HARMONY -- GOD KNEW THE END FROM THE BEGINNING

Genesis 2:7 - 10; Revelation 22:1 - 5

There is one thing I think must strike the most casual reader of Scripture and that is God knew the end from the beginning. You see the first page of Scripture and the last are in perfect harmony with each other. We get the tree of life and the river in Genesis 2 and the tree of life and the river in Revelation 22. Now that shows me from the beginning to the end God has the same things before Him. God does not change His ways. His dispensations may change but God does not.

In Genesis 1 we have a picture of the work of God in connection with His counsels. You may say it is a picture of creation, but it is a wonderful picture of God's work which leads right on to the rest of God. The beginning of Genesis gives a description of the work of the six days, and it ends with the sabbath of rest, and it is thus a picture of the end to which God is really working. He is working up to a certain point and that is to secure rest and satisfaction for Himself in the full blessing of man. Depend upon it, that is God's object. In chapter 2 we come to the unfolding of God's ways. God has been pleased to take certain ways in order to reach His end, and in the ways of God it was necessary that man, God's creature, should be the subject of testing. I think that is very plain. When God made man He put him in the garden of Eden to test him.

People get strange ideas of what a beautiful place the garden of Eden was but, though that garden was a beautiful place, it was a place of testing and was intended to be so. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was there and it was

forbidden them. It was the test of man's obedience and confidence in God and the penalty of death was attached to disobedience. So that the garden of Eden, beautiful as it was, was a place of testing for man, and I suppose everybody can see that when man was thus tested he turned out a complete failure through disobedience, and thus fell under the power of sin and came under death as the judgment of God. And then when God was pleased to set up government and put the sword of government in the hand of Noah after the flood, man despised His government, and when God gave him His law he broke it, and when He sent prophets man evilly treated them, and when He last of all sent His Son, Him they rejected and crucified. And now that He causes His gospel to be preached in this world, what do men do with it? They resist the Holy Spirit and will not receive the glad tidings of the grace of God. God is testing man from the beginning to the end and the result of the test is that at every point man turns out a complete failure.

Now I do not know whether that is the conclusion come to by everyone here, but with that book in your hand how can you come to any other? At every part of man's history he is an utter failure. The test began in the garden of Eden and is still going on, and that test is not the law but Christ. The question for everyone is, "What think ye of Christ?" They who believe on Him are the children of God, and the rest are accursed. You know there is a solemn scripture connected with the gospel, "If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha" (1 Corinthians 16:22). There is only one of two things for the sinner; if he will not have the blessing he must have the curse. And why not be blessed? Because they love the world and love to have their own way and will not submit themselves to God. But the end of this is death. Death comes in as the result of the testing of man. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden, and forbidden because man was not fit to touch it. It was too great a matter for man to touch, and God knew very well if man attempted to touch the question of good and evil he

would involve himself in utter ruin, so God forbad it. Well, they disobeyed God and the result has been a world of sin and sorrow and death; and the world is established thus, as it were, under God's eye today. That is the result of the testing of man. He has plunged himself, and we have all plunged ourselves into sin and death and Satan's power.

Now let me say there were two things in the garden not connected with the testing of man; they had a place on another line altogether. The first was the tree of life and the second was the river. These had nothing to do with the testing of man. They were symbolical of what was in the mind of God; and I do not think it can be difficult in the mind of any Christian to see that the tree of life was a figure of Christ. I think it is equally clear that the river was typical of the Holy Spirit. So that on the first page of Scripture we see in emblem Christ and the Spirit as God's provision for man.

I do not see there could have been much meaning in the tree of life for Adam in innocence. I do not think it could have meant anything to him. What would be the good of the tree of life to a man not under death? It seems to me the tree of life could only have its place when sin and death had come in, and not before. But it is very interesting to see that before man had come under sin and before he is tested, God had a provision in His own mind that was in store for man against the time when sin and death should come in. And I believe, beloved friends, the whole of Scripture is the history of how God has brought in Christ and the Spirit that there might be infinite blessing for man, and at the same time real satisfaction and rest for God. And I think we get the climax in Revelation 22. There you get the tree in the midst of the street of the city and of the river, and the river of the water of life flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. That is the climax. It is a picture of the garden of Eden; when worked out in all its blessed fulfilment you get the tree and the river again.

Now, if we see really the consequences of Adam having eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we shall

find the thought of the tree of life very precious. And I do not think anyone would think much of the tree of life until he had realised what was meant by the other tree. You see sin came in in connection with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and death by sin, and not only that, but Satan's power. People do not think of it, but it is a reality that Satan is the god and prince of this world. They think as they look at members of parliament and cabinet ministers that they are ordering everything as they like; but there is a secret invisible power behind the scenes moving everything in this world, and that power is the power of Satan. The Lord spoke of him as the prince of this world; and Paul calls him the god of this world, and he speaks of him as the ruler of the authority of the air, and the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience. A man thinks he is doing his own will, but he is not; he is doing Satan's will and using the power of Satan. Now these facts have to be recognised. Sin has come in and death by sin, but people regard death as a natural event; it is the most unnatural event possible to happen. To call it the course of nature is an abominable lie and a libel upon God. Not a bit of it! It is the judgment of God upon sin. People do not die in the course of nature but under the judgment of God. "The wages of sin is death". God never created man to be a dying man; death came in by sin. Sin has come in and death has come in and Satan's power has come in. Now we are all involved in this matter; every one of us is deeply affected because sin has come into the world.

A young man once said to an old Christian, 'I have found original sin in the Bible'. The old man replied, 'Have you found it in your own heart?' Now we have found sin in our own heart and not only in the Bible, and we have come under death and as children of Adam we have fallen under Satan's power. Why I dwell on this is to show that before Christ could be the tree of life for us and before we could receive the Spirit which answers to the river, this terrible question must be settled, the question of sin and death and Satan's power. These things must be settled.

Beloved friends, I do not know whether they are settled for you or not, but I know they are settled for God; and the way they have been settled is such that the full blessing of it is available for us. Christ is the tree of life, and He is that after settling every question that came in by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How was it done? Take the question of sin; that is the first point. I found myself as a natural man in company with Simon Peter in Luke 5 crying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord" (Luke 5:8). Mark that word "sinful". How ready people are to say, 'Oh yes, we are all sinners', but how few have the sense of being a "sinful" man -- full of sin. Now how is that to be met? Why, only by Christ: it can only be met by a holy sacrifice; and Christ, God's beloved Son, came into this world, born of the virgin, born in holy flesh, that He might go to the cross and be made sin, and in His sacrifice put it away. Has it been accomplished? Yes, blessed be God, it has. There has been a sacrifice offered, atonement made, and the benefit of it is open for every sinner in this world.

And then take death; you see, death has come in through sin. Well, we could not meet it. It is no use talking of meeting death. Suppose you had all the medical men with all the medical science in the world: ask them if they can meet the question of death and set it aside? Why, they would laugh at you. But Christ has come into the world and gone into death and has tasted death for every thing. The Son of the blessed God, upon whom death had no claim, for He was without sin, and hence over Him death could have no power, for He was the Prince of life, He has come into this world and tasted death for every thing. What a wonderful thing! The very judgment that rested upon you and upon me has been taken in love by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what about Satan's power? There is the universal power of Satan. Has Christ been able to deal with that? Yes, He has. In Genesis 3 God says, 'The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head'. No one can meet Satan but Christ. You know there is a great deal of wickedness in the

way people speak of Satan -- even among Christians. People speak of him in a frivolous way and in a very light way that they would be afraid to do if they knew what a great dignitary he is. You know the archangel Michael would not bring against him a railing accusation (Jude 9). There is only one Person who could bruise the serpent's head, and that is Christ. He came into this world and into the place of sin, and was there to bruise the serpent's head. True, the serpent bruised His heel; but at that very moment his head was crushed beneath that victorious heel. Thus Christ has annulled him that had the might of death, that is the devil, and broken the power of Satan for ever. Beloved friends, that is why Satan is not god and prince in my heart and has no possession there, because the One who has broken his power has a place there; and that is the only way Satan is displaced. It is by Christ coming in.

Now you see when these things came in by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin, death and Satan's power were all met by Christ going into death, and now Christ in resurrection is the tree of life. Mark that, it is Christ in resurrection. It is in resurrection that Christ is really precious to a sinner. When Christ was on earth the question of sin was not settled, nor the question of death and Satan's power. But after He had been to the cross, He came back in triumph, and it is really in resurrection that He becomes the tree of life.

As the scripture says, life and incorruptibility were brought to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10), through a risen Christ. Beloved friends, what a joy it is to think that Christ is the tree of life! I am not now burdened by the thought of sin.

I see Christ having come into death and been raised again by the glory of the Father; all the power of Satan was broken at the cross, and the One who broke that power is now known by faith in my heart as the tree of life. What a wonderful thing to see that risen Person! Christ is the wisdom and the power of God.

You may remember in Proverbs 3:18 we read, "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is he

that retaineth her". Christ is the wisdom of God to meet sin and death and Satan's power, and as I lay hold on Christ, I lay hold really upon the tree of life. It is such a wonderful thing to have a Person outside yourself! Many a true Christian is looking inside half his time, but if you begin to look inside you are sure to get dull and down in your soul and into darkness. It is a great thing to keep the eye on Christ. Christ is the tree of life, Christ in resurrection.

Now in connection with that I want to speak a moment on what Christ has brought in. He has brought in what I may call the conditions of life, and I think we get them in figure in Genesis 1, so that He might prepare the way to bring life into the world. It is very interesting to see that there are four conditions of life in Genesis 1. For instance in verse 3, "God said, Let there be light. And there was light". Light is the first condition of life. I suppose there could be no question as to that. If light could be excluded from the earth for a very short time all animal life would come to an end, for light is the first condition of life; and that is the first thing in creation; and that is the first thing Christ brings in. There is no natural life apart from light, and no spiritual life apart from spiritual light, and Christ brings it in. He brings in the knowledge of God in grace, and that is the first thing I need as a poor dark sinner. What is the good of talking to me about man's intellect? I want the light of God; and where is it? I find it in Christ.

We read in John 1:4, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men". And in John 8:12 He says, "I am the light of the world". And now He is risen and glorified at God's right hand, the apostle Paul can say, "Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Beloved friends, light has come in and has come into every Christian's heart here tonight. It is the first condition of life. There is no spiritual life if no light. How do you know God? You know him in Christ. Christ is the image of the invisible

God. You look at Christ and you see in Him the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in a Man; God revealed in a man and that man His beloved Son. Thank God for it. We are not in ignorance of God; He has made Himself known in His beloved Son. "No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John 1:18). That is light.

Now look at verse 6 of Genesis 1"And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be a division between waters and waters". It is really the atmosphere. God thus created the atmosphere -- first light and then the atmosphere. I suppose every child can see that if there was not an atmosphere there could be no life. We require an atmosphere to breathe. Now Christ has brought in a new atmosphere for us to live in, and if I may so describe it, I should say the atmosphere of a Christian's life is made up of peace and love. When Christ came into this world these two things, peace and love, came in His blessed Person. Divine peace and divine love came in for the first time. He brought the atmosphere of it. How wonderful that is! And He then introduced His disciples into that atmosphere of heaven. I have no doubt one thing the disciples knew while with Him was what it was to breathe the atmosphere of heaven. When the Lord asked them, "Will ye also go away?" Peter answers, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal" (John 6:67, 68). He knew then what it was to breathe the atmosphere of heaven around that blessed Person. But then to have it fully we must go on to resurrection; the ground of peace was not laid until Christ died; but then every disturbing element was removed, every foe defeated, and the blessed Victor comes into the midst of His disciples with that sacred brow decked with the laurels of triumph and says, "Peace be to you" (John 20:19). It was a new atmosphere, an atmosphere of peace.

What a wonderful thing, thus to be brought into peace! And by whom? By Christ. Who could bring a poor sinner like me into peace but Christ? And He has done it, blessed

be His Name! And divine life and love, never known in this world until Christ died (I mean in its fulness), has now come. Scripture says, "Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9). Love came out thus, and now the proper atmosphere for your soul and mine is the love of God. That is the atmosphere in which we can live. Christ has brought it to us. We have not to reach the love by some kind of effort. You may read religious books with this object. There is one entitled The Imitation of Christ written by a man who lived many years ago, where we may read a great deal about the love of God, and which puts people on the line of making effort to reach the love of God. I do not think this of any use; the love of God has been brought to us by Christ and made known to us by His death. And thus it becomes the atmosphere in which my soul can live.

We look now at verse 11: "And God said, Let the earth cause grass to spring up" ... . What we get on the third day is the grass, the herb, and the fruit trees, and these were intended to be food for man and beast. That is another condition of life. How long should we live if we had no food? And it is a wonderful thing to see how Christ has brought in divine food for us, spiritual food. And really everything that God has established in Christ is intended to be the food of our souls. Do you think we could feed our souls on the newspaper? I think some Christians get shrivelled up by reading so much of the literature of this world, and thus they lose their taste for divine food. I do not think anyone can enjoy the food of Egypt and the food of Canaan at the same time. If you relish the food of Egypt you will not relish the food of Canaan. In one word, Christ is the food of His people, and that is the food God gives to us, and He has sent His servants to feed His flock with it. Every bit of divine food is the ministry of Christ in some way or other. He sets before us that blessed Person for nourishment of our hearts in divine intelligence of Him. Is not that a condition of spiritual life? I am

sure it is, and if a person does not feed on divine food, he can know nothing about divine life.

One thing more as to the fourth day, verse 16, "And God made the two great lights, the great light to rule the day, and the small light to rule the night". That is, if life is to be sustained in nature, everything must be under proper control. Suppose things were not under proper control, suppose the law of gravitation ceased to act for five minutes, what would be the result? The whole universe would go to destruction. The created universe all depends on the law of gravitation, and according to that law, the sun rules the solar system, and everything is held in its place by the sun. The sun rules everything because all the influences that make this world habitable are under the rule of the sun. The seasons, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, are all under the rule of the sun.

Now there is something like that in the spiritual world. Christ is the Sun of the spiritual world. Nothing is right that is not regulated by Christ. It is a wonderful thing to see the place Christ has in it. God has put Christ at His right hand and He is there as the Head of all principalities and powers, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him; and Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body. He is the great Head and Centre of God's universe, and until our souls come into their proper relation to Christ, we are lawless, because we are not under rule, and if we are not under rule we do not enjoy life. It is one of the conditions of life; there should be rule. We are all thankful in this country for a measure of wise and righteous government. That is why the conditions are so much better than they are in some countries.

Now, what a blessed thing to be under the rule of Christ. You see, Christ has died that He might deliver us from the power of the law that we might be married to Him, and that we might come under His control. That, I suppose, is why the wife is to be subject to her husband; she is under rule in that way, not a legal rule, but a rule of love. In the same way

the assembly and the individual believer are under the rule of Christ; hence the first breath of spiritual life is expressed in the words "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10). That is a man coming under the rule of Christ.

These then are the things that come out on the first four days of creation: first light, then atmosphere, then food, and then rule; and the next two days are taken up with the introduction of animal and human life. God first made the conditions and then He brought in life. Now Christ is the tree of life because He brings in the conditions of spiritual life. He brings in the light of God, a new atmosphere of love, the food, and then the rule. It is all brought in in Christ, and Christ is everything.

Now we will leave that part of the subject and say a little about the river. As I said at the first, the river seems to me to be symbolical of the Spirit of God. You see two things in Christianity: the first, Christ is the object, and God never gives us any other object but Christ in that sense; and the second, the Spirit is an indwelling Person; that is, as we sometimes say, we have the Spirit subjectively to dwell in us, and so in that way our souls, being watered by the river, shall be a fruitful garden for the Lord. That is why the Spirit is given, to be the river of God in our souls, making us fresh and bright and full of spiritual energy towards Christ and towards God.

Now it is a wonderful thing that when Christ came into this world He was introduced in the same way in all the four gospels. In each gospel He is introduced to us as the One who baptised with the Holy Spirit. Is not that very striking? It is quite true Christ did not actually give the Spirit until He was glorified, but everything that transpired in the life of Jesus Christ was in view of this great fact that He was going to give the Spirit to those that believe. But the gift of the Holy Spirit is a thing many Christians leave out of account altogether. They hardly think of it. They know perhaps there is something about it in Scripture but they know nothing about it in their souls. I put it to every Christian here, 'Do

you know anything about the gift of the Holy Spirit in your own experience?' I do not ask how many books you have read on the subject, or how much you know from the Scriptures, but do you know anything about the river of God in your soul? That is a plain home question. There is such a thing as the river of God in the soul of the believer.

As I have said, you find when Christ came into this world, He became the object of attraction. He was in this world an attractive object, a divine object, and souls were attracted to Him. We see two of John's disciples follow Him as thus attracted, and they say, "Rabbi ... where abidest thou?" (John 1:38). Then there was in the same chapter Simon, and then Nathanael, and in chapter 3 Nicodemus; these were all thus attracted; also the woman of Samaria in chapter 4. Beloved friends, God's object in attracting souls to Christ was and is that they might receive from Christ the Holy Spirit; that they might receive from Christ the well of living water flowing in their souls. That is the river of God of which this river in Genesis 2 is the emblem.

Well, the first thing is to be attracted to Christ. I am speaking now to a company of believers and it is my sincere hope that every one in this company has been attracted to Christ. We have received a great many blessings as believers through Him. If we have forgiveness of sins it is through Christ; if justification, it is through Christ; if peace with God, it is through Christ. There is not a single blessing we have but we have it through Christ. But what is the effect that all this is intended to produce? It is intended to make Christ precious to our hearts. It has been God's great thought for us to make Christ precious to our hearts so that our hearts may be taken out of the world and from ourselves by the preciousness of Christ. And suppose we are attracted to Christ, what do we find? That He baptises with the Holy Spirit and gives living water. He sends the Comforter. He says, "He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). Now I want every Christian here to see this; the gift of the Spirit is not a small

thing, not a secondary thing, not a thing that comes in as it were by the way. It is the one great thing in Scripture, that we are drawn to Christ in order that we may receive from Christ the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Well, what is the effect of the gift of the Spirit? I must be very brief now, but I would like to leave upon every heart here the immense effect of the gift of the Spirit. We see in John 4, when the Lord was with the woman at the well, He says to her, "Whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst for ever" (verse 14). The first action of the Spirit of God in our souls is to keep us, if I may so say, green and fresh towards Christ, to keep us from being withered. There are several scriptures in the Old Testament in which God speaks of the souls of the saints as a well-watered garden. Now God has a garden, and your soul and mine is the garden of the Lord where the tender plants are growing. And as in Genesis the river of God waters the garden, so the Spirit waters us now. Not only is the tree of life the object of my faith and love; but there is the river, God's blessed Spirit, to water the garden now. How, let me ask, is your soul getting on? Are you dry and withered, or green and fresh, spiritually green and fresh? The psalmist could say, "I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God" (Psalm 52:8). It is a great thing to be green there. But there is no natural tendency in you or me to keep bright and fresh towards Christ.

How often we find a young convert comes to Christ and the blessed God makes Christ precious to him, and he goes away perhaps from a meeting with his heart happy and his face shining with joy. He has made acquaintance with Christ, and he goes out into the world, and what is the natural course of things? Very much like a sovereign among a lot of lead bullets. What happens? Do the bullets become shining like the sovereign? Oh, no, the sovereign soon gets to look as dull as the bullets. That is the effect of the influences here. The spiritual shine is taken out. Thus we often see a young convert get dull, so that we can hardly trace any difference between him and a worldling. Now the Spirit is given to

exclude the possibility of that by springing up as a well in our soul. The Spirit is thus the divine spring, the river of God to flow in the soul, to water the garden, to keep it green and fresh, a fruitful evergreen for God. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to have the river of God in the soul! What a reality it is!

Perhaps you say, 'I know nothing about it'. Well, I want every soul to leave this meeting tonight realising that the gift of the Spirit, as the river of God in the soul of the believer, is a great reality. And I believe if your soul accepts that, you will go away with an exercised heart and never settle down until God has made it good to you. You find in John 14 that the Lord speaks to His disciples for the first time of their love to Him. He had spoken before of His love to them, but here He says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will beg the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever" (verses 15, 16). The Comforter was given in connection with the fact that there were some in this world who loved the Son of God. These are the people who receive the Spirit, people who love the Son of God, and the Spirit comes in to maintain the heart of the believer in freshness of affection for the Son of God.

Is not that a wonderful thing, a blessed thing? It is a comfort to me that I am kept not by some effort of mine. If my heart is kept for Christ in the smallest measure, it is kept by the Spirit of God. The river of God is there flowing in the soul of the believer. I meant to have said more about this but I cannot enlarge, though I want you to see the great reality of it. In John 15:26 He says, "He shall bear witness concerning me". The Spirit is the spring of all testimony for Christ. If a man or a woman is in any way in testimony for Christ in this world, it is by the Spirit. And remember, the testimony of Christ in this world is a wonderful thing. I do not mean merely people preaching Christ -- thank God for such -- but if they do so really it is by the Spirit. But there is a far more effective testimony than that, and that is Christ living in this world, living in the hearts of His saints. Is not that a reality?

If Christ can be seen thus living in His saints in this world, with all those beautiful, heavenly, spiritual characteristics and graces that came out in Christ in perfection now coming out by the Spirit in His saints, is not that a reality? What brings out all this beautiful fruit? It is the river of God flowing through the garden of the soul to make it fruitful and to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace and so on -- that the moral traits of Christ may be reproduced in the believer through the effect of the river of God in the soul.

Then in John 16:14 He says, "He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you". God has a wonderful world before Him, not this present world of Satan's power. He has another world, different altogether from this, in which Christ will come out as the Centre and Sun. It is God's coming world of blessing and glory, and the Spirit is going to be the all-pervading power of that world. That is what we get in Revelation 22, the tree of life in the midst of the street of the city of God, and of the river which flows out from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

There is a time coming when Christ will be the tree of life for the universe of God. Heaven will find its life in that blessed Person, and earth will find its life in that blessed Person. And God will gather together in one all things which are in heaven and earth in Him. God will bring heaven and earth to feed upon eternal life. And not only that, but the river of God will be the vitalising power, the refreshing power of heaven and earth. As the hymn says,

'By the Spirit all pervading,
Hosts unnumbered round the Lamb'. (Hymn 14)

The river will flow out refreshing the universe.

What blessed things there are to come, and Christians are in the secret of them now, by being brought into the knowledge of Christ, and brought into the current of the Spirit, so that they are in the knowledge of God's mind in this the day of Christ's rejection. How wonderful it is to see on the first page of Scripture that God gives us a thought of everything

which is to come to pass in time and eternity in the tree and the river, Christ and the Spirit, showing He had everything ready for His own pleasure. And if God has effected anything in my soul it must be by Christ and the Spirit: Christ objectively, and the Spirit subjectively forming me in correspondence with the One I look at objectively. May God give us all to see the meaning of the tree and the river.

CHRIST THE CROWN OF ALL GOD'S WAYS

Proverbs 8:22 - 31; Genesis 3:15; Genesis 12:2; 2 Samuel 23:1 - 5; Psalm 133:3

It is much to be desired that all Christians should be observant and thoughtful readers of Scripture, and this with a view to obtaining in a fuller way the knowledge of God. It is evident that man cannot by searching find out God. God is too great for man the creature to reach up to Him; and, in addition to this, sin has come in and put an immense moral distance between God and man. If God remained quiescent it is certain that man must be for ever in ignorance of Him. But God has been pleased in infinite goodness to take certain ways of which we have the record in Scripture, and of which Christ is the crown, so that we might have the intelligent knowledge of Himself. Indeed, it might be said that the whole of Scripture is the unfolding of two things -- the ways of God and His purposes. His purposes were in His mind before His ways began, and they will presently be displayed as the issue and result of His ways in scenes of accomplished bliss. The purposes of God show us the nature of His thoughts and delights -- they instruct us in all that God has before Him for the satisfaction of His love. But into this vast and blessed subject I do not now enter. His ways are the theme of my

present meditation, and in speaking of His ways I do not use the term with reference to His government of men on earth, but in the wide sense of the course which He has taken to make Himself known, and to bring about the accomplishment of His purposes. The more we consider this great subject the more we shall discover in it the unfolding of what God is in wisdom, power, grace, and love -- and all this while acting for the supreme good of man -- and we shall plainly discern that Christ is the Crown of all the ways of God, and this will make Him very great and glorious in the estimation of our hearts.

The first great movement of God which is presented to us in Scripture is creation.

This must necessarily be so, or there would be no creatures to observe His further ways, or to be brought into infinite good as the result of those ways. The heavens and the earth were created, and the latter prepared and furnished in every way to be the habitation of man made in the image and after the likeness of God. But we miss the whole mind of God if we regard creation as anything other than the formation of a vast scene into which Christ should, in due time, be introduced -- a scene which should eventually find its fulness and crown in Him. Hence we read that "By him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or authorities: all things have been created by him, and for him. And he is before all, and all things subsist together by him" (Colossians l: 16, 17). Christ is the beginning and end of all the ways of God (Proverbs 8:22 - 31. Read the whole passage). It was in view of Christ that everything was created, and creation will never be seen or understood in its proper beauty and completeness until it is seen in relation to Christ -- finding its Head and glory in Him in the day of completed reconciliation.

If I look around in creation now, I see the bondage of corruption on every side, the result of man's sin. (Unless, indeed, I survey the heavens, and see the glory of God there

in perfection of beauty and order -- a striking contrast to all the discord and confusion found on earth.) But it was all made for Christ, and it will be seen in its true character and beauty when He becomes manifestly its Head.

When we come to the creation of man we see a very distinct foreshadowing of Christ. It is expressly said that Adam was "the figure of him to come" (Romans 5:14). Who but Christ could really fill up all that was involved in being in the image and after the likeness of God? Who but Christ could have all things put under Him to order everything for the good pleasure of God? I do not enlarge on a truth so obvious.

The second thing which strikes me in connection with the unfolding of God's ways in Scripture is promise.

This element was introduced as soon as man had departed from his first estate. There was no occasion for promises so long as innocence continued. Man was surrounded by every good possible to him in the circumstances of his existence as an innocent creature, and promises of a higher order of blessing neither would have been appropriate nor could have been understood by one who as yet had not the knowledge of good and evil. But when the accomplished act of disobedience had proved the success of the serpent in alienating man from God, and man had thus fallen under the power of evil and the sentence of death, immediately the element of promise appears in God's ways. It may be said that the statement that the woman's Seed should bruise the serpent's head was not exactly a promise to man, but rather part of the divine sentence on the serpent. But inasmuch as it was a declaration of what God would bring to pass with a view to His own glory in man's blessing, it certainly was of the nature of promise. And, henceforward, promises form by far the most important and blessed part of the Old Testament Scriptures.

It is impossible to go into detail on such a great subject without extending the present remarks far beyond their intended limits. But it may be said in general that the Old

Testament promises fall into three classes: those which stand in relation to sin and death and Satan's power in the widest and fullest way; those which stand in relation to all the confusion which sin has introduced here; and those which come in in connection with the utter weakness of man. I will give an example of each class.

In Genesis 3 we see the introduction of sin and death and Satan's power. These three things go together. No sooner were they introduced than God appeared on the scene with a blessed declaration of His own purpose (Genesis 3:15). It is so all through Scripture. As different manifestations of the power of evil and its fruits appeared, God met them with promises. In the case before us, the serpent had no sooner shown his head than God said, 'I will have a Man to bruise that head'. And as the history of evil and of man's weakness developed, God met it all by promises. He pledged Himself to remove the evil, and to put a corresponding good in its place. So every manifestation of what was evil became the occasion for a promise in which God engaged Himself to remove that evil, and to put in its place what was good, and holy, and blessed.

It is a terribly solemn fact that sin, and death, and Satan's power have come into the world. Men struggle in vain to get rid of these things. All civilised nations are doing their best to improve the condition of things here. They succeed, perhaps, in whitewashing the exterior a little, but under the surface there are "dead men's bones, and all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). These men try to grapple with death. People are deeply interested in medical science and hail with delight every new discovery. They are glad to think that death can be pushed back a year or two. But how impotent is man in all this! Sin is here and men cannot remove it; death is here and men cannot set it aside; Satan's power is here and men are glad to have it so. An overwhelming majority are in favour of Satan's rule, and prefer it to God's. Satan says to man, 'You can go your own way', but if God were to rule He would

necessarily say, 'You must go My way'. Men say, 'We prefer to go our own way, and not God's way'. They thus choose to be ruled by Satan.

How blessed to see that God has brought in Christ to meet the question of sin, and to annul death and Satan's power! Christ has put away sin, annulled death, and bruised the serpent's head. In contrast to sin and death and Satan's power, He has brought in righteousness and life and the kingdom of God. He is the Antitype of the coats of skin and the tree of life. The promise of Genesis 3:15 finds its Yea and Amen in Him.

Then in Genesis 12:2 we have an example of a class of promises which have relation to all the confusion which sin has introduced here. Sin and death and Satan's power having come in, there is confusion here instead of blessing. Everything is out of order. "Let us make ourselves a name" (Genesis 11:4) is man's supreme ideal of happiness. Many a man would be willing to sacrifice wealth, rest, pleasure, health, natural affection, and even life itself if he could thereby make himself a name. But all this results in Babel (confusion), because it excludes God, and there is no true happiness in it. "Blessing" is happiness conferred by God. God's answer to Babel was the calling out and blessing of Abram. "I will ... bless thee, and make thy name great" (Genesis 12:2). God called him out of the confusion of the world to have true happiness, and to be made great in a divine way. The world has but a poor idea of happiness and greatness; it is all confusion if looked at morally. But God delights to make men happy and great by giving them the knowledge of Christ. God made Abram's name great by bringing Christ into his family. All blessing from God is centred in Christ. Men are looking for happiness either in the Babel of sin's confusion or in Christ. The world system often looks very attractive to the young; they do not see the emptiness of it all; but it is all tinsel and unreality. There is very little real happiness in the hearts of worldly people, with all their pleasures. They get a certain amount of gratification for their natural tastes but

very little real enjoyment. Viewed morally all is in confusion here because God has not His true place in men's consciences and hearts, and there can be no real happiness in confusion.

Christ was here entirely apart from all the confusion of this world. He loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, and therefore was anointed with the oil of gladness above His companions. If men are led by Christ it will certainly be in the paths of righteousness, and only in those paths can true happiness be found or enjoyed. Christ is Lord of all and Head of every man, and in confessing and obeying Him we get outside the confusion of the world, and into the sphere of true blessing. In a coming day He will have universal sway, and all confusion will be at an end. He will order everything in righteousness, lawlessness will cease, and therefore every hindrance to the full blessing of man will be removed. Inconceivable happiness will pervade the universe when everything is subjugated by the gracious power of Christ to the will of God. Every kind of misery and suffering will be set aside, and the supreme goodness of God will be the satisfaction and happiness of men. Then shall be brought to pass what is written in Genesis 12:3, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed". Every element of confusion and evil will be displaced by order and goodness, and everything will minister to the unalloyed happiness of men.

With regard to the present time, Christ is presented to men in the gospel that they may be attracted to Him, and thus morally separated from this world of confusion. It is certain that God has more resource and power to confer happiness than the world or its prince, and in believing on Christ and obeying Him we come into blessing -- God-given happiness.

God gives what is worthy of Himself, and therefore the happiness of those who receive from Him is immeasurable. The promises express God's unnumbered thoughts of blessing towards man. They are all brought to pass in Christ, and established through redemption in such a way that they can never be overturned.

Then a third class of promises comes in by reason of the utter weakness of man. For an example of this class I turn to 2 Samuel 23:1 - 5. These were the last words of David. God's gentleness had made David very great; many divine promises were connected with him; but he came to his last words -- he was not suffered to continue by reason of death. Death is the utter weakness of man. The promises could not be established in a man who was going down into death. David was not strong enough to hold the promises. He had to recognise the necessity for another Person to come in who should be "as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun, a morning without clouds". There was One who could pass through the night of man's death and condemnation, and rise to be the Sun of an eternal day -- One able to hold everything for the glory of God and the blessing of man in the power of resurrection. David had to turn from himself and his own house to Christ. He was dying, and his house was "not so before God", but he could turn to a greater Person in whom everything should be established in the light and power of resurrection. "An everlasting covenant, ordered in every way and sure" is established in a risen Christ. Man in the flesh could not hold the promises of God by reason of death, but David, by the Spirit, was in view of One who could establish them and hold them for ever. Whatever promises of God there are, in Christ is the Yea, and in Him the Amen.

In the world to come, death will no longer be a dark cloud resting upon everything here. The blessing will be commanded, even life for evermore (Psalm 133:3). The righteous will enter into life eternal. Men will enjoy without a cloud the favour of God; death will be swallowed up in victory. All this has been made known in the way of promise, and there is not a single promise of which Christ is not the crown. It is He, and He alone, in whom and by whom all will be fulfilled.

GOOD AND EVIL

Genesis 3:22; Hebrews 5:13, 14

C.A.C. I was thinking what an immense thing it is to have the knowledge of good and evil. Man acquired that knowledge through the fall: it did not please God to create man holy; He might have done if it had so pleased Him. God had created angels as holy beings, and many of them He has preserved and does preserve in His sovereignty from falling into evil. It did not please God to create man as a holy being but as an innocent being; and as such he did not know good and evil, and he only obtained that knowledge by falling under the power of evil.

Ques. Would you explain the difference between an innocent being and a holy being?

C.A.C. An innocent being has no knowledge of evil, but a holy being has; he has a nature which is like the nature of God, which abhors evil. God knows good and evil, and He says, "Man is become as one of us". God as knowing good and evil in His holy nature has an abhorrence of evil. Man by the fall has acquired the knowledge of good and evil, but he has acquired that knowledge by falling under the power of evil.

Ques. Does an innocent being know good?

C.A.C. Yes, Adam and Eve in innocence knew nothing but good; they were in a scene where every sight and sound spoke of divine beneficence, a scene of absolute good. There was no temptation to evil in that created scene, nor was there any tendency to evil in the man as created of God: it says he was "very good". The most wonderful part of the creation was the man who was at the head of it. He was put there in responsibility to God, and there was one definite mark of that responsibility: the tree of knowledge of good and evil was there, and man was forbidden to eat of it. There was a moral reason for his being forbidden; it was not an arbitrary

restriction, but because an innocent being was not equal to the question of good and evil. It was a question in the mind of God that could only be solved by Christ, a holy Being, and One equal to the tremendous issues that hung upon this question of good and evil. Evil had come into the universe the moment Satan said "I will", and it became the great question in the universe. Now the great question in the world is this question of good and evil. Men try to shut their eyes to it, and to make one believe there are all sorts of other questions, but this is the great question. It is being worked out in the world and in the individual souls of men, and in the souls of the saints: it is being worked out in every one of us. This question of good and evil is the most practical question that can possibly be raised. It is what makes man to differ from the animal; he has direct responsibility Godward, and he has the knowledge of good and evil. The conscience is that faculty which applies the knowledge of good and evil to man's responsible course: every man has to face this question, and we have to. We are being faced every day and every hour by this question, and there is no getting away from it. It all comes back to this, How far do we know God, and how far are we brought into harmony with God in order to approve the good and to refuse the evil, and to get the two things disentangled?

When God brought in the law, it was in a certain sense a disentanglement of things. To some extent it defined good and evil; and the knowledge of good and evil which man has acquired through the fall is in harmony with that discrimination of good and evil which the law makes. We find in heathen moralists and philosophers a great many things like the law: Scripture says, they "Practise by nature the things of the law ... who show the work of the law written in their hearts" (Romans 2:14, 15). That is part of the condition that man came into as having the knowledge of good and evil. Everybody has to battle with this question; even the heathen, since they have "the work of the law written in their hearts", must battle with this question. If a man has not fallen below

the level proper to man he shows the working of the law written in his heart. Some people have fallen below what is proper to man altogether; they have no laws or literature, and by a remarkable action of God's judgment, they have come to a state below the level of man altogether. It is a very solemn condition of things for man, as created, to get into a savage state, and among such people you will find that the knowledge of good and evil is very feeble. Dr. Glenny said of the Kaffirs that you can get them converted, baptised and into fellowship, but you cannot stop them stealing and telling lies. There is a very feeble sense with them of good and evil; they have fallen below the level proper to man even as a fallen being. Conscience applies the knowledge of good and evil to responsibility: it is that faculty by which a man is able to take account of things, and to approve or disapprove of things morally, either in one's own conduct or in the conduct of others. Conscience is not the same thing as the knowledge of good and evil because you could not speak of God having a conscience, but, of course, God has the knowledge of good and evil. Man has come into a condition and sphere where he has to take account of this question of good and evil; the question was existent before man came into it, but now he has come into it he cannot get out of it. There is no relief and no solution to the question till we come to Christ: all God's ways with men are to bring them to the recognition of that.

God's early ways with men are set forth in the book of Job, where there is an elaborate discussion of the question of good and evil; it serves to show how much in the dark even pious men were. These men in Job all feared God; there was not an infidel among them; they recognised God's ways with all men through observing their own exercises and those of other people. They have an elaborate discussion on this question of good and evil, and the whole point they have to come to is that God only can deal with it. When we are brought to that, we are brought to the true acknowledgement that we ought never to have touched it; we are brought back to judge the first principle of the fall -- that we ought never to

have touched this question. It is a fine moment in the history of the soul when we get right back to judge this first act of disobedience, and see that no one can handle this question but God: we are cast on God now. Job was brought to that in the end. What was dwelt on by Elihu was the greatness of God, His competence to do anything in every part of creation. Elihu talks about the things of the earth, the animals, the trees and everything. What is he driving at? To show you that God is equal to everything. As to all those things which man cannot do at all, God says, 'I will manage it without you!' This leads to a moral issue; it brings Job to the point that this question of good and evil is so tremendous that only God can take it up and settle it, and then Job says, "I abhor myself". He says, 'I am hopelessly involved and cannot get out', but he says to God, 'Thou canst get me out'. When a man comes to that he has got somewhere. The Creator must be the Redeemer and the Justifier, and that means the solving of the whole problem of good and evil.

When the Lord Jesus appeared on earth this question began to assume a tangible form; that is, there was for the first time in this world a perfect presentation of good. A new and divine expression of good had come in, such as was never known before. This was something quite different from the law, which was more abstract. When you see the Person of Christ here -- the Son of God in manhood -- you have good in a Person in tangible form. In Him you have the setting forth of all that God was in His infinite goodness in the face of every kind of disorder and distraction which had come into the world through sin. It is very beautiful to sit down and contemplate the perfection of good embodied in a lonely Man moving through this world. When we come to the consideration of Christ we are not troubled with the question of good and evil; the heart has reached the solution of it, because in considering Christ we have not to disentangle the good from the evil. If we look at any other man, the best saint that ever lived, Abraham, David, or anybody else, we find we have to disentangle good from evil, and we are not

always sure we have done it properly. When we come to Christ it is blessed, divine purity, unmixed good, untainted by any evil. The way we learn evil is by seeing how it stands in contrast to that. That is the great education God is giving us: he is educating us in the presence of infinite good in Christ, so that we should become like God in the knowledge of good and evil and be able to estimate it as God does, and not as a fallen sinner who struggles with it as a hopeless problem. The one who knows God is brought to look at it with the same kind of vision that God does. One is thankful that it is so.

Christ always links Himself directly with God. He would not allow Himself to be acknowledged as good except in relation to God, saying, "There is none good but one, God" (Luke 18:19). He insists upon it that God is good and the source of good, so that there would not be good even in Him if He were not the expression of God in this world. He was "God manifest in flesh" and "over all, God blessed for ever", yet He says, "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, God". He was seeking to lead the young man to the recognition that all that is good is in God; the evil all comes from Satan. It is very simple to say but an immense thing to learn in our souls that all that is good is of God. There is nothing but good in Him, and all that is evil is of Satan. We have got the question disentangled then. The young man was building on a lot of good in himself, and putting himself alongside of Christ, as much as to say, 'Tell me what to do and I will do it, I am as good as Thou art'. He was assuming to be on a level with Christ. If he had come as a poor sinner it would have been quite different, but he comes on a level with Christ. He had not begun to disentangle things.

