possible to lower divine things by speaking of them in a light way so that we degrade them; that is to be avoided.

Rem. How much the city of the great King would mean to the Lord Himself -- more than to anyone. He wept over Jerusalem.

Rem. He would not have it lightly sworn by.

Ques. How would you explain, "Resist not evil"?

C.A.C. That is how He maintains His rights. If smitten on the one cheek then you turn the other also. Later He rode into the city, not to resist evil but to submit to it. He did not turn the other cheek when they smote Him upon the cheek, showing even this is not to be taken literally.

Rem. Isaiah says He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to those that plucked out the hair.

Rem. "They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek", in Micah 5.

Ques. Why does it mention here, "Resist not evil"? It is a question that is being asked on all hands today.

C.A.C. Well, it just shows christian principles cannot be applied to the government of this world.

Rem. That is important for it is where many come aground.

C.A.C. It is the very province of government to resist evil and if possible to subdue it. That is why we have prisons, policemen and so on. "He beareth not the sword in vain", it says. So the government that God has set up in the world is to resist evil; but then the disciples of Jesus are told not to resist evil.

Rem. We should be sympathetic with the government, it is said, and assist it according to our power.

C.A.C. We have to recognise government is going on in the world altogether different from the spirit of christianity. If a man does wrong he must be punished, but then grace says he must be forgiven! A judge would be wrong if he forgave a criminal. When Queen Victoria refused to sign a death warrant at the commencement of her reign she caused a change in the whole law of England. From that time the duty of signing a death warrant was taken out of the hands of the sovereign and given to the Secretary of State. It was a womanly act on her part but not a queenly act. The christian is to move on the line of not resisting evil and is not to retaliate. If I retaliate and am angry and bitter I am no disciple, am I?

Rem. It is really the easy way, as it saves me the sense of chafing and bitterness.

C.A.C. And you have the sense of the Lord's approval; that is what governs it. You have moved in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.

CHAPTER 7

Ques. What is the distinction between the gate and the way?

C.A.C. The gate is a definite point; there is no gradual merging. As definitely counting on God the way is entered. I suppose there is a point we reach when in the sense of the goodness of God and the availability of God as a resource we definitely commit ourselves to it. Obedience is what is essential to all our relations with God. Well, it is a narrow gate, too narrow for the mind of the flesh to entertain, yet soberly considered, it is the only way to God. Obedience is the only principle possible to an intelligent creature in his relations with God. All the evil that has come in has been on the principle of disobedience. My life in all its detail must be subject to the will of God. There may be creature will in reformation. I may do my own will in doing what is good -- the clean side, but it may be the broad road.

Rem. The gospel is received on the principle of faith and obedience.

C.A.C. Mr. Darby said there are only two exercises Godward for man -- obedience and praise. Have we really entered that way, so that the will of God exercised through the lordship of Christ regulates our whole life? Well, it is a very narrow way. Mr. Darby said that if we never did anything but what was on the principle of doing the will of God, two-thirds of our lives would disappear. Saul of Tarsus soon got it. "Lord, what will thou have me to do?" Well, had he not entered the strait gate? Then with thousands of people only one will is operative; it is the principle

of unity.

Rem. "In that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me", the apostle said (Galatians 2:20).

C.A.C. He is intent on an object and has a powerful motive. "The Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me". That is, it is the immense claim of such a love by such a Person. We cannot be said to be really converted till we have accepted the principle of obedience. It involves new birth, for the flesh cannot entertain such a principle. It is an impossibility for the flesh to come into this line of subjection. Life here is the power to live in relation to God as in Romans, where it is a vital principle by which we occupy our relations with God. It is our privilege all day long to live as justified persons, as discharged from all our liabilities, so that there is no hampering from the guilty past, which is very important.

Rem. Why does it say in verse 14, "they are few who find it"?

C.A.C. The Lord would indicate that the path He would have us move in is not a popular one, but different from all others.

Rem. You strive -- the matter is laid upon us.

C.A.C. People in the world are largely governed by what the majority do. That is to have no place with us but we are to be just governed by the will of God. And that is the happy way. When we turned every one to his own way we found it an unhappy way and it ends in death. The happiest moments of our lives were when we did things just on the principle that they pleased God. Those were happy moments. It is important to have the previous section in mind, so that we have confidence in asking. It is always giving up confidence in God that leads to disobedience. It was so in Eve's case. Life means loss if we do not think of it in relation to God. The Lord was the

exemplification of it. The unfathomable miracle of His life is that a divine Person should take up that position and be happy in it. It would be good for us all to accept that that is the way of life, as Enoch did. To have the consciousness of having God with us in the path we are walking -- there is no greater happiness than that. So we need to beware of false prophets who would divert us. They would never lead us into the subjection of this path but into the paths of our own will.

Ques. Would Romans 8 afford the support necessary?

C.A.C. Yes; God for us, Christ for us and the Holy Spirit for us. There is room in this narrow way for divine Persons to be with us in it.

Ques. Would fruit be linked with life?

C.A.C. Yes, and as men can take account of it, not only what is for God but what is attractive and beneficial to men -- that is the test and the test of the false prophet. The test of this in the assembly is what is profitable for me; edifying power is the test of ministry. Are we being built up in the knowledge of divine Persons? If not it is an unprofitable kind of thing. The only motive of true ministry is to magnify divine Persons; if it is to magnify himself it is a false prophet. The test is, Is this really making me happy in relation to God? If it does not it is not worth while presenting it. It sounds a bit selfish but it is a very good test. It is easy to settle down in a kind of religious life and miss the real kernel. One's exercise should be to bring forth more fruit that would really benefit the saints. Emphasis on the title is valueless in those who do not do the will of God. They are confounded in the day of His glory. They have been doing all this on the principle of lawlessness, even using the Lord's name; it is very searching. It shows it can only be recognised in the power of the Spirit. He cannot genuinely be called Lord but by the Spirit. Things are only genuine when in the Holy Spirit. 'In the

year of our Lord' is a current saying. It entails subjection to divine authority in Him -- of grace and love but still authority. He says, 'You are workers of lawlessness, doing it all in your own will'. The Lord is quick to recognise the principle of obedience where it is found, and it comes out in a thousand ways. He knows it and loves it; His whole life was full of it. It is needful for us to face all these things and what stability it will give us! It would establish us on such a rock as no storms could shake us. All this puts us on a foundation that cannot be disturbed, cannot be shaken. I think all this has the assembly in view.

CHAPTER 9

C.A.C. Two things come out in the gospels, and the one is just as wonderful as the other. One is what was there in Emmanuel to be drawn upon, and the other the faith in men that knew how to draw upon it.

Ques. Why do you say equally wonderful?

C.A.C. Because it is an utter impossibility to fallen creatures to be possessed of such faith.

Ques. Has there to be something entirely new as we were seeing with the new wine and new bottles last week?

C.A.C. Yes, it links on with it. The new wine was there in Himself but the new skins were required to hold it; that is, it needed the receptacle to hold it; the receptacle is what comes out in the gospel. There were persons who could take hold of what was in Emmanuel and make use of it, and such persons constitute God's harvest.

Rem. It is like new birth in John 3.

C.A.C. Quite so, and He accredits faith to such. He does not say to the woman, 'I have healed thee'. There were persons who appreciated what was there in Christ. The disciples did, because they did not fast, for they were in the joy of what had come in though they could not, perhaps, have explained it. So they had dropped all their legal customs of fasting.

Rem. It says the time will come when they will fast.

C.A.C. Yes, but they will fast in a new way. The christian's feasting involves his fasting!

Ques. Is there an order in this chapter and in the persons affected by their contact with the Lord?

C.A.C. What were you thinking?

Rem. The first is the paralytic, representing man's condition; then He secures the house on calling Matthew and then a man comes to light who is anxious about his daughter. In the course of that a woman is healed. Those things come out in detail as the result of what came out before. I thought, perhaps, that comes out in relation to what you were saying about faith coming to light as Emmanuel is drawn upon. So there is a house and every type of person -- man, woman and child, and a man who was blind and one who was dumb towards God.

C.A.C. So that God deals with great disabilities affecting men and so secures a harvest for Himself.

Rem. The first incident would illustrate what was said as to faith laying hold of what was in Emmanuel.

Ques. What would be the thought of the Lord's garment?

C.A.C. I suppose the garment would set forth all that attached to Him, one might say, officially as the Messiah, and the fact that the woman touched the hem would indicate she had some appreciation of it in its completeness.

Ques. How would that apply today?

C.A.C. Well, I think it is one of the delights of faith to see what attached to the Lord officially, how God has signalised Him and invested Him with every feature that is delightful to Himself. "All thy garments smell of myrrh" (Psalm 45:8, A.V.) is said prophetically. The garments seem not exactly to be the Person but matters which are very closely identified with His Person.

Ques. Do the saints come into it?

C.A.C. I think the saints come into it today as being available. What we need to consider is this blessed Person and all that is connected with Him, and we see the completeness there is about the deliverance that is available to us in Him.

Ques. Why is it the fringe?

C.A.C. It is the hem, it is not a fringe!

Ques. What is the difference?

C.A.C. There is a great difference -- any of the sisters would tell you that! The hem puts a finish to the garment. It is not a matter that is left incomplete, there is a divine finish upon it all.

Rem. Psalm 133 speaks of the hem of His garments.

C.A.C. That is another thing and would bring in what was referred to as to the saints. The anointing oil runs down to the hem of His garments; it comes down to the saints, and so the testimony is maintained here. The bells and the pomegranates are maintained here in the power of the Head.

Ques. Why does the women come in between?

C.A.C. I suppose the case of the child, bringing in death, goes deeper into the matter, does it not? Not only is there the plague of one's own heart, spoken of by Solomon (1 Kings 8:38), that does not touch the bottom, but the fact that we are absolutely under death is a deeper problem. The woman is learning under the law the plague of her own heart. But the real state of the heart is set forth in the woman. It is a beautiful illustration and she is called "Daughter". But the child is under death, which is the deepest thing of all. Both exercises will be gone through by Israel. First there is their condition under law and the inability to remedy it, but they will get faith in One who can. But there is a deeper lesson, that is, death is upon them; and He can meet that, too.

Ques. Is this the only case of anyone asking the Lord to raise the dead?

C.A.C. I think it is. It brings out an extraordinary measure of faith in the father; he lays hold of the power in the Lord. He says, "she shall live" (verse 18), without any hesitation or question; and God would give us the faith of that now, that it is possible for us to be brought entirely

out of the state in which we were under death into a new state in which we live to God, entirely out of that state of death.

Rem. Romans 8:2 gives it, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death".

C.A.C. Yes, so the Spirit is life there. It is very wonderful that through the power that is in Christ we can emerge from the state of being under death and we can truly live Godward in the One who lives to God.

Rem. I thought these two cases went together, and work out in us as one case. Before life there must be the exposure of the hidden state; it has to be faced with the Lord before there can be a rising up in life in a new condition. And there is a continuation in life -- the change from the old to the new bottles.

C.A.C. Yes, where there is also power to see and to speak. The gospel continues the picture of the working of God.

Rem. Two very important features of the new life.

Rem. Life was there and faith, so that the Lord could bring that to pass.

Ques. What is the thought of "touching"? We get it in verses 20, 21 and 29.

C.A.C. Personal contact is the great thing; we want personal contact with the Lord. We may believe things, we often do, and that is about as far as many get; but there comes a point when nothing will do for us but a personal touch.

Rem. That makes a really new start.

C.A.C. Yes.

Rem. With the blind men the Lord seems to require an acknowledgement of their faith.

C.A.C. He was set on bringing out what was there, which is a great principle of action. He seeks to bring out

what was there.

Ques. Would that be on the line of harvesting?

C.A.C. I should think so. What is there in men for God? It would help us if we had that in view when in contact with souls. We should look out for anything that is of God in the person. The Lord sets great value upon that; it was what He was looking for when He was here. How He welcomes any appreciation of Himself! You see, that is something quite different from having an orthodox faith, as it is called. It is something wrought in the soul that is able to lay hold of what is in Christ. There becomes an intense craving to see things, to see what is of God. I suppose the opening of the eyes is really one great figure of the gift of the Spirit as conferring the ability to see.

Ques. Would spreading forth His fame (verse 26) be the renown of His Person?

C.A.C. Well, I suppose so, though they were wrong in doing it.

Ques. Why did the Lord charge them to be silent?

C.A.C. It was to emphasize the fact that it was for themselves. I think we should understand that some things are private; we are not always to be anxious to speak; I know we are so generally. I know if I had been caught up to the third heaven it would have come out in the next meeting! Paul did not speak of it for fourteen years afterwards, but it coloured his life and ministry and only came out when occasion called for it in Corinth. It is good to have some secret weapons in hand that you can fall back upon in an emergency. There is a certain self-prominence connected with publishing things sometimes. It is often so with young converts; they often say too much.

Ques. You mean, when they are not mature enough to give testimony to the Lord?

C.A.C. If we speak too soon we are apt to say something

which does not fit in with the divine plan. Then there is often a reaction and those who say too much at the start are apt to say nothing afterwards when they ought to speak.

CHAPTER 10

Rem. This chapter is preceded by the thought of the harvest, and the disciples are to supplicate the Lord to send forth workmen into His harvest. Then in this chapter the Lord calls the twelve and sends them out.

C.A.C. So that the harvest in view is limited to Israel (verses 5, 6). Is it not important to recognise that the gospels, specially the gospel of Matthew, set forth Christ as Emmanuel in the midst of Israel?

Ques. Why is the name Emmanuel brought in?

C.A.C. Because of its former link with the ways of God as found in the Old Testament.

Rem. Very early the branches grow over the wall; especially in Matthew we see it.

C.A.C. Yes, and I suppose the harvest widens out in its appearance when you come to John's gospel. The Lord speaks of the fields being already white to harvest (John 4:35), and there it is in distinct connection with Samaritans coming in. It is important that we should take account of Christ's service here as being for Israel; Christ after the flesh has never been presented to us as He was to Israel. John begins his gospel by showing the end of that order of things.

Rem. Romans 9:4,5 says, "Who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law-giving, and the service, and the promises; whose are the fathers; and of whom, as according to flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen".

C.A.C. So that we see God taking up a people and choosing them for Himself in the Old Testament, giving

them His law and His service, and sending His prophets to them, keeping up His link with the people, never giving them up, in spite of their unworthiness and unfaithfulness. And the very presence of Christ here was a proof that He had not cast off His people whom He foreknew. It is God keeping up His link with Israel in spite of their unfaithfulness. It gives us an insight into the very character of God.

Rem. In Romans 9 it goes on to others who were to be secured, "For not all are Israel which are of Israel" (verse 6).

C.A.C. Therefore the twelve were to look out for that. But we find a selection has to be made here in Israel. It is helpful to ourselves. They were to make enquiries as to who was worthy, and this was among the people of God! Their commission was to look out for the remnant. Now that is exactly our position today; we are to look out for the remnant. The testimony of Christ was rejected, so the kingdom of the heavens is brought in and the assembly takes the place of Israel. The gospels are the most difficult parts of Scripture to understand; we have to keep that in mind in reading the gospels. The principle of serving among a people nominally in relationship to God is applicable to us today. The business of the twelve was to find out the remnant who were prepared to welcome the Messiah when He was presented. Those who received them, received Him; and that is true of us if we are truly representative of Him, and if not we are nothing. Well, we are here to find out those who fear God. Of course, there is a difference because we are not out to heal the infirm, cleanse the lepers, and so on. This was all literal, the fulfilment of Old Testament promises, and this in addition that Emmanuel was there and the promises fulfilled.

C.A.C. The thought was that the Gentile was to be blessed through Israel; that is the point in the Old Testament, so it is, "Shout for joy, ye nations, with his people", Deuteronomy 32:43. It is instructive to understand the ways of

God, and this testimony in Matthew 10 is not for the Gentiles, it is for Israel. Luke has the Gentile in view from the beginning; he was one and was writing to a Gentile lover of God; but Matthew is written for Israel.

Ques. To the Jew first and also to the Gentile -- is that the principle?

C.A.C. As far as Acts 28 it was the principle Paul acted upon. There is no preaching of the gospel is this chapter; it was a wonderful testimony to God in the midst of His own people. It is God's favour and His clinging to His people in spite of their departure. So He would not stop short of coming as Emmanuel amongst His people Israel in faithfulness to His promises in the Old Testament to them. Israel has forfeited her place as the centre of blessing, so the Lord has now from heaven sent a servant, the apostle Paul, to be apostle to the uncircumcision. So it is an entire change in God's way. We must not think that it links on with all we have here in Matthew because it does not.

Ques. Did you say they were not sent to preach the gospel? Would there not be gospel in, "The kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh"?

C.A.C. No doubt there was gospel in that but I mean they did not announce the forgiveness of sins or of being justified from all things; they did not speak of the grace of God as set forth in a risen and glorified Man. The glory of grace shining in the face of Jesus was not yet brought out. It is God's faithfulness to His ancient promises to His people Israel. The rejection of Christ by Israel is the very thing that has opened up blessing for the Gentiles.

We were seeing last week that the testimony was limited to Israel and they rejected it.

Ques. Is it literal in verse 23?

C.A.C. Yes, it is literal.

Ques. Then it has not happened?

C.A.C. No, it has not happened. It supposes Israel in

their cities in their own lands. There will be a testimony to Israel yet in their own land. The true character of Israel was that they had become haters and destroyers of what is of God; but there were a few lost sheep of the house of Israel to whom the apostles were sent. It was necessary to beware of men because of the fearful character of things that would be found among the people of God. It is not the world at all.

Ques. Is there an idea here of their being under a Gentile power?

C.A.C. Yes. Christ came to them in that position of subjection to Gentile power. The prophets show that they were His own flock notwithstanding, in spite of what they had become.

Ques. Why are serpents prudent?

C.A.C. Serpents have very wise ways in securing what they are after, and the servants of Christ have to be prudent. "The serpent was more crafty than any animal of the field", Genesis 3:1.

Rem. They would not call attention to themselves.

C.A.C. It was the very opposition that would call attention to them. So often things have been brought into public view by opposition.

Ques. What would be the position for us today?

C.A.C. We are not quite in their position and in accepting that we get the instruction of it. This is instruction for the twelve apostles for the special service they rendered in the midst of Israel; and they were specially qualified for the service. So they were not to be careful how they should speak, "For ye are not the speakers, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you" (verse 20). They were in a peculiar way the vessels of the Spirit of their Father. That was a remarkable testimony.

Ques. Would the opposition be progressive? There are three stages, in a sense, in verses 17 and 18.

C.A.C. Yes. There is the Jewish opposition before the council, then it is "before rulers and kings", and the opposition of "the nations" would cause the testimony to be heard in a way that it would not have been. So it was with Paul, the Gentiles heard the testimony as they never would have heard it. It was really seen in the Lord Himself; it was exemplified in Him. He was brought before the council and they handed Him over to the rulers. It was what the apostles were to experience, and it goes on to the end. When the church period is over there will be those who will have a distinct testimony as the apostles had and they will not have gone over the cities of Israel until the Son of Man be come. It spreads out through the opposition it meets with in Israel. Though they were not sent to rulers and kings, these get the testimony in an individual way. All this is helpful in seeing the setting of the thing. It is not at all the preaching we have at the present time. The testimony to the Jew was finished by the killing of those who rendered it. All the apostles but one, that is John, were killed, as far as we know.

Ques. Would Romans 11:15 fit in here? "If their casting away be the world's reconciliation ...".

C.A.C. Yes, it is in keeping. It was a special moment; the Spirit had not been given, so they were not quite responsible for what they said, for it was the Spirit of their Father. Now I should have to answer according to my spiritual wisdom and power.

Rem. Some of us have had comfort from this scripture recently.

C.A.C. You may have had comfort from it but you are not entitled to it! The value of Scripture lies in taking it in its setting. I cannot take all the Lord promised to the apostles. There is no special testimony to Israel now, and if people go on that line now it is not on the line of the Spirit of God. If believers had to make public confession

now I think they would be helped, but would give their own intelligent testimony. Some think they have to wait to be led of the Spirit before taking part in a meeting. It is the person who is formed by the Spirit who takes part. The Spirit acts through the persons. A spiritual man is ready to take part always; he knows what to do at any particular time. It is really the result of walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit in his affections and thoughts. Taking part in a meeting is really a question of wisdom. A young man whose name was 'David' came before a tribunal and the judge was surprised to see him there as he understood David had been a great man of war. 'Yes', the young man replied, 'but afterwards when he wanted to build a house for the Lord he could not because he had shed so much blood. And I want to build a house for the Lord!'. Our answers should be with wisdom.

Ques. The testimony was not completed then, so will it be afterwards?

C.A.C. Yes, exactly. It is good to see the ways of God with Israel. The testimony is here limited to Israel, and there will be a special testimony to them by and by; this is how those who render it must expect to be treated. There is to be no fear of those that kill the body; those who are testifying are under the Father's care. "Fear not therefore; ye are better than many sparrows" (verse 31). There is peculiar encouragement in the intensity of the difficulty. We have very small difficulties, so if they had support we can certainly count upon it for ourselves. All this gives a knowledge of God. That is God! If He had only counted one person's hairs, that is my Father! "Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in the heavens" (verse 32). It is carrying that precious name in testimony and confessing that. We may have a very small place in the testimony but we can all come into that. It spreads out to all. "Every

one therefore who shall confess me before men". It is the public ground we stand upon; we are all confessors of that name. To value that name and confess it brings conflict and difficulty, and that is true at all times. It is not a question of opinion but of a Person -- it is God. There can be no compromise there; you cannot 'agree to differ' on anything about Christ.

Christ is the supremely worthy One so that all natural claims must give place to Him. It is the time of His rejection, a time of perpetual conflict. Christ is not here personally but representatively in His people. There are three grades of representatives -- a prophet is one such. The prophet is the highest grade for he presents things in testimony; secondly, there is the righteous man, he is faithful to what he knows and is not active in testimony but manifests a testimony in his moral character and ways; and thirdly, "in the name of a disciple" (verse 42). He is not of much prominence but he is characterized by learning from Christ. "A little one"; he may not have taken on any moral features markedly. We are tested by how we receive anything that is Christ. Do we receive it? "Receive ye one another", the apostle says (Romans 15:7). They are representative of Christ, not all on the same level, not all prophets, but some are little ones who are disciples, learners and who want to learn. It is interesting to watch. Those who do are representative of Christ and it is very good to give such a cup of cold water; we want to look out to refresh these. We must all come in. I am not a prophet but I would like to be a righteous man; or if I am not that, I would like to be a learner.

Ques. Why are those in verse 42 not included?

