C.A.C. We have been seeing in the book of Numbers what an important place the service of God has. We have been considering the place and ordering of the levites, the appointment of their service, the cities they dwelt in, and the universal distribution of the levitical character of things among the people of God. It was thought well that we might consider the One who is the true Servant; that we might engage ourselves for a little time with Him and the character of His service. One feels assured that nothing is acceptable service to God that is not after the pattern of Christ. God, having brought in what is for His full delight, cannot possibly accept anything of a different order.
It is very touching to see that all is presented to us as glad tidings -- not in the way of demand -- but as glad tidings designed to have a very happy effect on all who read it. None of the other evangelists begin their gospel with "the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God", but Mark is so full of the happy character of it, and it so possesses him, that he bursts out with it in the first sentence. "Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God". He plunges at once into the very heart of what is before him. It is as much as to say, 'Every word I have to utter about Him is "glad tidings"'. You feel at once you are in the presence of what is of God, and it is brought in in perfection, He is God's anointed Son. Mark counts on its being a source of real gladness to contemplate Him and to consider how He moved, how He acted, how He spoke. We can see that what Mark wrote is designed to have a very happy effect upon those who read it.
Ques. What is the distinction between this and Romans 1:1? It is the gospel of God there.
C.A.C. Yes, it is "concerning his Son", and He is declared to be Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead. What Mark has before him is the blessed way in which the Lord came in and moved through this world in service. This is the gospel for saints, the gospel or glad
tidings for any who fear God: it is the presentation of that blessed One, the way in which He comes in and moves through this world, delighting God in every way and serving man in every way.
Two Old Testament prophets are cited, Malachi and Isaiah, as showing how He was heralded by John. His messenger precedes Him; all must be suitably prepared, so that He may not be hindered. His way is really Jehovah's way. In the desert there is to be "a highway for our God". How important the preparation of His ways is! His way is prepared. The idea of preparing the way is that He must not be hindered from a plain course, He is coming to serve and He must not be hindered; so a voice cries, "All flesh is grass". That is the preparation of His way. We get one man out of the way altogether; all flesh is grass, not some flesh but all flesh. What a preparation of His way! There is nothing to hinder Him then.
Ques. Is that why baptism is introduced so soon?
C.A.C. I thought so. From the messenger we may learn the state of man, the one who says, "All flesh is grass". That voice comes out in preaching baptism and repentance for the remission of sins. They could publicly take the ground of repentance. The Jews were accustomed to baptise proselytes, but now every one must take entirely new ground; there is no escape. The glad tidings are all concerning the second Man. Speaking morally, it is impossible for God to have two men before Him of different orders. The first man and second Man cannot both be for God's pleasure because they are of different orders, so John's mission is essential that all the pretensions of man after the flesh should go down into death. I think John came definitely with that mission to prepare the way of Jehovah and to make in the desert a highway for our God. God wants a highway; He says, I must have everything cleared out of My way. It is not a by-road, but a highway that is secured by the pretensions of man being set aside. John's testimony is a wilderness testimony. His whole character and appearance, what he said and did, showed that there was nothing here for God apart from the attitude of repentance. If man takes up an attitude of repentance there is a highway for God.
Ques. Do his food and raiment bring out the wilderness side?
C.A.C. I thought so. His raiment and food are suited to wilderness conditions. The Lord spoke of him as not wearing delicate raiment, He contrasts him with "those who wear delicate things", who "are in the houses of kings", Matthew 11:8. They are making themselves comfortable and luxurious in the world, but John was not like that at all. John's was a wilderness testimony and his raiment and food were in keeping with this. There is a severity about John, a severity of separation and Nazariteship; he walked apart from all the resources of man. The camel's hair garment speaks of separation; the leathern girdle of a certain severity of restraint on himself, restraint upon nature. His food was clean; locusts are among clean creatures; they have legs above their feet. And wild honey would be honey out of the rock. Nothing is prepared by man, but they are things of a distinctive character found in the wilderness by God's ordering. John is independent of man altogether. "A man sent from God, his name John". If God sends a man it is to clear away every obstacle, that there may be a highway for Himself, so that His anointed Son may come in and fill up His blessed life of service for God and man.
Ques. Would verse 5 be anything like going forth without the camp?
C.A.C. It is that principle. Judaea and Jerusalem were not the places now where God's favour was known; it is a wilderness position. It was said of old, "In Judah is God known ... in Salem also is his tabernacle"; but it is not so now, it is the wilderness. They must go out away from what had status even according to God -- all that has to be given up. It is the giving up of everything that one naturally looks to, and going out into the wilderness to find only a voice. John seems to hasten to hide himself behind the One who was coming and the great service which He would render. John was the greatest servant. The Lord says of him that there was no greater born of women, yet he hides himself behind Another.
Ques. Should that be true of every servant?
C.A.C. I think so. John is a beautiful example of a true servant. He says, "He must increase, but I must decrease"; that is a fine model for a servant. "John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true". That is a fine testimonial for a servant. It is a great test. So here he says so beautifully, "There comes he that is mightier than I after me, the thong of whose sandals I am not fit to stoop down and
unloose", verse 7. All that God was, was to be manifested in the service of that blessed One; it was God's way, but all to be brought out in that blessed One as Man. God will have His way; He has set aside the first man and his ways, and He has brought in His own Man who will secure things according to His own heart and delight. All that is very good news to people who fear God.
Rem. He baptises with the Holy Spirit.
C.A.C. Yes, His service transcends John's altogether. John says in verse 8, "I indeed have baptised you with water, but he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit". That is the great service of the Son of God.
Ques. Do we get the difference between the two baptisms in Acts 19?
C.A.C. Yes, it is very plain that they knew John's baptism but not the baptism of Jesus Christ the Son of God. I think John's baptism is, in figure, the setting aside of the pretensions of man; and Christian baptism is the burial, typically, of that man. If he is buried he is off the scene. Then the baptism of the Spirit connects one with another world altogether, it connects one with the divine world. The baptism of the Spirit connects one with heaven. It was not until the Lord went to heaven that He baptised with the Holy Spirit: therefore the baptism of the Holy Spirit connects us with heaven and with Christ as in heaven; that is how the kingdom of God comes in.
Ques. Is going out into the wilderness the great test for Christians?
C.A.C. Yes, a great many have not gone out morally from the city, so there is no taking of new ground, and there is more or less of wearing of delicate raiment in king's houses. Paul said to the Corinthians, "Ye reign as kings". You do not find John in a king's house.
Ques. Could one go into the wilderness until one had received the Spirit?
C.A.C. I suppose repentance properly understood would bring us to wilderness conditions, because if I judge myself I shall also judge the whole system which I have been living in. Repentance is not merely judging myself but all my associations, like Isaiah who said, "I am a man of unclean lips", but he did not stop there, he went on to say, "I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips". He not only judged himself but all his associations. I do not think you have reached repentance
fully until you have done that; then you are prepared to go out. Peter says on the day of Pentecost, "Be saved from this perverse generation", not only from yourselves, but from this untoward generation, this perverse or darkened generation. If people wake up to realise that the generation of the world is a darkened generation, and that there is no divine light there, they will soon want to move out. We not only find evil in ourselves, but we find evil in the system around us. It was more testing for a Jew to find that the whole system of things in which man moves and acts is all wrong, because he was accustomed to connect all with God. So now a great many people live in a sort of respectable Christianity which is part and parcel of the world and which is all bound up in the wrong man, not God's Man. To go out in that sense as judging the world and myself as forming part of it is a very necessary preparation, and then we get the highway of God; there is nothing to hinder God then. God says, 'Clear My way, prepare in the wilderness a highway for God'. The beautiful effect of considering the path of the Lord is that you feel you have got a way where you can move with Him safely.
Ques. Where you can claim the Lord's support?
C.A.C. Yes. The first thing which the Lord gets when He takes His place with those that fear God is the conscious support of heaven. It is what He saw in this gospel, "And straightway going up from the water, he saw the heavens parting asunder, and the Spirit, as a dove, descending upon him". "Harmless as doves", it is gentle, dove-like. It is what He saw. Then in the next verse it is what He heard, "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight". It is addressed to Himself here, not to others; it is what He saw and heard Himself. It is very beautiful to see that.
Ques. What is the thought of being baptised with the Holy Spirit? Is it receiving the Spirit?
C.A.C. I think there is something more involved in it than that. The word 'baptised' means 'immersed'. What a wonderful thought it is to be immersed with the Holy Spirit. We have known what it is to be immersed in the flesh, so that the flesh filled and surrounded us, and that was the sphere in which we lived, moved, and had our being. But it is said of the Lord that He baptises with the Holy Spirit; He takes up His saints and plunges them into a wholly new environment. One would
desire greatly to understand more the service that the Lord rendered in baptising with the Holy Spirit.
Ques. Why does it say that Jesus came from Nazareth to be baptised?
C.A.C. It is very beautiful that Nazareth was His place, not Jerusalem. That is, a despised place was His place, and He only moves out of that place to identify Himself with the divine movement. It is very touching that there could not be a public movement without the Lord identifying Himself with it. There was no occasion for Him to repent or be baptised, no necessity for Him to take that ground, but they took new ground, and it was ground where He loved to be with them in the spirit of what is said in Psalm 119, "I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts". It is beautiful to see that spiritual movements attract the Lord. As soon as we begin to move spiritually, even if it is as poor sinners giving up our pretensions, as soon as that movement begins, He joins Himself with us, and then heaven confirms Him. It is very wonderful that heaven should come in at that moment, at the moment when He takes His place with that repentant crowd, just there He gets this wonderful approbation of heaven. It is as if the delight of God could not be kept in any longer.
Ques. John presented the greatness of His Person?
C.A.C. Yes, he was glad to hide himself behind that Person.
Rem. This should make Nazareth very precious to us; the Lord did not move out of Judaea or Bethlehem.
C.A.C. Yes, Nazareth was His own place, and He grew up out of His own place, as the prophet said. He says from heaven, "I am Jesus of Nazareth". He was that still, He never gives it up as His place. The Lord has no place in this world but that of reproach: the Nazarene and the crucified go together. They put on the cross, "Jesus of Nazareth ..". The Lord here saw the heavens parted asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon Him; it is what He saw, it is not a question of what anybody else saw.
Ques. What is the importance of His seeing it?
C.A.C. I think He got this before He began His service: He got the personal evidence of the support of heaven. I suppose that would be an important matter for us all in any little service we take up. If we do not start out with the consciousness
of the support of heaven we are likely to be feeble in the service. The Lord sees, not only the heavens parted asunder, but the Spirit as a dove descending upon Him. He sees the character of the power that was coming upon Him in the anointing.
Ques. Would you suggest that the character of His service was dove-like?
C.A.C. I thought it indicated the spirit in which the service of that blessed One was to be carried out. The Lord Himself enjoins His disciples that they were to be "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves". The Spirit says of Him that He was harmless. I have often thought that this verse is very like Isaiah 64:1: "Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down". It says here that He saw the heavens parting or rent asunder. Then again in that chapter in Isaiah the judgments are mentioned, but in verse 4 it says, "Never have men heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor hath eye seen a God beside thee, who acteth for him that waiteth for him". That truly was the attitude of the Lord; He waited for Him, He waited thirty years, and never moved out in service, He waited for Jehovah. Then the heavens are rent and God manifests Himself as acting for Him. I suppose the thought of God rending the heavens shows what He can be in His blessed power and support to the one who waits for Him.
Ques. It is the Father who speaks?
C.A.C. Yes, a voice out of heaven says, "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight". There is One on earth with the Son's affections in His heart. If service is not taken up in the spirit of sonship, I am sure it becomes servile.
Ques. Would you connect this with Isaiah 43?
C.A.C. Yes, it is a Son serving; that is the beautiful thing about it. It is a Son-servant; there was never such a Servant before. Moses was one of the greatest servants in Scripture, and God said he was faithful in all His house, but he was not a son. Now we have One who comes in and serves in all the freedom and affection of a Son. A son would not be checked or turned aside in his service by anything which could come in. He has the support of heaven behind him, he has the Father's love behind him filling his heart, he has the Spirit of the Son. That is the true character of all service now.
Ques. We have to learn to serve that way?
C.A.C. Yes. We see it in all its perfection in Him, "In thee I have found my delight". Everything now is to be for God's delight; it is not just a question of doing one's duty.
Ques. Is this service manward?
C.A.C. I think it is. He was Jehovah's servant, and He carried out Jehovah's pleasure in regard to man, but He does it in the affections of sonship. That is the kind of service which He sets going in His own; He gives impulse to that kind of service.
Ques. In Matthew the Lord is carried into the wilderness, in Luke He is led, and here He is driven (verse 12). Is there any significance in the difference?
C.A.C. There is a peculiar urgency here that is very striking: it is as if the Spirit were eager, if we may so say, to have His affections tested at once. The Spirit realised that His blessed service could not begin until this testing was over, so there is an urgency about it from that point of view.
We have been seeing how the Lord began His service in the consciousness of the support of heaven and the consciousness of sonship, because it is what He sees and hears Himself that is emphasised here, not what others saw and heard. He enters into the testing in the full consciousness of heaven's support, and of the Father's love resting upon Him. It is a poor thing to be tested from any other standpoint. I think the support of heaven and the consciousness of sonship, the place we have in the love of God, are necessary to stand even the smallest test. In all three synoptic gospels it is put in that way; He is led or carried or driven; there is no voluntary going into testing even with the Lord, it would not be man's place to do that. What we have here is a divine Person in manhood, so all the power of the enemy is met by the power of a Man.
It is a principle in the ways of God that nothing is useful in His service but that which has stood a certain test. It is what comes through the test that God can use; otherwise Satan might say, 'If that man had been tested he would have broken down'. God puts His servants through testing, often quite in secret. Every one who is called to special service is put through the test, and it is what goes through the testing that God can use.
It has often been said that the Lord's temptation was in perfect contrast with Adam's circumstances. It was not a beautiful garden but a wilderness; and not beasts that come up meekly and gently to take their names and character from Adam, but wild beasts. There were no natural resources there at all, and what there was of creature conditions was adverse and unintelligent. Wild beasts are just the opposite in character to the dove which rested on the Lord. It would indicate that He was entering upon a service in which there was no natural resource at all, and in which there would be no sympathy; you would not look for sympathy in a wild beast. The Lord was entering on a service feeling how uncongenial everything was around: they were all wild beasts around Him. Scripture says, "I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war", Psalm 120:7. We do not get the detail of the Lord's temptation in Mark, because the Spirit just brings it in as necessary in view of His service. Details are not given here; it is the general character of testing that precedes service. There were no human resources in the wilderness; then Satan seeks to bring something in not of God in the way of relief or escape from such conditions. The wild beasts would indicate that what was there of creature character was unintelligent and adverse. All the testing was to bring out that nothing could cripple that blessed One, He was incorruptible. Satan had not a word to say, he was driven from the field. There was a full testing but it did not go on indefinitely: it had its term, forty days, and the Lord is looked at then as in the condition when support is needed. He is not independent of the support of heaven, so at the end of forty days we are told that angels ministered to Him. The support of heaven had waited forty days. It is a measured period. All our testings are measured, they do not go on interminably; the succour from heaven comes in just when it is needed in every testing. Paul was greatly tested by all the exercises he went through about the Corinthians, but at the end of forty days, so to speak, he says, "God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus". Titus was the angel to minister to him. If we thought Satan was going to be let loose on us without limit we should give in, but there are always time limits to every testing. Whatever the nature of the testing it is strictly and divinely limited. There is a completeness about the forty days. In Luke's gospel it says, "When the devil
had completed every temptation"; Satan had not another word to say. Forty is a number that seems to speak in Scripture of full testing; forty years in the wilderness was a full testing. In the case of the blessed Lord there was full testing, but nothing could cripple Him; Satan's object in all testing is to cripple us for the service of God. If a servant can be seduced from the path of obedience and dependence he is crippled; if he turns to human resources and takes a natural way of escape from his difficulties and testing, he is crippled for the service of God. Luke tells us the Lord returned in the power of the Spirit; He comes back from the testing with power unimpaired, He has gone through it untouched.
The object of this gospel is that we should be in the good of the kingdom. If we go through this gospel with God we shall understand what the glad tidings are, and what the kingdom of God is in power, so that we are set up entirely for God, just as the blessed Lord was.
Ques. Was John's mission over?
C.A.C. Yes. It is rather striking that the Lord waits for a providential indication before He begins His service in this gospel. He does not set John aside, He would not appear as a rival to John; that is a beautiful model for a servant. We are told that when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that He baptised more disciples than John, He withdrew, He would not appear as a rival to John. He waited for a providential indication, the shutting up of John in prison, that the time had come for Him to come out. We know as a fact from John's gospel that He had done miracles before that; His glory could not be hid, it subsisted in His own Person. But here in Mark's gospel it is His path as a Servant, and He waits for John to pass off the scene, for the testimony of His forerunner to terminate, before He appears. It is not God's way to bring one servant in to set aside another. If God has used a man and He brings in another servant, it is to confirm what the first did, not to set him aside. We see that wonderful mark of the true servant in the Lord. Even He, who must have known His superiority to John, would not come out in service until John had finished his course. That was a great contrast to Moses, who began to serve too soon: he felt he had a divine mission, and he thought the children of Israel ought to understand, but he was forty years too soon! In service there is no getting in the way of another servant. Paul desired Apollos
to go to Corinth: it was a beautiful unjealous feeling in Paul to wish another servant to go, perhaps a more brilliant man than himself; but Apollos would not go to be a rival to Paul. He says, 'No, I am not going there, they are the kind of people to make me a rival to Paul'. One has known cases of men coming in and setting aside everything that was there for the Lord, but that gets no divine support. A true servant recognises all there is for the Lord and supports it, he never puts himself in rivalry with it. It is the kingdom of God that is before a true servant. The Lord came out full of the kingdom of God: we do not think enough of it. God was absolutely supreme with Him. That is the primary thought in the kingdom of God. It is a realm where God is supreme, and yet His supremacy is not authority exercised judicially, but exercised in the way of fullest blessing for man. The kingdom of God meant that God was coming in, things were not going to be left in the hands of men, but God was coming in Himself to take things up and deal with them for His own glory, and yet for the most wonderful blessing for men, even for sinful men. It is a good question to put to people, 'Do you know anything about the kingdom of God?' "Jesus came into Galilee preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom of God", verse 14. The kingdom comes in as good news. One can understand the people following the Lord because of the wonderful character of what was seen in Him: they followed Him to learn what the kingdom of God really was.
Ques. Is the kingdom of God objective or subjective?
C.A.C. It is objective at first because, in following Him and seeing His wonderful works and hearing His words, we see what the kingdom of God is. But the object of it is that men may be brought in their affections under the sway of God, caught for Him. That gives the subjective side; there is a result for God, not only men get great blessing, but men are to be caught for God. The Lord said, "Repent and believe in the glad tidings"; the glad tidings are all that is set forth in Himself. Then the great end of the kingdom of God is that men are to be caught for God, so the fishermen are brought in at once, "I will make you ... fishers of men". Men are to be caught by being brought to see what a wonderful God He is, and the wonderful character of His kingdom. If people saw the character of the kingdom they would be caught for God. We see the wonderful character of the gospel record: it is
divine intuition that makes the servants of the Lord so often turn to the gospels for subjects of gospel preaching. My idea is that the gospels are the net: the Lord has given us a good net to catch men with. We cannot afford to leave out one of these incidents in the gospels; they bring out the nature and character of the kingdom of God. They show what God is in relation to all the sorrow, need and ruin of man, and how he can be completely delivered so that no influence is left to rule in his heart but the knowledge of God.
One can understand how the crowds followed Jesus from place to place; they wanted to see a little more of this wonderful kingdom. The Lord says, "I will make you ... fishers of men"; that implies that He will give them a net to catch with, and the wonderful incidents that came out in the life of the Lord are like the net. When Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost he had all the truth that came out in the life of the Lord in his soul. "A man approved of God among you": he sums it up in a few words. "Miracles, wonders and signs" -- that wonderful life. Peter lets down an unbroken net, and he gets a great catch: he was a fine fisher of men. I am sure that is how God catches men. We get another thought in connection with John; Simon was fishing but John was mending nets. We get there a suggestion of a broken net: that gives you John's ministry. John comes in bringing spiritual material after the net was broken, so that the assembly might at the end of her course still be able to catch men. John is a reserve man, and after the breakdown of public testimony, John comes in to give spiritual material so that things may be preserved right away to the end. What John gives is imperishable, he comes in and repairs things at the end so that the assembly's witness may be as complete at the end as it was at the beginning.
Ques. What is your thought of "I will make"?
C.A.C. That is very important. The Lord says "Come after me" and "I will make". We learn to be fishers by following. We were singing just now
In following Him we learn the many sides of the kingdom: we become furnished with divine means to catch men. There are divine means and the Lord never used any other sort; He never appealed to people's natural feelings or minds, but He appealed to their consciences and affections. The Lord
says, 'Follow Me and you will become fishers of men'. In this same gospel He ordained twelve "that they might be with him, and that he might send them to preach".
Ques. How does John 21 come in?
C.A.C. I think that is a service chapter. It brings out two great characters of service, fishing and feeding. One is the gospel side and the other is the ministry of food in the household. It shows that without the Lord we can catch nothing; they laboured all night but they caught nothing. It is no doubt a dispensational picture, but it does set forth the conditions of service. These men were a good sample of levites, they left everything, they came under a dominant influence, and everyone who serves the Lord must know what it means to come under a divine, dominant influence. They left their business and their natural relationships because another influence came in to dominate their affections. With many men their business is the dominant influence, and then their natural affections; and if anything is left the Lord gets it. That is reversing the whole thing. The Lord should be the dominating influence, and then the natural relationships should be influenced by the dominant influence, and the business comes in for its share in the end. I believe that is the divine order. The three synoptic gospels show how following the Lord would adjust us in regard to all the things that are temporal, but following Him in John's gospel puts us in right relation with the things that are eternal. The Lord is moving there, we see Him as He walked. He is moving into the region of spiritual and eternal things, and those who follow Him in John pass into the region of the spiritual and eternal. But following Him in the other three gospels is connected more with the adjustment of things temporal: business, natural relationships, taking up the cross, denying self, all is connected with that which is temporal and passing away, and as we follow the Lord we get adjusted in regard to all that.
Ques. A levite is not a hired servant?
C.A.C. No, a hired servant serves for wages and gets them. A good deal of service in christendom is like that. If people serve the Lord for wages they will get them, every penny, but that is not the kind of service that the Lord likes. He does not like servants who bargain for what they get: He likes those who go into the vineyard and leave the pay to Him; they come off best after all. The fact is that the compensation in service
is so great that it knocks the thought of any future compensation very much into the background.
It strikes one as so marvellous to follow Him and see every hour some new phase of the kingdom of God, to see it set forth livingly in Him and in His service. What a supreme, satisfying portion it must have been! There was wonderful power in the attraction of His Person; one longs to know more of it; we are all tested as to what that power of attraction has become in our souls.