The cross comes in, and you get what you could not get before -- the word of righteousness. You could not get the testimony of righteousness before the cross. We see in the cross and the death of Christ how the sinful man has been completely condemned and removed, the man who had

become the embodiment of evil. Evil had never been embodied before because Satan is a spirit. Evil became embodied in man and that man in whom it became embodied has come under judgment in the death of Christ. Christ was made sin, made sacrificially evil in that sense, so that evil might be judged according to the holiness of God in the death of Christ. We ought all of us to be "skilled in the word of righteousness". Many are not, and they are not because they have not got their senses exercised to distinguish between good and evil. Things are in hopeless confusion with them and they do not know how to distinguish between the first man and the second.

Ques. How do we become skilled?

C.A.C. It is the result of moral formation, and by being brought to appreciate what is involved in the word of righteousness. The word of righteousness makes known to me that all that I am as a man in the flesh has been judged in the death of Christ; all has been righteously judged there and removed so that I might be with God on another footing altogether, on the footing of Christ and His death. It has all become a testimony now; God is testifying it by the word of righteousness. It is a great thing to be skilled in it. Many of the Jewish believers were not skilled in the word of righteousness so they were only babes, requiring to be fed with milk; they were not marked by spiritual manhood; they had not learned to distinguish good and evil. A great many professing Christians, and even true believers, are in that condition. They have not grown up and are not spiritually formed so as to be habituated to distinguish good and evil. Our spiritual prosperity very largely depends on our ability to distinguish good and evil.

Ques. What does "the word of righteousness" convey to us?

C.A.C. I think it is the testimony of the way in which righteousness has been established by the complete setting aside of man in the flesh and the establishing of all that is of God in Christ. I take it that is the word of righteousness, and

we are to be skilled in it. "Being complete as regards the fruit of righteousness, which is by Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:11), is connected with this subject, because Paul says that he is looking for them to be judges of and approving things that are more excellent. The Christian learns to judge of and approve the things that are excellent, and in result he becomes pure and without offence for Christ's day: he becomes purified from evil and approves what is good; he identifies himself with the good. The question is settled as far as he is concerned; it is disentangled. In Christ's day it will all be straightened out; God will have put down all rule and authority and power, every influence of Satan, demons or evil men, all will be put down and there will be the supremacy of good. That kind of thing is anticipated beforehand in the life of the believer; his senses are exercised -- habituated -- to the distinguishing of good and evil: that is what makes grown-up believers; they are being morally formed in the appreciation of what is good and in the divine nature. They appreciate what God appreciates, and repudiate what God repudiates. The believer is brought to know good and evil in a holy nature just as God does: this comes into the smallest details of life. Things are either good or evil; it touches every detail. As we grow up nourished by the sincere milk of the word, we are able to take "meat" and appreciate the new order of man come in Christ. It is not simply God's grace and mercy to sinful man -- that is like milk; but the meat is that God has brought in in Christ a new order of man altogether for His pleasure. As we begin to feed on that we get wonderful ability for distinguishing good and evil. Things may be very nice in the eyes of men and yet very evil: what is not of Christ is evil. All that is of God has come into manhood in Christ and become to us excellent. As we judge and approve of it and follow that kind of life, we become sincere and without offence for Christ's day: the question of good and evil is worked out. By and by we shall be removed from the presence of evil; when we go to heaven we shall leave the place where evil is present. We shall still know evil throughout

eternity, and know it in a holy nature as God knows it. We shall know evil as having been judged in the sin-offering death of the righteous One and having been absolutely removed from God's reconciled universe: we shall be brought into perfect accord with God as to it all. This question of good and evil is the great question of Scripture. There are two great subjects in the Scripture. That which is most dwelt on and which Scripture is greatly occupied with is the question of good and evil; but there is another question which lies behind it, and that is the eternal purpose of God for the satisfaction of His love. Before ever evil came in, God's purpose was to have sons before Him for the pleasure of His own love, formed for that purpose in Christ. There is no question of good and evil there, nothing to consider but the thoughts of His own love. The secret of eternal purpose only came to light after Christ died and had gone to the right hand of God: there was nothing remaining then to interfere with God having His own pleasure in the blessing of many sons set before Him in the acceptance of the Beloved. It is wonderful the way God takes to bring man into correspondence with Himself. "That we should be holy and blameless before him in love" -- that has to do with the question of good and evil; our being holy and without blame stands in that connection. But when it says, "Having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself", that is purpose. It goes back to before ever the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was planted in Eden.

All our moral exercises run on the line of distinguishing good and evil, whether individually or in the assembly; all our exercises run on that line. The exercises of affection go on the other line, on the line of the place God has given us before Him according to His eternal purpose.

THE DEATH OF CHRIST

Genesis 6:13, 14; Genesis 8:20; Genesis 15:7 - 21

We were seeing last week that the death of Christ is prefigured in the deep sleep that fell on Adam with a view to his having a companion, the assembly in type. Then we see the death of Christ again in the coats of skin with which God clothed man when he had come into the nakedness of sin; and then in the offering of Abel we see the death of Christ is what the saint can bring to God. God brings the death of Christ to man in coats of skin, but Abel in his offering brings the death of Christ to God.

The ark is another aspect of the death of Christ; it is His death as the end of all flesh before God. If God is to have any relations at all with man they must be under cover of the death of Christ. If all flesh is corrupt, God could not take up relations with it, it must go out of sight, and as a matter of fact it did go out of sight; it was all under the waters of judgment or in the ark. This type shows the footing on which God can have to say to men on earth. It has nothing to do with heaven; we do not need an ark to go to heaven. I say this to show the setting of this scripture. Nothing was said to Enoch about making an ark; Enoch did not need one for he was a heavenly man, a type of the assembly. He was going to heaven and God took him there without dying; he went on the ground of the death of Christ. Enoch had been clothed with the coats of skin, and had known what it was to approach God as Abel did, but in this type we see that if God is to be in relation with man it must be on this ground that they come under cover of the death of Christ. Peter tells us that if a man has a good conscience he will want to be under cover. Peter says in referring to the ark, "Which figure also now saves you, even baptism ... the demand as before God of a good conscience" (1 Peter 3:21). That is to say, a man with a good conscience, an exercised conscience, would ask

for baptism, would want to be on different ground from corrupt flesh, and that is under cover of the death of Christ.

All men are under God's eye on the ground of the death of Christ, but faith takes it up intelligently. It is just because God sees man on the ground of the death of Christ that He sends His gospel out to all men. It is not a question of corrupt flesh; God is not going on now in relation with corrupt flesh, but He has in the death of Christ such a vindication of His glory in respect of corrupt flesh, that He can go on in mercy and grace with man, and faith takes this up intelligently.

How blessed for a saint to put himself and his household under cover of the death of Christ; it is only in that way we can give the Lord His place. Peter says a good conscience would ask to be under cover of the death of Christ, but we should not ask for that if we did not know He was out of death; it is "By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him" (1 Peter 3:21, 22). He is in supremacy as Lord, and we take up all the responsibilities of life on that footing. Saints and households have come under cover of the death of Christ, and now they own Christ as Lord, and take up everything, business and family relationships, in the Lord. God can go on with people and people can go on intelligently with God, on that footing. We have been baptised to the death of Christ, and in the Name of the Lord.

We have to take two types together: the ark, and then the altar in chapter 8, verse 20. When Noah comes out of the ark he builds an altar; it is the first altar in Scripture, and in building it Noah claims the earth for God, as much as to say, 'The earth is not for corrupt flesh any longer, but for God': he puts everything on the ground of the burnt-offering. The death of Christ is not only a covering for corrupt flesh, covering it in a holy way under the eye of God, but it becomes a positive sweet savour before God, and everything is now according to that; all His providence, all His relations with earth, are on the ground of the death of Christ. This gives

one a very wide idea of the death of Christ; every bit of food a man puts in his mouth, he is indebted to the death of Christ for. "Henceforth, all the days of the earth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). God has established it all by covenant on the ground of the death of Christ; this gives one a wonderful thought of the scope and preciousness of that death. What a blessed thing to be in the secret of all God's providential dealings! They are all based on the sweet savour which He has found in the death of Christ, but for those who do not avail themselves of God's grace, judgment is inevitable.

After the sweet "savour of rest" we find in chapter 9 God blessing. He had not blessed before except when He blessed Adam and Eve in innocence, but then in chapter 3 the curse comes in, and there is no blessing again till God smelt a "savour of rest", and "God blessed". He could bless because the death of Christ had set His heart free. It is natural for God to bless; He is the blessed God, it is contrary to His nature to curse. The "savour of rest" is that God rests when His glory is established; the full result will be in the world to come. Noah claims the earth for God, and places the earth and man on the footing of the burnt-offering; it will all be placed there in the world to come; all the earth then will be under God's eye in the savour of the burnt-offering, and God will rest because He has been perfectly glorified. God is more glorified through the death of Christ than He would have been in an eternity of innocence. Now everything is according to the satisfaction that God has found in the death of Christ; whether it is the blessing of man, or the covenant with the earth and with every living creature, all speaks of God's satisfaction in the sweet savour. He is restful in blessing and restful in providence. What a thought it gives one of Christ and of His death! We are considering the death of Christ this evening, not as a mere abstraction, but so that we might be furnished, and have our souls fitted to be near to God. While the death of Christ is the ground on which God

can go on with men, yet men do not go on with God apart from an intelligent action of faith. We are told that both Enoch and Noah walked with God, Enoch in communion with God about His heavenly thoughts, and Noah in communion about His earthly thoughts. We want to walk with God in both ways; God loves to have His saints in communion with Him about His thoughts.

It is an immense thing for us to have God's view of the burnt-offering. In a sense it is only provisional, for violence and corruption still fill the earth, but faith moves on in this wonderful secret, knowing God's attitude through the death of Christ. God in mercy put government in the hand of Noah, which has to a great extent restrained corruption and violence, but when God has allowed the restraints of government to be removed for a time, we can then see what man is. These principles are world-wide and take in the whole human family; it was all in the ark, there was not a man that was not represented. Noah is the ancestor of every one of us.

If we pass on to chapter 15 we get another striking type of the death of Christ, and there it is in relation to the inheritance. God pledges Himself to give the inheritance through this figure of the death of Christ -- "a heifer of three years old, and a she goat ... and a ram", etc. (Genesis 15:9). This is a further thought, not brought out before, that it was in the heart of God to give man a portion. God called Abraham out with this in view, and said, 'I will show you a land and I will give it to you'. This brings us to what is in the heart of God for man. The thought of inheritance is a very great thought in Scripture and with God. He calls a man out to give him a special portion, thought of by His love. It is not what man needed or desired, but what God desired and proposed to gratify His own love. Here it is the earthly inheritance, Canaan, the place of the nation Israel, but undoubtedly it is a figure of the heavenly inheritance; for us it is heavenly. Think of God giving a portion to man so that man may know His love. Sometimes a man comes into an inheritance in an arbitrary way, perhaps his father has not much power over it,

but this inheritance is the outcome of the beneficence of God's love. If we want to know His love we must know something of the inheritance. The assembly will share all with Christ, but our special inheritance is heavenly, it is every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, and it is connected with the knowledge of God Himself. It is spiritual territory; it is God bringing us near to Himself in order that we might know the expanse of His thoughts. It suggests to me "the breadth and length and depth and height" (Ephesians 3:18). The death of Christ in Genesis 15 is the way God pledges Himself to give the inheritance. He binds Himself by covenant, He passes through death, He engages Himself in the most solemn way. It is in answer to Abram's question, "How shall I know that I shall possess it?" It is striking to see how God passed through, as a smoking furnace, a burning lamp or flame of fire -- that is the character in which He engages Himself. What it conveys to me is this: if God is going to give an inheritance He will give it in a holy way through the death of Christ. Then there is another side: it can only be possessed in a holy way; so God, as the furnace and flame of fire, presents Himself as One who will refine and purify the heirs, in order that they may be suited to the inheritance. If He is going to give us an inheritance through the death of Christ, we can only possess it through death. All the holiness manifested in the death of Christ must mark the heirs. God passes through in a flame of fire, He says, 'I am going to refine My people to make them suitable to the inheritance'. This is why God's people are an afflicted and disciplined people; He passes them through affliction in order to inherit by a holy way, and there is no other way by which God can bring the heirs into the inheritance. We all have to face it. Look at the exercise it was to Abraham; a horror of great darkness fell upon him. He got a sense by the Spirit prophetically of all the people would have to go through to fit them for the inheritance. They had four hundred years of affliction and bondage: that was not much like receiving an inheritance! God is a furnace; He has manifested holiness in the death of Christ; He is

refining His people and is going to eliminate everything from them that is inconsistent with that death. "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). This type corresponds with Hebrews 12; we get teaching there about chastening. And in Isaiah 48:10, God says, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction". We do not understand God's ways and we wonder at them -- think of four hundred years of affliction! You see, the time is not yet come for wrongs to be righted, for judgment to be executed -- "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (Genesis 15:16). Most of our sufferings are caused by wrongs that the world is full of, and that is enduring affliction. Suppose your body is ill, that is the fruit of sin; it is part of a condition of things, the result of the incoming of evil; it belongs to a system where all is wrong. God says, 'I want you purified for the inheritance'. If we see what He is at, we shall have great confidence; there is no escape; there is not a person here that does not know something of affliction. If he does not, he is not a son but a bastard! "If ye are without chastening, ... then ye are bastards, and not sons" (Hebrews 12:8). God is the purifying furnace for His people. You may say, 'The Egyptians trouble me'. No, it is the refining furnace. It does not say the people are types, but the things that happened to them are types, they "have been written for our admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:11). The people were in the furnace of affliction four hundred years; this is the type. We are all in the furnace; it is not always heated to the same degree because God is compassionate and He eases it off when He sees we cannot bear it any longer. God's idea of holiness is the death of Christ, and you must go that way too; God says, 'I am going to burn up all the flesh and nature; if I did not you could not enjoy the inheritance'. If you see that, you take every affliction as a mark of divine love -- "I rebuke and discipline as many as I love" (Revelation 3:19). We have to face this that is so dreadful to nature. Abraham gives us what it is to nature, a horror of great darkness. It is terrible to nature to be afflicted and disciplined, but if you look at it in faith it is God's way of reaching His

own end and it is according to the death of Christ. Would you like anything to be left about you that is inconsistent with the death of your Saviour? Every saint would say, 'I want to be like my precious Saviour'. God is going to refine us; He has us in a furnace and it is pretty hot, but He will justify Himself in all His ways, and when He has done with us we shall come forth as gold.

There is another point we should notice: the fowls came (verse 11). What a lot there are about! They are birds of prey -- the devil is always trying to take away the death of Christ from the saints; he is so subtle he always tries to take it away from our hearts and minds. Abraham drove the birds away, so faith drives the devil away.

There is one more type of the death of Christ in Genesis 22; we are all familiar with it. The great point there is the Father and the Son going together; it is that aspect of the death of Christ, and it is developed in varied details in John's gospel. The Father and the Son move together with one thought and one purpose and one motive; everything that is in the heart of the Father is in the heart of the Son, and They move on together to that which is the basis and foundation on which They will carry out Their thoughts. The Son is in communion with every thought of the Father. What an added thought of sweetness that the One who died moved on to the place of sacrifice in perfect communion with the heart of God. He said, "I am not alone, for the Father is with me" (John 16:32). And He is with the Father. All God's universe of blessing is the fruit of the death of Christ in that wondrous aspect.

THREE NECESSITIES

Genesis 21:14 - 19; Genesis 22:1 - 14; Genesis 24:1 - 4, 66, 67

We find in these three chapters pictures of three great necessities, and the way in which they are met. The water of life is necessary for man, the burnt-offering is necessary for the glory of God, and the bride is necessary for the satisfaction of the heart of Christ.

Ishmael was connected by the closest natural tie with one who is called the friend of God. He was born and brought up in the place of greatest privilege on earth. He thus represents a natural man favoured with divine privileges. There are those here tonight who have been born into christian households, brought up under christian instruction and surrounded by christian influences. You have had privileges greater than Ishmael's, but they have not perhaps affected your heart or subdued your will.

Ishmael had to do with a person who was a remarkable type of Christ. Indeed it was not until Isaac came upon the scene that Ishmael appeared in his true colours. When the child of promise -- a type of Christ -- was honoured in Abraham's house, Ishmael's heart had no share in the joy. Up to that moment he might have passed as a decent professor, but the presence of Isaac -- and the joy of the house in honour of Isaac -- exposed him in his true character. He was unmasked; his heart was laid bare; he was discovered to be a mocker.

Can this be a picture of some person here tonight? Yes! you may be a decent professor of religion, you may say your daily prayers and read your daily chapter, and be found every Sunday at church, chapel or meeting room, and yet have no delight in Christ! You may be able to sustain a conversation on religious topics in general, but if any one wants to speak of Christ you feel awkward and at a loss! You think out-and-out Christians are odd, peculiar and somewhat

fanatical. You wish people would not make so much fuss about spiritual matters. Ah, if one ray of the glory of Christ had ever shone into your heart how differently you would think of things! The awful fact is you are an entire stranger to God's grace and to the Lord Jesus Christ.

But God knows how to awaken a sense of need even in the conscience and heart of a mocker. Ishmael and his mother were driven out of Abraham's house to learn in the desert the poverty of all their resources. And it seems to me we have a picture of human life in verses 14 - 16. Hagar and Ishmael started on their journey with bread and a bottle of water. All start in life with certain abilities and resources for which they are indebted to God -- health, strength, natural powers and capacities of different kinds. These things supply a limited fund of resources to man. They yield for a time a certain kind of satisfaction, or rather gratification. At first no lack is felt. Draughts of pleasure abound in childhood and youth, but every one is a drain on a reservoir of limited dimensions. The store in the bottle gets less and less. Very often as a man's wealth increases, and he has enlarged means to gratify himself, his pleasure and satisfaction diminish. As life advances, satisfaction recedes from the heart. The bottle gets emptier with every draught, until the last drop is drained, and the sinner left face to face with death.

What an end to "the pleasures of life"! What a mockery earth's greatness and pleasures seem when we see them leading to death! Unconverted friend, death, judgment, and eternity are before you, and if this lays hold of you it will make you think differently of everything. Ishmael was brought face to face with death, and he had to find that he could not help himself. He lay helpless under a shrub and his mother left him to die. Ah, the bottle was empty indeed! You will come to this some day. You will have no power to retain the spirit, and those who love you best on earth will not be able to help you.

Another thing we may notice. Hagar was a type of the law (Galatians 4), and she could not avert the death of the child. The

law cannot save or help a sinner. The priest and Levite in Luke 10 -- typical of the ceremonial and moral law -- could not help the man who was naked, wounded and half-dead. Such a one needs not the claim of law but the gift of grace. He needs the salvation of God. Ishmael in his extremity was shut up to God, and from verse 17 it appears that he cried to God. "And God heard the voice of the lad ... and God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the flask with water, and gave the lad drink". A source of life and blessing provided by God was close at hand, but Hagar's eyes had to be opened to see it. There is "a well of water" today available for all. The Son of God has come into this world and has died that He might become in resurrection the divine Source of life and blessing for man. Though we have forfeited everything by our sin and have justly fallen under death and judgment, divine love has undertaken for us. The Lord Jesus has come into our place as made sin upon the cross, and He has so glorified God as to sin that on the divine side there is no barrier to the blessing of every sinner under heaven.

And, further, not only is the way of blessing open for man by the death of Christ, and through faith in His Name, but that way of blessing has been opened in such a manner as to make God known to His poor creatures who have been estranged from Him by sin. His holy hatred of sin has been made known, His righteousness manifested in dealing with it, His love, grace and boundless mercy toward man have been expressed in the gift of His only-begotten Son, and His power set forth in raising up the Lord Jesus from the dead when all had been accomplished. There is not a single attribute of God that has not been vindicated at the cross, and His blessed nature of holy love has fully expressed itself.

Now the glory of the gospel is that all this is set forth therein so that God may be known by men as a Saviour God. We are under death, but God comes to us there by sending His Son to die, so that we might enter into life by being

brought to know Him. The water of life which God is giving freely to every one that thirsts is the knowledge of Himself. There was but one way in which God could make Himself known to men, and that was by the gift and death of His Son. The Son of God is the "well of water", and whosoever will may believe on Him and "take the water of life freely". Alas! to multitudes in christian England these are mere commonplaces of Bible teaching! They see nothing wonderful, blessed and worthy of God in it. It produces no exercise -- in some cases hardly occupies a passing thought. Alas for such! They are, indeed, utterly dead towards God.

In Genesis 22 God requires Abraham to offer up Isaac "for a burnt-offering". The burnt-offering was an offering which went up altogether as a sweet-smelling savour to God, and it was for the acceptance of the offerer. It sets forth the ground on which God sets His called and chosen saints before Him for His own glory, and for the gratification of His own heart. But before we consider the burnt-offering it may be as well to look briefly at the sin-offering, for if we do not know the efficacy of the latter we shall hardly be prepared to enter into the blessedness of the former. Read Leviticus 4:1 - 12.

The first thing I call your attention to is that the offerer identified himself with the victim by laying his hand upon its head. It was as much as to say, 'This bullock dies for me'. Have you ever thus identified yourself by faith with the death of Christ? Of course it is impossible to do so until you see how He has in grace identified Himself with you by coming under that to which you were liable by reason of sin. I should like you to think of three things: your position, your practice and your prospect.

The fall brought about an immense change in man's position. Before any judgment was executed, or one word had been said by God about what had happened, Adam and Eve hid themselves behind the trees of the garden. God had to ask the question, "Where art thou?" Sin had put distance

between God and man, and this distance remains. Every unconverted man is "far off" from God; he dwells in a "far country" of alienation from God.

Then our practice was consistent with our position. As sinners alienated from God we walked in trespasses and sins, "according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience: among whom we also all once had our conversation in the lusts of our flesh, doing what the flesh and the thoughts willed to do, and were children, by nature, of wrath, even as the rest" (Ephesians 2:1 - 3).

Occupying such a position and characterised by such a practice, what could be our prospect? It is declared in the words, "Dust thou art; and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19). "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). All our greatness and pleasure ends in death, after which there is the judgment of God upon us for the deeds done in the body, when we shall be judged according to our works (Revelation 20:13).

Now let us see how perfectly the Lord Jesus has identified Himself with us in wondrous grace and love. I trust it is clear to every one of us that the Lord Jesus "knew no sin". From the manger to the cross He was ever an object of deepest delight to the heart of God. His position was a perfect contrast to that of the sons of Adam. But the bullock of the sin-offering had to go forth without the camp (Leviticus 4:12). It had to go into a position which denoted the distance at which man was from God by sin. "Wherefore also Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12). The literal position "without the gate" was a type of the far-off place in which He became the Forsaken One for us, and had to cry as the Sin-bearer, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Then not only had sin put distance between us and God, but our sins justly rendered us liable to His holy judgment. The fire by which the bullock of the sin-offering was consumed prefigured this. The Lord Jesus has endured that holy

judgment for us, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, and suffering for them, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. If our history as children of Adam must close in death, how blessed to know that the Son of God has come into death for us, that in the place of our condemnation we might find not only divine love and grace in our favour, but divine righteousness also.

The blood is the witness of all this (Leviticus 4:6, 7). It bears witness on God's side of the vindication of all His attributes, and to us of complete purgation of sins so that we are in conscience "perfected for ever". "We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of offences". We are perfectly cleared of everything that was against us before God; every accusation is silenced, every charge met, every sin gone. Such is the divine clearance of the believer.

But in connection with the burnt-offering we come to superlative grace (read Leviticus 1:1 - 9). It was "an offering by fire to Jehovah of a sweet odour". It sets forth Christ as the One who has "delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour" (Ephesians 5:2). Not only has Christ taken up our liabilities as sinners, but He has taken up the whole question of sin for the glory of God. Sin has been visited with holy judgment, but this has come to pass in the sacrifice of One who brought all the excellence and moral glory of His own Person into the place of that judgment. The greatness of His Person enabled Him to bear and exhaust that infinite judgment, but who can measure the perfect love, the absolute devotedness to God, the holy and unswerving obedience, the deep perfection of every motive of His heart under God's eye in that matchless offering of Himself? All this has gone up as a sweet-smelling savour to God. The glory of God is secured, but at the same time His heart has been gratified in an infinite way.

Notice, too, that the burnt-offering was an offering for acceptance. Leviticus 1:3 should read, "he shall present it for his acceptance", and verse 4 says, "it shall be accepted for him". The difference between the sin-offering and the burnt-

offering is plainly indicated by the terms used in connection with each. In connection with the sin-offering we read, "and it shall be forgiven him" (Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35), but in connection with the burnt-offering, "it shall be accepted for him". One is an offering for clearance and the other for acceptance.

If all the preciousness and sweet savour of Christ as brought out in the place of atonement are the ground of our acceptance, how infinite is that acceptance! God makes His called and chosen saints to be "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6), to "the praise of the glory of his grace". It is for the satisfaction of His own heart that God the Father is pleased to set His saints thus before Him in sonship. It is "according to the good pleasure of his will" that He will fill His house with a glorious company of "many sons". Thus on the ground of the burnt-offering God will gratify His own nature in having us in righteousness, joy and holy love before His face, "conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).

Turning now to Genesis 24 we come to a type of what the assembly is for Christ. Man gets the water of life, the Father gets many sons and Christ gets the church. The result of the servant's mission was that Isaac "took Rebecca, and she became his wife; and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after the death of his mother" (verse 67). Israel, having rejected Christ, does not minister to His satisfaction. So far as the comfort and joy of Christ are concerned Israel is dead. And now in the time of His rejection by Israel He receives the church and she becomes the satisfaction of His heart according to the Father's purpose.

I cannot now enter into this, but I should like the youngest believer here to be impressed by the thought of what the assembly is to Christ. We have been separated from the world by God's grace and by His work in our souls, that we might come into a circle where the love of Christ is known. God's purpose in saving us was that we might be in the company of whom it is said, "Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it, in order that he might sanctify

it, purifying it by the washing of water by the word, that he might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it might be holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:25 - 27).

Christ has received the assembly for His own satisfaction and joy. He loves the assembly and has given Himself for it that He might have it altogether for Himself. And now His love is active towards it that He may have it in entire moral suitability to Himself. Everything that is of the world and of the flesh -- everything that is not morally "glorious" -- must be removed so that He may rest in His love. If the thought takes hold of our hearts that we are to be for the satisfaction of Christ it will put us on an entirely new line and give us a new estimate of everything. We shall be prepared to yield ourselves, if I may so say, to the activities of His sanctifying love so that everything about us which has not been wrought in us by God may be set aside. We shall not be reluctant to let the things of earth go if we understand that their going sets us more free to know the love of Christ. I venture to think that Rebecca thought more of the person she was going to than of the things she had to leave behind in order to reach him. As the love of Christ holds us, we are ready to leave without regret the things which once were necessary to us. And as we leave things here, we prove that there is infinite compensation in the love of Christ.

May God give every one of us to know that we are saved so that we may be of the assembly! That assembly for which Christ gave Himself, and which He sanctifies, that He may present it to Himself for the satisfaction of His own love!

THE GLORY OF THE SON OF GOD

Psalm 2:7 - 12; Genesis 22:1, 2; Genesis 37:3; 1 Chronicles 17:11 - 15; Isaiah 9:6, 7; Proverbs 30:4

C.A.C. The great dignity of our Lord's Person as in manhood is that He is the Son of God, and the great end of all gift and ministry is that we should come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. And God was pleased, before His Son was actually found upon earth, to give intimations in the Old Testament of the great thoughts that would be connected with Him as bearing that wondrous name. Psalm 2 is the foundational scripture. It is perhaps the only scripture which directly attaches the title of Son to the Lord in the Old Testament. Therefore we do not wonder to find it quoted three times in the New Testament. There is something very impressive and striking in the fact that the Lord says prophetically, "I will declare the decree". I do not know that there is any other scripture quite like that. It is a remarkable word as indicating a fixed and unchangeable purpose on God's part. The great and marvellous reality that a divine Person would come into the world as Man, as born of a woman and bearing the title of Son of God, was the subject of an eternal "decree". Everything for God and man depended on it. God would have an anointed Man, and that Man would be His Son. Nothing else that ever happened, or that ever will happen, is so great as that which has been thus decreed. It was the outcome of God's determinate counsel, and He would have us to perceive the extraordinary greatness and dignity of this Person who should bear the title of Son of God. As born of the virgin He came into manhood and was addressed by God as His Son, begotten by Him. This took place on a particular day. That is, it is connected with time, not with eternity. "This day"; there was a specific

"day" when the Son was begotten. As seen by Nathanael, He was confessed as the One spoken of in Psalm 2 -- the Son of God, the King of Israel. The prophetic statement of the psalm had become history when it was quoted in Hebrews l. The thing had come to pass; the decree, the eternal decree, had been carried into effect.

Ques. Is "the decree", then, connected with eternity, and the begetting of the "Son" with time?

C.A.C. Yes, the decree goes back to eternal purpose and counsel in view of all that God had in mind to accomplish for His own glory and the blessing of the creature. It is most establishing and confirmatory to faith to see that God has secured everything for His own glory and for man's blessing by this decree. All hangs on the coming of a divine Person into manhood, as born of the virgin. The incarnation, as one has said many years ago, is the unshakeable pillar of the moral universe.

Ques. What is the difference in the setting of Luke's gospel, and John 1?

C.A.C. In Luke's gospel He is seen to have the glorious title of Son of God as found in the most lowly circumstances possible, as born of the virgin. His was the most humble nativity that possibly could be, but as contemplated in those lowly conditions He is spoken of as the Son of the Highest, and the Son of God. And as going with the repentant remnant to be baptised He was addressed by God as His beloved Son. It is as if the Spirit of God would clothe His humiliation with the greatest dignity and divine glory; "The holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God". But in John 1 we see the Lord distinctly in relation to divine Persons. John speaks of Him as the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. That is His relation to the Father, and John, having said that, did not need to tell us that the Father's voice came to Him. The other gospels tell us of the voice that came from the opened heaven and saluted Him as the beloved Son, but in John He does not need to be

saluted; He is there in the most intimate nearness of relationship and affection. And then the One who sent John to baptise told him that the Person upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend and abide upon Him was the One who would baptise with the Holy Spirit. He is in the bosom of the Father, and His relation with the Spirit is that the Spirit comes down and abides on Him. He was a perfect resting place for the Spirit, so that both the Father and the Spirit are seen as having complete complacency in the Son as Man upon this earth. It is very beautiful, and it is of the utmost importance for us to realise that all this is connected with Him as having come within the range of our apprehension. It is a divine Person who has come into manhood, who can be contemplated, who can be seen and heard and even handled. A blessed Person brought into this world -- begotten of God, His Son, His loved One -- but He is within our range. We can apprehend Him, we can know Him as having that blessed title and character.

Ques. How do we apprehend Him as Son of God?

C.A.C. The apprehension of Him as Son of God is the climax of what is spiritually possible. We have in John 9 a marvellous picture of a man who traversed what Mr. Stoney used to call steps in light; he got his eyes opened, and then he took steps in light. He took one step after another in the deepening knowledge of the One who had opened his eyes, until that One said to him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" That was the climax. "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?" "Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he". The result was worship; he became a worshipper of the Son of God, and we cannot really contemplate that Person without becoming worshippers. It is not a question of getting thoughts and ideas, but He is so glorious, so wondrous, He has such dignity, and yet withal He is so near to us in love that if we see Him at all we must worship Him.

Ques. Is that the end of all the New Testament Scriptures?

C.A.C. Yes, it is. Paul and John coalesce in the presentation to our faith and affections of the Son of God.

Ques. Does he remain as Son of God in manhood for ever?

C.A.C. Surely. Having come into manhood He never gives it up. So that as the Son He will eternally be placed in subjection, which shows that the Lord will never divest Himself of that peculiar glory which He has taken up in becoming Son of God in manhood, because if He did He would be invisible to us. But having become Man, and having become Son of God in manhood, He remains for ever Man, the object for our affections and our adoration. He is within our range as Man; that is His mediatorial glory.

Ques. So that you would say that God has come within our reach?

C.A.C. Yes, through the Mediator, who was as Man the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. There could not possibly be anything more intimate or more affectionate than the relation between that blessed Man and the Father. And it is said of that blessed One that He dwelt among us -- He tabernacled among us. He came into the most blessed nearness to man, so that the great chasm that was between God and the creature is completely removed in the Mediator.

Ques. A new relation in time?

C.A.C. Yes, it is. The Spirit presents Him to us as a blessed Man in unique relation to God; no other man ever had the relation to God that He had; He was the only-begotten Son. Isaac is a type of Him in that character; Isaac is called Abraham's only-begotten son in Hebrews 11, though as a matter of fact Abraham had other sons, but the Spirit of God, having Christ in mind, will not recognise any other son of Abraham's but Isaac. So the blessed God says to him, "thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac"; God takes no account of Ishmael. And the reason was the supernatural character of his birth. Isaac was the child of promise and of resurrection power; he was born entirely apart from the

natural course of events, and in that way he was typical of the miraculous conception and birth of the Son of God who was the only-begotten Son. Isaac was the heir; he was typical of the One who, as loved by the Father, can take up all the wealth of God and hold it so that it may be available for men; but nothing could be taken up except on the ground of His death. And so this great thought is connected with the only son in Genesis 22, that he is to be offered up as a burnt-offering. As the Heir the Son of God had personal title to take up every thought of God in relation to man, but then, if He were to be divine blessing for others He must take all upon the ground of death, and so He has been offered up. "He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all". We who had no personal title can be blessed in Him; our title is established by Another and in Another.

Ques. Is that the great thought in connection with Jehovah's word to Abraham to offer up his only son?

C.A.C. It must have meant very much to the blessed God to say that to Abraham, knowing that it was what He was going to do Himself. It is most important for us to get a great thought of the delight of God in that blessed Man, the absolute complacency of God in Him. "In thee I have found my delight"; it was that One who was wholly for God's delight that has not been spared, He has been delivered up for us all. That is not a transaction taking place in the depths of Deity; it is a blessed Man, given in divine love, who comes within our view. We see the loved Son, we see what He is for the delight of God, and then we see the love of God manifested in that He was offered up.

Ques. Would that command of God to Abraham set forth typically in time the decree that was in eternity?

C.A.C. Yes, surely. And so Isaac is a type of Christ as the only-begotten Son, and the Heir, and the One who is offered up, and who subsequently gets a wife of His own kindred. Thus Isaac is peculiarly a type of the sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ as saints of the assembly know Him. In

Psalm 2 we do not get all that, but we find that the One who is begotten is going to have the ends of the earth for His possession, and He is going to subjugate all His enemies. All will have to be subject to Him, and He is the One in whom men may put their trust. Men are called upon to kiss the Son, but we do not get His offering up in Psalm 2, or His getting a wife as in Genesis 24.

Ques. In Hebrews where the greatness of the Person is set out, we are exhorted to give special attention to what we have heard. Would that be the greatness of the Person come into manhood?

C.A.C. The great point in Hebrews 1 is that God has spoken in the Son, in this great Personage, and all blessing and all knowledge of God depends upon our listening to the Speaker.

Ques. When it says "Heir of all things", is that the thought of Psalm 2?

C.A.C. In Psalm 2 He gets the ends of the earth for His possession, but "Heir of all things" goes very wide; He is appointed Heir of all things, which brings in heaven as well as earth. Everything is to be inherited by Him; as Son of God He is great enough to be Heir of all things. As Heir of all things He gets a wife; the assembly is brought in to share the inheritance with Him, and that is how we come into all the wealth of God. The wealth of God consists in the thoughts of His love, and there is One in manhood great enough to inherit that, and He has gone into death in order that those who have no personal title to inherit anything shall on a righteous ground inherit with Him. All that He takes up as the Heir He is going to share with the joint-heirs. So that the greater sense we have of His dignity the more sure we are of the immensity of the inheritance which we share with Him.

Ques. How are we to understand John 13 -- being in His bosom?

C.A.C. The bosom of the Son is open to those who love Him; they can have the most intimate place; there is nothing

to hinder any one of us from being there. The only thing that is wanted is love -- do we love Him enough to want to be there? You may say, 'There are things about me that would not suit that place'; well, He will serve to remove all the things that would hinder us from being there, if we want to be there. What a blessed Person He is!

Isaac is typically Christ as the only-begotten Son and the Heir, and as the One in whom all nations are to bless themselves. We can only bless ourselves in Him. He gets a wife of those who are blessed in Him. Then the thought of pre-eminence is very much presented by the Spirit in Joseph; he is seen to be pre-eminent in his father's love; we are told Israel loved him more than all his sons, and he made him a vest of many colours. He is seen to be publicly distinguished as pre-eminent in his father's love. We can all see how beautifully that type was worked out in the Son of God. How God delighted to put distinction upon Him -- His works and His moral perfection and all the way that He carried Himself before men. The Father's voice and the descent of the Spirit were all like a vest of many colours; they spoke of the pre-eminent place that He had in the Father's love.

We get in Joseph the thought of a pre-eminence that is acquired. Joseph acquired by his own worth his place of pre-eminence. Now that glory is very precious in the Son of God. Joseph by the excellence of the wisdom in which he could do things rose from the lowest point to the highest, and so great was that wisdom that he became the sustainer of life for his brethren and the whole world. Now the Lord has acquired pre-eminence in the affections of His saints by the extraordinary ability and wisdom which have been disclosed in Him to meet every conceivable need on our part. That is how He becomes pre-eminent and gets His place as Head with every one of us; it is by our seeing the extraordinary wisdom with which He can give effect to every blessed thought that was in the heart of God concerning us. When we see that, we not only believe that He is Head and accept the truth of it, but He acquires that place in our affections, and I believe

that is a point of the very greatest importance. Joseph's brethren began by hating him because of his pre-eminence in the father's love, but they ended by being subdued to accepting his pre-eminence by discovering his ability to preserve them in life; they had been absolutely shut up to him. There was no other to whom they could turn; and every one who knows what it is to have life in the name of the Son of God will say He must be pre-eminent. How could I have life in His name and not accord Him the place of pre-eminence? When the Lord fed the multitude He was giving a little presentation of His ability to satisfy men, to bring men into life. As knowing Him thus He acquires the place of pre-eminence with us all. There is no part of His glory to be known by Israel in a coming day that is hidden from the assembly today; every ray of His glory that will shine out in the kingdom or in eternity is available for the saints of the assembly, because the assembly is His fulness. If there was something of His glory that was not known in the assembly, there would be an element of His fulness wanting, but the assembly is the fulness of Him who fills all in all. That shows clearly that every part of His glory should be the conscious possession and wealth of the assembly. His future glory is seen typically in Solomon: Isaac and Joseph and Solomon are the three great types of the sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, and it is evident that in each case they are types of what He is in manhood.

Solomon is a type of Him as the One whose kingdom will be established for ever. He will be established in Jehovah's house and kingdom for ever, and He will be Son of God in that relation. The kingdom will all be ordered, and every one of its features will be brought into being and maintained in being by One who is in the relation and dignity of Son. "I will be his father, and he shall be my son".

Rem. The Spirit seems to be specially bringing all this before us at the present time.

C.A.C. I believe that is so, and it will lead, under the hand of God, to great enlargement in the knowledge of the

Son of God. The scriptures we have read show how great this Person is. The Spirit of God is here to glorify Him, to magnify His honours and dignities to the utmost; certainly not to take anything from Him, but to invest Him with every glory that rightly belongs to Him. His glories are such that they could only attach to a divine Person; they are such that if He were not absolutely God in the fullest sense it would be a moral impossibility for them to attach to Him.