C.A.C. Oh, because it is a speciality. We can never have that place. The apostles were spiritually and officially representative of Christ; they are here no longer. We fix on what is representative of Christ in a brother or sister and

receive it into our affections. We could not think that the Lord would not make room even for a little one! "There is not arisen ... a greater than John the baptist. But he who is a little one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he", the Lord says (Matthew 11:11). He is greater because of the place that he has dispensationally -- not greater morally but dispensationally. It is the same principle in the body. This is to intensify our appreciation of one another. It is good to accept the divine grading. It is all a question of representation. Not only is it good and suitable but there is a reward; we gain by it. John was one who was tested by the character the testimony was taking; he was a herald of One who was to be rejected; he introduced One who was to be rejected. The truth of the kingdom of the heavens depends on that. Like today, people do not see that Christ is rejected; it is undeniable, He is denied His rights and that He should be above all. It is an outstanding harm that Christ has been rejected here. John is quite satisfied now with the position the Lord gave him.

CHAPTER 11

C.A.C. We have to force a way into the kingdom of the heavens. There is a good deal of violence needed to overcome all that is natural within. Those who follow the Lord are required to be violent -- "If, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body ...", Romans 8:13. Well, that is violence. They must have violence enough to withstand natural influences. The influence of the glorified Man in heaven is so great that the disciple is willing to do violence to nature under it. It is that side of things that calls for strenuous effort. In a certain place each of two preachers gave a word: the first told the people how easy it was to be saved, and the following week the second told them how hard it was to be saved! The Lord set His face steadfastly. Have we not to do that at times? Violence breaks through what would hinder.

Rem. For example, David's men.

C.A.C. That is the kind of thing. All the influences of the day were opposed and it was a difficult time for the disciples.

We see how He has to give up His link with Israel in view of the new thing -- the coming in of the assembly and the kingdom of the heavens. They gave Him up first, so there is a very solemn word at the close of the chapter. I notice people talk about praying but not about listening. It is the time of piping now; the Lord's ministry of grace is going on now. Only the Lord could have told us these things, that Sodom would have repented and so on. It is here the great general thought of a judgment day. The Lord's explanation is in verse 25, "And hast revealed them

to babes". If the Father had not been pleased to reveal these things they would not have been known to any. There would not have been any believing souls or repentant souls if it had not been made known in the sovereignty of the Father's grace. If the Father does not work there is nothing in man. They would not be the children of wisdom. It is also pleasing to the Son to reveal the Father. It is the pleasure of divine Persons to move on this line.

Ques. As to the title, "Lord of the heaven and of the earth" (verse 25).

C.A.C. He disposes of all things in His sovereign power; the Lord is seen here as the Praiser, that is, He really takes His place as the Leader of praise, does He not? It is wonderful to think of a divine Person coming into a place where He can offer praise. It is coming to our side, to the side of the creature, and taking up the service of praise. It shows that where there is any result for the pleasure of God it is brought about by the actions of the Father and the Son.

Ques. "All things have been delivered to me". What are they?

C.A.C. He was consciously in reproach and rejoiced that the Father had done this. He falls back upon this in His own spirit; He praises the Father for what He has done. Things were really opening up in a wider way; this wide range of "all things" of the Father's operations comes into view and it gives Him joy. He was thinking of what has happened in the last almost two thousand years, millions of souls brought to know the Father revealed in grace, and He is doing it still. That is a comfort in preaching the gospel; behind the preaching there are the great operations of the Son. There is a personal revelation by the Son to every individual that is brought to know the Father. The Son is not revealed in the same way as the Father; it is one of the great depths in christianity which we have to accept.

There is an inscrutable mystery about the Son that has not come into revelation, but the Father reserves it to Himself; because it is a divine Person in manhood and that is inscrutable; we cannot fathom it, and as the Son in manhood such is His greatness that only the Father knows Him. We cannot measure that Person, it is beyond all creature thought, and we are thankful to know that the Son is so great that no creature can know Him. He is an Object of worship.

But the Father is revealed by the Son, that is, what the Son knows of the Father is a matter of revelation. So it is important that we should get near to the Son that He may reveal to us individually the Father as He knows Him. That is, all that the Father is in grace to men, all that is covered by the name of Father has been revealed, there is nothing to be added. We shall not learn anything more in heaven than we have down here; it has been told out by the Son and in the Son and it is immense. We feel on our side there is not room to take it in; so we sing, 'Our cup indeed runs o'er'. It is a pity it does. Do you not think it would not run over quite so soon if it were a little bigger?

I suppose there is a great widening of things here. The Lord's rejection by Israel, instead of closing things up, opens the way for a wider range of blessing and the know ledge of God, surely commensurate with the greatness of the Person of the Son.

Rem. He seems to change the dispensation, bringing in different features and principles, and the greatness of the Son, all things being delivered to Him by the Father. There is a great range that the Father would have made known to those who were with Him.

C.A.C. It would seem the Lord was looking further than the promises of Israel. In chapter 12 it is the liberty of grace. If the Son was pleased to reveal the Father there was something very sweet and precious about the revelation.

And He can make His selection; if He wishes to make Himself known to a poor Gentile, He can.

Ques. Why does it say, "No one knows the Son but the Father" (verse 27)?

C.A.C. Is it not to bring out the greatness of His Person, the inscrutability of it, that it is beyond all creature grasp?

Rem. It is not a question of the Son being revealed; the Father is revealed.

C.A.C. Quite so, that is something to think carefully about, is it not? You see, what God is in revelation as the Father, that is, in grace to men, can be and has been fully made known. There is nothing inscrutable about that; it has been caused to shine forth in sunlight splendour. It is the side of revelation. It does not say anything about how far we enter into it; but the Father, all that God is in grace manward, is fully revealed.

Rem. It is wonderful to think of One like that, so great, near enough to men to say, "Come to me"!

Rem. It is to whom He will; His pleasure is in it.

C.A.C. And the thought of purpose is in that, too. The Son makes selection of those to whom He will reveal the Father; there is that thought in it. "All things" means that all the Father's actings and dealings in the ways of grace are all committed to the Son. In John 3:35, it says, "The Father ... has given all things to be in his hand". It is the nature of the economy; that is the character of things today. The Father has originated many precious thoughts but they are all delivered to the Son for effectuation, and though He is rejected nothing breaks down. All becomes available to those who come to Him, this Person of infinite resource and blessing, so great that no creature can compass Him. And He says, "I will give you rest". Laborious conditions have been brought in by sin; God feels it and Christ feels it, but rest requires a spirit of subjection and submission not at all to man's taste. There are two reasons

why we may not have rest: we may not have received the knowledge of God in grace revealed by the Son, or we may have received it and not have come into practical submission to the will of God. Either hinders us from having rest. The whole world is a mystery, and such books as 'The Riddle of the Universe' are a useless attempt to reach rest, which the simplest believer has in the knowledge of the Father revealed in the Son. If He is what Jesus tells us He is, the thing is to be in absolute submission to Him. The blessed God Himself appreciates the thought of rest. J.N.D.'s hymns, I notice, are full of the thought of rest, showing that he was looking at it sympathetically with God. Sin is a toilsome matter for God. In the book we are reading, Amos, He says, "I will press upon you, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves", Amos 2:13.

Rem. The thought of yoke here is not the usual one of two yoked together. We come under His yoke.

C.A.C. Is it not that we come under the same yoke with Him, the Father's will? The saints are brought to it sooner or later. We often chafe and murmur, like the Israelites. Sooner or later a saint is brought to accept the will of God; never till then does he get rest. We think our will, if we get it, will minister to us, but it will only make us unhappy. "Meek and lowly" -- and He was entitled to have a will -- and He said, "Not my will, but thine be done", Luke 22:42. A moment came when He had to give up His will, which was perfect. The perfection of His will He gave up to say, "But then, not my will, but thine be done". "I am meek and lowly in heart". It was there in the nature of His being. We get all the inwards laid bare in the sacrifices. God brings His work to pass in men in the inward parts. So you get, "I delight in the law of God according to the inward man" (Romans 7:22) before there is any practical expression seen. As has been remarked, he is better inside than outside!

Ques. Are the two 'rests', in verses 28 and 29, the same?

C.A.C. My impression was that the two rests were of the following nature: (1) in the knowledge of the Father revealed by the Son so that all the problems and uncertain ties about God are removed from the heart and conscience of men; it is the rest of the gospel. (2) then finding rest is in our practical submission to the will of God, so that we are not chafing against the Father's appointment for us. His submission involved infinitely more than it does with us, but He accepted the yoke and went through with it, and will have the glory of it evermore. With us it is often a very small thing that is bad for us and we have no rest until we say we are happy to have the Father's will; it is far better than our own. It is something we reach in our experiences, the rest of practical submission to the Father's will. The two ought to go together but sometimes they do not. God would have us at rest in both; rest, too, in the ordering of His will for us. We are to have it also in relation to one another, to be in submission to one another. I do not know much about meekness. I think it would come out in relation to men, fellow-men, and lowliness in relation to God. If something happens that I do not like, I am exposed. We are all tested. Moses was accused unjustly by his brother and sister; he never said a word, and he was ready to pray for them. Someone says something very nasty about you and you take notice of it. Someone once said very bad things against J.N.D. Afterwards a brother asked him why he did not reply, and his answer was, 'I did not hear him say anything against the Lord'.

Rem. It says, "In meekness setting right those who oppose", 2 Timothy 2:25.

C.A.C. I find it the most difficult verse to carry out when people are opposing. To tell such, 'You are a servant of the devil and I will have nothing to do with you' is

sometimes right. But the opposition may be through ignorance and not wilfulness, then I ought to be patient and have meekness and instruct him.

Rem. With the apostle Paul meekness is the strongest argument.

C.A.C. Yes.

CHAPTER 12

Rem. Things seem to widen out in fresh fields here. This section ends with, "On his name shall the nations hope" (verse 21). The thought of feeding comes in after the end of chapter 11.

C.A.C. It seems that the disciples, in keeping company with Jesus, had acquired liberty. They did not hesitate to take advantage of what God had provided.

Rem. As if an impression had been gained of Him such as the children get. It is what nearness brings.

C.A.C. I suppose the woman in Luke 7 hardly thought what she was doing, but she was exercising the most extraordinary liberty that had ever been known in the universe!

Rem. The Lord is there to justify them.

C.A.C. Would the sabbath and the cornfields put together give us a large view of things? The sabbath stands in relation to what goes before it; it comes after six days of work. It is like the winding up of the past. Sins, or Satan's power, or the flesh, or the world -- all that would be wound up and finished in the sabbath. In the cornfields something is springing up in the power of resurrection, introducing a new scene altogether, filled with the goodness that is provided by God. God's rest in Scripture comes in relation to the time of unrest. We shall hardly enter into the new until all old questions are brought to rest. A certain boldness is required to acquire what is of God. The Spirit of God uses the word "boldness".

Rem. You were thinking of Ephesians 3:12 for instance, "In whom we have boldness and access in confidence by the faith of him"?

C.A.C. It was a very bold thing on the part of David to take the shewbread. If we want to please God we must appropriate boldly what He puts within our reach. The psalmist asks, "What shall I render unto Jehovah ... ?". I have been struck that the answer is, "I will take the cup of salvation", Psalm 116:12, 13. If you want to render you must appropriate -- that is the way to please Him.

Rem. They would be full ears of corn.

Ques. They took the whole ears, what would that mean?

C.A.C. It implied that if the true David was in rejection, it deprived the whole legal system of its value. Really, all turns on our appreciation of Christ, and God is pleased if we boldly lay hold of what is in Christ in resurrection. The corn springs up out of death. God is well-pleased when we lay hold on it boldly. The shewbread was the 'bread of the presence', for God would have the whole of His people identified with the life of Christ, not with Adam. How wonderful to think we come together to approach divine Persons and things as identified with the life of Christ, not with the life of fallen Adam! Well, all that liberates. Our enjoyment of it depends on our exercise of faith. I suppose man turns everything that he takes hold of, even the gospel, into bondage. It takes the form of the principle of unworthiness, which is a very respectable form of bondage. Persons shrink from taking up thoughts of God in Christ, feeling unworthy to touch these great and wondrous things. It is like the man with the withered hand. But Emmanuel was there.

Rem. The prodigal son in Luke 15 never said to his father, "Make me as one of thy hired servants".

C.A.C. Would you conclude that where that thought exists people have not the Spirit? The father "covered him with kisses". God has received us in the fulness of His love in giving us the Spirit. And it liberates him; so that the

son in the house would not hold back from anything. Would he say, 'Give me only a small portion of the fatted calf'? He would not think of it! The Spirit would never give us any reserve in appropriating but He would give us liberty, otherwise we have a withered hand. That man could not have plucked the corn or rubbed it in his hands.

Rem. He was in the synagogue.

C.A.C. It was in the synagogue he got the withered hand! It was the contrast to the liberty in the company of the Lord.

Rem. That is how things are going on in the world now all around us.

C.A.C. It is good to see the energetic action of the Lord in the matter; He was not content to leave him in this state.

Rem. There is a positive power in the believer by the Spirit to do things for God.

Rem. A man with a withered hand that was healed would make a good gospel preacher. He would say, 'See what He has done for me, He healed me'. It says that He would not crush a bruised reed or quench smoking flax till judgment is brought forth to victory.

C.A.C. So good and evil will be perfectly resolved; no question is left without an answer.

The rabbi believed that opening the eyes of the blind man was a miracle reserved for the Messiah. So the question is asked, "Is this man the Son of David?".

Rem. 2 Samuel 5:8 says, "They say, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house".

C.A.C. They came to Him in the temple and were healed of Him is what we have in connection with that. No case ever baffled Him. Our speech marks us off from the animal creation. It is a marvellous faculty given by God.

Rem. "They ... so spake that a great multitude ... believed", Acts 14:1.

C.A.C. The good man out of the good treasure brings

forth good things. The power of speech is worthless unless it is used for the communication of good things. The assembly is the place for sanctified speaking. A fire in Jeremiah's bones made him burn to speak. You could hardly think of any person having the Spirit of God and not being able to speak.

Rem. The former dumb man would speak about the Lord, not himself.

Ques. Why is it the kingdom of God in verse 28? It is one of the few instances mentioned in Matthew; it is generally the kingdom of the heavens.

C.A.C. When it is a question of the power of God operating in man it is the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of the heavens. Christ was doing much that is being done by the Spirit now. The kingdom of God is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit", Romans 14:17; that is, we act rightly in every sphere, walk in peace (being sons of peace) and have joy in the Spirit. It shows that a power has come in greater than that of Satan or sin. Righteousness is a very uncommon thing, not to be found at every street corner. It is very common in the kingdom of God!

Distinction is always made in the gospels between the crowds and the Pharisees. The crowds always listened to Him, the Pharisees hated Him from the beginning. Nothing makes a man so blind as pretending to see. The Lord has really bound the "strong man" (see verse 29). He cannot do anything to hinder the Lord, who can spoil his goods and set his captives free.

Rem. Verse 30 shows there is no neutrality.

C.A.C. If we are for the Son of David, Satan cannot touch us. Every converted soul is more "plunder" for the Lord. We are all supposed now to have a hand in it. It is a fine commission, really, is it not? All this is only carried out if we treat the Holy Spirit with the respect that is due. The Lord had in mind that the Spirit would be greatly

disregarded. It was the most awful evil to call what is of God, as being of the devil. It was a character of sin that would not be forgiven. A man said to me the other day, 'Your God is my devil'. If he meant it, there is no forgiveness for that; it is pure wickedness, not that he was mistaken. Verse 27 says, "Your sons, by whom do they cast them out?". God was making a testimony to His goodness in Israel in casting out demons by certain Jews in the midst of an apostate nation. It had nothing to do with Jesus. The angels stirring the pool at Bethesda had nothing to do with Jesus, but it was a testimony to God's mighty power and goodness in the midst of His people who had so long despised Him. They would not like to say it of their sons. What is of God is always in goodness and mercy to men, and they know it. Jesus went about "doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him", Acts 10:38. God sent unto the children of Israel preaching peace by Jesus Christ. A demon is not peace. "From the fruit the tree is known" (verse 33) is a general principle. As to Christ there was plenty of testimony when they were seeking witnesses. Why did not they call Lazarus and the blind man of John 9?

Ques. We did not remark on verse 36, men having to render an account for "every idle word" that they say. What are you to do when people say untrue things of others?

C.A.C. You get out of the company of such people as fast as you can, do you not? Well, Solomon's advice seems worth listening to; he says, "Go from the presence of a foolish man, in whom thou perceivest not the lips of knowledge", Proverbs 14:7. Let him know that you do not appreciate what he is saying. Our privilege is to move in the circle of the saints where we do not hear these things. You do not expect to hear things which have to be condemned among the saints, do you? Verse 37, 1 suppose, means that what

we say gives a right impression of what we are. So if God undertakes to justify or condemn us by means of our words, it means my words express what I am. The Lord could say He was "altogether that which I also say to you", John 8:25, and that ought to be true of us, ought it not?

Rem. He could say precious things and we ought to learn to say them, too. "As apples of gold in pictures of silver, is a word spoken in season", Proverbs 25:11. How good it is!

Rem. I wondered if the whole situation was governed by what is in the heart (verse 35), what is treasured there. It comes out in a following section, the man finds the house unoccupied. It is a question of what is stored up in a man's heart.

C.A.C. Why does it say the Jews seek for signs, in another scripture? It is easier to understand why the Greeks seek after wisdom. I would like help on it. The Lord's own death was the great sign after all. I suppose the sign of the prophet Jonas was His own death.

Ques. Would you say an "adulterous generation" had turned away from God?

C.A.C. There was no answer to God. The Ninevites would stand up and condemn them, for they repented; and the queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. In them there was some answer to it. He felt there was no answer to Him in the nation; there was in a tiny remnant.

Rem. The Ninevites benefited from Jonas because he was a man in resurrection and could help them on that line; their hearts answered for they turned to God and repented. Here they were not ready to accept the principle of death and resurrection.

Ques. Why does it say "more than" twice?

C.A.C. It is put in that impersonal way to indicate the greatness of what was there which, if they had had eyes at

all, they ought to have seen.

Rem. We should understand something of the depths to which He has been and something of the glory which belongs to Him.

C.A.C. Yes.

Ques What an opportunity for them to be adjusted to God by the presence of Emmanuel here and to have had hard questions answered.

C.A.C. I suppose their dreadful state necessitated His being in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

Rem. And so with Jonah, before he could preach to the Ninevites.

C.A.C. The very state of the Jews was exposed and their last state was worse than the first. Still, the Lord gets brothers and sisters and so on; it is very cheering, is it not?

Rem. Emptiness is worse than anything, for he comes back with more. So it is important that our hearts should be filled with good treasure.

C.A.C. Yes, with Christ! Christendom is tested in the same way, with Christ presented in death or with Christ presented in resurrection; and everyone is tested as to what place they are content to give to Christ in death or to Christ glorified. If He is not allowed in their hearts the seven demons are about to come in. I believe that apostate Judaism and apostate christianity will agree together presently because they see nothing in the testimony of Christ's death and resurrection. They see nothing in it! God has nothing greater to present to man than the death of Christ and Christ glorified. If they see nothing in that, all the signs possible would be no good. So that this brings His kindred to light. All who see -- for it is not natural -- that they must be ended in the death of Christ, are taught by the Father and they become His kindred; and the one is necessarily before the other. So if Israel refuses Him, He does get a family and He breaks His links with the natural.

It is possible to appreciate Christ without understanding very much about Him. It is a comfort, is it not? Christ has come in to secure a new generation for Himself.

CHAPTER 13

C.A.C. The nation had reached the time of which the prophets had spoken long before, when judgment was about to fall on them. That was connected with the prophet Isaiah seeing the glory of Jehovah. The nation was blind and deaf to all God was saying, yet He did secure a remnant; that very chapter (Isaiah 6) speaks of a tenth. It is thus an important chapter in connection with this. It says, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple" (verse 1); that is really the kingdom. Then he has to go and tell the people of judgment; it is a message of judgment. "But a tenth part shall still be therein, and it shall return and be eaten; as the terebinth and as the oak whose trunk remaineth after the felling; the holy seed shall be the trunk thereof" (verse 13). That is what has come to pass here. The Lord speaks in parables because the nation was a judged thing. The parables were given to hide the truth from them. "Ye, therefore, hear" (verse 18) -- that was the holy seed secured for God. A solemn moment was reached here. Faith could see Solomon, all the rights of the kingdom there in Him. The nation rejected it, so He says, "Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and beholding ye shall behold and not see" (verse 14), and so on. The parable suggests that the King of glory was rejected, for He said He was more than Solomon, so the nation must be blinded.

The Lord takes great pains with the holy seed; He is instructing that in this chapter. Is that not the setting of it? He gives us a complete history in these parables. At the end of the chapter it says, "When Jesus had finished these

parables ..". (verse 53), showing it was a complete course of instruction which He begins and finishes. The Lord looks that we should all be scribes, discipled to the kingdom of the heaven, well furnished with spiritual stock. We never come together without having something to say.

In the first parable it is not exactly Christ Himself who is the Sower -- Scripture does not say so. It is the general principle of sowing, not limited to Him here. In the next parable it is that what He sows is all living; He sows all living persons -- it is a question of persons. It is a more general idea in the first parable, different soil and results, a general survey of what would be the result of sowing the seed of the kingdom, and how the word of God acts on people in responsibility -- the responsible result, not the work of God. It shows different states and different results in the public effect of it. It is still going on. The way it works is a test as to what state things are in. The word is all right, but it is a question of how it will work upon people, dependent on their condition. In the first case, while the seed is sown responsibly in souls there is no reception, and it is carried off by the birds. He "does not understand it", it says (verse 19). It is a very common thing that people hear the word and are not at all affected; they do not know what you are talking about; indeed, it may have the opposite effect from what it is intended to have. These are great general principles which may be applied to believers. Some said of Paul's teaching, "Let us practice evil things, that good ones may come", Romans 3:8. It was not the substance of his preaching. The "sun" would be the influence of the day in a bad sense. It tests us as to how far there is suitable soil. In the second, there seems a show and you think something has been done. Then testing comes and it all shrivels up under a little persecution -- I have seen it. There is always this process of elimination. We ought not to be surprised, but we ought to be sorry,

in the light of the Lord's teaching if people go away.

Rem. F.E.R. said, 'We want to be more concerned with those who want to go on'.

C.A.C. We want to promote the real work of God and go in that direction.

Ques. Was Demas sown among thorns?

