Genesis 2:21 - 23, Genesis 11:29; Genesis 24:15 - 21
The tendency of human hearts would be to regard marriage from a natural point of view, and probably it is to counteract this tendency that God has throughout Scripture connected spiritual thoughts with it. He would have the marriage relationship to be taken up by His saints in the light of what is spiritual.
When the marriage relationship is brought before us in Scripture the feminine side of it is made prominent, indicating that the spiritual features involved are intended to characterise the saints subjectively. Our attention has often been called on such occasions to the wonderful acting of God as recorded in Genesis 2. There is something, indeed, in the type which is far greater and deeper than anything that could be true of the Christian husband and wife. For naturally the wife is never of her husband in the same way that Eve was of Adam. But the assembly is of Christ in that way, and the Christian husband and wife are to take up their marriage relation in the light of this.
Eve was taken out of Adam, and the assembly is composed of those who are members of the body of Christ. We have a more intimate link with Christ than with the nearest earthly tie. Eve could have said, Every bit of me came out of Adam. She must have learned from Adam that she was of him: "And Man said, This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man" It is from what Christ has said in us that we know that we are of His body, and in union with Him. Paul says, "This mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly" Two persons becoming one flesh is a figure of this great mystery, and the Christian husband and wife -- the one in his love and the other in her subjection -- are to take up their relationship in the light of it. It is a type of what belongs to eternal purpose.
Sarah is the next wife in Scripture connected with the faith line, and she brings another great spiritual instruction before us.
It is not quite so elevated as the Eve type Sarah is a dispensational type in contrast with Eve, who is a type of what is in divine purpose. Sarah appears in Scripture as representing the system of grace as over against the system of law. She is "the free woman" in contrast with the maidservant Hagar; what is of promise and of Spirit comes in by Sarah. So that in connection with Sarah we learn to distinguish the speciality of the dispensation under which we live. There will be no liberty in anything that we take up if we do not take it up as under grace. A sense of that will preserve us from any spirit of demand in our relations one with-another. It is important for husband and wife, and for all of us, to walk together in liberty as under the great economy of grace. We are favoured to take up things as knowing God in His unmerited grace, and knowing that He can be counted upon as faithful to all that He has promised. And along with this there is the Spirit for power.
Peter exhorts husbands to dwell with wives "according to knowledge"; that is, they are both to understand the terms on which God is with them, and to act on the same terms towards each other. They will thus be "fellow-heirs of the grace of life"; they are both to have part in this. And they must be careful that nothing is allowed to come in to take them off the line of receiving from God. They must preserve liberty of access to God in dependence upon Him for all they need. So Peter adds, "that your prayers be not hindered". God is always to be counted on, and that intelligently. Liberty in our relations with God lies at the root of happy marriage relations, and all other happy relations. If we take them up in natural power we shall break down, for when we deviate from liberty and promise, and the thought of receiving from God in pure unmerited favour, we lose touch in a practical way with the Spirit, and then we have no power to move in acceptability to God. But as we go on according to knowledge and according to Spirit, we shall acquire likeness to Rebecca, who is the next prominent bride in Scripture.
In Rebecca we see a beautiful additional characteristic. Eve as a type connects with God's eternal purpose; Sarah brings out His grace dispensationally; but Rebecca sets forth those captivating personal qualities which are suitable to satisfy the affections of the heavenly Man. The particular feature which the
servant looked for was a readiness to serve, and he found an unaffected spontaneity in this way that caused him to be astonished at her. All truth should work out in this way, whether it be the truth of the assembly or the truth of the dispensation of grace. It was Rebecca's qualification to be Isaac's wife. She "let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him to drink. And when she had given him enough to drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have drunk enough" She was truly a woman of worth.
The marriage relationship taken up according to knowledge should give more scope for the spirit of service, for there are many things which a husband and wife can do which neither of them could do alone. Rebecca (meaning noose, or captivating) sets forth in type the beautiful feature of willing service. Some -- like Mary of Bethany -- have been found ready to serve fitly at the right moment. There is nothing really greater than to serve with intelligent readiness when service is required, and when is it not required?
I do not think Rebecca acquired this aptitude in a moment. She could not have taken on this character so simply and unaffectedly if she had not been habituated to it. I have no doubt she had grown up in having delight in serving others. It has been said in the world that an act repeated becomes a habit, and a habit continued becomes a character. We can only acquire by steadily pursuing the line of the Spirit. Phoebe is a beautiful illustration in the New Testament of readiness to serve; Paul commends her as "servant of the assembly". There was no partiality with her, no personal favourites; she served the assembly. She was ready to help everybody; she had helped many, even Paul. The Son of man came to serve, and this feature is to come out in a feminine way in the assembly. How attractive is this feature to the heavenly Christ! It is the feminine reproduction of Himself. The spirit of Rebecca is to mark all who are of the assembly. May we all seek to be more characterised by this beautiful spirit of service! May God impress the lessons taught in connection with these three early marriages in an effective way, not only on the hearts of our brother and sister but upon all our hearts!
A Word given at a Marriage Meeting
Judges 1:12 - 15
We have here the first mention of a marriage in Israel after they had entered the land -- not that I wish to dwell on that particular side of things-but rather the spiritual significance it has for us at the present moment.
Certain conditions were presented to the one who could have the right to take to wife Achsah, the daughter of Caleb. Such a one must smite and take Kirjath-Sepher (the city of the book). Othniel comes before us in the Scripture as an overcomer. It says, he took it and Caleb gave him Achsah. It is well to take account of this. No one should consider taking up the position of headship to another unless he is an overcomer. Othniel took the city of the book, that is, he overcame all that pertained to him naturally. This world's wisdom, natural relationships, etc., while having their place, must be subordinate to that which is spiritual and held in relation to the sphere which headship assumes. No one has any right to take the place of headship to another unless he is prepared to refuse every worldly influence. No such influence should be allowed to touch the vessel of which he is head. We get a striking example of this in Othniel. While this is primarily a picture of Christ and the assembly, it applies to every marriage relationship taken up in the Lord.