We read in Isaiah 9 that "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given". As the Child born He is the lowly One who did not disdain to come into the world at the lowest point of human weakness -- to be born of a woman. But as the Son given He comes to be the great evidence of God's favour to men, and to take up the government, so that divine rule may be brought in and established for ever where lawlessness has so long prevailed. The titles given here are titles of government, bringing out His ability to order everything here for the glory of God. But the Son is given: whatever greatness is bound up in the Son of God it is given to us. The great proof of the love of God to the world is that He gave His only-begotten Son. He was Himself standing there before Nicodemus when He said those blessed words that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son". The only-begotten Son was present before the eyes of Nicodemus -- the manifestation of the love of God in manhood; and we are welcome to appropriate Him in His greatness, which is expressed in His name. "His name is called Wonderful"; there is inscrutability about it; we can never fathom it. His Person is so great that no one knows Him but the Father. And then He is "Counsellor"; this sets forth the wisdom that is in Him to carry out in fulness and in permanence every thought of divine love. And He is the "Mighty God"; He is, as we have it in one of our hymns, "of full Deity possessed" (Hymn 11). And He is the "Father of Eternity"; we love to think that the coming age is going to derive its character and its blessedness from the Son. He will impress His own character, His own parentage, upon every part of the vast scene of glory, He

is the Father of Eternity. What pleasure God will have as having a Son who can bring into being, and sustain in being, a universe of bliss for His glory! And then He is the "Prince of Peace". All these blessed and divine titles attach to Him in manhood. We could never penetrate the depths of unseen Deity, but God has been pleased to make known all that can be known of Him by creatures as bringing it within our reach in His Son in manhood. The holy secrets and the fulness of the heart of God have come to light in a Man; they are thus available to us. Most marvellous realities have taken place on the platform of the world and in time. The apostles had seen it; it was not something that took place behind the scenes in eternity, but "We have seen, and testify, that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world" (1 John 4:14). Do not let us give that up; it is vital to the very constitution of christianity that we should see the greatness of the place of the Son of God in manhood.

Proverbs 30 brings us in a certain sense to the climax of it. It is a prophecy; I do not know that there is any more remarkable prophecy in the Old Testament than the verse we read together -- "What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou knowest?" That verse should have given the Jews a great subject of consideration, because it suggested that there was a Name which was as yet unrevealed. Agur knew the name Jehovah but in raising the question, "What is his name?" he suggests that there was a Name to be enquired into, to be thought of, which was as yet unknown -- a Name that would only come out through the presence upon earth of the Son of God. The very fact of One being here having the name of Son brought out that the name of Father belongs to God; the very suggestion that God has a Son had wrapped up in it the making known of God as Father; if there was to be a blessed Man in the relationship of Son to God, it involved the making known of a Name that was never known before -- the name of Father. That is the climax of the truth connected with the name or title of Son; it brings to light the full revelation of the blessed God as the Father. And, as we well know,

the making known of the Father's name is linked in John 20 with the Son of God known as the ascending One. It is the Son of God as the One about to ascend who sent the wonderful message to His brethren by Mary Magdalene. That is, we get divine thoughts realised in their most lofty and heavenly character and fulness.

In Isaac we see the Lord as the risen One, in Joseph we see Him as the exalted One, in Solomon we see Him as the supreme One in the kingdom, but in Proverbs 30 we get the thought of ascension. How wonderful the thoughts of God are! How perfectly Scripture hangs together! We have, in an obscure way I admit, but definitely given by the Holy Spirit as a prophecy, the thought of One who ascends up into the heavens -- who goes up to the very highest place, and who goes there because He first descended. It is remarkable that it speaks of His ascending first and then of His descending; the One who ascended could only do so because He first descended. The whole truth of His divine personality is there. He came down in a marvellous descent of infinite love, and brought all that belonged to heaven with Him -- He went to the cross and was offered up, and as risen then He ascended up where He was before. The greatness of His person comes out in that He could descend, and then ascend up where He was before. We read all the Lord's history here in the light of this. He was from above, and is therefore "above all" (John 3). And as the ascending One He made known to His brethren the most exalted name of God, the most affectionate Name that was ever made known to men. He can bring the Father's name to us, and put it in our hearts, and make it by the Spirit the spring of affectionate response now and throughout eternity; the greatness of the Son comes out in His ability to do this.

Ques. What is life in John?

C.A.C. If we get the blessed Son of God before our hearts in His wonderful character and dignity we shall know something of what life is. "These are written that ye may

believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name" (John 20:31). This glorious Person is definitely given to us as an Object of faith and love, and as He becomes our Object we have life in His name; we live in all that which He has brought to us as the blessed gift of God.

JOSEPH'S SILVER CUP

Genesis 44:15

"Did ye not know that such a man as I can certainly divine?" Yes, Joseph could indeed divine -- little as his brethren apprehended his meaning.

His method of divining was far removed from that of the Egyptian magicians and soothsayers, with their enchantments to deceive by cunning, and often satanic, devices and magic arts.

In Daniel 2, we have a remarkable and instructive account of the exposure and conviction of this class of men, with their pretence to occult powers; and the consequent bringing in of Daniel, who, like Joseph, was the true 'revealer of secrets', as having been enlightened and instructed in divine wisdom; so that God was acknowledged and glorified in the result.

Joseph was indeed truly divining, searching out and bringing to light what was the present mind of his brethren, and as to how far their consciences had been awakened as to their former conduct.

To this end he uses his cup, his silver cup, with admirable skill and design. That his cup was "my ... silver cup" (verse 2) seems to be not without significance. Silver surely may be taken as typical of grace, a symbol of it, for us the redemptive saving grace of God, revealed in and by our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Joseph was such a striking type; for Jesus

was pre-eminently 'the Revealer of secrets' (see John 1:48; John 4:29 as examples), "The Saviour of the world" (John 4:42), so that the new name given to Joseph -- Zaphnath-paaneah (Genesis 41:45) with its double meaning 'Revealer of secrets' and 'Saviour of the world'- was fully and absolutely descriptive of Him, and of Him alone. Again we may surely take Joseph's actions and words, by which he searched out and brought into evidence, and in great measure produced, the exercises of his brethren's consciences and hearts, as portraying what the Lord (as Son of Man) declares as to Himself in Revelation 2:23, "And all the assemblies shall know that I am he that searches the reins and the hearts", a deeply important truth for our souls.

Let us also bear in mind for our comfort and profit that in these actions of Joseph which we are considering he is not only a type or figure of Christ, but we see in him the spirit and mind of Christ, shining out in a beautiful and precious way, both in his words and in his actions.

Joseph's words, indeed, at times seemed harsh, "He spoke roughly unto them", and some of his dealings appeared severe; but he had one definite object and end before him in it all, which was, as we know, that when they were humbled and subdued, he might lavish his love upon them and have them in enjoyed nearness to himself -- fear and distance removed, so far as he could effect it. But the probing and testing must come first, to lead them to repentance and confession as regarding the past. When this is effected, the pent-up feelings of Joseph in yearning love can be expressed; and his delight was to say, "Come near to me, I pray you", speaking to their hearts and giving them the kiss of reconciliation and love, and finding his joy in so doing.

In all this, was it not indeed the spirit and mind of Christ in Joseph, enabling him to "overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21)? We know from the prophetic word how, in a future day, the blessed Lord Himself -- the true Joseph, as we speak -- will with His earthly people Israel repeat and accomplish in the fullest and most blessed way all that which is typified and

shadowed forth so admirably in Joseph. His (the Lord's) brethren, as He will call them in marvellous and infinite grace, He will deal with in perfect wisdom and love, first to bring them to repentance and mourning and confession; as so graphically described in Zephaniah 12:10: "And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look on me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn". "And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds in thy hands? And he will say, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (chapter 13: 6); and in verse 9: "And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will answer them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God", and thus leading on to, and making possible, the fulfilment of these prophetic words of exquisite beauty and preciousness in Zephaniah 3:17 addressed by the prophet to Israel. "Jehovah ... will save: he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will exult over thee with singing".

Yes, Joseph's way with his brethren is indeed typical and illustrative of the manner in which that chosen and elect nation will be brought to full confession of all their guilt, and to true repentance under the hand and dealings of the Lord; who "shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" (Malachi 3:3), for His dealings will be on the line of, and characterised by, redemptive grace; as we read elsewhere: "The ransomed of Jehovah shall return" (Isaiah 35:10). "And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities" (Psalm 130:8).

There are also, however, important differences (never to be lost sight of) between what we have dwelt upon in the case of Joseph, and the Lord's dealings in a future day to bring Israel back to Himself; gathering them as "the great shepherd of the sheep" (Hebrews 13:20) -- in their case, "the lost

sheep of Israel's house" (Matthew 15:24); and we may happily add, as gathering now, and during these last nineteen hundred years, the "other sheep" (John 10:16) -- the elect of God out of that nation, and from among the Gentiles, for a heavenly portion and heavenly joys. Joseph, like Moses, may be a servant in God's house, and as such found faithful, "but Christ, as Son over his (God's) house" (Hebrews 3:6), and thus surpassingly more glorious than Joseph or Moses. Joseph needed to use "the silver cup" (chapter 44: 2), and various other means to divine the true state of his brethren's hearts, and he acted with admirable skill and wisdom, as taught of God. We have also seen that while in love he yearns over them, and specially over Benjamin, yet he will not disclose himself nor gratify his love until he has 'divined' and searched out their inward feelings and exercises of heart; and who can read the touching confession, the eloquent appeal of Judah on behalf of Benjamin, without being deeply moved, and responsively appreciate Joseph's feelings and attitude, when all was found out? He can now commit himself to them, and declare himself as "Joseph your brother" (chapter 45: 4). Beautiful indeed! even as inspired history, is all this; and precious to see in Joseph the spirit of Christ displaying itself so touchingly in tender forgiving love, in a man "of like passions" (Acts 14:15). Would that we were possessed and controlled more by a similar unselfish mind and spirit, for the outshining of the mind "which was in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). But it is in Jesus only, as in Philippians 2, that we have fully displayed what we see in part in Joseph and others, and, as regards them, entirely the fruit of the work of God in them, wrought by the Holy Spirit, and not any grace or virtue in them nor in any other naturally. Such fruit never grew in nature's garden. "I am the vine" ("the true vine") (John 15:1, 5) said the Lord to His disciples, and again, "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, thus neither can ye unless ye abide in me" (verse 4). 'Dead works' there may be, which are but an attempt at imitation by fleshly piety: "Let no one fraudulently deprive you of

your prize, doing his own will in humility and worship of angels, entering into things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh". "Which have indeed an appearance of wisdom in voluntary worship, and humility, and harsh treatment of the body, not in a certain honour, to the satisfaction of the flesh" (Colossians 2:18, 23). These are like artificial flowers and fruit; but no fruit for God can there ever be apart from being born again, born of God; and so, as being the subjects of the work in us of the Holy Spirit, it is a great point reached in our history when we say from our hearts,

'Nothing that's good have we,
Nothing apart from Thee,
Jesus, our Lord'.

This may appear a digression from the subject we are considering, but it is really intimately connected with it. God was from the very first finding pleasure in any and every expression of the spirit of Christ in His people; but, in every case, it was the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit (in sovereign grace) in order that some of the beautiful moral features of Christ should be displayed, well pleasing in His (God's) sight: "The God of peace ... perfect you in every good work to the doing of his will, doing in you what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 13:20, 21).

Yet, in some ways, as we have already intimated, how instructive and important are the points of contrast between Joseph's way of reaching right conclusions as to his brethren, and the perfect knowledge of all things and persons which we see in the Lord Jesus.

The Spirit by the evangelist bears testimony to Him, that "he knew all men, and that he had not need that any should testify of man, for himself knew what was in man" (John 2:24, 25). We have also the precious testimony of the woman of Samaria (already alluded to), "Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ?" (John 4:29). And though He would not, as being unsuited to the

dignity of His glorious Person, and the marvellous lowliness to which He condescended, use words such as Joseph used: "Did ye not know that such a man as I can certainly divine?", He could, and did, in matchless tenderness and love, say to that poor woman, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water" (John 4:10). Here, indeed, is the 'glory that excelleth', for it is the glory of perfect divine grace and love. He knew perfectly all the history of that unhappy woman; and He dealt with her conscience and heart in a manner as gracious and tender as it was searching and convicting, preparing her for that wonderful revelation of Himself to her: "I who speak to thee am he" (verse 26). And has He not searched and tried us, letting the light shine in that showed us what we were that He might reveal to us what He is, so as to attach us to Himself? Yes! blessed Lord, we joy to look up to Thee now in that place of supreme exaltation and honour where Thou art now, and say to Thee with adoring hearts,

'In Thy blest face all glories shine,
And there we gaze on love divine'. (Hymn 68)

As Man here on earth, He was the Vessel of all the fulness of God's grace, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us ... full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). We who have believed on Him have received "of his fulness ..., and grace upon grace" (John 1:16). We ought surely, therefore, not come behind those Old Testament saints in showing forth now the grace and compassion of Jesus and His spirit and moral features, and so be found walking more "as he walked" (John 1:36).

He, not Joseph, is our divine and perfect pattern. In full and perfect love He "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify to himself a peculiar people (that is, a company peculiarly 'His own'), zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14).

He can be, to each one of us, what Joseph could never be to his brethren, for with him were many limitations, but none with Jesus! who is able "to subdue all things to himself" (Philippians 3:21). We have ever His priestly service, His sympathy in every sorrow, and even if we sin, "We have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). If we are tired and cast down, He can encourage our hearts with the assurance, "My grace suffices thee; for my power is perfected in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Our sense of conscious weakness casts us on His strength, so that 'His strength shall be ours on the road'.

In the closing verses of Isaiah 40, we find how all this can be made available, as also in Philippians 4. What blessed secrets these two scriptures contain for us, and what rich instruction there is in all the Old Testament Scriptures, all "written for our instruction, that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4). May we know how to interpret and apply them rightly and value them more.

But this is not all that which the Spirit would teach us in this interesting history of Joseph and his dealings with his brethren, for, while we rightly admire the spirit in which he acted towards them, and may well desire to move on the same lines "through ... the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:19), yet we must also remember, and take account of the fact, that we were once in the spiritual state indicated by Joseph's brethren. We "once were alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works" (Colossians 1:21). See also Titus 3:3. "We were once ourselves also without intelligence, disobedient, wandering in error, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another". As with these men, and like the younger son in Luke 15, it needed a famine (with us, a soul famine) to arouse us, and then other dealings of God -- often mysterious and perhaps painful -- to produce the right exercises of conscience and soul, so as to compel us to turn to God. Thus it

was His goodness led us to repentance and confession. How beautifully and perfectly we have all this -- both our guilty perishing condition, and the compassion and love of God -- portrayed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 15 already referred to, where the activities in love of the whole Godhead are pictured -- the seeking -- the finding, the repentance -- the rejoicing over the repentant sinner and the never-ending joy in the father's house. Yes! marvellous indeed and most blessed for us to know that "there is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner" (verse 10); and that 'It is the Father's joy to bless'.

All these ways of divine love towards us have then, for their object, to bring us into, and make us participators of, all the wealth of blessing, all the joy and glory and honour which that love had long before provided and treasured up for us.

'Trembling, we had hoped for mercy Some lone place within the door, But the crown, the throne, the mansion, All were purposed long before'.

As we apprehend this and ponder over it, and look back to see all the way by which our gracious God has led us (which, at the time, we knew not) to bring us to the knowledge of Christ, and of His fulness to meet all our need and misery (for "of his fulness we all have received", John 1:16), we can then use, as expressive of our own personal experience, the words of the apostle in Romans 5:11, "And not only that, but we are making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ". The time is fast approaching too, when, for those of His earthly people Israel, who will then, through His sovereign mercy, His governmental dealings with them, and His work in them by His Spirit, have been brought to repentance, and to fear the Lord and think upon His Name (Malachi 3:16), "The Sun of righteousness (will) arise with healing in his wings" (Malachi 4:2); when, for them, will be fulfilled the ancient and glorious prophecy in Deuteronomy 33:28, 29, "Israel shall dwell in safety alone, The fountain of Jacob, in a

land of corn and new wine; Also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, Israel! Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah?" Theirs will clearly be blessing on the earth, and earthly in character, under the blessings of the new covenant, foretold long before in the prophets, secured by the precious blood of Jesus, even as He said: "This is my blood, that of the new covenant, that shed for many for remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Hence the promise of the covenant was, "Their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more" (Hebrews 8:12). For us, too, that precious blood was shed, and we are now justified by the efficacy (the power) of that blood, and "reconciled to God through the death of his Son", with the blessed assurance that having been thus reconciled, when enemies, "we shall be saved in the power of his life" (Romans 5:10). Have we not an illustration, and so far an explanation of this latter truth, in the story of Joseph and his brethren? His brethren and his father's house were assuredly saved by his life -- his life, too, after he had been down in the depths of sorrow and bitterness, when the iron entered into his soul; and they the cause and instruments of it. Now raised up and exalted, having the power and glory of Egypt given to him, he can and will, as his chief service and joy, save his brethren and all his father's house through the famine time, and preserve and deliver them from every hostile element. But more, he will have them near himself, for the satisfaction of his love, and for his ministry to them, for, said he, "There will I maintain thee" (Genesis 45:11).

Thus, I think, we have a picture or type of what is meant by "we shall be saved in the power of his life" (Romans 5:10), for have we not the present ceaseless activities of the life of Christ and His shepherd care, previously described in such detail in Psalm 23? The believer, whose conscience and heart are in the light and confidence of all this, can take up and appropriate the triumphant challenge of the apostle in Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" and declare, like him, his persuasion that "neither

death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (verses 38, 39).

May all this precious confidence in the perfect unchanging love of divine Persons (of the Father and the Son, for so John presents it) be the enjoyed portion and repose of our hearts.

In this respect we would be found unlike Joseph's brethren, who, after years of the experience of Joseph's tender love and care, still cherished fear and suspicion in their hearts and minds -- very grieving to the heart of Joseph (see Genesis 50:15 - 17). They were not "perfect as to conscience" (Hebrews 9:9).

READINGS AND ADDRESSES ON EXODUS

DIVINE RESOURCES IN THE WILDERNESS

Exodus 15:20 - 27; Exodus 16:16 - 26

C.A.C. I suppose your thought was for us to look at the divine resources for the people of God in the wilderness?

Ques. I wanted a little light on what Marah is. Do you think the apprehension of Marah prepares us for the manna?

C.A.C. It is an immense thing for us to see we have our place with God on the ground of death and resurrection. That is a simple statement, but it is of fundamental importance, and it gives character to all the exercises of saints. Redemption has really separated us from the world, and the measure of our separation is the death and resurrection of Christ.

Ques. Then is Marah the learning of that practically?

C.A.C. Yes, it has been said that we have to drink the waters of death. The waters of the Red Sea were a wall on the right hand and on the left; we are sheltered and protected by death, and if that is so, we must be prepared to taste it.

Rem. We are fitted for that by finding that God is for us.

C.A.C. Yes, we are really under the cloud (1 Corinthians 10:1). The cloud is Romans 5, and the sea is Romans 6. If we do not know the blessedness of being under the cloud, how can we accept the sea? How could you bear to look at death, or taste it, if you have not seen the cloud? The cloud is God's favour, the consciousness that God is for me. God intervened on behalf of His people and covered them. 'He stands between us and the foe'. We believe on God, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. That is the God we know, the God of resurrection power, opening for us a new position, and if that is so, I must take up new ground. Marah is that you must

taste death to the old life, in order to get new resources and power in a new life.

Ques. Is that not Romans 8?

C.A.C. Romans 8 is the wilderness according to God, and the saints in the happy consciousness that God is for us, Christ is for us, and the Spirit is for us. If divine Persons are all for us, what a pledge of all good, and what a security against all evil!

It is remarkable that God, who provided Moses as a deliverer, provided Miriam as a responder. We get the three spoken of -- Moses, Aaron, and Miriam -- as leading. Moses the apostle, Aaron the priest, and Miriam who represents the response in affection. You must have all three. When God establishes the new covenant, the people have joy and thanksgiving. Joy and thankfulness are their only business. J.B.S. used to say that people never got the good of the manna till they passed the brazen serpent, but I think if the Israelites had proved the statute and ordinance of Marah, if they had accepted the statute made for them, they would not have needed to come under law.

Ques. What is the statute?

C.A.C. Christ is the statute; that is, you really accept that you are to be in this world in the path of Christ, and that means death to all the old life. What God is, is the statute and ordinance. I think in the ways of God, we are tested and proved by coming to something that is death to our natural taste and will. After knowing redemption, and coming into the triumph of God, a Christian will not go far before he is tested by something that is death to his natural taste and will.

Rem. It is not pleasant.

C.A.C. No, it is "bitter". Unless you have Christ before you, it is impossible to drink death.

Ques. Is the wood Christ as the new order of man?

C.A.C. Yes, it is Christ as the Branch that grew up; a beautiful tree has grown up in this world. Nothing was ever seen in this world, morally beautiful and perfect, except the Lord Jesus; and one must have Him before the heart as an

object, otherwise we do not see the import of it, that He was cut down, and cast into the water. Marah is Romans 6. We identify ourselves in affection with the place Christ had in this world; we do it in the power of affection. Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. God brings Christ before us. If we are tasting the bitter water, God's way is to bring Christ before us, so that we are attracted to follow Him, to take up that new manner of life, seen perfectly in Christ. A beautiful life, perfectly suited to God, has been seen in this world. The great principle established is that nothing is to control the saint now but the will of God; a new manner of life is developed in the spirit of obedience. Death must come upon all our tastes and tendencies as natural men; there is no possibility of allowing them. We do not want to improve ourselves; we have to part company with ourselves, and until we see that is the character of life in the wilderness, we do not find the resources. The resources are to maintain us according to the will of God, not to help us to get through comfortably.

Rem. We have to take up this attitude definitely.

Rem. It is an immense favour to be recovered for God in the life of another Man.

C.A.C. Yes, to really have that blessed One before us, and to estimate everything according to Christ. We estimate things so much according to common sense, but we only have a right thought of anything when Christ is in view. Christ has died here, died to sin; the impassable gulf of death is between that blessed One and every movement of creature will; and if He is really the object of my heart there will be the same breach between me and creature will. The breach of death is between me and creature will. Now we are prepared for divine resources in the wilderness, so we come to Elim, that is the assembly, and then you get the manna and the springing well.

You have accepted for yourself the relation in which Christ stood to creature will. What has creature will done for me? I have had the narrowest escape from hell. Creature will, my

own will, put me within a hair's breadth of the bottomless pit. God's will has saved me, and it binds me to Him. Christ is the covenant which binds me to God. Romans 6 is, that you take account of yourself as dead to sin, and alive to God.

Christ never had creature will; morally there was no point of contact between Him and the world. The great gulf of death is fixed between Christ and the sinful will of man. You say, 'Yes, Lord, I want death on my wretched, rebellious, unbroken will'. Then the water is sweet to you; you dread your will, and you want God's blessed will, and God says, 'Now I will support you, I will put all the resources of My kingdom at your disposal'. God would do anything for a creature who could say to Him, 'My God, I love Thee, I want Thy will, I want the support of all Thy resources'. What a blessed God we have to do with! What one desires is that we might see the magnificence of being here, enraptured with the will of God as seen in Christ; it is a will that ensures for us all the blessed fountain of good seen in God. My will is intolerable in the universe; it must be crushed. I was a bit of an integral part of the system of evil, but now the grace of God has come in to set me up in all the resources of that blessed Man. God says: 'I will give you His Spirit, who never did anything, or wanted anything, but My will. In the very place of responsibility, I will set you up with His resources, so that your responsible life shall not be Adam, but Christ'. "He takes away the first that he may establish the second" (Hebrews 10:9); first the natural, then the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:46). Marah comes in as death on the natural, that is, natural in a moral sense. We come under control: "There he made for them a statute and an ordinance; and there he tested them. And he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God". That is the new manner of life. The conditions are actually established now. It is not that the obedience is to be less exacting than of old. Now that we are not under law, we are not to be easy on ourselves, for we are set apart to the obedience of Christ. The character of our obedience is more exacting now that we are not under law, but under grace.

Ques. How would you explain the difference between being under law and being under grace?

C.A.C. We absolutely delight in God's conditions, under grace. Even the man in Romans 7, who is not in full christian blessing, delights in the conditions; and the beginning of chapter 8 comes in as a way of liberty for this man. He does not complain of the conditions; he says, 'All I want is power to carry them out; I find no fault in the will of God, my trouble is that I cannot do it'. Then God says, 'I will set you up in divine resources, and give you the Spirit of My Son, so that you can do it'. You see the character of it all in Christ, a blessed Man in this world, who lived on resources that He had in God. We are not to be relieved of the conditions, but to get power to carry them out.

Then the manna comes in, the grace by which the Lord lived in this world. He touched every detail of human life. The manna touched everything, every blade of grass carried it, so the Lord touched every detail of life, in the power of heavenly grace, and He sends down supplies from heaven of the very grace that He lived on down here. It is what He lived on down here, the divine grace that sustained Him as Man down here. He is manna to us, He is the source of manna to us. He says, "My grace suffices thee"; that is manna.

Ques. Is that the thought of the husband?

C.A.C. Christ is your husband in Romans 7; that is, we have One we can count on absolutely, but manna is that He supplies the very grace from heaven that sustained Him as the Man of faith down here. He was once in the very path that I am in, and He was sustained in that path by the Father's grace from heaven, grace was supplied for Him from heaven. He was a Man in divine favour, in blessed favour with God; because He always delighted to do the will of God, He was in full complacency and favour. He lived by the Father, that blessed Man lived by supplies from Heaven. If one may say so reverently, there never was a man so weak, "I was cast upon thee from the womb" (Psalm 22:10). He was wholly devoted to God, and now He ministers to us from

heaven the very same grace that sustained Him from heaven when He was down here.

Ques. We can say the Lord was never less than God, but would it be right to say He was never more than Man?

C.A.C. We can look at Him on our side as Man, but we must not say what He was not. That Person became Man, came into manhood. The God-Man is a misleading term, because it leads one to think of Him as not a real man. The Lord was a real Man, He was the Leader and Completer of faith. You cannot contemplate the two thoughts at the same time; that is, the Lord on the side of deity, and the Lord on the side of humanity; they are two distinct views of His Person, and it is impossible for us to take in the two thoughts at the same time.

Rem. We lose by trying to set one thought against the other.

C.A.C. The wonderful thing is that we should have His grace and His Spirit. We are in the path of that Man, and that leads to an entirely new manner of life. I feel ashamed to say anything about it, for I know so little about it; but that is christianity.

THE MANNA (1)

Exodus 16:16 - 36

Rem. Last week we were looking at the end of chapter 15 -- Marah -- and the commencement of chapter 16 -- the Manna -- the Lord's grace in answering the hunger and the thirst of His people. Hunger and thirst -- the two great needs of man -- met in grace.

C.A.C. It suggests that we are now to lead an entirely new manner of life for which Egypt's food is no good.

Rem. New food and different drink for "newness of life", "spiritual food and spiritual drink" (1 Corinthians 10).

C.A.C. It is a fine thing when we begin to look at every circumstance and every need as an opportunity for a fresh expression of the blessed grace of God. That stops all murmurings.

Rem. The circumstances test us -- "to prove thee" (Deuteronomy 8:2).

C.A.C. There is a full supply for all our need but everything depends upon the state of our hearts. Have we hearts to value and make use of it? The fulness of supply tests us. Do we delight to move through wilderness circumstances in His way, sustained by what comes from heaven, so that nothing distracts us?

Ques. What is the root cause of murmurings?

C.A.C. Our natural thoughts have to be reversed. When this is not the case with us a murmuring spirit results. The flesh does not like to be put on a new line altogether. Flesh has no pleasure in a life perfectly set forth by Jesus. "In the evening flesh ... in the morning bread" (verses 6, 8, 12, 13). The murmuring day closes with the quails and the new day begins with the manna.

Ques. What do the quails set forth?

C.A.C. The death of Christ.

Ques. As in John 6?

C.A.C. John 6 is further on and leads right into the land. Here God says, as it were, "I will give you flesh tonight and bread in the morning". We have to eat "flesh" -- that is, death -- and finish up the murmuring day. Before we come to "bread" we must take up the thought of "flesh". "Flesh" terminates the murmuring day. "Flesh" suggests the death of Christ where murmuring flesh has met its just deserts at the hand of God. Christ to meet the murmuring and Christ to meet the need of the wilderness. God gives them the quails here, "When Jehovah gives you in the evening flesh to eat" (verse 8). It is different from Numbers 11 where they are given "for their lust".

God has judged murmuring flesh in the death of Christ and there is bread from heaven in the morning. We need new

tastes; then we are ready for the manna. It is said of Moab in Jeremiah 48:11, "His scent is not changed". But in Isaiah 11:3, it is said of the Lord, "His delight (literally scent) will be in the fear of Jehovah".

The manna was "deposited before the Testimony" (verse 34). What is "deposited" is positively delightful to God. This is the first mention of the Testimony and the connection of the manna with it suggests God saying, as it were, 'I will supply food rich enough so that you can answer to My testimony as you go through the wilderness'.

The manna and the Sabbath go together. The Sabbath is first given to man here. "See, for Jehovah hath given you the Sabbath" (verse 29). In Genesis God keeps it for Himself (Genesis 2:2, 3). When you have eaten manna for a week (six days of exercise) you have your rest with God. "Tomorrow is the rest, the holy Sabbath, of Jehovah" (verse 23). The quails ought not to continue. We may see once for all that the day of murmuring has been brought to an end. We are to feed on the fact that Christ has borne the judgment of the murmurer.

The blood on the lintel, the way through the sea, the wood cast into the waters, "flesh", is all instruction in grace as to the death of Christ. It is one blessed chapter of grace after another to the end of chapter 18.

Ques. Is this pot of manna (verse 33) what is spoken of as "the hidden manna" in Revelation 2:17?

C.A.C. I am not sure that that refers to this pot of manna. With regard to this pot it says "that they may see" (verse 32), it is not hidden. The "hidden manna" suggests to me the wonderful blessedness of what has been hidden in regard of Christ here.

Ques. The thirty years?

C.A.C. Yes, that is right. For instance, in Psalm 22:9 He says, "Thou didst make me trust, upon my mother's breasts". Who ever saw that trust but God? Who saw Him drawing everything from God even as a Babe? Every part of that life was nourished out of heaven. And then at thirty years the Father could say, "Thou art my beloved Son, in

thee I have found my delight", Luke 3:22. All that "hidden manna" is for the overcomer, to be spiritually known now and fully enjoyed in the coming age.

The Lord was constantly drawing every needed support out of heaven from God. Every detail in His life was the product of grace and support out of heaven and that is the grace He ministers to you and to me. There is enough recorded of those thirty years to give us the character of them. For instance, Mary and Joseph fulfilled what was obligatory in Jerusalem and returned (Luke 2:42, 43) but the spiritual instincts of the Boy led Him to tarry behind in "the city of the great King", absorbed with what was of God.

There are two sides of the life of Jesus:

1. The manna, everything sustained from heaven every moment. He lived "by every word which goes out through God's mouth". All came down from heaven.
2. The meat-offering, what springs up here, "fine flour". The manna sets forth what heaven has for man. The meat-offering sets forth what man has for heaven.

The manna must be learned first, a life out of heaven, the product of bread from heaven. At His baptism the manna merges into the meat-offering, the oil is poured on it (Leviticus 2:1); "the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him" (Luke 3:22). He was anointed there. Something is seen there that has sprung up for heaven.

Ques. What do you understand by "that they may see the bread that I gave you to eat in the wilderness" (verse 32)?

C.A.C. God's people as viewed in the land and finding the greatest delight in viewing the character of life seen in Christ in wilderness conditions. It is there to be seen spiritually.

Ques. Is the golden pot the assembly?

C.A.C. Yes, a divine vessel. All the preciousness of the manna as seen perfectly in Christ is to be treasured in our affections. The fineness of the grain is called attention to (verse 14). Every circumstance in His life, all His exercises, were vessels for the grace of heaven. There was no circumstance

so small in the life of the blessed Lord but what became the vessel for the grace of heaven to manifest itself. Why should we murmur at circumstances? Every circumstance becomes an asset, an occasion for the grace of heaven and the life of Jesus to be manifested. There is no other food for the redeemed.

Rem. I am afraid we loathe it sometimes.

C.A.C. It is very sad when it is so and only shows how the flesh comes into evidence in the people of God.

Ques. What is the Sabbath?

C.A.C. The thought of the Sabbath was in the mind of God. We get here the first introduction of it for man. "See, for Jehovah hath given you the Sabbath" (verse 29). The "flesh", the "bread", the "Sabbath" are all a question of divine gift.

Ques. For us what does it mean?

C.A.C. The Sabbath sets forth God's perfect rest in Christ outside the tests of the wilderness. They were to eat but not gather the manna on the sabbath (verse 25). There was to be perfect rest. Then (verse 29), "Abide every man in his place: let no man go from his place on the seventh day" suggests that each Israelite has his place in rest with God. Nothing on the Sabbath was to disturb his place with God. The Sabbath was at the end of six days of gathering.

Rem. The manna was within the reach of every Israelite.

C.A.C. All was grace; even if a man was not diligent, the administration of grace was so complete that each had his omer full (verses 16 - 19).

Ques. What about "the dew", verses 13, 14?

C.A.C. The dew suggests divine refreshing to prepare the way for the manna. "I will be as the dew unto Israel" (Hosea 14:5). God will thus prepare them to appreciate Christ. The dew falls on the spirits of His people to cause them to appreciate Christ as the manna. The dew falls silently and invisibly. It is a sovereign movement of God to prepare us to appreciate Christ. It is a reviving, a refreshing power on the spirit.

Rem. "He restoreth my soul".

C.A.C. We all know what it is. Sometimes when you open the Scriptures all seems dry; you want the dew. Another time the Scriptures come home with power. Why? You have had the dew. There is no manna without the dew. You must pray about the manna first. It is the activities of God sending the dew on our spirit. Look at the dry, barren state of Israel today and it will be so until the dew falls upon them. We all know the difference. Like Gideon's fleece, dry when all around is wet. I long for the dew.

'Each thought of Thee doth constant yield
Unchanging, fresh delight'. (Hymn 151)

Does it? It will if the dew is on you.

Rem. Nebuchadnezzar was "bathed with the dew of heaven" for seven years. The manna falls on prepared surfaces.

C.A.C. It is only appreciated by us as it falls on the dew.

Rem. The thought of food in Scripture is important.

C.A.C. It suggests the building up of a new constitution. Egypt's food, worldly literature, etc., build you up for Egypt. But that which is pleasurable to God, seen in Christ, is built up by feeding on the manna daily, for six days, so that we can enjoy our place in Sabbath rest with God. If we are really set to move on lines pleasurable to God, as seen in Christ, every test becomes an opportunity for the grace of heaven.

Rem. I suppose the question is raised also as to how we gather (verse 17).

C.A.C. There must be diligence. There is need of diligence. Peter is the great wilderness man and in his second epistle he tells us how the manna becomes available. It comes in on the line of gathering (2 Peter 1:3 - 11). "As his divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness ... using therewith all diligence, in your faith have also virtue ...".

Rem. Lacking these things one is blind.

C.A.C. Practically we do not get the grace of heaven

until we are in circumstances where we need it. 'Egypt's food no more to eat'. There is a full supply of all we need to carry us right through to "the everlasting kingdom".

Ques. Would you say something as to "the Testimony" (verse 34)?

C.A.C. The Testimony first appears in connection with the manna. The Testimony really was the two tables. The suggestion in the manna being kept before it is that God had provided sufficient support for the Testimony to be set forth in His people. Before the Testimony is set forth, provision is made in the manna to enable the people of God to maintain the Testimony. The Sabbath gives you the thought of your place of enjoyment with God. Each has his place with God (verse 29). That is Godward. The Testimony is manward.

The saints are now the tables -- living tables (2 Corinthians 3:3). All that can be known of God by men is set forth in the saints. The manna enables us for it.

After faith (2 Peter 1:5) we need virtue, that is courage. There is a supply of courage for us, "As his divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness". But we have to get it through exercise "using therewith all diligence". Again "use diligence" (verse 10). Each fresh period of exercise and history has its divine furnishing beforehand. We should be ready for opportunities. We miss them by not being ready for them.

The Testimony has its place in the wilderness. It is "The ark of testimony" and "The tabernacle of testimony" in the wilderness. "The Testimony" is in the wilderness where God is not known. We shall be in accord with the Testimony if feeding on the manna. The Testimony is Christ. Nothing forms part of the Testimony that is not Christ. What is fruit for God becomes Testimony in the world. The manna is said to be "very fine", the smallest circumstance affords an opportunity for the grace of heaven.

THE MANNA (2)

Exodus 16:22 - 36

Rem. We have noticed that the quails were given once but the manna daily.

C.A.C. "Between the two evenings ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God" (verse 12). It is the blessed way in which God is made known to us. He brings us, through His grace, to the end of the day of murmuring; through His grace it has no longer place with us. "Flesh" sets forth the wondrous fact that Christ has come in flesh to bear the judgment of what we were as in flesh, in murmuring flesh. He came in holy flesh. The day marked by incessant murmurings ends. None of us are supposed to be going on with it. Bread from heaven does not sustain a life of murmuring. The death of Christ is the end of the murmurer. We are always inclined to murmur naturally. Anything that does not fit in with our natural tastes causes us to murmur and we are inclined to blame God for it. We first murmur and then complain. "Murmurers, complainers" (Jude 16) is the order. First there is the inward murmuring and then the complaining. That is not the new manner of life. That day ends by our apprehending the fact that Christ has borne the judgment of the murmurer -- the flesh as discovered in the people of God, not as in an unconverted man. God gives us "flesh". "When Jehovah gives you in the evening flesh to eat" (verse 8). There is first the ending of that day. The new day is begun eating the new bread out of heaven. What is that? A new manner of life characterised by entire dependence, seen here in Jesus. Everything comes down from heaven. "I will rain bread from heaven for you" (verse 4). The manna is what is perfectly set forth in the Lord Jesus -- entire dependence and absolute obedience. "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by everything that goeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live"

(Deuteronomy 8:3) is said in reference to the manna. It gives us the spiritual idea of the manna. Learn to live by what goes out of God's mouth: our spirits live and we live by that. The Lord actually lived by it. He would not make the stone into bread. He lived by every word that proceeded out of God's mouth. That would bring about a heavenly character of life in the wilderness.

Rem. No murmuring or complaining.

C.A.C. "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places: yea, I have a goodly heritage. Jehovah is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot" (Psalm 16:6,5).

Ques. Does John 6 surpass the manna?

C.A.C. "The bread of God" in John 6 is contrasted with the manna. Manna suffices to sustain us for life here, wilderness life, but not for over Jordan. In John 6 the food "abides unto life eternal"; it carries us into a spiritual and eternal region where there are no necessities except the needs of affections that crave for God and for Christ.

Ques. Is the manna for the Christian alone, or is it for all men?

C.A.C. It is limited to those who have been redeemed -- to His own people, not the Egyptians. They did not appreciate the manna but it was the divine thought for them.

God has brought us out of Egypt. The death of Christ is between us and Egypt. God is our salvation and we are brought to the abode of His holiness (chapter 15: 2, 13).

Rem. The Red Sea is deliverance from Egypt, from the world.

C.A.C. "By faith they passed through the Red sea".

Moses kept the passover for all Israel (Hebrews 11:28, 29). Our Moses has kept the passover for us. "For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). He has undertaken the whole business. But when it comes to a question of the world we have to move: "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward" (Exodus 14:15). Romans 5 answers to "Stand still", Romans 6 to "Go forward". We are outside

the world by redemption, on new ground and in a new kind of life, "newness of life", which is only sustained by what comes from heaven as typified in the manna. We are absolutely dependent upon it.

Going forward involves being true to our baptism. "Ye have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed" (Romans 6:17). God has been pleased to put the teaching (the truth) into a tangible form for us. We are put under water. To have "obeyed from the heart" is a wonderful moment for the Christian. He moves forward then to take the ground of a man outside this world altogether according to the springs of his being, living in resurrection power, "newness of life". A Christian's life is a miracle. And how is it kept up? By food; the constitution is built up and it is manna that does it.

Rem. We see that in the eunuch in Acts 8after his baptism it says of him that "he went on his way rejoicing". It was "newness of life" for him.

C.A.C. It is the Christian's desire to walk in a manner of life in perfect contrast to the natural man. It is the glory of a natural man to do his own will. When you murmur it is that something crosses your own will (that is the secret of murmuring and complaining). God intended it to be so. God reminds you that as a Christian you must live on an entirely different principle. You must start to live this miraculous life, the life of a Christian. It is no use to say, 'We are poor, weak things'.

Rem. "We do know that all things work together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28).

C.A.C. Such are persons who have been having the manna. Why should the blessed God who loves us permit these things? He says, as it were, 'It is an opportunity for you to learn what I have provided for you in Christ'. We have often to be reminded of things we know. That is what admonition is, a putting in mind of what you really know.