C.A.C. It would seem he was. Bunyan thought the thorns were money-making. It may be riches or poverty when overweighted with it. If poor, I want the Lord, "Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened", He says; and if I am not, I want Him more! There is never any "good ground" unless God prepared it, He made it good. I cannot blame God if it is only thirtyfold with me; so there is a responsible side, which makes me ask, 'Why am I less?'. In Luke it is nothing but a hundredfold; it is the full normal result of seed so precious. The fruit is that we take on practically what is presented in the word of the kingdom, we take on that character. It is that wonderful word connected with Christ glorified, that heavenly character, and we take it on; that is understanding it. Do not we get understanding by talking over the things of God and dwelling on them? So we get a definite understanding. I think the readings are specially times of getting understanding -- it has been so in the last hundred years.

Rem. "Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things", 2 Timothy 2:7.

C.A.C. It is most important to consider it; to go over the substance of the reading will do people more good than the reading.

Rem. "Then he opened their understanding", it says of the Lord (Luke 24:45).

C.A.C. The Lord undertakes to do that for the disciples, and I think we see the fruit of it before He gives the Spirit. Peter knew all about Judas and what he should do (Acts 1);

he had an understanding of the Scriptures. It is so good when you get the scripture that just fits the moment; well, it requires understanding for that. We ought to be able to tell people briefly what we believe, to outline it quite simply; and to do that is a thousand times better than having it in a creed! Men spoil things by doing that; the first sentence in the creed is not true. The creeds were honestly intended to safeguard the truth by human means, but they obscure it. Truth is in the Spirit and that is in the souls of the saints. It is good when you do get asked; I am always thankful. It says, one "discipled" (verse 52); it supposes we are furnished, and I believe a christian with a spiritual understanding of Matthew 13 would be a very intelligent person and would have something to say to all comers.

C.A.C. In the last reading we saw the general principle of sowing the seed of the kingdom and the varying results. Here the Son of Man is the Sower definitely. What is sown in this parable is persons, the seeds are definitely persons, (verse 38, "sons of the kingdom"), which is a very important difference to note. When sown, results will follow. Strictly speaking, the word of the kingdom was not sown till Jesus was in heaven; it was by His disciples, with these varying results. Now here, you have come to a definite divine work; it consists of persons, it is not the word at all. The same principle applies in this sowing also because the kingdom of heaven was not a substantive reality until the King was in heaven. The Lord explains the parable in verse 38, so there is no question now of varying results because the seed sown by Him is a divine work. There is imitation seed here.

Rem. The first sowing would be on the line of responsibility, the second more the line of sovereignty.

C.A.C. A very great deal of our understanding in divine

things depends on our understanding these parables. The Lord says we should be like the "householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old" (verse 52), that is, we should be furnished and able to serve in relation to the kingdom. Abel was the first of the seed of the woman and Cain the first of the seed of the serpent.

Ques. Why was the parable explained only to the disciples?

C.A.C. Do you not think it was because the Jews as such had become the subjects of judgment? The little remnant of instructed ones round the Lord got the explanation.

Rem. The servant must understand and distinguish between responsibility and sovereignty; he must know how the Lord works.

C.A.C. Making Christ the Sower only has greatly obscured the teaching. The Lord loves to accredit us with more than is due. He could accredit them with more than is due because He sees the things there in germ and He accredits them with the full result which abides till the harvest. The darnel are persons; it is not a question of the work but persons.

Rem. "His field" means He has proprietary rights.

C.A.C. Yes, and the world is viewed in that light, as that in which the Son of Man is entitled to sow -- to have certain persons in this world who are the product of His own work, and they are the "sons of the kingdom". Through redemption He has secured the right to operate in the world and He exercises His right by sowing persons in it. The devil works correspondingly by sowing other kinds of persons who are worthless.

Rem. The Lord's sowing resulted in wheat. The Lord was the grain of wheat.

C.A.C. Those that He sows take character from Himself, persons who are morally after His own order in the world.

So Satan sows those after his own order and it goes on in that condition to the harvest. It is "while men slept"; that is, it was carelessness on the part of the Lord's servants that allowed worthless persons to be put in the place of seed -- the brethren's carelessness; so He puts the responsibility on His servants. So all heresies and false doctrines come in, not floating on the air but in persons. The Lord would not have any attempt made to get rid of them. It is a very natural thought to have but the Lord says, No, there is to be no attempt to root them up. It is as natural as possible to want to. People teaching blasphemy, for instance, we should like to have them shut up. There is no admixture of the wheat and darnel. The wheat is never affected by the darnel; it is brought out in its distinctiveness by the darnel. It is not at all the assembly, it is the world. If the church had paid attention to this parable it would not have been persecuted. All persecution was simply due to seeking to get rid of the bad seed, and they were throwing the christians to the lions and so on. It is wonderful how the Lord preserves simple souls; they are sons of the kingdom, begotten of the kingdom; there is something inward there. As to christians' associations, we are enjoined to withdraw from iniquity and purge ourselves from vessels to dishonour. They are the vessels to dishonour. When you come to the assembly you cannot have any association with them; that is not the world. In the parable itself the wheat is harvested and brought into the barn, that is, into heaven. But in the explanation it goes a stage further and it is brought out in the kingdom. "Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (verse 43). So in the parable itself we have the rapture, and in the explanation we have the appearing. He means to fill both heaven and earth, "In time of the harvest" (verse 30). It is a very solemn things that the gathering into bundles is going on now; the way people are binding

themselves together, mark today more than any previous day and it is a providential action of God, and the angels are the workmen. The first thing is to bind in bundles. As the truth is given up the tendency is for bodies of people to gather together and God is doing it providentially with a view to their destruction. The wheat is all going into heaven, the sons of the kingdom are all going to be harvested in heaven. So that we are just on the eve of that coming to pass; the sons of the kingdom are all going up together at the rapture. Presently they will come forth and in a new character; they are going to shine in the kingdom of their Father.

In the parable of the mustard seed He comes back to the present public side of things. The parable of the darnel goes right through to the finish with everything; that is, right through to the millennium clearly; so that it is more comprehensive in its scope than any of the other parables. "And they shall gather out of his kingdom all offences, and those that practise lawlessness" (verse 41), it says; so that leads on to the clearing out of the kingdom of the Son of Man everything unsuitable to it, lawlessness and so on, so that it can be left in its proper purity and righteous character, that is, it is the millennial day. There is no suffering of tares any longer, and thus there will be a sphere for the righteous to shine forth in. It is the earthly side all cleared and then on the heavenly side the righteous will shine in the kingdom, that is, they come out in the glory of sonship. Nothing will be right till then; that will put everything right below. The comprehensiveness of these parables is wonderful.

Rem. In a sense all the other parables fit into this parable.

C.A.C. The Lord's perfect knowledge gives us in these parables His estimate of things. He foresaw that the christian profession would become a very great tree in the

world. Nobody who read the New Testament could imagine that it could have such a result as has come about. So that christianity is the most imposing thing in the world. I wonder what Paul would think if he saw his cathedral in London!

The parable of the leaven is the secret working of what is evil; it is an element that is introduced and permeates the whole mass with corrupting influence. The Lord fore saw what would come about, that the "mystery of lawlessness" would permeate the whole christian profession. You get a wrong system and its darkening influence. Many have wrongly thought this parable meant the gospel would permeate the whole world.

C.A.C. The time of display, of all brought about in the kingdom of the heavens, will see a company of many sons in the Father's kingdom, the grand result of all the working of the Son of man's sowing of persons. The Father's kingdom will shine out in the great company of many sons -- the most blessed side of the kingdom. The creation will be liberated (Romans 8). There is going to be a triumphant issue. There is the 'going in' (John 14:2, 3) and 'the coming out', so that the Father may be seen in the glorified saints.

Ques. It is the difference between David and Solomon?

C.A.C. Yes, sonship is the crown of God's purposes -- displayed. "That the world may know that ... thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me", John 17:23. The Son will not be content until the world knows it; so when they shine forth the world will be compelled to see that the Father loves us as He loves Christ. Colossians 1:11 - 13 links on because it connects sonship with the kingdom; it is "the kingdom of the Son of his love". It links with Solomon, the Son of the Father's love. He is the true Solomon and the true Isaac.

In what we have read today we come to the very heart of the matter. All these precious truths are linked on to the kingdom of the heavens and are not to be detached from it. It is good to see these blessed divine thoughts put together in unity. It is not retaining anything of the old. We are all the fruits of sowing and specially of the sowing of the Son of man.

Ques. There is a spirit of subjection in the assembly, would you say?

C.A.C. And that is eternal because He gives up the kingdom to the Father. "Then the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all", 1 Corinthians 15:28. So that element of the kingdom remains eternally.

What we have before us here in the treasure hid in the field is the joy that Christ Himself finds in that which is the fruit of His own work as the Son of man. He can look at it objectively; He can contemplate objectively what is a very desirable thing to possess and He would give everything for it. We have to learn to put these thoughts together in our souls.

Rem. It is hidden in the field.

C.A.C. It is rather the hiding time now in contrast to display. What is of God does not make any public show. "Your life is hid with the Christ in God", Colossians 3:3; we have to accept that hidden character. All we have as our spiritual life is a hidden thing. You cannot show you are a son of God to anybody; it does not give you prominence in the world if you express it.

Rem. It is the glory of God to hide a matter.

C.A.C. So the mystery was "hid ... in God". It is a kind of glory of divine Persons to hide things. The Lord hid the treasure; He was the only One who could find it and He hid it. Display publicly now is out of keeping with this hidden character. If we are content with that place, the

Lord will give us a great place morally -- a city set on a hill. Who would have thought that the glory of God was wrapped up in a Babe in a manger? That is the great sign of the dispensation. The Lord has acquired rights by purchase over the whole world; every one owning that right becomes part of the treasure. The Lord Jesus bought every man, woman and child in the world and you can tell them so. If they say, 'That is wonderful! How glad I am that He has bought me'. Well, they show they are of the treasure. It is the excellency of what has come into the Lord's view in contrast to Israel. He takes up His title to a much wider ground now.

Ques. What is the difference between the two parables?

C.A.C. Oh, one is the epistle to the Romans and the other the epistle to the Ephesians. Is that right? Ephesians looks at us in a corporate unity. The treasure to Him is the joy it gives Him to have persons like Himself. Romans is individual; the Lord values us as a company of individuals. He would give up Israel for a company out of the nations having His Spirit (Romans speaks of having His Spirit). He would give all He had of the ancient promises for this prize. We need good eyesight to discover the treasure, for it is sometimes under queer covering! It will help us to bear reproach if we bear it in our heart. It is most comforting and stimulating.

Rem. "They shall be unto me a peculiar treasure", Malachi 3:17.

C.A.C. Peter preached "He is Lord of all". The difference between the saved and the lost is really that the saved own His title, and those who are lost are lost because they will not own it; they prefer their own title.

Rem. In these parables the different features of the kingdom are presented singly, the earthly and the heavenly side. The pearl is out of death; in its completeness it is "one pearl". And it is formed under pressure.

C.A.C. Its unity is important. There is hardly any thought of that in Israel; it was twelve tribes. It is good to think of the unity of the assembly. It is failure in the church that it has not taken shape in unity.

The net cast into the sea brings out the important principle of selection. There is a great mixture; it is the last phase of the kingdom of heaven which represents what is going on now. The selection of good fish into vessels is going on now. We would like to get them in! At the end of Revelation (chapter 22: 16) the thought of assemblies appears. The angel was sent to "testify these things to you in the assemblies". So just before He comes He contemplates assemblies. He has said, "Behold, I come quickly", Revelation 22:7. We would like all the christians in T. gathered. The vessels are local assemblies; no sect could be a vessel. If we do not include all in our mind and heart we shall be a sect, if we do not take care.

Rem. They sit down to do the selection.

C.A.C. It is a deliberate matter. You would look to see if they had fins and scales to judge of good fish. Fins are the mark of the ability to move in a definite way, not influenced by the current but balanced. If there is no definite movement in the right direction seen with them, well, they are not fit for the vessels. Scales are a protective quality about a saint that keeps the influence of the world from operating on him.

CHAPTER 14

C.A.C. God is pleased to bring His testimony before those in high places and to let us know that they have consciences. John was not afraid of Herod, but kept on speaking of his sin in taking his brother Philip's wife. We see how men are carried by Satan's power beyond anything they intend to do. Herod had never intended to kill John because he feared the crowd. Man in authority is really the slave to his fears and lusts. The Lord accepted it as a kind of foreshadowing of what would happen to Himself. When He heard of it He withdrew. He seems to withdraw so as to be the centre of attraction to those who fear God.

We see that the Lord does not always intervene to stop the violence against His most honoured servants, but He goes on with His service in grace in the midst of Israel. There was that in Him that could not be checked by any wickedness by man; whatever happens the service of grace goes on. Herod desired to see Jesus later on, but He treated him with contempt (Luke 23:8, 9); He never used a contemptuous word (see Luke 13:32) of anyone else. There is a certain moral baseness of character that deserves and receives contempt from God.

But it is beautiful to see the crowd following the Lord (verse 13) and being healed and fed -- there was an unlimited store of grace there to be drawn upon; He is really Master of the situation. These were not such a spiritual company as those later on, but they made a journey and had a certain interest in Him. It is a comfort that He takes account of it, even if their interest was a selfish one. John records that He had to tell them so, "Because ye have eaten of the loaves

and been filled", John 6:26. He goes on in the service of grace even when the objects of His service are unworthy. The feeding of the multitude is an important miracle; it is the only one recorded by all four evangelists. It is an important point with God to satisfy the minds and hearts of people, as we sing, 'Jesus! Thou art enough, the mind and heart to fill'. God would bring people to satisfaction. We have as much here with us to satisfy every person in Teignmouth, and as many more as you can find. We have got enough to do it! The loaves signify what they were possessed of in the knowledge of Christ, not much and feebly held, but enough to meet many thousands.

Ques. Why did the Lord say, "Bring them here to me"?

C.A.C. We hold that little in very weak hands, and it seems not very serviceable. Well, 'Bring it to Me and see what I can do with it', that is, the Lord takes account of the smallness of what we have really got. But are we ready always to bring it to Him for Him to do with it what He likes? Five is the number of human weakness. God has stamped the number five on man; he has five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, and five senses. It marks everything we have on the human side. It is also the number that speaks of grace. The infirmity of our flesh remains. Paul says, "I speak humanly on account of the weakness of your flesh", Romans 6:19. He is not speaking of something wrong. We are sometimes made very conscious of it; well, the Lord takes account of that, He knows how we are affected by things. But there is something there (if we are believers) that the Lord can use, and delights to use for men.

The loaves would be what knowledge we have of Christ, and the fishes represent what is wrought subjectively in the souls of men. They are taken out of the sea, indicating the work of God in men. It is like the two sides of the truth: in Christ it is objective, and then there is what God has

wrought in the souls of His people. If it is only in two it would be sufficient for a testimony. It would remind us that though our side is feeble, it is not unreal. Most of us would admit that our knowledge of Christ is feeble, but the thing is there substantially nevertheless; there is some appreciation of Christ, and some work of God evidenced because it is so. It is there though feeble, if we would only put it in His hand and let Him use it! It is not like the manna that came down from heaven, but He uses what is there, what His saints have. Do not be discouraged because it is a little, but let us bring it to Him to multiply. There is much in christendom that if brought to the Lord would be turned to dust and ashes in His hand.

No doubt the disciples had gathered up many precious thoughts of Christ from the Old Testament, and they realised that all these thoughts were substantiated in the Person in their midst, so that they had something to serve out. It would not be amiss if we had a stock-taking to see what we really have on hand. What do we really know? What have we really of Christ? It is good to look round and know.

Ques. As to the fish and what is objective and what subjective?

C.A.C. What is wrought in men is illustrated in John 1. When Simon was brought to the Lord He discerned he was a stone and, Nathanael "an Israelite, in whom there is no guile"; there was something wrought in them. Now all that enters into the food, what is objective in Christ and what God has wrought in the souls of His people; what is wrought in the saints is also food for you. The Scripture is largely made up of what is worked in the souls of the saints; the bulk of the Psalms is what is wrought in the saints. What is in Christ is the loaves and what is wrought in His saints, the fishes, and both sides are needed, it seems to me. So that the saints normally can not only speak of

Christ objectively, but they can say what He has become to them. We value in each other what Christ has become to us; that is what makes the saints precious to us, is it not?

I wondered if we get here an illustration of the fellowship. It is not that we subscribe to certain doctrines held by the exclusive brethren! Here there is grass. They had not any grass later on; they did not need it. It was rather a poor sample of people here and the Lord in His consideration provided conditions for them; but as saints get on they become independent of conditions. The Lord really never suspends His operations of grace, whatever the conditions are, and they are peculiar at the present time. Well, the Lord knows far more than we do about them, and His service of grace is going to take account of the peculiar conditions; indeed, it will take character from those very conditions.

Ques. Is there any link between the crowds we have been referring to and the sea the Lord walks upon?

C.A.C. I think it was rather the contrast. He had been available as amongst the crowds, and they had opportunity to benefit by all His resources, but He dismisses them. I suppose it intimates that His service in Israel would come to an end, and He takes a new character of service that was in relation to His own in the ship. Is it not very much the Lord's present position that He has finished His service in Israel and sent Israel away? But then He takes up another service on high, "he went up into the mountain apart to pray".

There is great comfort in thinking that He has gone on high, not as retiring from service, but as taking up a new intercessory character of service, and that having reference to the position in which His own are found in the world. It is good to have that distinctly before us -- He is on high praying, and He knows exactly what to pray for! I have

found great comfort in falling back on the intercession of Christ and of the Spirit. Even if the prayers of the saints fail His do not fail or cease. He knows exactly what is needed, and He is praying about the circumstances that the saints have to go through.

Ques. Is this the "stone" in 1 Peter 2:4? "If it be thou, command me to come to thee upon the waters".

C.A.C. Yes. Peter seems to set forth peculiarly the assembly position. The disciples in the boat are the saints looked at as the Jewish remnant. They have to pass over the stormy sea until the Lord returns to them; but the portion and privilege of the assembly is really to join the Lord; and the more we understand His interest and care for us, and His intercessory service, the more we shall be drawn to Him. He never forgets us, and knows every wave that beats against the boat; and all the frailty and weakness of those in the boat. He knows all about it but it is a matter of intercession.

Ques. Peter says the saints are "begotten ... again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead, to an incorruptible and undefiled and un fading inheritance". That would be in principle Christ taking another place?

C.A.C. Yes, but He is occupied with the conditions here. Romans 8 contemplates many things that may possibly come upon us, but it comforts us by telling us that Christ is at the right hand of God, and intercedes for us, and that none of the things down here can separate us from the love of God. It is a fixed constancy in that love! And in Hebrews it comes in in relation to the service of God, so that it may not suffer. But He ever lives to intercede for us, so that one's feebleness and the circumstances we are in may not hinder the service of God going on. It is precisely what He is making intercession for.

Rem. Hebrews says the law makes men high priests

which have infirmities.

C.A.C. We do not know such a system of imperfection; whatever He takes up is done perfectly, and God's way is to teach us to leave all our infirmity and really come to Christ. Every infirmity raises the question, 'Well, can I come to Christ?' That is what He is doing, He is making Himself available to us to come to Him.

Rem. Where it says in Philippians, "in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" it also says, "The Lord is near", Philippians 4:5.

C.A.C. We do not use Him enough, do we? We want to make use of Him, He is near! "A help in distresses, very readily found", Psalm 46:1.

Ques. Is the fourth watch the darkest of all?

C.A.C. It is nearest to the morning, is it not? Well, that is the time He presents Himself to His own.

Ques. The fourth watch is the last?

C.A.C. Yes.

Ques. Why does it say, "he went off to them"?

C.A.C. I wonder whether it intimates that was the night of His absence. As we draw near the end we may expect a special movement on the Lord's part and I think there has been, as the night is far spent. The Lord is making Himself a reality to the hearts of His saints.

Ques. Why did the Lord appear in such a way; they did not recognise Him at first?

C.A.C. I think it brought out that they had not very good eyesight! But the Lord often comes near and we do not recognise Him. I think it shows the possibility of the Lord's coming to His own without being recognised, as in John 21. But then, He immediately spoke to them. If we do not recognise Him, He makes His own voice heard.

Rem. We get into the darkness and difficulty sometimes and He is near all the time!

C.A.C. So we look for the Lord to make Himself known by some ministry that is really His voice to us. And Peter understood that where the Lord was he could be; he rose at that moment to great elevation, 'Where Thou art I can be' -- which is a great thing to apprehend.

Ques. What about the thought of being commanded?

C.A.C. Everything depends on His word. John speaks much of commandment. His commandment is the pleasure of His love in regard to His saints; it is what pleases Him. That is the way to get at privileges -- to see that it is according to His pleasure that we should take them up, though it might seem an impossibility to walk on water. It is an impossible thing for nature! One marvels it came into Peter's mind; it certainly did not come naturally. He got an impression that he could do it too! Though an impossibility to nature, it was possible to love, and what is possible we have to learn from the Lord's own words. We might think that it is impossible that we should be fitted for association with the Son of God and that He should be our life -- what an impossibility for nature! But if we take His word for it, we see it is a divine possibility that we should join Him, and He loves that we should do it. Peter had a spiritual impulse and a spiritual desire but he was not really equal to what he proposed.

Rem. He just walked on the water for a moment or two which was wonderful!

C.A.C. Of yes, it was shown to be a practical thing. I suppose we get impressions from the Lord, and we have desires to move spiritually, but we have to learn we cannot sustain ourselves in a position into which in faith and love we have brought ourselves; we have to be dependent on Him.

Ques. In Galatians 2 is Peter beginning again to sink and needing dependence again?

C.A.C. Yes, it is not enough to have a right thought

before us, but have we the power to work it out practically?

Rem. It says, "immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught hold of him".

C.A.C. Oh yes, He never fails. It was a very blessed experience, though very humbling to Peter. He could not get back into the ship and say, 'I did it all'! The Lord has very often to let us down; we propose a thing, and though in faith and love, cannot carry it through. We have to cast ourselves upon His mercy, and then it is all right! Peter went back into the ship a better man than he came out.

Rem. Our security lies in keeping our eye and faith fixed on the Lord.

C.A.C. The first thoughts of love are generally right, but then the test comes in, the wind was there. I do not know that it was any worse, but his attention was diverted from the Lord, and then he began to sink. It shows the importance of keeping the eye on the One who is in absolute supremacy. Whatever difficulties there are, He is in supremacy; and when we think how the Lord can meet things, it keeps us steady. It is not how I can meet things, but how He can; and any circumstance that makes us feel practically that we cannot do without the Lord is very good for us. That is why the present distress is very good for us, showing us that we cannot do without Him. It shows that circumstances may be very adverse; they are sometimes, but then the Lord draws near and gives an impression of Himself. It is a wonderful thing to get an impression of the Son of God; it is that here because it all brings out that it is God's Son.

Rem. It was lack of confidence in the Lord at the bottom with Peter.