I think the Lord had established Himself in the hearts of these men before; this was not the first time they had seen Him. The incidents in John 1 come before this, and show that the Lord had established Himself in their affection. This is a definite call to service, and I suppose there is that in the case of each one, however little we may have taken account of it and responded to it. I think it is the sense of a definite call that gives one authority. The Lord goes into the synagogue and speaks with authority, there was the consciousness of a definite commission. We are all apt to be too indefinite, and to feel it is left us to do what presents itself or what is pleasant, and we have not sufficient sense of divine appointment as to service. Every levite had his service divinely appointed: they could not do just as they liked.
Then that would shut out all the unclean element. The Lord's presence in the synagogue brought to light the man with an unclean spirit. The unclean spirit is just the contrast with what we are speaking of: it is the contrast to the Holy Spirit. The Lord is introduced as the One who would baptise with the Holy Spirit, and this man is in an unclean spirit -- the same word -- immersed in what is unclean. While he recognised Jesus as the holy One, yet everything about him was in contrast to the holy One of God. He was in the synagogue, too; in the religious sphere there may be what is unclean, but the first wave of the power of the kingdom displaces it. The Lord's first act is to displace what is unclean. The man was in their synagogue as well as the man with the withered hand: as if to say that there was room in their system for what was unclean and withered. But there is unsullied purity in the kingdom of God. It is presented so especially in Mark, "exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them". That is the character of the kingdom in power, white as snow, unsullied purity, the unclean spirit is gone. We have to beware of what
works in our spirits. The unclean spirit suggests what works in the spirit of a man. That is the contrast between the unclean spirit and leprosy. A man in an unclean spirit represents what is working in the spirit inwardly, and which is only brought to light by the presence of the Son of God. Leprosy is more what comes out in one's body. Paul said to the Corinthians, "let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit"; that would be set forth in leprosy; it is what comes out in word and deed, in one's body. But behind that there may be a lot of bitterness of spirit: things work in the spirit which are positively unclean, and perhaps do not come to light at all, but it is all under the eye of the Lord. Paul puts the spirit first when he speaks of our whole spirit, soul and body being preserved blameless. In Hebrews 12, when it is a question of the discipline of God, He is called the Father of spirits. It is a great thing to be cleansed in our spirits. One feels how often things work in one's spirit that no one knows anything about, and yet they are positively unclean. There is something working contrary to the holiness of God and that must be unclean. It seems to me that the power of the kingdom went to the root of things and dispossessed the unclean spirit, the spirit that is not in accord with Jesus. If my spirit is not in accord with Jesus it is characteristically an unclean spirit, and the first wave of the power of the kingdom deals with that. But it is with much exercise to me; perhaps it will tear me -- it tore him, but it left him. We cannot get rid of what is unclean without suffering. One would not mind being torn to get rid of every movement of what is unclean in one's spirit. We do not naturally like to be freed in our spirits, but it has struck me much in thinking of this, that the first wave of the power of the Spirit in the kingdom deals with the spirit of a man. What spirit am I of? Is my spirit immersed by the Holy Spirit? I have to confess that I do not know much about it. Here I see a man immersed in an unclean spirit. It is a question of what your spirit is, not what you say or do, but the character of your spirit. In Romans 8 we read, "the Spirit ... bears witness with our spirit". It shows that your spirit is to be a suited companion for the Spirit of God, so that the Spirit of God can talk to your spirit as one friend to another; that is a clean spirit. Is it possible that my spirit can be so purified that the Holy Spirit can talk to my spirit personally? The Spirit witnesses that we are children of God. It is not mere profession.
We are children of God, clean, and marked by this wonderful purity.
If the kingdom starts like this, what will it be in the finish? Mark speaks of the beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ we do not read anything about the end!
Ques. Is there any significance in the Lord moving out of the synagogue into the house?
C.A.C. One would conclude the synagogue is the place of public profession; and I think in the house we find ourselves in the circle of the brethren. The Lord acted sovereignly and authoritatively in the sphere of profession to deal with what was contrary to the holiness of God, but He acted sympathetically in the circle of the brethren. It was a necessity that the Lord should act sovereignly to dispossess the unclean spirit or we should never find our place in the circle of the brethren. If the Lord did not act sovereignly in the public profession men would remain immersed in an unclean spirit, just the contrary to what obtains in the kingdom of God, where the Lord immerses men by the Holy Spirit. In principle we are either immersed in one or the other.
Service must be altogether in the power of the Spirit. The light of the candlestick is maintained by pure oil: it is the pure candlestick. No doubt Mark answers to the candlestick, and the great thought of the candlestick is purity -- pure oil -- so that what is unclean must be set aside by divine authority. What marks the Lord's service in the synagogue is authority He speaks and acts with authority; it is the assertion of power to bring about conditions suitable to God. A man is unclean inwardly, that is the first thing. The Lord proposes to set the spirit of a man right.
Ques. What is the thought of their telling Him about Peter's wife's mother?
C.A.C. It has an application. We find ourselves in a narrow circle: it seems to be the circle of the brethren, James and John, Simon and Andrew.
Ques. Was there sympathy also on the part of the brethren? They tell the Lord about her.
C.A.C. Yes, there was a sympathetic interest on the part of the brethren: there was one there incapacitated for service, and they all felt it. We ought to feel it if a brother or sister is incapacitated for service. It is quite easy to see defects, but to have a sympathetic interest and desire that anyone should
be in perfect liberty for holy service is a lovely exercise to be found in the circle of the brethren: it sets the Lord in motion. The Lord waits for suggestions in the house, but He does not wait in the synagogue. We find repeatedly that in the synagogue He acts on His own initiative sovereignly, but in the house He waits for suggestions. What marks this incident is that all the elements that hinder service should be dealt with in sympathetic grace. There is a priestly character about this incident. We are having great instruction about the things that are found in the kingdom. In the kingdom we find divine authority against what is unclean, but there are divine sympathies and priestly grace in regard to weakness. A great deal of service is hindered, not by an unclean spirit but by fever.
Ques. Is fever characterised by restlessness?
C.A.C. That is a prominent symptom. It is an overheated state in which the strength, instead of being expended in useful service, is being burnt up in unprofitable, inward disturbance. The proper thing in the house is that service should be carried on; and however awkward our position, if we are preserved in quietness, we shall be happy. The position of a mother-in-law is not easy in a house: it is admittedly a difficult position, and there is such a thing as saints being placed in positions not easy to fill if they are to avoid friction. If a mother-in-law interferes she makes trouble for herself and all in the house, but the divine way is to be in the spirit of service. However difficult the position, if we are in the spirit of service everything will go happily. The secret of all difficulties is a very simple one: it is that we get out of the spirit of service, and that is abandoning the testimony. The testimony is gone when we get out of the spirit of service.
Ques. It was seen in the Lord?
C.A.C. Yes, the testimony was there; and from the point of view of this gospel the testimony is connected with service. It is wonderful how things straighten out if we are in the spirit of service. The worst of fever is that it incapacitates for service. The strength, instead of being employed in benefiting others and being happy oneself, is burnt up in inward activities that are unproductive and destructive.
Ques. If we enter on the truth of the holiness of God's house, there must be holy conditions?
C.A.C. Yes. If God and our Lord Jesus have their right
places, holy conditions would be preserved. If there is not holiness there is something unclean, and that is why the dispossessing of the unclean spirit comes first.
Rem. If we are morally defective as to the power of the kingdom, we shall not be prepared for the teaching of the second incident.
C.A.C. Yes, that lies at the base of the testimony. The point of all this instruction is that it may have its place and power in the saints.
Ques. Is the wife's mother in right condition at the end of the verse?
C.A.C. Yes, she rises up to serve them: that is the result of the fever being subdued. The brethren speak to the Lord about her and He went up to her and raised her up. The Lord takes her by the hand: that is the expression used in Hebrews 2 in regard of His priestly grace. If the Lord takes us by the hand, the fever goes. We cannot have fever if that powerful and gracious hand is reached down from the glory of God to take ours. He raises her up: she was prostrate, she lay in a fever, but she is in the right position now. Fever might be an undue occupation with things that could very well be left alone. Some people fill up their time with this, that, and the other, without ever giving it a thought that they are called to serve the Lord in the kingdom of God and to serve the brethren. People have all sorts of objects and considerations that keep them in a restless state. I suppose many things come in which are really fever; a restlessness of spirit which hinders us from serving the brethren, strife, vain glory, murmurings, reasonings all coming of self-importance. Each one must face the exercise with himself and herself. The Lord is to be served and the brethren, but fever hinders the service. The Lord takes hold of us in priestly grace that His deep interest in us may be known in relation to these things which are the evidence of our infirmity. He can reach down His hand from the right hand of God to lift us into superiority to everything that would hinder serving.
Rem. Evening has come and the sun has gone down. We have come to the end of the dispensation, but there is still a time of activity for the people of God.
C.A.C. That is like Leviticus 24. The candlestick was still to be attended to and the light maintained though conditions
of apostasy were amongst the people. It is beautiful to see here that the Lord's activities result in the securing of a circle of which He is the centre.
Rem. He was the centre of attraction, whether in the house or whether when the sun had gone down and the whole city was gathered to Him.
C.A.C. Yes. The Lord would give us a great sense of resource in Himself: all the power of the kingdom of God was there in Himself, whatever the conditions were; and He served one and another to make them vessels of the power of the kingdom.
Ques. Should we experience something of that if conditions were right?
C.A.C. Yes. There is no resource in christendom outwardly today, no power to stand against evil, and no power for testimony or the service of God. If the Lord gets a place, if there is a house where He can have a place, there is power there and power that is felt outside. We see what is outside in verse 34. One would like to be attractive to need, one would covet that; not to be attractive to men as having no need, but to be attractive to need. It is what the Lord Himself was. There is about the Lord, in this gospel peculiarly, a certain hiding of Himself; He will not suffer the demons to speak because they know Him, and He leaves Capernaum where there was great interest; then in the next incident He charges the leper to say nothing to anyone. It shows on the part of the Lord a retiringness and a hiding of Himself. I think we get an important principle in the Lord saying, "Let us go elsewhere into the neighbouring country towns". It was not because the thing was played out with no interest, for the disciples had said, "All seek thee". One might lose the sense of the scope of the service. If we take up the question of testimony it is important to remember how wide is the scope of it.
The Lord indicates to us the secret of power and preservation in service; He rises a great while before day. There are twelve hours in the day; there is a period of service, but if there is to be divine power and leading in that service there must be a rising a great while before day. The burning of incense always went along with the trimming of the lamps: we find the incense here. Is not that the real power of everything
on our side? Prayer is the secret of power. The Spirit is definitely the Spirit of grace and supplication -- prayer is very much connected with the Spirit.
Ques. What is the thought of His going to a desert place to pray?
C.A.C. I think it suggests that there must be a withdrawal from all the influences of the present scene. The result of prayer here seems to be that there is an enlargement of the sphere of testimony. I think it is a warning not to get unduly localised as to the testimony, which is really a universal thought.
The importance of preaching comes in here. The Lord emphasises the preaching; He puts that before the works of power, He was sent forth to preach. One wonders whether we give the preaching its due place in the testimony. The word 'preach' is really 'herald'; it gives the thought of a definite announcement. The position has to be plainly declared on God's part. The Lord carries the brethren with Him; He says, "Let us go elsewhere into the neighbouring country towns, that I may preach there also". The house gives the idea that there is a circle of sympathetic interest and then they go forth together. They did not preach; the Lord preached, and they went with Him. It is a great privilege to go with any little preaching that may go on now. Paul also desired to carry the sympathies of his brethren in his service.
The effect of preaching is that the leper comes; that is why the preaching goes on. I think the preaching of the kingdom of God awakened desire in the heart of the leper. A leper is one in whom the will of the flesh has become manifest. The leper evidently got through the preaching a great sense of the power of God that was present, but he needed to learn another feature of the kingdom, and that was the very dominant place compassion had. He said to the Lord, "If thou wilt". It is easier for man to entertain the thought of God's power than of His compassion. It is a great point to reach in one's soul that the character of the kingdom of God is such that every kind of moral need establishes a claim on divine compassion. The leper is an extreme case, he is an excommunicated man, not fit company for God or man. This extreme case brings out the marvellous compassion found in the kingdom of God. There was something in the leper that responded to the preaching. One would expect that, if right conditions are
brought about, a divine result would be reached. What God does is not inoperative, so that, if the glad tidings of the kingdom of God are preached and the brethren are in sympathy with it, we shall expect to see lepers come in.
Ques. Why does the Lord tell the leper to go to the priest?
C.A.C. It seems to emphasise the thought that he was cleansed in view of the testimony. It brings out what the Lord has come to do in the depths of divine compassion. He had come to touch the leper, and to cleanse him by touching him. It is the compassions of the cross that are brought before us. We never realise how leprous we are until we see what it cost the Lord to bear the judgment of our state.
Rem. The note in the margin here is "touch freely, or handle".
C.A.C. That is beautiful; it gives the thought of divine compassions.
It would do us good to ponder deeply and in a prolonged way the sorrow psalms of Christ. Nothing will affect us more deeply than the sorrows of Christ. I suppose it is in that way we get cleansed; the cleansing is not a judicial act but a moral process. I think often people think of the cleansing of the leper as if it were the same as forgiveness of sins. To my mind it is quite different, it is a moral process by which the person is purified from all taint of that terrible disease which had established itself in every part of his being.
Ques. The corruptible condition of man?
C.A.C. Yes, the cleansing of the leper intimates the setting up of an incorruptible condition, a condition that corresponds with God. The cleansing comes about by realising the wonderful character of that "I will". You can put into the "I will" all the sorrow psalms of Christ; if you leave any of them out you leave out some element that is bound up in that "I will". It is the compassionate will of Christ to take up the whole question of our corruption and to touch it. What it cost Him to touch it we can only know by what He tells us Himself. If I understood what it cost Him to take up that corruptible condition, and so to deal with it that it might be removed from before God, what a revolution would be effected! I should be cleansed.
C.A.C. The incident from verse 23 of chapter 2 brings into view the Son of man as Lord of the sabbath: He was the One who could give the sabbath its true character according to the mind of God. The Lord adduces this striking instance of how what might be according to legal requirements became subservient to the grace that marked the house of God. An entirely new character of things was present in the midst of Israel in the service of the Lord; and, one might say, it was too great and too energetic to fit in with the system that had been there before.
There was an entirely new kind of divine movement going on as the Lord had pointed out in the previous section: the Bridegroom was there. The Lord was entitled to the affections of His own, and had come in to win those affections in the way of the service of love. I have connected the thought of the Bridegroom with what is said of Israel: "Israel served for a wife", Hosea 12:12. The Lord came in to serve for a wife, to be the Bridegroom, to win those affections to which He was entitled, and which had never been secured under the legal system. He came in to secure those affections by the service of love, and He was there in the midst of Israel as the Bridegroom. The disciples have the remarkable title of "sons of the bride-chamber", and they understood intuitively the nature of the moment; it was not a time of fasting. As far as we know, the Lord had never told them not to fast, but they understood it was not suitable. We see that in the presence of the Lord the disciples were in perfect liberty, so here they go through the cornfields and eat the corn; they were in perfect liberty, they had the intuitive sense of who was there. They were acting in the liberty that was suitable to the presence of the Lord of the sabbath. Their conduct was challenged, and the Lord had to vindicate it. The cavilling of their adversaries was in regard of what the disciples were doing; and what they were doing was the result of their having come under the influence of the Person who was serving among them. They were thoroughly identified in their sympathies and affections with the character of service going on in Israel: they were absorbed with Him, and going on with what was entirely new. The Jews
would have liked to mix the two things, but they were going on with the new. The Lord likes to have us in a state of soul where He can vindicate us and support us; and He can if we have the new garment and new skin for the wine. In principle the disciples had an entirely new garment; they were clothed with His worth. They had no idea of any sort of claim on their side, or of establishing any title in their affection, but they were clothed with His worth and appreciated the wonderful character of the new position that had come about by His presence here in the service of His love. The great thing for us is to appreciate what has come in in the Person of Christ. Man would have the fast, and be restricted and in bondage, and ignore the wonderful character of the Person who has come in; but the disciples were sons of the bride-chamber, and that is a happy character of the moment. In principle that character spreads over the whole period.
Rem. They go on and do not need to vindicate themselves we often do, and justify our doings when challenged. "They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord", Jeremiah 31:12. The disciples were realising that in His presence.
C.A.C. Yes, and "my people shall be satisfied with my goodness", Jeremiah 31:14.
Ques. What did the thought of Abiathar convey to them?
C.A.C. There was correspondence between David's position and the Lord's. David was in reproach and rejection.
Rem. Morally the Pharisee would be like the Edomites who slew all the priests of Jehovah save Abiathar.
Rem. "His disciples began to walk on" (verse 23). It is a great moment when we begin to walk on as disciples. They were moving with conscious ease and dignity.
C.A.C. Yes, and with Him. It calls forth opposition and criticism. All this is the glad tidings, the unfolding of what is available through the service of Christ. We are instructed in it in order that we may be imbued with the spirit of it, and thus be qualified to carry on in our measure the same kind of service. The Lord loves to identify them with Himself: He says in chapter 1, "Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men". He says, 'You shall catch men for God'. In the next chapter He speaks to the disciples about a little ship waiting for Him. There was a partnership; they are identified with His movements, all that is suitable to the
service. This gospel is the great training ground for service if we want to take up levitical service we must pay great attention to all this gospel. The secret of the whole thing is that, as we are divinely taught, there is a preciousness and sufficiency about Christ that puts everything on a new footing, and sets all those who have to do with it in perfect liberty.
Ques. Is it the blessings of the gospel in connection with the kingdom?
C.A.C. Yes, the Lord is showing, in these various instances that come up, how He can meet every kind of condition on the part of men or of His saints. The wonderful thing is that the kingdom of God should come in that way, by way of the service of grace, by God securing all that is due to Himself and His kingdom in securing all that is good for man. He secures His rights in grace by the service He renders man. How wonderful that God should have taken that way! He comes in to render service to man, and in that way secures all that is due to Himself. If we are prepared to be served and to appreciate the way that divine love has taken in service, everything is made as easy as possible for us.
Ques. We qualify for service in seeing how God has served?
C.A.C. My impression is that we are only qualified to serve in the measure in which we have been served. There is divine support on that line; we get supported in service which is after the pattern of Christ's service. There is a good deal of service which is not patterned after the line of Christ's service, and it does not get support, but this character of service gets divine support. I am thinking of the service constantly going on amongst the saints and in a general way. One would feel the preservation of liberty among the saints is a very desirable object of service; and also that joy should be preserved amongst the saints. As sons of the bride-chamber the saints would be marked by the joy of all that is coming in the Bridegroom, and then as following the Lord Jesus there would be perfect liberty. In this closing section the disciples were perfectly free and they avail themselves of what is available. We need to consider how far we are ministering to the joy and liberty of the brethren. We need to know what we are seeking to promote so that we are definitely set to promote spiritual conditions.
Ques. What does plucking the ears of corn suggest?
C.A.C. It is a figure of the wealth provided in the kingdom.
Every ear of that harvest had sprung up out of death. It spoke of what was immediately at hand.
We are all tested in innumerable small ways whether we are in the spirit and liberty of service. The spirit of service would correct a good deal that is trying and unsuitable which comes in because of the absence of the spirit of service. If we are set to serve we should not be self-important or touchy or ready to take offence. If I only want to serve, no one can hinder me from getting down to that low place of service, no matter what may be said of me. Nothing can deprive us of the privilege of serving; nothing external to ourselves can rob us of it.
Rem. Abiathar got deflected and is dishonoured in the end. We have great warnings.
C.A.C. Yes, that makes us feel intensely the need for more prayer. Anything that stimulates us to more prayer and a greater spirit of dependence and distrust of ourselves is of the greatest divine value. A man with a withered hand could not pluck the ears of corn; he is incapacitated. It is easy for saints to get their hands withered. But there is a divine remedy for every possible condition, and it is very encouraging to be fully convinced of that. If I have a withered hand there is a remedy; and there is a remedy for whatever condition is found among the people of God: it comes in on the line of the service of love.
Ques. These maladies come about by lack of prayer and the allowance of feelings against one another?
C.A.C. One feels the softening effect of the Lord's grace as it comes out in the way of service; it has a softening effect. We may note the contrast between the Lord's looking round at the beginning of chapter 3 and at the end. He looks round in the synagogue with anger, distressed at the hardness of their hearts, but at the end of the chapter He looks round in a circuit at those that were sitting round Him, and says, "Behold my mother and my brethren". There is no sympathy in the synagogue, but there is in the house; it is lovely to see that the Lord did secure a circle where all was sympathetic to Himself. It is a terrible thing when the Lord has to withdraw because there is nothing sympathetic with Himself -- He withdraws with His disciples; chapter 3: 7. The synagogue would answer very largely to the public profession today, where there is no sympathetic or affectionate appreciation of the Lord at all, and no sense of need. The Lord withdraws Himself from that circle, but before the chapter ends He secures a circle in
the house where all is in accord with Himself, and where all are imbued with the spirit of service, all doing the will of God. His brother and sister and mother are all imbued with the spirit of service. There is positive hostility to the Lord in the sphere of profession; it is not only lack of sympathy. I think the Lord departs when things take the character of positive antagonism; He bears with a good deal, but when it comes to that point He withdraws Himself.
Ques. And we withdraw in affection to Him. "Come out from the midst of them, and be separated", 2 Corinthians 6:17.
C.A.C. Yes. We withdraw in order to secure house conditions. The synagogue has become the scene of positive hostility to the Lord, so that He and His disciples withdraw; and then we get house conditions.
Ques. Is there any significance in His going to the sea?
C.A.C. It suggests a wider sphere than the synagogue, so we find the scope of service widens out greatly.
Rem. The multitude were greatly attracted to Himself.
C.A.C. Where there is the setting forth of Christ you will find response wherever there is need. It is pride that does without Him. A true presentation of Christ is always attractive to need, and one covets to be more attractive to need.
It would help us to take account of the different positions in which the Lord was found in relation to service; each position has its significance and its instruction. In this chapter the Lord is seen in the synagogue, by the sea, on the mountain, and in the house. No doubt each position has what answers to it at the present time. The synagogue sets forth the sphere of public profession, and there was an occasion there for Him to act sovereignly. There was nothing sympathetic in the atmosphere of the synagogue. It is encouraging for us to see that the Lord's service was carried on in conditions very much like what is around us today; it is in the midst of a profession where there was the form of godliness but the power of it denied. There was great correspondence between the circumstances in which the Lord served and those in which we have to serve.
In the synagogue we see a man with an unclean spirit, and another with a withered hand; and then in chapter 6 we find the other synagogue scene of this gospel where they were offended at Him because He was the carpenter, so that He wondered at their unbelief. That is very much the condition of the present day. There is a very great deal of incapacity
amongst us, and the Lord meets it sovereignly. He deals with those conditions sovereignly, and that is very much what is going on today. In 2 Timothy we read, "the Lord knoweth them that are his". In the midst of the public profession, characterised by what is spiritually unclean and powerless, and marked by unbelief, the Lord is working sovereignly. The fact that we are here tonight is a proof of that.