The account given in judges is not quite on the same level as that in Joshua; there it is rather the conqueror going triumphantly through -- here it would be more on the line of continued conflict and conquest, not finality but steadily holding that position.
How encouraging for our young brother this evening in the new relationship he has taken up! Then for our sister, too, we have a beautiful type in Achsah of a vessel in subjection. As she came, she "urged him to ask" -- what an incentive this would be to a brother to have a wife who urged him to pray! She would bring all her influence to bear to help him to become a man of prayer -- although in quiet subjection to the principle of headship.
This is how a married sister may take the lead, in urging her husband to pray.
"She sprang down from the ass". Spiritual energy is indicated here, desire for further blessing. She had already experienced the joy of possessing the south land. She did not ask for more land. She did not need it.
When Othniel had conquered the "city of the book" it became the "city of the word" to him. The Word speaks of Christ. When God gave Christ He gave all, there is nothing to be added. Achsah knew this, she has spiritual discernment, so she asks for springs of water. She knew that the land would become barren and unfruitful apart from the supply of springs of water. It is possible for our inheritance to become dry and unyielding to us apart from the living springs of water in the Spirit. He alone can enable us to enjoy to the full our inheritance in Christ. Hence what privileges a sister may take up. Here is Achsah urging her husband to pray, seeking further blessing on territory already gained and receiving a full response.
In the case of Rebecca -- rather a different setting -- the vessel loses herself entirely in another, covers herself even from her head, and goes out of sight. But in Achsah, while she maintains perfect subjection, she moves forward in active affection in the energy of the Spirit. "And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs"; the upper springs would suggest the region of the Spirit, where divine operations are continually carried on, and the lower springs would speak to us of the affections of the brethren, that circle of love where our spirits are so oft refreshed.
May our beloved young brother and sister know something in their new pathway of these experiences, the upper springs for spiritual wealth, the lower springs for mutual comfort and help amongst the Lord's people.
A Word given at a Marriage Meeting
Before saying a brief word on this scripture I would recall to our minds the deep interest of divine Persons in the subject of marriage. It was God who thought of a helpmate for Adam, and Scripture makes manifest that each Person of the Trinity has a personal interest in the conception of marriage. The Father is concerned that His Son should have a wife, as we see typically in Abraham. Christ is occupied with the thought of having a wife; he is looking forward to the consummation of His marriage in conditions of glory. And the Spirit, too, is deeply interested in this matter, for He has taken His place alongside the bride to say "Come" to the Bridegroom.
And not only are divine Persons concerned about this matter, but all the saints are learning how the marriage relation is interwoven with their whole spiritual life. That "ye ... be to another, who has been raised up from among the dead" (Romans 7:4), is a thought which depends for its meaning on the marriage relation. To be "joined to the Lord" (1 Corinthians 6:17) is an individual application of the same thought. For each local assembly to be espoused "unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2) is in view of marriage. And in Ephesians 5 the assembly is viewed as the wife of Christ; she has been brought to union. So that exercise as to the marriage relation touches us all; we are all called to have part in it.
It is a thought of divine love that there should be a natural relationship which serves to illustrate the relationship which will subsist between a divine Person who has become Man, and is now glorified, and the assembly as elevated by divine grace so as to be suitable for union with Him. We are privileged to view the present occasion in the light of this wondrous thought of divine love. The marriage relation is marked, on one side of it, by subjection, but without any thought of inferiority or disparity. The assembly being subjected to the Christ conveys no thought
of a servile relation; it is subjection to the claim of an infinite love. And that is the model of wifely subjection.
Those who take up this new relationship today have the spiritual privilege of taking it up in the light of all the great thoughts of God with reference to it. The Lord would shed the lustre of all that is in His own mind upon the relationship. It is for those who take it up to realise the great favour of God which calls them to grace the relationship in a way that will honour Him, and lead to continuous rejoicing in Him. It is with that thought in mind that I have read the verse from Isaiah 61:10. There is the sense of all that is good coming in from the hand of God; He is joyfully recognised as the Source and Giver of all that is fitting in relation to Himself. So that taking it up brings a joy comparable to the joy of the bridegroom and the bride. It is the privilege of our beloved brother and sister to take up this new relationship as God-given, and something intended to increase their joy in the One who has given it.
I think we see in this Scripture in a striking way how a bridegroom and a bride may take up their new relationship. We are told that "a bridegroom decketh himself with the priestly turban". This suggests that his intention is to take up things in spiritual intelligence and dignity. It suggests that he has in mind the service of God. He stands prepared for priestly service in praise and in prayer. He is thinking of having a morning and evening altar in his new home. One could hardly think of anyone decking himself with the priestly turban in the assembly who does not wear it at home. On the side of mercy we have sung that 'Our times are in Thy hand' (Hymn 210), and in the assurance of this we desire that what is spiritual may predominate in the home and lives of those who are the subjects of our prayers today.
Then it is said that "a bride adorneth herself with her jewels". Worldly adornments on such an occasion as this give the saints no pleasure; they lead to sorrow. But there are jewels of imperishable value as being God-given, and our dear sister has worn some of them amongst us locally, and we trust they will shine more and more for the comfort of saints in another locality.
We are thankful for the grace that has been upon our dear brother and sister in the past, and we look that this may increase, and that there may be distinctly more for Christ as the result
of their marriage. May they so walk in this new relationship that God may be honoured, and that no cloud may come upon their spiritual joy!
A word given at a Marriage Meeting, Teignmouth 1941
1 Corinthians 7:32 - 34; Ephesians 5:22 - 30; Proverbs 31:10 - 12, 23, 28, 29
It is evident that the divine ideal of marriage is not presented in 1 Corinthians 7. We can understand that it could not be on account of the carnal state of the company to which the apostle was writing. We are, however, privileged to have the judgment of a spiritual man -- the apostle -- as to the way that marriage is looked at naturally. Naturally the husband seeks to please his wife and the wife seeks to please her husband, but the apostle shows us that if we are on that line it will lead to worldliness and destroy spirituality. We do well to take note of the danger.