C.A.C. That is most important. Why should we ever doubt Him? It is sad to think we should. Paul says, "Be careful for nothing" -- a very simple word, but one of the

most difficult things possible for us to do! Mr Stoney used to say that 'all this is education for the assembly'; all leading up to chapter 16 where the truth of the assembly comes out. We are taught the privilege of leaving everything that would naturally be a support; there is the privilege of leaving it all. It is the weakness of the church that it is always clinging to something that gives a natural support; but the Lord would teach us to take up a position outside all natural support. The boat was adapted to the water and served its purpose, but it is a greater thing to walk on the water than to keep in the boat.

The Lord comes back to the boat eventually and He will come back to the remnant of His people, who will be found in the presence of great distress and trouble, and give them rest from their distresses, so that all will know that He is God's Son.

It is wonderful how the Lord has opened up the truth of His Sonship in later years; there is a better apprehension of Him as Son of God than ever before. And then we have the privilege of association with Him, as we get in chapter 17: the sons are free, "give it to them for me and thee". He puts Peter along with Himself in sonship; what a wonderful position!

Rem. It says, "They brought to him all that were ill, and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment; and as many as touched were made thoroughly well" (verses 35 - 36).

C.A.C. I suppose it sets forth typically what He will do when He comes back. He will put everything right. And we are just waiting for that! The people of the earth will have to learn by their very distresses that there is no remedy but the Son of God; so He will become "the desire of all nations". It is marvellous to think of! And everybody will be healed. What marvels this Person is able to do! It is all in that Person. It is true that none of us has anything

worth having outside that Person, and all there is in Him is available to each individual and to the whole assembly. So there is nothing exclusive about it.

CHAPTER 15

C.A.C. It was grievous to the Lord to see people occupied with external things of no importance while setting aside what was of great importance in God's sight.

The leaven of the Pharisees is an important thing to beware of for we are all naturally Pharisees. There was idolatry with the people from Judges to Acts, but after wards they fell into something worse. They were really worshipping the worst idol there ever was -- self! Their heart was far from God. If we are near to God we know that it is moral and spiritual things that count. Their religion was against the commandments of God. If a man gave to the temple what he might have given to his poor old father they excused him.

Rem. If they had been near the Lord they would love His commandments.

C.A.C. And that leads into liberty. The disciples were in liberty; they did not wash their hands when they ate bread. They were set at liberty from what men count important things; being in His company set them free from things that held other people in bondage. It was a very vital matter according to the commandment that a man should honour his father and mother; if he did he would live long in the land. I have observed that when people begin to be particular about trifles they are generally lax about a big thing. Legal persons are generally very particular about trifles that do not matter, but will do the most God-dishonouring thing. The household order precedes the house order. I suppose all the disorder in the world today grows out of the fact that children are extremely lawless

with regard to parents. The divine order is that parents are to be honoured, not merely obeyed, and it is displeasing to God when that order is not honoured. So the Lord takes this opportunity to discard the legal system altogether; that is, it is setting aside Leviticus 11. No doubt Peter was astonished; he called it a parable (verse 15). What is in the mind of God has to be understood spiritually, but the Jew takes it up literally. Peter said, "I have never eaten anything common or unclean", Acts 10:14. He would never have said that if he had paid attention to this, but he could not say that nothing common or unclean had ever come out of his mouth. It is quite possible for religious flesh to take up outward things, but it is the state of the heart that God looks at and boasting in what is of no value. The Lord exposes the human heart; it is the fountain of every evil thing. J.B.S. used to tell us that this is education for the assembly, and we need to know that nothing comes out of the heart of man but evil continually: so there is a necessity for the Father of Christ to do some planting. Nothing man does is good because his heart is a fountain of evil, so the Lord says very solemnly, "Leave them alone". It is a question now of what the Father has planted, and they are the ones that are of value. It is more the kingdom idea. The Lord is setting all the Pharisees aside, and we go on with the Lord as we accept what the natural heart is. It is not a very bright thing to consider, but we are to consider it -- to recognise the natural product of the human heart and to take it in, so that we should not have to consider it any more.

J.N.D. said he never thought of himself but as utterly vile, and it was the greatest help to him all his life. We are all Pharisees. It comes out in Peter when he said, "I have never eaten anything common or unclean"; he is a real Pharisee, and the Lord had to knock it out of him as He has to knock it out of each one of us. This is instruction

to discount what comes out of our own human hearts; that cannot be taken up for any service of God whatever. So we really come in on the footing of the Syrophenician woman (Mark 7:26).

God would furnish us with a supply of new thoughts. The only thoughts in my heart that are right are what God has put there. We are taken up to have an entirely new system of things put in our hearts, that which is moral and pleasing to Him. These plants are not marked by evil thoughts and so on, but Paul says, "We ... were children, by nature, of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3), and he was a man who had been a Pharisee of the Pharisees. It moves us over in a very fundamental way from the old to the new. We want to go on with the holy thoughts that God has put in our hearts, thoughts of God and of Christ. It is a great comfort to go on with true and holy thoughts. If we do not maintain the sentence of judgment on the old man we shall bring out his thoughts but we are to go on with what is new. All these plants are suitable for the assembly. So that the heart is purified by faith; no one gets the Spirit until that takes place. "The heart-knowing God", it says, "bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit as to us also ... . having purified their hearts by faith", Acts 15:8,9. God could look into the heart of Cornelius which was purified. The heart that has admitted Christ is a pure heart, and God has made it possible for the christian to have a pure heart that delights in having occupation with what is pure and holy and of God. It is purely a work of grace.

Rem. "Those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart", 2 Timothy 2:22.

C.A.C. Yes, the saints as such are persons "that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart", that is, they are not hypocrites. The Scriptures help us; what we gather up from the Scriptures is pure, is holy, is of God. So we need to use all available means to maintain purity of heart: --

Scripture, prayer, the company of the saints, and getting together as we are now.

Rem. If we live in a pure atmosphere we take character from it.

C.A.C. This was great instruction for the disciples who were accustomed to live as Jews. I do not think it could be understood by a company of christians until after the Spirit came; that is the teaching of Leviticus 11. We cannot be too particular in paying attention to every detail of Scripture. "Every word of God is pure". So with Leviticus 11 (which was intended to be instruction for us, not for the Jews) then we can read it spiritually. Everything that God commanded was for man's good. The law was all for man's good, and if they had kept the law they would have been very happy.

Rem. In a future day they will keep it as in Psalm 119.

C.A.C. There is nothing wrong with the law, it is excellent at every point; the trouble is that man is in such a state that he cannot be subject to it! The knowledge of God revealed in love is the spring now. There is a new motive -- spring in the heart of man. If you get into the heart of a believer you find praiseful and adoring thoughts of God and Christ. Normally, it is occupied with the revelation of God in love and grace in His Son and they become the spring of conduct. You do not think of studying anything. God's thoughts towards His people cannot be numbered; we have all that to go on with. So there is no excuse for going on with evil thoughts.

An evil thought comes into the mind, do we give it a chair and tell it to sit down or do we judge and disown it? And evil thoughts give christians great distress -- no pleasure. Do these thoughts please you? Oh no, you say, 'I wish I could get rid of them'.

C.A.C. What we have here is something like the branch of the wild olive being grafted into the good olive. I think

of the Lord having Israel before Him, but having made known that the Gentile was to be brought in, but with due recognition of Israel's place.

Rem. It says the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. This woman brings a choice gift with her faith.

Ques. Does the four thousand give a universal setting?

C.A.C. They were a very superior company to the five thousand; although smaller they were a better company. Chapter 11 in Romans is a special epistle to the Gentiles; but Paul turns round in chapters 9 and 11 to say, 'Now you owe it all to Israel. So do not be high-minded or conceited. You owe it all to the promises given to another people'; a warning is added too, to prevent us being conceited. We get off the ground of mercy if we entertain high thoughts of ourselves; and if we do we are no good for God.

Rem. The woman speaks of His compassion here.

C.A.C. It is delightful. She was a little presumptuous in making some claim to the Son of David, so the Lord had to treat her with a certain amount of reserve and coldness. These incidents are leading up to what the Lord says of the assembly in the next chapter. The Lord knew that the assembly was going to be largely composed of Gentiles. God had committed Himself in the way of promise to a certain family -- to Abraham, who was really the root of the tree of promise. And all blessing depends on coming into that line. If not on a natural line we have to come into it in a remarkable way. Faith on his part laid hold of the promises. God did not make any promises in the garden of Eden. He told the serpent that the Seed of the woman should bruise his head; but He made no promise to Adam and Eve. He never committed Himself to any one before Abraham, that is to say, the world had then gone on about two thousand years.

Rem. Whatever promises there are were made to Christ, that is, to the Seed.

C.A.C. That is very important -- and to "thy seed". Paul bases his argument on one letter -- 's'. Well, they cannot break down if made to Christ! They would all break down if they were made to me, because of the unsatisfactory character of the person they were made to. If not exactly made to Him, He was the depository of the promises. This woman represents the Gentiles, that is, all of us Gentiles. She had to own that she had no claim whatever. (Pity brings in the idea of feeling, which mercy perhaps might not have).

She has to fall back on this universal title of "Lord", and He is the same Lord over all. The Gentiles were in that miserable condition, pictured by the daughter, having no knowledge of God, worshipping demons, with no promises, and no covenants to lay hold of; as the apostle says, "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world", Ephesians 2:12. But it is very comforting that God does produce in a few Gentile hearts some sense of it; it is a great thing to have a sense of it, and a desire to know something of that connected with the olive tree of promise. It was depressing on another line because the Gentiles had not any title on that line. He was no more entitled to the promise than a dog to the bread of the children. This needs care; the nations were to come in. The Lord is severe, is He not? There is bread for the children, but none for you! We are not always prepared to say 'Yes' to the Lord, but we have to come to it! Her faith was marvellous, because it rose right above all that the Lord said. That might have depressed any confidence she had, but she rose right above what He said and replied: 'Thou canst not say there is not a crumb from Thy table even for a dog'!

Rem. It says, "Jesus, going forth from thence, went away into the parts of Tyre and Sidon", whence she had

come. It reminds one of Luke 10 -- He "came up to him". He put Himself within her reach.

C.A.C. That is beautiful. I suppose she read something into that. And she accepted His correction. No, 'I have no title to the promises' but in her mind there was something greater than the promises. As rejected by Israel He was set free to let the branches run over the wall (verse 24). We want a moral answer in our souls to this; that is the great point; so that we are in the assembly not on the ground of the promises but simply on the ground of the goodness of God, what He is in Himself. The woman says, 'I cannot claim anything on the ground of the promises, but Thou art greater than the promises'; and because of what He was, she put in her claim. He could not say He had not a crumb from His table; it would be denying Himself, and that would be worse than denying His promises!

We were seeing last Wednesday in Micah 7 that there is something greater than all the promises; it is the Promiser. The Promiser must be greater than the promises, and that sets us at liberty. If there is a new covenant, it is what sets us at liberty. We can take account of all we have been, but the blessed God is known to us in the absoluteness of His own Being, and He says, 'I will consummate that covenant with you, and will not remember one of your sins'. If I have 'twice ten thousand sins' I have come to the blessed God and I find that He loves me, and His love is expressed in forgiveness; it is what is in His heart.

We were greatly impressed on Wednesday by the thought of God known in forgiveness; at least one person was -- I was! It is greater than the house or the kingdom, or the millennium; to know God is greater than all the promises. Under the new covenant they get the knowledge of God. With sins gone, I can go right into the holiest; if that is the position, I am not afraid!

The great danger of the Gentile is that he does not continue in the goodness of God. This woman started with the goodness of God; she had no title or claim. Now we are to stick to that; that is, everything depends on what God is, not one single bit on what I am. "O woman, thy faith is great". Her faith was great enough, in spite of all her disabilities, to reach up to the blessed God. The only thing on my part is the desire for it; that is my claim for it. The poor unconverted sinner has no claim, but he can say -- 'But I want it, and Thou art good enough to give it' -- there is not much difficulty in that! And this is the testimony that the Lord leaves in a Gentile world, for this woman was a daughter of Tyre.

Rem. Jesus sat down on the mountain, it says here.

C.A.C. Verse 32 shows that more spiritual conditions had come about than when He fed the five thousand. Fancy stopping with Him three days without anything doing; the five thousand had only been one day. It sets forth a very spiritually minded company -- they were with Him three days without ever feeling hungry; they were fed spiritually. That is why the number seven (verse 34) comes in I suppose.

Rem. They were continuing in the goodness of God.

C.A.C. I am glad you said that; there is the principle of their going on with it with this company. There was no grass there; that is, these people are not fussy about being comfortable. They are so taken up with the Lord that they are independent of any special comfort. The Lord was so much to them that He says. "they have stayed with me already three days". When on the line of grace (the number five of human weakness comes in there) the Lord provides comfortable conditions for His people. This nice little room is a bit of the grass; but we ought to be so attached to Him that we should be there if there were very poor conditions. It is not now a question of grace but the perfection

of divine supplies; spiritual supplies are there in abundance. There is a little larger supply of fish too. I think the fish represent what is found in man for God, and the loaves what is supplied by God for men. The fish is never equal to the bread supply, but there is a testimony to it; there were two in the first case. A few small fishes caught show what is there, and so today, there is not much to say on our side, but there is something secured in the saints for the pleasure of God.

They came out to where the Lord was, and we have had to learn that we could not get light and blessing in our natural surroundings, but in association with Him in an outside place. Many people like to read our books but do not get much help from them. Healing comes before feeding. Many with us are attracted to the Lord on the line of infirmity so we cannot be fed before being healed -- healing first then feeding!

Ques. The dumb speaking comes first?

C.A.C. That is very fine. We often find that infirmity. If only we let Him have a free hand, He can deal with any case! Verse 30, "they cast them at his feet". The only thing is to get it to His feet. He will deal with it! It is a great triumph when the dumb speak.

In verse 36, in giving thanks He recognises the Father as the source of all. In this giving thanks He takes His place as Head, that is, His place Godward. It was the most wonderful thing the disciples heard -- far more wonderful than the miracles -- when they heard Him speak to the Father! They would never forget it. How it would come back to them afterwards. Mr Raven, though greatly valuing J.N.D.'s teaching, said how much he valued his prayers. The saints are still speaking to the Father through those wonderful hymns J.N.D. wrote.

CHAPTER 16

Ques. Why are the Sadducees introduced in this chapter?

C.A.C. I suppose to show that they were equally incapable of discerning who was there, and also to show that they could work together with the Pharisees against Jesus. They were bitterly opposed one to the other, but could continue together against the Lord Jesus. They are two elements that we have to do with. What the Lord was looking for was some ability to discern. If there was no ability to discern what was of God when it was presented, there was nothing. Fancy asking Him to show them a sign out of heaven! The great sign out of heaven was there. They showed their utter blindness.

Rem. Orthodoxy and unorthodoxy both failed to recognise the Person.

C.A.C. Yes, so if people maintain today that Peter is the rock on which the church is built, they are only confessing their own moral incapability. If they had any moral discernment they would understand it to be an impossibility. So the Lord will not respond and will not reason with them, but declares they are a wicked and adulterous generation. They could discern the import of natural things, but could not discern Emmanuel when He was there in their midst, with every evidence that He was Emmanuel. The Pharisees and Sadducees were both on the same footing evidently. It lies at the root of any understanding of the assembly to see that it does not hang on knowledge of the Scriptures; it all hangs on an inward power of discernment, which the Scriptures in themselves will not impart. And people can build themselves up on Scripture, and feel that

Scripture will carry them through -- it will not! It is the Person of whom Scripture speaks that will carry them through. The Lord's word to the Jews is very important, "Ye search the scriptures, for ye think that in them ye have life eternal".

Rem. "They it is which bear witness concerning me", John 5:39.

C.A.C. It is the Person of whom the Scriptures testify. And He says, "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life", John 5:40. It is possible to study the Scriptures without any inward power of discernment -- and so useless.

Rem. There must be a moral foundation of God in the soul.

C.A.C. That is very important, and we have to come to that. You may reason and argue with people, but without inward discernment of what is of God it leads nowhere.

Rem. The Lord was pleased to say "flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens".

C.A.C. It is evident that this wicked and adulterous generation provided no material for God, and it had to be cast out, and that is "the sign of Jonas". What the Lord had in mind was that by their rejection of Himself they showed manifestly that they were cast out by God.

Ques. What does the "sign of Jonas" present to us?

C.A.C. It is really the casting out of a generation that was entirely out of harmony with God. Jonas was entirely out of harmony with God, and that necessitated his being cast out. It is the casting out of the Hebrew. Peter had inward discernment; he had not learnt from the Scripture that Jesus was the Christ.

Rem. He would be confirmed by Scripture.

C.A.C. He did not need the Scripture; he had the Person of whom the Scripture speaks. It was not the Scripture that convicted him of sin, but he found himself

in the presence of God in Jesus -- the "great multitude of fishes" overcame him. He was there in grace and goodness, so he discerns his state in the light of who was there. It was declared before that, I suppose, that he was a stone for the building; that is, the Lord discerned something in Peter that was suitable to be put into His new structure. The record of the Scriptures is most important, but the Pharisees at any rate were full of Scripture and could give Scripture for anything, yet they had no capacity to discern the Person of whom Scripture speaks and when He was presented as perfectly as the Scriptures present, they did not recognise Him.

Rem. We see the difference between a very simple soul and one with ritual with a scriptural basis, who does not know the Person.

Rem. We want the Spirit of the Scriptures.

C.A.C. We want the Person.

Rem. It needs the work of a divine Person in a man, so that he accepts the Scripture.

Rem. The letter kills, the Spirit gives life.

C.A.C. It is very simple; these people were full of the Scriptures, and made their boast in the Scriptures, but there was a complete lack of ability to discern Emmanuel in their midst.

Ques. What does the leaven of the Pharisees mean?

C.A.C. It says, "of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees" in verse 12.

Rem. It only serves to inflate and such would have no appreciation of what is of God.

C.A.C. And we find this same want of discernment coming out in the disciples; they reason among themselves, saying, "Because we have taken no bread". It was great lack of discernment. He had shown quite recently that He could feed thousands of people!

Rem. Last week we had that the Lord spoke of the

great faith of the woman; here He says, "O ye of little faith".

C.A.C. You see the Lord felt it, that even His disciples had so little inward discernment of who He was that they should think He would find fault with them, because they had forgotten to take bread.

Rem. He expects His people to understand; it is educational (c.f. verse 11). It is connecting it all again with the Person. Here He was Himself in Person with them, so they should have comprehended Him in a wonderful way. The chief of the Pharisees, 'a Pharisee of the Pharisees', was converted by the presentation of the Person.

Ques. Is Caesarea-Philippi going into other territory?

C.A.C. It was the extreme north of the land which is rather suggestive that the assembly was going to take its place chiefly in the Gentile world.

Ques. The Lord asks, "Who do men say that I the Son of man am?" Peter says, "The Christ, the Son of the living God". Why should that be?

C.A.C. The Lord habitually spoke of Himself as the Son of man. He had come to take up everything on man's side and behalf; it is also a title that extended beyond Israel. It was obvious that the Lord was taking up things on man's behalf; His whole life and service showed that He was taking up man's cause. They could not deny that, but did they really perceive who He was as to His Person?

Rem. The Lord is touching the crux of the matter now -- who He is.

C.A.C. We find men had good thoughts about Him, but they did not rise above that. All could divine something wonderful there, but they could not discern who He was. But the disciples had an inward power of perception to discern who He was, and Peter declares it. The question is raised with them all, and Simon Peter is the spokesman for the rest.

Ques. Would this help in the matter of asking for fellowship? It is a matter of what they can say as to Jesus, who He is.

C.A.C. And I think it will become more necessary to raise the question, because there are so many who profess to believe on Him who have no true thought of His Person at all.

Rem. The Supper is for intelligent persons, that is, intelligent as to the Lord.

C.A.C. And those who hold any doctrine, whether of the Pharisees or Sadducees will, I believe, be found defective as to the Person; the root of the thing is that the Person is not known.

Rem. Everything revolves round this, the accuracy of Peter's answer. If he is right as to the Person, there will be very little wrong doctrine.

C.A.C. Peter has a distinguished place here, but a representative place.

Rem. This knowledge is the result of the working of divine Persons in our soul; it is what is wrought in us by God, not by the study of the Scriptures.

C.A.C. There is stability about this. What the Father had revealed to Peter had the character of unshakeable stability.

Rem. The rock is really the confession of Jesus as the Son of God.

Rem. It is what was confessed -- the truth that He was the Son of God.

C.A.C. And it was known by the Father's revelation; what was objectively presented in Christ was known subjectively in Peter's soul by the Father's revelation; so there is a stability about it that hades' gates could not prevail against. 'Gates' is a kind of military figure. Christ's assembly is an impregnable fortress, and when you think of the kind of material of which it is built, you find it must

be so. It is built with persons who by the Father's grace have come to a true apprehension of the Person of Christ as the Son of God, and those brought to it cannot be moved. It is difficult to realise it in view of all the failure, but we have to understand that Christ is building a structure that is impregnable. The one thing to have our minds set on continually is to understand who Christ is, that He is the Son of God. Each time we come together in assembly we should get a little deepening of the glories of Christ, the Son of the living God, and be more stable and fixed in our thoughts. We do not want to be carried about by winds of doctrine; we want to be stabilised. I am grieved to see how soon saints are carried away by influences that come along.

Rem. The Lord enjoins on His disciples not to say that He was the Christ.

C.A.C. I suppose that testimony in Israel was finished; that is, a new order of things was coming in, the assembly and the kingdom of the heavens, both depending on the Lord being in heaven. The testimony of His being the Christ had gone forth in Israel and had been refused. The assembly is here viewed in its completeness; "I will build my assembly" (verse 18) regards it as the work of Christ. The local assembly is in chapter 18 but the universal assembly in chapter 16.

Rem. The keys stand in an assembly setting though it was said to Peter, "I will give to thee ..". (verse 19).

C.A.C. There is evidently a distinction between the assembly and the kingdom of the heavens. Mr. Darby said that to confound the assembly and the kingdom of the heavens had the worst possible moral effect on the soul; if so, it is a serious thing. Is that sound doctrine, Mr. B.?

Rem. Please explain.

C.A.C. You could not think of any foolish virgin in

the assembly, could you?

Rem. The mysteries of the kingdom recognize something that is spurious.

C.A.C. That is helpful, I think. I suppose sometimes the Lord speaks of the kingdom of the heavens in its spiritual reality as that which has come under His own rule in heaven; yet there is a dispensational setting in which it has taken the place of Israel on earth and there may be that come in which is not perfect. I was thinking that Peter had the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, not of the assembly. He could not let anyone into the assembly as Christ's building. Peter opened the door to the Jew in Acts 2 and to the Gentile in Acts 10, but it does not follow that all the people he opened the door to were converted. In this chapter it is the assembly in its universality and each stone is a living stone. Peter was a living stone because he had a true apprehension in his heart of Christ, which is what makes one.