Then in verse 7 the Lord withdraws Himself with His disciples to the sea. When positive hostility comes to light it is often an exercise as to how far to go on with people. In 2 Timothy there is much about separating and withdrawing. If there are conditions which do not give the Lord any place, the moment comes when it is right to withdraw from them. The Lord takes account of hostility, and it is a real exercise as to how far to go on with those who show themselves hostile to what is of God.
Ques. Would you go a long way with frailty and infirmity?
C.A.C. Yes. The Lord had compassion on the man with the dried-up hand; that man could not pluck the ears of corn. That is largely the state of many truly converted people; there is not the capacity to avail themselves of what is available. There is a large cornfield and the Lord moves through the cornfield with His disciples, who are in the blessed liberty of His company. They pluck the ears, their hands are not dried up, but there is a man whose hand is dried up and the Lord has compassion on him. The Lord acted morally to bring about conditions suitable to God. If the unclean spirit is dispossessed and the dried-up hand restored, one would expect such who are healed to follow the Lord: they had found that in the Lord that they had never found in the synagogue. They might have gone to it all their lives, but they were never set up there before. This only brought out envy. Those in the synagogue go out and take counsel to destroy Him; but the Lord had secured something for God, He had displaced the unclean spirit, and restored the dried-up hand; there is material secured for the service of God. The unclean spirit cast out is the adjustment of the spirit. When a man's spirit is put right you have the main thing put right; and then the hand is restored, there is spiritual capacity given to appropriate what is available in a spiritual sense, and for service. The man has capacity to feed and serve: there is something secured for God. The Lord is working in the synagogue today; it is a
sphere of profession, and it is largely marked by an unclean spirit. A spirit that does not give place to the Holy Spirit is an unclean spirit. Everyone knows that christendom is full of it: it may pass off with a beautiful appearance, but there is a widespread refusal to give place to the Holy Spirit. Whatever refuses to give place to the Holy Spirit is an unclean spirit, and the Lord can dispossess it. The Lord is working sovereignly to dispossess it and, when it is so, instead of an unclean spirit we come to be in the Holy Spirit, and the hand gets its power restored -- there is capacity for feeding or serving. It is inconceivable the immense wealth that is available now spiritually; but, if a man's hand is dried up, it is not available for him. The Lord comes in with sovereign action to do these things that there may be something for God: if He had not come in sovereignly there would not be one of us here tonight. The fact that we desire to give place to the Holy Spirit shows that the unclean spirit is dispossessed, and, if we find ability to avail ourselves of the spiritual provision available, the dried-up hand is restored. How precious it is to get a thought of Christ, and to be able to get hold of it in one's affections! There is not much ability for that in the profession around us; in the great religious system the hand is dried up.
We have to learn to withdraw ourselves. The Lord withdrew and that brings Him to the sea, which seems to give a wider scope of service. It goes out in principle to the gentiles -- Idumea and beyond Jordan. In principle it is a very wide scope of service. The Lord withdraws from the synagogue, and carries with Him what He has secured for God. He finds Himself in a wider sphere of service altogether, and now the great instruction is that He calls the disciples into partnership with Himself. He speaks to the disciples in order that a little ship should wait upon Him on account of the crowd (verse 9) because the crowd pressed on Him. This stands in relation to the extended scope of service opened up; that is, the greater the crowd the more danger there is of the crowd pressing upon one.
Ques. What about the little ship?
C.A.C. I think it is in contrast with the great crowd. The crowd pressing upon Him would surely suggest the danger of the influence of the crowd acting on the servant. The servant is to influence the crowd and not be influenced by the crowd, so the Lord requires a little ship that He might be apart from
the crowd and yet serve them. It is important to remember that in relation to the wide scope of service set before us. People tell us we are straitened in service, but we must not notice that! We have the biggest scope of service possible, "every creature under heaven". We could not have a bigger scope than that. The thing is that the pressure of the crowd would influence one; this passage suggests the danger of being influenced by the crowd and the way to escape is to keep in the little ship. It is illustrated again and again. Peter in Acts 3 had a very great sphere of service, but he says, 'Do not look on us, as if we could do anything'. He gets out of sight behind the name of Jesus; in principle he has his little ship. It is the same with Barnabas and Paul in Acts 14; the crowd would have worshipped them, but they get into their little ship at once.
There is a kind of moral order in this chapter. If there is anything in the profession to be for God we are to take account of it first. There was the synagogue of that day which was professedly for God: we have to do with a sphere of things which is professedly for God, and we have to take account of that first. No one can serve rightly unless he takes account of the sphere of profession; we have to find out the kind of influences that are there. Nothing will remedy conditions there except the sovereign power of God. The Lord acts sovereignly. Paul laboured for the elect to get something out of the synagogue for God.
Then you see we have a wider scope of service suggested by the sea, which indicates that men are in the view of God. The Lord says, "I will make you to become fishers of men". The sea brings in the thought that men are to be caught for God. It is a big sphere of service, but the important thing is that the servant himself is not to be influenced by those he serves. He brings a divine influence to bear on them, but he does not allow them to press on him -- he is not influenced by them. Every true servant must face this exercise and know what it is to have a little ship. The Lord is in a little ship and morally separated from the influence of the crowd, so that He can bring divine influence to bear on them.
The Lord made Saul a Paul, which means little. It is in keeping in the place of littleness that we escape from the influences of the crowd. The more scope a servant has, the more danger there is of the crowd pressing on him and then his service will be influenced by the crowd! Instead of keeping
apart from it and influencing it they have allowed the crowd to influence them. It has become the downfall of many a labourer that he has not had a little ship. If he had had his little ship he would have influenced them for God.
Ques. What do you mean by a little ship?
C.A.C. I was thinking of the spirit of the servant, that one must be prepared to be little, to keep oneself apart from everything big. If a servant is in that spirit, prepared to be little, he gets divine support. It is a matter of premeditation with the Lord; He speaks to His disciples, He impresses them with the thought that there is a big crowd, and they were to remember the little ship. Paul never got out of his little ship; he never allowed himself to be influenced by the crowd. It would work out that we would be prepared to go along with the few, to withdraw from the influences that are unclean, and go on with the few who follow righteousness, faith, love and peace; this is in keeping with what the Lord says here. He rebukes the unclean spirits, not because they opposed Him, but because they cry out, "Thou art the Son of God". He refuses their testimony, not their opposition; He would not be manifested in that way. It is characteristic of this gospel. The Lord hides Himself from publicity in this gospel; He repeatedly charges the people not to say anything to make Him known. That is the secret of the little ship; He hides Himself from publicity. J.N.D. said that the secret of being right in the present day is to go on with ceaseless activity in obscurity. The moment we want to put ourselves in evidence we are wrong and out of accord with the present character of service. The Lord shrank from publicity; it is most touching, for it is so opposite to what we are naturally. We naturally like publicity, but the Lord on five or six occasions in this gospel clearly enjoins on those healed that they should not speak of it. We should go on content to take the little opportunities for service that may be allotted, and not desire any little bit of publicity. Publicity is a most damaging thing; it needs much grace if the Lord gives it, as He does to some. The greater the measure of the publicity, the greater the necessity for the servant to maintain the desire for obscurity -- for the little ship -- to be out of sight, to do his work and not talk about it, or be talked about. The true servant does his work and does not want it talked about; he wants to go on with it.
The secret of all this lies in the next section -- the mountain.
You can be as great as you like on the mountain, and if we do not know what it is to be great on the mountain we shall never know what it is to be rightly in service. The mountain signifies that elevated place where we get the light and mind of heaven and of God. I think in the Lord going up to the mountain we get the secret source of power. We learn up there what is greater than all service. When it first dawned on me that the service of the blessed God towards me was immeasurable, and infinitely greater than any poor service that I could render Him, it turned my soul upside down! The mountain is the place where we know God's thoughts and ways as higher than the thoughts of man. The Lord serves us up there; there is no crowd there. He calls us to bring us into the mind of God; calling us to the mountain is calling us to the mind of God. How great it is! If I think of the mind of God, what I could do in service is obliterated from my thoughts. If you find yourself introduced into the circle of God's thoughts, the blessed service of God towards man, you get the region of what is beyond what you can do, and you are simply lost in the greatness of God. There is a sovereign call; the Lord goes up into the mountain, "and calls whom he himself would". "He appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them to preach, and to have power to heal diseases, and to cast out demons". It is entirely a question of sovereignty; the volunteer principle has no place at all in it. There is no thought of volunteering for the Lord's service.
Ques. Are we to wait to be called to the mountain?
C.A.C. My exercise would be to respond when I am called: there is a sovereignty about the call. When we come to levitical service there is nothing voluntary. There was no voluntary element in the service of the levites; every member of the tribe was divinely appointed and his service divinely determined. "They came to him", but it was a sovereign call -- "I have chosen you, and have set you" -- what a sense of obligation it gives! Many people feel they are free to serve the Lord when they like, but you are not. You are absolutely His servant or not at all. You are bound to service and the voluntary element does not come in. The volunteer thought has been most pernicious among the people of God, because people think they can serve if they like or feel led, or, if not, they can leave it alone: there is no christianity in that. All the writers of the New Testament refer to themselves as bondservants. The
gospel produces that sort of subjection that bows to divine sovereignty, so for men to complain that they are not somebody else, or to envy another, is impossible! If the Lord is pleased to dignify certain servants, it is all sovereignty. Here, three men were dignified with surnames, not all. The Lord calls three to the peerage and the nine were commoners. It is all sovereignty. If we were all content to be what the grace of God would make us, and to do what the Lord has appointed us in the way of service, we should be supremely happy and in result we should have an ordered company sitting round in order and restful because all have accepted divine sovereignty. We find the same principle all through Scripture that a man never gets into his right place until he accepts divine sovereignty.
Ques. Have you any thought about surnames?
C.A.C. They indicate a special character of service. Simon was surnamed Peter. The Lord suggested by his surname spiritual material for the house of God: He made that thought prominent in Simon, and gives him a distinguished place in His house. Peter's ministry was special and distinguished in that way. James and John's surname was more the thought of power of the kingdom -- sons of thunder -- it gives the idea of what is really thunder, what makes a loud noise in this world for God. I think it is the ability to suffer, and that is what marked James and John. James was the first to be killed, and John's was the longest path of suffering of all the apostles. That is where the power of the kingdom makes itself in evidence -- the voice of the Lord in majesty -- He can maintain people here in the path of suffering. That is the kingdom side. Peter gives material for the house, but in James and John we see the character of the testimony of the kingdom which largely lies in ability to suffer: that is what speaks loudly for God in this world. The apostles spoke loudly for God in this world because they were prepared to suffer; that made them sons of thunder.
All this prepared for the house position. That is the fourth position in which we find the Lord in this chapter. The Lord is found in the house surrounded by an ordered company; they are doing the will of God, not by their activities but by sitting round Him. What is the will of God at the present time? It is the assembly. The assembly is set forth in figure in this company sitting round the Lord. Those who had not been on the mountain, though naturally well disposed, do not
understand the position, so they say, "He is beside himself". There are people like that today; they are well disposed to the Lord but have no understanding of His movements, or position, or the character of the moment: they are outside. His mother and His brethren were outside the house, they were not adversaries. How many are like that today, not adversaries, but out of touch with the character of the moment? The secret is they have never been on the mountain. If we do not go up to the mountain we shall never get into the house. In the house the Lord finds Himself surrounded by spiritual kindred; it has superseded the natural. The spiritual kindred sit round Him in the house; every element of family affection is brought in. One would covet to move under the Lord's influence on these lines.
C.A.C. We were speaking a little last week of the Lord as seen in the different positions set forth in this chapter -- the synagogue, the sea, the mountain, and the last section of this chapter 3 brings us to the house, which seems to be the end in view in this section of the gospel.
The house would appear to set forth that which answers to the dispensation of God which is in faith -- that is not exactly a public thing, but it is known and to be furthered amongst the saints. The word 'dispensation' means household management: that is what we look to find in the house; and if God's household management comes into view you may depend on it all is divinely ordered and the will of God is done. That is, the house is precisely a contrast to the strong man's house. There are two houses here: the strong man's house, and then what is set forth in the house to which Jesus and His disciples came, where we have the thought of a sphere where things are ordered according to God.
Ques. Are you thinking of it as the house of God?
C.A.C. Well, it comes perhaps to that in result. Here we see the contrast there is between the within and without. The Lord's relatives are found without; His mother and brethren stand without. The disciples come to the house, and in the house we see an ordered circle: it is not a multitude, not an unregulated crowd such as we were seeing in the early part of the chapter, where the Lord has to call for a little ship
lest the crowd should press upon Him. That is an unordered crowd, but nevertheless a sphere of service. But here there is an ordered circle, and sitting in the centre of that circle, Jesus the Son of God. It is in one aspect the summing up of the service of the Lord; it is a circle where the will of God is done -- the assembly. That is the end of a distinct section of this gospel; it shows the fruit of divine service that there is a sphere of this kind. The strong man -- the devil -- has a house, and he has got men into that house; and in it all is unclean because there is no room in it for the Spirit of God. It is a figure of the conditions that obtain in the world, and to a large extent among the people of God. The service of the Lord was rendered among Israel, and yet He spoke of Himself as finding the strong man in possession of his house, and of binding him and rendering him impotent and plundering his goods. The service of the Son of God is to render the strong man impotent, to pull down his house and to dispossess all in the house; and to build up another house where everything will be of God, and the will of God will be done. This is the object for which the Son of God came into the world. He rendered impotent the devil and undid his works, and established a circle where the will of God is done -- all there are kindred with Himself, and God's end is reached.
Ques. Here it is doing the will of God; in Luke it is doing the word. What is the difference?
C.A.C. I think the point in Luke is the testimony of divine grace. The word of God is the testimony of divine grace, and in Luke those kindred with Christ are those found here in the testimony of grace: they not only hear the word of God but do it. The whole life is to be coloured by grace, and what is not coloured by grace cannot be of God, because the word of God is revealed in grace: it is a question of doing that. It is the character of the acting of those kindred with Christ. Every act in His life was an act of grace; it was God revealed in grace right through, and those kindred with Him act on that principle.
Ques. What is your thought about doing the will of God?
C.A.C. I have a simple thought about it. There is a circle where the will of God is done, and it is not done anywhere else; that is the assembly.
It is said that if we give place to what is connected with the house we will find ourselves restricted in service, but the fact is we are not restricted. The disciples and Jesus go into the
house and everything takes house character; there is no restriction in service, a great crowd comes together. I believe those who give place to house principles will not find themselves restricted in service any more than Paul, who received all who came to him in his own hired house. That is the character of service today: we maintain principles, and they put us in a restricted position externally. The house is a sort of limited sphere, but it becomes the centre of divine attraction. So a great multitude came together: there is an attraction that extends itself over all who fear God. One would like to be attractive; and to maintain house principles in their necessarily restricted character, but to find that God works in grace, and brings a right kind of crowd together -- those who have a spiritual object in view, and we do not want anyone else.
Ques. Would you say more about house principles?
C.A.C. There are just two: honouring the Spirit and recognising the lordship of Christ. These two principles would secure house conditions. We have an ordered company sitting in a circle, and everyone in that circle has found himself in direct relation with Christ. That is the will of God: a circle where everyone honours the Spirit in contrast with those outside who speak injuriously against the Spirit. Those in the circle honour the Spirit and give place to Christ.
Ques. Would you say more as to the lordship of Christ?
C.A.C. We reach the lordship of Christ by way of the Spirit.
Rem. No one could say "Lord Jesus" except by the Spirit.
C.A.C. Yes, the great distinctive feature of the dispensation of God is the presence of the Lord; it is the first thing that faith takes account of. The one thing which marks the present period is that God is here Spirit-wise. If you recognise that and honour it, Jesus gets His place as Lord, and in no other way. If you find a company honouring the Spirit and recognising the lordship of Christ, that company is morally kindred with Christ and is doing the will of God; and it is not found anywhere else, because the Spirit brings in what is of God and shuts out the flesh, and the lordship of Christ brings everything to a divine result. So you have an ordered crowd sitting in a circle round Him. It is a great thing to come into the will of God: it is found in the house now. People may pay twenty shillings in the pound, and lead decent Christian lives; they may own God in their families and businesses, yet if they do
not honour the Spirit they are not doing the will of God, because the will of God is indissolubly bound up with the Spirit and the lordship of Christ. If a person is not honouring the Spirit and recognising the lordship of Christ, how can he be doing the will of God?
If we get house conditions there is no limit as to how far we can be furthered. Paul speaks to Timothy about things furthering the dispensation -- household management -- which is in faith. Certain things do further the dispensation, so that we can move on from Corinthians to Colossians and Ephesians. There is great development possible if the will of God gets its place.
I think the Lord's mother and brethren represent well-disposed believers in a way, but those who are not spiritual. They are not adverse like the scribes, but they have no capacity to follow the spiritual import of what is there: they say, He is beside Himself, He is out of His mind; and they are outside the house. They are disposed to be friendly and to do Him a kindness, but incapable of understanding the spiritual import of the situation. They represent unspiritual people, not enemies of Christ, but those incapable of seeing the bearing of the situation, so they are outside. We all know there is a vast number of well-disposed people, who believe on Christ, yet they do not give place to the Spirit, so they are entirely out of accord with the will of God. It is the Lord saying plainly that the natural must be superseded by the spiritual; it indicates that there is a new, a spiritual order. We shall never get people sitting in a circle round the Lord, divinely adjusted to Him and to one another, except in a company of spiritual persons, who recognise the Spirit and give place to Him: it is never by the flesh, only by the dispossession of the flesh. It is the Lord indicating the supersession of the natural by the spiritual. There are three classes in this section: His relatives, who are clearly at the moment unspiritual persons; then the scribes, who represent the element of positive adversity, and say, He has Beelzebub; and finally His disciples.
C.A.C. They show what the flesh is in its inveterate enmity against God. The Lord speaks of their blasphemy and evil-speaking, not in relation to Himself, but in relation to the Spirit. There was an unseen Person present as well as a seen
Person. The Son of God was present; but an unseen, invisible, divine Person was there, too, and the Lord jealously guards that unseen Person. It says in another gospel that what is said against the Son of man shall be forgiven, but what is said against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven.
Ques. Would speaking against the Lord's servants come under this heading?
C.A.C. People may speak against me as a responsible servant of Christ -- every true servant of Christ must expect to go through evil report -- but suppose in my service there was something absolutely of the Spirit of God, and people said that was evil, I should tremble for them. But we must remember in the case of the Lord every act and every word was purely and absolutely in the power of the Spirit, so to say that He had an unclean spirit was direct injurious speaking against the Holy Spirit. There was no intermixture at all; it was the power of goodness coming in to set men free from all that was evil, and to set them up in the will of God. The guilt of this was based on the fact that man has something he cannot divest himself of, a something he got through the fall that it is impossible to rid himself of, and that is the knowledge of good and evil. Man cannot divest himself of it though he might wish to. He has the knowledge of good and evil, and he sees absolute divine good, and says it is evil. There is no forgiveness for that; he has violated the deepest moral principle of his being. There is unadulterated good, and man in his wickedness says it is unclean, it is evil. God in the Old Testament said, "Woe unto them who call evil good, and good evil", Isaiah 5:20. It is a very serious thing to see good, and know it is good, and call it evil. I only remember one instance in my experience which would answer to this. It was many years ago, and a man to whom I had spoken the gospel said to me, 'It is no use for you to talk to me; your God is my devil'. I look on that as injurious speaking against the Holy Spirit. I have dwelt on this to emphasise the tremendous importance of the Holy Spirit. What marks the company in the house is that they have honoured the Spirit; they have honoured everything that is seen in Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit instead of refusing it and charging it as evil. That is the exercise we have today. It is serious to speak against what is good, though we could not say it goes as far as injurious speaking against the Holy Spirit -- that depends on the measure of light the person has. This sin
only comes in where there is light and ability to discern good, but malice enough to say that it is evil.
Ques. I suppose no one that is a believer would do this?
C.A.C. It is absolutely impossible. It is obvious that no person who is born again would do this; it is not possible for any true believer to take this ground.
We have these two conditions. First, unspiritual persons unable to discern, represented in the mother and brethren; secondly another class who can discern what is good but so hate it that they say it is evil. Then we have a third class who are able to discern and give place to the Spirit; and in figure as ordered by the Spirit find their place in the circle round the Lord, and each one says Lord to Jesus. That is the circle where the will of God is done. We have three circles: a circle of those incapable of discerning -- believers like that are born again but have not the Spirit. The second circle is composed of the synagogue of Satan, marked by positive enmity; they see what is good and speak injuriously of it. Then the third circle represents true believers according to God, where all is in order according to the Spirit, the Lord getting His place and the will of God being done.
Rem. His mother and brethren called Him.
C.A.C. It seems to be an intrusion which the Lord refuses, just as He refused it in John 2, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" The Lord refuses the natural because He ever gives place to the Holy Spirit. Natural influences hinder people from perceiving what is spiritual. Honouring the Spirit is what has disentangled the Lord's people in these last days from the confusion around.
Ques. Why do you put the Spirit before the lordship of Christ?
C.A.C. Because no one could say Lord to Jesus except in the power of the Spirit of God.
Ques. What do you mean by saying Lord to Jesus?
C.A.C. It means more than the use of the term. Many say, "Lord, Lord" and do not the things that He says; but saying Lord to Jesus is an affectionate recognition of His supremacy which brings into subjection to Him. Typically this incident gives us the assembly as that ordered circle of spiritual persons where the Spirit is honoured and where everyone does say Lord to Jesus. Saying Lord to Jesus is, as I understand it, an assembly exercise. Paul is speaking of the assembly in 1 Corinthians 12:1 - 7.
"But concerning spiritual manifestations, brethren, I do not wish you to be ignorant ... . I give you therefore to know, that no one, speaking in the power of the Spirit of God, says, Curse on Jesus; and no one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit. But there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are distinctions of services, and the same Lord; and there are distinctions of operations, but the same God who operates all things in all". We have the thought of an ordered circle. They are all sitting round the Lord restfully and the Spirit is honoured. Certainly those sitting round the Lord gave Him His place and were just the contrast to people speaking injuriously against the Holy Spirit. There was that in Corinth that answered to it. That is the will of God; it is the primary thought as worked out in the assembly -- a circle of spiritual persons who judge themselves and give place to the Spirit, and are practically under the lordship of Christ.
In Romans 12, presenting one's body a living sacrifice puts one into the circle -- "We being many, are one body in Christ", verse 5. Paul shows us the circle, and no one is pre-eminent in that circle but the Lord.
Ques. We have every tongue confessing Jesus Christ as Lord in Philippians 2?