My thought at this time is to call attention to the great contrast when we have the divine ideal of marriage before us. For that we must turn to Ephesians and Proverbs. Ephesians 5 gives the ideal husband, that is Christ, and Proverbs 31 gives us in a figurative way the ideal wife, that is the assembly. We find then that, instead of marriage being a disadvantage and full of peril that leads to worldliness and not giving the Lord His rights, if it is taken up spiritually in the light of the present truth, the husband and wife become mutually of the greatest advantage to one another. They do not seek to please one another, but seek the true spiritual advantage of one another. There is an immense difference between the two ideas.
In Ephesians 5 we get nothing about the activities of the wife; the chapter is full of the activities of Christ as the Head. In His service of love He does everything for the advantage of His wife. That is the model for every Christian husband. Christ seeks to do everything for the spiritual advantage of that company which He loves and for which He gave Himself.
When we turn to the model wife in Proverbs 31 we find that her activities are for the advantage of her husband. She is not on the low level of merely pleasing him, but on the high level of seeking his advantage in every possible way.
In Ephesians the service of Christ to the assembly requires
subjection, not exactly to authority but to the service of love. As the assembly is subject to the service of Christ's love she takes on the qualities of the woman of worth in Proverbs. She is passive in Ephesians, but the subject woman of Ephesians 5 becomes the active wife of Proverbs 31. She serves and lays herself out to minister to the spiritual advantage of her husband. That is the ideal marriage. We must realise the different level of 1 Corinthians 7 and come to the platform of that of which Christ and the assembly are models. Christ is everything for the assembly and the assembly is everything for Christ. In the working of it out everything that contributes to the advantage of the other is sought. Whatever Christ does is for the advantage of the assembly and whatever the assembly does is for the advantage of Christ. Think of the gain to Christ in having such a wife as the assembly, one who cares for His interests and seeks His interests in every way! That is the model our beloved brother and sister should pursue -- the husband seeking to express the love of Christ to his wife and she brought into subjection to that love. Each believing husband should be set that his wife should have features of the assembly, and each believing wife should receive impressions and become active for the advantage of her husband. I would press on our brother and sister that it should be the keynote of their life to minister to the spiritual advantage of one another. Then all would work out happily. "The heart of her husband confideth in her .... She doeth him good, and not evil, all the days of her life .... Her husband is known in the gates". Every believing wife should be filled with a holy desire that her husband should be known in the assembly in spiritual worth. Then instead of marriage being a drawback and leading to the Lord not having His place, all the activities of the husband and wife would work together so that there would be great advantage and gain. The husband and wife would be better off in their relationship than out of it.
May the Lord put our beloved brother and sister on this lofty platform! We should covet and cherish the divine ideal in regard of these relationships. May the Lord help us!
A Word given at a Marriage Meeting, 1939
1 Corinthians 2:12, 13; Ecclesiastes 12:9 - 11
The present period is a dispensation of speaking. It is marked by the Father speaking, and the Son speaking, and the Holy Spirit speaking; and spiritual persons are speaking, too, as we have been reminded this evening from Malachi 3:16. We have been reading lately of the treasures of the house of God, and we have had before us now how Wisdom fills the treasuries of those who love her.
It is of deep interest to consider that divine treasures take intelligible form by being expressed in words. We are capable of receiving and communicating divine things by means of words, and our intelligent bond with one another is realised as we speak one to another. It may, of course, be truly said that the Lord and the Spirit are our bond, but there is no intelligent bond unless spiritual things are communicated in words. Peter said to the Lord, on behalf of the twelve. "Thou hast the words of eternal life". Those words, those particular communications, were the link between the Lord and them.
The speaking of the apostle, as referred to in 1 Corinthians 2:13, was in "words ... taught by the Spirit", and his service was marked by "communicating spiritual things by spiritual means". The words taught by the Spirit were inspired words, and we do not claim to use Spirit-taught words in that sense, but we should seek in our speaking to one another to use words that are rightly expressive of the mind of the Spirit. By such communications we can have intelligent links with each other, and come into contact with the work of God in each other's souls. That can only be brought about by means of words being spoken and heard.
In connection with this subject it is well to observe the method of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, for he was a model speaker. He was "wise", and he pondered, and he "sought to find out acceptable words". We are often too casual and haphazard in our speaking to one another. It would be well if our speaking were
more the outcome of what we have "pondered". It would thus take on more of the character of "the words of the wise", of which we are told that they are "as goads". Words which stimulate movement are truly valuable, and the collections of them are "as nails fastened in: they are given from one shepherd". It should be our business to "collect" as many of "the words of the wise" as we can, not merely as having them in our note-books, but as having them "as nails fastened in". That is, they are driven right home, and have a fixed and permanent place in our souls. Let us consider whether our speaking is like this, whether it comes to others with stimulating power, and is so fastened in that it cannot be got out again! Nails truly fastened in remain permanently as part of our structure, if we may so speak.
In this way the work of the Lord would be promoted and developed amongst us. That work is largely accomplished by means of speaking. Our words are to he "acceptable"; they are not to be raw or immature. Our speaking to one another is important, for much depends upon it. It either binds together, or it tends to disintegrate. Divine Persons have spoken so that we might take on the same character of speaking. It was so in the case of the apostles who learnt from Christ, who, indeed, uttered "acceptable words", learning from His Father every morning "how to succour by a word him that is weary". What a Model He is for us! In Luke 4 how carefully He found the words that were precisely suitable for the occasion! It is true that His words were rejected, and therefore we need not be surprised if our words are rejected; but let us see to it that they are always with grace, seasoned with salt.
There is a particular sense in which these meetings for ministry are a revival of spiritual speaking. If prophetic ministry had continued in the assembly it would have been a great check upon incoming evil. It would have been an effectual barrier to the setting up of the clerical principle. Probably the giving up of meetings such as are spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14 was one of the first proofs of assembly decline, and it opened the way for man to have a voice in the assembly rather than God. Now that they are revived again it is for us to continue in exercise that the speaking is really in the power of the Spirit of God. "Goads"
are not spiritual common-places; they are words which make it necessary to move forward. And "nails fastened in" are words "given from one shepherd"; they come from the Lord, and remain fixed in the soul.