After the Red Sea and the song they went three days in the wilderness and found no water; there was nothing to minister

to them. "And they came to Marah, and could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter". It was not according to their natural tastes and desires. We have to honestly face it and either have what is pleasing to the flesh, or accept nothing but suffering in the flesh. "Christ, then, having suffered for us in the flesh, do ye also arm yourselves with the same mind: for he that has suffered in the flesh has done with sin" (1 Peter 4:1). If I gratify myself I sin, if I suffer I cease from sin. It is the bringing in of Christ that sweetens things. If Christ suffered in the flesh, that is the path for me. "There he made for them a statute and an ordinance" (chapter 15: 25). You are to suffer in the flesh -- it is an unchangeable principle -- and learn to live by manna. It is either the flesh or Christ for each one of us. There are no complications about it. We have to get sustainment and support from heaven, not from any natural source: something straight from heaven to enable you to turn the trial into a triumph; that is what the manna is for. Every need is met by grace out of heaven. The smallest thing in the precious, holy life of our blessed Lord was out of heaven, "fine, ... fine as hoar-frost" (verse 14). In the life of the Lord Jesus each circumstance of the wilderness, each grain of sand, has its beautiful bit of manna on it. Nothing ever overcame Him. Could any circumstance be too much for the grace of heaven? Every circumstance or testing or trial is a vessel to hold the grace of heaven.

It is beautiful to see the object that God has in view in the connection between the manna and the sabbath. "See, for Jehovah hath given you the Sabbath". "The rest, the holy Sabbath, of Jehovah" (verses 29, 23). It is the end of six days of living on the manna, gathering it and living on it. On the seventh day there was to be no gathering, but a living on it. It is a day of no wilderness exercise, no more toil or labour, but rest. A day in which there is nothing to interfere with our enjoyment of Christ with God. The life God would have us to live in the wilderness is such that there would be nothing to interfere with our enjoying that sabbath -- rest with Himself.

Ques. Would that be true as regards the Lord's Day?

C.A.C. If really sustained by manna we would be undistracted when we come together.

Rem. The manna followed the dew (verses 13, 14).

C.A.C. It is a lovely touch. The dew suggests something that precedes the manna. We need to be divinely refreshed in our spirits before we can appreciate the manna. First dew, then manna. We have all received some dew at some time or other. I like to wake up first thing in the morning and my first thought be of the Lord. That is dew, the spirit is refreshed.

Do you ever feel dry? Dew is the sovereign movement of God on our spirits. God says, "I will be as the dew unto Israel". Israel has been dry for three thousand years but God will refresh their affections and they will then say, "This is our God". The dew is a divine refreshing: it falls silently and well-nigh invisibly: there is no noise but it comes down and refreshes everything. It is a blessed movement of God on His people.

The manna was to be "gathered", "cooked", "baked" (verse 23). It all speaks of exercise that the full value of the manna may be realised. The cooking here suggests the exercise necessary to get the full value of it, not as in Numbers 11 where it was done to make it palatable. There the spiritual character of the manna is pointed out, when they despised it, it was "as the taste of oil-cakes" (verse 8); that is the spiritual character of it. It is a dreadful thing to despise what is so entirely spiritual. Here (Exodus 16) it is the sweetness of it that is commented upon: "And the taste of it was like cake with honey" (verse 31). We can get the beautiful grace out of heaven to meet everything so as to be able to look at things as Christ looked at them and to walk as He walked. I do not know any other suitable walk for the Christian.

Ques. What is the "pot of manna" (verses 32, 33)?

C.A.C. It is very beautiful as showing that the manna is never to be forgotten or lost sight of. There may come a time when we do not need it, when we touch the scene of divine purpose all brought to fruition in a risen and glorified Christ.

At that point we do not need the manna as food, but for contemplation. It is the eternal theme of contemplation in heaven -- the wonderful life of the Lord Jesus in wilderness circumstances, and the grace He ministered from heaven to enable His people to walk like Him in wilderness circumstances. The wonderful preciousness of a dependent and obedient life in the presence of testing and opposition seen perfectly in the Lord Jesus from infancy to the end of His pathway here is all treasured in the golden pot. Much was never seen by the eyes of men. "Thou didst make me trust, upon my mother's breasts" (Psalm 22:9). His mother never saw it. It is part of the hidden manna. It is all treasured in the golden pot to be the theme of adoration for ever. It was "deposited before the Testimony" (verse 34), suggesting that God is going to secure a kind of life in man in perfect correspondence with His testimony -- secured in Christ. There was never any misrepresentation of God's testimony in Christ. We shall be in keeping with the testimony if we live on the manna. We shall be preserved in accord with God's testimony, a most important thing today. That testimony takes assembly character at the present time, not individual. The assembly is in the wilderness and is God's testimony in the wilderness. Everything inconsistent with the testimony is not marked by dependence and obedience but by man's own resources. All that is in dependence and obedience constitutes the testimony. All else is inconsistent with the manna or the Sabbath, be it individual or assembly conditions.

NOTES OF A READING

Exodus 17:1 - 16

Rem. Last week we saw how the hunger was met (chapter 16), this week it is the thirst.

C.A.C. Do you not think it is good to see that the people come into circumstances of testing and discipline by divine leading? That is, not in consequence of their own missing their way; they "journeyed ..., according to their journeys, at the command of Jehovah" (verse 1).

Rem. There is a great deal of difference between the two.

C.A.C. Quite so, and it intimates to us that it is often God's way to put us into positions of difficulty. Sometimes the question is raised with us as to whether we have been moving right, but sometimes there is a divine reason why we should come into testing. It was certainly so in the case of the blessed Lord. "But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil" (Luke 4:1). And in Mark 1:12, "And immediately the Spirit drives Him out into the wilderness". It seems there that the Spirit of God was urgent that He should be tested in the fullest possible way. In His case it only brought out the perfection that was there. If we come into testing by the leading of God it is that we might learn the divine resources that are available for us. That is the end in view. We do not learn them till we feel the need of them. This exercise belongs to the second month (chapter 16: 1).

Ques. What do you mean by that?

C.A.C. There are months in the spiritual year. Certain exercises pertain to different months. The passover, the Red Sea, Marah and Elim belong to the first month. The manna and the water from the rock belong to the second month.

It says of the Lord as the Tree of life, "Producing twelve

fruits, in each month yielding its fruit" (Revelation 22:2). That intimates the spiritual year and a special knowledge of Christ belonging to each month. Each month enables us to bring more to God in the way of praise and worship as we increase in the knowledge of Himself. There is a special offering on every day of the new moon. Each month of spiritual history gives enlargement to serve God with praise. It is important to take account of what month of the year we are in.

Ques. Do "months" belong to the wilderness?

C.A.C. They have a place in the land and also in the world to come as we see in Revelation 22:2. There is a spiritual year in the holy city.

Ques. What do you understand by "the second month"?

C.A.C. The exercises of the manna and the water from the rock belong to the second month. In the first month there is a good deal of exercise relating to coming out of Egypt -- the passover, the Red Sea, Marah and Elim.

Ques. Is it the relief side?

C.A.C. We come out of the life of Egypt

1. sheltered by the blood,
2. fed on the Lamb roast with fire,
3. as passed through the Red Sea, learning God as strength, song and salvation, and
4. at Marah take up the kind of life where nothing ministers to our old tastes, drink bitter water and have it made sweet for us.

It takes some believers a long time to get out of Egypt but there is no reason for this on the divine side.

Ques. Is all this true for us on the divine side?

C.A.C. I think we learn the resources that are available in grace in these chapters particularly; therefore all is seen to be purely on God's side. There is nothing to commend the people; they tempt God and contend with Moses. Their character is revealed in the names Temptation (Massah) and Contention (Meribah). God gives the Spirit entirely from His own side in pure grace. It is the first distinct type of the gift of the Spirit.

Ques. Does it correspond with Romans 5?

C.A.C. It is not typical of the moment when the believer receives the Spirit but when he recognises the Spirit. It is not possible to be in the experience answering to the redemption song (Exodus 15) without having the Spirit. Elim suggests spiritual refreshment and shelter. In the song they are brought "unto the abode of thy holiness" (verse 13) which supposes the gift of the Spirit.

In Romans you get no particular point as to when the believer gets the Spirit. He is not definitely recognised until Romans 5. There is a moment when the Spirit is recognised as being present. The believer comes consciously to the recognition of the Spirit (Exodus 17) -- a very important moment in the soul's history.

Rem. I suppose there has been no conflict with the flesh before.

C.A.C. No conflict with Amalek. The moment something is brought about in the people of God definitely suggesting the Spirit, the enemy's hostility breaks out; it is against what is of the Spirit of God. God raises the question of the Spirit definitely for every soul. All of us who have been converted know that God has raised that question with us. He first presents Christ to us, "delivered for our offences ... raised for our justification ... . Therefore ... we have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:1). We know how we stand in righteousness with God "through our Lord Jesus Christ" -- that is the first month.

In the second month the question of the Spirit is raised. God gives the Spirit as soon as He can. He raises the question of the Spirit as soon as the soul is settled in divine peace. It is not raised before Romans 5:1. All that is through the blessed work of Christ, not by the Spirit, but by faith. As soon as the soul knows that, God raises the question of the Spirit -- at an early stage of the soul's history, at the second month.

Ques. What is Horeb? (verse 6).

C.A.C. Horeb is the place of the covenant, typical of

where God is known in love. The great expression of the love of God to believers is that He gives the Spirit. It is a question of how we think of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I think of the Lord Jesus Christ? In the first month as the One who "bore our sins" -- all the judgment due to us -- and is "raised again for our justification". He is with God in perfect suitability to that resurrection world into which He has entered. The believer is as clear as Christ is. He is Himself our righteousness. We have to learn now to accept suffering here, i.e. reproach. Marah is reproach -- bitter water. We ought to feel reproach. The Lord could say, "Reproach hath broken my heart". He came not to please Himself but to bear the reproach of God. Christ came here not to have a good time. When we see Christ's path it makes reproach sweet; it becomes a path of companionship with Christ. That is the first month.

Rem. It is said of Moses in Hebrews 11, "Esteeming the reproach of the Christ".

C.A.C. Moses faced it. You learn to accept what is naturally most distasteful to you, but when you see it to be the path of your Saviour and Lord, then it is sweet.

"Christ, then, having suffered for us in the flesh, do ye also arm yourselves with the same mind" (1 Peter 4:1). Your mind is to suffer in flesh but to be here for God's will. It cost Christ everything that a heart could suffer in relation to God.

Ques. Do we get an example of such a one in John 9?

C.A.C. He goes through to the knowledge of the Son of God. And the Son of God is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit.

In the second month it is Christ in connection with the Spirit. We want to think of the Spirit in relation to the Person who gives the Spirit, not so much in relation to the one who receives the Spirit. The Lord Jesus is introduced to us at the commencement of each gospel as the One who would "baptise with the Holy Spirit". It is the first presentation of Him but we do not come to it till the second month.

Ques. What is Gilgal?

C.A.C. Gilgal is circumcision (Joshua 5). "Jehovah said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you" (verse 9). If we learn it and come to it in mind, the last vestige of the reproach of Egypt is rolled away.

Ques. Do you connect "and to finish his work" (John 4:34) with the gift of the Holy Spirit?

C.A.C. We begin to think of the death of Christ from a new point of view. God's object, in His grace and love, was to give us His Spirit. In the death of Christ God has enabled Himself to give the Spirit to those who before were sinful creatures. On the divine side God can now give the Spirit on account of the death of Christ. Water flowed from the rock in answer to the smiting. The rod had been previously stretched over the river (verse 5), typical of the life of Egypt; judgment had come on it.

In the death of Christ-the smiting-we see

1. the manifested judgment of God on the whole life of this world. "One died for all, then all have died" (2 Corinthians 5:14).
2. God's object in grace to give the Spirit to men.

In the death of Christ all the rebellion, etc., of the flesh was judged -- smitten in the death of Christ -- that God might give the Spirit so that we may move through the wilderness in vigour of soul in spite of the dryness around.

Ques. Is this seen in John 7:37 - 39?

C.A.C. The Lord presents Himself very much in John as the One who gives the Spirit. John 4:10, 14, "If thou knewest the gift of God ...", and John 7:37 - 39, "Let him come to me ...". There is an immense thought of plenitude connected with the Spirit as a divine Person -- "rivers", "a fountain springing up", "baptises with the Spirit" -- not only a little drop to drink, but enough to immerse us in "the river of God which is full of water".

Rem. "Waters to swim in" (Ezekiel 37:5).

C.A.C. And Titus 3:5, 6, "Renewal of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us richly". What a plenitude there

is! "Be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:8). There is enough and more than enough to fill you, to fill every corner of your being.

Rem. John 3 precedes John 4.

C.A.C. It is the end of the wilderness, beyond Exodus 17, but shows how the thought of the Spirit is before the mind of God. He would bring it before our minds. God's intent was to give His Spirit. Christ died that God might be clear to give me the Spirit. It is Christ's glory to give the Spirit. It is the greatest thing that my Saviour in glory has done for me.

Ques. Is it the giving of God?

C.A.C. What is in the heart of God.

We all know what it is to have had our expectations disappointed and sometimes even to be on the line of unbelief. "Is Jehovah among us, or not?" 'Am I really converted, or not?' 'Have I got a definite link with God with such unsatisfactory experiences?' In that way God makes room with us for the recognition of the Spirit. "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock on Horeb: and thou shalt strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink" (verse 6). God's great delight is to set us up in the Spirit. But when the Spirit has been recognised it is very important that we do not return to the flesh. We have now to move with the Spirit. Rebecca "rode upon the camels, and followed the man" (Genesis 24:61). "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God" (Ephesians 4:30). "Walk ... according to Spirit" (Romans 8:4).

Every one who has believed has some of the good of the Spirit. The "blessedness" of Romans 4:6 - 8 is there by the Spirit. God gives the Spirit as soon as He can; there is no delay on His part. Take Scripture. See Acts 2:38: "Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". He puts it very simply. Again, (Acts 10 and 11) baptism was not necessary prior to the reception of the Holy

Spirit. Peter says, "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them". And what was he saying? "To him all the prophets bear witness that every one that believes on him will receive through his name remission of sins". 'I was just saying that (says Peter) and the Holy Spirit fell on them all'.

Ques. Do you not get the same word in Luke 15, "His father fell upon his neck"?

C.A.C. In the parable, that is the gift of the Spirit, the father falling on his neck. But when did he do it? When the prodigal had said, "Father, I have sinned", when he was in that state of mind. There was no running on the part of the prodigal, but of the father. There was self-judgment with the prodigal and running on the part of the father. That is the blessed God that we know. The kiss put on the repentant son -- the caressing embrace -- God delights to do it. What was pent up in his heart all those years? Those kisses -- just as the best robe was retained. God delights to give the Spirit. The devil tells believers sometimes that they have not or cannot have the Spirit; it is all a mistake.

Rem. "How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him" (Luke 11:13). And, as you have said, if we are filled with the Spirit the house is not unoccupied (verse 26).

C.A.C. It is a great source of strength to us to know that we have received the Spirit. He is said to be given (1) to those who believe, (2) to those who obey, (3) to those who love, and (4) to those who repent. It is put in many different ways, not cut and dried.

The Spirit gives assurance in the heart of the love of God as revealed in the death of Christ -- the death of Christ as the great evidence of the love of God. He thus pours out the love of God into my heart. We have a present sense by the Spirit of the love of God. Nothing that happens in the wilderness affects it. There is nothing so satisfying as the love of God.

Rem. Jehovah says, "I will stand there" -- the death of Christ. Wonderful fulness!

C.A.C. That is how God would present Himself to us in this wonderful type. Satan harasses us as to our condition and worthiness. The gift of the Spirit is the most stupendous thing conceivable -- the fruit of that stupendous work that the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross. God's appreciation of that is so great that He is free to give the Spirit to every repentant and believing sinner.

Rem. "That the people may drink" (verse 6) -- not one is excluded.

C.A.C. The water is given in spite of what we are. 'Temptation' and 'Contention' -- there was no merit or reason in the people why they should have the water.

Ques. Would you say something as to "covered him with kisses"?

C.A.C. It expresses the great plenitude there is in the Spirit. Very great things are to be expected. It is a great thing to recognise the Spirit. I have used this illustration before now. Say a man has a farm in South Africa. Every now and then he picks up little nuggets of gold on it -- certain joy and pleasure in believing, the sense of forgiveness, etc., all the gain of the Spirit. But tell the farmer, 'Your whole farm has a gold reef under it'. Would it not awaken wondrous anticipations, etc? Our anticipation of things in our christian life begins to be coloured by the stupendous fact that one has the Spirit, to be used and enjoyed, just as the mine has to be worked out.

CHRIST THE ROCK

2 Samuel 22:1 - 3; Psalm 71:3; Psalm 27:4, 5; Exodus 17:6; Isaiah 32:2; Psalm 81:16

It is evident that solemn times are at hand both for the world and for the church of God. There is restless activity in both the political and the religious worlds. We are in the rapids of time and as the stream rushes on things shift and change on every hand. Old principles and creeds are being discarded, and the truth of God surrendered by one section of Christendom after another. We read that in the last days "difficult times" should come, and we see the features of these times all around us. But amid the storm there is a haven where our souls may come to anchor; in the midst of the conflict there is a strong tower into which we may run and be safe; amidst all the changes there is One who is "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever" -- One who remains in eternal stability as a Rock.

A rock is the standing type of what is secure and steadfast. It stands firm in sunshine and shade, in storm or calm. When the dead leaves and brushwood are swept away by the torrent the rock remains. Hence the rock has a prominent place among the symbols of Scripture and many times the Lord is spoken of as a Rock. I want to bring a few of these passages before you.

2 Samuel 22:1 - 3, this is what I call the Saving Rock (cf. verse 47). David multiplies figures to express his appreciation of the Person he is speaking of. He searches his mind for figures in which to set forth the excellence of that blessed One. Listen to this sevenfold description -- "my Fortress, my Deliverer, my Shield, the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower, my Refuge, my Saviour". Let me ask, Has your heart ever found itself so full of Christ that you were at a loss how to speak sufficiently of Him? Do you know this Person? All these titles which David's faith and love lavished upon Him

are comprehended in the last -- "My Saviour". "David spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul". David had a perfect deliverance; in type a full salvation. The little word 'all' makes us think of the precious gospel message that "by him all that believe are justified from all things". Saul, too, a type of Satan, had lost his victim, as we are delivered from the power of darkness. We, like David, have a saving Rock, and we wreathe His brow with the tribute of our gratitude and love as we sing,

'Jesus! our Saviour, Shepherd, Friend,
Thou Prophet, Priest and King,
Our Lord, our Life, our Way, our End,
Accept the praise we bring'. (Hymn 54)

I trust that every soul here knows Him and loves Him in His blessed character of Saviour!

Psalm 71:3; Psalm 27:4, 5. I call this the Shielding Rock. In both these psalms enemies are mentioned; there is conflict and danger. We need ever to remember that we are passing through an enemy's land. A host does encamp against us, and war does rise up against us; that is, if we are true to Christ. The worldly professor and the half-hearted believer may go on in peace, because they have surrendered to the world or at any rate have made a truce with the foe, but if the disciple is true to his Lord, the world will not be guilty of the inconsistency of hating the Master and loving the servant. There is an old-standing and deadly enmity between the world and our Lord, and if we would be preserved from confusion and defeat we must keep under cover of the Shielding Rock.

Notice the words, "Whereunto I may continually resort" in Psalm 71 and "All the days of my life" in Psalm 27. It is not to be occasionally but "continually", for you never know a moment beforehand when the attack is coming, or from what direction; not on Lord's Days only but "all the days of my life". We are called to 'abide' in Him. What wondrous

grace that we should be preserved and shielded by that which most gladdens our hearts! Fortresses are not always the most comfortable places, and on the field of battle the place of safety is not always in itself an agreeable spot. But look at this place in Psalm 27:4 - 5. Could any place be more attractive to the heart of a Christian? And it is the only safe place. We not only may continually resort to this sweet retreat, but we must be there to escape the onslaughts and fiery darts of the enemy.

Look at Psalm 31:19, 20. Here are two things in reference to which we specially need our Lord as a Shielding Rock: "The pride of man" and "The strife of tongues". The pride of man is a fearful enemy and more to be dreaded in our own hearts than anywhere else. It is this that makes Christians want to get on in the world where Christ died, so that for the sake of worldly gain they will sacrifice meetings, christian fellowship, private communion and meditation and the interests of Christ. It is sometimes painful to discover, after all we have said and sung about being crucified and dead, and about sacrificing the vain things that charm us most, how much our hearts are influenced by the opinions of men, and how we shrink from being "fools for Christ's sake". Then again, if through grace we devote ourselves in any little measure to the work of the Lord, how soon we become in danger of another kind of "the pride of man"! Beloved brethren, we need shielding from this and there is One who can hide us from it in the secret of His presence. Mark! it is in the secret of His presence. Anything that gives us prominence before men or our brethren has a tendency to nourish "the pride of man", and if our public life is not balanced by our private life we shall fall into the snare.

It is of infinite importance that the inner life of our souls should be developed. Icebergs of very great magnitude and splendour are often seen floating in the ocean, but it is a fact that for every ton of ice that appears above water there are eight tons under water, and it is the enormous unseen mass that balances and ballasts that which is visible. The secret life

of the soul must be in excess of the public life or we shall become top-heavy and there will be spiritual disaster. May the Lord give us to know more of "the secret of His presence"! There, alone with Him, the pride of man withers and dies. There we learn our nothingness; we see imperfections in ourselves that others cannot see, and we discover that the spring of everything is grace. May the Lord draw us continually to His presence to know the blessedness of divine love, and to be so filled with it that there shall be no room in our hearts for "the pride of man".

Then our Rock shields us from "the strife of tongues", and never was there a day when saints have needed Him more in this character than now. Christendom is a vast Babel of contending voices, and this is not only true in the outer circle of profession, but amongst those who are true children of God. What is the simple soul to do? When questions arise and Christians differ in judgment, and the strife of tongues begins, let the simple believer betake himself to the Shielding Rock, and he will prove what it is to be "kept secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues". While others are discussing and disputing he will be enjoying the company and love of Christ.

Isaiah 32:2. This is the Shadowing Rock. The beautiful and striking figure here employed by the Holy Spirit is one of a group of three which respectively set forth the Lord Jesus as a Hiding Place, a River and a Shadowing Rock. Imagine a poor traveller crossing a burning desert. There has been no attractive scenery to occupy his mind; it has been "a weary land". The fierce rays of the sun have been beating down upon him, and his feet are sore with the roughness of the way. He longs for rest, but it is impossible to lie down on the ground which is so hot that the naked feet cannot bear contact with it. He sighs for a tree as a shade but there is no such thing within sight, and the weary limbs must move onward and the throbbing brain must still endure the scorching heat. But at last an object rises in distant view. The traveller's step

quickens, and his hopes revive. He draws nearer, and behold, it is a great rock. He hastens to it, and unloosing sandal and girdle he casts himself down in its cool and blessed shade. Such is the figure used by the prophet when he speaks of our Lord as "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land".

It needs no great depth of spiritual understanding to find the whereabouts of the "weary land". If we were to speak as natural men we should not think of calling the world a weary land. To the unconverted this world is not a wilderness -- it is an attractive Sodom, a rich Egypt, or a splendid Babylon. But to the child of God this world is a wilderness. It contains nothing to minister to the divine nature. To the saint -- the one born of God -- the world is a "weary land".

The sun was made to rule the day (Genesis 1) and so the sun is in Scripture a type of the influence of the day. So long as we are in the world we shall be subject to many influences that test and try us, and tend to spiritual exhaustion. There is a time coming of which it is written, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat" (Revelation 7:16). But while we are here the sun does light on us, and oftentimes we feel the heat of the day. Most of us have to earn our bread by some form of manual or mental labour, and the minds of many have necessarily to be much engaged with what we are doing here. Then, again, many have to mix with worldly men and women from morning to night, and however much you desire to be separate you cannot always shut your ears to what is said, or your eyes to what is done, and it all has a certain influence upon you which tends to weaken you spiritually.

Then further, the action of the sun's rays is used by the Lord in the parable of the sower as a figure of persecution. Many dear saints are much exposed to the scorching sun of persecution. Perhaps some of us have not so much of this as we should have if we were more faithful; but according to the measure of our fidelity we all know something of it. A brother told me the other day that a work-fellow in the

forge had struck him a blow on the head with a hammer that might have killed him, for no reason but that he would not run to the same excess or riot as the ungodly around him.

How sweet it is, in view of all this, to have a Shadowing Rock under which we can lie down, and find the repose which our tried and weary spirits need. One could say, "I sat down under his shadow with great delight". Beloved Christian, do you not know what it is to grow so weary of men and things that your spirit faints for the company of Christ, and you know no repose and no joy until you get under His shadow? We all know what physical exhaustion is and how delightful it is after toil to throw the weary body down in comfort and rest. Now the spirit gets weary as well as the body, and if you do not give your spirit rest you will get spiritually worn out; your soul's health will break down. I think I have seen many cases of spiritual sunstroke -- believers who have exposed themselves to the influence of present things until they are completely paralysed for Christ. Get into the shade, my brother. It is dangerous to be under the beams of the sun too long. And when you get into the shadow of the great Rock do not be in a hurry to depart. Sit down there; linger in the blessed spot until your whole soul is filled with tranquillity and joy.

In Exodus 17:6 we read of the Smitten Rock. There could be no blessing of any kind for us apart from the death of Christ. It was necessary that He should take up all our liabilities, and that He should come under all that was due to us, in order to deliver us from death and judgment and the lake of fire. But this aspect of the death of Christ -- deeply important and blessed as it is -- is not presented to us in Exodus 17. The smiting of the rock is a figure of that precious death as opening up eternal springs of refreshments for our souls. Pitiable, indeed, would be the case of the believer if he had no divine refreshment to invigorate and sustain his spirit in the wilderness. He has turned his back on Egypt's resources, and Canaan's riches are not yet actually possessed.

Then from whence is he refreshed in the wilderness? The smitten rock supplies the answer.

The death of Christ has not only relieved us, but it has revealed God. The everlasting springs of the divine nature have flowed out thereby in blessing to man. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9, 10). "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us" (1 John 3:16).

It is the love of God flowing out to us through the death of Christ that refreshes and invigorates our hearts in the wilderness, and gives us the consciousness that God is for us. The death of Christ has not only revealed the love of God, but it has so settled every question connected with our responsibility as children of Adam that we are on an entirely new ground with God. God has taken us up on the ground of accomplished redemption, and on that ground we receive the Holy Spirit. In the death of Christ sins have been removed, sin judged and God glorified about every question that sin had raised. And now "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). That blessed love thus becomes the refreshment of our hearts as we pass through "a dry and thirsty land, where no water is" (Psalm 63:1).

Finally Christ is the Satisfying Rock. "With honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee" (Psalm 81:16). There are hidden stores of sweetness and blessing in the Son of God, out of which God delights to minister satisfaction to His saints. Do not think that because you have believed on His blessed name, and have tasted something of the joy of salvation, you have got everything. Nay, what you have received is only a few drops out of a boundless ocean. By the grace of

God you have begun to know Christ. Now go on to know Him. The apostle Paul, after many years of christian growth and devoted service, was still longing "that I may know him" (Philippians 3:10). Alas! there are many who seem as though they would like to have Christ for salvation and the world for satisfaction. Such are doomed to double dissatisfaction, and they deserve to be of all men most miserable.

In Psalm 81 we see that God has taken up His people in infinite grace. He had removed their shoulder from the burden, and delivered their hands from the pots; they called in trouble and He delivered them, and He told them to open their mouth wide and He would fill it. But His people would not hearken to His voice, and Israel would none of Him; so He gave them up to their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels. Is there any satisfaction in such a path? No. If we do our own will we never gain happiness thereby, but the thing we have desired becomes a scourge to us. Satisfaction, as we see in this psalm, is closely connected with obedience. "Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! ... with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee". When any little bit of worldly gratification attracts your heart, remember that God has something infinitely better, and if you hearken to Him and walk in His ways he will feed you with the finest of the wheat, and satisfy you with honey out of the Rock.

The true spring of obedience is devotedness. It is as we cleave with purpose of heart to the Lord that we find our joy in walking in His ways. In the path of holy obedience the Spirit is not grieved, and He is thus free to carry on His delightful work of ministering Christ to our hearts. May each one of us be found ever walking in such a way that there may be no hindrance to our being fed with the finest of the wheat, and satisfied with the honey out of the Rock.

THE LORD FOR GOD'S PLEASURE

Psalm 40:5 - 8; Isaiah 50:4 - 7; Exodus 21:1 - 6

C.A.C. I would suggest for our consideration scriptures which bring the Lord before us as the One who is the pleasure of God and who is able to put us in accord with that pleasure as suggested by our brother's prayer.

In suggesting these scriptures my desire is that the Lord Himself may be before us; that we may get an enlarged spiritual apprehension of Him. That will profoundly affect us -- I do not know that anything else will -- and thus divine instruction and worship will be brought about, for which we have prayed.

Ques. Is there moral order in the scriptures presented?

C.A.C. In Psalm 40 the Lord Himself is taking up conditions in which He could give effect to the pleasure of God for eternity, resulting in there being worshippers. Psalm 40 is the complete result.

Isaiah 50 is the place He took in relation to service and suffering given in detail. Every detail of service is dwelt on and He becomes the Object of adoring delight to those capable of appreciating it. It is the infinite perfection in detail of His life here.

Exodus 21 is His devoted service to God and the saints in relation to that which is infinite, securing for ever the delight of God. It is outside limitations -- "for ever". The capability to secure it all lies in Christ.

Ques. Why so in Exodus 21?

C.A.C. Because it is "for ever". The Lord entered into conditions of service which were finite, that is "six years". He was Jehovah's Servant for that period. As He says, "The things concerning me have an end" (Luke 22:37), and "I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it" (John 17:4). It was finished in absolute completeness. Then He takes up this present service to render

saints competent to enter into the pleasure of God and thus become worshippers. 'Ears digged', Psalm 40; 'ear opened', Isaiah 50; and 'ear bored', Exodus 21 all bring out perfection.

Ears digged is Hebrews 10, "A body hast thou prepared me"; conditions prepared for Him, all involved in His taking a body. All the conditions were divinely formed and prepared. He filled up the whole term with perfection. It suggests the formation of all the conditions. In Him we see love active in obedient Manhood. Innocent and fallen manhood are marked by lawlessness, but here is a manhood marked by perfect obedience. It is the perfect contrast to everything here; every word, every act, profoundly delightful to our souls, detaching us from lawlessness and bringing an enlarged knowledge of God into our souls.

Rem. He brought obedience in.

C.A.C. There is no power in thinking, I ought to obey; but there is moral power in coming under the influence of the obedient One -- obedience that comes out of, and is carried on to eternity, giving effect to all the pleasure of God.

Ques. How were God's thoughts declared? (Psalm 40:5).

C.A.C. All come to light in Him who came into the world to do the will of God.

'Ears digged' suggests the depths to which the obedience of the Lord would have to go. The climax of all was when He went into death, there removing all that was contrary to the will of God and effectuating all that was pleasurable.

Ques. Why, in verse 5, is it "toward us"?

C.A.C. The Lord is identifying Himself with those the Father had given Him. 'Digged' suggests a going down; having taken that place and carrying on the service of God, He morally could not have gone back to heaven until His term of service was completed. "Lo, I come ... to do thy will, O my God". A voice out of eternity had said that, and it involved death, and had in view the setting apart of a worshipping company, capable of appreciating God and all His pleasure. He is never 'Lord' to me until I see His supremacy in the service of love, and that He has secured all blessing for

me. An exercise of spiritual affection in the power of the Holy Spirit enables you to say 'Lord' to Jesus. It bows you in worship as He exercises his powerful influence over you. God has made obedience attractive to us in Christ. I have not a blessing apart from obedience: "This is my body, which is for you" (1 Corinthians 11:24) -- the whole obedience for us; He brings Himself before us thus every Lord's Day. The whole compass of it, the depths to which He had to go, the results of it all "for you". We are thus brought under his supremacy in love.

Ques. How are we to understand Hebrews 5, "He learned obedience ..."?

C.A.C. I should connect that with Isaiah 50. There was infinite suffering in that path that the pleasure of God might be established.

Ques. Why is it the 'opened ear'?

C.A.C. There is the thought of a completed whole in "This is my body, which is for you"; but in Isaiah 50 what attracts the heart is what is set forth in detail "morning by morning". It is not looked at as a whole as in Psalm 40, but as in periods. Where did every word come from? From God. As you read the gospels, connect every word and act of His directly with the blessed God as the Source. The Lord spoke every word as an instructed One. What a study for the heart to bend adoringly over the detail of such a path as that. In John 4, Luke 7, etc., we see weary hearts. The word translated "disciples" in Isaiah 8:16 is the same as that translated "Instructed" in Isaiah 50, the true Disciple. Every morning -- what about the detail as to ourselves? Fresh instruction every morning from the Lord. "Unto the obedience ... of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:2) is what we are called to. All His service becomes the revelation of God to us; a Man who said every word in obedience. "As I hear, I judge" (John 5:30). We judge according to the hearing of the ears and seeing of the eyes; but He as He heard from the Father. Into a world of darkness and lawlessness such a person has come. If we want to know God we must come under His service and thus be for

the pleasure of God and be worshippers. Suffering tests us. The Lord says, "I was not rebellious"; it refers to the fact that He was to be exposed to every indignity from men. How wonderful! Job was very rebellious. Job's friends morally smote him and plucked off his hair, and he could not stand it. His friends' criticisms tested him. Nothing tests us like adverse criticism from our brethren: how few of us could then say, "I was not rebellious" (Isaiah 50:5). The Lord took everything from the hand of God, gave Himself up, suffered all, as accepting all from His hand; gave Himself up to take whatever he sent, who would in the end righteously judge (see note, Darby translation). He awaited God's justification. That is the spirit of Christ. We can all accept things that come direct from God, but what comes from the brethren tests us most. Accept it from God and leave Him to justify you. If you justify yourself, you hinder God from justifying you.

In Exodus 21 Christ is the true Ark of the Covenant. The whole divine system will be irradiant with the knowledge of God. We come together Lord's Day morning as the sanctified company. In Exodus 21 you get outside the term of service. The Lord looked forward all His life to the conclusion. There is absolutely no limit to what you may gain by the present service of Christ. Do you love Him enough to let Him serve you? The Lord is always seeking opportunities for the outlet of His service. The Lord is seeking to draw us to Himself -- a person to be continuously believed on. It all moves from His own side. "I love my master, my wife, and my children". He dedicates Himself to serve them for ever. His place as Great Priest is part of His service. Have we taken character from Christ in this blessed way?

"For the arms of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds; overthrowing reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God, and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4, 5). Everything that obscures our knowledge of God; every

thought led captive by the obedience of love -- that is what God would produce. Every thought (that goes to the root of things) led captive. "My assembly"; such a company! -- untouched by Satan (Matthew 16) -- led in. What is ministered from the Head flows through the joints and bands, that is, every one of us who has a sense of how Christ can serve us; what volumes flow from Him.

Ques. And what is the result?

C.A.C. The blessedness of sonship, outside limitations. His lordship is that He is supreme in love, effecting in us that we may be for God (1 Corinthians 8:6). "We by him", that is, all effected for God in Christ's service of love.

Exodus 20:24 speaks of the burnt-offering, which is the sacrificial side of things, Exodus 21 of the living service of Christ effecting His work in us, and if we are to be worshippers we need that service.

DIVINE RESOURCES IN THE WILDERNESS

Exodus 25:1 - 9

C.A.C. Shall we continue to look at divine resources for the wilderness, in view of our being identified with God's testimony? God's thought in furnishing people for the wilderness was that His testimony might be in their midst, and that their affections might be distinctly linked with the testimony. Would it be profitable to take up this line?

Our attention was called this afternoon to the fact that it is God's pleasure and intention that we should walk in newness of life, an entirely new manner of life, and that is Christ's life. His life was one of absolute dependence on God, God perfectly confided in, and a life of absolute obedience to God, God known and loved. We are very poor things to face a life of that kind. Well, we have resources, grace from

heaven, the manna, and no one could say the grace of heaven was insufficient to carry us through. Then we have the Spirit; the resources in the Spirit are very great and wonderful. The people came to Elim where there were twelve wells of water. The effect of accepting the will of God would be that we should find ourselves in God's assembly. If man's will disappeared and only God's remained, you would have no sects or systems; you would have the saints in God's assembly, in all the good of the blessed administration of the Spirit. The will of God is the only thing to control us, and if we are set for God's will, we shall find our place in God's assembly, because it is there that God's will is valued and known. The assembly is in contrast to this world; it is composed of those who have heard God's will and done it; they are Christ's brethren morally.

Rem. A great deal of our weakness flows from our not listening to Christ's ministry. He came to reveal God. The great supper and discipleship, in Luke 14, fit in with what you were saying. Christ was here teaching men and making communications from God, and yet He has to speak of those who do not value the grace that He brought. God wants to fill His house.

C.A.C. And God's intention is to dwell in testimony; the end in view is the testimony of the Lord in the wilderness. In Exodus 15 there are two ends in view: the 'abode of God's holiness', verse 13, that is the wilderness; and 'the mountain of His inheritance', verse 17, that is the land. We might speak of what is brought about in the wilderness; we are not perhaps up to the land.

God, in teaching us the new manner of life, teaches us what He is in Himself, in the boundlessness of His grace. That is the lesson of Exodus down to chapter 18. If the people are hungry, they are fed; if they murmur for food, they are fed; if they murmur for drink, they are given water. God is making Himself known in grace. He says: 'I am determined your murmurings shall only manifest My grace'. We

may find bitterness in our hearts because of God's ways with us; it is natural, and these exercises come up, but everything that arises on the people's part only serves to bring out what God is. God says: 'I am trying to prove to your heart what a good thing it is to be on covenant terms with Me'. "I have borne you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself". Then He proposes to them, to have a covenant. His object was that they should take hold of a covenant. It is a crucial moment with us when we take hold of God's covenant. In Isaiah we are told of the blessedness of the man who takes hold of the covenant (Isaiah 56:4, 6). It means that with our heart and soul we fall in with the terms God proposes, and they are, that His will is to be everything. His will is a will of blessing, and when we see that, we take hold of the covenant. The Israelites put themselves under the covenant in a wrong way, and God has set that before us so that we should come into the covenant on terms of grace. See what grace God has shown us! We have all been subjects of His grace, He has brought us to Himself, and He has given us to prove what He is for us. He would encourage us to prove what He is more and more.

Rem. He delights in being for the benefit of His people.

C.A.C. God speaks of "thousands of them that love me". What a delight to Him to have a people that love Him! He brought them where there was nothing but Himself; it was not to the wilderness He brought them, but to Himself. We get not only food (that is strength) in the manna, for we could not take a step without the strength that comes to us, but we also get the water. There are the twelve wells, the smitten rock, and the springing well. Water suggests the thought of refreshment in the affections. We need not only grace, but if we are to be kept bright and happy, we must be refreshed in our affections. There is nothing the saints need more than this; there is a real need of being refreshed in our affections. We settle down to a matter-of-fact sort of christianity, orthodox doctrine and correctness of walk.

Ques. What is the water in John 4?

C.A.C. John 4 corresponds with the springing well; it is in view of going up to the land, that our affections may flow in the direction of the land, but Elim is for the wilderness.

We have a great tendency to get dull in spiritual affection, the effect of business and the humdrum of life; God knows all about it, and has provided for the refreshment of our affections; this is of vital importance. In the assembly in the wilderness, set forth by Elim, you get the administration of the Spirit. If you think of the assembly according to God, the Spirit is there, and it is all for the refreshment of the affections of the saints. Our tendency is to become orthodox and correct, but it will not do for a living God; He looks that there should be a living spring in the affections of His saints.

I covet this, the blessed action of the Spirit, keeping our affections living.

Rem. We get the love of God "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit".

C.A.C. Yes, Romans 5 is the water from the smitten rock. The Spirit there is presented as coming to you in direct connection with the death of Christ, and He refreshes your heart with that. The water from the smitten rock suggests that the death of Christ becomes the means of our having the Spirit, and the effect of the Spirit is a living spring of the love of God in our hearts, so that the love concentrated in Christ's death is now diffused in millions of hearts.