C.A.C. Yes, that confession is found now in the assembly, the only sphere where He is confessed as Lord. He is professed by christendom.
Ques. What about Romans 10:9? Is that connected with the assembly or the individual?
C.A.C. That is clearly individual; that is how we get salvation. "Thou shalt be saved". We get deliverance from the whole scene of lawlessness. In Romans 12 you come in view of the whole company. While the presentation of the body as a living sacrifice to God must be an individual thing, yet doing that puts you into the circle. In Romans 10 you confess Him in the presence of His enemies, that is the great idea of confessing Jesus as Lord. It does not mean that you go home and tell your converted father that you are a believer, but you confess Him in the presence of those who refuse Him all His rights. You are prepared to say, He is Lord to me.
I think we ought to be exercised in the face of conditions rapidly drifting to apostasy. The whole condition of Christendom is rapidly drifting to a state which would answer to
speaking injuriously against the Spirit of God; and in face of that we should honour the Spirit, and allow Him to adjust us in relation to Christ as Lord and to one another. The Spirit would adjust us to the Lord, who is the centre of that circle, and being adjusted in relation to Him as Lord we would be adjusted with one another; so we should find ourselves in an ordered circle which would give scope for the whole will of God. There was that at Colosse. Paul could speak of rejoicing and seeing their order. They were an ordered company in relation to the Lord, and Paul was seeking to bring them a step further in the recognition of headship. If we give place to the Spirit, not only is the lordship of Christ recognised, but the Head gets His place. So in Zechariah 4 we see the golden vessel furnished with oil, like the assembly in 1 Corinthians 12, and everything there is "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit". What is the result? The headstone is brought forth with shoutings, "Grace, grace unto it".
Ques. Are we each to be a golden pipe?
C.A.C. Yes, that is part of the ordered circle. Everyone is to be a golden pipe for the oil to flow through. There is plenty of oil. How sweet when everything goes with no jar, and we learn how to blend like a band of music! The conductor stands in the midst and they all blend.
Then if we have an ordered circle there is nothing to interfere with edification -- that is brought about by food. When we have the assembly of God ordered there is a full food supply; that is the thought of house conditions. The food supply is a test of whether we have good house conditions. It is a poor house where there is no food supply, and God's house never goes on with an empty cupboard! So we are to be seen as spiritual persons all regulated as to Christ, and with a good food supply.
Rem. Referring to the epistle to the Colossians, Epaphras prays (chapter 4: 12) that they may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
C.A.C. Yes. At Colosse there was an ordered circle, but a good deal more beyond; there was the truth of headship and the mystery. Epaphras had done his best for them, and felt he could not carry them any further, so he went to Paul and told him about them; and then he prayed and agonised for them, that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. He was looking that the household management should
be perfect and worked out. All the will of God would lead them on to the epistle to the Ephesians. We get the crowning point of household management there: Paul uses the word twice in Ephesians -- it is the same word, dispensation. The house idea involves the mutual relations of the saints. It is quite certain that if we honour the Spirit, and give place to the lordship of Christ, there will be perfect adjustment of everything; the circle will not be jagged, but even all round.
C.A.C. To rightly understand what comes before us here, we have to carry on the thought which is suggested in the closing part of the previous chapter: that is, that in connection with the house we have distinctly the thought of those round the Lord within and those who are without. The Lord points the contrast very definitely in this chapter between those within and those without, and the understanding of the parable is limited to those within. It would appear to be a most blessed and perfect instruction for the saints, looked at as having the inside place, in order that they might be intelligent as to all that is going on in the sphere of service. We cannot rightly serve the Lord unless we are intelligent in what is going on in the sphere which we have to do with. There is a very wide sphere of service indicated by the sea and the great crowd. There is no restraint in sowing in the good ground; the sower's hand takes a wide sweep, but when we come to actual result it is very limited. Those sitting round the Lord, those in His confidence, get an understanding of the whole thing. If we honour the Spirit, and give Christ His place, and are found in the inside place, sitting round Him in a circle doing the will of God, we shall have intelligence as to all that is going on in the wide scope of service in connection with the sowing. There is a hidden secret connected with it, and that is the mystery of the kingdom of God, and no one knows that but those within. There is no mystery about healing people's bodies, no mystery about cleansing the leper or healing the paralytic; but when it comes to the sowing of the word, there is a mystery that is only known to the initiated. We ought to understand what is for God at the present time. We are surrounded by a christian profession, the result of the sowing, and
it has come within the scope of the service of Christ: it is widespread, but we ought to understand what is for God; there is something for God. We ought to know how to serve, and in order to know it we must know what the position is. The state of things in Israel then was very much like the state of things in christendom today. The people professed to be the people of God, and took the place of obedience in a certain outward way, but they were really on the verge of apostasy, and it is solemn that the Lord speaks in parables to hide the truth from them. The scripture in Isaiah quoted here is a word of judgment on the people professedly in relation to God; it is judgment, not blessing. In Isaiah 6 the prophet himself was brought into the presence of the glory of the Lord, and was made to realise that he was undone, a man of unclean lips dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips; but when he confessed that, the glowing coal from the altar was made to touch his mouth, his iniquity was taken away, his sin was expiated. Then in verse 8 he hears the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" The prophet answers, "Here am I; send me", and he is sent with a message of judgment -- "Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive. Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and healed". It is a word of judgment on the nation as a whole, but verse 13 is very beautiful: "A tenth part shall still be therein, and it shall return and be eaten; as the terebinth and as the oak whose trunk remaineth after the felling: the holy seed shall be the trunk thereof". The whole nation as such was apostate and coming under judgment, but there was a holy seed, something secured for God in the midst of it all. That is the position in Mark 4; the nation as a whole had sinned away all its privileges, broken the law, despised the prophets, and now rejected the service and ministry of the Son of God. The nation as a whole had lost their opportunity, so things were to be hid from them, therefore the Lord spoke in parables. But the Lord secures a holy seed, something for God in spite of all; some seed falls on good ground and becomes fruitful. Now, the Lord says, I want you to understand the position and be intelligent in your service; you must understand that the great profession is given up and has come under judgment
from God, but I will secure something for God for all that God will have His tithes.
Ques. The sower sows the word. Do you regard that as what the Lord brings before us, as more than gospel preaching?
C.A.C. It is the word. Whatever God makes the subject of testimony, whatever He speaks in the way of testimony, is the word; and it is sown. It only produces fruit in a very limited sphere. That is what the Lord would exercise us about in this chapter. There is fruit, a result for God, but only in a limited sphere; and the Lord carefully and in detail explains to us the reason why the word does not become fruitful in people. That incidentally warns us as to what may prevent it becoming fruitful in us.
Ques. Why is there so much about the sea in Mark?
C.A.C. It indicates a wider scope of service: it is not in the limitations of Israel but in a universal sphere -- "every creature under heaven" is a very wide sphere.
The attitude the Lord takes in regard to the sphere of service is very limited; He serves from the ship, He does not place Himself in the midst of this crowd. He is in the midst of the crowd in the house, He is the centre of that circle, but He is not in the midst of this crowd. He detaches Himself from them, though He serves them; He preserves His detachment from them! That is what we have to do: you can only serve people as you maintain detachment from them. If you read through Acts you will find the servants always preserved their detachment: they came to people here, there and everywhere as witnesses of a Man who had died, and been raised again -- that detached them. We come with a message that cannot be linked on with anything here; it forms no part of this world, and it is concerning a Man who is outside everything that men are going on with. That answers to the ship, that is our detachment. We cannot make ourselves one with people and do them good. You can influence as many as you like; the Lord influenced the whole crowd, He taught them all but He maintained His detachment. We have to speak of a Man who has died and has risen, and that means detachment from the world.
Ques. Is the sowing unique to the Lord?
C.A.C. It was perfectly carried out by Him, He is the sower, but the whole point of this gospel is that the character of His service is to give character to ours. The first feature of
service is that we must be in moral detachment from the people we are to serve, and then you can bring spiritual influence to bear on them. At the same time the servant should understand what he is working for, not to get the whole world converted, but working to get a tenth for God; there is to be a holy seed secured for God. That is what we have before us. We need to understand all these things because we come in contact with them every day. Everyone here tonight is serving, and if we are serving in connection with this great result for God we ought to know what is going on.
Ques. Paul said, "We pray you in Christ's stead", 2 Corinthians 5:20.
C.A.C. Yes, and "Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me", 2 Corinthians 13:3. Christ was the true evangelist, and every true evangelist is the vessel of the voice of Christ.
Then the Lord explains how things work in detail. There are those from whom Satan takes away the word immediately, and the Lord does not attribute this to the carelessness of people. We must remember that the Lord does not speak of Satan as we do. Sometimes we are ready to say that Satan does a good many things which he does not do, but the Lord does not do that. This is a direct activity of Satan -- Satan takes away the seed. We are told in Matthew that it is when the hearer does not understand, but the Lord does not bring that out in Mark. It ought to be a warning to us to be very careful when we do not understand things. In connection with ministry we ought not to let things pass that we do not understand. If a brother says something you do not understand, go and tell him so; we ought to be concerned to understand what we hear. If we do not understand and are careless, we make it an easy job for Satan to take away the seed. We are far too careless, even as believers, about the word. We may lose a present and lasting joy through being careless. If we do not understand and do not take the trouble to enquire, Satan will take it away. People say sometimes, It is over my head, but they ought to ask. I knew a man who was converted in Yorkshire, and from the first day he began to read his Bible. Every scripture he came to that he did not understand -- and there were a good many -- he put a little cross against in the margin of his Bible; so, when he came across a believer, he had always a profitable subject of enquiry and conversation. I never knew a man grow so quickly in spiritual knowledge.
He was in dead earnest, and what he wanted to understand he would have out with everyone until he did understand it. Satan takes a good deal away because we are so careless. Paul said to Timothy that he had fully followed up his teaching; Timothy had not been careless about a bit of it. The Lord warns us against the positive action of Satan in taking away what is sown so that we may just as well not have heard it. If Satan takes it away it might as well never have fallen on the ground.
Ques. Does the Lord speak of understanding this parable as important?
C.A.C. Yes, it is a basis of spiritual understanding, and it is most essential for those who are serving the Lord to know these things and weigh them.
Then there is a second class who are marked by superficiality, no depth of earth. That touches a good many of us. These are the people who enjoy the meetings: they say, 'It was so interesting, I never heard anything like it before'; but you never hear them say, 'That reading cost me a sleepless night'. There is no activity of conscience with them, only joy. When the word acts in the conscience there is no joy at first, because it raises the whole state of soul before God, and brings the soul consciously into the presence of God. That for a sinful creature could never be a happy experience. There is no bringing in righteousness apart from conviction of sin. There is nothing experimental in this class of hearers; the word is received happily, and any exercise of soul is so shallow that it does not result in any fruit being produced for God, so that, as soon as things are difficult or any test arises, instead of the work of God being consolidated, they are stumbled and offended. When there is a real work of God, opposition consolidates it, and persecution burnishes it and makes it brighter than before. Tribulation and persecution test whether they have any root in themselves or if they have only adopted some new idea which sounds very nice. The efforts of the enemy to hinder and oppose bring out the reality of the work of God when there, but if it is not there, they expose the shallowness of what is there. As to its application to ourselves, it would lead to prayer for a deepening of the work of God in our souls. If anyone has a consciousness of the work being shallow, let him be exercised and pray that the work may be deepened: all such exercise shows there is an honest and good heart. We
all feel how shallow we are and one prays that God's work may be deepened and matured, and that there may be something in the way of definite fruit for God.
The effect of receiving all this instruction from the Lord would be to maintain divine exercise in the soul, so that, as we see the great hindrances to fruit for God, we take up the exercise of it so that fruitfulness may not be hindered in our souls, and it gives us understanding as to why there is not fruit in others. The exercise raised in this chapter is that there should be fruit for God. I think fruit in Mark must have service in view; in Romans it is the service of God, we are become bondmen to God, and in chapter 7 we bring forth fruit for God as the result of being married to Christ. We do not bring forth fruit for God without exercise; there must be the knowledge of God first; and there must be the presence of the Spirit; and marriage to Christ. All this in its working out calls for a good deal of exercise. There is an exercised mind in Romans 7 which is anxious there should be fruit for God, but we have all to learn how to produce fruit for God. None of us produces one bit of fruit without learning how to do it; and then learning to surmount the thorns -- the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things. They have to be seriously weighed and surmounted, or there will be no fruit for God. If I am occupied with the cares of life, however legitimate, I shall not produce fruit for God. So with the deceitfulness of riches -- the more you acquire the more tendency there is to get your mind on it. If my mind is on that, I shall not produce fruit for God. Then the lusts of other things; it is astonishing how things come into the mind as objects of desire. People are not so much hindered by what they possess as by what they would like to possess. It might not be riches, but almost anything may become an object of desire.
Ques. When souls are born again, they desire to serve God and then they find barrenness within.
C.A.C. When there is desire to serve God and to serve the Lord, the hindrance begins to be felt -- that is like the clearing of the ground; it must be cleared in order that there should be something secured for God. If the Lord indicates the hindrances, it is most instructive. If I want to be fruitful I like the Lord to tell me what hinders, I am anxious He should tell me, and I do not take it amiss for Him to tell me.
Ques. In Mark the fruit increases?
C.A.C. Yes, that is very interesting; it goes from thirty to sixty and from sixty to one hundred. That is the effect of the service of Christ as rendered to every one of us: there is increase instead of things diminishing if we become subjects of the service of Christ. But if things are left to our responsibility we can understand Matthew telling us how they go from sixty to thirty. One loves to think of increase. Suppose all of us here were producing thirty, how nice it would be to move on to sixty.
Ques. Is exercise on the line of clearing the ground?
C.A.C. Yes, it is a great thing to break up your fallow ground, as was said by the prophet to Israel. As we are exercised in the fear of God the process goes on -- the breaking up of the fallow ground and drinking in of the rain that falls upon it. The precious ministry of Christ from heaven is always falling upon us, and if the ground is broken up and the rain comes down, there is sure to be fruit, and increasing fruit, too.
The first class of hearers are not believers at all. The second and third make a profession and carry on for a time, but there is no fruit from any of the first three. The things that hinder fruit will always hinder fruit: they hinder fruit in me as a believer as much as they hinder it in a mere professor. I cannot say, The various hindrances are deadly ones, but as I am converted they are comparatively innocuous. No, they are deadly everywhere. "The lusts of other things" is a deadly principle wherever you get it.
Ques. It is only the good ground that bears fruit?
C.A.C. There never could be any good ground if there is not a holy seed. There is a holy seed, and if not there never will be any fruit. Though everything public is cut down as in Isaiah 6, yet God has His tenth, His holy seed -- that is the real substance for God, and where you have the holy seed and good ground there is fruit. Perhaps there is not as much as there might be, but there is fruit, though it may be only thirty instead of sixty. I take it the fruit in this gospel would be the work of faith and the labour of love. The Thessalonians had it, "Work of faith, and labour of love, and enduring constancy of hope, of the Lord Jesus Christ". That is fruit and it all springs out of the knowledge of God. They had the true knowledge of God though they were only young converts, and that precious fruit appeared, the work of faith and labour of love: they
started from the outset on the line of serving the living God. The measure of fruit in us is the measure of how we go on with the work of faith and labour of love. We can all reckon ourselves up as to how much we are on that line. The service is the service of God just as the service of Christ was, but its beneficial results are manward.
There was great gain in being about the Lord (verse 10) as those with the twelve were. We would get spiritual understanding of how things work, and we would get to know what helps and what hinders, so we would acquire an education that qualifies us for service; and then the result is there is a light for God in this world (verse 21), the effect of what is carried on secretly. You cannot see what is going on in my soul, and I cannot see what is going on in your soul, but the result is the light is to be set on a lampstand so that everyone may see it. Faith brings God into the soul so that in this gospel we are to take heed what we hear. The Lord speaks about what is hidden being brought to light. That is not what is bad but what is good. The hidden good that God has worked in the souls of His people is all coming to light in testimony. Whatever we hear we are to hear in the spirit of service -- "take heed what ye hear" -- so that we may be able to measure it out to others. In the proportion in which we measure it to others we prosper ourselves -- "with what measure ye mete, it shall be meted to you". That is not like the Sermon on the Mount, where we are treated as we treat others. Here it is what we receive we serve out to others. We are to take heed to the word because it is entrusted to us for others, and as we measure it out it is measured to us. You will never find yourself empty by passing on the precious word; you will get an increase. People dry up if they do not pass things on. That is the difference between hearing in Mark and Luke. In Luke it is how you hear; if you look at the context you see it is that you are to take heed so that you may become possessed of the thing for yourself; you are to listen intently, it is how you hear that you may acquire the thing for yourself. In Mark you are to pay attention and take heed what you hear because it is incumbent upon you to serve it out to others. The character of the thing must be heeded and pressed on your soul so that you are able to measure it out to others, and as you do this you get more and more measured out to you. People often say of a gifted servant, How can he go on always fresh
and full and never empty? Why is it? The secret is that he is measuring so much out to others that he gets it back himself. Everyone here can prove it. Everyone here has tried at some time or other to pass on to some soul what is precious to his own heart. What was the effect? You got a great deal more in your own soul. As we measure it out it is measured to us again. That is why some of us get very little, because we measure so little out to other people. What conversations there would be among the brethren if they spent their time in talking of things they want to understand! You may say, I have nothing to say; but is there nothing in the Book that you do not understand? If you asked a few questions about that, it would soon set the ball rolling.
We were speaking last week of the sowing, and the result for God wherever the kingdom of God is in power. There may be cases where it is only in word, and then there is no fruit. If the kingdom of God is in power there must be a result for God.
Ques. What connection has the light with the parable of the sower?
C.A.C. It indicates that whatever God works secretly in the souls of men is intended to come out in public witness.
Rem. The light which was given to Israel did not become public witness.
C.A.C. Exactly. In connection with the kingdom of God, when He asserts Himself in power it results, as it did not in Israel, in the light being on the candlestick -- it was light for God. Whatever light one may have in one's soul is never in its right place until it is on the candlestick, where it comes into view. It is a public shining to be seen by all. Before it is on the candlestick it is made good in the souls in whom God has wrought. He works it in first and then sets it up in testimony.
Ques. When you say 'public testimony', you do not mean necessarily public speaking?
C.A.C. No. It is a question of there being that in the walk of the saints which is a distinct witness for God in the world; people can take account of the shining of divine light in the world.
Ques. What do the bushel and the bed mean?
C.A.C. They indicate that the light may be hidden by what is connected with a business life, or by self-indulgence.
Ques. "There is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest" -- would that be connected with the lampstand?
C.A.C. Yes. In a sense the divine work is hidden; it is a secret thing at first; the work begins in men's souls, and cannot be taken account of. Many hidden, secret, exercises have been wrought of God in men's souls that have not come to light yet, that have not come to any expression, but the divine intent is that whatever is divinely wrought within should come into expression. We were speaking last week of the Thessalonians as a sample of persons in whom fruit was produced; their faith was everywhere spoken of, the light was on the lampstand. What is in a person's soul is hardly a witness, but when it begins to affect that person's course and manner of life, the whole character of his ways, it comes into witness, the light is put on the lampstand.
Ques. Is it the enemy's tactics to cover the light so that it should not be manifest?
C.A.C. Yes, he is the adversary of God. Satan is not particularly adverse to the blessing of a man except so far as the glory of God and of Christ are bound up in it.
Ques. Does it suggest that God will see to it that His own work will become manifest?
C.A.C. Yes, there is great comfort in that. God will bring to light what He effects in souls; what is given is given that it may come into service, so the Lord says, "Take heed what ye hear; with what measure ye mete, it shall be meted to you; and there shall be more added to you". What one receives is to express itself in service, and the prosperity of the servant depends on liberality, what he measures out to others of the good he has got himself.
Ques. Is the kingdom always in power?
C.A.C. Yes, and, where it is, there must be some expression of God in the subjects of the kingdom. The meaning of the kingdom of God is that the influence of God has begun to exert itself on the person.
Ques. What does it mean, the seed grows "he knoweth not how"?
C.A.C. That is important because it shows how the development and result of the sowing are entirely the work of God. The sower has nothing more to do with the seed after sowing until the harvest; he simply casts the seed on the earth. Even the blessed and perfect Servant Himself was not the
One who gave the increase, so the verse quoted is very striking. We would only get a verse like that in Mark's gospel; we should not find it anywhere else.
Ques. Does it correspond with, "That hour knoweth no man, ... neither the Son"?
C.A.C. Yes, and we do not get that statement outside Mark.
Ques. "Mine ears hast thou opened" -- is that the mark of a true servant?
C.A.C. Yes, the ear speaks of obedience. The ear of a servant is the characteristic member of his body, so, if the Spirit says in the Old Testament, "Ears hast thou prepared (digged)", the Spirit translates it in the New Testament, "A body hast thou prepared me". It is a body entirely for service in obedience.
What we find here is the action of God in giving prosperity to that which Christ sows, so that in result there is a full answer to the sowing in the harvest. Between the sowing and the harvest the Lord leaves things; it says He sleeps. That is a great lesson for a servant -- to leave the increase to God. It is a remarkable expression, "he does not know how". It is a lesson we have to learn, that God is the increase-giving God. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God gives the increase. We learn the sovereignty of God in these two parables; they are full of instruction. They give the two kinds of development going on. There is the development going on in view of the mature result for Christ; and there is another development going on which results in what is great in this world, but which ultimately affords shelter for what is evil. The question is, What kind of development are we identified with in our thoughts and affections? What marks the kingdom of God in power is a steady and continuous progression. Everything moves on in a continuous development in view of the full corn in the ear. That is the line on which the divine work moves; that is the spiritual development in the kingdom of what was sown by Christ in the souls of the people of God. It is developed by divine working. It is God who gives the increase: every bit of increase is of God, and it is given by God. God secures the prosperity of what Christ sows, He secures the development to a full result in the harvest. That is characteristic of the kingdom of God on the spiritual side. There is no decline there; people walking in the Spirit never decline. It is what the thing is -- Christ casts the seed on
the earth, and He leaves it there and there is no intervention on His part until the harvest. God produces conditions favourable to fruitfulness, so that, not only is there a divine seed, but earth is capable of bringing forth fruit of itself. I suppose the earth would set forth those conditions in man which are the product of divine working.
Then there is instruction as to the public development, too. The public side is the little mustard seed which becomes a great tree, so that the fowls of heaven find shelter there.
Ques. Does the full corn in the ear refer to the individual or to the whole thing?
C.A.C. It contemplates the whole thing, but the principle would apply to the individual. It contemplates the full result for Christ; what He has sown is left to develop by the work of God in the souls of His people, and there is continuous progress from blade to ear, and to full corn in the ear. It is very encouraging because we are apt to think more of the public side where things go from good to bad, and from bad to worse. As to the individual saint development should mark him until there is full result for God. One sometimes sees an aged saint in whom one feels there is a full ear of corn.