Ques. Why was Peter tested by this question?

C.A.C. We are all tested by what we think of Christ. "What think ye of Christ?" is a good question, and our place in the assembly is determined by what we think of Christ. What the Father has wrought in human hearts is what makes material for the assembly; nothing else has any value. Paul says, "God ... was pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I may announce him as glad tidings among the nations", Galatians 1:15, 16. He had the same kind of revelation as Peter but it was entirely God's work.

Rem. Here the Lord claims Peter as a stone for the building.

C.A.C. It is after all the assembly viewed in a provisional aspect. It is a position in which the assembly stands in the presence of hades' gates; they are not going to stand for ever; it is hardly an eternal relation of the assembly. It is one unit here -- "My assembly". It is

by the Father's grace if any soul gets a true and divine apprehension of Christ as the Son of God, and nothing -- not all the powers of darkness -- can overturn what is accomplished by the Father's grace.

Ques. Would you say a word as to binding and loosing?

C.A.C. I suppose that was personal to Peter. There is no hint that that particular power would be passed on to any other. The Pope pretends he has the keys now. In John 20 the disciples are set up with the power of the administration of the forgiveness of sins. The commission to remit sins has been given to the assembly.

Ques. Where would we get Peter binding?

C.A.C. When he said to Simon, "Thy money go with thee to destruction", Acts 8:20. He was binding him.

Ques. That soul was lost then?

C.A.C. Yes. This commission is not continued; when he had opened the door to Jew and Gentile there was nothing more for Peter to do -- nothing more to be done. The Lord has committed Himself to Peter and He has committed Himself to the assembly in that way, so there is no appeal against an assembly judgment.

Ques. In Galatians everything Peter does does not stand?

C.A.C. He was the very man who denied the Lord; but when He said this in Matthew 16 it did not mean Peter was going to be absolutely perfect as an individual; but He spoke of his commission with reference to binding and loosing in the kingdom of the heavens. It was given to Peter to give a most wonderful declaration of Christ's resurrection on the day of Pentecost. John could not have gone to the house of Cornelius and let the Gentiles in. It is the Lord's appointment and we have to accept it; we recognise the wonderful place the Lord had given Peter. It was the divine appointment that Peter should let in the Jew and Gentile and he did it. There is always a selected

vessel for an appointed service; no man could get into it voluntarily. I might pray to be an apostle for fifty years; it would not be the slightest use. I would rather pray that I might be a brother; I think the Lord might help me on that line. It is good to accept what the Lord appoints. The disciples all had to accept Peter's appointment.

Scripture makes provision for the assembly sinning. Then it will be made known and they will come with their offering. It is very rarely the assembly is wrong. The old saint, when the Pope watched Peter's pence being counted, said, 'The Pope cannot say now, "Silver and gold I have not", neither can he say, "Rise up and walk"', Acts 3:6.

Ques. Is the opening statement of this section consequent on His rejection?

C.A.C. What belonged to His presentation to Israel as the Christ was now to be in abeyance (verse 20), this new thought having been introduced as to the assembly.

Ques. That He would be "killed, and the third day be raised"; would you connect that with the securing of the assembly? What is the thought of showing it to His disciples?

C.A.C. He was bringing it out as a great present necessity, the cutting off of the Messiah and His having nothing. It was most important for them to understand that if they were to come into the new structure, was it not? It really meant the suspension of all the hopes of Israel connected with the flesh.

Rem. I suppose it was so important that the Lord took this way that they should understand the import of it. He showed that everything was based on His death and resurrection, so that everything was ensured for the assembly and for Israel.

C.A.C. Yes, and the attitude of Peter showed how necessary it was for them and for us. Peter was so in the

dark about it that he took upon himself to rebuke the Lord, a most unseemly attitude to take up, showing that his soul was not formed in the truth of what He had confessed in the Father's grace that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was a genuine thing in his soul but he was not formed in it one bit. How much we know and confess -- real as far as it goes -- but we are not formed in it. We have the light of Scripture and ministry and confess it and are prepared to stand by it, yet are not formed inwardly by it. If Peter had been he would never have thought of rebuking the Lord. We are, many of us, not spiritually formed by what we know of the truth. It raises the question whether we are in correspondence with the truth that we know. The secret with Peter was he was not prepared to give up Christ after the flesh, which shows he was not prepared to give himself up. If he had been prepared to deny himself he would not have had any difficulty about Christ going into death.

Rem. It is important, this matter of formation which is so slow in us.

C.A.C. It does not come quite so quickly as the revelation. It becomes a reality in the soul, and then the formation begins; it is the beginning. Formation does not come so quickly as the light of the revelation which we are prepared to receive and perhaps confess.

Ques. Is light given in advance as encouragement?

C.A.C. Yes, and of course, the Lord's rebuke comes in; it was a very severe rebuke. I do not know that the Lord ever addressed any other saint as Satan. It is to impress the immense importance of it. If we do not apprehend the necessity of Christ going into death we are simply a mouthpiece of Satan -- even with the very best intentions -- to express what is opposed to the present mind of God. "Thy mind is not on the things that are of God, but on the things that are of men", the Lord says, and that when Peter

has been speaking very kindly to the Lord! So there is the imperative necessity of denying oneself. The root of the matter in Peter's soul was that he did not deny himself; he wanted to retain himself. That is, we must come into correspondence with the death of Christ, there is no other way to come into the assembly.

Rem. "If any one desires to come after me", that is attraction to Christ.

C.A.C. That is very beautiful, and is the way that the power comes in. There was attraction to the Lord with Peter, but a good deal of Peter still. It is really worth while when the Lord according to grace becomes more attractive to us than ourselves. There is that in the Lord that surpasses self in the heart and there is power to say 'No' whatever form it takes, and self takes many forms; that involves the cross; I cannot refuse myself without suffering.

The death of Christ was a necessity because of what we are -- not because of what He was! The Messiah was cut off because of Israel's terrible condition and they will have to learn that; and we all have to come to it, that our nature is such that the death of Christ is an absolute necessity. Then we can move after this wonderful Person who has been made known to us by the Father's grace.

Ques. Do we accept the fact that the death of Christ as the cutting off of self was an absolute necessity?

C.A.C. And that we should live in another life, that it is possible to live the life of One who lives to God. Through the death of Christ we can live in His life, a new kind of life in which self has no place. That is He becomes the true self -- the choicest object of the heart. It is good to keep out of the things that are of men; the world is full of them and we must have fins and scales to go through without being contaminated by human thoughts. Is it not delightful to see that though the Lord rebukes Peter it does not alter Peter's place in the new structure? We see the

character of the new structure in chapter 18 -- persons He can trust without any question, showing that the Lord can bring about what is in His own mind in spite of the poor material that He starts with. So it is a question of which life we want to save. If a man desires to save his life he will lose it, that is, all that belongs to himself as a man living here; but if Christ has become the life of the believer, it is Christ he wants to save, not himself. It is a wonderful triumph when we give place to the life of Christ at some very real cost of suffering to ourselves -- and even in a small way it is a good point gained. To be able to consider for Christ and be able to retain Him is a great victory, and there is no other way of being in the assembly. What a company of people the assembly really is!

Ques. Only what is of Christ goes into the assembly, so it is a question of formation really.

C.A.C. Yes. So that it is an exercise, all the time, that we do not suffer the loss of our souls. This is a continual exercise -- not once; "For what does a man profit, if he should gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?" It is to lose it in the sense that place is not given to Christ. If I do not give place to Him I lose my soul. It is so important in view of the assembly. What makes all the trouble is that something comes in that is not the life of Christ, not the new life but the old life, and what we gain on that line is not gain but loss. God generally allows His people to have what they are after naturally in order that we may learn that when we have got it, it is not worth having. Mr Stoney used to rub it well into us that it is all instruction for the assembly, and, of course, it has in view the day of manifestation. It says, "the Son of man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels".

Rem. It is in view of what is ahead; the glory of Christ is ahead.

C.A.C. And everything is coming out. He will render to

every man. One who is diligently giving place to Christ will not be much thought of in the world, but it is all coming out by and by. The Lord was pleased that they should have the prospect of His kingdom, and He allowed them in a remarkable way to see His kingdom. That is like the other side of the cross. While there is suffering on the one hand, there is the glory. There is a system of glory, of which He is the centre, and all that is spiritually real in us will come out in that scene of glory. It will all come out, so hypocrisy is not worth much after all; and really we have to do with Him glorified. It is a present reality that He is glorified.

Rem. I suppose Peter profited by this.

C.A.C. Yes, and He could only enter into His glory by passing through death.

Ques. Would you explain the difference between the cross of Christ and the death of Christ?

C.A.C. The cross involves suffering, "He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin". In a sense the cross is all the week.

Rem. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ".

Ques. Is it the passover side of things?

C.A.C. Well, I suppose that is the solemn fact, the lamb roast with fire. It is very solemn. Perhaps, we do not dwell upon it in private as much as we ought to.

Ques. Do we have to come to this balance of things, the whole world and a man's soul?

C.A.C. Yes. Why does He speak of coming in the glory of His Father? That seems to be additional to the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. His bringing the Father into this matter of glory is very striking. Really, He comes as invested with the glory of the Father.

Rem. The Son of Man is a universal title, so the Father is to be universally known.

C.A.C. Yes, it seems to suggest that, and I suppose we could hardly see the glory of the Son of Man apart from the

glory of His Father, could we?

Rem. It says, "About to come".

C.A.C. It is the kingdom in prospect in Matthew, in Mark it is the kingdom in power, and in Luke the kingdom in pattern. What we see in Matthew is a different aspect of it, that is, we are to be powerfully affected by what is yet future. And the glory of the Father would be in contrast to all worldly glory; it means the setting of all that aside if He comes in the glory of His Father. There is an order of things from which every other glory is excluded. It is the glory of His Father. The glory of the Father is all that is of the Father is brought into display. When the Son of Man comes all that the Father is will actually shine forth in display.

Ques. Why the angels?

C.A.C. Are they not connected with God's providential ways? So that what is now secret will be in display. The providence of God is largely hidden from our eyes now, but what God has been doing in a secret way all through time through angelic service will all come out then. I think that is why angels have a place in it. What do you say?

Rem. I was thinking that the beneficence of God will come out, and they will be the bearers of it to carry it around.

C.A.C. And there will be no veil on providence in the world to come. The angels will be visible then; they are invisible now. We do not know what they are doing now, but God's providential ways entrusted to angels will be publicly known and recognised then.

CHAPTER 17

Rem. It speaks of the Son of Man coming but there is a period of six days and then He is seen in this form. Peter seems to want to start to build up things here.

C.A.C. Why should Luke say, "About eight days"?

Ques. It is more the resurrection side in Luke. This, I thought, was more connected with what the Lord is inaugurating. Elias is before Moses in Mark; here Moses is before Elias; why is that?

C.A.C. I do not know.

Rem. I was wondering whether the Lord could give us a manifestation while we are down here?

C.A.C. That is comforting. Had you in mind that the three tabernacles were there without requiring any to be built?

Ques. Where do we get the three tabernacles?

C.A.C. Peter, James and John. Were they three not intended to enshrine the glory of this blessed One? Peter did not drop the tabernacle idea altogether, did he?

Rem. Moses could not enter the tabernacle. This is the antitype, the glory of Christ brought out by the Father here.

C.A.C. Are not Moses and Elias brought in here as adding something to His glory?

Rem. He was transfigured before them so there would be a reflex of His glory in them which they would ever carry.

C.A.C. And the greatest personages of the Old Testament are brought in as having a place in relation to Him. It was wonderful instruction for the disciples.

Rem. They are being trained in the ministry. So Moses and Elias are brought in as forerunners of Jesus. They are talking with Him, so this would be very establishing to them in regard of the glory of the Lord and His place in administration.

C.A.C. Is it not most important to see that what is dispensational is brought in in connection with the Son of God, but showing that He is greater than all that is dispensational? So sonship can hardly be called dispensational.

Rem. This chapter comes between chapters 16 and 18 which are assembly chapters.

C.A.C. It is part of the divine glory; all God's dispensations bring out part of His glory in some way, but everything has to yield up its glory to the Son.

Rem. It would correct the tendency to track back to anything brought in by Moses and Elias (circumcision, for instance) that was different from what the Lord brought in. Christ was supreme. They would understand the prophets more than they ever had.

C.A.C. So according to chapter 5 He is not come to destroy the law but to give the fulness of it.

Rem. Peter says that they were "eyewitnesses of his majesty", 2 Peter 1:16.

C.A.C. Well, the effulgence of God shining out in a Man is the most wonderful and glorious thing there could be; there is nothing greater than that in the universe of God. "His face shone as the sun" (verse 2), the effulgence of God shining out in a Man! So that the resurrection and ascension of Christ has not added one bit to the glory of His Person. Whatever He takes up as Man in the way of what is moral and official, would that not answer to His garments? The effulgence of God in a Man is supreme; but along with that we get these offices and positions the Lord will fill which are in a certain sense subordinate, but they are all "white as the light". They are all connected with

His Person but are not exactly His Person. My garments are not me, really. But His countenance shining as the sun is His Person; there is no element of darkness at all. If we look at the histories of these great servants, Moses and Elias, we can see dark spots, but in all the service rendered by the Son there is nothing of darkness at all, but all is suitable to go along with the effulgence of God in a Man.

Rem. Hebrews 1 goes with this.

C.A.C. Yes, I think so, and all that was yet future was brought into this moment.

Ques. Does this come into the spiritual experience of the believer? Is it normal christian experience?

C.A.C. God would bring us to know Christ as absolutely supreme in His universe; we come to God's thought.

Ques. The greatest thing here is His personal glory as the Son. Is that what we want to reach?

Ques. The greatest thought of sonship is expressed in Christ, is it not? There could be nothing greater than that.

C.A.C. And it is seen here in its completeness because He is seen here as glorified.

Ques. How does it bear on the words in John 17:5, "The glory which I had along with thee before the world was"? Is that not the place He takes in manhood -- the glory of the Son?

C.A.C. Well, this is to be considered. We never share that glory, but sonship we do share. We come to that in John 17:22. The Father has given to the Son to have this glory of sonship, but then He shares it with those the Father has given to Him. He could not pass on the glory He had before the world was. Well, the two things come together in the Lord: the effulgence of God in a Man, that is one side; but there is the glory of sonship as seen in a Man, that is the other, which corresponds with it, and so also the shining out in the same blessed Person of sonship which ministers to the satisfaction of the effulgence. What

shines out in man must correspond with the effulgence; and into that side we can come. The Lord says at the end of this chapter (Matthew 17) "For me and thee", and "Then are the sons free" -- not 'the Son free', as we should think, that is, He puts Peter along with Himself. There is that glorious part of the effulgence of God, that which is beyond us. If it shines forth in the Son it is beyond the measure of the creature.

Rem. Hence it is "as the sun". We cannot bear it in its glory.

Ques. Why is it "white as the light" here, and "as snow" in Mark?

C.A.C. Does Mark not stress the purity of the kingdom? And then there is a whiteness about His garments "such as fuller on earth could not whiten them" (Mark 9:3). There is the thought of this ineffable purity.

Rem. The effect was that they were terrified.

C.A.C. Does that not shew that there must be an entirely new order of man?

Ques. Would the three be potentially the kind of men to enter into this? Jesus went to them and spoke to them and touched them; and "they saw no one but Jesus alone".

C.A.C. And it is really by the touch of His Spirit, is it not? Yes, evidently they needed adjustment.

Ques. Do you not think that a moment comes in assembly history when we might give the Father an opportunity for calling attention to Him?

C.A.C. What Mr. P said is very important as to whether there is not a hint in this of a supreme privilege that might be ours. It is important to see that we are not equal to anything save as supported by the Priest. I think sometimes we are apt to think the Spirit is sufficient. In Revelation 1 it was not that John had not the Spirit but that was not sufficient, there must be the personal touch of the Lord Himself in priestly character. Our meetings would take on

a different character if we were more dependent upon the Lord. So the Father would make us conscious that we need the touch of the Priest. We want not only the Spirit but a sort of personal contact with Himself as Priest. We come in lowly dependence and we get the personal touch of the Priest, the sympathetic touch. He makes us know that He knows all our weakness and He can make us equal to the greatest things in the universe.

Ques. Why were they not to tell the vision? (verse 9).

C.A.C. Because it belonged to the time that was then future. It was a momentary glimpse of a future order of things not intended to be testified of then. It was a vision which belonged in its character and power subsequent to His rising from the dead, that is, our time. So it was fitting for them to be silent about it until it was the subject of testimony. The vision did not belong to the Lord's humiliation; it belonged to His glory. So the two things were not to be mixed. The testimony of humiliation is one thing and the testimony of glory another, and it is important to distinguish them practically. The privileges of the assembly are not to be spoken of to everybody. Paul had an experience which in a certain sense corresponded with the Mount, but he kept it for the moment it was needed. Sometimes it is a test of spirituality to hold things in reserve, as Mary of Bethany did. In the assembly we need more exercise as to what is suited at the moment; sometimes things are not in tune with the present headship of Christ. Not only is suitability needed but timeliness, especially in the service of the assembly. There should be sensitiveness to know when a thing is suitable. Paul went to the third heaven; it was his own secret. The Lord says to the overcomer, "I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives it" (Revelation 2:17), and I think it is a mark of spirituality to keep it to yourself until the right moment

comes to bring it out. The Lord credits Mary with having kept what she had gathered for the day of His burial.

The state of the company has to be taken into account; it is important to act in the assembly under the headship of Christ, and that needs great sensitiveness. All the prophets come with something in their hearts, but may find it is not the time to utter it. We have much to learn of the spiritual order and we are all learning -- slowly. It is not how much we can say but we have to consider in speaking to christians how much they can receive.

In the portion we have read faith is important; intelligence and spiritual power do not suffice. The disciples had power and in a certain sense the Spirit, that is, as seen in figure (see chapter 10) what is anticipative of the Spirit; but they could not use the power they had. "Often he falls into the fire and often into the water" (verse 15). We go to extremes; it is a thing that often happens.

Ques. Why cannot we deal with it?

C.A.C. It is very humbling to think we cannot. They had not the faith to use the power they had. It is an important matter because, I suppose, the Spirit in His operations never takes us beyond our faith. The Lord answers their question; it is want of faith. It is comforting that the Lord comes in even where there is no faith. The last chapter of Mark was written to show there was not faith anywhere, and then the Lord had to come in and take all in hand Himself -- the whole gospel. But He likes to encourage faith, and it puts honour on Him and on His servants.

Ques. How do we get this faith?

C.A.C. It is a question of maintaining in the soul the sense of Him with whom we have to deal. They had had a wonderful education in being with Him, showing that past experience does not suffice to keep up faith; we need a living sense of having to do with divine Persons. There may

be things which call for special exercise and special refusal of nature; the Lord does not suggest it will be easy. Faith means we are able to bring God into the matter and that settles any matter however difficult and hopeless it seems. Faith brings divine Persons in and then the whole matter is settled immediately -- it must be! Faith must be maintained. Paul said to the Thessalonians that their faith increased exceedingly; that is the thing -- not decreasing.

Rem. They needed to remember what was resident in Him.

C.A.C. Yes, that is important because it is maintaining in the soul what was in Him.

Rem. "I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me", Galatians 2:20. Does it come in here?

C.A.C. Yes, it is the life "in flesh" with its trials and difficulties; it is every moment the life is to be lived. We little take in how available He is in the love in which He gave Himself. He is available to faith in every difficulty to be brought into it, and then the whole difficulty is solved. We sometimes say we have not enough faith; it would be more honest to say that we had not any! A person may have very small faith but it is in a great God! Everything is accomplished if God is brought in; there are no difficulties or impossibilities if God is brought in.

Rem. There is a difference between faith and confidence.

C.A.C. As to circumstances here it is a question of confidence in God. The Hebrews were exhorted not to cast away their confidence under severe testing. It is most important to see that faith is not a thing you can work up; it is really giving place to God and to the Lord in the heart so that He comes into the place of all the fears and misgivings, and the thing is settled. When God is brought into the heart the thing is settled. It is important that we should

bear in mind that very serious exercise is called upon on our part. Mr Stoney once asked a believer whether he had spent a night of prayer over something he much desired. When the reply was in the negative he said, 'Well, you do not want it very badly then'.

CHAPTER 19

C.A.C. These things belong to the wilderness side of Jordan. Things are adjusted now in heavenly light; marriage gets its original dignity as of God among the saints. You occupy your own heavenly position as risen with Christ; you go on with the wilderness side in the light of the heavenly. Marriage is quite on a different footing now. No christian would think of having more than one wife. It was quite in order for David and Solomon to have more -- God in a way sanctioned it. The earthy relationships are now taken up in the light of the heavenly.

Rem. They are taken up in the light of the economy of grace and of the assembly.

C.A.C. Yes, so you go back to the beginning. For a woman to have her head uncovered is a flagrant violation of the divine order; it is the giving up of divine authority altogether (see 1 Corinthians 11). When we see what is of God it puts us on a divine platform, as it were. You would not think of a spiritual person readily taking advantage of the Lord's permission to divorce an unfaithful partner; he would think of the original character of the bond. In Mark it is not allowed at all; in Matthew He does not allow it except for fornication. The law system dealt with man after the flesh; if he did certain things he would live, therefore certain things were permitted. In the Old Testament we find saints telling lies and so on.

Rem. Christianity brought in power. In christianity a new thing is brought in.

C.A.C. As to the application of "one flesh", we have, "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:17);

that is another bond superior to the natural but which would govern everything in the natural. The highest instruction about natural relationships is in Ephesians and Colossians. It is not until the heavenly position is brought in that you get it; we should have thought it would be in Romans.

Rem. Paul handles the matter with the same delicacy in 1 Corinthians 7. All is touched in divine wisdom so as not to bring any into bondage.

C.A.C. It might work the other way; some might have a superiority over the natural relationship of marriage, but it would need to be taken up in spiritual power. The Lord does not argue with them; He does not put the disciples right but uses it as an opportunity to bring out a principle. To think that Emmanuel, the Lord of glory, God manifest in flesh, should be accessible to a little child! There is nothing more beautiful in Scripture. The only importance of a little child is that it is the subject of love, and the kingdom of the heavens is made up of people like that who are content to have, as their only distinction, that they are the subjects of love. The only importance really that attaches to me is that I am a subject of the love of God and of the love of Christ. I am of importance in the universe because it is so. All the principalities and powers would agree in that.