Now suppose we had been converted in the first century, hearing the gospel from Peter or Paul, what would be the first thing we should do? To come together in assembly. The converts clave to Paul and Barnabas, and in their cleaving to these men, you see the assembly in principle. There was a company of persons cleaving to those who brought the good news of God, and then in the assembly you find the Spirit administering, and distributing to each severally as He will.

You see in twelve wells perfect administration; one speaking, another praying, another prophesying, and the affections of the saints being refreshed.

Ques. What do the palm trees signify?

C.A.C. The triumph of God. I have often thought that 1 Corinthians is the firmament of His power; and the assembly, properly speaking, is the place where you would get the firmament of His power; an unbeliever coming in would see His power. They say in the world, so many men and so many minds, but in the assembly you have, as at Pentecost, three thousand men and only one mind; that is God's triumph. It is not people agreeing to differ, but thousands of people and one mind.

Ques. What do you understand by the firmament of His power?

C.A.C. The expanse in which God works. There is a great deal about power in 1 Corinthians: Christ is the power of God, the cross is the power of God, the Spirit is the power of God, resurrection is the power of God. The administration of the Spirit is all in connection with God's power.

Then we have the water from the smitten rock; that is the direct fruit and answer of the death of Christ, "the love of God shed abroad in our hearts". There is a living spring in the affections, and they are kept bright. The idea of God's assembly is that you have a people of one heart and one mind, one affection and one thought.

Ques. What about the sanctuary? You said that 2 Corinthians was the sanctuary.

C.A.C. Every bit of the sanctuary came out of the affections of God's people, so we must first have the way God secures and refreshes the affections of His people. The blessed work of grace goes on refreshing our affections; how is it done? By all that has come to light in Christ. If I have a bit of Christ, that is a bit of gold, or a precious stone for the sanctuary. All here (Exodus 25) is figurative of Christ as become the possession of His people's affections. Each one brings his bit; that is, every saint has some particular impression of Christ. One Israelite had a stone, another a piece of gold, or silver, or brass, and under the distribution of the Spirit each saint has some impression of Christ in his

affections. Now put that all together, and let it come under the ordering of Moses, and it will all be fitted together in divine testimony. The whole system of divine glory in Christ is not in display yet, but it is made good now in the affections of millions of saints. We see the whole system of glory made good, a tiny bit in me, and a large piece in you; it is distributed in the affections of the saints. Testimony is God giving light amid darkness; there will be no testimony in heaven. The ark is not spoken of as the ark of the testimony after the crossing of Jordan; after that it is called the ark of the covenant, or the ark of the Lord, which shows that testimony is connected with the wilderness. Testimony belongs to what is antecedent to display, to what is not in display yet. I am not connected with the testimony, save as it lives in my affections.

Rem. Love is what makes everything fit together. We see that in 1 Corinthians 13, nothing profits if we have not love.

C.A.C. Yes; we see diversity of gift and operation in chapter 12, unity of affection in chapter 13, and unity of mind in chapter 14. What we are to each other is the testimony. God has set a certain system of affection in movement among His people. "By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves" (John 13:35). The testimony is rendered by our being in right relation to one another. The assembly properly is the place where all that is divine and glorious is known. What Christ is Godward, and what Christ is manward and officially, is held in the affections of a company of people in this world.

Rem. The man who brings the white linen is himself the white linen; he has something ministered of Christ to himself, and he has appropriated it.

C.A.C. Exactly; that is most blessed.

Rem. For instance, we are not to talk of being meek, but we are to show the meekness of Christ.

C.A.C. It is a great thing to have substance; it is not what I know. Paul could say to the Corinthians, "The testimony of Christ is confirmed among you". He was telling them that to

exercise them; everything was set up in Corinth, but it had to be entered on with reality. You might have someone so poor that he could only bring a pin for the tabernacle! No one in the assembly, no sister need hold back and think, 'I am no good'. The sisters all have power. We ought to be more concerned as to what we bring; we bring something in our affections, an impression of Christ. One need not hold back because one has so little; it is precious, and it is necessary to the testimony. I might be less than the least of all saints, but supposing one pin were missing in the tabernacle, or if one pin were not in its right place, there would be disorder, and things would not be according to God.

Rem. Just as in 1 Corinthians 12, we have the body, and if one finger were short, the body would be incomplete.

C.A.C. We ought to feel that we cannot do without the smallest of our brethren.

Rem. We are not called to judge of our own importance.

C.A.C. We think if a man has a gift, or even if he can talk, he is of some importance, but perhaps some bedridden old saint may be of more importance to God. The thing is, we ought to covet to minister much, not to content ourselves with little, but to covet earnestly to bring something that would be positive enrichment to the saints, and would give glory to the testimony.

Rem. So, importance is not measured by what part people take orally.

C.A.C. Quite so. What we bring to the assembly is there, and if I bring Christ, it is power, and we should all get a greater measure of liberty and power.

Ques. What makes the difference in meetings?

C.A.C. Well, what makes the difference in people? It is a question of how much we have taken hold of the covenant; it all comes back to that. We see what God can effect; there is a picture of it here; the people brought so much that it was said they brought "much more than enough" (Exodus 36:5). We have, in David's time, another example of how enormously the people gave (1 Chronicles 29).

There is an expression, used twice in Scripture, which is very remarkable. In Genesis 6, God says, "Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually"; and David when the people gave so enormously, said: "keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people" (1 Chronicles 29:18). Man in the flesh is all evil, but man in the Spirit is all devoted to God. If you read Jeremiah, chapters 24 to 32, you will see what God will bring out in the affections of His people in a coming day; and all that He is looking to bring about in our hearts now.

If souls are not free in a meeting, there is often anxiety that something should be done, and it lacks life. We should bring power. A brother who takes part ought to be carried by what is in the meeting, and we have often experienced that a brother gets up and is carried quite beyond himself; he ought to be carried beyond himself by the unseen power of affection in the saints. In taking part everything is measured by edification. I ought not to take part except for edification; we use our judgment as to this. If there is a long pause, I should take part if I were free, because long pauses are not for edification. I should take part because I have something of God before my heart, and then that is edification. The assembly is not a place where we come together to sit and wait. No assembly of men comes together to be in silence; they come together for business to be transacted. If there are exercises in our hearts, they should be gone through before we come together, so that if we have something of what we have been speaking about in our souls, we should be able to bring it out for the good of the assembly.

THE ANOINTING

Exodus 30:22 - 33; 2 Corinthians l: 21, 22

God seems to be calling attention at the present time to the anointing. The tabernacle was constructed in all its parts according to the commandment of Jehovah, but it had to be anointed before it was hallowed as a vessel of divine service. The first epistle to the Corinthians corresponds with the setting up of the tabernacle; it is spoken of as the Lord's commandment; but in the second epistle we have the teaching as to the anointing, for we read that God has anointed us. It is a beautiful, hallowing thought, giving completeness, as it were, to what was in the divine mind. The virtue of the anointing is seen in that epistle as exemplified particularly in Paul, but in view of its coming into evidence again among the Corinthians. And it did appear in measure in the saints at Corinth as seen in the second epistle.

The Old Testament expands for us in a typical way the thought of the anointing. Believers sometimes have the idea that the New Testament explains the Old, but in point of fact it is more often that the Old Testament explains and amplifies the New. We should understand very little in detail of the various aspects of the death of Christ, if we had not Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus. The Old Testament opens it out, and we learn much from the typical scriptures that we should never learn from the New Testament alone. So the instructed scribe brings out things new and old. The new comes first, and the old develops the new. Believers generally come intelligently to the understanding of Scripture in the reverse order to how the Scriptures stand in our Bibles. The epistles ground us in the righteousness of God and the truth of the assembly, and then we appreciate the blessed Person portrayed in the gospels -- the One who has brought everything to us, and in whom we find fulness of grace and

truth. The gospels are, indeed, the supreme part of Scripture. Then we are prepared to go to the Old Testament, and see the hidden wealth of the types, which has been so fully brought out in these last days of the assembly's history.

When the apostle tells us that the saints of the assembly are anointed, he is sending us to the Old Testament to inquire what this means. God has set up an anointed system of things, and we must see that we understand it according to the teaching of the type. In the tabernacle everything was secured through the exercises and affections of the people of God. God's work consists in putting the features of Christ in the hearts of the saints, that they may become material for the tabernacle and suitable to the anointing.

The anointing oil was a skilfully compounded preparation "after the work of the perfumer", and I think we have to distinguish it from the Holy Spirit in relation to other parts of the truth. In the holy anointing oil there was not only olive oil, but the "best spices" were incorporated with it; the oil was the medium in which they were blended. Features were seen typically in the anointing oil which are additional to what is set forth in the olive oil alone. So that we have here in type a more developed and extended thought than the simple fact of having the Spirit. Those who have the Spirit should be concerned about the spiritual blending which is here said to be done "after the work of the perfumer".

The spices to be blended in the oil are described as the "best" spices, and we are told in Exodus 35:27 that they were brought by "principal men". This would connect such products with those who are, in a spiritual sense, wealthy persons. The Spirit has told us of the ointment which Mary brought that it was "very costly", so that we may conclude that she was a woman of some means. We should be ambitious of spiritual wealth; that is, what God will estimate as such; and this is, indeed, all the product of His own grace and work. The second epistle to the Corinthians is a fine epistle to enrich people, and thus enable them to bring costly things.

Paul says, "Making many rich". He speaks of the Lord Jesus

Christ becoming poor that we, through His poverty, might be made rich. The ministry of the new covenant, the ministry of reconciliation, the truth of new creation are great divine enrichments of the people of God as set in relation to the anointed system of holy things.

The myrrh and cassia are in double the quantities of the other spices. They represent, I believe, features of the Spirit of Christ which can only be fully appreciated by divine Persons. Myrrh speaks of suffering according to the will of God. This is a feature that can only be rightly or fully estimated by God. It is an essential constituent of the anointing oil; therefore none of us can suppose that we are in the virtue of the anointing unless there is with us preparedness to suffer for the will of God. We may see this fully in the Lord Himself, and it was also developed in great measure in his faithful servant Paul. All through the second epistle to the Corinthians there is a vein of suffering. God has peculiar pleasure in a people prepared to suffer for His will. The assembly in Smyrna was marked out as a suffering assembly. Smyrna means myrrh. They were a rich people spiritually; the Lord said to them, "Thou art rich"; they could furnish myrrh in abundance. We often become impoverished spiritually because we yield to the natural tendency to avoid suffering when it comes in the way of doing God's will. Still the saints are suffering at this moment in many ways, and in some parts of the world in a special degree. There is a good deal of evidence, even today, that the assembly is a suffering company. And the readiness to suffer is one proof that the anointing is upon the saints. It is good to know that there are boys and girls at school prepared to suffer for the name of Christ; it is the virtue of the anointing.

I understand that cassia is supposed by some to be a fragrant root known in the east, and, if so, I think it may be regarded symbolically as expressive of that depth of feeling which will ever be found accompanying the Spirit of Christ. The world is marked today by very little depth of feeling, and this is to be observed in the religious part of it as much as

anywhere else. But lack of feeling is abhorrent to God. He loves men like David and Jeremiah, Paul and Timothy -- men whose inward feelings were in a marked way expressive of the Spirit of Christ. Cassia is a large ingredient of the holy anointing oil. Paul had to write a letter to correct a sad state of things at Corinth, but he tells us that he wrote it "out of much tribulation and distress of heart ... with many tears". He speaks of having no rest in his spirit; his whole soul was moved in an agony of concern. Such depth of feeling pertains to the anointing; it can only be acquired in nearness to Christ, and by the supply of His Spirit. The natural tendency is to become like the world and not feel things. The Psalms show us that David was a man of deep feeling; no doubt this was one thing that made him a man after God's heart; he was in a peculiar way a vessel of the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is the anointing; His own deep feelings are a precious and holy mystery which will never perhaps be fully unveiled to us, but there is enough made known to show how intense they were. Never was such feeling! Then Paul and Timothy were men of tears; this was one way in which the virtue of the anointing was expressed in them.

The cinnamon and the sweet myrtle represent what is more external, for cinnamon is the bark of a tree, and it is the flowers and berries of the myrtle which are fragrant. So that if the myrrh and the cassia represent inward features which God alone can fully appreciate, the cinnamon and sweet myrtle typify, I think, features of the Spirit of Christ which the brethren can appreciate. The fragrance of the Spirit of Christ coming out in the saints is intended to be appreciated by the brethren, and it is part of the virtue of the anointing that it should be so. God will not be content to have things right merely in a doctrinal or legal way; He would have them right in the grace of the anointing. Colossians 3:12 - 15 may be taken as a sample of the cinnamon and sweet myrtle of the anointing. Such features are to mark us in our relations as brethren. Let us not be content with the assurance that we

have the Spirit, but let us see to it that as the result of the activities of the Holy Spirit there are in evidence these precious fragrant features of the Spirit of Christ. So that we are not only able to say precious things to God, but the grace of the anointing in which we serve God is upon us in all our relations with our brethren.

The fragrant graces of the Spirit of Christ are not acquired in a practical way apart from exercise, and that blending which is described typically as being "after the work of the perfumer". In result there is a holy anointing oil which becomes a hallowing of all the vessels of service. The service of God cannot go on apart from this hallowing. And when we think of the service of God it is important to remember its greatness and universality. The service of God is really what pertains to the whole assembly as anointed. It does not pertain to the saints as a small company, but as a great and hallowed company. Even if there are only two or three actually together in a locality they are privileged to voice the praises proper to the whole assembly, and thus to represent it in character for the present pleasure of divine Persons.

We may be assured that saints in the power of the anointing will be preserved in a sense of spiritual realities in their true divine greatness. Such will not drop down to a human level. If in the virtue of the anointing, we shall refuse to recognise that anything is suitable to the service of God that is not in accord with His mind. In the holy service of God not a word should be uttered that would be unsuitable on the lips of the whole assembly on earth. May we all know more what it is to be in the grace and power of the anointing!

READINGS AND ADDRESS ON LEVITICUS

THE NEW MEAT-OFFERING

Leviticus 23:1 - 21

What we get at the end of Acts 2 is the "new meat-offering" -- the fulfilment of what was typified in the feast of Pentecost. The new meat-offering refers to Christians, as set together in the power of the Holy Spirit, and I have turned to this scripture because it brings before us, in a figurative way, different things which need to have their moral effect upon us, if we are to be found here truly as part of the new meat-offering.

There are four feasts mentioned in the verses I have read: the passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of first-fruits, and Pentecost. It is in connection with the latter that the new meat-offering comes in.

Just a few words about what we find at the beginning of the chapter -- "the sabbath to Jehovah" (verse 3). When God looked upon everything that He had made, and found it "very good", He rested on the seventh day from His work (Genesis 1:31; Genesis 2:1 - 3). But it is interesting and important to see that God did not make known the sabbath to men until redemption was accomplished in type -- that is, until He had brought Israel out of Egypt (see Ezekiel 20:12). But from the beginning it was the mind of God to have a rest for Himself, and to have men to share His rest.

God rests in what is "very good", and when sin came in there could be no rest for God in anything that sin touched. The coming in of God's beloved Son introduced that in which God could rest. Of Him He could say, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight" (Matthew 3:17). That blessed One went into death that sin might be dealt with and removed to the glory of God. Now He has "ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10).

God's purpose is to head up all things in Christ, and thus bring about a sabbath -- a perfect rest -- for Himself, and He will have His saints to enter into that rest and share it with Him.

People think Christians are narrow-minded, but it is the man of the world who is narrow-minded; he is occupied with small things which will soon pass away; but the Christian is occupied with great things which will be permanent -- he looks forward to the time when Christ will fill the universe with glory, and bring in perfect rest for God. This is the great end of all God's ways.

But now let us look at the four feasts. The passover comes first. We cannot go farther until we know the import of this feast. "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). Taking up the type of the passover I attach great importance to the words, "The blood shall be for you as a sign". The other side is often spoken of: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13). But I want to speak now of the blood as God's great token to men.

God has provided for His own glory in the death of Christ, and the blood is the token of this. God's will and thought is to bring men into grace and blessing, and the great token of this is the blood -- that is, the death of Christ. The blood is God's great token to men of what is in His mind; it is that by which He speaks to men in grace.

Of what is it the token? Well, it shows me, first, that I am under death and judgment. If Christ must needs have suffered that blessing might reach me, it shows in the most solemn way that I am under death and judgment. Why should He -- the holy, spotless Lamb of God -- die and bear the judgment if we were not under it? Many have not peace with God because they have never learned this. Think much, my friend, of the precious blood of Christ! What you are, and what you deserve, is seen by the fact that nothing but the death of Christ could make blessing possible for you. To see this produces true repentance towards God.

I have heard of some missionaries who went to Greenland, and sought for a long time to bring the natives to repentance by speaking to them about their sins and pressing the claims of the law. No result was produced until one day -- almost by accident, as men speak -- they spoke of the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin. This did what all their previous efforts had failed to accomplish. Many were broken down in repentance and a work of God began. It is a great thing to learn the depths of your ruin and distance from God by the death of Christ. The blood is a token to you of this. Your condition is such that only by the death of Christ could blessing reach you from God. But if the blood is a token of my state and condition as under death and judgment, it is also a token that divine love has reached me there. God has sent His Son to die and bear the judgment. Love brought Him where sin brought me; He has gone into it all and under it all for me. By this I know divine love. How blessed to have such a wonderful token!

Then there is another thing. Not only has divine love reached me, but divine righteousness is in my favour. Now that Christ has died, the righteousness of God is in favour of man, and is made known in the gospel. Righteousness has been established by love and is in favour of man. The blood is the token of this. God's great voice to men is the death of Christ. The blood is the great token of His love and righteousness as a Saviour God. Have we kept the passover? Have we learned the great and blessed meaning of God's token?

Then the next thing is the feast of unleavened bread. This was in close connection with the passover -- as soon as the passover had ended the feast of unleavened bread began. All leaven had to be put away (Exodus 13:6, 7). Leaven invariably typifies what is evil. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5:2 - 8: "Ye are puffed up". That is what leaven does. The Corinthians were not keeping the feast of unleavened bread; they had not purged out the old leaven. This is a far deeper thing than dealing with the wicked person. They needed to deal with

themselves. They had great spiritual gifts and endowments, but they were puffed up and their glorying was not good.

There was the working of leaven. This is a deeply solemn thing. If Christ has gone into death for us as our passover, how can we be puffed up or glory in the flesh which He died to remove? How can I wish to be a big man here, or to show myself off where Christ died for me? To do so is unrighteousness. If I have learned the meaning of the passover I must purge out the old leaven. I cannot allow self-importance. It may be there; I find it in my flesh, but I do not allow it; I judge it, and turn from it.

God allowed the case of this wicked person to arise that the condition of the whole company might be exposed, and that they might purge out the leaven that was working amongst them. If saints are puffed up they have no capacity to judge what is evil. There had been no allowance of the flesh, or of what was merely natural in the preaching of the apostle (see 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 2:1 - 5). "Wisdom of word" would have emptied the cross of Christ of its meaning. It would have given a place to the man who was set aside there. God will not have flesh to glory in His presence. It is a terrible thing to think that man will use even divine gifts to exalt himself.

If I realise what I am there is no room for glorying in myself. "Foolish" "weak" "base" "despised", "things which are not" -- that is what I am. The only things we can boast in are the choice of God, the cross, and Christ. If I am really going after Christ I do not want to be important myself. If self-importance works we are in great danger of falling into Satan's hands. You may say that we all fail in this. Yes, but the great thing is, what are we after? What line are we on in mind and spirit? If after Christ we are set to refuse the flesh; God has crucified the flesh in the death of Christ, and we take the same attitude. "They that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh ..." (Galatians 5:24). The Spirit would certainly not give the flesh any place. "If, by the Spirit, ye

put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:13).

I trust God will exercise us all about this. It is not servile bondage; it is true liberty. If you lose your divine joy for a bit of self-gratification you are like a man throwing away diamonds for sand. We cannot afford to gratify the flesh; if we do we lose our divine liberty. A well-known servant of the Lord said, 'If I my tastes deny, when I might gratify, I suffer bitterly, but sweet is liberty'. Do not make any mistake about this, you cannot enjoy divine liberty unless you keep the flesh in the place of death where God has put it. You may fail in carrying this out, but are you set for it? It is better to fail with your face in the right direction than to get on well in the wrong direction. The Corinthians were full, they were rich and reigning as kings; they were going in the wrong direction.

Now we come to the feast of the first-fruits. This speaks of a risen Christ; Christ is the first-fruits in resurrection (see 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). The sheaf of first-fruits was waved on the next day after the Sabbath (verses 10, 11), that is, on the first day of the week -- the resurrection day. There is a moral order in these feasts. I do not think one comes to the apprehension of Christ as the First-fruits of a resurrection order until the Passover is known, and the feast of unleavened bread kept. Paul presented the cross to bring the Corinthians to self-judgment, before he spoke to them of Christ in a resurrection order.

"To be accepted for you" (verse 11). It is a great thing to know a Man of another order as our acceptance before God. Not many understand the moral import of the resurrection, that it introduces an entirely new order of things. In 1 Corinthians 15 where the apostle speaks so much of resurrection, the great point is that there is an entirely new order. We have been of the order of the man made of dust, but we now belong to the order of that blessed Man who is of heaven. He is the heavenly One -- the First-fruits of a resurrection order.

We learn the blessedness of our acceptance now in Him, and at His coming we shall be divested of every trace of the man made of dust, and we shall bear the image of the heavenly One.

Our acceptance is set forth in that blessed Man of a resurrection order. Many believers live too much in the Old Testament. They think of being purged with hyssop so as to be clean, and of their sins being made white as snow, and their transgressions being blotted out as a thick cloud, but they remain on the old ground of men in the flesh. The Christian is on a new footing altogether. The risen Christ is the measure of his acceptance, and of his clearance. It is a blessed thing to see Christ as the Sheaf of first-fruits; it takes us off the ground of good or improved self. By divine grace we are of the order of the heavenly One, and very soon we shall have actually left flesh and blood, and shall be conformed to His image.

Then fifty days (verse 16) after the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits came the feast of Pentecost, when the new meat-offering was waved before Jehovah. The saints of the assembly are the new meat-offering. In the absence of Christ God secures a company on earth to bring out in that company the blessed perfection of Christ. Note that as to the two wave loaves, "with leaven shall they be baken" (verse 17). There was to be no leaven in the meat-offering of Leviticus 2, which represented Christ personally, but in the new meat-offering there was leaven. But mark well, the loaves were "baken". Baking arrests all the action of leaven. God deals with us so as to arrest the action of the leaven. He brings the fire to bear upon us so that self-judgment is wrought in us, and the leaven does not work. If the flesh is kept under judgment the fruit of the Spirit comes out in the saints; Christ comes out in us for the pleasure of God; we become the new meat-offering.

We are in the feast of Pentecost now. At the end of Acts 2 we see the new meat-offering -- three thousand people displaying the Spirit of Christ, walking in unselfish love, in

unity, and joy, and praise (verses 41 - 46). People think it was wonderful that they should speak with so many tongues, but it was far more wonderful that three thousand persons should be found in unity, and that the Spirit of Christ should characterise them all, so that none said "that aught of the things which he possessed was his own" (Acts 4:32). That was the new meat-offering, and that pentecostal company is on the earth still, and through grace we are part of it.

God's great thought is to bring Christ out in us. We first learn Him as our Passover sacrificed for us. Then we have to keep the feast of unleavened bread; there must be self-judgment. The first epistle to the Corinthians was all to bring them to self-judgment, to keep the feast. Then when they judged themselves the second epistle was written, full of the precious ministry of a risen and exalted Christ. In that second epistle we read, too, of God's discipline which comes in to help us by the practical setting aside of the flesh. Paul was helped by the "thorn for the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7). If we really desire that Christ should come out in us, God will help us. It is better to have a check put upon the flesh by the discipline of God than to have the best thing the devil could give you in the world. When the apostle was reduced to absolute weakness the power of Christ tabernacled over him. If the flesh is set aside and the power of Christ tabernacles over us, and the Spirit of Christ is in us, the result will be that the life of Jesus will be manifest in our mortal flesh. We shall be found here as the new meat-offering.

THE FEAST OF PENTECOST

Leviticus 23:9 - 21

C.A.C. We were looking at the passover and the feast of unleavened bread on Wednesday, and it was suggested that we should speak a little tonight about the feast of Pentecost in connection with the gift and presence of the Holy Spirit.

The first time that these feasts are referred to, this feast of

weeks or Pentecost is called the feast of harvest (Exodus 23:16). It would help us if we got very clearly before our minds that this is the time of God's harvest. God has sown and He has also reaped. God has His harvest at the present moment; it really came in on the day of Pentecost. We think sometimes of what we gain by having the Spirit but it would help us greatly if we started with the fact that the great point in connection with the Spirit is what God gains. Think of the wonderful way in which God has sown in His field, God sending His Son into this world, Christ going into death, what a sowing! What is to be the result of God's sowing? A harvest for God for His pleasure, the fruit of His own sowing. Do you not think it is helpful to see that? What did the Son of God come into this world for? To secure a harvest for God. The great object in view was that men might receive the Holy Spirit. Each gospel begins by presenting to us the Son of God as He who baptises with the Holy Spirit. That is His first introduction to us in the gospels. He came here and died here that God might give His Spirit to men and, if so, there is a harvest for God, something for His pleasure. Every Christian who has received the Spirit is part of the harvest from God's sowing. The gift of the Holy Spirit is too great to be received on any other ground than on the ground of what God does Himself. How could He be given or received on any other ground? There is a harvest that springs from God's sowing. The church on earth, as composed of all who are indwelt by the Spirit of God, is the result of it. The gift of the Spirit is the evidence of the value of the death of Christ. The first type of the Spirit given is in Exodus 17. Moses smote the rock. The water flowed from the smitten rock. The death of Christ is the procuring cause of the Spirit being given. It is His death that is the ground for it. We think of the death of Christ in its efficacy in putting away sin etc., but the first result is that God is glorified in the highest. The great result is that the Holy Spirit of God, a divine Person, can be given to all who believe. It magnifies the death of Christ; it is of such value that through it the Holy Spirit can be given.

Rem. "He shall see of the fruit of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied".

C.A.C. That is right. There is a harvest for God. The object of the gift of the Spirit is that there may be a pleasurable result for God. What shall the harvest be of God's sowing? There must be an adequate result if God sends His Son to die here. It is a result secured at this present time. It is the day of Pentecost now. "When the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing" (Acts 2:1). Some think of it as having happened 1900 years ago but there is no time limit to the feast of Pentecost. And it is "the day of Pentecost", not 'days'. It is one of the longest days that has ever been. "And when the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing" or "running its course". It is still the Spirit's day and the time of God's harvest.

Ques. Would that be the thought in John 4:35, "Behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest"?

C.A.C. Yes, precisely; it is in connection with the giving of the Spirit. God is delighted with His harvest. He has had a good harvest, not a bad harvest. This is God's harvest-time. It is not the sowing time now from this point of view but the reaping time. It was the sowing time when Christ came here and died. But it is now the reaping time when we are brought into the present wealth of the Spirit to be for the pleasure of God.

Ques. Will the "trumpets" be sounded after this period?

C.A.C. The day of Pentecost goes on until the time when God will send out a new testimony for the gathering of Israel, which will correspond with the "blowing of trumpets". There is:

1. The sowing. God sowed when he sent his Son into this world. An old man said lately in connection with some tracts he was distributing, 'I like to sow the best seed'. God sowed the best seed. The seed God sowed and the harvest correspond.

2. The sheaf of first-fruits.

The day of Pentecost was measured from the time when it was waved. It was waved

upon the first day of the week, speaking to us of the resurrection of Christ. "On the morrow after the Sabbath" He was raised and He was waved. He was both the Sheaf and the waving Priest. Every question of sin settled, the sins of His people put away, sin in the flesh condemned and all the consequences of their unfaithfulness also met in the barley sheaf, the Lord as taking up all the unfaithfulness of His people.

The jealousy offering is an offering of barley (Numbers 5:15).

And the prophet was told to take an unfaithful woman, in the type, and buy her with barley (Hosea 3:1, 2).

The Lord has taken all that up. It is a comfort to us, a needed comfort. The Lord has taken up and settled every question in His death, not only the question of our sins and our state but also the question of our unfaithfulness as believers. All was tasted on the cross. Not only my sins as unconverted but the many sins and unfaithfulness since then, all were taken up and God glorified about them. If He had not been glorified about it all we should perish eternally. Now, in resurrection, He has been waved "to be accepted for you".

You are transferred to the ground of a risen Christ. He was absolutely alone prior to that. A great many people are troubled and distressed about their unfaithfulness as believers.

I am not excusing that, God forbid. But our Saviour has borne the judgment of it, that we might stand eternally before God on the ground of a risen Christ.

Ques. What would you say as to Hebrews 6:4 - 8?

C.A.C. It confirms what I am saying. Those who are brought to faith in Christ are "sanctified" by the will of God "through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all".

Rem. But I was thinking of Hebrews 10:26, "where we sin wilfully".

C.A.C. Let us consider first Hebrews 10:10, "By which will (the will of God) we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all". Can any thing shake that? It is what Christ has done and what God has done. "For by one offering he has perfected in perpetuity

the sanctified" (verse 14). Could anything be more blessed than that? The saints sanctified and perfected for ever, not by any work in them, but by one offering. Their consciences are purged and every question settled. Nothing can ever shake them. Now we will come to "where we sin wilfully" etc. He is speaking of those who deliberately turn their backs on all this, give it all up and go back to Judaism. There is no other sacrifice for sins; they have given up the only Saviour and the only work that can put sins away.

Rem. It is apostasy.

C.A.C. Yes, a turning away and there is no other remedy. The fact that they turn away is clear proof that they have never been the subjects of the work of God. Nothing can ever be touched that is the security of our blessing. "And the Holy Spirit also bears us witness of it ... their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember any more" (verses 15 - 18). If a man is an apostate he never was sanctified, purged, etc. He might have been a "washed sow" but never a sheep.

Ques. We sing, 'Fruit of Thy boundless love That gave Thyself for us'. Would that be connected with the "firstfruits" and our being risen with Him?

C.A.C. We begin to count our weeks from that point. It is of the utmost importance that we begin to count from the resurrection of Christ. "And ye shall count from the morning after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering" (Leviticus 23:15). He is in radiant suitability to God's world. We count from that divine starting-point, the resurrection of Christ. We often start from ourselves and do not arrive at anything definite; we are working from self to God. But in the gospel I begin with Christ and God. My exercises start from God and from Christ, they are measured from the resurrection of Christ. You begin there, from the wondrous first day of the week when the wave-sheaf was waved for the acceptance of His people on the ground of the immutable value and precious worth of Christ. That is the ground upon which the Spirit is given.

"Ye shall count ... seven weeks" -- seven blessed weeks,

starting with the resurrection of Christ. It is so blessed and is an imperishable foundation for the soul with God. I knew my Saviour and had done so for some time but one day it dawned on me that there was a blessed Man out of death and in the holy splendour of resurrection, and that that Man was my righteousness and my acceptance.

Ques. You had a revelation?

C.A.C. No. It is revealed in the gospel. The gospel is the blessed witness of God to His risen Christ. He has given "the proof of it to all in having raised him from among the dead" (Acts 17:31). Happy the man who has got the gospel but miserable the man who has not.

Rem. "God commends his love to us".

C.A.C. Yes, like a draper when displaying some material to a customer, He sets it out to the best advantage. If only we started with God. "In the beginning God". That is where everything starts in the soul. I come in as a recipient of all the blessing that comes from God through Christ. I lose sight of myself and have God before me. Self nothing, God everything, Christ everything and the Spirit witnessing; that is the harvest. "To us there is one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we for him" (1 Corinthians 8:6). Is not that blessed?

Everything originated there -- "of whom all things". And then there is His harvest, "we for him". And how is it all brought about? "And one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by him". It constitutes us pleasurable to God as His harvest.

Rem. That is very sweet.

C.A.C. And then the Spirit is the seal of the righteousness of faith. How do I get the righteousness of faith? It says, "Believing on him who has raised from among the dead Jesus our Lord, who has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification. Therefore, having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ". It is settled. And "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us". It never tells you in Romans

how you get the Spirit, because it is not your business at all but God's. God said, as it were, 'I am sending My Son into the world that He might give the Spirit'. There are no cut-and-dried ideas presented in the Scriptures as to the reception of the Spirit. There are hardly ever two cases alike. The instances in Scripture are most diverse. God gives the Spirit as soon as ever He can. His great object is that He might give the Spirit. "If thou knewest the gift of God". Is that the God I know? Yes, thank God. The love concentrated at Calvary is diffused now in this day of Pentecost. It is not what I get (although I get everything) but the first thing is what God gets, His harvest. There must be something commensurate with the actings of two divine Persons: the love of God and the death of Christ. The only possible thing to correspond with that is another divine Person. It is a threefold cord, the blessedness of God. No one else, none less than the Spirit of God, could shed abroad the love of God in a human heart. It liberates your heart and makes you feel blessedly free, counting all the time from the resurrection of Christ. Nothing could put sin away but death and nothing could put away death but resurrection. Start from the resurrection of Christ and make spiritual progress -- "seven weeks".

What a "seven weeks" for the disciples! They had the Passover and they had the Sheaf of first-fruits and the Priest of the wave sheaf amongst them (John 20), and they began to count. "Forty days" in companionship with a risen Man -- what an experience!

Ques. "When ye come into the land that I give unto you, and ye reap the harvest thereof". What does that speak of?

C.A.C. It would speak to us of the purpose of His love, a rich foretaste of what the Spirit would be. During the forty days, all He said to them was by the Spirit (Acts 1:2).

Ques. "Speaking of the things which concern the kingdom of God". Would you say something about that?

C.A.C. The kingdom of God is this new order where God is supreme. He opened their understandings, Luke tells us. Then after forty days of assembling with them and

speaking to them by the Holy Spirit, He goes up, and for ten days they are in the light of an ascended Christ and find themselves in an "upper room". How could you live on the ground floor after that? They abode there, in the "dwellings" from which the wave-loaves come (Leviticus 23:17). What an experience!

Then the day of Pentecost came and the Spirit came and sat upon each one of them. God's harvest is secured in the power of the Holy Spirit. Then the two wave-loaves come out "baked with leaven"; they had been in the oven. Peter had not been there in Luke 22:33 when he said, "Lord, with thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death". But he had been there between then and Acts 2. Peter was inflated in Luke 22. He had never been 'baked' before the Lord died. We get 'baked' in the death of Christ, where all has come under the judgment of God. That is the fire where you are baked and the activity of the leaven is killed. Peter is an unleavened man in Acts 2; he is speaking of divine Persons, not of himself. My father used to say that there was not much difference between high Calvinists and low Arminians because the former had bad self before them and the latter had good self before them, but neither of them had Christ before them.

The two wave-loaves of wheaten flour are of the order of Christ. The corn of wheat fell into the ground and died, and believers are the "much fruit" come out for the pleasure of God, as having the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Suppose I have the Spirit of Christ, I have something in me characteristically Christ. "If any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of Him; but if Christ be in you ...". There is something there as first-fruits for God, Christ in the saints by the Spirit now, in the day of Pentecost. But perhaps you will say, 'There is not much of Christ in some Christians'. The question is, have you the right kind of eyes or spectacles? If your eyes are anointed with eye-salve you will be able to see something of Christ in Christians all the world over.

Ques. As to the "one loaf" and the "two loaves", what would be the difference?

C.A.C. The "one loaf" would set forth unity, and the "two loaves" ability to be here in testimony, as adequate witnesses of Christ in this world, constituted such by the Holy Spirit. "Ye will receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). There has never been a moment since the beginning of the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 till now, when there has not been a company on earth indwelt by the Spirit and constituted competent to witness to Jesus as "Lord and Christ". God is maintaining His testimony, and He did so all through the dark ages.

Rem. They loved what was of God.

C.A.C. They had the Morning Star. They looked for the coming of Christ.

Rem. They were looking for the day.

C.A.C. They had the Morning Star. The hymn wrongly says, 'The Star's in the sky' (Hymn 194). Peter says it is "in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19).

Rem. As having the Holy Spirit, there is ability to walk in self-judgment before God that Christ may be expressed in us.

C.A.C. As there is self-judgment, there is appreciation of Christ. My appreciation of Christ is measured by my self-judgment. Grace reigns through righteousness, in self-judgment, and thus we are carried through to eternal life.

Ques. Is the Holy Spirit given in answer to desire?

C.A.C. It is a great pleasure to God when there is a desire, because God desires to give. I prayed for the Spirit after I had received the Spirit (I did not know it at the time) but my prayer was not displeasing to God.

Ques. What would you say about the "continual prayer" of the disciples during the "ten days" of Acts 1?

C.A.C. They were praying for the fulfilment of the promise (Acts 1:4). It is a great pleasure to God when we are

exercised about the Holy Spirit. Obedience and dependence are the lines on which we get the good of the Spirit.

Ques. Can believers be like an ark?

C.A.C. The ark is the peculiar glory of Christ as Son of God. We can be the tabernacle (the true tabernacle) and temple of God; "The temple of God is holy, and such are ye" (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17). And our bodies are "the members of the Christ" and "the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:15 - 20). We ought to be careful what we do with our bodies. What am I doing with my body as a "member" and a "temple"? If I think my body is my own, I do anything I like with it, but if I realise that I am not my own, I must take care. The real power of holiness is in recognising the presence of the Spirit. When we recognise the Spirit, we begin to use the Spirit. When I recognise His presence I begin to use the Spirit. "Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God?" Have you not recognised it? Many Christians have not.

Ques. Would not "the fruit of the Spirit" be a great "harvest" for God?

C.A.C. Yes, in Galatians 5:22 we have a beautiful cluster of divine and heavenly fruit produced in believers -- God's harvest. We have to learn to distinguish between what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit and to cultivate what is of the Spirit.

Ques. Is the Spirit here as a witness?

C.A.C. The Spirit comes to witness to certain blessed things. He is the seal to God's blessed testimony of grace, and He glorifies Christ in my affections, so that I have the blessed assurance that I am in the current line of the Spirit.

Rem. Rebecca rode on the camel and followed the man.

Ques. Will you tell us something about the "seven lambs" (Leviticus 23:18)?

C.A.C. What is the result of the two wave-loaves? Offerings, and every one speaking of Christ, not about me. The theme of contemplation and delight and that which is presented to God is Christ. The Lord, when walking with the

two disciples on the way to Emmaus, "interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself". Then it was that their hearts burned (Luke 24:32). We are in 'Doubting Castle' if self is before us but we are soon on the 'Delectable Mountains' if Christ is before us.

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES

Leviticus 23:23 - 36

C.A.C. I thought we should continue what we have been looking at. We have considered:

1. The passover and feast of unleavened bread.
2. The wave-sheaf and feast of weeks.
3. Tonight we might complete the subject by looking at The feast of ingathering, or tabernacles.

Rem. I think you said that with regard to the day of Pentecost there was no limit stated as to its duration. Would you say that with the "blowing of trumpets" a new era or period is brought in?

C.A.C. All that we have read of this evening stands connected with the end of the year. We see that in Exodus 23:15, 16 where the three feasts are spoken of: unleavened bread, harvest, "and the feat of ingathering, at the end of the year". The passover, the feast of unleavened bread and Pentecost are all at the beginning of the year. They are connected with the beginning of God's ways. But the trumpets, the day of atonement and feast of ingathering are at the end of the year.

Ques. What does "the year" convey to you?

C.A.C. I thought it set forth the course of God's ways.

Rem. "The year of the Lord". "And having rolled up the book ... he sat down" (Luke 4:20).

C.A.C. It is a definite cycle. The months run in cycle and begin again. The ways of God are like that. The feast of

tabernacles or ingathering is the time when the harvest and vintage are gathered in -- God's goodness, bounty and favour gathered in and enjoyed. It is the finish. God's ways end in bringing His people into the full purpose of His ways in Christ. The apostle John commences his epistle with "That which was from the beginning", and the same apostle shows us the end. The beginning started in Christ and in the Spirit. The end is the full result of all the ways and purposes of God -- the city coming down from heaven.