A Word given at a Meeting for Ministry
God's house is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth, and there must he suitable conduct on the part of everyone who is in it. "God's house" is marked by divine order. "The assembly of the living God" suggests a company of persons in spiritual vitality, so that their order is not merely correct form, but the outcome of living exercises. "The pillar and base of the truth" refers to the assembly as set here in witness in the power of divine anointing amidst all the instability and untruth of men's thoughts. And the secret spring of all is the "great" mystery of piety -- the cherishing in holy affections all that was manifested in flesh when Christ was here. There we see the full expression of God as in the light of revelation, and we see also everything that was suitable to God in a Man. This known in the heart is "the mystery of piety" -- the unseen moving power which lies behind all that discloses itself in the practical life of saints, like the spring and works of a clock which cannot be seen, but which need to be in action if the hands are to indicate the correct time. There will neither be divine order, spiritual vitality, nor true witness if piety is lacking. The origin and maintaining power of piety is the affectionate knowledge of Christ as He may be seen portrayed in the four Gospels. The conduct suitable to the assembly has this for its living spring. This, when enshrined in loving hearts, will work out a result that is worthy of God, in order, in living conditions, and in witness.
Written on the back of a Bible
I was thinking, beloved brethren, of the profound importance of the work of God which is being carried on in the time scene in view of what is eternal. It is solemn for us to consider that the work of God in the souls of His people is being done here and now. Our beloved brother, whose loss we all feel, has left a memory behind him of fidelity to the Lord which we might all covet to follow, to imitate. His course has been marked by steadfastness and boldness of faith which did not shrink from anything which obedience and fidelity to the Lord's interests demanded. His steady course and purpose have been an encouragement and stimulus to many of us, and may perhaps often have been a rebuke. He loved to move in and out amongst the people of God and serve to his utmost ability; his heart and house were ever open to lovers of Christ.
It is pressed upon me to say just a word on what lay behind all that we can thus take account of, and that is, the work of God in our brother. What impressed me during the years that I knew him (and the longer I knew him the more I became impressed with it) was that the work of God in him was greater and deeper than what appeared on the surface. I believe his soul history -- his private exercise -- was deeper than anything that came out in his public service. Would that it were so with us all! How much it is to be desired to be greater inwardly than we are outwardly! "He that has wrought us for this very thing" -- we all know that "this very thing" is the condition of glory. The work of God is to produce spiritual substance which is suitable to be introduced into glorious and eternal conditions. There was marked evidence of such work in our beloved brother. It was precious to take account of it when he was with us; it is a peculiar satisfaction and joy to dwell upon it now, something wrought by God. There is solemnity in regarding that work as now finished, and as being finished it is a suitable basis for the superstructure of glory. A moral formation, a spiritual formation,
wrought in the sovereignty of mercy, according to the purpose of infinite love! Vessels of mercy we all are, and being "before prepared for glory". Do we consider sufficiently that the blessed God knows how to prepare vessels for glory and is doing it all the time we are here?
When the children of Israel reached the borders of the land they were told to remember "all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years". There had been contrary elements, but there had been a divine leading every step of the way, teaching them to live by what proceeded out of His mouth. As we live by that there is something wrought of God, something entirely of Himself. Now that work as regards our beloved brother is finished and he as the spiritual product of it will very soon be clothed with glory.
It is very exercising for us to think of the termination of the period during which we are being "wrought for this very thing". God finished His work in creation and when it was finished He rested. How blessed to think of that being wrought in men in result of which God can have a sabbath!
The work of God in this scene is finished in our brother, that preparedness for glory which consists in loving God and in appreciation of Christ and affectionate response to His love, a practical giving place to the Holy Spirit. That is the work of God and that is suitable to have put upon it a superstructure of glory.
Our beloved brother loved God, he appreciated Christ, he had learned to know the blessed ministration of the Spirit. Could there be anything greater? There is nothing in the glory more wonderful! Then he loved the brethren; how suitable that is for glory!
We love to think of our beloved brother, as known to us in this wondrous and blessed character as a subject of the work of God. It is that which imparts a deep touch of thanksgiving and even worship to such an occasion as this!
A Word given at a Burial, 1924
Mark 15:33 - 39; Acts 7:55 - 60
These Scriptures come to; my mind as being the setting forth of the only two occasions recorded in the New Testament of which we have any account in detail of the death of any person. I read in Mark because he gives us a fuller detailed account of the death of the Son of God. Everything rested on that death. Mark gives us the sin-offering character; He was forsaken of God in that place. But for that death, there could be no death like Stephen's; Stephen's death is typical of the death of believers in this dispensation. All rests on the death of the Son of God -- the fullest blessing of man. The veil was rent -- it is God coming out in fullest blessing and grace, founded on the death of the Son of God. The believer has no more conscience of sins; he is fitted for the presence of God in all the value of the death of the Son of God.
How good to know that our beloved sister was for years in the profound peace consequent upon the death of the Son of God! Stephen sees the glory of God, and Jesus. With Stephen, everything else has disappeared from his vision, and that is true, in measure, of every saint; there is a point reached where nothing remains but "the glory of God, and Jesus". Holy rapture then fills the soul. Unspeakable joy was experienced by our sister, everything left behind of the pathway here; all the mercy and grace, even that not engaging her thoughts, but "the glory of God, and Jesus"; not the sorrow and failures, it was "the glory of God, and Jesus". Any service is ended; "the glory of God, and Jesus" remains. Our sister entered upon her eternal portion while here, and now she is in the joy of what was hers here; our sister reached the glory here; holy joy diffuses itself through our hearts as we think of her portion now. We shall participate in that through God's eternal day; how we bless God for that!
A Word given at a Burial, 1939
John 11:25,26; John 12:3
It is on my heart that the Lord may engage our thoughts and affections with Himself The sisters at Bethany were mourning the loss of their brother, but when the Lord said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life", it was as much as to say, I would have you think of Me.
How wonderful that God had brought into this world a Person who could say, "I am the resurrection and the life"! In that Person there was a power and a glory absolutely superior to the power of death; nothing brought out the glory of the Son of God as death did. If He came into contact with death -- and, thank God, He did -- it was only to make manifest His complete victory over death. The power of divine love and holiness in Him could but be victorious over death.