Rem. It would all develop out of that.

C.A.C. If we could only carry in our hearts all the time, if I can only carry in my heart all the time, that "The Son of God, ... has loved me and given himself for me" (Galatians 2:20), 1 should be equal to everything. You must have a little child before you have a man.

Rem. The children would not forget that touch.

C.A.C. I have no doubt at all that they would be found in the assembly later on.

Rem. It speaks of laying holy hands on and praying.

C.A.C. It shows they were persons of very good

understanding.

With all the elements for good in the young man he had not really discerned the Lord. The disciples had followed Him without thinking of what they had left. Though on the line of goodness the young man had to learn sorrowfully that he was not good nor did he really wish to be good. What advantage is it to have great possessions if the One entitled to everything was just about to be crucified? There was One there who was the great exemplification of all divine goodness and who proposed that he should follow Him but that was nothing to him. There may be commendable qualities naturally which when tested by Christ turn out to be very shallow indeed.

Rem. In all false religions there is the thought of merit by doing something which leads to an undervaluing of Christ and a readiness to turn away from Him.

C.A.C. He was really governed by the selfishness of human nature; the Lord exposed the depths of his heart; he never thought of it before; he was not ready for the exposure. The image and likeness of God was there in a Man and would have been extremely attractive to any heart that was alive to God -- like the disciples who had left what they had. Mr. Stoney said that they left a few old boats and nets but they gained infinitely.

If the young man had said, 'I am greatly humbled because I am not a bit like Thee', the Lord could have done something with him. What the disciples looked upon as a great mark of God's favour might be a great hindrance. There was one thing lacking and that was appreciation of Christ. There are many like that now, with a certain appreciation of Christ but with no true sense that He is from God, come down in grace to undertake for His poor bankrupt creature. We see how far it is possible to go on the line of natural goodness in Saul of Tarsus: "I have walked in all good conscience with God unto this day",

Acts 23:1, yet he had been hating Christ!

Rem. Things are to be held in right relation to Christ.

C.A.C. Paul says, "On account of whom I have suffered the loss of all", Philippians 3:8 -- it just slipped out. This young man in Matthew 19 might have been Saul of Tarsus for all I know! -- he is very like him, I mean; all that was connected with the righteousness of the law he was very zealous in, until the sting in the law found him out, until it convicted him. "The commandment having come, sin revived, but I died", Romans 7:9. He suffered the loss of all things through appreciation of Christ. When we find the exceeding preciousness of Christ, the Person of Christ, who He is and all connected with Him, could any heart put anything in the world against Him? All the world, what is that put against Christ? Peter says, "We have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God''", John 6:69. The next parable opens out that we come in on the line of grace, and God is so good that He will give a whole day's pay for an hour's work; He is a Master worth looking after. These things are left (verse 29) because of the power of His name and the return is "a hundredfold". There was never an investment like that! "Shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit life eternal". It is not acquired in a legal way but the incentive is in the power of His name, and all such would tell us they got a hundredfold. The Lord made it as attractive as possible yet the young man's native selfishness was too much for him. As natural men we are all exactly alike, self rules; a man cannot deliver himself from himself. The disciples with all their defects were perfectly convinced that Christ was the One who answered perfectly to the satisfaction of their hearts, and His attractiveness caused them to leave their nets. If this young man had been looking for redemption he would have got what he wanted.

Why does the Lord change His expression into "the kingdom of God"? There are the two sides, all that is

connected with Him as in heaven and then what was down here corresponding with it -- the kingdom of God, that is, the control of God.

CHAPTERS 22 & 23

C.A.C. They were discussing the Scriptures but utterly blind as to who was before them in Him.

Ques. As to verse 40.

C.A.C. Was it not the summing up of all that had been required of men?

Rem. The first commandment of all is not mentioned here, "Hear, O Israel".

C.A.C. That is, the spirit of obedience is required which is most important. They were face to face with the wisdom of God. There was power with His words; they did not venture to say it was not so. It must have seemed dreadful to the Lord to see men playing with the Scriptures and having no eyes to see God coming in in the Messiah. The first question really was, 'What is the great promise?'. If they had asked that, I think the Lord would have been very interested. Scripture would have turned all their thoughts and hopes to the promised One. The law showed how they had utterly failed. If they had remembered the golden calf they would have said, 'What did we do when the commandment first came to us?'. It is astonishing how the religious man leaves out Christ. People read the Bible today as if it was all on the line of commandment, and do not see that on that line it shows that all is hopeless. But there is another principle which is on the line of promise and which comes out of the heart of God. I believe the Lord would have been delighted if they had asked Him which was the great promise. We should like to have heard His answer. The word of God has power in the conscience, so we never hear anyone answering the Lord back.

Rem. We see the wisdom in God giving the promise before the law, so that He could fall back on that.

C.A.C. And He fell back on it in the garden of Eden, that is, on what He Himself would do. The second commandment becomes a greater test than the first. Some will say they love God. There is no test as to loving God. I cannot get into a man's heart. Man must admit that he does not love his neighbour as himself; they all felt it. The Lord was astonished that they thought so little of the line of promise which all centres in the Christ. Man is very slow to think of God coming in Himself. He is bent on doing it for Messiah was God coming in, where there was no goodness or strength or even desire. They had no thought of God coming in in the Messiah, but only looked for a descendant from David according to the flesh as a deliverer. There is nothing more difficult to the human thought than that God has come here as Man. The question of all questions is to know what kind of Man was here when God came here as becoming Man. Where that is understood it takes possession of the heart and everything else disappears, as on the holy mount Moses and Elias disappeared.

Rem. The glad tidings are "concerning his Son (come of David's seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead)", Romans 1:3, 4.

C.A.C. The great mystery of the incarnation is brought out there, and it is important to see that above everything else. It is not that He is God and Man (which makes a dual personality) but God in Manhood. He was God before becoming Man, and a servant when He became Man; and He is in glorified Manhood in eternity; but He is one Person from eternity to eternity. He does not 'return to' the glory of Deity; it would not be right to say so. He never left Deity; He was as much I AM "before Abraham"

as when here on earth. He is the Eternal One, having come in the most marvellous grace in manhood. Everything sinks into insignificance in the sense of it. This knowledge is what makes a believer.

Rem. And in this is the solution of every problem.

C.A.C. And we are brought so blessedly near to God. Nothing makes us so near to God as seeing how near God has come to us. We are brought to Himself in the grace of what He is and what He has done.

The chief object of interest in the Old Testament is the wonderful mass of promises found there and they are all "yea" in the Son of God; they are full of blessing for Jew and Gentile.

Rem. "Whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the service, and the promises; whose are the fathers; and of whom, as according to flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen", Romans 9:4, 5.

C.A.C. That is a very beautiful scripture in reference to what we are speaking of. It sums it all up.

Ques. If Scripture had had its proper weight with them, here was their opportunity to close in with God's promise.

C.A.C. But that is very distasteful if I want to be called "Rabbi", and be known as a religious man with the external marks of one; it comes out here. All that goes overboard if you admit that everything comes in in the Person of Christ. That is the man that does not want to be displaced! There is a rival.

Rem. I suppose they could have said from Psalm 2 that He was the Son of God?

C.A.C. So Nathaniel could say, "Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel", John 1:49. He had been talking to God about things which no one else knew of. He finds someone who knows all about it; well, that is a divine Person. But then, he has been under the fig-tree.

There is no answer to that question except to admit He was a divine Person come in manhood, and so greater than all His ancestors according to the flesh. He is the root and the fruit of the tree of promise; He is the ground as well as the fulfilment of all the promises. So the soul discovers an object of worship. There is not only a sense of the benefit but there is a worshipful sense of who the Person is. In the light of this everything of the religious man shrivels up -- the Lord shrivels him up; the hollowness and rottenness of the whole thing is exposed.

Rem. David could sing; he had God as his object.

C.A.C. And so Christ has come in, not only to produce the blessing but the response. So He is the chief Singer on the stringed instruments. I suppose every note that an earthly people will be qualified to sing in a future day has all been sounded in the Psalms by David.

It is sad to see the conditions here which are a great contrast to the revival under Ezra. The Lord is occupied here with the best representatives of religion. Everything was turned to self-righteousness and hypocrisy. It was burdensome to those who feared God and bolstered up the flesh in those who did not. But some beautiful touches come out amidst it all, that is, the place of Christ as Teacher and Guide, and the relation of brethren. What a contrast the little company round the Lord was to the whole system of self-righteousness and hypocrisy which was round about! They not only refused grace for themselves but hindered others, poor sinners, from being enriched by all the blessed grace of God. Nothing could be worse in the sight of God than that. Moses could take the burdens of the people on himself when they broke down; he was not a Pharisee, he could not only teach but pray. This was the last stage of Israel's history before they were cut off, very like the last stage of the church's history, that of Laodicea, boasting and the true state not felt. If we give Christ His

place as Instructor we shall get light, and in no other way. "One is your instructor", and we have that blessed Instructor still. To serve others is true greatness; the Lord set the example as to that. Imposing burdens on people does no good, but if we could bear burdens it would be some good. Here it is to preserve us from a kind of officialism so that we can move together as brethren. It is a greater thing to be together as brethren than the exercise of any gift we can have. There is no greater honour than to be one of the brethren.

This discourse of the Lord's tended to set people free from what was worthless. They were really playing with divine things and taking them out of their divine setting. Well, it is very liberating to get free of all that.

Ques. What answers to the gold and the temple today (verse 17)?

C.A.C. To attach importance to what is unimportant. The temple was the great thing; it sanctified the gold. To be part of the temple was greater than being a gift at Corinth. That God dwells amongst His people and makes them His temple is a wonderful thing. You can get light about anything because God is in His temple. It was the Lord's summing up of the situation; the Lord weighs it up thoroughly, and it will come out in any of us. The Lord thoroughly exposes it right down to the root.

Ques. Is there a moral thought in the phylacteries?

C.A.C. Making it all outward and not inward; the latter is our real concern. And that is the way of liberty, to have divine Persons before us, and how They have acted to have us fully blessed. That would preserve us from all this. We have really nothing apart from what the blessed God has shown Himself to be and acting in His Son. We do not want to be dressing up the flesh, which has been ended in the cross. It is right to wish for glory but glory that comes from God. They loved the glory that men could

give them. It is right that we should wish to be exalted in a spiritual sense, not left base and low down but lifted up. But then, that must be done by God.

Rem. In the second giving of the law it is written in the mind first.

C.A.C. In Hebrews 8 the mind comes first and in chapter 10 the heart comes first; that is, if it is a question of learning the mind of God in relation to us it must come first into the mind. But when it is a question of approach to God the movement must come first in the heart. If it is a question of instruction it must be the mind first. Paul says, "We ought not to think" so and so. It is important then that the mind should be put first. When it is a question of the new covenant the mind comes first, but when it is a question of approach to the holiest the heart does, because all movement Godward must begin with the heart.

This chapter is one of instructions and, if we get away from these principles, we shall go wrong. It is a mark of a fleshly mind to attach importance to little things. All turns upon God being brought into the matter; it settles a thousand things at once. They left God out, so the Lord says, 'You must see the kingdom first'; so He brings in the mind first. The gospel throws the light of God on the whole situation. When it is preached we all sit there as witnesses; that is why we come. Paul said, "The things thou hast heard of me in the presence of many witnesses", 2 Timothy 2:2. Every one should be ready to sign his name to the preaching. It is a great privilege to be amongst a people who will not let anything pass that is not according to Scripture. And there is the support given to the preaching; we all publicly identify ourselves with what is said. There was an old sister who never let anything pass, when I first preached. I remember after my first preaching an old brother asking me how I could tell people, 'Christ died for our sins; and that if they did not believe they would die

in their sins', as they were contrary statements. That man gave me a lesson in theology that I never forgot!

CHAPTER 24

Ques. There was much to intervene before His coming?

C.A.C. It is important to see that all this is not addressed to the saints of the assembly.

Rem. It is for the comfort of the remnant in a future day.

Rem. The disciples had been occupied with the temple and had not yet realized what was resident in Himself.

C.A.C. The Jews had the idea that there was the present age and the coming age when Messiah would come, and the disciples thought that the present age would be ended when the Lord came; and the glad tidings of the kingdom would be, I suppose, that He was coming to introduce a different age altogether. It is part of the testimony even today; it should be made known that Christ is coming to introduce a new age on the earth. He makes it clear that there would be an interval during which He would be absent. They seem to have that thought because they speak of the sign of His coming. He confirms that thought and shows there is an interval when they would be exposed to false pretenders -- a time of great deception.

Rem. His name implies His absence. "Ye will be hated of all the nations for my name's sake" (verse 9).

C.A.C. Yes, and it will be a time when what is of God will tend to grow cold; the abounding lawlessness will have a chilling effect on what is of God. Then there will be wars and rumours of wars, famines and pestilences and earthquakes, and so on. I suppose the time preceding the end of the age will be the most distressing time there ever was, just the contrary to what men hope for. So men try to do

what they can to bring in many things apparently beneficial but they do not arrest deception and political unrest. As long as there are millions of obedient people on the earth there is an immense bulwark in persons indwelt by the Spirit. But when the assembly is gone there will be nothing but the coming of Christ to look for. If there is universal disorder amongst men there is also a universal testimony on God's part among men.

Rem. "Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them", 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

C.A.C. You see after every great outbreak in this world there is a thought in man's heart to have something different in the future and, I suppose, he will think when the beast and antichrist are fully established in power he has all that he wanted, but it will be for a very short period. You see, when the beast is in the ascendant by Satan's power, it will seem that a solution is found to the world's political distresses; and then the antichrist a religious influence which will unify things religiously; and both these things will be secured at the expense of the saints. Anything not conforming to the political and religious unity will be crushed. The very confusion of the world will make men glad of a central power and they will say, "Who is like to the beast? and who can make war with it?", Revelation 13:4. There is to be no more war, and they will not realize that God's long-deferred judgment is about to break with terrific power. Then there will be great persecution of the saints, "Then shall they deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you; and ye will be hated of all the nations for my name's sake" (verse 9). All this kind of thing is what is developing; God, I believe, is holding these things in check, and false doctrine in check, and there is the presence of the assembly, too, so that the prophetic future cannot unfold itself. There is no prophecy addressed to the assembly. There is not one word in Scripture about the present great

war -- not one word! The assembly belongs to heaven and having her position in heaven is outside the events on earth altogether, so they have it outside what is brought in here.

Rem. "All these things ... are the beginning of throes" (verses 6 -8).

C.A.C. It seems to me we are helped by seeing what is coming; all the elements are present, all the forces which will bring about the tribulation are at work in the world, though we shall never be in the tribulation. Man's idea is for unification -- like God's in one way -- for all to share in universal happiness. That is man's idea; well, that is God's idea, too. The whole thing is that Satan proposes to have things very successful and prosperous with God shut out and, of course, the departure of man from God is ignored. God is never going to assume the attitude of defeat and in the presence of all this He will maintain a testimony, a suffering and preserved testimony, amongst His people and sealed in their blood, but He will maintain it to the end of the age, so that God will triumph through all. These signs will be for their comfort and they will lift up their heads. The age of the tribulation is the age that we are bringing in, and the testimony will be that that age is going to be ended by the coming of Christ. Well, it will be hateful to man to be told it. We see that this tribulation will centre in Jerusalem and Judaea; that is, "a holy place" of verse 15 suggests that the temple will be rebuilt and those of Judaea flee to the mountains.

Rem. There will be a shortening of those days.

C.A.C. Yes, it is very good to see that that is a principle usual with God, and I gather that the prophetic period will not actually run out its period -- three and a half years. When God sees the pressure on His saints reaches a very testing point He intervenes. That is a comfort, is it not? And God can turn it to His people's advantage, even the natural conscience rising up against it. We have not any

scripture telling us that God's witnesses will work miracles in these days. I was thinking that the working of miracles was on the side of what is evil (verse 24). What is of God is accredited by its moral character. People are ready to run after signs and wonders today. What we want is moral evidence.

Rem. When the Lord does come it will be quite apparent who He is.

C.A.C. They have built a great place out in Australia ready for the Lord to come; that is the thought of localising the Lord's coming. It is universal and there is no question of any locality. The root of all darkness and uncertainty as to prophecy is the failure to distinguish between the assembly, which is the body of a risen and ascended and glorified Man just waiting to be taken by His shout to be with Him, and Israel.

Ques. To what does the Lord refer in verse 28?

C.A.C. The general thought that where the subject of judgment is, there will the judgment be found. Wherever anything is found out of which the life has gone and only the carcase left, there will the judgment be found. A carcase is a body without life and that character will surely come under judgment; that is the principle that applies generally. What has no life in it is extremely offensive to God. He is the living God; He shows even in creation how He delights in life, He has filled it with life!

Rem. He blesses the fifth day.

C.A.C. Yes, so the presence and activity of the Spirit is most essential for it is only the Spirit that can keep things alive.

Rem. "The elect" is a word that occurs frequently in this chapter.

C.A.C. In verse 31 it is evidently the gathering together of His elect for the blessing of the kingdom. It is the scattered remnant of Israel that will be gathered consequent

on the coming of the Son of Man. The first thing He will do will be to give attention to His elect; He will send His angels to gather them, showing how different it will be from what we expect. The gathering together for us will not then be for earthly blessing but a gathering to the Lord outside the earth altogether; we shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

Ques. Do these heavenly luminaries refer to princely authorities?

C.A.C. They seem to refer to the powers that will be found in authority.

Rem. Things are going to be allowed to reach a terrible pitch just before Christ comes.

C.A.C. Yes, I have no doubt the whole political system, and economic system, and the religious system, and the social system of the world will all collapse. Men are beginning to realise even now how unstable are all the foundations of what they thought was stable and abiding. And it is all coming down; it must come down, because God must have His new order. He has one in reserve and He is going to bring it in. It necessitates the removal of the old order. There will be a development on the side of evil. Men look for a step up; we know, with the Bible in our hands, there will be a great step down. So, I suppose Christ will become the desire of all nations. Men will be so distressed under the rule of the beast and the antichrist that they will turn to some thought of Christ. In verse 34 He uses generation in a moral sense, the kind of people then living would still continue, whether the unbelieving man or the elect remnant.

It will be wonderful when there is found amongst Israel a tenderness Godward and ability to take up the language of the Psalms. I suppose it will take place immediately after the rapture with no interval. Some will have tender thoughts and feel how evil their course has been. They will

be assured all their hopes will be realised shortly.

Rem. God always has an elect company in faith. I was thinking of Revelation.

C.A.C. So you have two companies of one hundred and forty-four thousand (Revelation 7 and 14); probably a symbolical number. And then, there is a company that no one can number in chapter 7, which is a Gentile company, showing that God will be working among the nations. It will be a wonderful time for darkest Africa, for China, for India and the dark parts of the earth.

The sign in verse 30 is His own coming. It is the cause for lament with some as it was at His first coming. Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. But there were those who could appreciate Him as the wise men did.

Ques. "Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they which have pierced him, and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of him", Revelation 1:7. Does it not correspond with that?

C.A.C. Yes, indeed.

Ques. It is remarkable that it should be the test that the high priest gave the Lord at the judgment seat, and the Lord answered, "ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven", Matthew 26:64. To His disciples the Lord said, "times or seasons, which the Father has placed in his own authority", Acts 1:7. In Mark it says something more remarkable, "But of that day or of that hour no one knows, ... nor the Son", Mark 13:32. Why did He say that?

C.A.C. I suppose it is to bring out the teaching of the gospel that the Lord is seen as the Servant, and as viewed in that character He only knows what He is told. Certain things are reserved to the Father in the economy.

Ques. Does what the Lord says about Noah show that only the elect will be able to discern the signs of the times -- others not thinking of judgment?

C.A.C. Yet as to the day and hour no one knows, therefore, watchfulness must mark the saints at all times "Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes". This principle of watchfulness applies as much to us as to them. The faithful and prudent bondman of verse 45 might be one of the remnant or of the assembly. It is a principle that applies any time before the Lord returns. If the Lord has a household it is to be cared for. So the great matter of concern to Him is that as long as His absence continues His household shall be served and have food. But there is a bondman that turned out an evil bondman. The Lord will have a household here all through the time of His rejection and absence. "Who then is the faithful and prudent bondman whom his lord has set over his household, to give them food in season?". It is left open so that anyone whose heart prompts him can do it. And it is done in fidelity and prudence; there is a careful discernment of what the household would need. It would come out in our ministry meetings. The great object is edification, and building up is by food. So servants should be exercised to have food in season -- for the time.

Ques. In Luke 12:42 it gives "the measure of corn" -- the quantity. It is very fine?

C.A.C. Very fine, showing the quantity as well as the quality is important; there is a certain measure. F.E.R. thought that saints were not capable of taking in more than three thoughts on one occasion. So in 1 Corinthians 14 the prophets are limited to three. The principle of what is seasonable and suitable in quantity has to be considered. The Lord attaches great importance to it and great dignity to those who do it. He gives them universal authority, verse 47; one would greatly covet it. Wisdom comes in not to serve out too much. The more spiritual we are the more capacity we should have to take in, but in a practical sense there are limits, and the Lord imposes

limits on what is given at any one time. You might have a word and that be enough. After 'The Calling and Grace of the Remnant' by J.B.S. at Quemerford a brother said 'I am sure we cannot receive any more ministry, let us turn to prayer'.

I believe He supports everyone who desires to feed His household. He will be sure to help us; He will go out of His way to help us. So the responsible side comes out very much in this chapter and the next -- feeding the household, and going out to meet the Bridegroom and the cities. It is the filling out of responsibilities while the Lord is absent.

CHAPTER 25

C.A.C. The subject in view in this chapter is faithfulness in the time of His absence. The Lord's absence brings in a peculiar testing. The Lord reminds His own every Lord's Day that He is absent and each occasion of the reminder should affect us deeply as to how we are filling up the time of His absence. It is a peculiar period such as will never recur again. It is very striking to see that the possession of the Spirit is looked at from the responsible side; it is not a question of God giving the Spirit in His sovereignty. It is a collective responsibility but what comes home to each one individually. The prudent ones took oil, that is, it belongs to our responsibility.

Rem. And it could not be transferred.

C.A.C. It is the period marked by the in-dwelling of the Spirit and the Lord attaches great attention to it. It enters into and is part of the responsibility of each one. The foolish virgins thought it was enough to be in the outward position of having gone out to meet the Bridegroom; that is the christian position outwardly. Apart from the light being maintained by the Spirit the light will die out, and that is what we see practically all round us, so divine things are decadent and going out in the profession; what light there was is going out.

The christian profession continues, and people are just as anxious to have their children christened, even in the big cities that are so infidel. This is a very solemn thing be cause it carries responsibility and shows that people cling to the christian profession in an outward way.