It is a great thing to know that we have to do with a God who begins and finishes. He finishes. There is a remarkable verse in Job 19:25. The first part of the verse -- "I know that my Redeemer liveth" -- is well known to every Christian, but it continues, "and the Last, he shall stand up upon the earth". That is a remarkable statement to be made by a man like Job. Firstly, "I know that my Redeemer liveth"; secondly, He is "the Last". The Redeemer is going to have the last word. If God comes out as Redeemer it ensures the fulfilment of all He has in the purposes of His love. He has the last word.

Rem. "The first and the last".

C.A.C. In Revelation 1 it is the Lord God who is the "Alpha and the Omega" (verse 8) -- God the beginner and finisher of blessing. But in chapter 22 it is Jesus: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (verse 13). Everything that God begins and ends, He begins in Christ and He ends in Christ. What a sense of security and rest it gives to see that. There is at the beginning of the year the passover, and at the end of the year the feast of ingathering -- to be enjoyed. God wants us to know a little bit of that now.

Ques. The Redeemer is the passover?

C.A.C. Yes, and He is the Last; and whatever comes in between. Job learnt what a wretched being he was and repented in dust and ashes. God is the Last. You will find, certainly, that God will have the last word -- a word of infinite blessedness -- and His people will be put in the full enjoyment

of it. We all believe that He is the First but He is going to be the Last. The passover is the first but the feast of tabernacles is the last. All is gathered up and enjoyed that God has given His people. These feasts show what God has made possible for us to enjoy here. We may enjoy it now by the Spirit. They are part of God's ways, the unfolding of them, so that His people can enjoy them now.

God gave Israel a good start. They had the passover and the tabernacle amongst them, and were brought into the land. But they soon slipped away from it. They are not in the enjoyment of it now but are scattered for their sins. But is God going to leave it like that? No. "The seventh month" will come for Israel, all God's purposes for Israel will be fulfilled. There will be the trumpets to gather them, the day of atonement when they will repent and then the feast of ingathering enjoyed in the land.

In principle, it is just what God has done with the assembly. Pentecost is how God started the assembly. It was a good start, with Christ and the Spirit. But we have departed from it. I think we would all admit that we have departed from the great blessedness of Pentecost. The whole assembly has departed, things have come in that are neither Christ nor the Spirit. There is a profession of Christ in the world but christendom has departed from Pentecost and not continued in Christ and the Spirit. Could God leave it like that? and would He leave it like that? No. The time for the fulfilment of His purposes draws near and "the seventh month" is brought in. The time is very near. The Lord is soon about to come and the assembly will be placed in glory, Israel gathered and the kingdom set up. It is very near now. In view of that God has blown a trumpet.

Ques. "Behold, the bridegroom"?

C.A.C. It answers, for the assembly, to that. It began with the Reformation; before that the assembly was in darkness and death but God sounded a "trumpet", there was a "new moon", the light of Christ shone afresh for the assembly. At "the new moon" the moon comes again into the light

of the sun. It is only a silver crescent at first but it is in the light of the sun, and the crescent grows fuller and fuller each day. The Reformation answers to "the first day of the seventh month". Since then the light of Christ has been shining more and more. It is a day of revival, this "seventh month"; the trumpets are sounding; we have readings and preachings and books are circulated, all bringing us light as to Christ and the assembly. Have they not sounded in these parts? Surely we have had our feast of trumpets. And what is the effect of it? It leads to deep self-judgment and we confess that we have not been faithful to the light and privilege of Pentecost, to what God set up at the start. We admit it. "It is a day of atonement" (Leviticus 23:27 - 32) when the meaning and value of the death of Christ is brought home to us. God is now preparing us for the finish.

Ques. As to verse 25, "And ye shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah", what does that signify?

C.A.C. In any movement God brings about, there is a result for Him. Whatever light and help we get, the question is, 'What is there for God in this?' Not 'What is there for man' but 'What is there for God?' It is a great thing to come under divine instruction as to the death of Christ. It is a question of the people of God; if we have departed as the people of God from Christ and the Spirit, if we have got mixed up with other things, we have to repent of it and own it. All that is not of Christ and of the Spirit is contrary to the truth. The full blessing of God can only come in through the death of Christ. It must come in through the day of atonement. When God begins to work it is to lead us into the sense of what the result of the death of Christ is. There is nothing to be done, we have to be still. "No manner of servile work shall ye do".

I needed His death first as a needy sinner and second as having got away from the light and blessing of Pentecost.

Ques. Would Isaiah 53 correspond?

C.A.C. Israel will keep their day of atonement. It is the great value of Christ as the sin-offering. It has made it possible

for God to fulfil every thought of His love. God would give us a deep sense of the death of Christ.

What is God's answer to the Person of Christ? That He has raised Him from the dead and put Him on the topmost pinnacle of glory. What is God's answer to the work of Christ? That every one of the redeemed is put in the full blessedness of the purpose of His love. That is His finish. He would have us come into it now and enjoy it now, here on earth.

Ques. Do we come into it individually?

C.A.C. We have to come into it individually and along with our brethren.

In the burnt-offering Christ secures for me a place in divine favour in the very spot where I was under God's judgment, in that very place. But the sin-offering, oh! it is wonderful. It is infinitely great, greater than the burnt-offering. The blood of the burnt-offering was sprinkled "on the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting". But the blood of the sin-offering was put on the gold, on the mercy-seat, and on the ground of that we become "God's righteousness in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). That is the result of Christ having become the sin-offering. We are eternally "the righteousness of God in him". It secures the justification, reconciliation and glorification of every one who believes on His name. God would give us to think much of it. It settles every question for the guilty sinner and the failing believer. Now God can set us before Himself "holy and blameless", "accepted in the Beloved", "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3 - 7). All the result of the death of Christ.

The question is, 'Are we gathering up the harvest and the vintage?' Are we gathering it up and enjoying it? Read Deuteronomy 16:13 - 15. What a wonderful picture! God's people made "wholly joyful". It has come right out of the heart of God. "Blessed with every spiritual blessing ... in Christ". It is for us then to gather it up; on the ground of repentance and of the death of Christ we can appropriate it

all. The bondman, the handmaid, the Levite, the stranger, etc., everybody is taken in. It is a beautiful seven days. The seven days of the feast of unleavened bread speaks of a continued period of holiness. But this is joying in Christ, knowing that we are objects of delight to God. It is a fine thing when we just let God be true.

Rem. I suppose John 7:37 - 40 sets out the present enjoyment of it for us, in connection with the Spirit of God.

C.A.C. The feast all subsists in Christ. "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink". Every thirst in the human heart is quenched. And from the one who drinks, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water". It is the feast of tabernacles for us.

Rem. It brings before us the greatness of the Spirit.

C.A.C. The Spirit is great enough to bring it in and to bring it in for those who have departed from Pentecost and been unfaithful. It is purely on the ground of God's mercy. The truth of the assembly has been restored. Sects are an abomination to God. They are a direct contradiction of what He has set up. This feast of tabernacles was to be held "in the place which Jehovah will choose".

Ques. Would Philadelphia answer to that, following upon Thyatira and Sardis?

C.A.C. Philadelphia shows how the Lord will secure a place at the end; we are brought back to it in mercy. That is the question for us, 'Is there a place now'? "The place which Jehovah will choose to cause his name to dwell there"? There was a place in Israel, but it is a remarkable thing that the people were in the land over four hundred years before God chose a place where He could put His name. See Deuteronomy 12:10 - 12, "Then there shall be a place ... thither shall ye bring ... your choice vows which ye shall vow" -- not till Solomon's time. David as the warrior, God's anointed, came in first and dealt with every enemy. Solomon could say that there was "neither adversary nor evil event" (1 Kings 5:3 - 5). As types of Christ, David is the great warrior

and Solomon the great builder. The builder was needed before the "place" -- the beautiful house -- could be built. It was to be "exceeding magnifical". The "place" was never there until the temple was made.

Rem. "And on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades' gates shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

C.A.C. That is the place. It is where the revelation of God in Christ is known and responded to; it is only known and responded to in that house which Christ builds of living stones. It is a more wonderful house today than what Solomon reared on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. There are many structures around us built by man, but there is only one built by Christ, and in that structure built by Christ, God has set His name and only there. Every sect in christendom arose with good intentions; men tried to improve on conditions that existed, but that is not good enough for God. What is built by the Son of God is divinely perfect; "Hades' gates shall not prevail against it". The revelation of His Father is put there so that it can be responded to and in that place the feast of ingathering can be kept, outside of all that is of man. The structures reared by man are all coming down but in finding our place in Christ's structure we can rejoice and keep the feast of ingathering (see Leviticus 23:40). What a beautiful sense of shelter and luxuriance these "beautiful trees" suggest -- the luxuriousness of the land -- as we think of the people sitting down under them. It is like the place that God would have us in now, sitting down and thinking of the contrast between the wilderness and the land. The wilderness is where we experience God's care; it is in one sense as wonderful as the land, but it is not the place where God can rest, nor is it of rest for us. But the land is the place of His rest. He can rest and we can rest. He can rejoice over us with singing and rest in His love. God would bring us to it now in the blessedness of all that He has secured for Himself in Christ. "And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days". We can praise God for all the blessedness and

wealth of Christ. Christ is the preciousness to us so that we can speak of it to God. "Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5 - 7).

Rem. The question should be with us, 'Has God got His part?'

C.A.C. His joy among His people. We ought to consider seriously whether we are taking this up in a spiritual way. We shall be set in the full blessedness of God's purpose in a moment when Christ comes, but what about now? Is God missing what is due to Him at the present moment? Let us leave everything that hinders this. We shall go in later on and come out in the heavenly city. It is all brought about through redemption and is as powerful now as then. We can come into all the blessedness now of what God has found for His own pleasure in Christ.

READINGS AND ADDRESSES ON NUMBERS

A SPIRITUAL LEAD IN EVERY LOCALITY

Numbers 7:1 - 17

C.A.C. My thought in suggesting this scripture was that the Lord might help us, as together, to realise that we have to do with a holy system of things which is entirely of God. It is not simply something that is a little better or more moral than what is going on around us in the christian profession, but we are called to be in relation to things which are entirely of God. God would have us to be increasingly conscious of that. On the divine side everything is complete. We read of the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man. There is no element of the world in it, no element of the flesh. So that what we find in Numbers 7 is that the twelve princes who offered were men who had a profound appreciation of the holy character of the system that was set up amongst them -- the glory system as seen in the tabernacle in type. And as having an appreciation of it they could, without any specific instruction, act in relation to it. They could offer what was suitable and they could dedicate the altar. Now it seems to me that that is our side. And I would suggest that in the princes we get the principle of a spiritual lead given in every tribe. There is no such thought contemplated as a tribe without a prince. And we have suggested here the thought that in every tribe there is a spiritual lead given which is suitable to the testimony. It is suitable to the divine system which had been initiated and hallowed by Moses, indicating to my mind that the Lord intends that in every local assembly there shall be a spiritual lead, so that what is suitable shall be found in each.

Ques. Would you confine the idea of a tribe to a particular local assembly?

C.A.C. I think the tribes, as occupying different locations in regard to the one tabernacle of testimony, represent the local assemblies.

Rem. The Lord would look for this element that would respond spontaneously to His own thoughts.

C.A.C. I think we should be much exercised that in every local assembly large or small there shall be an element of spiritual lead which is in correspondence with the divine system. So we find that there must be a certain spring of spontaneity. There was that in the princes, because there is no commandment; the offerings in this chapter are not prescribed. Now the spring of spontaneity is that we become conscious of the exceeding blessedness and value of what God has introduced. And a spontaneous movement of heart is always originated by a sense of the preciousness of what has come in, like the offerings of the magi in Matthew 2. They come with their choice offerings because their hearts were impressed with the blessedness of what had come in; and so with the holy women that anointed the Lord, they were impressed by the surpassing excellence and worth that was there, and it became a spring of spontaneity. I think if we had a greater impression of the precious character of what God has brought in and set up in Christ and in the power of the Spirit it would produce spontaneity; that is, we should do things that nobody ever did before.

The system is a spiritual system, and we must remember that the great tabernacle system is as spiritual today as when it was first set up. The failure of the assemblies and the breakdown of the christian profession has not affected the tabernacle system at all. The Spirit never departs from the original idea. The whole thing was set up in the power of the Spirit, and the Spirit is still here, and therefore the power which is suited to the system is here to be utilised, if we are spiritual enough and affectionate enough to desire it. There is a remarkable word in Malachi 2:15: "The remnant of the

Spirit was his", indicating to me that the Spirit will never depart from what He began with.

Rem. The tabernacle that the Lord pitched is in the midst of a hostile scene, so that intelligence marked the offerings of these princes.

C.A.C. Quite so, and do you not think that they seem to have been impressed by the onerous character of the service? It was a service which made great demands on all those who were engaged in it, and the thought of the princes -- a thought by which I think the Lord would affect us -- showed that they considered that the testimony was precious and holy and so entirely of God. Being surrounded by a hostile scene the weight of the service bears heavily, if one may so say, on all those who engage in it, so that the first exercise of intelligent affection acting spontaneously is to facilitate the service -- so they bring waggons. Now I believe the Lord would have that element in very strong evidence in very local assembly.

Ques. You would say that there is nothing irksome about the service?

C.A.C. Nothing irksome, but extremely laborious. Think of the labour of the apostle Paul. Can you imagine anything more spiritually diligent and laborious than his continual care for the assemblies? It is not irksome in the sense that you have to do something that you are not minded to do, but it seems to me that if you think of the nature of the testimony and the character of the world in which it has to be maintained, you will see that it involves strenuous labour, and it makes a demand on all the saints to do whatever we can to facilitate levitical service, so that it may not bear heavily on those who are rendering it. They are to be relieved and assisted and helped in every possible way.

Ques. What is the thought of the covered waggons?

C.A.C. I think the princes had drunk into the suggestion of chapter 4, that the holy vessels were to be covered; that is, the things connected with the testimony of the Lord are not for public display. They are not for the natural man. There is a certain secrecy which is preservative. If we want to make

the things of God public we must reduce them to the level of the public.

Rem. That is an extremely important point; the treasures are to be kept secret in the treasury.

C.A.C. Exactly, and that is involved in the very word 'mystery'. I suppose the most characteristic word in the present time is 'mystery'. That is, things are covered; they are only known to those who are initiated, and they have to be preserved from all the contaminating influences of the wilderness. That is the idea of the covered waggons. The wilderness is a place of death and uncleanness, and the holy things have to be preserved, and the levitical service has to do with the carrying of the holy things through such a scene. We need to be preserved from the idea that the precious things that we have can be connected in any way with the present world's system.

Ques. I was going to ask what is the thought of each of the princes bringing exactly the same?

C.A.C. I thought it was most helpful to see that the spiritual lead which the Lord would bring about in every local assembly is not only marked by unity but by uniformity.

Rem. So the smallest tribe brought just as much as the largest tribe.

C.A.C. The spiritual lead given to Manasseh, where there were thirty-two thousand, was just the same as that given to Judah where there were seventy-four thousand. The spiritual lead in the smallest meeting is to be precisely the same as the spiritual lead in the largest meeting. I believe that is very important. We might say we are just a handful here and we do things in a very simple way. Well you may talk like that till you lose sight of the august character of the system that you are connected with. If we have to do with a spiritual system, a glory system, every element in it is of God, and the system is just as great in the smallest meeting as it is in the largest. So that the spontaneous response would be as adequate in the smallest meeting as in the largest.

Rem. The system is not local.

C.A.C. No, the system is not local, and that is very important because it puts us outside merely local conditions and you begin to think of the elements of spiritual leading. I do feel that we ought to be more exercised as to this. I cannot think of a local assembly without having the element of spiritual leading in it, and this element would tend to the liberation of service. It will tend to the liberation of levitical service, and the levitical service will be regarded much more gravely, more seriously, and we shall be careful as to the principle of facilitating it -- providing waggons which are accessory. They do not form part of the spiritual system, really. They are a suggestion of love. Now I believe in christianity there is room for every suggestion of love. It is not a cut-and-dried system.

I think in this way you would find that the ordering of things would be marvellously unified, and the assemblies would be marked by uniformity and great diligence to facilitate the work of the Lord. We may forget the dignity connected with the work of the Lord. We think of the limitations, and perhaps the smallness and poverty of apprehension of those who put their hands to the work, but we must beware of all that. The principle is, "Let a man so account of us as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1). The Corinthians had a degraded idea of the service; there were men who were competing even with Paul. Now this spirit of competition and rivalry is abhorrent to God, and it would never be found in our hearts if we were dominated by the glory of the divine system. And I believe, moreover, that a greater sense of the dignity of the service would dignify the servant. If a brother comes to expect criticism and disparaging remarks it tends to lower the holy dignity of his service. I believe many a brother's service might be glorified if he were more appreciated according to God. A brother would realise that nothing short of divine power and the grace of the anointing would commend him in any service that he might render, and the general idea of facilitating and promoting the work of the Lord would have a reflex

action on every individual who put his hand to it; it would tend to elevate the whole character of the service.

Ques. Did not Jehovah express His special delight in this act? He says to Moses, "Take it of them".

C.A.C. Yes, it is very beautiful, "Take it of them". It was a spontaneous suggestion of love, and I believe there is room for every suggestion of love in the divine system, because a suggestion of love would never interfere with divine order. Love is the most orderly thing in the universe.

Ques. Would you say that that corresponds with, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these"?

C.A.C. Well, that would dignify the least, and I really believe that we do not think enough of ourselves in a divine way; that is, we accommodate ourselves to a low level of thinking about ourselves, but we should think about ourselves as the apostle says to the Romans, "think soberly". Now, what is sobriety of thought? To think according to the measure of faith.

I think it is most important that the work of the Lord should be facilitated, and that we should realise that a spiritual lead would be in that direction, that the smallest bit of service would be highly esteemed, and we should not like to do anything to put a brake on it; we should like to put it on wheels to facilitate movement.

Rem. I was looking at the first paragraph of the next chapter where the Lord begins to speak, after all this is done. He gives orders as to the light. The Lord will begin to speak to His people and will give heavenly light and in an advanced way.

C.A.C. I think that is the way of it. These things are most important in the estimation of God. So that every bit of the ministry of Christ is precious and we ought to remember that the ministry of Christ is amongst us. Now the thing is to facilitate the carrying of all the precious ministry because there will not be anything for God if the work of the Lord is not prospered. The work of the Lord secures edification

amongst the saints. It secures the bringing in of new material, and it secures the development and increase of what is there. So we want the work of the Lord locally. We ought all to be able to say, 'We are only half a dozen in this place but the work of the Lord is going on amongst us'. No spirit of barren criticism, but every one putting his shoulder to it. Have you noticed that remarkable scripture in Zephaniah, that they all serve Him with one shoulder? (see Zephaniah 3:9). That is everyone putting their strength into a collective shoulder so that the work of the Lord is promoted. I think we are far too casual about the work of the Lord.

Rem. It is the unity of the fellowship, because there are six waggons, but twelve princes.

C.A.C. That is, the principle of co-operation runs right through it. We sometimes confound fellowship with cooperation, and I think it is very important that we should learn to distinguish the two. Now in connection with the waggons it is co-operation, so that there is no prince that has a waggon to himself. It seems to require two princes to be adequate to the idea. "If two of you be agreed"; it is the principle of agreement and co-operation in what we are doing. It is very precise. Co-operation, of course, must be in the light of the fellowship, but it is a different idea from fellowship. It is the practical side. Each prince brings an ox, a figure of steady purposeful labour, but the ox is to pull in a yoke with another. There is no idea of it working singly. In connection with the work of the Lord I believe co-operation is essential. John and Peter go together. We find Paul works with the twelve. Of course if you get two like John and Diotrephes you will not get co-operation; they could not pull together in the same yoke. But there is the principle of pulling together, and I believe that is the test: can I pull with another brother? Many a man has energy but he is not sufficiently governed by the divine system to subordinate himself to the restraint that is involved in pulling with another. We need that in every local assembly. I am more and more

impressed by the great need of the recognition of the work of the Lord locally. All the Levites should submit to this yoke of co-operation, which I can assure you has a practical effect in shutting out the action of the flesh. If I go simply on my own, there is a great deal of room for what is of the flesh, but if I have to move in co-operation with another, and especially if he is a spiritual man, there is a wholesome restriction on the flesh in myself, and if I am a spiritual man that is just what I shall take pleasure in. I take pleasure in being reduced.

Rem. We were noticing the principle with Prisca and Aquila, they had only one neck.

C.A.C. They were really governed by the testimony, so that anything that was merely personal was effaced in the presence of the glorious character of the testimony to which they were committed. What a privilege to subordinate one's self in order to further what is connected with the divine testimony, to give more scope to what is of God and what is of Christ and what is of the Spirit -- to go on with the remnant of the Spirit. It is a fine privilege.

Ques. It says of all these offerings that they brought them before the tabernacle. Does that mean that they each one had the divine centre in view?

C.A.C. No doubt they had, and their offerings were taken of them. I believe God will accept everything which involves personal cost, but which is a suggestion of love in relation to the work of the Lord. He will accept it all, the smallest thing as well as the great things, and make it contributory and accessory to His blessed system of glory.

Then we must not leave out the thought of the altar. It is the second great element in spiritual leading, the dedication of the altar. I suppose we are all prepared to accept that the altar has been anointed and hallowed; we have not to do that, that was Moses' part. That is, there is a way of approach to God; it is anointed and hallowed, set up in all the precious value of Christ and His death, and of the Spirit. But now the dedication of it depends on us. The altar has to come into use

in every local assembly. The dedication is equal in every tribe.

Ques. Why is it not connected with the mediator rather than the priest?

C.A.C. The mediator had to do with the inauguration of the system. The system is inaugurated by Christ as Mediator, and it is sustained by Christ as Priest; but then there comes in a third exercise and that is the exercise of the brethren, the local brethren. There is what Christ does as Mediator and what He does as Priest, but that does not obviate the necessity for the exercises of the local brethren. The altar is not dedicated by any service of Christ either as Mediator or as Priest, it is left to the brethren.

Ques. Do we gather that there must be an apprehension of what has been set up before we can act becomingly with regard to it?

C.A.C. I think that is the idea, so that having a right apprehension of the altar, which is particularly prominent in this chapter, the princes could supply what was perfectly suitable to such an altar; and the princes give the same kind of lead in every tribe. Whatever spiritual lead there is everywhere throughout the world will be in the same direction.

It is remarkable that the first exercise is that there shall be suitable vessels. Before there is the actual thought of offering there is the exercise as to suitable vessels in which to put the meat-offering and the incense. That is, there is the thought of silver and gold vessels, which I should link with 2 Timothy 2. Silver vessels and gold vessels are vessels to honour.

Rem. It is each day -- the whole time that the testimony is here.

C.A.C. The twelve days are a complete administrative idea, covering all the time, so that God had such pleasure in these offerings that He would spread them over twelve days. They are twelve days of profound pleasure for God, because what is being brought before Him each day is Christ.

Rem. It should be very stimulating to see that we might minister pleasure to the heart of God by recognising what is valuable here.

C.A.C. Yes, and you get certain essential features. You get the thought of vessels, and if you think of the oblation it is most important, because if Christ is to be brought to God how abhorrent would be the idea of His being brought in an unsuitable vessel. It would be detestable. You must have a suitable vessel -- vessels of silver, and they are not all the same size. Indeed it does not mention the size of the vessels, but their weight, which is, in itself, a suggestion of the weighty character of the way in which our souls have apprehended the grace and faithfulness of God as found in redemption. It seems to me that that is the thought. And there is a certain difference, two vessels were much larger than the other, suggesting to my mind the sovereignty of God in permitting in His service that, although all the vessels are equally suitable, they are not of equal dimensions.

Rem. I was thinking of the time of recovery when Cyrus weighed out all the vessels; the weights are given.

C.A.C. Yes, and it is important to know that the balances of the sanctuary are always in action to weigh us. We are being weighed all the time. Now my exercise ought to be, what is my weight? I may be able to speak -- many of us can talk, but that may have no weight. You will sometimes find that a brother who says very little may have great weight locally, and everybody feels that he is a large vessel, that he has a large appreciation of Christ in oblation character, the fine flour mingled with oil. It is the thought of what Christ is personally -- not anointed with oil, but mingled with oil. What he is as anointed is what He is officially, but as mingled with oil it is what He is personally, what He was from the moment of His conception in the womb of the virgin. So that all the perfection of His life was blended with what was of the Spirit of God. His humanity was altogether unique. You cannot detach the Spirit of God from a single feature in the life of Jesus from the manger to the cross. How dreadful it would

be ever to suppose that He was either personally or relatively anything but of profound delight to the heart of God. We must not forget that. We are apt to dwell on the anointing, which is official; but "mingled with oil" is connected with the divine holiness of His person from His conception onward, and this is really for the altar.

In the divine system you have room for differentiation between one saint and another. We are not all the same weight, we are not competent to carry the same measure, but it is according to the faithfulness of God and the ordering of God and we can happily accept it. If another brother is a more weighty vessel than I am, that is a gain to me; if he carries more of the preciousness of Christ, that is a gain to me. And what comes to the altar nourishes the priests, and if I am one of the holy priesthood I get it for food, so that it is all to my advantage that another brother should be a weightier vessel than I am. I do not need to be jealous of him; I should not like to be without him.

Rem. It cuts at the root of clericalism.

C.A.C. Quite so. I think we should be with God as silver vessels, that is, not according to flesh or nature. As a silver vessel I am not regarding myself as in mixed condition at all. I am regarding myself as set in relation to God in the value of redemption. I am set in relation to God by the one offering of Christ which has perfected me for ever. The preciousness of Christ is connected with me, and we must learn to divest ourselves of every other thought.

I suppose that the smaller vessel of gold is important; because it shows that the dedication of the altar gives us the freedom of the holy place -- that is, you come in to the golden altar. If there is a vessel full of incense it can only be used at the golden altar. The silver vessel is the result of discipline; that is, it is the result of the purification of the furnace that there come out vessels for the refiner. And none of us become silver vessels apart from the disciplinary dealings of God with us.

THE LEVITES: THEIR REDEMPTION, CLEANSING, INHERITANCE AND DEVOTEDNESS

Numbers 8:5 - 18

There are four things very distinctly prominent as to the Levites, of which I may speak as their redemption, their cleansing, their inheritance and their devotedness. And by the Lord's gracious help I should like to bring these things before you.

There was a marked difference between the twelve tribes of Israel and the Levites. The twelve tribes took their place in connection with the declaration of their pedigree; that is, they got their place by natural descent, and the Levites were not numbered among them. They got their place on another ground altogether; peculiarly on the ground of redemption, and if I may so say they traced their pedigree to the passover. You find it distinctly stated in Numbers 8:18, "And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel". You see, God had secured the firstborn for Himself by putting them beneath the shelter of the blood and now He takes the whole tribe of Levi in place of the redeemed firstborn; so that they had their place and privileges in a peculiar way on the ground of redemption; they traced their pedigree to redemption. Beloved friends, that is where we start.

There was no difference whatever between the Egyptian's firstborn and the Israelite's firstborn; the extreme penalty had passed alike upon them both, and the only difference between them was that which God made. As we are told in Exodus 8:23, "And I will put a redemption between my people and thy people" (see note).

The death of Christ is the amazing witness to the righteousness of God. I may say the very first element of the divine work in our souls is to impart a conviction that God must be righteous in all His ways. There is nothing for the evangelist, who preaches the gospel, to work upon until that reaches the soul. The death of Christ is the vindication of the righteousness of God. There could never have been a testimony of God's hatred of sin as there was when Christ died to bear its judgment. We see it declared in such a way that he is left righteously free to extend His grace to a world of sinners! He might have vindicated His righteousness by universal desolation, but now pardon can be proclaimed to the perishing millions of Adam's race. Not even the devil can raise any question as to the righteousness of God. What a mighty, what an amazing thing this is to start with! We are convinced that God must be righteous in judging sin and we fall in with God's righteousness. Have you fallen in with God's righteousness? Are you so convinced of the necessity of His judgment -- that it must come upon sin -- that you are glad to fall in with the fact that God has judged it in the death of Christ? Then you will see the righteousness of God is in your favour. Oh! that precious blood! Thank God, it is available for every sinner here tonight; that which declares God's righteousness is available for you. The blood of the Lamb secures everything for you.

The Levite was taken on the ground of the value of the blood, but we must remember, although as I have been saying the blood secures everything for the one who is beneath its shelter, that was not the chief thought God had in view -- His chief thought was to have a people for Himself. Every sheltered firstborn son was also sanctified, as we read in our chapter, verses 17, 18. It is a people for God. What a dignity this imparts to every one that is beneath the shelter of the blood! We are set apart to be a people for God; it is an immense thing! Now, can you declare your pedigree? Any pedigree that is not traced to the value of that blood is worthless now

and for eternity; and every soul that is beneath the shelter of that blood is secured for God. The blood settled everything, that God might have a sanctified people for Himself. That is the first thing.

The second thing is a necessary consequence, and what we have brought before us in this chapter is the second stage -- the cleansing of the Levite. He has his place on the ground of redemption and now he had to be cleansed; although the blood has settled everything on God's side there is an absolute necessity that those who are brought under the shelter of that blood to God should be in moral suitability to God. So Moses is commanded to take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them.

There are three things in the cleansing as you get in verse 7, "And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle upon them water of purification from sin; and they shall pass the razor over all their flesh, and shall wash their garments, and make themselves clean". This is a figure of the way in which the redeemed company is morally fitted to be a people for God. There is no other way for us than the way set forth in type and figure here. We have got to be cleansed so as to be in suitability to the God who has sanctified us for Himself.

The water of purifying here spoken of is the water of purification for sin which we find in chapter 19. The heifer was taken and burned outside the camp, and cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were cast into the burning of the heifer, and when all was consumed the ashes were gathered up and mingled with water and it was a water of purification for sin. It was the remembrance, brought home to the soul, of a fully executed judgment. The heifer and all that went with it had been absolutely consumed and this was applied in the running water (which was a type of the Spirit) in power to the soul.

If you want to get in the New Testament what answers to it I will turn you to Romans 8:3, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent

his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh". It is when the value of the blood is perfectly known by the soul that another kind of exercise begins; that is, we begin to find that, although we are completely clear before God in all the efficacy of the blood, there is a great deal connected with ourselves that will not do for God -- nay, I can go further than that -- that will not do even for ourselves! I suppose there is not a person in this room who has not been in a greater or lesser degree dissatisfied with himself. Even in the world this is so -- I heard of Professor Huxley saying the other day that if some great power would engage to make him always think right and do good, on conditions of being turned into a kind of clock to be wound up every morning, he would instantly close with the offer.

The Christian is not merely like the man of the world, irritated at being lowered by what he finds in himself, but he feels the shame, the sorrow and gravity of what it is in the eye of God; he has a capacity to judge it in a divinely given way. Beloved friends, we have to learn that sin attaches itself to the very life we possess; it is interwoven with every fibre of our moral being as children of Adam! This is a truly solemn discovery to make. Do you know what it is to be a partaker of sinful flesh? SINFUL! It is an awful thing to think of, that what sin is was never fully expressed in the devil -- he dare not express what sin is. The awful thing is that he has taken possession of man and made a plaything of him and led him to express the awful horror of what sin is in a way he dare not express it himself! He dare not have struck the Son of God in the face, or lifted a hand to drive in one of those nails. It is man that has shown what sin is, and when I see that awful crime of Calvary -- the creature raising his impotent hand against the Creator -- I see man rid himself of God, and I say that is SIN! And because sin has come out in man, it has been completely judged in him; the blessed Son of God has come in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin. But beloved friend, have you really learnt it? Oh! I feel it is the question

at issue today especially for the young saints -- that our very life as children of Adam can only be rejected of God, condemned by Him.

Many times when I have been speaking to young Christians I have asked them 'Have you an ideal -- some lovely ideal in your mind -- of what you would like to be?' I pity the man that has not an ideal; such a man is not worth his salt. You say, 'Oh! if I were only this or that'. You have your ideal and you are not happy because you cannot come up to it.

Suppose by your own effort you could rise by self-examination and self-denunciation to your ideal, what would it be? Beautiful SELF! Oh! how satisfied you would be with yourself, and although you might ascribe it to the grace of God, yet it would be the grace of God making YOU into a wonderful person, and I am afraid a great many Christians are not any further than that. I say that is not Christ. All that might be a credit or an ornament to me must go.

The cedar wood, man in his greatness; the hyssop, man in his littleness; and the scarlet, man in his glory, must all go. Why are not believers happy? Because they have not something they can glory in. If they could only have something attached to themselves in which they could take a pride, but they cannot. God intends you should learn in the language of Romans 7:18, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell". And when you come down to that you are prepared to see that the whole thing must be condemned -- root and branch. Everything that constitutes your life as a child of Adam must go. Are you content that it should? That you should not have a single vestige that you can boast of in yourself? Oh! it must all go. Thank God, it has gone in the cross, "God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3). It is gone! gone! And the sprinkling of the water of separation is the application of that to your soul in the power of the Spirit, and that is the first element in moral cleansing. All that I am is gone, and henceforth I am not seeking to find a

single germ of anything in myself to which I can turn in self complacency.

The second thing is, "And they shall pass the razor over all their flesh". You see, it is very evident if the whole thing has gone in judgment from before God (and I am glad that it should go) I cannot go on tolerating it. It is monstrous. The razor must pass over. Everything that is the natural outcome of the flesh must be cut down in judgment. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live", Romans 8:13 (Authorised Version). It has got to be cut down in the power of the Spirit. You get it in Galatians 5:24: "They that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts". And in Colossians 3:5, "Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth". The razor must pass over the flesh, there must be the judgment. And this is the practical test as to whether the water of purification has been sprinkled upon us. The measure of self-judgment in the power of the Spirit is the measure in which the water of purification has been sprinkled upon us. There is to be no toleration of that which is evil. God has condemned it and I fall into line with Him.

The flesh is a crucified thing; it is not to have any place or recognition, and I put to death my members which are upon the earth.

And then there is the third thing, "And shall wash their garments, and make themselves clean". The washing of the clothes is a figure of the Christian coming out in a new character altogether. If you want it in the epistle to the Romans you get it from chapters 12 to 15. You find he comes out in a totally new character. If you would like to see him in four different spheres you might read the last verse of Romans 12"Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good". That is in relation to those that are against you. There will be a good deal against you if you are really set to be for God. So in relation to your enemies you overcome evil with good.

Then as to all the lawfully constituted powers, "Let every

soul be subject to the authorities that are above him. For there is no authority except from God; and those that exist are set up by God" (Romans 13:1). The duty of the believer is clear -- it is one of subjection. There is no instruction to the believer as to how he should record his vote because by doing so he would be taking a place as "ruler".

Then go on to verse 14: "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not take forethought for the flesh to fulfil its lusts". This is as to one's personal character. If it is an enemy we are to "overcome evil with good". If it is the powers of this world we are to be in submission, and if it is our own personal character, we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. What a complete change of character! It is like washing the clothes, and if we do not put on this character what is the good of taking a place in service for God? You see you are not cleansed. This finds us out in the home circle: many a man can be nice in the meeting and perhaps speak unkindly to his wife.

Then in chapter 14: 19, "So then let us pursue the things which tend to peace, and things whereby one shall build up another". This is amongst your brethren. In every circle, whether it is in the presence of the enemy or of the powers of this world, in my own personal character; or in the assembly amongst my brethren, everywhere the believer comes out in a new character. This is the way of the cleansing, and the effect of all this is that there is a people for God.

So, to go back to Numbers you find that the Levites were brought and were offered to God (chapter 8: 11). "And Aaron shall offer the Levites as a wave-offering before Jehovah from the children of Israel, and they shall perform the service of Jehovah". They are taken up and presented to God, this company of Levites, to be altogether for God. They are received in the efficacy of the sin-offering and in the sweet savour of the burnt-offering. It is a blessed thing to know that when we are presented to God it is in the absolute clearance of the work of Christ and it is in the infinite acceptance of the sweet savour of His death, and we are then appropriated by

God -- as He says in the end of verse 14, "That the Levites may be mine", and in verse 16, "For they are wholly given unto me", and in the end of that verse, "Have I taken them unto me". God appropriates this company altogether for Himself. If you want it in the epistle from which I have been reading (Romans) you get it in chapter 12, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your intelligent service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God". There is a company of Levites and they are all presented to God now for His satisfaction and pleasure. Beloved, have you got that idea of christianity? I do not say it is the highest platform; but it is a wonderful thing that God has wrought in His grace, and the great object He had in view was that we might be a company altogether for Himself. You find in chapter 15: 16 he brings the Levites and waves them before God. "For me to be minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, carrying on as a sacrificial service the message of glad tidings of God, in order that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit". The great thought Paul had in going out to preach was to bring a people to God: when the apostle was preaching he was going as a priest to find a company of Gentiles that he might bring them to God as a wave offering. It greatly elevates the thought of the gospel if we bear this in mind: God wants a people here in this world for Himself. The Lord was the true Levite here absolutely for God; now He is gone and what is there left? Well, a company of Levites, and I trust most here have the Spirit-wrought desire to be a person here for God.

Another point I want to speak of a little, is the inheritance of the Levites, and I turn you to Deuteronomy 18:1, 2, "The priests, the Levites, and the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: Jehovah's offering by fire, and his inheritance shall they eat, but they shall have

no inheritance among their brethren: Jehovah, he is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them".

Now I have often had to say that one can see very distinctly how the children of this world are wiser than the children of light. The man of the world knows his portion and he goes in for it, and yet, alas, many of God's children do not; they do not go in for it; the result is they do not enjoy it. Unless we go in for it we shall not enjoy it.

If you want a verse from the New Testament in connection with this I would like to read Romans 5:5, "And hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us"; also verse 11, "And not only that, but we are making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom now we have received the reconciliation". I read these verses because here it is we touch the source of all blessing; and not only touch it, so to speak, but the source is positively put into our hearts. So that it is not like something at a distance from me, but the love of God is shed abroad in my heart. How wonderful that He should give me His Spirit in order that my heart might have a capacity and capability to taste of His love. How could I taste divine love if His Spirit were not given? Impossible! Oh! beloved friends, I confess to you I feel how little my soul oftentimes is in the joy, power and blessedness of the gospel as it is revealed here. Oh! the overwhelming blessedness of it. The little sense of it that one may get occasionally breaks over the heart like a flood of divine joy! We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Levite's portion. Not that he is getting on a little better in this world, not that his circumstances are changed, but he is brought to God and joys in what is the outflow from that Source.

In 1 Corinthians 2:9, 10 it says, "Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God". Now we come to the out

flow. If I have found the source of all blessing in the heart of God Himself, what is the outflow from that Source? There are things that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and they are revealed to us by the Spirit. That is our inheritance. What is it but an outflow from the heart of God? Oh! the blessedness of being brought into it; brought into the things that come out from the heart of God. And what is the response? Ah! there is a response on our side, you may be sure, if we know what it is to reach that source. You get it in Colossians 3:1 - 3: "If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth; for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God". Where are the things that God has prepared for them that love Him? They are in another world, in that world where Christ sits at the right hand of God; they are hidden. We need to take it to heart that the believer's life is a hidden life -- it is not in manifestation at all. So if I want to know really what it is to enter into my life, to live in my inheritance, I must seek the things that are above. We only practically have the enjoyment of our life as we seek the things that constitute it. It is hidden. Just as the glory of the Son of Man is hidden -- we are told in John 13:32 that He is glorified in God. There is not a ray of His glory seen in this world. Ah! it is not in manifestation. If we know the source and the outflow does it not awaken our hearts to seek the things that belong to our inheritance, and that we may really seek to take possession and be attracted to that place where our inheritance is at God's right hand?

There are a few words I would like to add as to the Levite's devotedness. Exodus 32:26 - 28 says, "And Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, He that is for Jehovah, let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered to him. And he said to them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Put every man his sword upon his hip; go and return from gate to gate through the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his

neighbour. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men". Now just a few verses from Deuteronomy 33:8 - 10, "And of Levi he said, Thy Thummim and thy Urim are for thy godly one, Whom thou didst prove at Massah, With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; Who said to his father and to his mother, I see him not, And he acknowledged not his brethren, And knew not his own children; For they have observed thy word, And kept thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances, And Israel thy law: They shall put incense before thy nostrils, And whole burnt-offering upon thine altar".