The sowing of Christ is the starting point, and ultimately there is a full result by the working of God, by the presence of the Spirit, and by the divine nature in the saint which sets forth the earth bringing forth fruit of itself -- there is power for fruitfulness in the earth. James exhorts to patient labour to wait for the precious fruit of the earth, "having patience for it until it receive the early and the latter rain". He says, "Ye also have patience ... for the coming of the Lord is drawn nigh". The saints were suffering, but all the suffering was developing precious fruit in the ear. There is always progress and development if we are with God.
Ques. What does the sleeping and rising up mean?
C.A.C. It indicates a lengthened period during which the sower does not interfere with what is going on; he has patience and leaves the development, he waits for the harvest. That is the attitude of the Lord at the present time. The Lord is waiting for the precious fruits of the earth, and the early and the latter rain are coming down upon it -- what is the result? One feels the real test of the value of any ministry is not whether it is scriptural, or clear, or intelligent, but whether there is fruit produced by it. The Lord has sown the divine
seed, and He is the Labourer waiting and marking the increase that may take place without His intervention. The Lord is patiently observing how the precious seed which He brought here is developing, whether it has reached the blade, or the ear, or the full corn in the ear; He is watching the souls of the saints in view of the harvest. John the baptist spoke of the floor being thoroughly winnowed, the chaff burned, and the wheat garnered. The harvest is a great thing for God and for Christ. The Lord is intensely interested in all God is doing to give fruitfulness to that precious seed which He has sown in view of the harvest.
The Lord is presented as Sower in the first half of this chapter, and as Sleeper in the last half of the chapter.
Ques. What is the significance of the next section -- going over to the other side?
C.A.C. The Lord shows us another aspect in connection with what is going on at the present time. That is, He leads His servants to expect that in the course of their service and testimony they will encounter the power of Satan. The great test of the present time is, Can we trust the Lord asleep? It is unbelief that wakes Him, not faith; He rebuked them for unbelief when they woke Him.
Ques. Did they doubt who He was?
C.A.C. I do not think the disciples had understood who He was, though it says, "They took him even as he was in the ship". I suppose in a sense we have all taken Him as He was, but it is another thing to learn what He was, and if they had learnt that they could have had no fear of the boat sinking. It was a test as to whether they had estimated the greatness of the Person who was there. "Having sent away the crowd, they take him with them, as he was, in the ship" -- the Spirit suggests in that the greatness of the Person and all that had come out in Him. He was the beloved Son of God. He had bound the strong man, and shown Himself superior to all the power of evil. There was abundant evidence of who He was, and it was all there; they took Him as He was. In the blessed reality of His Person He was there, but they had not estimated it, so, when the storm came and He did not intervene but slept, they wake Him in unbelief. It showed how little they had estimated who the Person was. We are often tested in that way. When Satan's power comes into conflict with the testimony it looks sometimes as if the ship were going to sink -- the ship filled.
What would give quietness would be the sense of the greatness of the Person whose testimony it is, and who is with His own. "They feared with great fear" -- that shows how little they had estimated Him aright. We should never be in the least perturbed if we understood the power of the Person with us, because the Lord is with His own. He does not manifest it by some remarkable act, because it is characteristic of the present moment that He is asleep; there is no outward activity. The great exercise of the testimony is that we should learn to believe on Him. What a triumph it would have been if they had said, 'He is asleep, and it is all right!' The attitude the Lord takes up in any circumstance must be a model for His own. He knew all about the storm and the gusts of wind, but He was asleep and perfectly restful. We often want Him to do something. I have often prayed Him to do something, to wake up and move. He is saying, 'Can you not trust me asleep without a word or act just because you know Me?' It was certainly the right attitude which we find in the Lord; He was never out of time or tune. If it had not been right for Him to sleep He would not have been asleep: He was absolutely unperturbed in spite of the hostility of the enemy. I suppose He would have been alone in that: even Paul said, "Without were fightings, within were fears". One often thinks of the bride in the Song of Songs, "I charge you ... by the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please". She would not have Him disturbed -- that is right, it is the language of love. If we love and trust Him we do not want Him awaked. The disciples awoke Him in unbelief: nothing can sink the boat if He is in it.
Ques. The Lord slept in the storm -- is not that the thought that He never ceases to be in control?
Though He is outwardly quiescent, yet everything is under His control. The storm is as perfectly under His control when He is asleep as when He rises, and says, "Peace, be still". If He does not act, yet all is under His control.
Ques. What do the "other little ships" suggest (verse 36)?
C.A.C. It indicates that there are ships that have not the
Lord on board. I suppose there are ships where the Lord is not. The great exercise is to move at His bidding: everything in the testimony of the Lord must be at His bidding. He had said, "Let us go to the other side" -- it is at His bidding they go and they take Him as He was in the ship. They had that much affection that they would not go without Him. The Lord is very pleased to go with those who are in obedience, who are subject to His bidding and want Him. The Lord will always go with those who want Him.
Ques. Might we have the Lord with us and not know Him?
C.A.C. It is only of the fathers that John says, "Ye have known him that is from the beginning". We may have a sense that the Lord is with us, and not have a right estimate of who He is, of the greatness of the One who is with us. The disciples would not have gone without Him, but they had a feeble sense of who He was; they said, "Who then is this?" It would have been better if they had said that before.
C.A.C. Yes, Peter sleeping is very fine; it is like the Lord. Peter was not a very sleepy man naturally, but he could sleep chained between two soldiers who were going to cut off his head the next day; he got a restful night. You might have said to him, 'How can you sleep when they are going to cut off your head tomorrow?' Peter would answer, 'Nothing of the kind, the Lord told me long ago that I should live to be an old man, and I am not afraid'. Peter had absolute confidence in the Lord. That is the lesson of this chapter. In connection with the difficulties and conflicts of the testimony and service and the opposition of the enemy, the Lord would have us restful, and not dependent on what He does. We are just to trust Him if He does not do anything.
C.A.C. Chapter 5 shows us what is available, and the first few verses of this chapter are the solemn warning as to how we may fail to utilise what is available. The Lord intimates that where He is best known He may be least valued and utilised.
Ques. Is that the significance of His own country?
C.A.C. Yes, and of the synagogue. His own country is
where He was best known externally, and yet we find nothing but human and natural thoughts of Him after the most wonderful witness to what He was in His own Person. The synagogue suggests a place where people are familiar with Scripture, know all about the terms, and are in a place of profession; but it turns out to be a place where the Lord could do nothing, no mighty works. Do you think we believe that all powers, exercised in the world to come, are available now? Mark 5 shows the power in the Lord to subdue all things to Himself, to meet the whole condition; whether it was the active power of evil, or conscious weakness seen in the woman, or unresponsive affection set forth in the dead damsel.
Ques. Is that the subject-matter of service today?
C.A.C. Yes. It makes me think of a sign I once saw over an optician's shop -- 'Difficult cases sought for'. Chapter 5 is a wonderful education for the disciples in the ability of the Lord to deal with difficult cases. Each of these cases was beyond human aid. No one could subdue the demoniac, and no one could heal the woman, and they laughed at the idea of anything being done for the damsel. These things show how conditions which exist on man's side can be divinely dealt with. The Lord has been presented as the Sower: He brings in the thoughts of God and all that has power to be fruitful for God in the souls of men. Then the Lord is seen as the Sleeper; He has sown the seed and it is left to God to give the increase. The Lord does not, as seen in this parable, actually promote growth, but God gives increase when He sows. Then apart from the question of sowing and fruit for God there are terrible conditions existing on the part of man, and it needs to be known whether there is power in God to deal with them. I suppose everyone who has had exercise, a history with God, has gone through chapter 5. In exercise we have to learn that there is an active energy of evil with us which no efforts of our own can subdue -- that is the power of will. We have all had to learn what it is to have a will that is satanic in character, an entire lack of subjection to God which cannot be controlled. Then we have all had experience of weakness. When there begins to be a desire to live for God and to please God there is an experience of weakness. Then what is, in one sense, more dreadful; we have to be divinely awakened to find that, where there is such a blessed love on God's part, there is no response in our hearts. The Lord has ability to bring all this about.
There is power in the Lord; I may not have utilised it, but it is there. There is power vested in the Lord to deliver from the active energy of man's fallen will, and from weakness pertaining to the flesh, to bring into relationship with God and also to quicken affections.
Ques. Such an experience prepares the ground for the seed to take effect?
C.A.C. Yes. This exercise rather indicates how that is brought about. He presents to us in the previous chapter the thought that by the operation of God on the divine side there would be steady and continuous growth -- first the blade, then the ear, and then full corn in the ear. On the divine side that is the normal condition; but the Lord also indicates that there are certain hindrances on our side, and He points them out; these hindrances need to be discerned and overcome.
Our need is forcibly brought home to us as we perceive the supply and resource available for us -- that is the way the Lord brings about the sense of need. It is a serious thing to have a small thought of the resource available. What comes out in the opening verses of chapter 6 is that there were people who had thoughts of Christ, and were conversant with His words and works of power -- they speak of them -- but notwithstanding that they had a natural and human thought of Him. We are all liable to that. It is much the condition that is found in the synagogue, the sphere of public profession today. There is a general knowledge of Christ there; people accept that there is such a Person and that He did wonderful works, but they have a natural and human thought of Him -- "Is not this the carpenter?" The testimony to all available in Christ has to be carried on in the face of such conditions. It is very exercising that the Lord should say, "A prophet is not despised save in his own country, and among his kinsmen, and in his own house". I suppose the Lord feels that even today. It is in the place where the Lord is known that He is most despised.
Ques. Satan has engendered low thoughts of Christ in those who profess His name, and we have to keep clear of that in our spirits?
C.A.C. True thoughts of Christ will adjust everything. After all, the supreme question is, "What think ye of Christ?"
Ques. Is the synagogue scene expressive of christendom?
C.A.C. Yes, it suggests that thought to me, especially in this gospel. The sphere of public profession is marked first
by the presence of an unclean spirit, a spirit that will not recognise the Holy Spirit: christendom is full of that unclean spirit. Then it is marked by the presence here of a man whose hand is withered; that is inability to utilise what is provided by the grace of God. Then here we see it is a sphere where there are very low and natural thoughts of Christ. That exposes the character of the profession, and, if there is to be any divine activity in it, it must be sovereign activity. The Lord does not act there as He does in the sympathetic atmosphere indicated in the house, which is contrasted with the synagogue. In the house He acts in the midst of those who are sympathetic with Him. We can discern what the synagogue conditions are, public profession, but it is our exercise to preserve house conditions.
Ques. What do you mean by house conditions?
C.A.C. Conditions sympathetic with the Lord, and where what is in Him can be utilised. He went into the house and they told Him of Simon's wife's mother. It was a sympathetic atmosphere and they all wanted her to be healed. Then we find further on that the disciples were sitting in a circle round Him, they were doing the will of God; that marks house conditions. One would like to be enlarged on that line.
Rem. It is a mark of grace that even in synagogue conditions the presence of God is not absolutely shut out.
C.A.C. Yes. The Lord did work in each case, though greatly limited in this chapter. He could do no mighty works there, and He marvelled at it. The Lord only marvelled twice: once at the greatness of faith, and the other time at the greatness of unbelief.
The way to meet synagogue conditions is not to attack them, but to live so in the joy of house conditions that one has power to meet synagogue conditions.
Ques. What is the bearing of the sabbath day in the synagogue?
C.A.C. The people were carrying on what was outwardly: connected with the sabbath without at all understanding its true character before God. I believe the Lord is never mentioned in connection with the sabbath except to record the fact that He violated their thoughts as to it.
The sabbath day was to be for God, a little foretaste of the day when He will have a scene of rest responsive to Himself before His eyes. The solemn thing is that the One is here
who is God manifest in flesh and all they can do is to sneer at Him. There is a similar scene in John 10. They were celebrating the feast of the dedication of Jehovah's temple, and He was there in the midst, but all they could say was, "He has a demon". It was the absolute enmity of the human heart.
The second section of the chapter from verse 7 seems to indicate an extension of service. The Lord was not to be alone in the service.
Ques. Why did they go out two by two?
C.A.C. It seemed to be the Lord's way. Two witnesses were required for adequate testimony in Israel. I think the principle of partnership and working together is important.
Ques. He chose the twelve that they should be with Him, and go forth. Was the period of being with Him for their education?
C.A.C. Yes, the disciples were educated, and we all are, by observing how the Lord does things. Practically none of us can serve beyond the measure that we have been served; that is the measure of our service.
Ques. Would Paul's experience be a presentation of chapter 5?
C.A.C. Yes, I think energy of will was never more manifested than in Saul of Tarsus. No man ever discovered in a deeper way his own weakness when he desired to do good, and he learned what it was to be in a state of death; he had gone through it experimentally. No doubt it brought him to the point that, as to his life in flesh, he lived it by the faith of the Son of God.
Ques. What is the lesson in verses 8 and 9?
C.A.C. The importance of going forth without human supply, with only a staff. The scrip and bread and money in verse 12 would indicate human resources of various kinds; in the path of service nothing is needed but a staff, but in Luke you do not even need that. In Matthew, Mark and Luke there is a great difference in the directions given.
Ques. What does the staff imply?
C.A.C. It suggests to me that with divine support the servant can be independent of all that is human and natural in the way of resource. In Luke he is not to take a staff; it seems there that the message he carries carries him. Perhaps it might help to see the difference between this and what the Lord said at the end of His ministry. He reminds them of this
commission, "When I sent you ... lacked ye anything?" Now, He says, You must provide for yourselves. In the Lord going away they were to be marked as having resources of their own, indicating spiritual resources; they had to see to it that they were competently furnished with spiritual resources when the Lord was about to leave them here. But in this chapter they were sent out to be entirely unsupported by human resources. The one lesson would precede the other.
Ques. The Lord healed a few infirm persons and the disciples many?
C.A.C. Yes, it reminds one of "the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do", John 14:12. Those that the Lord sends forth are provided with oil. There was a good supply of oil, and therefore things can be extended. The presence of the Spirit gives an extended character of things, but when the Lord was here things were very limited as regards Himself. When the Spirit came there was an extended character of things all over the world. It is the character of this gospel that the enemy's attempts to stay the flow of the river of grace only cause it to overflow its banks.
A question has been raised as to the difference in the gospels as to the equipment of the servants when sent forth. The servants were shod with sandals here, whereas in Matthew they did not have them. In Matthew the word for sandals is different from that in Mark; it is more shoes in Matthew, that which covers the feet. One can see that in serving the divine support is absolutely essential, and one wonders whether in Luke the support of the servant is regarded as found in the message which he carries.
Ques. Would the attire be in keeping with the work in verse 13?
C.A.C. Yes, it would suggest the spiritual equipment; they were possessed with a good stock of oil. They anointed with oil those who were infirm and healed them.
Ques. Would the possession of oil indicate spiritual ability to put souls in touch with Christ? One feels it much easier to point out doctrine than to link the soul with Christ.
C.A.C. To be able to anoint others would imply that you had a surplus stock of oil. In Matthew 25 there was not enough oil to give out to others. There is the thought in Scripture of being anointed with fresh oil.
Ques. Could you tell us anything about the disciples entering into a house in verse 10?
C.A.C. The Lord seems to undertake to furnish a place for His servants where they would find reception. I suppose the servant, if divinely guided, would never go into a house that he would have to leave. Where the servants are received in the true character there would be no need to leave the house; a good deal depends on how we are received. These servants are received in the equipment and furnishing with which the Lord sent them forth, and every house would be open to such servants. Sometimes we are not suitably attired, and so we are received in another character than what the Lord would give us -- hence difficulties arise. It is a great thing to come at the outset in the true spiritual light which the Lord would have before people.
Ques. Why does the instance of Herod and John the baptist come in at this point?
C.A.C. It comes in a striking way between the servants being sent out and their return. It would seem as though there was a good deal of instruction in this incident as to the character of the scene where the service is to be rendered. It is not the religious sphere here, but there is conscience. Herod listened to John, he had a certain regard for him, but the ruling principle of his being exposed him to the influence of what is satanic and it ended in murder. Self-gratification may expose one to satanic influence in a way we little anticipate.
Ques. Is not Herod like Pilate here?
C.A.C. Yes, he was carried off his feet. Conscience was active, and there was a certain respect for what was of God, but the ruling principle was self-gratification and that exposed him to this murderous influence.
We find these actings in the sphere of evil influence, and then we find the apostles gathered to Jesus and telling Him what they had done and what they had taught. It is well to be moving in a line of things that He can be told all about. Perhaps our telling Him what we do and teach would be more effectual for our own good than what we do or teach.
Ques. Whatever the time our sabbaths must be kept "Come ye apart and rest awhile". Though a great harvest occasion, yet the sabbath must be kept?
C.A.C. Yes, but does it not suggest that opportunities afforded were not exactly of a spiritual character -- it was all a
distraction -- "coming and going". You do not get that with genuine souls; there is no coming and going if they have spiritual exercises, but a coming and following. A lot of people come and go; it is an unspiritual character of movement; it is only a distraction that does not call out the sympathies and compassion of the Lord. He regards it as a distraction and calls His servants apart from it. When there is a crowd with need He has compassion and takes up shepherd-care for them.
Ques. How would you apply coming and going now?
C.A.C. I should think coming to meetings and listening to ministry and going back to the old manner of life, not entering on a different path of life. Coming and going only hinders feeding; there was no leisure even to eat. There may be a good deal of religious activity, going to meetings and listening to ministry, which is distracting -- it is only coming and going so the Lord has to call His servants apart to rest awhile. This movement seems to bring to light those who were conscious of the need of shepherd-care. The people who followed on foot got food; the crowd never went away, they had to be dismissed. There was no spirit of coming and going in this crowd; they ran on foot. The Lord took account of them as those having need, and all the resources of Zion were there. Externally it was a wilderness, but all the resources of Zion were there; the provision was abundantly blessed and the needy satisfied with bread.
The Lord dismissed the crowd because this was only a provisional thing; the time for Israel's blessing had not come. That order of things had to be dismissed, but the wealthy provision was there and available.
We cannot doubt that the wisdom of God has given us this wonderful presentation of His Son, not simply that we should see the personal character of His service, but that we should learn the character of the service of God in grace towards man. That is the character of service that continues, and in which we may through grace have part.
Rem. The disciples said, "Send them away".
C.A.C. Yes, it showed the measure of their compassion, the measure to which they could rise. The day was spent, it was a desert place, and they said, Send the people away to buy for themselves. That was the measure of their compassion! I think that God takes account of its being a desert place; if one may say so, that is ever pressing on the heart of God,
awakening the compassions of God. There is nothing here naturally that ministers to what man truly is as an intelligent moral being, set in relation to God.
Ques. Does that character of service continue today?
C.A.C. I think so. I think the same blessed character of service that was seen in the Son of God is certainly not to cease. We read in Mark 1, "Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God", but there is nothing about the end. It indicates in the service of the Son of God in grace that a new character of service is initiated, brought in, and that God will continue it. Though He goes to the right hand of God, yet He is still working with His servants.
C.A.C. Yes, God is rejected; that is the character of things in the world. We must remember that the God who has drawn near to man has been rejected; it is not only God's anointed Man who has been rejected, but the God who was here in the service of grace in His beloved Son has been rejected. That has not changed the heart of God. The Lord's compassions are great, but then He loves to have His disciples in partnership with Him, so He says, "Give ye them to eat" -- He puts it on them. So the question is raised, Have we anything good to set before people, to give them divine satisfaction in a world of drought and dearth like this? We should take stock of our resources, what we have ourselves; never mind what can be found elsewhere. The disciples always had something and always sufficient to meet the case. Every true believer on the Lord Jesus Christ in principle has a stock sufficient.
Rem. In John 4 the disciples went to buy food.
C.A.C. They did not understand the reserves that were there. The Lord had plenty to eat without going into the city, and to drink without dipping into the well. The disciples proved this when they came back. We often fail in taking account of what we have, through being occupied with what we have not.
Ques. What about the widow in Elisha's day?
C.A.C. It is a divine principle that God uses what we have and can multiply it to any extent. If we were more spiritually anxious to take stock and see what we really have, we should find it sufficient.
Ques. What would you say you have if you were asked?
C.A.C. We are all able to say we have five loaves and two fishes. Surely there are five loaves and two fishes here tonight.
Ques. What would that suggest to you?
C.A.C. Evidently in Scripture bread is God's supply to strengthen the heart of man. The bread sets forth Christ as the wonderful provision of grace for man. My impression is that the disciples were possessed of that; they had learned in their affections to identify every promise in the Old Testament with that Person who was among them. They believed that He was the Christ. Five is connected in Scripture with grace, and five is the number characteristic of man. God has stamped the number five on man; He has given him five fingers, five toes and five senses. In the five loaves we see that all that man needs to set him up in service or walk is provided in a Man -- in Christ. The promises in the Old Testament were like God sowing a seed for a wonderful harvest to furnish bread for man; it all springs up and becomes real in the Person of Christ. In that Person there is a full supply for the need of man; we cannot think of any need of man that is not fully answered in Christ. The disciples had that; they were unintelligent and their apprehension of it feeble perhaps, but among the disciples there was a sense that all God's promises were abundantly realised in Christ, and that there was a full supply of food for man. Have we a sense of that? Is there anyone here who has not a sense of that in his soul? The feeblest can have it. God has provided everything to satisfy man in Christ; He has brought it in in grace, and furnishes that to feed the multitude. He has brought it in in the midst of these terrible conditions. Look at the religious world today -- is it not a desert? There is a famine in the religious world. Every year there is more of the profane world brought into the religious world, which is a testimony to the dearth that is there. They are obliged to bring something into the professing church, which only proves that, instead of being amply supplied, there is a dearth, so that people have to go outside to the dust and ashes of this world.
Ques. What about the grass here?
C.A.C. When things get into the hands of the Lord He provides conditions of comfort. Although it is a desert place we find that there is green grass there, and the people sit on it. We ought to realise how well set up we are in the administration of the Lord. We are greatly occupied with the smallness of things, and I admit it is a day of small things. There is
not much intelligence or gift -- not even a man, only a lad. People say, 'There is only two hundred pennyworth of bread, I do wish there was some lad a bit bigger who would have brought more loaves', but the thing is to get what is in the hands of the lad into the hands of the Lord; it will go all right then. It is John's gospel that tells us about the lad; here it is more on general lines; the disciples as a company had this supply. John gives more the detail of it; he shows that a lad has the loaves, and emphasises the outward smallness and insignificance of things.
Ques. Is what is not available in the country round always to be found in the desert?
C.A.C. What strikes me is that you get all the wealth of Zion in the desert, "I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy ones with bread", Psalm 132:15. Because there is nothing of Zion in the desert, it is possible for all Zion's wealth to be there. He is there and He takes up the little and multiplies it to any extent.
Ques. Ecclesiastical conditions cannot take that into account?
C.A.C. No, the savour of that wonderful wealth of divine grace is not apprehended at all in that which gives place to man. How could it be? We do not find the Lord feeding the multitude in Jerusalem or in any of the great cities; it is where conditions are manifestly desert conditions that the Lord brings out the fulness of His own Person and grace, and that holds good today.