The Lord says, "he that believes on me, though he have died, shall live". It is a great and blessed thing to believe on Him -- the One in whom resurrection was inherent even as a Man in this world. In Him, the Son of God, was the power of resurrection, and those who believe on Him become participators in the power of resurrection that is in Him. They live in the life of the One in whom they believe.
It is but a brief moment until all who believe on the Son of God will be found in actuality in His life in resurrection, an order of life in which we are to live with Him eternally. God would have us, even now, to apprehend in His Son the order of that resurrection life.
Our beloved brother is to live eternally in that life. What a comforting thought to us in the breaking of the natural tie! There is no break in the spiritual ties. They remain as bound up with the Son of God. It is in Him that every blessing is. It is in Him that resurrection life is to be seen. How wonderful that we have such a Person in whom to believe!
Turning now to Mary, we see in her one who put her costly ointment upon Him. The Lord's interpretation of her act was
that it was for the day of His burial she had kept this. In the wisdom of divine love the Lord did not die until He had secured in the love of one heart such an appreciation of the power resident in His Person that she understood that if He went into death, He must be victorious over death. She came beforehand to anoint Him with that in view.
It is a law of spiritual life that love and appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ must find expression. Where such exist there is an intense desire to give expression to what the heart cherishes. Nothing greater can be said of any person than that he or she appreciated Christ, and this we can truly say of our beloved brother. Most of us here have heard him ourselves giving expression to his appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he has also left his appreciation on record: in the hymns he has left behind him we have the fragrance of his inward appreciation of the Son of God.
How wonderful that there should be produced in human hearts, once so empty Godward, the holy fragrance of His blessed Son, formed and expressed in living affections. What a joy for the blessed God! It is this that is the substance and kernel of what engages us at this time. The best thing that can be said of anyone can be said of our beloved brother, and that is that he had a deep appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those of us who knew him best, know that there was in his heart an appreciation of the Son of God that will eternally enrich the heaven of God's glory.
Ours is a deep and real sorrow -- we miss from amongst us our beloved brother -- but we can and do rejoice in what had been wrought in him and which will contribute to the joy of God's eternity.
Let us glory increasingly in the faith of the Son of God.
A Word given at a Burial, Teignmouth 1938
1 Corinthians 15:1 - 4, 20 - 23, 47 - 49
Just a few words to bring afresh to our souls the great divine verities which have been for many years the comfort and rest of our beloved sister. It is to be noticed that we all began with the thought of resurrection. It was bound up in the gospel which we first heard as sinners, for that gospel told us "how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures". So that in our faith -- I speak, of course, of those who have, like our beloved sister, believed on our Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation -- we began with the thought of resurrection, for we began with Christ as risen. And we are told in this important chapter that Christ is the Firstfruits; He is the great Pattern of that resurrection harvest which is so shortly to be reaped; "afterward they that are Christ's at his coming".
Let us ponder that word, beloved brethren; "they that are Christ's"! What volumes of meaning are in it! How wonderful is the Christian, for he is CHRIST'S! He is the property of a risen, heavenly, glorified Man at the right hand of God. Every believer belongs to that Man, is of Him, for we are "of the Christ". He has come down into death, and has taken up the question of our sins, and settled it for ever to the glory of God, so that we are no longer in our sins. The Lord could indeed say to some, that they would die in their sins; but believers in Jesus will never die in their sins, because Christ has died for our sins. If He had not risen we should be still in our sins, but He is risen and we are as clear of our sins as Christ Himself in heaven. How wonderful to think of it! And the ultimate issue of His death and resurrection is that we shall be conformed to His image in glory. He is now "the heavenly One". He is not only risen, but He has gone into heaven as the Pattern of the whole heavenly company. He is the heavenly One, and all those who believe on Him are, by the grace of God and by the work of God, constituted "heavenly ones". This is what we are by divine grace,
it has nothing to do with any merit or worthiness of any kind which could attach to us. It is the fruit of the precious and eternal thoughts of the love of God; and at a moment like this we wish to speak of what is greatest.
We might say much of our beloved sister who has departed. We might speak of her separation from the world, and of her love for the things of God, of her service to His people, and of her labour in spreading the truth, and of her unceasing hospitality; we might say much, and those things are not small in the eyes of the Lord. He remembers every act of service, He treasures the memory of all that has been done for Him and for His people, and He will recompense it according to the measure of His valuation of it in a coming day. Yet even those precious fruits, which are the outcome of grace and of faithfulness in the pathway here, are small as compared with the stupendous results of the death of Christ for all who believe on His name. They will be conformed to His image in heavenly glory; they will be invested with all the holy splendour that is set forth in the glorified Man, Christ Jesus. We remind our hearts of these things, and we love to think of them at a moment like this, when what belongs to the natural order has come to an end. What belongs to the natural order we shall never see again in our sister. When next we see her, we shall see her invested with all that belongs to a spiritual order, to the order of Christ risen and glorified. What a wonderful person a Christian is! Would to God we took it more fully into our hearts! How it would alienate us from all the empty follies and vanities of this world, and link us up in our affections with that risen, glorified Man in heaven, who is the Firstfruits and Pattern of all those who are to be His companions eternally!
These are the things that gave the heart of our sister joy for many years. What she believed and enjoyed is truly great and glorious, and we can rejoice that there is only a little while to wait until she and all the saints, by the power either of transformation or of resurrection, will be conformed to the image of God's Son in eternal glory. For ever blessed be His name! Amen.
A Word given at a Burial, Teignmouth 1940
1 Corinthians 15:1 - 6, 20 - 23, 42 - 49, 54 - 57
I feel assured that the truest comfort for our hearts at such a time as this is to speak of Christ. We must all have noticed in Scripture the frequent recurrence of the word "in Christ". Some are referred to in this chapter as having "fallen asleep in Christ", and we read that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive". Nothing could be more blessed than to be "in Christ". Those of whom these words are true have passed out of all that order of things which came in by "the first man Adam", and they have come by divine grace into the good of what has been secured and established in Christ, God's anointed Man, now glorified at His right hand. This wonderful transition has been brought about by God's power in grace, and faith knows it to be a blessed reality.