Ques. Whatever our light we should see that we have

the Spirit?

C.A.C. That is a most important exercise, because the Spirit is available. It is the day really of the outpouring of the Spirit (true also in the future) Acts 2; it is the character of the moment.

Ques. As to the slothfulness of the wise virgins?

C.A.C. It shows how soon those who have the Spirit may become very slack and lose all the gain of the Spirit.

Ques. Would the midnight cry be a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit bringing about revival or the slumber would have continued?

C.A.C. Yes, there has been spiritually a great revival, beginning of course, with the Reformation, and it made way for further movements of the Spirit of God. There was a revival not only of the truth but of hearts to appreciate the truth, and we look for that to continue -- for light and food and condition of heart to appreciate it.

Ques. Would virgins speak of bridal affections?

C.A.C. It is rather noticeable that the bride does not appear. It is characteristic of the gospels that the bride does not appear; she is, as it were, behind the scene. You get sons of the bridechamber and virgins and "He that has the bride is the bridegroom", but the bride herself does not appear. I suppose the standpoint in the gospel is that the bridegroom is about to take up His relations with Israel. The faithful remnant of Israel would be the bride the Spirit of God would have in view; the ministry of Christ finds out those who are interested. The more distinctly and fully Christ is presented, the greater the test that comes on christendom. Those who love Him and desire to be faithful to Him are brought to light at the presentation of Christ.

At the Reformation it was not a great reformation of Christ but the light of justification by faith, not by works; but there was an absence of the ministry of Christ

personally. What marked the revival at the beginning of the last century was the ministry of Christ, and the calling of notice distinctly and clearly to the presence of the Spirit.

Ques. Why are "prudent" and "foolish" used in connection with the Spirit?

C.A.C. It is in connection with the Spirit that those qualities are brought to light. Those who are prudent will see the great wonder of the gift of the Spirit. It has often been said that we can have as much of Christ as we like, and so we can of the Spirit! We can have as much of the Spirit as we desire, even to the point of being filled with the Spirit!

Ques. Who would they be that sell?

C.A.C. It suggests there is a source of supply. I suppose that when Paul speaks of the Spirit being ministered, he is really referring to God. And it is a matter of faith -- the gift of the Spirit is by faith, "that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith", Galatians 3:14. The first thing I think, is to have faith, exercising the definite faith in God; then it is the pleasure and delight of God to give the Spirit. He has the ground for it and is justified in giving the Spirit to those who come into line with God in the glad tidings. We delight in what God proposes in the glad tidings and fall in with it, and God says, 'I delight to give you the Spirit'.

Those who receive Christ are born of God. They have a nature capable of appreciating what God appreciates, that is, Christ. To such God gives His Spirit, but only to those who come into line with God. Repentance is the first move into harmony with God on the part of the creature. It is not unconditional giving in John 4. It was all unconditional on the part of God, but the woman could not understand or be a recipient before her conscience was touched. God puts the anointing, not on the flesh, but on what appreciates Christ and is in subjection to Him; it is on that line

that we come more and more into the gain of the Spirit. God does not give His Spirit to the disobedient but to them that obey (Acts 5:32). The ministry connected with the Spirit is often very defective at the present time; men are holding very defective thoughts as to it.

The Spirit is grieved by anything like slackness of heart in regard of Christ, He cannot get on with that state of heart at all.

Ephesians refers to a very full presentation of the gospel, "in whom ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance to the redemption of the acquired possession to the praise of his glory", Ephesians 1:13 - 14. God does not delay in giving His Spirit, it is the one thing God has before Him -- to give His Spirit, and He does not delay a moment longer than is necessary. The moment the condition is there God gives it.

There is no reason why we should not be filled with the Spirit. If my thoughts are in harmony with God at any moment, and my feelings entirely moving in the divine current, and there is no action of the natural mind or will, the soul is filled with the Spirit. Perhaps, it is only for a moment, but it is real while it lasts; and a soul full of the Holy Spirit is full Godward, and speaks in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, so that there are expressions Godward. It would help us to look at the hymn book; we might say of some of the hymns that they are full of the Holy Spirit. They are the expressions of those who were full of the Holy Spirit, and we want to bring our hearts and spirits into the current of the Spirit, turning to God with thoughts of God and of Christ, of what God has done and given, and while so occupied we are holy people.

There are duties of everyday life to be attended to, and the duties in responsible life never hinder us. If we give them an undue place they may!

CHAPTER 26

Ques. "When Jesus had finished all these sayings". How would that refer to what He said from then?

C.A.C. The ministry of the Lord was finished, because nothing remained now but the accomplishment of that great work in which God should be glorified; something in a sense far greater than all the teaching. What it must have been to the Lord to have reached that moment in His history, no one understanding it but Himself. Indeed, it would appear there was one who entered in some measure at least into the fact that He was going to death, but she could not understand it. She anointed Him, not for His death, but for His burial; but how little she could have entered into it all. It is often a comfort to me in assembling together that the Lord knows perfectly all He has wrought and He regards His saints in the full value of it as known to Him. How limited we are! But there is One who can lead us into it freshly in power. He can add to it on every occasion; indeed, that would mark the assembly, would it not?

It is impossible that the Lord should look at His own in any less value than in the value of that which He Himself has done. That should put a great spring in our hearts in connection with the Lord's precious death. That which would enable us to think rightly of it would be to seek to enter into what He thinks of it. I suppose the passover had never been eaten according to God before. It is rather striking it should say in Hebrews 11 that by faith Moses kept the passover, as though Moses had some apprehension of it, as the man of God at the moment, no doubt

figurative of Christ.

Rem. There seems to have been a kind of accumulation of the keeping of it. In Josiah's day it was a wonderful time.

C.A.C. Yes, it had not been kept for a very long period, and it seems as if faith acquired a deeper sense of the value of it as the ruin and failure manifested itself in Israel. Well, is that not so today? Is not the blessed God giving to us in the midst of departure and coldness around a very deep and blessed sense of the value of the death of Christ, and I suppose there is nothing so pleasing to divine Persons as that we should enter into the value of the death of Christ. It is wonderful that a divine Person should undertake to bear all the consequences of sin in such a way that God is supremely glorified, His nature and attributes, and His heart set free, and in such a way that nothing can be added to it, and certainly nothing can be taken from it.

Ques. Did the woman seek a blessing?

C.A.C. I do not think the woman was looking for any blessing; she had something greater than the blessing. She has got that blessed divine Person of inestimable value; she has got everything in Him -- and He is going into death. "The Son of man" (verse 2) was, if we might say so, the Lord's favourite designation of Himself, and He was never spoken of by anyone else as "the Son of man" until He was glorified, bringing in the whole scope of the thought of God, that is, in contrast to "the son of David", showing that man is in the thought of God. It is a title that attaches to Him as suffering, and speaks of His universal place as coming in on man's side; as of God He is seen in relation to God. How it ought to touch us that He has taken up our case! Where would man be if He had not? Not one single man would be left for the glory of God. But everyone can come in under "the Son of man".

Rem. "The Son of man" not "the Son of God" has

come to save that which is lost.

C.A.C. It is due to Him as having been insulted and dishonoured by man that all judgment should be committed to Him, so God is going to judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has ordained.

Ques. Why after two days?

C.A.C. I have no thought of it except that it was near. God saw to it that there should be one heart deeply affected through it. It would not have been suitable to God un less it had been so. She was the only one as far as we know who anticipated His death.

It is very touching to see Him moving through all these closing scenes as anointed for His burial. That anointing must have been a comfort to Him, as He continued His way through the varying sorrows of that path, to think that there was one heart who entered into it in some measure; and, no doubt, it brought to His heart the thought of the female company that would appreciate Him, that is, the assembly. It must have been a consolation to His heart that there should be that which would answer to the Man. It is beautiful to see that besides the Son of Man there was one in a feminine way who appreciated where He was going, not in the full way the assembly could, but it is that character of thing. She understood the prophetic word that had spoken of His sufferings. The disciples never seem to have taken in that He was about to suffer. It is beautiful to see that one heart could be divinely taught.

Rem. He always remembered it, "Wheresoever these glad tidings may be preached in the whole world, that also which this woman has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her", (verse 13).

C.A.C. Yes indeed, the Lord esteems it worthy to be put alongside the glad tidings. 'When you are talking about Me do not forget her'. So it ought to enter into the glad

tidings. Not only does the Son of man love man, but there is something more wonderful than that, He can make man love Him! It does not say she broke the flask; in Mark she did. I wonder why it is left out in Matthew? I think I can understand the breaking of it in Mark (Mark 14:3). I am not sure why it is left out in Matthew. In Mark you can understand this is a very choice vessel full of fragrant ointment, really representing Himself, and breaking of the flask represented that the fragrance was all coming out in His death. It was to be broken that the fragrance should really fill the universe -- it is going to fill the universe!

Rem. She was not told to do it.

C.A.C. I think that is the beauty of it. And she is not named here. We know who she is. It is left open to any of us to put our name in if we can. So do you not think that is what recognises headship? It is not quite a matter of faith, it is something greater, that is, love; I think love appreciates the headship of Christ. It is a relationship of affection, and it is love that claims Him in that character. Does she not really claim Him? We know who it was, we know her history, and we can put things together a little. And that is what the Lord looks for in the Supper, is it not? We get the Supper later in the chapter, but I was looking for it in this connection. She represents one who gathers up in her affections what is there; as Peter says, "To you therefore who believe is the preciousness", 1 Peter 2:7. Now it is our business to be gathering up the preciousness of Christ, so that we can anoint Him in a suitable manner. We bring Him not foreign matter but what is of Himself. It shows we cannot be deprived of that privilege even when in an unsympathetic atmosphere and how love triumphs! They were not all smiling at her! I suppose strictly she represents the Jewish remnant, and there was nothing in the outward conditions that was helpful, but all the other way. The disciples had all come under the influence of Judas --

the whole assembly if you think of the twelve as representing the assembly. It shows how the Lord values affection for Him, and especially at that moment. She takes in the full thought of the length of His burial. He was going to be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights; she had measured, so to speak, the length to which His love would go. You see death did not meet the whole extent of the sentence of judgment on that order of man; it is really in burial that order of things disappears.

Ques. Would it be like Ruth? "and there will I be buried", Ruth 1:17.

C.A.C. Yes! -- "buried". As long as Christ was there on the cross there was not the removal sacrificially; it was in His burial that the man was put an end to. We used to sing, 'Buried in His grave we lay'; it is the great truth of christianity. Burial is most important, because, it is the disappearance of that order of man. I do not know that many of us are thankful to be buried! It means you are so convinced of what you are that you are truly thankful that you are gone for all eternity! So that now we can only live in Another -- another Man. I am not only dead with Christ according to the truth but buried with Him, so that now we live to Another, and Another lives in me. You cannot think of this woman wanting to make a show of herself after this. It is just the secret of her own heart with Him and it is open to us to have this secret, and to stand to it as a fixed principle. I may give way, and, if I bring myself in, it is a cause of distress, but it is not my life! If I am vain or proud I can say, 'It is not my life, it is a bit of what I was, but it does not enter into what I am'.

Rem. It is baptism.

C.A.C. Yes.

Ques. The Lord is seen alone in His holy sufferings from verse 56. Psalm 69 would fit in here, would it not?

Rem. The cause of his solitariness is found in verse 59.

It is remarkable what is stated there.

C.A.C. The Lord had never been before face to face with the nation as represented officially in its authorities.

Rem. They were unified in their determination to destroy Him.

C.A.C. The most solemn thing that took place on earth in the government of God takes place here. Here it is God exposing the true character of everything, in His holy government. It came out in the most solemn way, the necessity of the Messiah bearing the judgment of those He came to bless. He was about to bear all that was due to Israel in the holy government of God.

Rem. This Lamb-like character comes out here in face of that tribunal: He is so silent, so perfect, so good; He stands out against this terrible background of evil.

C.A.C. Yes, I think so. The Lord alone remains without a stain of reproach upon Him in face of every test that could possibly come on a holy Being in a world of evil. He observed according to the Old Testament "a time to keep silence". He knew it perfectly and He observed it. There was an attempt with them to ascertain the truth. They might have called Lazarus or the two blind men as witnesses.

Rem. Sometimes we need to be silent to evil.

C.A.C. That is important. A true testimony may sometimes be rendered in perfect silence.

Rem. He was a model for us as it says in 1 Peter 2:21 - 24: He "gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously".

C.A.C. And He was in the presence of the righteous government of God Himself, and it is good for us to be there, is it not? There is no reason anytime for us to vindicate ourselves.

Rem. He does answer when adjured.

C.A.C. Yes. He says, "Ye shall see the Son of man

sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven". The Lord is in the presence of the issue of it all; the whole issue of the matter is present to His consciousness.

Rem. Peter could not stand up for Him then.

C.A.C. It was an hour in which nothing would stand the test. It all confirms the thought of Him as the 'trespass offering'. What was coming out in the nation was a most terrible trespass against all divine rights. But He was shortly to become the 'trespass offering' and bear the judgment of it before God, and He is, indeed without blemish. I feel sure if we pondered more the Lord's sufferings and death we should more ardently love Him. Sometimes we seem almost wholly occupied with the resurrection and ascension side, and we do not give adequate place for the sufferings and death of Christ, which are most wonderful, more so than His resurrection and ascension which are very simple matters if we think of who He was, but His sorrow and suffering unto death are more wonderful and deeper than anything else.

Ques. Is it not because we were once occupied with one side of things -- our sins and our salvation? Now we want to be occupied with the Person, with His sufferings and death.

C.A.C. Yes, with what came out in His death; a way it never will again to all eternity. His love, His perfection, all His supreme excellence came out there in a way never to be repeated.

Ques. The Psalms should be pondered by us?

C.A.C. Quite so! We do not get the inward exercises of the Lord much in the gospels.

Rem. Psalm 88, for instance.

C.A.C. He entered into the state of Man -- of Israel; He entered into all feelingly.

The symbols in the Lord's Supper bring it constantly

before us. We begin our assembly service with that every week; we cannot escape it. We cannot arrive at the resurrection side without it. It is His death, and we call Him to mind in the light of the unspeakable love in which He went into death. He said "This is my body, which is for you", and "This cup is the new covenant in my blood", 1 Corinthians 11:24, 25.

Rem. It is love in suffering which gives a poignancy to it.

C.A.C. Yes, and the love of God comes out in it, because the love of God shed abroad in our hearts is the love in which Christ died for us; and it is the great power of love, the volume of love, that God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Rem. A brother remarked once that he thought we did not dwell sufficiently on the suffering side at the Supper.

C.A.C. We must not pass over His sufferings and death unduly.

Rem. It should be always present with us. In the Song of Songs it says, "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me; He shall pass the night between my breasts" (chapter 1: 13).

C.A.C. I believe if we contemplated His sufferings and death more in private before we come, we should better be able when together to pass on to the other side. The Lord would have us to pass on to where He is beyond death, and if we pass over, we have to contemplate Him in the Jordan before passing over with Him. The Ark stood still in the Jordan until all the people had completely gone over. There must be the Jordan. Would it not obliterate all that we are in ourselves? What hinders us at all points is self, and we do not get free of self, except in the death of Christ. Peter had thought of his readiness to die, but if he had been occupied with the Lord's readiness to die for him, he would have escaped the power of Satan to sift him.

Rem. If we entered into His sufferings and death more, there would be more savour about our service in the assembly. You see it with J.N.D. in a marked way.

C.A.C. If we entered into it more, there would be a savour about us all the time. I think that lay at the very foundation of J.N.D.'s ministry, the very deep sense he had of the Lord's sufferings and death.

Rem. The line of a hymn says, 'Of all thy sufferings talk' (Hymn 270) as though it would be our occupation for all eternity.

C.A.C. Well, the One who suffered will be.

CHAPTERS 27 & 28

Rem. The prophet says, "the price of him that was set a price on, whom they who were of the sons of Israel had set a price on" (verse 9).

C.A.C. Yes, being the prophet, it was their very notion of what He was worth. They were all tested in that way. He says, as it were, scornfully, "I took the thirty silver pieces". It was "a goodly price that I was prized at by them".

Rem. "Give me my hire" the prophet says, Zechariah 1:12.

C.A.C. It is the great test for us all -- what value do we set upon Christ? It becomes historically the price of His betrayer, as brought out in regard to Israel, especially the heads of the nation, the value they set upon Him. And these were venerable men, who had given up themselves to the service of God, and to the study of Scripture, men I suppose of much prayer, but this was the valuation that they put upon Jesus. The two things that God has set up in the earth come up for judgment here, one, Israel in its divinely given place of privilege, and then, the government as entrusted to the Gentiles.

Ques. Is one thought in the purchase of the field, the perpetuation of this terrible act?

C.A.C. Yes, I think it became a witness against the people. What is striking in all these chapters is the divine testimony that is rendered all through.

Rem. A burial place is very permanent.

C.A.C. Yes, it was a permanent witness to what had been done -- of a permanent value that had been put upon Christ, and a witness too to the fact that Judas himself had

given a true testimony.

God did not suffer him to hang himself until he had given a true testimony. He is the figure of apostate christianity, because he was one of the twelve. He was compelled to own publicly before his employers that he had sinned, for he had delivered up innocent blood. In the wisdom of God it was allowed to come out in the circle that was most familiar with Christ. That is, Judas had been admitted to three-and-a-half years of close intimacy with Christ; he worked miracles and received apostleship, yet, there was not one spark of love in his heart for the Saviour who was about to die for him. He would use even his intimacy with the Lord to deliver Him up with the prospect of a paltry gain of a few shillings.

Ques. Why does Matthew speak of His being delivered up in a special way: there are many instances, why is it stressed there?

C.A.C. Well, all are brought into the natural responsibility. He was "given up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23); that was behind it all, but the full responsibility of man is maintained.

Rem. "Jesus stood before the governor" -- it is the final issue.

C.A.C. Yes, the Gentile powers had become responsible before God, as entrusted with government, and they have to be tested. So we get the testing of both before God, the religious elements and the Gentile government.

Ques. I was wondering whether this lies at the bottom of things at the great white throne -- what men have done with Christ?

C.A.C. Well, it does, but it is rather remarkable that at the great white throne they are judged according to their works -- not exactly for what they have done to Christ, but their own moral condition, of course. Probably by far the most have heard of Christ.

Ques. Why do you say that?

C.A.C. Because it is true. At the great white throne all men are there. They will all be judged according to their works. The greater part of them will not have come under the responsibility of rejecting Christ.

Rem. They will have had the witness of creation.

C.A.C. But here it is the responsibility of those who have to do directly with Christ, and the state of Israel, exposed in their leaders and the corrupted state of the governing power in the world; that was exposed, showing the absolute necessity of the sin-offering and the trespass offering, because we are viewing the Lord here (in Matthew and Mark) as moving into that position.

Ques. Why do you say that Matthew is the trespass offering?

C.A.C. Because Matthew speaks of the trespass offering in chapter 18. The sin-offering is wider. The trespass offering refers to those who have stood in relation to God under some defined responsibility. The trespass offering would apply therefore to both the Jews and Gentiles as having delegated authority. But in Mark the gospel is to be preached to all nations. Well, that is on the ground of the sin-offering; it is wider still.

Ques. Would trespasses be the thought of offences?

C.A.C. They refer to positive violations of the will of God. At the great white throne they will be judged out of the things written in the book, whether they have had to do with Christ or not -- so much the worse if they have, I was going to say. And God gives testimony in the midst of all this terrible hardness of heart and refusal of what is good. God gives testimony through Pilate's wife; we hope it was for her eternal blessing. It was given her from God, anyway a testimony, so that Pilate knew very well that he was doing wrong. In one sense he rightly represented government, his moral judgment of the Lord was right, but he had not the

moral courage to stand up against the judgment of the leaders of the people. Pilate tried his best -- up to a certain point -- to get Him out of their hands.

Rem. Who before Pilate witnessed "the good confession" (1 Timothy 6:13).

C.A.C. He does not say much in this gospel, does He? His silence was largely His testimony, but He says, "Thou sayest", as much as to say, 'what you say is right'.

Rem. He says nothing but six words on the Cross.

C.A.C. The Lord actually said much that is recorded in the gospels as we know. The Lord confessed the true character of His kingdom. "Every one that is of the truth hears my voice" (John 18:37), He says, but we do not get that here.

Ques. It seems the side of man's responsibility here.

C.A.C. There are the remarkable testimonies of Judas, of Pilate's wife, and Pilate himself, and then there is the centurion's remarkable testimony to the One who was there.

Rem. It makes us realise what every kind of man has done to Jesus. It is striking in that way; the same kind of thing remains in the world today.

Rem. Here it is a scarlet cloak, in Mark and John it is purple.

C.A.C. It has been said that scarlet represents human glory. Everything that was morally glorious was there in Him, but it was there as a subject of mockery.

Rem. He was the only One who could rightly be arrayed in it in the gospel.

Ques. Are not the materials of the veil in mind in that?

C.A.C. Those who have received Him and believed on Him, see every glorious right investing Him, but here it is a scene of mockery. In the midst of this heart-breaking sorrowful scene, we see one man singled out to have this precious honour of bearing the cross of Jesus. He

represents those I think who would be identified with the Lord's cross. We are not told that he was a believer, but we should rather gather that he was, because we are told he was the father of Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21), men well-known amongst the brethren. It is one of those unique honours that we find accorded to men. No other man ever had the privilege of actually bearing the cross of Jesus. It is like another man -- Joseph of Arimathaea who had the privilege of making preparation for His burial. These are recorded that we might covet some such distinctive honour. Each in some distinctive way was bearing the reproach of Christ. Everyone round was contributing to His reproach, but Simon of Cyrene was bearing His reproach in bearing His cross. It is remarkable that they compelled him to do it; is that not often the case? We should often avoid the reproach of Christ unless we are compelled to do it. Young believers come up against it sometimes. I know with my first confession, I was compelled to it, and I had a feeling that if I did not stand up to it, it would be all over with me. I had not really come into the knowledge of salvation then, but I was up against such evil that I felt forced to it. And what a mercy it is when we are compelled to bear His cross. It is good if we do it willingly, but it is a divine favour even when we become identified with it under compulsion. All these things ought to affect our hearts very much; they show us there arrives in our lives a moment of opportunity. If Simon had not just been on the spot, he would have missed it for all eternity. He was possibly a lover of Jesus and a black man. There are moments in the lives of every one of us of being identified with the reproach of Christ that may never come again, and we ought to be alert so as not to miss the opportunity.

Rem. It is touching that the chief priests and the Pharisees seal the stone.