The two fishes suggest that, not only is there a provision in grace for man, but that man is to be secured for the pleasure of God. This is suggested by the general tenor of what we get in the New Testament -- the fish are taken out of their natural elements and surroundings and they are taken out for God. The Lord speaks to His servants of their becoming fishers of men, and He speaks of the nets, and suggests that, even from the restless sea of this world, God is to secure something for Himself. There is a testimony to it in the presence of the disciples here; the fish are part of their administration as food. There are two sides to the gospel: one side tells me what is in Christ for me, full provision of bread to satisfy me, and the other side is how God secures by the work of His Spirit what is for His own pleasure in man. The whole ministry of the Lord is covered by those two things; it is what the disciples
were furnished with, the five loaves and the two fishes; that is what was to be ministered. Do you think anything will satisfy the soul of man but the reality of those two things? God has provided in Christ everything that man needs to completely satisfy him, and on the other hand God is working in the power of His grace and Spirit so that man may be for His pleasure. We must have both sides of the gospel.
Ques. Everyone in the kingdom has the two sides?
C.A.C. These two things constitute the kingdom; a full provision for man, and a full provision for God. We shall not be in God's kingdom if we have not these two things. These two exercises are found in the souls of men as soon as they are touched by the finger of grace. They have needs which must be met, and they learn that those needs are fully met by God's provision in grace in Christ. But there is also the feeling, 'I want to be for God'; it is part of the exercise of everyone born again. I only learn what God is for me to become exercised about how I can be for God. God has made provision for that, not only provision to satisfy me, but He has made provision to satisfy Himself, and to have man for Himself, taken out of the restless sea of this world. This is the character of service you cannot serve men as to their souls any other way. What else offers a man satisfaction as to the deep cravings of his soul in relation to God?
Ques. Would you say a word as to the green grass?
C.A.C. If people are not restful they cannot get the good of the spiritual food provided. The loaves and fishes have to get into the Lord's hands first -- that is important. I may have loaves and fishes, but they will not multiply in my hand, only in the hand of the Lord. He looks up to heaven and links it with the grace of heaven, and there is enough for everybody. His administration makes everybody comfortable, and they sit down on the green grass. One often feels when the saints come together that they do not sit down; if they are thinking of worries they are not sitting down in their spirits. The Lord would make us to sit down, that there might be satisfaction for every needy soul.
Ques. In Psalm 23 we have the green pastures under the care of the Lord as Shepherd. Would not that have a stilling effect on our spirits?
C.A.C. Yes, indeed, He leads into green pastures and waters of quietness; that is just what the Lord does. He never leads
the spirits of His saints to be perturbed and agitated; He makes them to lie down.
Rem. He distributed the bread first.
C.A.C. That is right. The whole ministry of the Lord is covered by these two things. He taught them many things -- He showed that all was provided by God for man, and He also had a great deal to say as to the way man was to be secured for the pleasure of God -- these two things covered all His ministry.
Ques. Why did the Lord divide the bread first?
C.A.C. Because things must begin on that side. We must learn first what the provision of Zion is, He abundantly blesses her provision in Zion, the city of royal grace; everything is provided. Every promise of God was substantiated in Christ risen from the dead; that is presented to men for them to feed on.
Ques. That is necessary before you know about the compassions of God?
C.A.C. I think the compassions of God come out in Zion, because when they had forfeited everything and God had forsaken the tabernacle in Shiloh -- the tent He had placed among them, God in perfect compassion chose Zion. He says, "This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell". God finds a place where He can dwell amongst men in pure and perfect grace. The provision of Zion is so rich, there is enough in it to meet the need of every creature under heaven.
All in this gospel of Mark is the divine college course to enable us to take up service. A man who goes through the course in this gospel will learn everything he needs to learn. If we went through this gospel on our knees we should come out fully qualified to serve God and Jesus Christ.
When God has compassion on men He has something in view. The end in view is the setting up of the testimony. That is why the incident follows about the Lord constraining the disciples to get into the ship and go before to the other side. It suggests the course that the testimony would take.
Ques. What is suggested in the gathering of the fragments before they went into the ship?
C.A.C. All this wonderful wealth of blessing has been fully presented to Israel. The divine compassions and ministry had all been presented to Israel. In the wisdom of God it was not the time for the kingdom to be restored to Israel, so the Lord dismisses the crowd. It was not the time for Israel to
come into blessing: the kingdom makes provision for that in a day to come. The twelve baskets indicate that there was enough left over of the ministry of Christ to satisfy Israel in a coming day, and bring them the wealth of the kingdom -- the baskets are standing waiting for them; they are waiting for the time when the kingdom will be restored to Israel. It is taken from them now, so the Lord dismisses the crowd. In the meantime the full wealth of the administration is available for the saints of the assembly; it is available now. Israel has been dismissed, the fulness of the gentiles has come in, all the wealth of the divine administration is available for us today. The remnant of Israel will take these gospels in a coming day and marvel at them. All we enjoy today they will be able to taste the blessedness of by and by in relation to their own needs. Israel will come in at the end on the line of divine compassion -- "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy". The Lord dismisses the crowd, and constrains the disciples to get into a ship; He compels them. It suggests a certain unwillingness on their part. The Lord indicates in John 16 that there was with the disciples an unwillingness to lose Him, to go on in the course of the testimony without Him. The Lord indicates what is important, that there is to be a long night during which they will not have His company, and during which they will have a position of isolation from everything around them. That is the thought in a ship -- an isolated position, winds and waves and everything outside contrary, the time prolonged, labour, exertion and toil in the face of adverse conditions; the Lord on high gone up to pray -- that is the position of the testimony. The Lord having dismissed Israel, and reserved the twelve baskets for them in a coming day, what is going on all night? That is an important question for us, for we find ourselves in that night. There are all kinds of difficulties and oppositions here, the Lord on high is interceding and praying, and the saints are labouring to enter into the rest of God. The other side is the rest of God.
Ques. Do assembly conditions come in here?
C.A.C. It is the side and course of the testimony through this world until the morning dawns. This chapter closes a very important section of this gospel; and like many sections in Scripture it closes with the rest of God -- every disease healed. Wherever the Lord goes He heals; there is power to heal: the whole state of man is set right. It is a beautiful
picture of the morning when the rest of God will be brought in and everything set right. We have come to the fourth watch of the night now, it seems to me.
Ques. Why did the Lord compel them to go into the ship?
C.A.C. It suggests a certain unwillingness on their part. I think the disciples took very badly to the setting aside of Israel; they said, "Wilt thou not at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel" -- they did not like it, it cut across the line of their natural and spiritual desires. The Lord said in John 16, as it were, 'I did not tell you this at the beginning, but I tell you now that you will be left face to face with conflict and opposition, and, because I have told you, sorrow fills your heart' -- He had thrust them into the boat.
Ques. Would you say a word about walking on the sea?
C.A.C. Before the morning dawns and the Lord appears publicly, He makes an extraordinary movement. I do not think that christians take sufficient account of the extraordinary movements of the Lord. I am not referring to the rapture; the Lord will not pass anybody by then; that shows this is not the rapture. The Lord has not told us everything but He suggests this figure; He compels the disciples to get into the ship and go to the other side, but the extraordinary movement is that He comes down from on high, and shows Himself to His saints before His public return and before the rapture. I believe the Lord distinctly suggests to us that He is going to move in a peculiar manner in the fourth watch of the night, and we have come to that now -- I am certain of that. In the fourth watch of the night the Lord makes this extraordinary movement -- walking on the water. He had never done it before. There is something going on now that has not gone on for many centuries. It is the last watch, from three to six before the morning breaks, and the Lord makes this extraordinary movement which is intended to test the affections of His own. It says, He "would have passed them by". He does not come in an arbitrary way and thrust Himself on us, and He does not act publicly like the rapture. He makes as though He would have passed them by -- this movement tests the affections, it is a new character of movement on the part of the Lord, and it is going on at this present time in view of all that will be brought about when the morning comes. In view of all that will happen at the rapture, the Lord is taking up in the fourth watch of the night an attitude He never took
before -- He walks on the water. It tests our affections; we want to understand it. It is vital for us to understand the peculiar movements of the Lord at this moment. You may say, 'I thought that Christ is at the right hand of God in heaven'. Normally that is the character of the position -- the Lord on high remembering the saints in conflict and difficulty here. But in the fourth watch of the night there is something abnormal going on -- the Lord walking on the water to test the affections.
C.A.C. Yes, the Lord did not open the door; He knocked. He says, 'Here I am, available for you if you want Me'. So the Lord walking on the water is a test whether they want Him; He would have passed by.
Ques. Does this come out at the coming together of the saints at the Supper?
C.A.C. My impression is that the Lord has presented Himself personally to His saints during the last hundred years in a way He never did before. There has been an extraordinary movement on the part of the Lord, and the affections of the saints are being tested as to whether they realise that movement and appreciate it, or whether they are distressed and think they have seen a vision or an apparition. The present movements of the Lord are only an apparition to a great many. As the new day is in view, wonderful events are about to happen -- the rapture, the great tribulation, the appearing -- the most tremendous events that ever happened in the universe are about to happen, and in view of that the Lord is moving in a distinctive way, in an extraordinary manner. The question is, Do we discern it? Do we love Him?
Rem. They get the word of cheer.
C.A.C. Yes, when He manifests Himself, He says, "It is I". The peculiar church feature does not come in in Mark's gospel; we get that in Matthew, which is the church gospel. The point here is education for service. If we want to rightly serve the Lord, He would have us understand the peculiar character of His movements in the fourth watch of the night. He moves then in a way He did not in the second or third watch, but He moves in a special way in the fourth watch just before the morning. It is an extraordinary witness of the Lord's love that He should come to His own walking on the water, and show Himself as One who is superior to all the power of evil. He is able to be trusted with everything. At
the end of the dispensation, after the failure and corruption of Christendom, and the setting up of man's order rather than God's, the Lord is saying, 'You trust Me, I am superior to every power of evil'. It is Philadelphia; He sets before them an opened door that no man can shut. He says, 'If you recognise my movements you will not have any fear; I am superior to the storm'.
It is of deep interest to see the special church character of privilege which comes out in Peter in Matthew's gospel. It was at this moment that Peter says, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water", and Peter in the power of affection joins the Lord. What a wonderful thing it is to think that that privilege is open to us now; it specially belongs to the fourth watch of the night. Peter represents church affections -- "If it be thou, bid me come unto thee" -- he tasted an extraordinary privilege. If the Lord walking on the water is an extraordinary movement on the Lord's part, it was an extraordinary privilege on Peter's part to walk on the water to join the Lord. It is a wonderful thing when you leave all connected with the ship, what is connected with an isolated position of testimony and its conflicts and difficulties here, and you join the Lord in a spiritual region where you find all of one with Himself. That is peculiar church privilege, and church privilege is connected with the fourth watch of the night.
Ques. That is Matthew's side. Is it more individual here?
C.A.C. What we have tonight is really in connection with service. The Lord is saying, 'You cannot serve me intelligently in the fourth watch if you do not understand the extraordinary character of my movements'. We cannot serve the Lord intelligently today in the light of what was true in the third watch, that is, the Reformation. There is a peculiar character of things in the fourth watch. We cannot serve the Lord intelligently unless we know the extraordinary character of His movements in that watch.
Ques. You were speaking last week about the Lord's extraordinary movements?
C.A.C. Yes. The end of the previous chapter is a figure of the world to come, when the mighty healing power of the
Lord can be known of all. In the passage across the sea we seem to see the course of the testimony in the absence of Christ: He is interceding on high, and then in the fourth watch of the night we get what immediately precedes the morning. When the Lord rejoins the disciples the storm is still, and when they reach the shore we find universal healing. I suppose, strictly speaking, it applies to the time when the Lord rejoins the remnant and by His power puts an end to all the difficulties that the testimony has had to meet during His absence. But in principle it applies to the assembly, because there is a great analogy between the movements and actings of the Lord in reference to the remnant, and His movements and actings in reference to the assembly. We suggested last week the peculiar character of the Lord's movements in the fourth watch of the night. I have no hesitation in saying that we have reached the fourth watch of the night now, so that what marks the present time is a peculiar movement of the Lord in which He presents Himself in such a way as to test the affections of those in the boat -- He would have passed by. This intimates to me clearly that one may expect such movements in the fourth watch of the night. My impression is that is what is going on at the present moment; and I think Scripture warrants us in expecting what may be called extraordinary movements. In Matthew 25 there was a movement at midnight and the cry went forth, "Behold, the bridegroom". It was calling attention to a Person, not an event, and I think what happens in the fourth watch brings you a little nearer to the morning. The Lord comes walking on the water, and declares Himself in absolute supremacy, in all the power and blessedness and grace of His own Person -- He is absolutely supreme. The sea is a path for Him, neither winds nor waves affect Him. He draws near in a peculiar way to test the affections of His saints. Those who have observed the Lord's movements have recognised a spiritual movement of that kind on the Lord's part for many years, a remarkable presentation of Himself to His saints. I have no doubt there have been remarkable unfoldings from the Scriptures of the Person of Christ, and of what stands connected with Him in the purpose of God, a clearing up of dispensational difficulties and development of truth, but not only that; there has been a spiritual movement of the Lord Himself which did not take place in the previous watches of the night. He was there on the mountain top
through the first and second and third watches but in the fourth there is a peculiar movement. My impression is that the test of spirituality is to a large extent ability to discern the movements of the Lord, and we shall not be intelligent as servants in the fourth watch of the night if we do not understand these movements on the part of the Lord.
The disciples were unwilling to be left behind, to face the long dark night of persecutions, oppositions and difficulties without the Lord; He has to compel them to get into the boat.
Ques. Would you say that some things which have happened among us have been the movements of the Lord, some truth brought out to bring us near to the Lord?
C.A.C. Yes, it is remarkable how conflicts have all turned on the Person of the Lord, or on matters relating to the assembly which is so near to His heart. The conflicts in the fourth watch of the night have special reference to the peculiar movements of the Lord.
Ques. Would, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock" apply?
C.A.C. It indicates the attitude the Lord has taken up in regard to that sacrificial character of things which marks the last stage of the christian profession. The Lord takes up a certain attitude in reference to it, and His attitude is to determine ours. The epistles to the churches show the Lord's attitude. If He places Himself at the door and appeals to the affections, it is the attitude the saints should take up in regard to the self-sufficient and boastful profession; the service of the saints should be to wait on that character of things in case there should be any response.
Paul says, "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed". The fourth watch is nearer the morning than the first watch.
Ques. Is there a danger of our letting the Lord pass by?
C.A.C. There is a danger of our missing the peculiar privilege of association with Christ the Son of God, outside the contrarieties and difficulties which the testimony has to face. It is possible to get outside the testimony. That is a peculiar church privilege that we should be able to join the Lord. In relation to the testimony the Lord draws near in His power to give all needed support, so the testimony is carried through in spite of all the opposition it has to meet -- that is more the thought in Mark. It is like Philadelphia; there is something
the Lord can support. The Lord says, "I have set before thee an opened door".
Ques. What do you mean by getting outside the testimony?
C.A.C. If you touch the privilege of being in association with Christ before His God and Father, that is outside the testimony. It is spiritual privilege of the highest order; it qualifies you for the testimony, but in its spiritual privilege it is outside the toils, conflicts and difficulties of the testimony. It is just like the difference between "I ascend" and "I send", John 20. The testimony is connected with "I send"; the privilege is connected with "I ascend". If we ascend we are outside the testimony in holy, heavenly privilege. I think the enjoyment of privilege qualifies us for testimony; the more familiar I am inside the more competent I am outside. If we have the consciousness of joining the Lord, He is before us -- "if it be thou, bid me come unto thee". It is not exactly faith; it is a question of affection. These are the movements you would expect if the Lord loves the assembly -- "Christ loved the assembly". Just as the Father sent the Son into the world, so the Lord sends His own into the world, but He sends from the place of privilege.
In this chapter we return to the consideration of the moral state of those who pretend to have the highest privileges. This is obviously the beginning of a new section in the gospel; it begins with the complete exposure of what was outwardly in the place of privilege -- that is the moral character of Jerusalem that now is. There were certain ideas of purity in the christian profession, but they are not spiritual ideas: they are things that have no spiritual value and that lead to the setting aside of the commandments of God. Human thoughts of purity always result in the setting aside of something which is obligatory as part of God's will. The Lord would have His disciples perfectly free from tradition. It is important for us to learn this. The disciples did not need to be instructed about washing of hands, they were free from all that, and the Lord justifies them. The word of God and the influence of the Lord Jesus in the soul must have the effect of emancipating us from tradition without thinking about it. It is blessed to escape from all traditions and all that is external because we have come under the influence of the Son of God. There is a whole system of external things today that does not contain a spiritual element, and it is a great thing to be free from it.
How could we serve the Lord if not free from it! External purity of this kind that is of man may go along with what positively sets aside the commandments of God.
Ques. "If ye love me, keep my commandments" -- that is a test of spirituality?
C.A.C. Yes, "If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord's commandment", 1 Corinthians 14:37. That is the test.
All this is education for us in relation to the service of the Lord; we need to be freed from all that is external and to get to the spiritual import of things. It would appear that the Pharisees had taken up such a chapter as Leviticus 11 in a literal way merely, not understanding the spiritual import at all, not knowing God. There is a contrast marked in this chapter between people with pretensions in regard to outward detail and purity, having no knowledge of God or spiritual intuitions, and a poor outcast woman with no pretensions to external purity but a remarkable knowledge of God. That is the contrast that God puts before us in this chapter. The Lord would have us with understanding, so He says to the disciples, 'Are ye thus unintelligent?' The Lord would have us with spiritual understanding of things, formed by our knowledge of God, so that we know what we are doing and why we do it. The great point in this chapter is understanding; the Lord says here, "Do ye not perceive?" We might go on with externals; we have all been baptised, and many break bread -- all these things are externals, but the value lies in our spiritual understanding of the import of them. Everything we do should be done with spiritual understanding; without this even the breaking of bread may be external. Everything is merely external to me if I do not understand its moral relation to God. In the Scriptures all the instructions are spiritual; "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that is treading out corn. Is God occupied about the oxen, or does he say it altogether for our sakes?" When you see this you see what is in the mind of God, and see there is some precious moral instruction, some spiritual import in everything God has ordained, so you begin to be exercised to get the import of it. The assembly is composed of intelligent persons -- "Judge ye what I say". Paul regarded the assembly as capable of forming a judgment on everything he said. If a brother gives out a hymn, he ought
to be able to say why he gave it out, and not simply to say, 'It was a nice hymn and it came into my mind'. That is not intelligent; we ought to know why we do it. Nothing should have a place in the assembly that is not the product of spiritual understanding.
It is a blessed deliverance to see what the heart of man is; the Lord lays it bare. If I accept the Lord's exposure, I shall never again trust my heart for a moment. Then you see a woman with a remarkable knowledge of what is in the heart of God. The Pharisees are occupied about bread, but are despising the wonderful Loaf that was among them. The woman had such a sense of the character of that Loaf that she says, 'One crumb of that Loaf will do for me'.
The Lord retires from this scene when He has exposed the true character of Jerusalem. In this gospel He does not go to Jerusalem until He goes to suffer and die; He retires from it. He has exposed the outward pretence to purity and the inward corruption of what man is, though in outward pretence to purity -- inside nothing but corruption -- no appreciation of God. The Lord leaves it and goes down to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and keeps Himself out of sight -- He would not that any one should know it. It seems to me the Lord's movements always had reference to the Father's work in souls -- "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work". He had come to finish what the Father had begun; the Lord's movements were all in view of the Father's work. The Father had worked in that poor woman and had given her a proper estimate of her heart and of His character. The Lord puts her to the test. He goes to the house and He would not have anyone know it, but He could not be hid. You cannot hide the Lord from the blessed exercise and confession produced by the Father's work in souls. Look what a sense this woman had of what the heart of God was. She could stand any amount of testing. Self was obliterated in the sense she had of the presence of God; she was ready to be a dog in the sense of God's goodness. The Father works, and the Son comes in to take hold of what the Father has wrought, and to bring it out to completion.
To learn to estimate things according to what God is, is the most priceless blessing that could be conferred on man. To be able to understand things in relation to what God is would clear us from all externals at once.
The disciples asked the Lord to explain this parable, for they were still without understanding. They had got clear of washing by what they had learned as taught of God in the company of Jesus, but they did not understand that what entered in did not defile. Peter did not learn this until after he received the Spirit. We are often proved unintelligent because we do not look at things in relation to God, and estimate them by the knowledge we have of God in our souls. Paul says to the Corinthians, "Some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame". 'You ought to be ashamed that you know God so little'. If the Lord exposes a defect it is always with the thought of removing it. The Lord never works on negative lines; He always has a positive end in view.
Ques. Is the Father always first in dealing with a soul?
C.A.C. Yes. We belonged to the Father before we belonged to Christ. "Thine they were and thou gavest them me". The Lord falls back on the Father's work, and that is what we have to fall back on. All externals, and what the natural man can take up, will break down and fail, but the Father's work will not.
A great deal of our religion is traditional, more than we think. Things have been generally accepted for many years, and we go on with them, but when challenged suddenly we do not know what to say. We go on in traditional lines, instead of having the knowledge of God and understanding the spiritual import of things. We do things because they were done by the ancients, and because we have always done them. There is not much for God in that.
Mark 7 is obviously the beginning of a new section in the gospel. We see the heart of man exposed with his religious pretensions. The Lord discerns it all plainly. God is looking at man's heart. Such a state as is described is really spiritually Tyre and Sidon, and the Lord intimates this by going there. He does not go publicly, for it was not part of the public ways of God to evangelise Tyre and Sidon, but He puts the infinite goodness of God within reach of the utterly undeserving; helpless need finds out the heart of God. The Lord seeks to bring out in the Syrophenician woman the depth of the work of God. He uses slighting language -- even a term of contempt -- to bring to light that God could secure what truly honoured him in a Syrophenician woman while the children were full of hypocritical pretensions. It is the sovereign working of God
brought to light in one who was not yet the subject of any public testimony, one who had no privilege of the children's place, but who knew the Father in a way that the 'children' did not. She has to accept the sovereignty of God that had given the house of Israel peculiar privilege. The Lord does not speak to her of how the children were treating Him and missing everything, nor does she question the children's privilege. But she lays right hold of what God was; her own worthlessness and undeservingness only magnify what He was. What a blessed service to uncover such a working of God in the human heart! The same One who could and did uncover all the evil of man's heart could also uncover what God wrought there, and He delights to serve in such a way as to bring it to light. That is the character of His service here. "Because of this word". It is really the divine value of what came out of her heart that secured the deliverance of her daughter. All the circumstances show the work to be purely of God. A heart that honours God, and that loses all its own importance in the sense of what He is, is very precious to God.