Our beloved sister, whose memory we cherish, had learned that there was no moral value before God in what she was as having derived from Adam. But she had learned also that Christ was great enough to take up on her behalf, and for the glory of God, the sin and death which had come in by Adam. We had sinned, but He died for our sins. We had come under death by the righteous sentence of God, but Christ came into contact with death in such a way as to annul its power. We are all conscious that death is the greatest power here; the mightiest man goes down before it as well as the weakest; it is the judgment of God upon sin. But Christ has gone into death in the way of divine love in such a way as to break its power for ever.
The Red Sea and the Jordan are two of the most striking types of death that are found in the Old Testament. But God identified Himself in grace with His people when He intervened to bring them out of Egypt, and we read, "The sea saw it and fled, the Jordan turned back". And the question is asked, "What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou turnedst back?" (Psalm 114:3,5). All the power of death was there symbolically, but it was seen as fleeing before the victorious
power of the Lord. The Lord Jesus became Man that He might take up all that rested upon man, that He might discharge every liability that rested on those on whose behalf He came. He met and annulled the power of death for those who feared death. In the poetic language of the psalm, death has fled before Him. We might say truly that the power of God in the Person of Christ has met death and death has fled before Him. The proof of it is that Christ is risen; we look at Him and see death annulled. It is not yet annulled publicly, but it is annulled in Christ risen for all that are His. So that now it is possible for us to be "in Christ" -- in the One who is for ever beyond death in victorious power. Our dear sister knew something of what it means to be "in Christ", and she is now amongst "the dead in Christ". She is eternally linked up with Him and His victory over death; His resurrection is the sure pledge of hers, "In Christ shall all be made alive". Every one who is in Christ will be made alive in His order of life in resurrection. All the blessed and holy dead will be made alive in Christ. Our dear sister was "in Christ" while she was with us here; she is now amongst "the dead in Christ"; and very soon she will be raised in incorruption, in glory, in power, and with a spiritual body. She, with all saints, will be wholly "in Christ" then, and will be amongst the heavenly ones who are as the heavenly One. Death will have disappeared, as the scripture so strikingly says, "Death is swallowed up in victory".
It is to be noted that before Christ was preached as risen God secured that there should not only be divine testimony to Him as risen, but also an incontrovertible human testimony as risen. He was seen on many occasions, and seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom, Paul says, "the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep". Some had fallen asleep who had actually seen Christ risen with their mortal eyes. I would have liked to have been at the bedside of one of those five hundred when he came to fall asleep! What a sense of holy triumph they must have had, for they had seen Him risen. But the triumph is not less for us who know the blessed reality of it by faith and by the Spirit.
The last time I saw our sister she said to me, 'I love all the saints, and I find that they all love me'. It is the present triumph of divine love that we should he brought in our affections outside the realm of sin and death, able to love one another as "in Christ".
It is the privilege of saints and faithful brethren in Christ to walk together in love as those who are risen with Christ. That is an anticipation of the resurrection world, and as we are maintained in the present life and power of it we can say, both as to those fallen asleep in Christ and for ourselves, "Thanks to God, who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ".
A Word given at a Burial
I read these few lines to call attention to the blessed fact that communications of love do not cease in the disembodied state. It is not only that the Spirit rests in the consciousness of love, but communications of love continue. The body is not necessary for the reception of these communications, for Paul at a time when he was unconscious of the body -- he could not even say whether he was in the body, or out of the body, that is, the body had nothing to do with this matter -- was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable things said. Words are definite communications.
Beloved brethren, how sweet it is to think of it. We know how the Lord loved to make communications of His love to His loved ones, and now there is a continuation.
But the words we have read carry us into the region of paradise. We find a man in Christ there. Oh! how we love to think of our sister there in this blessed order of manhood -- a man in Christ. No longer in mixed conditions, trammelled with the earthen vessel, free from all that, but still competent, blessed be God, to receive communications from God, and such communications as our ears have never heard, because communications of paradise cannot be uttered in this lower world. How good to depart and be with Christ which is very much better. But not only to be near to Christ, but to have communications of His own love, continued and continued as never known here. I love to think of it -- in the disembodied state, not only do spiritual affections remain but as occupied with divine communications spoken and heard in that divine scene, how it enlarges the thought of "being with Christ". So whatever the interval, long or short -- with some centuries, and some only a short time -- not only consciousness of love, but communications of love. May our hearts be greatly comforted by this.
A Word given at a Burial
2 Peter 1:13 - 13; 2 Timothy 4:6, 7; 1 John 3:2, 3
These Scriptures came before me as showing that these great servants of the Lord, Peter and Paul, contemplated departure by way of death from the scene of their service and testimony.
Peter speaks of putting off his tabernacle, and in doing so he is concerned that what had been carried in that tabernacle, that was so precious, should be transmitted to others; that it might be carried on by them in this present tabernacle condition. Peter uses the word tabernacle in connection with his body being about to be put off in death, showing that his thoughts reverted to that moment in his history when, on the holy mount, in the presence of the glorifying of the Son of God, Peter proposed to make three tabernacles, and his thought was in measure right: he thought that the glory seen by them should he retained here, but he was wrong in thinking that Moses and Elias should be on a level with Jesus; but the three disciples on the mount were intended to be tabernacles themselves.
For a number of years Peter's natural body had been the tabernacle in which what he had seen on the mount was enshrined. It was held in that frail tabernacle as precious as the golden vessels in the tabernacle of old. Believers today, in weak tabernacle conditions, contain such living things -- and wonderful things have been carried in the tabernacle that is before us today, his tabernacle has been put off, and there is going to be a worthy shrine provided soon, "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens". At the present moment the testimony of the glory of Christ, the Son of God, is to be carried, and one who has carried in his heart that testimony, when he puts off his tabernacle lays an obligation on us to carry on in testimony.