C.A.C. Yes. They added to the testimony. What we

find in this closing part of the gospel is that there are additions to the testimony from unexpected quarters -- from Judas, Pilate's wife, Pilate himself, and the centurion. But these unhappy men brought home to themselves the testimony of resurrection in a way that it was impossible to deny. It was the testimony of their own appointed witnesses, and there is no record that it produced any moral effect whatever. Testimony itself does not effect anything, in results I mean, if the heart is hardened. I think there is a feeling in the mind of men generally, and it lingers in our own minds, that if a sufficient amount of undeniable evidence were brought before them, they would believe it. So this supplies disillusion. Hundreds of volumes have been published of what are called 'Evidences', but no-one has been converted through their instrumentality. It is solemn to think that the more certainly you can prove the truth of God, the more certainly the natural man will reject it.

Rem. It is striking in Luke 16, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, not even if one rise from among the dead will they be persuaded".

C.A.C. Yes, if there is anything of God in a man, the testimony of Moses and the prophets will suffice; that is the moral testimony is far greater than any testimony of signs and wonders.

Rem. Paul reasons in the Acts.

C.A.C. Well, that is the moral line -- that is right. He did not show people miracles. And God has seen to it that there is undeniable evidence. No fact is better established on evidence than the Lord's resurrection.

Rem. It is the only thing that is described as infallible in Scriptures: "By many infallible proofs", Acts 1:3 (A.V.).

C.A.C. Yes, and something like thirty years afterwards there were over two hundred and fifty people who remembered it personally.

Ques. Would you say the truth of the reality of

resurrection is that which we are slow to come to? Paul rehearses it in 1 Corinthians 15 as if we need a great deal on our side to come to it.

C.A.C. Because it is a thing entirely outside the experience of man. F.E.R. used to say he did not wonder at people observing 'Good Friday' but he wondered very much that they observed 'Easter Sunday'. That is, the death of the Lord is a fact that comes within the knowledge of man; he has seen Him die. But the resurrection is outside the domain of human knowledge altogether, and man's reasoning powers are utterly at fault. We know that the Lord as risen never appeared to anybody except His own during the forty days. He said, "The world sees me no longer; but ye see me". It was the peculiar privilege of His own to see Him as risen, and it still is the privilege of faith to see Him risen.

Rem. False ideas prevailed about it, as when Herod thought that John the Baptist was risen from the dead.

C.A.C. But then, Herod's idea of a man risen from the dead was a man going about doing miracles and preaching. He had an idea that John had come back as a man on earth. So people today think that they are going to rejoin their friends in a better and another world.

Rem. In basic English resurrection is 'come to life again'.

C.A.C. We ought to pray more for capacity to take in the thought of resurrection. You do not see it really in those whom the Lord raised. You do not see it in Lazarus, except as a picture of it. He was brought back into a condition where he could be killed by men and die again; that is, it was resuscitation rather than resurrection. It sets forth most wonderfully the power of resurrection resident in the Lord, but He restored him to his sisters.

Rem. So it was in all cases before the Lord's own death. It was so with Elijah and the boy.

C.A.C. No one as far as we know witnessed the actual resurrection. The angel came down and rolled away the stone -- not to let the Lord out, but to show He was not in the tomb!

Rem. The resurrection is a thing that could not be witnessed.

C.A.C. The Lord would be seen as risen, but His actual rising was not witnessed by anybody; it was a matter, we might say, between Himself and the Father, was it not?

Rem. Quite so! Why did you say just now that we should pray for more capacity to take in the resurrection?

C.A.C. I thought it was most important in view of one taking up the position of being risen with Him. It is apprehended "through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead". It is a matter of faith, so risen with Christ is a faith position. None of us are actually risen with Christ, but it is a spiritual position to be entered upon by the faith of the wonderful working of God who raised Him from among the dead. So the working of it in the soul is a very influential thing.

Ques. So that the features of resurrection should apply to us. Is it the same as an out-of-the-world condition?

C.A.C. Well, that is something like it, I should think.

Rem. It would help us as it would give us a sphere of things in which to live. Sometimes saints are found in a sphere of things that they should not be living in; the sphere of resurrection should be the sphere of their activities in life.

Rem. Abraham had the faith of resurrection.

Ques. What do we learn from the attitude of these two women?

C.A.C. Well, they were seeking Jesus, "the crucified one", but they were too late!

Rem. They were unable to take in the truth of resurrection at this juncture.

C.A.C. Yes! It is very affecting to see that they clung to the Lord, even as dead, in a way that the brothers did not.

Rem. They were ready for this disclosure.

C.A.C. The fact that they were the first to get the light of resurrection would intimate that the state of our affections is very important in connection with this matter. Many things would become clear to us if we loved the Lord with more personal affection. I suppose it would solve every doctrinal difficulty for us. And His leading here was not exactly to heaven, it was to Galilee.

Ques. The resurrection scene is to be enjoyed by those who have not yet left the earth physically; is that what you have in mind?

C.A.C. And He was to be known in the place of reproach -- Galilee -- far away from all that was great in Judaea. It was in keeping with the character of the Lord's own ministry.

Ques. Why did the angel say to the women "Come, see the place where the Lord lay"?

C.A.C. Well, is that not a very important matter indeed for us? I suppose that it would hardly be wrong to say that His death was greater than His resurrection.

Ques. This is true at the Supper, would you say -- this comes into it?

C.A.C. I was thinking of that. As we look at the loaf and the cup on the table they say nothing to us of His resurrection; they speak simply and only of where the Lord lay. It is most important, because apart from that, how could we possibly touch the resurrection side?

Ques. Does the thought of burial in Corinthians come in here?

C.A.C. Yes, it is a part of the gospel. But the angel directed their attention to "the place where the Lord lay" and we need to ponder very much the fact that the Lord

has lain in death. What it must have been to the angels to have seen Him in death and buried, to those who knew so well whom He was!

Rem. What follows would be in answer to their affections. It says, "Go quickly", that is, after they had done so. And if we are ready to go this way, we shall get the Lord's personal confirmation.

C.A.C. I thought so; that is very encouraging.

Rem. They are to move forward, and there is the meeting with the Lord Himself.

C.A.C. And He makes Himself available to them for personal contact, in a way He did not to Mary Magdalene. "They ... took him by the feet".

Rem. They had learnt Him in a new way, taking account of how the angels speak of Him. It says they "did him homage". It is the right attitude here, it is rather different from John 20.

C.A.C. It would suggest an apprehension of how He was moving, would it not?

Rem. He was moving away from Jerusalem and all that order of things.

C.A.C. Yes.

THE PERSONAL RELATION OF CHRIST TO GOD

Matthew 3:13 - 17; Mark 1:9 - 11; Luke 3:21,22; John 1:29 - 34; Galatians 1:15,16

C.A.C. We were considering recently Christ as Lord, as Head and as Priest. These are official glories and exceedingly great and precious and blessed, but there is something that lies behind all these and gives preciousness and character to them and that is the personal relation to God of that One who sustains these offices. This is why the Lord is introduced at the beginning of each gospel in His own personal relation to God. The Son of God has come and the Person gives character to everything He undertakes. The Person who comes and His personal relation to God as a Man underlies everything.

The present is a wonderful moment; it is the greatest moment in the history of time; every thought of God has come to fruition now. The first thing mentioned in the scripture read from Matthew is the fulfilling of all righteousness; all is based on that.

Ques. What do you mean by that?

C.A.C. Man having fallen and become guilty, the question of righteousness is raised and the Lord comes in to take account of all the state in which man was. The Lord's baptism was the shadow of His death which got the first man out of the way. The man of sin and shame must be removed so that another Man, the Son of God, may be introduced. The Son of God's coming is the bringing in of a new Man altogether but the other man must be cleared out of the way. It is a question of righteousness. It is only in the light of the Son of God and the appreciation of Him that one can accept baptism; you give up your place in man's

world because you are in view of what is so much better -- you are prepared to part company with yourself. Baptism is the going out of sight of man in the flesh and the giving up of life on the earth. The power for everything lies in the Son of God and what is connected with Him. You get the Spirit resting upon Him, God's love and delight resting upon a Man to whom heaven can be opened.

There is a different aspect of sonship in each of the four gospels. In Matthew the Son of God has the liberty of heaven, the heavens were opened to Him, not on Him. In Mark, the great feature is that there is a Man who has the support of heaven, that is as the Servant down here, which gave wonderful character to what He did, so it is not the liberty of heaven but the support of heaven. Hence Mark is the gospel of astonishment -- they were "exceedingly beyond measure astonished ...", Mark 6:51. It is the blessed character of a Servant acting in the midst of all that is evil with all the support of heaven. It is service carried out in all the consciousness of that relationship. We do not serve rightly unless we serve in the consciousness of our relationship as sons. In Luke I think the Son of God is seen as the Vessel of all the grace of heaven. The Son of God is an outlet for heaven. Heaven is full of grace and here on earth was a suitable outlet for all that grace. In John's gospel He is the subject of witness. It is God's thought that there should be a witness to His Son down here. It is a great thought that the Son of God brought God to man and man to God. There was a Man here who was suited as a vessel to carry all the grace of heaven. Dependence is the character of a man suited to all the grace of heaven. In Matthew's gospel it is the opening up of a new place for man; the history of Israel is embraced in the history of the Lord and the history of the many sons is pre-figured in the history of the first-born -- "Out of Egypt I called my son", Hosea 11:1. That history is repeated in every son; He calls

all His many sons out of Egypt. Heaven has been opened up to us. People are deeply interested if a new bit of the earth is opened up even if it is at the North Pole, but our interest should be that heaven has been opened up. There is a Man suited to the love and favour of God; that is the Man we have come to. There is a Man at last to whom heaven could not be closed. His baptism was a figure of His death and in result heaven could be opened up. Righteousness having been fulfilled, heaven is opened up for us. The wonderful thing is that God's own place is opened up for man. He will keep a place for our feet here as long as He means us to sojourn here, but heaven is opened up to us. It is only as having the liberty of heaven that one can rightly touch anything on earth. In Matthew 5, 6 and 7 He is legislating for the earth. It is the Man who has the liberty of heaven and is suitable to heaven who can legislate for the earth. By and by the saints will legislate for the earth because heaven has been opened up to them. In the book of Revelation you find that which relates to earth but the key to all that happens on earth is what happens in heaven. We want to be interested in heaven. If you want the key to what is happening on earth at the present time, you will find it in heaven. There is a glorious Man there who is the Object of God's delight and love and everything is under the influence of that Man and we get the liberty of that place. It is in Matthew's gospel that it says "me and thee". You could not have anything beyond the Son of God; it is finality. The gospel of the glory of the blessed God is one side, but on the other there is the shining out of what is supremely for God's delight. The Spirit could come on that blessed One, that was His distinguishing mark, and that is the way God marks off His saints -- not by earthly prosperity but by the Spirit of His Son.

Rem. There was nothing in His outward circumstances or form which marked Him off from other men.

C.A.C. It is the secret of life and joy for us to be in the light of that blessed Person -- the Son of God. Are we prepared to accept baptism as being in the light of that Person?

Rem. There are many souls who have forgiveness of sins and enjoy peace with God but are not in liberty.

C.A.C. I do not think we touch what is heavenly until we come to the Son of God.

Ques. What is the difference between "Christ" and the "Son of God"?

C.A.C. I thought "Christ" was His office -- the anointed Man to carry out God's pleasure, but the "Son of God" is His own personal relationship to God. The kingdom is marked by the light and influence of those in relationship, in sonship. It is important for us to be exercised about all this so that we should be a heavenly people here and now, not a people who just know there is such a place as heaven and are going there when they die. What God wants is a heavenly people here for His pleasure. The anointing is that He is marked off before others and the sealing is what distinguishes Him personally in His relationship with God.

In Mark He is supported. The parting asunder of the heavens I have connected with Isaiah 64:1, "Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, -- that the mountains might flow down at thy presence". Nothing is to stand before Him. I think the Lord entered upon His service with all the support of heaven. If we have the sense of the support of heaven we need not fear anything down here. What is a mountain before the power of heaven? It is wonderful to think that the Son of God should become the Servant. He has come to carry out all God's pleasure in regard to man and what He does is all measured by who He is -- the Son of God.

Rem. The point is not so much what He was but what He is.

C.A.C. In John the point is that the saints should be here

in witness to the Son of God, to the fact that the Son of God has come. It is important for us that we learn our place of liberty and then we can count on the support of heaven. They were astonished because there was a Man moving about with a different kind of power and support from anything they had ever seen before, a new character of Man and service had come in. We are absolutely superior to everything else if we have the support of heaven. The effect of the service of the Son of God is that He brings about that we serve; what He did personally was to be continued in His saints. A great deal depends on our learning the Son of God; the thing is to have our hearts attracted to and engaged with Him.

Now we will pass on to Luke for a moment. In Luke it is a question of heaven being full of grace, and it is an outlet for all the grace of heaven that is wanted and the Son of God is that outlet. All the grace of heaven came into this world in a Vessel -- in a bodily shape. The character of the gospel is the grace of heaven. The wealth of heaven is flowing out in this world in that blessed Person, the Son of God. If you consider Him it takes you entirely out of yourself and into the joy of all that is heavenly, you get occupied with what has come in Him. It is not a question of what we apprehend but of what He brings. "He forgave both of them their debt"; that is a part of it, although one of them did not care anything about it. We become formed as vessels of that grace; it is all connected with the truth of sonship in our souls. The sons are here on earth at this present moment but heaven is open to them; heaven is their place and they have the support of heaven. As people walking in the truth and affections of sonship they have all the support of heaven and they are vessels of the grace of heaven -- not impoverishing others, but enriching them. The truth of sonship is very far-reaching; it is in dependence that it is learnt. It is wonderful what heaven can do

with a praying man. I think prayer is intelligent dependence. The moment had arrived when the fulness of the time had come and all the grace of heaven was about to flow out and He was praying about it. I feel deeply hum bled that I do not pray more. God would make great use of us if we were more simple and prayerful. We often pray about ourselves but that is not the prayer of sons at all. The Lord said, "Did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father's business?", Luke 2:49. That is the thing. The Boy of twelve is taken up with His Father's business; His Father's business was that all the grace of heaven was coming out and He wanted a people here in the joy of it. It is all gathered up in the heavenly city which has the liberty of heaven. It is a free city, and it is the full vessel of the grace of heaven so that all the blessing goes out, goes out through the gates; it is the outgoings of the city.

Rem. God's mind is that all should be continued now.

C.A.C. The important thing is that there should be a witness to the Son of God and that brings us to John. The great thought of John's gospel is the witness. It is very striking the importance that is attached to the witness when to an onlooker there was no witness to be seen at all. It is remarkable that when John wrote about the witness and when Paul wrote about the testimony it had to all outward appearances broken down. John saw Him in His glory. It is known to the people who have seen Him. If our reading today leads any of us to see these things in the Son of God there will be the witness.

Rem. In the epistle the saints themselves are the witness.

C.A.C. God's great thought is that there should be a witness to His Son. I think it is a great thing to have unity brought about. The Lord prays for the unity of His saints. It is the knowledge of the Son of God that will bring about unity and nothing else. It is most important for God that

there shall be a witness and I believe a witness will be maintained to the end.

Rem. What we want is to ponder over these things; it is in meditation that we get the good of them. We ought to be "clean" and "chew the cud".

C.A.C. What is in my mind as to it is that we learn the secret of how to be heavenly in the knowledge of the Son of God; it is christianity in the full height of its own blessedness. It is a great thing to know Him that is true. In the Son of God nothing falls below the level of God's thoughts. "And we know that the Son of God has come", 1 John 5:20. I think with the apostle it means that the Son of God having come, every other man has gone. It had become a great reality in their souls.

THE CHRISTIAN'S REST AND RELATIONSHIP

Matthew 11:20 - 30; Matthew 17:24 - 27

The christian's rest and relationship are brought before us in these scriptures. Both are known in companionship with Jesus. Jesus says, "Come to me ... and I will give you rest". You can hardly conceive anything greater. Several things come out in connection with the scene here and it is in coming to Him in the character in which He is here presented that He gives us rest.

We see a Man on earth who could praise God for His sovereignty. The Lord turned from everything -- for all spoke of failure -- and turned to His Father. We do not make any headway until we do the same. It is the first element of rest. If I see what I am I realize that there is no hope or help in anything but the sovereignty of God. The soul is brought to the psalmist's expression, "Upon God alone, O my soul, rest peacefully", Psalm 62:5. The sovereignty of God is a very sweeping thing. It sweeps away all the pretension of man, his wisdom and his prudence. Both Egyptian and Philistine need to be slain. If we come to the Man of our chapter, we really come to what marks Him. We have the character of the "babe".

The Lord says, "All things have been delivered to me by my Father". First we have God alone before us, our hope in Him; then we see that all things have been put into the hands of the Son, hands that can hold all perfectly. You are now in the presence, not of deficiency but of sufficiency. Everything is fully secured in Him who is so great that only the Father knows Him. Think of the things that have been given into the hands of the Son as Man: redemption, a foundation for the recovery of all for God; revelation

has been committed to Him. All the secrets are out: man's blessing, all the promises, all the purposes of God. All are held secure by Him. That is the Person who says, "Come to me".

Then we have a blessed Man on earth who knows the Father. He knew God perfectly. He had personal experience of all that God could be for a man down here. He says to us, 'I will tell you all about it'. He is One of the Godhead. We do not question that, but He became a Man and as such He knew the Father. He knew fully what God's care was as meeting necessities, and all the wonderful favour of God which is beyond all need. He knew it all and all the Father's thoughts as well; they were His joy and delight. He says, 'I will not keep it to Myself; I will reveal it to you'. He wants each one of us to be in personal contact with Himself and He will give us to know the Father as He knew Him.

The first rest is a given rest. It is connected with what is found in a Person. It is objective. If there is labour, or we are burdened it is a sure sign that we have not come to Him.

The second rest is a found rest. It is a matter of the state of soul. It is subjective. In verse 20 the Lord changes His position and takes a place on our side and invites us to take His yoke. The yoke must be companionship. On our side the Lord is the meek and lowly One and we have to learn to be like Him. He says, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light". Ah! He was the true Hebrew servant. He could say, "I love". That made the yoke easy. He said also, "To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight". The burden was light. How can we come into this? He says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me". The yoke is His Spirit and we become like Him. We find the yoke easy and the burden light. We are thus vitally linked with Him and find rest to our souls. So we see that if we

come to Him we shall have the benefit of the revelation which He gives of the Father and the benefit of having His Spirit as the Spirit of the One who responds to that revelation.

In chapter 17 we have sonship. Rest has to do with a scene of turmoil and confusion and it is blessed. It is in contrast to unrest. Sonship is not connected with this scene of unrest but with another scene altogether. In this scripture we have the thought of association with the Son in sonship. If Peter had understood the glory of the Son he would not have answered as he did to the enquiry as to paying the didrachmas; he would have said, 'No; He is the Son'. But the Lord submits and in doing so associates Peter with Himself in all the blessedness of sonship with the words, "Take that and give it to them for me and thee". We are brought in, in companionship with the Son, to the circle of God's own love. First we are companions with the Son in rest, then with Him in the affections and love that fill the Father's house. One is our place below; the other our place above: 'As sons like Him, with Him to be in Thine own house' (Hymn 88).

THE PLACE WHERE REST IS FOUND

Matthew 11:25 - 30

With the blessed Lord in His circumstances and in His service here there was but little rest. As to His circumstances He had "not where to lay his head"; and as to His service, "the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done" had rejected Him. But He finds a place of rest and retirement from all the circumstances of the scene around, and from all His service. He retires into the secret joy of that blessed relationship which subsisted between Himself and the Father. He retires into the secret joys of that which He knew, a relationship outside this world altogether and in that circle of divine affection the secret of which none knew but Himself.

Now having that rest in His own soul it is so touching to see how He turns round to those who love Him. They were devoted in service, but they had not got His rest. They found great difficulties and opposition, and were under the pressure of them. It is really to the devoted servant, and not to the wretched sinner, that the invitation is addressed to "Come". 'I want you to come from all the difficulty and pressure of things here into the secrets of that out-of-the-world relationship and joy in which I am with the Father'. I call attention to it for I believe if we learn it as individuals it is in connection with the assembly. We are to be apart from all the circumstances of this world, from everything connected with this scene, and to be brought into that circle of divine affection where the Son is with the Father.

Beloved brethren, are we prepared to go in for it? You may say, 'Does it cost anything to get it'? Yes, it costs a

great deal. You cannot have it unless you are a "babe"; that is, you must be prepared to surrender all your self-importance and self-consideration (these things are hindrances) and to be nothing and a nobody in this world, nothing to yourself or anybody else. How can any of us come to be babes? I only know one crucible in which all the naughty pride of our hearts can be melted and that is the crucible of divine love. It is only there we can learn to be babes, people of no importance in our own eyes or in other people's eyes, to be unknown in this world. If you are content to be a nobody in this world, you can be a companion of Christ in the circle of the Father's love.

In Luke 10:21 it says, "In the same hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit". Do you know what made Him rejoice? It was to have a few babes to whom the secrets of the Father's love could be made known. I like to think of that blessed One rejoicing in spirit, rejoicing to have a few "babes" -- a few nobodies in this world -- around Him! May we know better what a wonderful privilege it is!

THE SON OF GOD AND HIS ASSEMBLY

Matthew 16:6 - 18; Hebrews 2:11, 12; Hebrews 8:1 - 3; Hebrews 10:14 - 22

The scriptures before us should awaken profound interest in the heart of every Christian, for they speak of the Son of God, and of the saints as forming what He calls, "My assembly". Though Christ was cast out of the world nearly nineteen centuries ago He still has a place here, for His assembly is here, and in that assembly He has a place and a voice. In Christ's assembly He is necessarily supreme, and this in a way that is exclusive of everything not of Himself.

I desire to say a little about the foundation on which Christ builds, the material with which He builds, and the character of the structure which results from His building. Then I hope to show how Christ's assembly really gives character to the house of God.

Many at the present day seem to think that Christianity is a development of Judaism, but there could be no greater mistake. Christianity is the introduction of what is wholly new and altogether divine in the Person of the Son of God. We are slow to get hold of this. We do not readily perceive that "the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6), and human sentiment (verse 22, 23) are things of which to beware. But if we savour the things that be of men we are far from the savour of "the things that are of God". The leaven of the Pharisees is human religiousness and the leaven of the Sadducees is human intellect working in connection with divine things. Both are to be dreaded and shunned as elements ever opposed to what is of God, and human sentiment is no better in result, however well it may appear on the surface. In contrast to these the confession of a divine Person come in flesh into the world is

the Rock on which the assembly is built. When Peter said "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God", the Lord said to him, "Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly". It is impossible for the power of evil to prevail against a structure founded on that blessed Person and the confession of Him. "And hades' gates shall not prevail against it".