It was a terrible day for Israel in Exodus 32 -- Moses had gone up to the top of the mount, was in the glory above, and forgotten by the people below: practically forgotten. All allegiance to Moses and to Moses' God was thrown off by the people. And in the presence of that all-devouring fire and clouds and thick darkness you see a man on his knees modelling a golden calf! Who is that man? Aaron, the only man named in Scripture as a saint (Psalm 106:16). The people strip themselves of their ornaments and give their glory to a calf. They had forgotten Moses and the God of Moses. Beloved friends, is it not so today? Our Moses has gone on high and oh! how much He is forgotten! And what is the effect? When Moses is forgotten the people of God must have something to look at, something on earth if their hearts lose sight of that object in heaven. The great mass of the hosts of Israel today have before them an object on earth other than the Object that is in heaven, and that is idolatry.

It was an awful day. Do you not think it meant a violent wrench of many natural ties, a violation of much that was dear to nature, when they went through the hosts and slew every man his brother? Ah! it was a stern business. I will tell you this, if you are set to be on the Lord's side you will find it will be incumbent on you to violate natural ties; you will have to go in the face of those who are dear to you, and with the sword drawn where you least expect it.

If you cannot draw the sword against that which has the strongest natural hold upon your heart you will never know what it is to be in the position of the true Levite. It is not that you are insensible to the natural tie, but when it is a question of the will of God and of being on the Lord's side, the sword must be drawn and no natural susceptibilities must be allowed to sway the heart. The Lord said, "I have not come to send peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34).

I heard only the other day of a lady who had been turned adrift by her husband and children, simply because she would not acquiesce in that which would be dishonouring to the Lord. It is a deep reality, beloved friends; we are to be tested. If we profess to be out and out for the Lord, sooner or later the test will come. May we have purpose of heart at such a time. But we are not always killing our brethren; the great thing is uncompromising fidelity to the Lord and decision for Himself. The effect is, "Thy Thummim and thy Urim are for thy godly one". The Urim and Thummim were that by which God made known His mind. If you are swayed by natural influences you cannot have the knowledge of His mind.

The second thing is, "They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances, and Israel thy law". They become a real help to God's people in the knowledge of His mind. It is lamentable to think that out of the vast number of Christians today how few there are able to help their brethren in the knowledge of their Lord's mind! Then, "They shall put incense before thy nostrils, And whole burnt-offering upon thine altar". A people like that was a pleasure to God, to come near to Him. Is it not something to covet? Nothing could be such an attractive object to the devoted heart than to think that my going to Him is a positive pleasure to Him!

May we better understand what God's thought is -- He wants a people for Himself for His own pleasure.

BEING SUSTAINED BY WHAT IS HEAVENLY

Numbers 15:1 - 21

C.A.C. My thought in suggesting this scripture was to get help from the Lord as to the way He would sustain us in the wilderness by giving us the light of all that is heavenly.

This section of the book of Numbers is one which is typical of the assembly as found in wilderness conditions; that is, conditions of weakness, failure and rebellion, and all the things that actually come out in the people of God in the present state of things -- unbelief getting in among the people of God. In the chapters before, the spies had gone up and brought an evil report; God has sentenced the previous generation to perish in the wilderness, but He has got a Caleb. It was in Caleb's heart to cherish what was of God. There is a bit of Caleb in every believer. It is a comfort to know that God has put the light of His purpose in the hearts of His people; that is, the Spirit works in their hearts. Caleb had the land in his heart; he did not judge the land according to what he saw, but according to what was in his heart. J.B.S. used to tell us that God gives the light of the finish at the beginning. The soul that gets the Spirit gets the consciousness of the love of God; there is a consciousness -- it may not last more than five minutes -- that God wants me, He wants to set His love on me; that in the heart makes me a Caleb. You find in the previous chapter there is a generation who will go in. God's says, "Your little ones, of whom ye said they should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land that ye have despised" (chapter 14: 31). Your children shall feed in the wilderness forty years (verse 33); there is a generation represented by the children, nurtured and disciplined in the wilderness in view of the absolute certainty of their coming into

the land. That is the position taken by those in whose hearts God has put the sense of His love, and the fellowship of His purpose of their coming into the land.

Rem. I had not noticed the gift of the Spirit came so early in their course.

C.A.C. The soul that has come into it and has the Spirit has the consciousness that God has taken us up for the pleasure of His love; it may not last long, but you have it. In Exodus 15 they speak in the past tense; they did not put their foot on the land for forty years. God's salvation covers everything; no one has the completeness of God's salvation until they reach the land. We are being nourished in the wilderness, that is our side. It says in Acts 13:18, "He nursed them in the desert". He is feeding us with the ministry of Christ and giving us a constitution. Then there is discipline -- was it not discipline for Caleb to wander for forty years in the wilderness! They learn all that is of the first man has to be disciplined; there are so many things that have to be brought down if God is going to put us into the land of His purpose. He says, "When ye come into the land of your dwellings". It is Ephesians 2:6, "Made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus". God gives the light of it to encourage them. He gives us the light of it to be a comfort and cheer and present joy in our souls. He says, 'When you come into the land, you will want to bring burnt-offerings'; there is an increasing appreciation of Christ; it begins with a lamb and goes on to a ram, and then a bullock. That belongs to the heavenly side of the Christian's experience; there is an enlarging and increasing appreciation of Christ as the ground and measure of our acceptance with God. It is different in Leviticus; there it is God speaking from His own side: we get the greatest first, and in great grace He comes down to the smallest. Here it is the ground of acceptance; that is, you think of Christ in His complete devotion in regard to sin and death. I fear a great many have not the complete joy of acceptance. When you come to the burnt-offering, it is not a

once-for-all thing; if people do not continue to bring their burnt-offering, they lose the joy of acceptance. I do not say they lose the light of it, but they lose the joy.

Rem. In each of the offerings, the wine is the same proportion.

C.A.C. That is very important; as we increase in the consciousness of acceptance in the burnt-offering, there must be the corresponding increase of our appreciation of the character of the walk and the Spirit of Christ, and as we are increasing in that we become delightful to God.

Ques. Does the wine correspond to that?

C.A.C. I think the wine is most blessed. In every case the offerer is identified with his offering; my spirit is identified with my appreciation of the self-sacrificing love of Christ; the conscious joy of acceptance marks me. How wonderful to be with God consciously identified with the sweet odour of Christ! As the consciousness of acceptance increases by the constant renewal of the burnt-offering, it is renewed on every fresh occasion when you come to God. I sometimes ask people, what do you pray about? 'Oh, I pray about trials and difficulties, the people of God, and that I may get on and be here for God'. Suppose you start on a new tack! Go to God and speak to Him about Christ; I think it would transform your spiritual life. As you speak to God about His delight in Christ, it becomes real in your soul and you get the joy of it. I believe the people of God today are a joyless people. They do not bring their burnt-offering, they are not in the joy of acceptance.

Ques. You are taking the complete view of the death of Christ; it is what secures personal acceptance, that is how I am with God. That preciousness is in His life as well as in His death?

C.A.C. I should discern between the burnt-offering, the meat-offering, and the drink-offering; that is, in proportion as we enjoy the burnt-offering, we are able to appreciate the joy God had in His life here. I shall abide in Him, and walk as He walked. It is a wonderful thing to have Christ as the

meat-offering before your soul; every perfection is there, and our souls learn to contemplate every moral perfection in Christ. Your idea of what is a spiritual person you have learned from Christ: everything about Him is spiritual; that is the only way I get a right idea of a spiritual person. You connect it all with Christ; there is no evil, no blemish, no defect.

Ques. No disproportion?

C.A.C. No, there is not a single defect; there is every feature of moral excellence in Christ; you get a sense of that, and it marks out your path; you take your path according to that. The psalmist says, 'Prepare our hearts to keep Thy precepts, that we should walk in them' (cf. Ephesians 2:10). Where? In Jesus. All is prepared there, that is the life in which we are to walk, that would give the heavenly character while we are still in wilderness conditions, wilderness circumstances. When you come to the drink-offering it suggests the delight of Christ, His great delight in being poured out for God and for saints. He could say, "To do thy good pleasure is my delight" (Psalm 40:8). That is the drink-offering. His delights were with the sons of men (Proverbs 8:31). "In them is all my delight" (Psalm 16:3). It was a positive delight to the Lord. We take character from what we bring to God.

Rem. Mr. Darby puts it, 'In this Thy nature grow'.

C.A.C. Yes,

'And thus Thy deep perfections
Much better should I know,
And with adoring fervour
In this Thy nature grow'. (Hymn 51)

There is no other way but by getting at them in Christ. I must study Christ if I want to know what moral perfection is; the power of God is in that; it works through the affections.

Ques. When does it come out?

C.A.C. Oh! it comes out when it is there; it is the light of what is proper to the land brought to us in the wilderness to be the stay and joy of faith while we are still in the wilderness conditions.

Ques. Does John give the thought when he says, "We have contemplated his glory"?

C.A.C. I think it would undoubtedly come out there, but it would come out in the whole life of the saint; you can have the light of acceptance in your private walk with God. As the deep perfections of Christ are known they give character to the saint.

Ques. I suppose when we come together what we have individually would come out?

C.A.C. It comes out in the way of service to God undoubtedly.

Ques. Would this constitute the testimony? It is the wilderness in question.

C.A.C. It is the light of what is heavenly coming out in the saint; the life of Jesus was always poured out in the service of love; every feature of His life was delightful to God. You see the real joy of it in Paul. We grow in the appreciation of it; it is a growing thing. If we had it 'once for all' it would wane; if we do not get it renewed it wanes.

Ques. Would that be leaving first love?

C.A.C. The natural tendency is to decline, but as we increase we take character from it; it all goes together -- you get a wonderful result: a people identified with God's purpose, bound up with all that Christ is; it is the greatest possible delight to think that it is so.

Rem. There is need of abstraction from things here; you do not get it in a crowd.

C.A.C. No, all this is properly heavenly and brings us to love the support of faith in the wilderness. I should think Caleb found very great joy from this chapter, and probably lived on it. It is what we have to take up individually; then you get further light. All this is laid open to the stranger: "One statute for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you" (verse 15). If Christ is brought in, He is too great for Israel; it suggests the bringing in of the Gentiles. It is God's pleasure that as many as possible shall participate in the preciousness of Christ. Then He suggests eating the bread of the

land (verse 20): "the heave-offering; as the heave-offering of the threshing-floor". This is another aspect. The bread of the land is the food of God's purpose, a risen and glorified Christ. In John 6 Christ is the "living bread which has come down out of heaven"; "he also who eats me shall live also on account of me" (verses 51, 57). Then God says, 'When you come to that you must think of Me first'; that is, to get the nourishing power we have to think first of God's delight to have Him there; if we do not start with that we shall not get the nourishing power in our souls. That refers to the wave sheaf of Leviticus 23. The wave sheaf is the soul taking its place with God in the sense of God's delight to have Christ in reserve. Satan never made a greater mistake from his point of view than when he incited man to put Christ to death, because it necessitated resurrection, and so as to the bread of the land God has the first joy, and we have to realise God's portion, the delight of God to have Man in the Person of the Lord Jesus. God says, 'Now think first of My point in it'.

Ques. Is that the secret of true deliverance?

C.A.C. It is that we should think of Christ in relation to God.

Ques. "In that he lives, he lives to God". God has come into the vision of his soul?

C.A.C. Yes; in the end of Romans 7 I used to wish he would explain a little more how it was done; he seems to get all tied up in a knot, and then he exclaims suddenly, "I thank God". That is how it happened; he gets God before him and he himself is nowhere. It is sonship in Ephesians 2. It was all with the risen and glorified Man in view. There is His place officially in the moral universe, but first of all you have something Godward. If God is going to have sons before Him, He has secured it in Christ. Think what it was to God when sin came in! What a grief to His heart. Now God has a Man who is equal to put sin away. What a delight to God to have One like that! In the end of the gospels it is the inherent power that is in Christ that was before the writers' minds so that they do not say, 'He was raised', they say "He is risen". It is

His glory. God has Him in ascension and resurrection, so God can say, 'Now before you get the nourishing power of it, think first what it is to Me'; that brings you to what is properly heavenly, while we are still in wilderness conditions being disciplined; but God brings in the nourishing light of all this for the support of faith in circumstances of all kinds. It is a fine chapter. Nothing else will make us heavenly in our spirits. God is ever ministering Christ to us, so that there is a power to effect everything that is for God's delight in us. We cannot improve upon God's way of working.

THE RED HEIFER

Numbers 19:1 - 22

The red heifer is quite a new type. It brings out a new aspect of Christ in His death. We feel that the chapters in this section are very important in bringing out priestly grace in which God goes on with His people in the wilderness in view of bringing them into the land, and in a certain sense it is an abnormal aspect of priesthood in conditions of murmuring and rebellion and the iniquity of the sanctuary. It exists, but on what footing does God deal with these elements which are unsuitable to Him? How does He provide for their being adjusted? We may all be conscious that these elements are found among Christians, but how is God acting in reference to them? Seeing what we are, these elements are there. It must have been very difficult to avoid defilement and not to come in contact with something which is the element of death; that is, sin, which is the cause of it. (The mind of the flesh is death, Romans 8:6). It is not at all difficult to come in contact with the mind of the flesh, seeing we are in mixed conditions. To be influenced by it is defilement. It is not only personal defilement but "Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth

the tabernacle of Jehovah" (verse 13). That is the serious part of it: the question of the tabernacle of Jehovah -- God dwelling amongst His people. The nearer you get to God, the more you come under His scrutiny. (A man does not take account of boys in the street, but does of his own children.) It becomes the occasion of the opening up to us of the death of Christ. The point is, it will all be met in grace -- grace provides the purifying. (It does not say that the man who defiles himself will be cut off.) The thought of advocacy comes in here. It is very important to see that there is the provision, and that the means of purifying should be really present with the saints, so that there has not to be a great fuss made when the need arises; it is at hand and we know how to use it. This chapter is a fine instruction. Defiling the tabernacle is giving place to the mind of the flesh; we bring in something defiling which affects every saint on earth -- it is a moral stain on the tabernacle of the Lord. It affects all. None can say, 'That is my look-out', for it is the look-out of all the saints. It is defiled if a man gets defiled and does not get purified. It should never get to the point of being defiled. All this priestly activity is seen in the rebellion subdued, murmuring silenced and defilement purified -- all in priestly grace. If we are not working on the line of priestly grace, we are not working with God. There is nothing so righteous and holy as the grace of God. There is no condoning the sin. Every one that touches the heifer or her ashes is unclean. God shows us what a serious thing it is to have to do with sin.

A heifer -- the female, in type -- refers to state. Christ is presented in connection with that wonderful sacrifice in which the state is taken into account: the man, not his actions; what the flesh is, not what it does. "The mind (not the acts or words) of the flesh is death". Too much prudence or too much self-respect is the mind of the flesh. Acts reveal but the mind does not. Things are allowed inside that are defiling. It applies to the thoughts and motives (hidden like the bones); I may be careful not to show these. Pull yourself up and say, 'This is a bit of what Christ died for'. We can run

through the seven days (verses 12, 19) in seven seconds. It is an uncommon description of the offerings. As a rule they were to be without blemish, but here

1. without blemish,
2. no defect,
3. upon which never came yoke.

A wonderful unfolding of the perfections of Christ.

1. Without blemish. The perfect contrast with all that flesh is.

That helps us, but denouncing the flesh does not. Nothing displaces the power of the flesh but Christ. Study Him in every part of His moral glory and you find no blemish. Pilate found no fault with this Man. The dying thief said He had done nothing amiss. The Holy Spirit said He had no guile, and He Himself said, "Which of you convinces me of sin?" There was no flaw.

2. No defect. Have you ever considered that? Everything there was positively delightful to God. Not a single element of good was absent. If you think of everything that ought to be, you will find it all in Christ. The more you study Christ the more you wonder at Him. You can dispense with man after the flesh when you have a Man without defect.

3. Upon which never came yoke. He never came in servitude -- to any of the principles of this world. The most spiritual men come sometimes under a yoke but the Lord never did. He was never moved by the desire to please men, nor influenced by the hopes and fears of His disciples. He would have been brought under wrong influence if He had yielded. We have no idea how soon we are influenced! Any human influence is a yoke. Natural relationships are one of the strongest yokes. The Lord would not allow His mother to put a yoke on His neck. As you get Him before you, it takes you quite away from the mind of the flesh. It is just the opposite of what you learn in Christ.

"Red" is the distinctiveness of Christ.

I hope we all aspire to be Eleazars! He is an important type of priesthood (not of Christ, as he gets defiled). It is a

type of the priestly spirit of Christ in the saints. It is in accord with Christ, because it is His spirit. It does not die in the wilderness.

Eleazar is one of Aaron's sons. 'Eleazar' means 'God is helper'. He continues in the presence of the defilement of the wilderness, goes over Jordan, and does not cease his activity until the people possess the inheritance. It sets forth that priestly activity. "The blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself" (Hebrews 9:14). The very Spirit by which Christ offered Himself is in the saints!

Have you another Spirit? As a saint you have that same Spirit, and that Spirit living in the saints is the power of the priesthood.

The priestly spirit in the saints can take account of Christ. At the death and burning of the heifer, Eleazar is a spectator -- he takes account of Christ. One covets to be an Eleazar.

There are not two spirits. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9) -- he is no Eleazar!

READING AND ADDRESS ON DEUTERONOMY

THE INHERITANCE

Deuteronomy 11:10 - 15; Deuteronomy 14:22, 23

The Old Testament is a great help to us because it presents things in a form which, according to the wisdom of God, is divinely suited to convey the truth to us, while presenting it in a way that exercises our spiritual understanding. I have no doubt that the scriptures we have read, and indeed Deuteronomy as a whole, were written primarily for us and not for Israel. When I say primarily, I mean that we who are God's people at the present time are the first to get the good of this book. No doubt Israel will get the good of it later on in great measure, but we take precedence over them in getting the spiritual gain of it. It is the word of God to us. "For as many things as have been written before have been written for our instruction" (Romans 15:4).

What was before me at this time was that we might look at certain things which stand in relation to the place where Jehovah causes His name to dwell. These things represent exercises which have a result for the pleasure of God when His people are gathered together according to divine ordering. The things which I refer to at present were obligatory; no Israelite could disregard them; and neither can we disregard what they typify without disregarding the claims of divine love, and what is for our joy and the pleasure of God. The tithes might occupy us this evening, and another time, if the Lord will, we might consider the firstlings, and then the three feasts of chapter 16 -- the passover, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tabernacles. These five things represent things which are obligatory upon all saints viewed as in the inheritance of God, and in the enjoyment of its wealth.

Many things are left by God to the free affections of His people. He puts no restriction on the liberty of those affections; He gives unlimited scope to bring burnt-offerings, sacrifices, heave-offerings, vows, voluntary offerings, choice vows. See chapter 12: 6, 11. All these things can be rendered as love prompts them. But the five things I have referred to are not so left; they represent things which are essential to the service and pleasure of God, and which are not to be omitted. There is what may be called an irreducible minimum, and it becomes a definite exercise that we should not fail to render it. The tithes were to be eaten in the place where Jehovah caused His name to dwell; the firstlings were to be eaten there; and the passover and the feast of weeks and the feast of tabernacles were to be observed there. There was no exception for any Israelite; all were under obligation to respect these things; they were essential to the pleasure of God in His people. If we do not take up what answers spiritually to these things we shall fail to minister to the pleasure of God, and we shall lose much joy which God would put into our hearts.

We need not think that this is going to wear a legal aspect, or to make demands which there are no resources to meet. We shall find that in every detail it is enriching, enlarging, satisfying and joy-giving. For it is all brought about by divine love and divine giving, and it all tends to God finding satisfaction in having us before Him with our joy full. The only law that operates in the land is the perfect law of liberty; the only bondage that is known there is captivity in the chains of love. There is no Egyptian toil; all is under the sweet influence of heaven.

The people of God are viewed here as having come into the inheritance, and it is of the greatest importance that we should accustom ourselves to consider that we have our portion in the inheritance. We should all be prepared to accept that as the thought of divine love for us. We get the inheritance purely by the love and calling of God. It is well for us to

see clearly the difference between the conditions which are set forth typically in the wilderness and those which pertain to the land. The wilderness is not a place of rest; things are not very agreeable there, though we prove the resources and sufficiency of divine grace in those conditions. Viewed as in the wilderness we prove the love of God and the love of Christ; we recognise there the lordship of Christ and the presence of the Spirit, and we may enjoy a great deal of grace and blessing; we may take up the privilege there of coming together to eat the Lord's supper. But all that, great as it is, is not the full pleasure of God's love for us. He has something else in His heart for us, and that is the inheritance, something which lies entirely outside wilderness life. We get the inheritance by the gift and appointment of the One who bestows it in love upon us. No amount of desire would secure to me the inheritance of some wealthy person. I could only get it by his appointment or by being his heir. I could say to the youngest and feeblest believer that long before he was born, God had prepared the inheritance for him. We were born anew and redeemed by the precious blood of Christ that we might possess the inheritance which the love of God designed for us. It is as much in the mind and heart of God that we should receive and enjoy the inheritance as that we should receive remission of sins. Jesus glorified sent Paul to the Gentiles "that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me" (Acts 26:18).

The inheritance is the fruit of the love of God. John says, "See what love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God". And Paul in writing to the Colossians says, "Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light". That is the inheritance. It is beautiful to contemplate it as it is described in Deuteronomy 11:10 - 12. "A land which Jehovah thy God careth for; the eyes of Jehovah thy God are constantly upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year". There is a sphere of blessing and of joy

which is so precious to the heart of God that He cares for it, and His eyes are on it perpetually. Such is the inheritance that He has allotted to us in sovereign love. It is the full thought of divine favour for men, the wealthy places of blessing in Christ, in whom all the rich thoughts of God have been secured. The love of God ever cherishes the inheritance for us and cherishes us for the inheritance; the youngest believer is entitled to take that home to himself in all its blessedness. Persons who are heirs to a great inheritance usually think a good deal about it, but what inheritance can be compared to ours? If God cares for it, and His eyes are constantly upon it, we may well care for it, and have our eyes upon it. We are not incompetent to take it up; the Father has made us fit -- or competent -- to take it up, in the divine nature. According to Ephesians we have "obtained an inheritance, being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory".

It is purely a question of God's sovereign love, and of where it has given us our portion.

It is clear that what love gives can only be taken up and enjoyed by love. The conditions on our side are an obedient ear and a heart that loves God. All the ministry in the world would not help us if we lacked these things. But one is comforted to know that saints have an ear, and they love; it is the result of the work of God in them. There is everything about the inheritance to make it supremely attractive. God would allure us; it is a matter of intense concern to Him that we should be attracted by the thought of the inheritance, that we should care for what He cares for, and that our eyes should be on the things that His eyes are upon. Israel fell because they did not hearken to the word which spoke to them of the inheritance -- the promised land. What a comfort it is to know that the children of God have an ear and a heart by the work of God; one feels comforted in speaking to the saints as counting on the work of God in them.

In Egypt they watered the seed with the foot; there was great labour with small results; that is like the religious world today, much labour but small results spiritually. What marks the land which is before God for His people is that it drinks water of the rain of heaven. God works in His people; they are begotten of Him and He works to produce an ear and a heart so that they love Him. There are persons in this world who are interested in the inheritance; the things of God take the first place with them and predominate over all natural and self interests. Wherever it is so it is by the work of God. Then God gives the early and latter rain. These are the conditions of fruitfulness in the inheritance on God's side. The early rain comes to prepare the ground, and to start the growth of crops, and the latter rain falls to bring things to maturity. If there are with us the ear and the heart which we have referred to, God will most surely give rain. He will give ministry from heaven that will promote fertility, and the maturing of the spiritual crops. I think we might see an application of this in a general way and regard the early rain as typical of the ministry of the apostles. The ministry of the apostles was like the early rain to start things, at the beginning, but we are in the days of the latter rain. God is giving a ministry now to bring His pleasure to maturity in His people; surely none of us want to miss the gain of that. There are showers of latter rain falling on the inheritance at the present time in order that every thought of God for the spiritual enrichment of His saints may be brought to maturity ere the Lord returns. The latter things with God are greater than the former, and the glory of the latter days is greater than the former. Amos 9:13 in referring to the latter days says, "The ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed". That shows the extraordinary fruitfulness of the inheritance; the crops could be so heavy that the fields could not be cleared by the reapers before the ploughman was ready to come in and prepare for the next crop! It gives us an extraordinary impression of the fertility

of the inheritance. There is never any need, under such conditions, for the ground to lie fallow. Then why should we labour for things which do not satisfy, when we can eat in abundance what is so good, and let our souls delight themselves in fatness (Isaiah 55)?

The wealth of the inheritance is available for us now if God has wrought in us the desire and delight to listen to what he has to say about it. The Lord said, "He that has an ear, let him hear" -- He assumed that there would be persons who had an ear. It is true of all the holy and faithful brethren in Christ that there is early and latter rain for them. God gives every one of us some early rain; He gives a ministry which was designed to work out in divine faithfulness; and as we exercise spiritual diligence the crops spring up and will come to maturity under the influence of the latter rain. But a spiritual diligence is most important. Turn to chapter 12: 7.

"Ye shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice in all business of your hand" and in verse 18 "Thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all the business of thy hand". The phrase recurs repeatedly in these chapters -- "All the business of thy hand". I would suggest that it implies diligence in the appreciation and cultivation of the inheritance. It is to be our definite business to see to the working out in result for our own joy of that which God gives us. So far as I can learn in Scripture, God has nothing for lazy people, and there is nothing for God from them. Many quietly accept that the inheritance is given to them in the love of God, and they perhaps know what it is to be under showers of blessing in the way of ministry, but they are indolent and slothful, they are not carrying out diligently what Scripture calls "the business of your hand". It is through the business of our hand that the inheritance becomes fruitful. There will be no crops, no corn or new wine, or oil, apart from diligence, and the result will be that there will be no tithes. We fail from want of spiritual diligence in regard to the things we admit to be true.

The latter glory of the house will be greater than the former.

In Romans 12 we are incited to diligence. "As to diligent zealousness, not slothful; in spirit fervent, serving the Lord". This is of the greatest importance in view of its effect on the meetings; the end in view is that there may be something brought to the meetings which will be an enrichment of the communion of the brethren. This is the product of diligence in cultivating the land. If we accept that divine love has given us the inheritance let us cultivate it with purpose of heart. In so doing we shall be working for an assured result; there is no question about God giving the increase. There will be crops in abundance, and tithes to carry to the place where God causes His name to dwell; to be eaten there in communion with the brethren before Him. Let us throw ourselves into this "business" with whole-hearted energy and confidence; the product of it is very attractive.

Our secular occupation in this world is discipline for us; it is a constant exercise to carry out the will of God in relation to it. But it is not our true "business" in a spiritual sense; it is discipline for us; but our "business" is to cultivate the inheritance. I have noticed that people who are pretty fully engaged in necessary duties prosper most spiritually; those who have little to do and much leisure often do not prosper because they lack the discipline of daily duties. The discipline we get in everyday life is intended to help us in view of our appreciating and entering upon and cultivating the inheritance. A brother was asked not long ago why he did not retire. He said, I feel I cannot afford to dispense with the discipline my business is to me. We are not here to make money but to be disciplined, and the circumstances of daily life as under the ordering of God will not hinder us in regard to the inheritance. It would be strange if the providential ordering of God for those in His kingdom was such as to hinder us from enjoying the things which it is His peculiar pleasure to confer upon us. It could never be so. We are hindered by

seeking our own things, not by things which lie in the will of God for us.

The things spoken of here lie outside the wilderness life -- the corn, the new wine and the oil of the land are the wealth and fatness of the inheritance. We have not time to go into them in detail, but I should like everyone to pray about them. The corn, I believe, represents Christ risen as the great expression of divine faithfulness. Every ear of corn came out of death; it speaks of Christ in resurrection as the great expression of divine faithfulness -- every promise of God made good in Him. That is the food of the saints as in the land. Psalm 37 says, "Dwell in the land, and feed on faithfulness"; that is the corn of the land, it is the bread that strengthens man's heart. It is the faithfulness of God to His own promises. There is not one word that God ever committed Himself to in the promises that He has not secured in Christ risen; the sure mercies of David are there; that is the food of the land. It is what Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 1, "God is faithful, that our word to you is not yea and nay ... in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us". That is outside wilderness life; it is the corn of the land. We are to gather it into our spiritual store and feed on it.

The new wine is typical of the joy that belongs to the kingdom of God. That, too, has its place beyond the reach of death, for the Lord had death before Him here, but He looked beyond to drinking of the fruit of the vine in the kingdom. I have no doubt it is figurative of the joy which is connected with the favour of God being fully known. Grace is a joy to the heart of God. We read that new wine "cheers God and man" (Judges 9:13). The Lord Jesus gives us a taste of the joy of God in grace, and of His own joy in making it known, in Luke 15. The kingdom of God is where he has His own way in the perfect grace of His heart, and where men are brought under the sway of His grace. In "the land" there is a continual fresh gathering in of the joy of grace. Grace as known in "the land" is spoken of in Ephesians. "To the praise of the glory of his grace" (chapter l: 6); "the riches of

his grace" (chapter l: 7); and "the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus" (chapter 2: 7). Then the oil speaks of the peculiar richness of what is found in the Spirit. "Fatness" is connected with the olive in both the Old Testament and the New. "Let your soul delight itself in fatness" is, I have no doubt, an allusion to what lies in the Spirit. The "root" of the olive tree (Romans 11) would be faith in Abraham which counted on God, but the "fatness" of it lies in the Spirit. So we find that the blessing of Abraham has come to us in Christ Jesus that we might receive "the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:14). Everything taken up in the Spirit has peculiar richness; it makes man's face to shine (Psalm 104:15). "Thy corn, and thy new wine, and thine oil", convey to us that as in the inheritance, and as making the cultivation, under the blessing of God, the business of our hand, there will be always fresh crops coming in as "the produce of the field, year by year". Things never become stale; there is continual freshness about every new crop. It is not that the produce is of a different kind; we do not want novelties; they are noxious weeds. But while there is no change in the character of it, it is still corn, new wine and oil -- it is being continually acquired in a fresh way. There is fresh produce being gathered in -- continual increase.

Corn, new wine and oil represent things which we are continually gathering in by the work of our hands as in the inheritance. But as we gather them in we have always to remember to tithe them, and the tithe has to be carried to the place where God causes His name to dwell. Every spiritual increase has to be linked with the assembly -- the common meeting place of God's people. What one gains individually or householdwise is always to contribute to the communion found where God dwells in the midst of His people. The tithes had to be eaten there.

It is not in this case ministering directly to God, but ministering to the communion of His saints before Him. It is most agreeable to God that we should come before Him to enjoy

together in communion that which He has given to us as the food and fatness of the inheritance. How the practical working out of this would free the meetings of the saints from all formality! Since we last came together there has been, so to speak, a fresh harvest from our fields, a fresh vintage, and a fresh gathering in of oil throughout Israel. And each one comes with the tithe that we may all eat together before God in the place where He dwells. All is fresh -- the same Christ, the same grace, the same Spirit, but all acquired in a new way through fresh diligence and living exercises. So that the tithe is something which was never eaten quite in the same way before. The communion of the saints as gathered together has thus continually a fresh and satisfying character. There is nothing old or stale. The communion is such as to suit a living God, and a people who are living in the good of what He has given. It is the communion of saints viewed, not in the Corinthian aspect as in the wilderness, but as in the land. It is our communion viewed as in the enjoyment together of eternal life.

God delights in the spiritual communion of His people before Him -- their common enjoyment of things which lie outside the range and power of death. Are we bringing the tithes to further this? Have we got increase as the result of diligent cultivation of the land so that we have something to tithe, something which we can bring to the gathering place of God's people to promote spiritual communion? I am not only referring to what is said in the meetings, though I have no doubt if spiritual substance is there it will find expression. But I challenge myself and you as to whether we are acquiring spiritual increase. There is something very abnormal if we are not. But if we are, it is obligatory to tithe it for the promotion of the communion of the saints. The communion of saints in eating together what is typified by the corn, the new wine and the oil of the land is eternal life.

The communion of saints viewed as in the land depends on moral conditions being maintained which are suitable to the

place where God dwells, and it depends upon the tithes being brought. Independency, and what is right in our own eyes, are ruled out. All must come to the one appointed place. It is not a matter of choice, but of God's appointment. If it is not carried out the service of God according to His pleasure is not rendered.

Sometimes brethren who are not getting on well together will be heard saying wonderful things in their utterances. But God is saying by this institution of tithes that He gives spiritual increase to promote spiritual communion. It is more to Him to see us united in the communion before Him of what He has given us, than it is to hear wonderful words from us while the communion is lacking.

It is very much for the pleasure of God that we should know the fellowship of saints as in the wilderness according to 1 Corinthians, but if we desire to minister to God's full pleasure it must be by enjoying the fellowship which pertains to the inheritance -- to that sphere where eternal life and sonship are entered into.

GOD'S PROPHET

Deuteronomy 18:9 - 22

God's Prophet is introduced in this chapter in contrast with all the abominations which have come in through men listening to communications from beneath. The eight things mentioned in verses 10 and 11 refer to communications from the unseen world. There are many avenues through which Satan influences men. All these things are coming in again under new names, and people hearken to them, but they are all opposed to God. "Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God" (verse 13), means that we are not to listen for a moment to any communication which is not from Him.

God ever had before Him to communicate with men. He spoke to Adam and Eve in innocence (Genesis 1:28 - 30), and afterwards they "heard the voice of Jehovah Elohim, walking in the garden in the cool of the day" (Genesis 3:8). It was His pleasure to be near to man and to communicate with Him, and it grieved God to find that distrust and distance had come in on man's part. Another communication had been listened to, a communication from beneath. Every abomination has come in that way, but deliverance is found in listening to God's Prophet. "In the beginning was the Word"

(John 1:1), is a statement which tells us plainly that from the beginning God had in mind to speak to men, but the serpent has been speaking also, so that there are two kinds of speaking, as we see -- the first in Deuteronomy 18:10 - 14, the second in verses 15 - 19. Men have opened their ears to communications from the power of darkness, but it is blessed to know that God has not left men without communications from Himself. Man is God's intelligent creature, and God speaks to him intelligibly. All the darkening influences in the world have come from beneath, but all illuminating influences are from above, they come down from "the Father of lights".

Divination, auguries, enchantments, sorcery, charms, a spirit of Python, soothsaying, consulting the dead, are all found today in christendom, but they neither convict men of sin, nor give the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins. They darken men as to the true knowledge of God. The communications which come from God are not dark and mysterious; they are light, and they make known that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, and that He is now in light as having fully revealed Himself in a Man, His own beloved Son.

Moses said, "Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee ... like unto me". That this refers directly to Christ is proved by Peter's quotation of it in Acts 3. It declares unmistakably the true humanity of Him whom God has sent, and who has spoken the words of God.

The full communication of God's words, of all that He would have made known to men, has come in One who is truly Man. The One "who is over all, God blessed for ever" came of Israel as according to flesh (Romans 9:5).

God has come near to men, and put Himself into communication with them, by Christ. To receive His communications is the greatest privilege and favour. It means that God is known, and if He is known, He is loved, and if He is loved, He is worshipped.

Christ was like unto Moses as being the true Deliverer and Mediator. He inaugurated in grace and truth all that was typically set forth in Moses. The covenant, the service of God, and all that is suitable to the inheritance, were made known by Moses, and Christ is like unto him in relation to all these blessed things, giving the fulness of them according to all that is in the mind of God. What a Prophet we have! "Unto him shall ye hearken".

This was in the minds of the disciples, and it was in the light of it that they hearkened to Jesus. As the Prophet, God's words were in the mouth of Christ, and He spoke what God commanded Him to speak. Hence He could say, "My doctrine is not mine, but that of him that has sent me" (John 7:16). And again, "the words (the divine communications) which thou hast given me, I have given them, and they have received them, and have known truly that I came out from thee, and have believed that thou sentest me" (John 17:8). The One who was raised up "of thy brethren" so near to men as being truly Man, was "the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father"; it was He who "came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven" (John 1:18; John 3:13). He was therefore able to declare God in a way of unmeasured fulness, and to speak of heavenly things as knowing them and having seen them. All has been told out now; there is no reserve in the divine communications; "All things which I have heard of my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15).

Not everything that the Lord said and did has been

recorded in the Scriptures. The gospels are a divine selection by the Holy Spirit, and they are fully adequate to set forth all that was spoken by the Son of God when here. His works spoke volumes as well as His words. Every utterance of the Lord has a fulness which is immeasurable. There are some verses of which Christians have been speaking and writing for nearly two thousand years, and fresh beauties and glories are being disclosed in them every day. The Holy Scriptures are the greatest marvel in the world, and the gospels are the greatest marvel of the Scriptures. The four gospels are a little book, which could be read in a day, but there is concentrated there what will fill eternity with its blessedness. John supposes that if all the things which Jesus did were written one by one, "not even the world itself would contain the books written". If men had written these narratives in their own ability they would never have known when to stop. But the Holy Spirit has given all that was necessary for us in words marked by simplicity and dignity. As we read we are in the presence of the ineffable majesty, and yet infinite grace, of the Word. There is fulness of divine communication, constraining the soul to worship as it is realised that God has made known in His beloved Son all that was in His heart and mind manward.

The assembly of God is to be characterised by speaking which is of God as to its origin and its power. See 1 Corinthians 14. The speaking there is to take character from Christ's speaking; indeed, He is now speaking from heaven in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit speaks in the house of God, bringing out in detail what God has communicated by Christ, and giving it application to the needs of souls and of the assembly. Such prophetic speaking has peculiar value in a day of departure, as reviving in spiritual power that which was from the beginning, and exposing the departure by bringing out the mind of God as it was originally made known. The assembly is God's house; it is the pillar and base of the truth, and the way to speak in it is "as oracles of God"

(1 Peter 4:11). Such speaking would be the speaking of Christ continued in intelligent communications from God. Not new revelations, but every word in accord with what God has spoken by Christ. In presence of difficulties the prophetic word would exercise consciences so that the moral state might be put right. Whatever matter occasions difficulty the real question is the moral state of saints, and if this is judged in the light of communications from God, difficulties melt away.

I "will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him". Nothing is held in reserve now, save judgment. The Spirit has come in witness to the fact that all the mind of God is out; there is nothing further to be looked for. "As for you let that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you: if what ye have heard from the beginning abides in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father". There can be no advance upon this; any going forward from it must be apostasy (2 John 9).

It is a serious thing not to hearken to Christ. "And it shall come to pass that the man who hearkeneth not unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him" (Deuteronomy 18:19).

The word from the excellent glory is "Hear him".

MINISTRY ON JOSHUA

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES

Joshua 1:1 - 18

The word to Joshua was "Rise up, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, into the land which I give unto them" (Joshua 1:2). Going over Jordan does not represent our natural death and going to heaven, as is sometimes thought, but it typifies a spiritual movement. The disciples in the days of Christ's flesh had the faith of Him as in that condition, but when He was raised from among the dead they had the faith of Him as in a new condition in which no man had ever been before. In Him death was annulled and life and incorruptibility brought to light. This is a blessed reality and actuality in Christ. But we cannot read the epistle to the Colossians without seeing that it is the thought of God for us that we should know what it is to be dead with Christ and raised with Him. This truth was brought out for the assembly in Paul. No other company, so far as I know, will ever pass over the Jordan so as to be in faith and spirit risen with Christ. So that the opening chapters of Joshua are of chief importance to us as bringing out in a typical way how we come to the apprehension of what is in God's mind for us.

Joshua represents the spiritual lead which God furnishes for His people in view of them entering into his purposes as set forth in Christ risen and ascended. This requires that heed should be taken to all the law which had been given. We should not expect to get light or leading with respect to being risen with Christ from those who disregard the Lord's commandments with reference to the presence of the Spirit and assembly order as seen in 1 Corinthians. And this has become largely the case in the christian profession. Hence few know what it is to "go over this Jordan". But spiritual

leading was present in the apostles, particularly in Paul, and we can say thankfully that revived attention has been drawn to it in these last days. It is now for us to see that we move with the lead that is given us. This book is intended to greatly help us in doing so.