Paul thinks too of departure; he speaks of being ready to be poured out, of having finished his course in the same spirit in which he began -- a sacrifice, a spiritual drink-offering poured out in devotion to the Son of God. Now he says, my release has come. Beloved brethren, it is not a wrong thought to think
of departure as a release, it is a divine thought. As long as we are here pressures continue which are connected with the groaning creation of which we form part, and there are deep exercises connected with the truth and testimony. It is a suffering time, and departure means release. Paul says, "the time of my release is come". We should entertain this aspect of departure, the time of release. It is a word gathered from the thought of a ship loosed from its moorings. We are held by many things in present conditions; departure means release from every natural burden.
I should like to add a word as to John. John does not contemplate departure. Peter does, and Paul does, but John gives the precious ministry that the children of God are in the present possession of eternal life, and he does not speak of departure. The saints as in the possession of eternal life are not thinking of departure, but John tells us that we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; that is John's attitude. May we know how to blend this threefold testimony in our souls in the power of the Spirit. It will not be unprofitable to us, but will lead to the glory and praise of the One who was seen on the holy mount. May the Lord bless His word.
A Word given at a Burial, Exeter 1939
Philippians 1:3 - 6, 23; Philippians 3:20, 21
I have read scriptures which I believe to be applicable to our dear sister, covering the past and the present and the future. Paul could thank God upon every remembrance of the Philippian saints, and could speak of what he had proved their fellowship to be, as he says, "from the first day until now". Their spiritual course had been marked by great steadiness and it gave him great joy to think of it. I believe we can say humbly and simply that our dear sister's course has been marked by this feature of steadiness.
I count it a personal favour from God to have been allowed to observe His work in our dear sister "from the first day until now". It is sixty years ago that the light of love and glory came into her heart and she learned with deep interest that the precious Saviour who had died for her on the cross was now a glorified Man at the right hand of God. She carried the blessedness of that through her course. There is nothing more beautiful in nature than the sun rising, but to see the light of divine love and grace coming in to a human heart and filling it with joy is much more wonderful. The work of God "from the first day until now" has been clearly seen in our dear sister. Some profess to believe the gospel about whom we have misgivings as to whether there is any work of God at all. In such cases we cannot look with any assurance for the completion of the work, but with our sister there was never any uncertainty about it. The work of God was clearly marked and went on and deepened until the end. Her closing days were a comfort and stimulation to everyone permitted to witness the grace of God in her. They were the appropriate conclusion of a life in which the sunshine of divine favour had been known. All will come out in its completeness in the day of Jesus Christ. The apostle was assured in regard to his Philippian children that God would complete His work in them unto Jesus Christ's day. Everything that has been wrought of God in the souls of His people will come out as
completed in the day of Jesus Christ; there will be nothing there but what has been wrought of God.
Then in verse 23 Paul speaks of his desire to depart and be with Christ, which is very much better; that is the present place of our sister. She is with Christ, with the glorified Man who died for her and has been long known in her heart as the One in whom she is eternally accepted. She has the joy of this now as with Him. That which our sister enjoyed by the Spirit in the days of her flesh she is enjoying now without let or hindrance in the immediate presence of Christ.
Then as to the future, Paul speaks in chapter 3 of the crowning touch of all, when our bodies of humiliation will become transformed by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ into conformity with His body of glory. It is not simply what He was on earth or as raised from the dead, but what He is now as having a body of glory. The saints are to be conformed to Him as He is now, to the image of God's Son glorified. What a climax to the ways and purposes of divine love! Each of the divine Persons is concerned in the bringing about of this wonderful result. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are concerned in bringing it about. The Father raises up the dead and quickens them, the Lord Jesus Christ transforms the body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory, and the bodies of the saints will be quickened in the power of the Spirit. Either by resurrection or by transformation the great result will be secured. It comes near us at a moment like this and fills us with a sense of the triumph of divine love. May God help us to move in such a way that we may end our course in the same triumph as our dear sister! The nature of a believer's course generally comes out at the end. We often find that the end is not bright because the course has not been consistent with the beginning. Our sister began and went through her course in a way that moves us to thank God for our remembrance of her.
A Word given at a Burial, 1941
For a moment I would speak of what is abiding, I would speak of our sister as she would love to be spoken of on such an occasion, as the subject of the grace and work of God. Perhaps it has not been the experience of many of us to take part in the burial of a saint to whom the words in Job 5, would more appropriately apply, "Thou shalt come to the grave in a ripe age, as a shock of corn is brought in in its season".
It suggests a long life in which there has been matured some fruit for the garner of God. Such a life begins by hearing and receiving His word, and that is why I read the word in Mark 4. Our sister heard and received that word long years ago and it gave her the knowledge of forgiveness; it set her in peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; for long years she knew Him so as to trust Him and praise Him. We know this to be a reality, for the word of God has brought to us the knowledge of God revealed in love through the Lord Jesus Christ, and when it comes into the heart it cannot be unfruitful. It continues to be developed, until the work of God is matured and there is what is spoken of in Job 5:26, "a shock of corn ... brought in in its season".
Every circumstance contributes to it; the ways of God promote its growth. The favourable south wind and the testing north wind, our sister knew them both; tears and joys, prayers and praising, some prayers perhaps unanswered even yet, but they are all recorded on high; they are not forgotten.
In the end maturity is reached; not that all are alike, for it says, "one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred fold". Whatever the measure, all is matured and then the saint is buried in view of resurrection. The burial of a saint is another sowing, in view of resurrection when everything will come out to have its place permanently in the garner of God, everything secured through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every saint is the fruit of the precious death of the Lord Jesus, and His resurrection and glorification are the sure pledge of the resurrection and glorification of every saint.
A Word given at a Burial
There is a very precious touch in the apostle's description of the saints as "vessels of mercy". It shows that all those who have blessing from God have it purely by reason of His mercy, and His saints love to have it so. There is no thought of any merit or worthiness on the part of His people. They are taken up entirely on the ground of what God is Himself, and He is "rich in mercy". He takes up "vessels of mercy" to make known the riches of His glory upon them. Let us weigh this well. Our sister who has departed, and all the saints, were once in a condition where they came short of the glory of God. But as vessels of mercy they are taken up to be adorned with the riches of God's glory so as to display it eternally. He is going to make His glory in all its richness shine out in the vessels of mercy. Nothing could be more wonderful and precious than this to those who love God.