Then He returns to carry on His service in Galilee. The woman could hear and speak right; and the Lord returns to produce a similar state in the remnant that came under His touch. Taking the deaf man apart (verse 33) would indicate the intense individuality of the Lord's service. Do not be content to be amongst christians and go on with others! Have your own personal history so that you can recount what the Lord has done for your soul. His fingers would indicate His skill. The heavens are the work of His fingers; how perfect they are! It is said of the prince's daughter that the roundings of her thighs are "the work of the hands of an artist". His movements are with such grace that it is evident that her limbs have been fashioned by a skilful hand. Have we sufficiently considered that the way we hear is to be the evidence of the skill of the Son of God? How much we forget! People take things just opposite to what is said! "Ye are become dull in hearing". Then He spat; this would have more to do with the inward virtue of His Person. "Let your word be always with grace, seasoned with salt", Colossians 4:6. It would seem to suggest that He would make us to speak as He spoke, that He would touch our tongues with the virtue of His inward grace. "With their tongues they have used deceit; asps' poison is under their lips", Romans 3:13. What a contrast to have the inward grace
of Christ affecting our tongues! It is really what comes out of Him -- His Spirit. I think the Jew had a great idea of the sanctity of the spittle of a holy man. The Lord takes all up in relation to heaven. What is it to heaven if we do not hear or speak right? The Lord takes up all the deep inward exercises of it, even as He did fully on the cross. Then He speaks the word of power.
Ques. Is there any link between the incident of the boat, and the healing of the blind man, and what we see of the disciples in this chapter?
C.A.C. I thought so. We see that there was a certain knowledge of Christ with the disciples, but I think it rather corresponded with the imperfect vision of the blind man after the first touch; and the Lord was intimating that the divine thought was that they should see clearly.
Ques. "Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not?" (verse 18).
C.A.C. Yes, they had not rightly understood what is set forth in the loaves. It was a failure to see clearly, and that is often the case with believers now. The wonderful lessons connected with the five loaves and the seven loaves, and the one loaf, are most important, the Lord would have us perceive clearly and definitely what they set forth.
C.A.C. Lessons on the greatness of Christ in His availability for His people. If we learn them clearly we shall not have exaggerated ideas of men, nor shall we savour the things that are of men.
Ques. Would they preserve us from over-carefulness about the supply with which to feed the multitude? The disciples were concerned because they had only one loaf.
C.A.C. What more could they want than the one Loaf? I have no doubt the loaves in each case set forth Christ. The five loaves speak of Christ as God's provision in grace for Israel on the line of promise. The promises in the Old Testament had indicated that there would be a full supply for all the need of Israel. The Lord had said of Zion, "I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread". The harvest of all the promises is gathered up in Christ, and this is
set forth in the five loaves -- a full supply on the line of promise. Then in chapter 7 we see that the heirs of promise prove themselves utterly unworthy of the grace of God and had forfeited all title to the promises, so the state of heart exposed here is worse than that of the gentile nations. Then the Lord uncovers the work of God in the heart of a poor gentile dog. He was exposing, not only the wretched sin and folly of man, but what God was working in secret. In the Syrophenician woman there was no ground of claim to the promises, but as taught of God she laid claim to all that God was in Himself as a supply for man's need. This is what the seven loaves set forth. When there is no title to the promises, a claim can be put in entirely on the ground of what God is in Himself; and that is perfect. That is the seven loaves. All depends on what God is and not on what man is. God showed that His goodness would overflow to those outside the children of promise. It is a very solemn lesson that those who were the children of the promises had forfeited all right to them. The point of chapter 7 is that all depends on what God is in His nature. God is so good that, though He had committed Himself to the children, He could not say there was not enough for the dogs. Then in the end of that chapter the man who could not hear nor speak right became a witness to the skilfulness of Christ, and these are the elements of perfection. On the one side all depends on what God is in Himself, which is all available for man; and on the other side all depends on the skilfulness of Christ. This is the ground of blessing for all men. You could not limit what God, is, nor what Christ is, to Israel -- the number four has universal bearing. It seems to me the Lord brings in the second feeding on these lines. He would have the remnant, those who had continued with Him, nourished. They had been with Him three days. These were not as sheep having no shepherd; they were with the Shepherd and He cared for and fed them. There is a necessity that we should be inwardly strengthened and nourished upon all that Christ is as setting forth the perfection of good in the blessed God and the perfection of the skilfulness of Christ's own hand. We are to be nourished on Christ in that character.
Then the "one loaf" is Christ in His complete personal sufficiency for His own. His own do not need anything else, neither the leaven of the Pharisees nor the leaven of Herod; the one loaf suffices to meet every exigency that will arise in the
course of the testimony. The five loaves and the seven loaves go out widely, the first feeding to the whole width of Israel, for the twelve baskets suggest administration in Israel. The second feeding goes wider still, to all men; the "four thousand" points to what is universal, and the seven loaves to perfection in the way of supply for man. That could not be limited to Israel; it was a big supply, too. These were big baskets; the others were small baskets such as you could carry in one hand. These were very big baskets, these might perhaps take two or three men to carry. The Lord wants us to see all these things clearly with the eyes of our hearts, so that we might be definite about our appreciation of Christ.
Ques. What would the second touch of the blind man suggest?
C.A.C. My impression is that it involves the reception of the Spirit. The first touch is the influence of Christ Himself, which the disciples had really known. They had received a measure of vision, but we see again and again how imperfect it was.
Rem. Peter had imperfect vision in verse 32.
C.A.C. Yes, for he was savouring the things that are of men. If there is imperfect vision, the things of men get an undue place with us. If a man looks like a tree he is a very conspicuous object. We have to guard against anything that would inflate men or make them conspicuous.
Ques. Why do you think the Lord did not give the blind man the complete touch at first? He could have made him see clearly with one touch.
C.A.C. I think the Lord wanted to give us a picture which would enable us to understand the condition in which the disciples were found at the time, and a picture that would explain our own condition sometimes. There is often an apprehension of Christ together with an inflated appreciation of man; and if a man is great in his own eyes we might take him at his face value.
Ques. Do we not want to have a right appreciation of the men of God?
C.A.C. Yes, but Paul said, "Who then is Apollos, and who Paul? Ministering servants, through whom ye have believed, and as the Lord has given to each". Paul repudiates what would make men conspicuous, and will not have anything
but that they were servants through whom the Corinthians believed.
Ques. Why did the Lord lead the man out of the village?
C.A.C. It indicated that He was not now dealing with Israel generally, but was morally separating those who came under His hand from Israel as a whole.
Ques. What does the spitting indicate?
C.A.C. That the Lord brings to bear on the man all the inward virtue of His own Person. It was so with the disciples; He had brought to bear on them a wonderful sense of the virtue that was in Himself, and it had affected them all. The vision they got was the result of this.
Ques. The Lord instructed him to go back to his house and not to go back to the village.
C.A.C. Yes, He would give us an understanding of the position. If He led the man out of the village He certainly intimated that He did not intend him to go back there. In this gospel the Lord constantly retires from publicity, He shuns it. He more often here enjoins people not to speak of what had been done for them; it was activity in obscurity.
This chapter is the turning point of the gospel. The disciples were not to speak of Him now as the Christ: He is now the suffering Son of man. A new path is opened up, a path connected with the cross, and losing one's life instead of saving it, and not being ashamed of the Son of man. It needs clear spiritual vision in order to take this path. No one will say goodbye to all that a man naturally loves unless he has seen something that eclipses it all; but the heart may become so affected by the Christ, so drawn after Him, that it is prepared to take exactly the opposite course to what it would naturally choose. There was true faith and a true appreciation of Christ in Peter, but he had not vision clear enough to enter on this path: his mind was on the things which are of men. We are being instructed in service here, and there is only one path in which we can truly serve God now -- the path indicated in this chapter. But to enter that path there must be a motive -- the true appreciation of Christ as presented in this chapter, in the character of the Christ and the Son of man. The Lord asks His disciples in verse 27, "Who do men say that I am?" We find that all the opinions quoted here have a favourable form, all give some degree of honour to Christ, but none apprehend the truth of His Person. It is like the religious
world today: it gives Christ a certain honour, but not the unique place of God's anointed Man, for that would displace every other man; everything for God's pleasure must be after the pattern of His anointed Man. If Peter had had a clear vision of that Man, his mind would not have been on the things of men. He reached it for a moment when he confessed that Jesus was the Christ, but that was not maintained.
Ques. How would the knowledge of Christ affect us in service?
C.A.C. In this way. It is a wonderful thing to see that there is only one Man for the pleasure of God, only one Man anointed. "I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him", Psalm 89:19, 20. We get the sense that He was the only Man for God's pleasure and that every man not in accord with Him is to God's displeasure. The knowledge of this gives character to service; it leads to a person denying himself, because self is certainly not Christ. What a lesson to learn! It prepares one for the pathway of rejection and reproach and denying oneself, losing one's life. Peter was not prepared to accept that Christ would be rejected by the great spiritual leaders of the nation; they had a place in his mind, and he savoured the things that were of men and became an adversary. The secret of it all was that Peter had not maintained his first convictions, and that is the difficulty with us, too. Peter had said to the Lord, "I am a sinful man"; if that conviction had been maintained he would have felt the necessity for death, but here he had lost the sense of it and would hinder the Lord in that path. Before the Lord answers him, He looks at the disciples. It is beautiful to see that affectionate glance at them before He turns and calls Peter Satan. It was as much as to say, 'What is to become of them if I do not go on to death!' He loved them. Then He turns and rebukes the adversary. The Man of God's pleasure goes into death in order to put away the man of God's displeasure. Many at the beginning of their course get an intense conviction of sin, but repentance is not maintained if it is not, we become adversaries. It is one thing to have a conviction, and another to maintain it in one's soul. It is terrible to think that even the divine revelation to Peter did not improve the character of the flesh. Whatever favour God may show you or whatever gift you may be endowed with, the flesh
is always ready to be puffed up over it. Look at Paul -- he found he had flesh that could be puffed up at the abundance of the revelations! What an extraordinary thing that the flesh could be proud of having divine revelations! We have to learn to work out our convictions; Peter had failed to do this; he did not really know the character of the flesh until he got the Spirit of the ascended Christ.
Ques. Why is it the Son of man must suffer?
C.A.C. The Christ is the One on whom all the pleasure of God rests and who has the capability of bringing all into accord with His good pleasure; but the same blessed Person has come into the human family. The Son of man is a most remarkable title; the Lord used it of Himself more than any other title. He loved to call attention to the fact that He had come into manhood in order to redeem men and secure them for the pleasure of God. Having come into that state He must of necessity go into death, for every question of that state had to be taken up. He must die, and all the wide glories connected with the Son of man in divine purpose could only be taken up on the ground of His having gone into death. We need clear vision to apprehend all this, and all leads on to the kingdom of God come in power. When Christ touches the second time, it is from heaven with the Spirit, and then there is clear vision; these things are spiritually discerned. It suggests the necessity for the Spirit; not only that there should be a divine operation in man, but that the Spirit should come so that what is spiritual might have place. Then alone is it possible to deny oneself. The fact of denying self shows that what is spiritual has come in, and then there is power. This is the only way into the path of Christ; we cannot move after Christ except on that line. We cannot take up the cross until we are in His pathway, and we cannot come into that pathway without denying ourselves. We cannot say 'Yes' to Christ without saying 'No' to ourselves.
If you know Christ in the three-fold character we have had before us, you have your affections nourished, and you can say that you have found a Man you love better than yourself, so you cannot help following in His path. The cross came in His pathway, and you take it up because He had it. You cannot take it up unless you see that it was in His pathway. When you see that you say, 'I love Him, and He had the cross, so I will bring it into my pathway'. It is not that you like it
but you love Him. We often hear people say, 'I must bear my cross'; but that is not it at all. A woman may have a bad husband, or a man have bad rheumatism, and they say that it is their cross! They cannot help themselves, but the cross is a thing I can take; it is left to man to take up or leave.
Ques. Why is it "for my sake and the gospel's", verse 35?
C.A.C. There are the two motives. "For my sake" means that you love Him. Taking up the cross means that you deliberately prepare yourself to take the lowest and most dishonoured place that men could give you as a reproach, because you are following One who had nothing but reproach here. The cross is the extreme of it; you would have the fulness of it if men actually took you and crucified you on a cross. To take up your cross means you are prepared for that. He had that and He says, "Follow me". We could not follow a Person we did not love. If we do not go in this pathway we are not serving God; it is the only path in which God can be served by man. The motives which lead us into it are wonderful "for my sake". How we get accustomed to the words, but "for my sake" -- how touching it is! We may well ask ourselves, 'How much is there in my life that has been simply for Christ's sake?'
Rem. It is all the love of God manifested in Christ that touches our hearts and compels us into it.
C.A.C. That is beautiful. He becomes motive for me -- I who had never imagined there was anything better than my life in this world -- so that I actually should become content to lose my life! "For my sake" -- it is the personal hold the Son of man has on our hearts.
Then, there is "for the gospel's". What am I prepared to suffer that there may be a sweeter, holier, more complete setting forth in me of all that God is in grace for man? What am I prepared to forgo?
Ques. Is it possible for us to lay down our lives in these days? We are not put to death now for Christ's sake.
C.A.C. Is it possible to save your life and lose it today? Then the reverse -- to lose your life and save it -- is possible. There is a whole system of things that constitutes my life as living in the world. If I want to save that, I lose all that might attach to my life in relation to God. Moses was one who lost his life here and saved it. I suppose there never was a man who might have had a greater life here than Moses, but he was
content to lose it in Egypt. Think of all there was in Moses' life for God! If he had chosen to save his life, what would he have gained? Nothing. He would have lost all, and had at most a big pyramid at the end! The principle of it searches us. Are we so influenced by love to Christ, and by desire that the gospel might be known in men's hearts that we are prepared to be diminished here? If so, our lives will have divine value. "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world ... ?" The Lord supposes an extreme case. What is the profit, what advantage is there to me, if I lose my soul?
Ques. Is it possible to lose your soul?
C.A.C. Yes, the Lord says, "lose your soul". You have to maintain your relations with God. Can a saint make the world an object and not be a great loser? It would be dreadful to think that a christian might make the world an object, and not lose his soul! We know he is not lost eternally, but what secures him here? Nothing but moving in this pathway. Think what life a man has who makes the world an object! Instead of being here for all that God is and for Christ, all that might be in him of value to God and Christ is forfeited.
Paul writes to the Corinthians, "lest ... I myself should be a castaway". He is going to say something very strong, and instead of saying it of them he says it of himself. Instead of saying, 'You will have to be very careful lest, after all your lovely meetings and so on, you lose everything', he says, 'I am going to be very careful that I am not a castaway'.
This is an intensely solemn chapter. We must admit that if we are not moving on this line we cannot possibly be moving in the service of God. Christ moved on this line; He lost His life but He gained it. Think of all the value that blessed life had for God! He offers us to move on the same pathway.
Ques. The transfiguration follows immediately.
C.A.C. Yes, we might expect that it would lead to an immediate vision of the glory. If we go on this line we may be eyewitnesses of the glory and that is complete compensation. It is a deathless life -- "There are some of those standing here that shall not taste death until they shall have seen the kingdom of God come in power". If you go on this pathway, you live a deathless life -- death can never touch it, never!
Ques. Would you tell us a little as to Elias coming to restore all things?
C.A.C. It is a feature of the kingdom of God in power that it is marked by restoration; that is peculiarly encouraging to us. "Elias indeed, having first come, restores all things". That seems to be a prominent feature in the kingdom as presented here, because Elias is put first and not Moses. In the other accounts Moses comes first. Moses would represent the inauguration of things, but Elias the restoration of things as the fruit of prophetic ministry, so the power of the kingdom is definitely marked by that. Therefore we might well look for special power in connection with restoration, and no doubt we are proving the power of the kingdom at the present time on the line of restoration.
Ques. Is that why we have works at the end of this gospel, what they shall do "in my name"?
C.A.C. Yes, all is in keeping. The power of the kingdom seems to appear in the way of purity and restoration, and also in the light of divine love. These are very blessed characteristics of the power of the kingdom, and they have a special sweetness to us at the end of the dispensation.
Rem. The Lord's garments are referred to here strikingly.
C.A.C. The power of the kingdom would be evidenced in maintaining purity of associations suitable to God. We see here a character of purity surpassing all that is earthly: no fuller on earth could produce such whiteness. That corresponds with Malachi 3. In connection with John the baptist, Malachi speaks of Jehovah as becoming "like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' lye". That suggests a purifying power; the power of the kingdom is known in saints preserving purity of associations according to God.
Rem. The ministry of Elias was first a call to repentance.
C.A.C. Yes, what the Lord connects with Elias is restoration. "He shall restore". The character is introduced in connection with the kingdom, which is most encouraging for us in a day of departure. What has been lost publicly is purity of associations, and that being lost the light of love in sonship has been lost. The movements of restoration in the power of the kingdom would be to restore these things.
This chapter presents in striking contrast the power of the two kingdoms. That is why these two incidents are put together, the scene on the mount and the scene at the foot. We see the power of the two kingdoms: one kingdom marked by purity, restoring power, and the revelation of divine love as resting on the beloved Son; He is to be heard. That is the power of one kingdom, and then there is another kingdom: a perfect contrast where everything is utterly opposite, a most pitiable picture of the full power of Satan.
You can understand Mark putting Elias before Moses. It must have been very precious in Mark's soul to think of the power of the kingdom of God coming not only on the line of purity but on the line of restoration. It is affecting to see the character of the kingdom.
Ques. How far does "restore all things" go?
C.A.C. I suppose it goes a long way because it results in the adjustment of every outstanding question. In the kingdom of God sooner or later there must be the adjusting of every moral question. The power of the kingdom necessitates the adjustment of anything that could come in and cause divergence. So the ministry of Elias was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers. That supposes alienation in families, and the power of the kingdom coming in to adjust the relationship. The adjustment would be necessary in view of family affection and relationship. It is impossible to think we can have the enjoyment of sonship, and divine affection, and love resting on the beloved Son, if we are not adjusted according to the purity of the kingdom. What is to mark the kingdom is everything exceeding white, as no fuller on earth could whiten. These associations are suitable to the kingdom, and if the kingdom is in power it must result in that character of things.
Rem. In this incident the father had lost the affections of his child.
C.A.C. Yes, there is the perfect contrast. The Father and Son on the mount, and everything there perfectly suitable to the freedom of divine affection; but at the foot of the mount we see a father and son where everything is in discord under the power of another kingdom. The son is dumb and deaf, and possessed by a power that is self-destructive. The power of Satan's kingdom always works on the line of destruction. The wonderful thing is that the power of the divine kingdom comes
in to adjust everything, so that, where Satan is in full strength, he is completely defeated. The power of the divine kingdom seems to be seen here in the absolute displacement of the evil power that was acting.
The disputing of the scribes got its opportunity in the weakness of the disciples. What comes out is, "This kind can go out by nothing but by prayer and fasting", verse 29. If the power of the kingdom of God is to be exercised by us in reference to the power of evil, it demands conditions. The disciples had not suitable conditions, so they were impotent. I think a great deal of Mark's object here is to show how the disciples, even when the Lord was with them, were not able to exercise the power given to them. We are often like that.
It is important to see all through this gospel how the full unhindered power of the kingdom was there in the Lord. It was not only in testimony but in power, but on the disciples' side they were not in the power of it.
Ques. The Lord speaks of rising from among the dead (verse 9). Is that the way the kingdom is set up?
C.A.C. What the disciples did not understand was that there should be a resurrection from among the dead; they quite understood the resurrection of the dead. I think that the resurrection from among the dead has a moral counterpart: it is exactly what God is doing in the power of the kingdom now. He is bringing out a people from among the dead, so that they may be marked by purity and be able to maintain what is due to God so that God may have His pleasure in His people. The great point in reference to Elias was that God was to have His pleasure in restoring the sons of Levi; they were to be a pure oblation. That corresponds with this chapter; it finishes with a pure oblation, every sacrifice salted with salt, that is, the saints become the true sons of Levi, purified so as to become an oblation to God.
Ques. What do we learn by "Bring him to me"?
C.A.C. The power of the kingdom remains in the Lord though the disciples failed. He has to speak of them as faithless, but the power abides in Himself. He is able to deal with every situation even if it arises from the direct manifestation of the full power of Satan, so we do not need to be afraid that any situation will baffle the Lord. This is a complex situation, and yet we see the Lord's ability to deal with it. We see the extraordinary power of Satan; first in the afflicted son, then
in the powerlessness of the disciples; and finally, although there is the working of faith in the father, at the same time he is conscious of the working of unbelief, for, though he can say "I believe", he has to appeal to the Lord in reference to unbelief. The secret of all weakness at all times is unbelief. What a wonderful thing it is that, if conscious we do not believe as we might, yet we can roll all our unbelief on the Lord!
Ques. Why did the Lord ask how long he had been like this?
C.A.C. I think it is a divine principle with God to go back to the origin of things, to get back to the root, and until we do there is no true moral adjustment.
The kingdom of God is in power, not in word, and the Lord would encourage us to take a proper estimate of the power of the kingdom. Now the "if thou canst" is "if thou canst believe". Have we faith to use the available power? Then the fact that God is pleased to try faith shows that it is there; it will stand the test. We see here the extreme hostility of Satan to that which is for the pleasure of God; anything that is distinctively for the pleasure of God at any moment will be the direct object of Satan's attack.
Ques. Would you tell us a little about prayer and fasting?
C.A.C. When we have to do with the direct power of evil, human resources cannot avail; therefore we are cast on God in prayer. It is always so when we have to do with the working of positive evil. I do not mean the working of the flesh, but, when it is satanic power, we are cast utterly on God, so that prayer is most important. Even Michael the archangel when disputing with the devil said, "The Lord rebuke thee". Then on the other hand there is fasting. In fasting there is the deep exercise to stand apart even from things that are perfectly lawful and legitimate. Fasting does not mean standing apart from what is wrong, but from what is legitimate at other times.
The end of this chapter is highly educational. The Lord is calling attention to what is absolutely necessary if the house of Levi is to be a pure oblation, so that God should have His pleasure in a spiritual house of Levi. If this is to be reached, if the house of Levi is to become an oblation salted with salt for the pleasure of God, these exercises must be gone through. It is instructive to see the Lord's painstaking care to instruct us in what is suitable to God, and to displace from us the unworthy thoughts that might get mixed up with faith. None
of us doubts that the disciples had faith, but their very faith turned to vainglory. It is solemn that it is possible for persons to have faith and for it to turn to vainglory through personal pre-occupation. This completely hindered the disciples understanding what the Lord had before Him. The Lord had His death before Him, that He was to be killed, but they did not enter into it, they were preoccupied with thoughts that were partly the product of faith but were not suitable to that moment.
Fasting involves giving up what is legitimate. It was legitimate to want the kingdom and a good place in it; but what was legitimate was not suitable for the moment; it was out of time and tune.
Ques. Would prayer and fasting lead to searching for vainglorious motives?