We must first come into line in our minds with what is before God for us. This is indicated in the command to "Prepare yourselves victuals" (verse 11). We are here regarded as having intelligence as to what is in God's mind for us, and also as understanding the kind of food that will nourish us inwardly in view of passing over. This food would be what Paul speaks of as "meat" and "solid food". Something more than light is needed; there must be spiritual vigour derived from suitable food. We must be inwardly nourished in a way which corresponds with the position of being risen with Christ. For it is not merely a question of receiving directions but of assembly movement for which there must be inward strength through feeding. And we are viewed here as being able to prepare that food for ourselves.

The saints as "according to Spirit" and minding "the things of the Spirit" (Romans 8:5) are capable of preparing food which will enable them to enter upon the portion set forth in the Colossian epistle. It is an intelligent concern of spiritual persons who realise that they not only need manna for the wilderness but they need suitable food in the strength of which they can pass over Jordan. Many believers have not taken up this exercise, but it is set before us typically in the Scriptures that we may take it up. Have our reading, meditation and prayers any reference to passing over Jordan? Do we feel the need of inward support for this assembly movement? We are clearly, according to this type, to prepare ourselves for it and to see that we have "victuals" in the strength of which we can pass over. We are to have before us the promises of God, and we are to be exercised that what we feed upon will strengthen us and build up our spiritual constitution for an order of things which is altogether outside the life of this world. We are to "prepare" such food for ourselves,

not looking that others will do it for us. The substance of it will be Christ as the One with whom we are identified in the mind of God. We feed on Him as the One who determines what our place is, and where our life is, according to divine thoughts. If He is not inwardly formed in our affections there will be no strength to proceed over Jordan. Many delight in Him as their Saviour who have never entertained the thought of being identified with Him in death and in life beyond death, and yet this was brought clearly into view in our baptism, which as referred to in Romans 6 is, in figure, burial with Christ, but in Colossians 2 we see that it also carries with it the thought of our being raised with Him. Every baptised person must admit that this was God's thought for him, but in preparing victuals the people of God act intelligently to prepare themselves inwardly to take it up in spiritual reality. There is need for being built up in Christ so as to have ability and constitution to "pass over this Jordan". It is for us to prepare ourselves food which will enable us to pass over. It is well to ask if we know what this means? Have we really provided ourselves with this kind of spiritual food? Are we intelligent as to it? We cannot pass over Jordan unless there is with us some inward correspondence with the movement, brought about by feeding.

It is said of Christ that He was "put to death in flesh, but made alive in the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). We must seek to apprehend Him as alive out of death, having forever left the condition of flesh and blood and now in a condition in which man never was before, and which is the evidence of the complete disannulling of death and the bringing to light of life and incorruptibility. He is to be apprehended spiritually as in that condition, and we are to understand that as in that condition He is food for us, in view of our passing over spiritually as dead and risen with Him into what God had purposed for us. And it is not simply that He is food for us, but we understand as taught of God how to prepare the food. We can set it in an ordered way before us as God's mind for us. It is of great importance that believers should have ability to

do this. We must use the "three days" rightly in preparing victuals, or we shall not have strength or constitution to pass over.

RAHAB'S FAITH AND HER WORKS

Joshua 2:1 - 24

This chapter is of great importance as coming at the commencement of the book of Joshua. It would intimate to us that if we are to possess and enjoy the land, we must have Rahab's faith and Rahab's works. It is a particularly interesting chapter to us because it shows how the Gentile comes into divine blessing. I remember Mr. Stoney saying many years ago that one proof to him that Paul wrote the epistle to the Hebrews was that when recounting the acts of faith the writer stops when he comes to Rahab the harlot; when he has got the Gentile into the land he has reached the climax of the actings of faith.

Before we get any of the triumphs of Joshua and the army of Jehovah, we get a moral triumph which is greater than any of the military triumphs -- the victory of divine grace in the soul of Rahab. And her household is typically the household of faith.

We see here a marvellous working of God in the place where the enemy was strongest, for Jericho would represent that; and Rahab's house was in the strongest part of Jericho; it was on the wall. It is remarkable that the first activity of God in the land was not one of destruction but of blessing.

The iniquity of the Amorites was indeed full, and the divine sentence for their destruction had gone forth. But the first movement was a movement of grace in the heart of one who was certainly not one of the best of the guilty and condemned race. The New Testament speaks of her as "Rahab the harlot" (Hebrews 11 and James 2) to magnify the grace which did not

suffer her to perish along with the unbelieving, and which caused her to be justified by works. Hebrews calls attention to her faith and James to her works. God so wrought in Rahab that she became the most distinguished "mother in Israel" of her day.

It is interesting to note that the spies did nothing else, as far as the record goes, but take knowledge of the work of God in Rahab. They did not take knowledge of the strength of the enemy, but of the mighty power of God that could work in the strongest part of the enemy's territory and secure such a triumph for Himself.

We read in Hebrews 11 that Rahab received the spies with peace. It must have been an astonishment to the spies to find a person in Jericho to receive them with peace. The fact was that Jehovah had become her God; their God was her God unquestionably. She was the one person in Jericho who had a divine outlook on the situation; and when the spies got back to Joshua they reported Rahab's outlook on the situation. (Compare verse 24 with verses 9 - 11.) Rahab's faith is connected with how she received the spies, and her works are connected with how she dismissed them. We have to learn these two lessons spiritually if we are to estimate the present situation aright.

The spies, or messengers, represent the twofold character of the mission of the Spirit. Hebrews 11 calls them spies, and James 2 calls them messengers. The Spirit of God has come in that twofold character. He is a spy to search out and expose all the power of evil in this world. "And having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe on me; of righteousness, because I go away to my Father, and ye behold me no longer; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged" (John 16:8 - 12). That is the Spirit in the spy character; He searches out and exposes all the condition of the world in its opposition to God, in its Jericho character. On the other hand He is a messenger; He brings a message of blessing to all those who fear God.

These two men were spies in relation to Jericho, but messengers in relation to Rahab, divine messengers of grace and blessing. They "came into a harlot's house, named Rahab". They came to her, and as spies she received them with peace. Rahab was in accord with the judgment that God had passed on the people to whom she had belonged; she was in harmony with God and His people about it all; so she received the spies with peace. God can bring that about in presence of all the power of Satan and the world. He can bring a soul into harmony with His Spirit's judgment of all that is in the world; He can do it in the sovereignty of His mercy. There is a great deal involved in it.

Rahab could speak of what God had done at the Red Sea, and then of the overthrow of Sihon and Og (see verse 10). She understood typically what God had done through the death and resurrection of Christ for His people, as seen in the Red Sea. And she understood what he was doing in the power of the Spirit in His people in overthrowing the flesh. She had a spiritual estimate of it all, and she says, 'That God shall be my God; that people shall be my people; I will link myself with them; I no longer belong to Jericho or to Jericho's king, I belong to Jehovah and to His people'. She "received the spies with peace".

God would bear testimony to Himself in this remarkable way. He would glorify Himself in the sovereignty of His mercy at the very moment when He was about to judge. He would teach Israel that it was not their superiority that gave them title to the land, but His sovereign call and blessing. Just on the same principle as He had called Abraham, He called Rahab, and therefore we can understand James putting the two together: Abraham the vessel of promise in all his dignity as the great father, and then Rahab, a poor Canaanitish harlot, both the subjects of the same sovereign calling and the same divine working. How different the vessels! But the same treasure put in each! It is faith that distinguishes a person with God; not the vessel, but what God is pleased to put in it!

Jehovah's first act on the westward side of Jordan was to incorporate a poor Canaanitish woman of bad repute in His Israel, and not only so, but make her the chief "mother in Israel" of that day. For, as we know, Salmon married her, and she became the mother of Boaz, the great-grandfather of David, and thus directly into the line of which Christ, God's Anointed, came. Jehovah would secure a heart for Himself even in Jericho, and in one of its most disreputable inhabitants. He would bless a Gentile, and even bring in Christ through her posterity. He would put faith in such a vessel as Rahab, and then send His messengers to bring it to light!

Is it not blessed to think that God can work like this in the very midst of appalling darkness and corruption? Who can tell the spiritual condition of the world today? The innumerable forms of evil thought and teaching that abound in activity? All coming out of the heavenlies, from evil spirits who are there! But in the very midst of it all, and in those who have been fully identified with it, He secures something for Himself -- a house marked by faith that recognises His actings by Christ and by the Spirit on behalf of His people, and where His power and His kindness are fully owned.

The work of God in Rahab's soul had completely detached her morally from Jericho before the messengers came. Jehovah was her God and Jehovah's people her people, so that when the spies came she received them with peace. She was in harmony with what was outside the city, and in complete separation morally from what was inside. That is the position for us today. As a matter of fact we are still in Jericho, but we are there as completely dissociated morally from everything that is of Jericho. Our interests and hopes are all connected with what is outside the city. I wonder if that is true of us?

If we have not Rahab's faith and Rahab's works we are hardly prepared to learn the lessons of the book of Joshua. It is just as important for us to be justified by works as by faith. Faith is nothing if it does not result in a changed outlook; that is, we, like Rahab, must have not only a door but a

window. Rahab's door spoke of her faith, for by it she received the spies; but she had also a window, an outlook, and her works were connected with her window. We all need to have a door; there is no blessing without a faith door. But James tells us that she put forth the messengers "by another way", that was the window. Her window was her outlook. Her door must have been on the city side of her house. We find later that the door was to be opened to let anybody in who liked to enter, but there was to be no going out that way; if anyone went out of the door his blood would be on his own head.

Rahab received what came from God from outside the city, and she identified herself with it, and it linked her with Jehovah's army -- typically with all that was divine and spiritual. The messengers did not leave her as they found her; she "put them forth by another way". She understood they did not belong to Jericho at all; nor did she as to her hopes. She was really the first one to dwell in the land with a divine outlook, and as fully identified with the actings of God.

It is good to pass through the door of Rahab's house, for her house represents the household of faith; once through that door there must be no going back to the city. All our hopes and aspirations after that become connected with the window that looks outside the city. Perhaps some of us have a window on the wrong side of the house! This incident is a striking one as connected with the household principle; for Rahab was not exactly head of the house, but one who had a father and mother, and brethren and sisters, and she claimed them all for the blessing of God. Her faith was a household faith; she not only judged Jericho for herself, but she would have everyone connected with her to share the same judgment. If people passed out of the street of Jericho through the door of Rahab's house they figuratively left the world, to come into the sphere of faith, and there must be no going back through that door. If any went out, their blood would be on their own head. So, as Hebrews tells us, to go back is destruction. It is open to anyone to leave Jericho's people

and king and politics, and everything else connected with it. You can leave all by the door of Rahab's house, by the door of faith; but to go back means apostasy and destruction.

It was salvation to come into Rahab's house. "By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with the unbelieving, having received the spies in peace" (Hebrews 11:31). To separate oneself from the Jericho world is a fine thing. Rahab's door opened to let in her father and mother, brethren and sisters. Everybody who had any kinship with Rahab could come in. The question is, 'Am I one of Rahab's kinsfolk? Have I the same kind of faith as she had: faith that will judge the world in its strongest and most established form, and separate from it, and that will identify itself with God and His people, and with all that God is going to do in the purposes of His love for the honour of His Son?' It is fine to see that Rahab claimed all her kindred for blessing; and we are told that they all came in and identified themselves with her faith.

Lot did not save his house; he escaped himself, but so as by fire. Alas! many are like that; securing blessing for themselves but leaving their kindred outside! How could a christian parent be content to know he was linked up with the people of God, and not be concerned as to whether his children will perish with the unbelieving or not? It is sad to think that there are christian parents who take little care that their children should walk in the same path as themselves; parents full of thought and desire and energy in looking after the physical and worldly benefit of their children, who do not read the Word with them or take them aside and pray with them, or speak to them of the Lord. What can they expect!

Rahab's care was not only for herself, but that everyone connected with her should look at things as she did. How could any of us rest if we have relatives who do not think of things as we do, and feel about things as we do? Shall we not pray night and day, and do everything we can to bring them, so to speak, inside the door?

Rahab is a fine example of the kind of spirit produced by

the sovereign call of God, and by His working in the soul.

Jehovah was her God; she said, "He is God in the heavens above and in the earth beneath". She had done with the gods of Jericho, and all her hopes were connected with Jehovah and His people. She realised that God is not only powerful but kind, so she asked confidently for kindness from His people. What a knowledge of God she had! She had been brought up all her life under the influence of gods who were marked by the grossest forms of inhuman cruelty; but now she had a thought of God as One who is kind and whose people are kind. What a revolution had taken place in her soul!

Her window looked outside the city! Our works are connected with our outlook; my outlook determines the whole character of my spiritual life. What is my outlook? Rahab had not the slightest interest in the things of Jericho; her window looked outside the city, it looked in the direction of the people of God. Those who think of making the world better have their window on the wrong side of the house! What is outside the city? The ark of the covenant, Joshua, the priests and the people of Jehovah! They were coming in to take possession of the land! Rahab looked out in that direction; she put forth the messengers by another way. They came in at the door, but they went out by the window; "she let them down by a cord through the window". That is very suggestive. She linked herself personally with those two men by a cord. It spoke of the fact that she linked herself in her affections definitely and firmly with the people of God. If Rahab had not been drawn by cords of love she would not have had any wish to link herself with the people and servants of God; but she definitely linked herself with them when she let them down by a cord, and the men did not forget it. They said, "Thou shalt bind in the window this line of scarlet thread by which thou hast let us down".

Typically scarlet is a colour connected with the rights of Jehovah in Israel. Rahab acknowledged those rights; putting the scarlet thread in the window was her public confession

that all rights were with Jehovah and not with the king of Jericho. He had the right to dispose of the land as He willed according to His good pleasure. She confessed it publicly; and it characterised her outlook; she put it in the window.

At the present time what is our outlook? Is it not that in a very brief moment every other power is going to give way to the kingdom of our God and His Christ? That is our outlook and confession; not exactly before the world in this connection, but a confession which is such as the people of God can take account of. There is an aspect of confession that the world can take account of; that is, confession as in Romans. But there is another that the people of God can take account of; that is, confession according to the epistle to the Hebrews. Rahab did not put up the scarlet line for the people of Jericho to see, but for the people of God to see. In Matthew they mockingly put a scarlet robe on Christ; in mockery they invested Him with royal dignity in Israel. But Rahab typically confessed His rights in reality. Whatever you confess you will get the distinction of. She was not only saved, but Salmon married her, and Boaz was her son; and she came into the royal genealogy as the mother of God's anointed. In putting up the scarlet line she confessed before the people of God the rights of God. It is like God to bring in the Gentile to possess the land, and to possess it as in the royal lineage! The history of Rahab is wonderful.

"She ... put them forth by another way". It is good when we turn from the door to the window! If I only think of the door of faith I am thinking of my own blessing. Many thousands of God's people are thankful for the door who have not considered the window. But it is an important question, 'What is your outlook?' Daniel had a window; his outlook was towards Jerusalem, though it was only a heap of ruins; it was to him the city of the great King. Rahab's window opened towards the people of God as they were in God's mind; it opened to all the purposes of God concerning them. The spies took their cue from Rahab; they did not need to examine the fortifications, or to count the enemy's

soldiers; Rahab's faith was enough for them, and they went back to report the outlook of Rahab. They said not a word about the king or his chariots, or anything else, but they reported the situation as it appeared from Rahab's window.

The ten spies that Moses sent said the cities were walled up to heaven, but what does it matter if the wall is to heaven if God has taken possession of it? God took possession of the wall when He took possession of Rahab, for her house was on the wall. When the walls came down flat, that piece stood, so the spies went in and brought all Rahab's household out.

In Proverbs 31 the woman clothes all her household in scarlet. That is a beautiful thought; she brings them all up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is a fine state of things in a household. The head of every christian household is to be marked by two things; he has been himself nurtured by the Lord, and he has been admonished by the Lord. The Lord has corrected his many mistakes; he has been nurtured on one hand and admonished on the other, and that qualifies him to bring up his children in the same kind of education. He can tell them, 'I am passing on to you how the Lord has dealt with me. The Lord has nurtured me and admonished me, and I pass it on to you'.

Rahab hid the messengers; you do not give away your secrets to the world. She came into the position of a traitor to her own people. We may as well look it straight in the face; we cannot be among the people of God without being traitors to what goes on in the world. If I am a friend of the world I am an enemy of God, and if I want to be a friend of God I must be a traitor to the world. You cannot imagine Rahab putting the spies out of the window and keeping up friendly intercourse with people inside the city. She had transferred her allegiance from the king of Jericho to Jehovah; she became a traitor to the king of Jericho, and she hid the spies. That constituted the works by which she was justified. She had her secrets, and we have ours. If the people of this world knew what we thought about the world system,

they would think less favourably of us than they do; they would hardly think us fit to live.

It is interesting to note that she secreted the men "under the stalks of flax" (verse 6). It has been happily suggested that "flax" is linen in its crude form, and linen speaks of righteousness (Revelation 19:8). This would intimate, typically, that Rahab had judged everything in her past history that was not according to God; her old associations as a citizen of Jericho, and her former moral condition as a harlot all judged and done with. She is not seen as yet clothed in fine linen, but she has become possessed of the raw material, and is preparing it for use. It is suggestive of the wholly new moral condition which is to become characteristic of those who know God. They wear new garments, even "fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints".

As a matter of fact the walls of Jericho have not fallen yet. The great intellectual centres, the accumulated forces of human intellect and thought and progress, all influenced by wicked spirits in the heavenlies, are standing up as high as heaven, but they are coming down soon; and it is a great thing to judge them and by faith see them fallen morally before they actually come down. This chapter is an important one, especially for us Gentiles, because it sets forth in a striking way the calling and work and grace of God in a Gentile.

JORDAN

Joshua 3:1 - 17

Jordan is a type of death as that into which Christ has entered that He might annul its power so that life and incorruptibility might be brought to light in Him as risen from among the dead. Life in the power of resurrection was in God's thought for the saints of the assembly, and this can only be entered

into through Christ setting aside the power of death and taking His place in risen life in which He becomes the life of those who are His own. There can be no question that Christ as risen is outside the life of this world, and we only live spiritually in what God has purposed for us as risen with Him. We have to learn the great power of Christ to hold death in abeyance for His own even at a time when publicly nothing is changed. So that His saints can enter now in the Spirit into what is beyond death; they can have life in that region even while they are still here in flesh-and-blood conditions. But to enjoy that life they must pass over Jordan, and the scripture shows how they can do so. "When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God" (verse 3).

The great thing is to see the ark and go after it. Our eyes must be fixed upon Christ and for this we must read the gospels; we must learn what he was before he went into death. The glory of His divine Person must be understood, and this I believe is signified by the words, "Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure" (verse 4). He was entirely of His own order, a divine Person in manhood, and yet here to bring all that God was in grace near to men. But if we do not apprehend His inscrutable greatness we shall have no right estimate of the grace in which He was here. We read in the same chapter of Him saying, "Before Abraham was, I am", and of Him saying to a publicly convicted sinner, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more" (John 8).

MINISTRY ON JUDGES

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES

Judges 1:12 - 15

This incident is recorded in the book of Joshua (chapter 15) which is a book of success, but it is also found in Judges which is a book of failure, bringing it down, as it were, to our own times. What was needed at the beginning of our dispensation is just what is needed at the end of it. Achsah, representing a certain phase of assembly exercise, says, "Thou hast given me a southern land". She had the most favoured position, and that should never be out of our thoughts; God has given us the very best. The angel Gabriel said to Mary, "Hail, thou favoured one": no one could doubt that she was blessed among women. She had the very best that God could give: she was the chosen vessel to bring into humanity that Holy Thing which was to be called Son of God. But Luke has suggested to us that Mary was one of the assembly (Acts 1) and I believe it is right to say that, though she gave Him birth, she has no better title to Him than any other saint of the assembly. The "southern land", as far as we are concerned, is the favourableness of God expressed in His Son coming into the world; "The dayspring from on high".

But He is now glorified; three disciples were permitted to see His glory on the holy mount; He is now the Beloved and we are graced in Him. We know our place before God in Him. We are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. The position is most favourable, set forth in the younger son of Luke 15. What it was to God to have such a Son (our Lord Jesus Christ) in manhood! And now He is glorified. Our place in Him is entirely the fruit of redemption and new creation.

This is all so great that it can only be kept in freshness and power in our souls by "springs of water". The "upper

springs" would have reference to the purpose or heavenly side of our blessing, the "lower springs" to the responsible life here. If we grieve the Spirit it is like throwing earth into the springs. If we realised the value of the Spirit, we should be very careful about grieving Him. This is for the enjoyment of the inheritance, so that it would go along with sowing to the Spirit so as to reap life eternal. Use the springs: it is implied that if Achsah got the springs she would use them.

The springs of water in this type would go more with John 7 -- the inheritance is refreshed. It is coming to Jesus as glorified and drinking. It is first inward satisfaction in drinking from this wonderful fountain and then rivers flow out in an affectionate and feeling way amongst the brethren first. The individual believer becomes representative of the house and the throne. The apostles exemplified it.

The first sign of weakness was that Judah does not dispossess the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of iron, and this although it is said in the same verse (verse 19) "Jehovah was with Judah". That is, they failed to take account of the power of God: "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). The power of the antichrist is very great and he has in his arsenal all the chariots of modern thought, but we are to be overcomers in a greater power.

Then the children of Benjamin did not dispossess the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem (verse 21). This seems to be a question of the rights of God, for it was the city of the great King -- the place where Jehovah set His name. How soon things come in to challenge the rights of God in Christ. Is Christ entitled to be supreme as Son over God's house? Baptised to Christ is to own His rights: John speaks much of commandments, and then there are the commandments of the Lord in 1 Corinthians. If I do not own the rights of Christ my baptism is null and void, save as added responsibility. Jerusalem represents the rights of Christ as King and Head. Then the house of Joseph went up against Bethel (verses

22 - 26). They enlisted the co-operation of a man out of the city. If you accept the aid of the world you must show it kindness: Luz means a bend or curve; it is not a straight line. This man loved his city, though he was willing to purchase his own life by betraying it. He perpetuated its name where he went. How many things have got a twist through the help of the world being solicited or accepted! Constantine; the political powers at the Reformation; things retained that have no place at Bethel. Here it is a question of the truth of God. The house of God is the pillar and base of the truth. In Christendom the divine things are there, but they are bent to suit man; but in God's house all must be straight to suit God: "Cutting in a straight line the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

Then in Manasseh we find that "the Canaanites would dwell in that land" (verses 27, 28). The will of man got the ascendancy and was allowed. Thus even when Israel was strong they made the Canaanites tributary. There was not spiritual power to destroy heathen superstitions, so they were made tributary.

Then in Ephraim the Canaanites dwelt among them, as also Zebulun (verses 29, 30). Worldly principles found amongst the people of God and dwelling there -- birds of heaven come and roost in its branches.

Then the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land (verses 31, 32), and so with Naphtali (verse 33). Now the people of God are in the world.

Then finally the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill-country (verse 34). They have now fully the upper hand. I suppose the hill-country has always been available -- Luke chapter 1.

This is the history of the post-apostolic church. In 1 John we get the warnings and the antidotes: we love our brother. Then the world, the many antichrists, the liars, those who lead us astray: whatever we ask we receive from Him. "We know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given to us" (chapter 3: 24). "Prove the spirits, if they are of God"

(chapter 4: 1). "All that has been begotten of God gets the victory over the world" (chapter 5: 4). "If we ask him anything according to his will he hears us" (chapter 5: 14). "Many false prophets are gone out into the world" (chapter 4: 1). "Who soever goes forward" (2 John 9).

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES

Judges 2:1 - 23

It is interesting to see that the last mention of Gilgal, as regards anything transpiring there, is when Caleb came to Joshua to ask for his inheritance (Joshua 14). The end of Joshua 10 is the last return of Joshua and all Israel to Gilgal. The Angel of Jehovah was there though they did not know it. The secret now comes out of the increasing weakness of chapter 1. It is the allowance of the flesh in oneself that exposes us to its influence and power in others -- the world, the many antichrists, the liars, those who lead you astray, the practice of lawlessness, many false prophets, and the wicked one. If there was no allowance of the flesh in me there would be power to overcome: this is the real secret of overcoming, the armour is over our spiritual state (Ephesians 6).

But if we fail to return to Gilgal and lose power to overcome, the things which we ought to have overcome remain as a scourge and snare. Jehovah gave up His people to the enemies whom they had allowed through lack of self-judgment. The people weep (verse 4): there is still a measure of right feeling with them; and they sacrifice to Jehovah (verse 5): there is still some sense of what is due to Him. But the power of God is no longer with them for victory; they are left to be scourged and consumed by the things to which they have given place. It is a summing up of the whole history after the death of Joshua.

Verse 6 goes back to the days of Joshua and the elders who survived him. The people served Jehovah during that generation, but another generation arose who knew not Jehovah, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel: succeeding to privileges without soul history. Never having known the bondage of Egypt or the humblings of the wilderness, having no experimental knowledge of the passover or the Red Sea, or the brazen serpent or the passage of Jordan, nor any personal knowledge of God. God would impress upon us thus that each generation must take up things for itself; we cannot go in the faith of those who preceded us. Paul speaks of the unfeigned faith which was in Lois and Eunice, but he adds that it was in Timothy also. Timothy was Paul's true child in faith (1 Timothy 1).

Our parents might have had us baptised and instructed us in things, but they could not give us personal knowledge of God or of His works; that we have to take up for ourselves.

So that now other masters or persons are served. That is, the things which rule are of men; "Other lords have had dominion over us". The Ashtoreths (verse 13) might represent what would corrupt our affections. The Baals would be more what the energies are engaged in: it would be what we turn to for amusement or recreation.

Jehovah raised up judges who saved them; but if God raises up a judge he must be listened to. Jehovah was with the judge, He had pity. They ceased not from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.

Jehovah left the nations to prove Israel. "Spoilers that spoiled them" (verse 14). Are we really enjoying the land? Being oppressed and crushed would mean every influence brought to bear that would hinder the enjoyment of the land. Who can tell the religious oppression of penances and the terror of purgatory and the much labour that bears no spiritual fruit?

THE CITADEL OF PIETY

Judges 2:10

Our children are to grow up under divine teaching and impressions. It is a deep exercise to read in Judges 2:10, "And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, which knew not Jehovah, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel". What an exposure of the conditions of Israel! What an uncovering of household secrets! Where had been the teaching of the children? Where the all-pervading influence of Deuteronomy 11:18 - 20? which says, "And ye shall lay up these my words in your heart ... and ye shall teach them unto your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house ... and write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates".

Alas! it had not been there. Some may say, 'But we bring our children to the gatherings of God's people; they will learn and be impressed there'. Neither such gatherings nor any other instruction can take the place of divine impressions in the home. What goes on in these gatherings will not have moral power if it is not supported in the households of the saints. Children may forget what they hear on such occasions but can the oldest man ever forget the impressions made upon him by the home piety of his parents? It is because of such hallowed influences being passed on "that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers to give them".

The fact that the next generation did not know Jehovah, nor His works, is solemn evidence that the public weakness and departure which so soon manifested itself in Israel had its origin in individual heart and soul departure, and in the households of God's people ceasing to be what they were meant to be -- the very citadel of piety.

ADDRESS ON THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL

A SPIRITUAL FINISH

2 Samuel 17:27 - 29; 2 Samuel 19:31 - 43; Philippians 3:7 - 13; Habakkuk 3:17 - 19

It is of all importance that we should take account of the close of our journey here, and I desire to present to you what a spiritual finish is. We are very near now to seeing the Lord's face, and we ought to speak together in this hope. The Holy Spirit is giving to the saints today a sense of the expectation of it: we shall see Him come into all His rights, but I am thinking more of the blessedness of His very presence, surrounded with delight by all His own.

Paul writes to the Thessalonians in a different way from that to any other assembly. They had just recently been gathered to the Lord's name. Paul writes, not to the assembly at Thessalonica, but to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose they were very young and, just gathered to the Lord's name, had not been formed in assembly truth and principles, and he writes to them in that simple way. He presents the Lord and the Lord's coming in such a way as to set their hearts right, not only in relation to the testimony, but in the knowledge of divine Persons. He presents not only the public appearing of the Lord Jesus, but also the way we shall meet Him in the air.

In the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, Paul beseeches them by "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him". It is an expression of peculiar sweetness. Think of all saints gathering together unto Him -- not His name, but to Himself, and as the same scripture says, "live together with Him". That is our eternity, our full portion with Christ. We are not only to be together but we are to live together with Him. This is really what is to touch our

hearts and fill them with that expectancy of love that regards the Lord's coming with supreme anticipation of pleasure.

After presenting the hope of the Lord's coming in the first epistle, the apostle in chapters 1 and 2 of the second epistle gives words of consolation and instruction in view of the coming apostasy. Then he says, "But our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us, and given us eternal consolation and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts, and establish you in every good work and word". Nothing, not even the thickness of tissue paper, is to come between the Lord and our hearts; so we should have the enjoyment of our relationship with the Lord Jesus and with our God in service and in suffering for the testimony. It is the consciousness of the immediate support and love of the heart of Christ and the place we have eternally in our Father's heart and purpose that is our proper start: if we are to continue and to finish well we must make this beginning.

Now in speaking of Barzillai I wish to draw attention to this very serious consideration, that a person may have a good start and make progress, and then go back, the Lord having lost in the heart the place He had at first. There is nothing sadder than departure from the Lord Himself, and I suppose the history of Barzillai has been given to us in Scripture so that we should be able to take account of the sadness of spiritual enfeeblement. Barzillai and his companions met David when he was in reproach, bringing the very best they had, and no mean provision it was. The Spirit of God gives us a list of what they brought -- beds, basons and earthen vessels; wheat, barley, parched corn, flour, beans, lentils, pulse, honey, cream, sheep and cheese. The Lord does not forget our work of faith and labour of love, and if He has enlarged us and blessed us so that we have been able to minister to Him and to His own, He never forgets it. But how sad if the freshness that prompted it has declined in our souls!

Now in chapter 19, David returns to Jerusalem and Mephibosheth is there to greet him. Mephibosheth's affection has

been sustained; he has been feeling the absence of David and the falling away from David of many in Jerusalem, and through the testing time of David's absence he has ever remembered him with affectionate regard for his person and rights: his happiness is bound up with God's beloved. David mentions the inheritance, but Mephibosheth replies, 'It is not that I am thinking of: I am not troubled about the inheritance, everything to me is that you have come back'. What a comfort to the heart of David! A welcome from a heart that had never declined but beat true in his absence.

But it is otherwise with Barzillai; he meets the king and follows him over Jordan. David makes a proposition to Barzillai, 'Come up to Jerusalem and I will feed you. I do not forget that when in adversity you fed me, and now I want you to be my guest in Jerusalem; I want to sustain and feed you there'. What an invitation! The Lord proposes an advancement spiritually for us -- that we should go right up into the heart of blessing, where Christ is supreme, that we should dwell with Him in His Jerusalem. We should enjoy now what we are to enjoy eternally with Christ. The Lord finds pleasure in our willing response to that. Although the Lord regards with delight every bit of service towards Himself as it comes out in relation to His people -- caring for them, feeding them, serving Him in His interests here, just as Barzillai and his associates cared for David and his followers -- yet more deeply valued still by the Lord Jesus is the devoted affection that will follow Him up to Jerusalem where He may share in grace all He possesses with us there, and serve us that we may fully enjoy it all. "He will gird himself and make them recline at table, and coming up will serve them" (Luke 12:37).

Our being occupied with His interests here is one thing, but it is another His welcoming us into heavenly scenes even now in spirit, to share the fulness of what His ascending there has secured. It is blessed, but if it is to be responded to it calls for personal spiritual energy. It takes vigour of soul to pass up from Jordan to Jerusalem, and it is just the lack of that which

comes out typically in Barzillai's case. David had lost in Barzillai's heart the place he once had. If you watch Barzillai's feet you know where his heart is. He says, 'I am not as young as I was once nor as able to go about; I am superannuated; it is time I retired from the conflict. I will go over Jordan a little today'. It is very good to cross Jordan even for a visit, but David's proposal was that he should go up and reside with him, and he said, "I will maintain thee". Does your heart incline to follow the Lord over Jordan into the sphere where He is owned as the risen One? If you do, that is well, but He wants you further. He wants to lead your heart up to heaven, that you may know and enjoy heavenly things.

The Lord attracts us over Jordan that He may set our minds on heavenly things. It may be only a visit at the start, but you cannot cross very often without feeling it would be good to follow the Lord up to Jerusalem and remain with Him where He is supreme, and where He maintains all. We may come down to this side to serve His interests here, but our centre and home is with Him there. Barzillai says, 'I am old, I will go a little way'. Do you think a saint in spiritual energy would speak like that? Remember the walk Enoch took with God -- it was as "the path of the just ... that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18). Do any of us feel old spiritually? Is it that once there was a discernment of divine things and an appetite for the things of Christ, and now one is at a loss when hearing others speak of things one is unable to discern? You have grey hairs and you know it not, age has crept on and you did not observe it, affection for Christ has waned and the heart has turned to something else, and the Lord Jesus is accorded a second place where once He was first.

It is very serious if one is beginning to find a lack of edge in one's taste for divine things. Barzillai said, 'I am not able any more to hear the sound of singing men and singing women'. It is important to see that spiritual things are sustained in deep spiritual joy, and saints who are going on spiritually are bound to sing. Wherever saints are sustained in spiritual

affection for Christ and for His interests they are bound to sing. When David is having His place in Jerusalem there is bound to be singing there. We should be at liberty, not only to hear the saints sing, but to sing with them. David said (Psalm 87) "This man was born there" -- Zion. "Jehovah will count when he inscribeth the peoples, This man was born there". Christ is the Man who was born there; Jerusalem is His city, and this psalm speaks of the singers and dancers being there. It is the place God loves, "He loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob".

Now the men and women singing tell of the intelligent and affectionate interest of the saints in everything being established in Christ, and that He fills the heart of God and His people so that God should find His pleasure in a company of saints who sing to Him. There is a reference in Job to the morning stars singing together and all the sons of God shouting for joy. They saw what God had before Him and were delighted in sympathy with it. What a poor estimate of the heart of David Barzillai had! "Wherefore should thy servant be a burden to the king?" Affection for Christ would cast you entirely upon all that He gives -- the care and support that would love to carry you across Jordan and up to Jerusalem and set you down amongst His happy company so that you should partake of all the value of the best things in Jerusalem. One feels that unconsciously there was with Barzillai a doubt of the affections of David. Barzillai says his servant Chimham shall go: Chimham means 'longing'. David must have felt, 'Ah, Barzillai, I have lost my supreme place in your affections'. Chimham gets all that Barzillai misses.

Now I have read the passage of Scripture from Habakkuk to illustrate what it is to have a good spiritual finish, what it is to sing in spiritual energy at the close. His day was like the day in which we live. He took account of things as they were among the people of God publicly, and it broke his heart. Habakkuk is a heart-broken man because of the testimony. There had been departure from the Lord, and there is no course for him, devoted man that he was, but to stand upon

the watch-tower and pray. A broken heart in relation to the testimony first of all isolates you, puts you in a separate path, and there you get a divine start. He is praying, and soon light as to the whole mind of God comes before him; he sees that the issue of it is that the Lord will come out in His power and rid the scene of all desolation, and the whole earth will be filled with His glory.

What view have you got from your watch-tower? Habakkuk had a view of things as God had secured them for His own pleasure: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail ..." -- although desolation shall mark the whole scene before me, "Yet shall I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation". Then he says, "He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon my high places". What a bright contrast to what we have been regarding! Here we have spiritual energy, no old age, and a man able to scale up to high places. There are for us all the blessed privileges peculiar to the assembly in our high places, but it needs hinds' feet -- spiritual vigour to rise to them. Now Habakkuk can sing, "To the chief Musician. On my stringed instruments"! That is the end of a man's path who through exercise rose to the possibilities of the day in which he lived. A spiritual man ends with hinds' feet, high places and stringed instruments. You have them all in Philippians 3 in our apostle, and how exhilarating to hear his call to us! There is no idea of retiring from the race here, and no note of depression. Instead of decline there is increase: "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss". His taste is with him -- no grey hairs, no waning affection or enfeebled vision; he sees clearly. And it is all Christ and Christ in heaven, and so Paul is full of joy. He rejoices in the Lord.

May the Lord encourage us to follow Himself to where He is, and be thus kept amid the ruin of the moment in affection for Himself and appreciation of heavenly things, with hinds' feet in high places, and among the singing men and women with stringed instruments.

READINGS AND ADDRESS ON 2 KINGS

THE DOUBLE PORTION

2 Kings 2:9

To have "a double portion" of the Spirit of the Man taken up into heaven is one of the great outstanding wonders which Scripture presents to us. This marvellous gift is set before us as something to be desired in a very distinctive way by lovers of Christ. It is for those who apprehend Christ as taken into heaven, and who wish to be empowered to represent Him here. "Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so" (2 Kings 2:9, 10). Elisha loved Elijah enough to want a double portion of his spirit. Now the question is, Do we love Christ in heaven enough to want a double portion of His Spirit? Those who have never had much exercise about the Spirit, or any great desire to have Him, cannot be said to have qualified for the reception of the Spirit. There was desire on the part of Elisha, and yet there was an "if" on Elijah's part, and he told Elisha that he had asked "a hard thing". This is to let us know that a double portion of the Spirit of the Man in heaven is not a small thing with God, and it will not be upon us apart from genuine exercise.

I believe that the thought of having "a double portion" of the Spirit is that those who have it are distinguished as the firstborn was distinguished (Deuteronomy 21:17). But it is a distinguishment which is open to every believer who desires it, and who apprehends Christ in heaven as "having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit". The Lord as risen spoke to His disciples of "the promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4),

but before that promise could be fulfilled to the disciples Jesus had to receive it as exalted by the right hand of God (Acts 2:33). The promise of the Father has been received by the exalted Man in heaven. And I believe there must be some apprehension of Him as in heaven, and as receiving the promise of the Father there, to qualify, if I may use the word, to receive a double portion of His Spirit.

Hence Elijah says, "If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee". It was conditional on seeing him when taken. For us it would imply a definite apprehension of Jesus as taken up into heaven, and as receiving there of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit.

I trust we can all see how great a matter this is. If Jesus were not in heaven He would not have received the Holy Spirit as the promise of the Father, and there would have been no double portion of His Spirit to be upon His lovers here. He imparts to His lovers here who desire it a double portion of what He has received of the Father in heaven -- not, of course, that they have twice as much as He has, but they have what He has in a wonderful and distinguishing way. But this is not something to make us important as men living upon the earth, for Elisha had gone through Jordan with Elijah before he asked for a double portion of his spirit. It is as accepting death here that we can be truly distinguished in relation to Christ in heaven, for the Spirit is the Spirit of an exalted Man in heaven. We should think much of the Spirit in this connection. The Lord when here said, "How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him" or, as it may read, "the Father, who from heaven will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him" (Luke 11:13). He put stress upon the fact that the Spirit would be given from heaven -- a conscious, inward link with heaven given by the Father, but given to them that ask Him, showing that the Lord would awaken interest in this great gift, and a desire for it. If it has never been the subject of desire, and of asking, it can hardly be rightly appreciated.

Acts 1 tells us how the Lord was taken up into heaven, and chapter 2 makes known how the Spirit was poured out by Him with the result that such a powerful testimony was given that about three thousand souls were added to the believers in one day. "Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God may call". They would all understand that this heavenly gift was a present reality; the evidence of it was there before their eyes and sounding in their ears. Each one of them would be intensely concerned to have part in this great "promise". We cannot suppose that one of them would be content to be uncertain whether he had received the promised gift or not. The apostles were special vessels of the power of the Spirit, and afterwards Stephen and Philip, but the gift of the Spirit was expressly declared to be a matter of promise to "as many as the Lord our God may call". No believer should think that this wondrous gift is not for him, or that he has no need to concern himself about it.

JOTTINGS OF A READING

2 Kings 8:1 - 29

C.A.C. God uses world-powers to chastise His people -- Hazael was anointed by God for it. He may suspend things for a number of years; so that God's ways in the Old Testament are very instructive: He said of Moab, "Moab is my wash-pot" (Psalm 108:9), to be used for the purification of His people.

Rem. "For behold, I command, and I will shake the house of Israel to and fro among all the nations, like as one shaketh corn in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth" (Amos 9:9).