It may be that some of us have only a vague thought of what "glory" means. It will be found that in Scripture "glory" is contrasted with dishonour, as in 1 Corinthians 15:43, and glory and honour go together in several scriptures. So that "glory" is a condition in which God is fully expressed and honoured, in contrast with that condition of sin in which He was dishonoured. He is going to make the "vessels of mercy" eternally expressive of His own glory.
God has shown that He can blot out the sins of His people; He can annul all that Satan brought in; He can swallow up death in victory; He can bring to an end all the weakness and infirmity of His people. In the "glory" condition there will be nothing left but what is expressive of God.
But divine preparation is necessary for this. The vessels of mercy are "afore prepared unto glory". The precious redemption wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ is the basis in divine righteousness of all our preparation for glory. We ever think of it thus with praise-full hearts. But the work of God in us enters
into the preparation also. New birth and the gift of the Holy Spirit result in the saints becoming partakers of the divine nature, and such are "prepared unto glory" as having desires and affections that can cherish the thought of being conformed to the image of God's Son.
There is also a refining process carried on in every vessel of mercy, and it is with a thought of this that I read Proverbs 25:4. The "silver" speaks of what the saints are as having redemption in Christ, but as soon as we have the light of this we realise what the flesh is as we never did before. What we are by nature is of such a character that it is quite unsuitable to be found active in one who wishes to be a vessel for the Refiner. But in a practical sense the dross is not taken away in a moment. In one blessed sense the refining process began at conversion, and goes on all through the lifetime of the saint. So long as we are here there is need for purifying. We have hope in Christ on the ground of redemption, that we shall see Him as He is and be like Him, but everyone who has this hope purifies himself even as He is pure. And all the chastening ways of God come in to help the refining process. Sometimes we have the joy of seeing the dross being taken away, and a vessel coming forth for the Refiner's pleasure. We have been able to recognise something of this wonderful process going on in our dear sister. To observe it has been a great comfort to my heart -- to see her restfully, and even thankfully, accepting God's ways with her in circumstances of unexpected trial. She has honoured Him in a way that has testified happily to the taking away of the dross, and the coming forth of "a vessel for the refiner". When we next see her it will be as having the riches of God's glory made known upon her.
A Word given at a Burial, 1941
1 Corinthians 13:9, 10, 12; Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:12 - 14
It is in my mind to say a short word on "that which is perfect". Our apostle reminds us it has not yet come, but the blessed God who has called us in His grace would have nothing less before us than that which is perfect.
When the eternal purpose of God spoken of in Romans 8 is carried into effect, and the whole company of God's called and redeemed saints are conformed to His Son in conditions of glory, then that which is perfect will have come. Our circumstances and testing here are on the way, but have no part in the end. The end is perfect.
The apostle says, "then shall I know even as also I am known". How blessed is the way that God has known His saints. We do not know fully yet; we see partially as through a dim window obscurely; it would not be possible to know fully in our mortal condition. But we are known in view of God's purpose. God has known us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and all His great and glorious thoughts are set forth in Christ before His face -- God knows us in Him.
What triumph to look forward to the day when we shall, without our present creature limitations, enjoy that consummation; seen obscurely even by the great apostle Paul himself. We are moving on to what is perfect. In Romans 8 we see the way; sons are to be conformed to the image of His Son in glorified conditions. I do not know if any have actually seen Him thus, but He will be seen. "But we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is".
We can understand the energetic movements of Paul to reach forward to this goal of the blessed purpose of God. What a comfort to think that the consummation of God's delights can be the consummation of the delight of a feeble saint here. It was so in measure to our beloved brother. That is how God knew him, and that is how we shall know him, in new creation blessedness in Christ, and that is the end we are to have before us.
A Word given at a Burial, 1942
Isaiah 53:1 - 6, 11 (first part)
The prophet raises a question in verse 1, "Who hath believed our report?" It suggests that so few would believe the report that they had to be enquired after in order to find them.
Our hearts are comforted at this time in knowing that our dear departed brother did believe the report, and the arm of the Lord was revealed to him. The evidence of it was the change that took place in his history. At one time like all the rest of us, he had no appreciation of the beauty of Christ, no eyes to see the attractiveness of the divine Saviour who came in love into this world to suffer on account of what we were. But a time came when there was a total change, and he began to realise what is written here: "Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; .. . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed".
We are greatly comforted to know that our beloved brother truly took up the language of verses 4, 5 and 6. He realised that his transgressions and iniquities were borne by Jesus on the cross. Christ and His precious death were the foundation of his faith, and they are the ground on which he is now with the Lord. The apostle Paul had no more righteous title to be in the presence of God cleansed from all sin, than our brother has. It is through Christ, and Christ alone, that any of us can be in blessing before God -- through the shedding of the precious blood of Christ.
Is it possible that there could be one here who would dare to think of being before God on any other ground? Surely we dare not continue to think little of Christ. We must owe everything to Him; then shall we not render to Him all that is left of our little life here below?
In verse 11 we read, "He ... shall be satisfied". The Lord Jesus is going to see through eternal days the travail of His soul. The arm of the Lord is revealed in bringing about what there is, and will be eternally, even an answer and recompense to all that
Christ suffered on the cross. It is the arm of the Lord that works conviction of sin and repentance and brings souls to faith in Christ, and finally to glory. The One who wrought the great work by suffering on the cross will yet see the fruit of it and be satisfied. It is wonderful to think of it. And it is sweet to think that our beloved brother will be part of what will be for the eternal satisfaction of the heart of Christ, who suffered and died for him. May each one here be assured, through faith in Christ, of having a like portion!
A Word given at a Burial
MARRIAGE IN THE LORD
DIVINE INTEREST IN MARRIAGE
THE DIVINE IDEAL OF MARRIAGE
ACCEPTABLE WORDS
CONDUCT IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
THE WORK OF GOD
"THE GLORY OF GOD, AND JESUS"
"I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE"
DIVINE REALITIES
"IN CHRIST"
DIVINE COMMUNICATIONS
DEPARTURE BY WAY OF DEATH
PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
SPIRITUAL MATURITY
VESSELS OF MERCY
THAT WHICH IS PERFECT
THE ARM OF THE LORD