C.A.C. Yes, the disciples were not altogether comfortable about it. Your heart often condemns you when your conscience does not. When the Lord challenged them, they did not like to say they were thinking who should be the greatest. The Lord had to take them in hand and educate them in what greatness was. The Lord does not deny any of us the privilege of being great, He does not want us to be small, but He wants us to be truly great. Our natural ideas of greatness are just the opposite to the rule of the kingdom; there the one who is first is to be last and serve all. That is what we are to aspire to; that is a very lowly attitude to take up, to put yourself in a place inferior to everyone else. The Lord became servant of all. The Lord took a little child and set it in their midst and took it in His arms -- that is greatness, to be a little child in the arms of Jesus! Which would you rather be -- an apostle, or a little child in the arms of Jesus? A child has no status in this world, a child is not reckoned much in this world, but what is it to be the object of the love of Jesus, to be in His embrace! One who moves about among his brethren in the arms of Jesus brings that with him, and every one who receives him receives the One who sent him; he brings that atmosphere with him. The great power of Satan's kingdom is put forth to incapacitate God's creature for appreciating movements in relation to divine affections, but when we get that power broken we find a child in the arms of Jesus. Now, the Lord says, 'That is the sort of person that can be received, and where he is received I am received, and where I am received, the One who sent Me is received'.
Ques. The Lord rebukes the unclean spirit; He does not touch him -- is there any significance in that?
C.A.C. Yes, it is the action of divine authority. There is nothing sympathetic in the way the Lord deals with wicked spirits; He deals with them in pure authority. If it is a leper, a blind man, or a sick woman, He touches them; there is something sympathetic; but there is no sympathy with the Lord's dealing with what is satanic. It would not be right that there should be. He speaks with authority. After the spirit is displaced we see the sympathetic touch; the Lord takes the boy by the hand. It is very instructive to see that.
Then we see that the spirit of the disciples needed to be adjusted in another way. There seemed to be a kind of jealousy for the Lord that, when they saw one casting out demons in His name, they forbade him; it was because he followed not us. That was another spiritual discord that had to be brought into harmony. We get away sometimes from the capital 'I' and turn it into a big 'us' -- he follows not us. They ought rather to have been glad that there was another man able to use the power of the kingdom in the way they themselves had failed. They had failed in it immediately before and yet were ready to call this man to account because he could do it. The Lord had to tell them that one who could do a miracle in His name could not soon speak evil of Him, and "he who is not against us is for us".
Ques. How would that apply to us?
C.A.C. That we do not want to stop anyone from doing the work of the Lord, but rather to pray for the success and prosperity of all those who do it.
Rem. Paul could rejoice that Christ was preached even out of contention.
C.A.C. Yes, and it is important that we should keep in that spirit. Everything done in the work of the Lord is our gain. If people are converted anywhere it is a gain to us, and anything that comforts or edifies the saints is a gain to us. Anything that is done in the power of the kingdom is a gain to us; but you must not excuse the man.
Ques. Would that have been a pure oblation going up to God?
C.A.C. We must learn both sides of the lesson. I do not think there was a pure oblation in the man casting out demons nor in the disciples forbidding him. But how much that man
lost! He lost immensely, and nothing could make up for it; he missed a unique privilege. He had the chance then of a privilege that all eternity will never give him again, for he had the chance of following the Son of man in His blessed service of the kingdom here. He exercised the power of the kingdom in His name but without being identified with that company which was peculiarly for the pleasure of God. We must take both sides of the lesson: we do not want to forbid anyone doing the Lord's work, whoever or wherever they are -- we thank God and pray for them; but we never lose sight of the fact that many of them are missing a priceless privilege. Jonathan missed a privilege, and the end found him in companionship with what God had rejected.
It was individual self-importance that made the disciples want to be first, and dispute who should be the greatest. It was collective self-importance that made them forbid the man because he follows not with us. The restoring power of the kingdom would eliminate both these elements, and there cannot otherwise be a pure oblation. The restoring power of the kingdom would also have brought that brother into line. He was not in line when casting out demons in the Lord's name and not walking with the Lord -- exercising His power now and despising His company.
Self-importance often comes in and gets mixed up with faith. The disciples made a wrong use of their faith, and it led them to look for the kingdom and a place there. The Lord is here as a refiner of silver and a fuller's lye to purify all the garments of His people. He exercises His power so that the sons of Levi should become a pure oblation, He conducts them along until they become it; at the end of this chapter we see that the oblation is there and the salt upon it. The kingdom of God is not that you can do wonderful things, but that you can maintain purity and can be preserved in restoration and enjoy sonship. In the dignity of sonship you can afford to be small, to be a little child and the subject of the love of Christ; you can get rid of the big 'I' and 'us' and are on the line of the pure oblation.
That line raises many serious exercises -- first as to the sort of influence you bring to bear on other people. Then you are exercised about your own hand and foot and eye.
Every ferocious and self-assertive thing is to be brought under the controlling power of a little child. The lion and the
bear are ferocious animals, and they are to be brought under the control of a little child in the power of the kingdom.
I think verse 41 of this chapter serves to bring out how we regard what is of Christ in one another, and in ourselves, too. That is the exercise suggested by this portion of the gospel. It suggests that the one who gives a cup of cold water has seen something in the disciples that is "of Christ", and the privilege is taken up from that point of view of refreshing the one it is given to. The one who gives the cup has seen something in the disciple that is of Christ; it is what comes out in the disciple that tests him. This is a vital consideration and a key to the understanding of this part of the gospel -- a solemn and searching part. It is very important and blessed because we get in this part the key to liberty.
The disciples were like ourselves, they needed to be instructed in that which had value in relation to God's kingdom. We all need exactly the same instruction. The disciples had been reasoning among themselves as to which of them was the greatest -- that was not being of Christ. If a man saw you disputing which should be the greatest, and gave you a cup of cold water, he would not be giving it to you because you were of Christ. The point is that the person gives the cup of cold water because he has seen something "of Christ" in the disciple, so he lays himself out in a very humble way to refresh it; he gives a cup of cold water to minister to that "because ye are of Christ". We talk sometimes very happily and profitably of what it is to be "in Christ"; but it is well for us to remember that nothing is "in Christ" but what is "of Christ". It raises the question as to what kind of persons we are.
Ques. The Corinthians were spoken of as "in Christ" though they were in rather a sad state, were they not?
C.A.C. Yes. They were in Christ from the standpoint of divine purpose and calling, but they were a long way from being in Christ as having come under the grace of the anointing. "In Christ" means that one has come under the grace of the anointing; it is a simple statement and cannot be controverted. How could you have anything in Christ that was not of Him? In one sense saints are in Christ before the foundation of the world, but we are speaking of it rather in connection with how it is worked out by the work of God.
Ques. Does not a believer learn what it is to be in Christ before he is found to be of Him?
C.A.C. Yes, in the gospel sense one may see that all the blessings are in Christ: all the blessings of the gospel are presented as being in Christ, in another Man, and by faith in that Man we come into them. But when it is a question of saints reaching what it is to be in Christ in their own consciousness, there must be a deriving from Christ. In Romans chapter 5 comes before chapter 6: in chapter 5 all the blessed things are presented as coming from God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and, as we come into the good of these things, we learn what it is to be of Christ, we are of that Man. The disciples here are looked upon as having taken character from Christ, they are of Christ, and that is appreciated by the one who gives the cup of cold water; he wants to refresh that which is of Christ.
There are two things in contrast here: we are either refreshing and helping on what is of Christ in another, or there is the danger of becoming a snare to one another. Are we encouraging what is of Christ, or becoming a snare? It might be that the influence that goes out from us tends to bring souls into such captivity that they cannot move on the line of being of Christ, or the line of life or of the kingdom. If a bird is caught in a snare, its liberty is lost: the Lord is warning us here of things that rob us of spiritual liberty. We want to move on the line of liberty, or the line of being of Christ.
Ques. Were the Corinthians snared in that way?
C.A.C. Yes, I think they were. The apostle was largely working to liberate them from the snare. They had been diverted from what was of Christ, and were giving place to a good deal that was not of Christ: that all comes in on the line of a snare.
"Of Christ" is a term that Scripture often uses: "They that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts", Galatians 5:24. They are of the Christ and therefore, being so, they cannot tolerate those things of the flesh. Again Paul says to the Galatians: "If ye are of Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise", chapter 3: 29. That is deriving from Him.
Ques. Would you say that was taking character from Him?
C.A.C. Yes, if we derive from Him we are suited to come under the anointing and to form part of that wonderful system and order of things that is for the pleasure of God in Christ.
Rem. I had regarded "in Christ" as the abiding work of
God accepted by faith -- "of him are ye in Christ Jesus", 1 Corinthians 1:30.
C.A.C. That is by the work of God. If you look at saints abstractly as subjects of the work of God, they are by God's work in Christ. Several things go together in connection with "in Christ". Redemption is needed, the Spirit is needed, but then the work of God in the soul is needed. "Of him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption; that according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord". Paul makes his boast in God, who has made him to know Christ as wisdom from God, righteousness, holiness and redemption. What a full equipment! The saints are viewed there abstractly in Christ by the work of God; but it is another thing to reach it, and stand in the good of it. To be in Christ as God's wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption is a marvellous thing, and takes in the whole scope of things. There is the wisdom of God in Christ, righteousness in a risen Christ, holiness connected with Him as ascended, and redemption, His coming again. It takes in the whole scope of what is in Christ.
It is a great thing to recognise what is of Christ, and refresh it, encourage it, and try to help it -- give a cup of cold water. We see something of Christ in all saints -- then encourage it, give the cup of cold water, and do not become a snare.
Ques. Is anything suggested by having a cup of cold water?
C.A.C. It suggests ability to minister refreshment; all have that. A very little matter can encourage what is of Christ in a soul, as a very little matter may become a snare. We can all give a cup of cold water -- if we see a bit of Christ we can do something to encourage it. The exercise is to be on the line of refreshing and encouraging, and of keeping clear of anything that might become a snare, anything that would hold the soul captive so that it does not pursue the line of being of Christ. That is the thought here of a snare.
We see this wonderful 'life divine below' of which we have been singing. What marks the kingdom in power is the exceeding whiteness of the garments so that no fuller on earth could white them. We see, in a 'little one', a young believer, beautiful features, beautiful affections and simplicity. We often see this in a young one, his soul realising the great gain he has acquired as being in Christ, and perhaps he meets with
an old saint. Has that saint got his cup of cold water for him, or has he become feeble in his own spiritual apprehensions so that he becomes a snare instead of a refreshment? The one who gives the cup of cold water shows that he appreciates what he has seen of Christ in another, he shows his appreciation in a simple and insignificant way, and he would be the last man to be a snare.
Ques. The cup is given "in my name". What would that suggest?
C.A.C. It suggests that the one who has the cup is animated by a great regard for that name. If so, how delighted he would be to refresh what is of Christ and help it on, and to be exercised and careful lest he become a snare! We are always being tested as to whether we appreciate Christ, and as to what influence we bring to bear.
Ques. Paul speaks of Onesiphorus and Stephanas having refreshed him. Would that be the principle of the cup of cold water?
C.A.C. Yes, that is the principle of it. We are set to encourage and promote what is of Christ, and not to bring into activity what is of the flesh. If anything I do has the effect of bringing a soul into captivity, that is the thought of a snare. A snare here refers to a trap which catches a bird. If anything has the effect of bringing into bondage, we shall not be free to pursue the line of what is of Christ. It is a terrible thing to become a snare -- the Lord speaks of a millstone and being cast into the depth of the sea. I heard of a person long breaking bread lending a novel to a young believer. Was that the cup of cold water? If anything in my ways tends to bring a soul into captivity so that he does not ardently pursue what is of Christ, I become a snare to that person. The Lord would have us exercised as to our influence, and as to how our ways affect others, or whether they make much of Christ. If we are moving with the Lord we shall be on the line of the cup of cold water, and not on the line of the snare; one leads to refreshment and liberty and the other to captivity. The next thing is that we are to be greatly exercised as to what becomes a snare to ourselves; it is only as keeping free oneself that one can move on the line of keeping others from snares.
Ques. When does the reward come?
C.A.C. You get your reward if you are refreshing a soul;
you have such a big reward at the present time that you can leave the other safely.
Then we find the Lord speaking of the most important members: that is things that are most important to a man in regard to life in this world -- the hand, the foot and the eye. The Lord speaks of their becoming a snare. We have to find out what our own snares are. I do not expect others to tell me what is a snare to me, and I do not think anyone knows. If I am moving on spiritual lines I shall know. These verses suppose that you become conscious of something in your actions -- your hand; or your foot -- your walk, which brings in your associations; or your eye -- the way you are using your intelligence. There is something in them which holds you in captivity; you are not free to pursue what is of Christ, and you must deal with it most decisively. I heard of a man who was told by his brethren that he was subject to a certain failing. He was very surprised and went home and asked his wife whether it was true. She said, 'Yes, I think it is'. If that man had been walking with God, instead of his failing being pointed out to him by his brethren and his wife, he would have been the first to find it out. If we are spiritual we shall be the first to discern those workings that impede and hold us in captivity in regard to what is of Christ, and then the thing will be dealt with decisively. A man's hand, foot or eye are his most important members which give him a place in this world; but the Lord says, 'It is a place in relation to life and the kingdom that you are after, and you are to be prepared to be maimed in regard to life here in this world so that you may pursue the line of life and the kingdom'. It is an exercise we all have to face, because with every one of us there is the danger of something in our activities, our walk and associations, or something in the way we use our intelligence, that may hold us captive. We can feel it; it is not a question of others seeing it -- now what shall we do? Just do what the fox does when caught in a trap; he eats his leg off to get free, because he values his liberty more than his leg. Now that is the point. Do you value your liberty in pursuit of what is of Christ? If you do, you make a sacrifice in regard to that which gives you a place in this world because you want to be free in relation to that region of life and the kingdom of God. If you find something holds you captive, eat your leg off like the fox.
Ques. Is it like Paul in Philippians 3?
C.A.C. We see the principle of it there. Paul's great motive was "on account of Christ"; he says it three times over. Christ had become the dominating influence. Anything that holds one captive from the line of pursuing Christ is a snare. Satan says, 'Surely you will not be so strict, but have a little liberty'. But the saint says, 'That is what I want, and so I will not be brought into bondage, and I will cut off all these things'.
It is solemn that the Lord puts the case in such an extreme light; and we can notice it is the way of Scripture to do that. Take John's epistles -- what an extreme light he puts things in! "He that committeth sin is of the devil". "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him". John puts it in an extreme light to exercise us. Now the Lord raises this question, 'Is it not better for you to be maimed than to go to hell-fire?' If a man actually fell under the power of a snare in such a way that he could not move at all on the line of life or the kingdom of God, that man would go to hell. It could not be absolutely true of one born of God, but the Lord puts the thing in an extreme light. The Lord shows the way the road leads; a certain road leads to hell. The believer may never get there, but would he like to walk a single yard on that road? The christian may say, 'I shall never come there'; but the Lord is not here speaking of sovereign counsels or grace, but of the principles of the kingdom. The Lord speaks wisely when He points out the fact that, if you are led captive in view of life and the kingdom of God, the end of such a course is hell-fire. If we do not move on the line of life and the kingdom, what else is there? There is a course of what is of Christ, the narrow way; outside of it there is only the broad way which leads to hell-fire. The Lord puts it in a solemn way, and we must not think that the Lord does not speak what is right and good for us to hear.
Ques. Has the Lord in His mind the kingdom come in power?
C.A.C. Yes, and that preserves us from snares. The Lord is showing us what a terrible thing a snare is, so as to preserve us from being captive in it. The Lord is leading on to the fact that the saints, instead of being snared, are to become a true sacrifice for the pleasure of God. The line of sacrifice is for the pleasure of God, and the line of snares is self-indulgence. There is some kind of self-indulgence connected with every
kind of snare -- hand, foot or eye; but the Lord would put us on the line of sacrifice, showing us at the finish of the chapter the saints as subjects of the kingdom, as the true oblation. The salt is there, every sacrifice salted with salt. Every true believer who is the subject of divine calling has been called to the place of sacrifice, to be for the pleasure of God. To have salt in ourselves is our own exercise to preserve us. We are not to be told to do this or that; we are not dependent on rules, or regulations, or people telling us what to do, or conforming to the manner of life accredited by brethren; but we are to have salt in ourselves. Everyone is to be salted with fire, it is universal; every one is to be salted with fire, and every sacrifice salted with salt. God will search out everything in judgment. With the unconverted at the great white throne it is eternal; the believer, one born anew, is searched out by the judgment of the Lord; we are chastened so that we may not be condemned with the world. The believer is salted with fire now: The Lord will try every work whether it be good or evil. Do you think the Lord will shut His eyes to what is evil in those He has purchased with His precious blood? No, if we indulge the flesh the Lord will judge it, as He did at Corinth so that they should not be condemned with the world. We get purgatory now, a dealing of the Lord that is purifying now, not after death.
Ques. What does the salt losing its savour mean?
C.A.C. The natural tendency is for the savour of what is of God to be lost. The Lord is referring to Leviticus a when He says, "Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt"; He puts the saints into the place of the oblation or meat-offering.
Ques. How do our exercises preserve us?
C.A.C. It seems to me that the salt is the sense of having to do with God as known in grace -- it is the salt of the covenant. The sense of having to do with God known in grace produces normally an intense desire to be faithful in our relations with Him, and preserves freedom from every snare, so there is nothing to spoil the character of the oblation. Nothing is a true sacrifice that is not of Christ: everything outside Christ will be burned up in the fire of judgment. What is of Christ goes up in a sweet savour to God. Salt is that faithful purpose produced by divine grace to be true to the covenant relations in which we stand to God. Truth to this covenant relation means the absolute refusal of the flesh, and the world, and of
everything of the character of a snare. It means the cultivation and expression of those blessed features of Christ. The salt indicates inward exercises; it is our side. There can be no failure on God's side of the covenant, but on ours the salt may be lacking. God had said, "neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking", and "with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt". It is the faithful purpose to be true to covenant relations and to maintain what is on the line of what is of Christ. Is it of Christ? That is the test. Nothing has sacrificial value but what is of Christ. Those who have salt are fully set up to pursue what is of Christ, and of that order of man; but the devil is always trying to bring us into captivity so that we should be hindered from pursuing that line.
If every one of us here were to be thrown back on our own spiritual intuition we would be preserved, but Satan brings in something not on that line to bring us into captivity, so that we cannot pursue the line of spiritual intuition. Christ is the standard to be maintained: it is not excusing things because others do them. "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another". That is the only way we can walk together in peace, by each refusing the flesh in himself. As we do that we walk in peace because there is nothing to produce discord, and all are pursuing the line of what is of Christ.
Ques. Is it like Romans 12, presenting our body a living sacrifice?
C.A.C. That works out in service to the brethren, so that every one has his measure of faith, and every one takes up his bit of service according to his measure of faith. Everything works in perfect peace and harmony among the brethren when they move on the line of Romans 12; but it is a tremendous exercise to "present your bodies a living sacrifice".
Ques. Would a scripture like this lead us to be exercised about ourselves and not to judge others?
C.A.C. Yes, Mr. Darby once said, 'When we think we are judging others, the Lord is judging and exposing our own state'.
I think we see the kingdom in power in all this; that is Mark's presentation of it. Matthew presents the kingdom in prospect, "the Son of man coming in his kingdom". Matthew brings what is future in its operative and illuminative power into the present; so the saint is marked by that which is as yet future outwardly. Luke shows us the kingdom patterned
in Jesus, and Mark the kingdom in power, so that what is true in Him should become true in us.
Ques. Is the truth of the kingdom shown in righteousness and peace?
C.A.C. Everything must work in the kingdom on the line of righteousness: the first law of the kingdom is righteousness, and that as far as we are concerned is a matter of self-judgment. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life; grace brings you to judge yourself and, when you do, you move in the direction of eternal life. The point here is that there should be ability to enter into life and the kingdom of God. Everyone knows just exactly how far he or she has entered into life and the kingdom of God. There is no uncertainty as to the measure. We know how far we have entered; it is not very much with some of us.
The kingdom of God is not in word but in power; the character of it is righteousness, peace -- no discord, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Rem. "Thus shall the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be richly furnished unto you", 2 Peter 1:11.
C.A.C. Yes, Peter shows us the way in, how we can be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is in pursuing a certain line, it is quite in keeping with this chapter.
C.A.C. The Lord comes here to the other side of Jordan, and takes up these questions connected with natural relationships. He brings out in that connection very great and important principles which are of the greatest importance for us as seeking to pursue the line of being of Christ. We were noticing last week that the disciples were of Christ; and that anything which diverts us from pursuing that line, anything which holds us captive so that we fail to pursue the line that is of Christ, is a snare. The Lord insists that it is better that we should make any sacrifice rather than that we should be held captive so that we do not pursue the line of Christ.
Now I think we get an important indication here that if we come under the influence of Christ He will maintain in force
that which God has originally instituted. It is a great and far-reaching principle that Christ will maintain in all integrity every institution of God. It is a great thing to be brought back to what is divinely instituted, and that is what is brought to pass if we come under the influence and teaching of Christ; we are brought back to the true character of things as divinely instituted, and we are led to see there can be no departure according to God from the original institution. In connection with the question of marriage, no divorce is mentioned in Mark's gospel. Divorce forms no part of the original thought of God.
Ques. Is the thought fully maintained in Christ and the church?
C.A.C. Yes, that is the suggestion. The bond between Christ and the church is indissoluble, and it is connected with the original, divine institution of things; God had that in mind from the beginning. If you think of Christ and the assembly, there is no thought of divorce. Governmentally Israel has got into the place of distance, but Jehovah has never departed from the bond; He remains faithful to it. "The gifts and the calling of God are not subject to repentance". The marital bond between Jehovah and Israel will be established entirely on the ground of Jehovah's everlasting faithfulness. While Jehovah has governmentally set Israel aside, yet He has never removed her from her place in His affections; He has remained faithful. It is beautiful to see that the provision made under law by Moses was for man's hard-heartedness. Now there was never any hard-heartedness with Jehovah towards Israel, and there never could be in regard of Christ towards the assembly. It is an indissoluble bond. The great security and blessedness which we enjoy is in coming back to the original institution which it is impossible to change.
In Matthew divorce is permitted on the ground of infidelity to the relationship: that is the governmental side, but in Mark it is not said to be permissible. Christ would set us in the light of original institutions; all the relations between Christ and the church abide. Whatever the departure on man's side there is none on God's side -- the thought of divorce is abhorrent to the heart of God and Christ. The principle of that should be ever retained in our hearts, even if we have on the line of government to exercise what is disciplinary. We are never to put a brother out of our affections though we may have to put
him out of our company. The original bond remains and is never violated in the affections.
One can see the enemy's attack on God in the general thoughts of marriage abroad today, the general tendency to loose the bond and make divorce easy. This is directly against the divine institution, and we all need to be safeguarded by coming under the influence of Christ. If you give up the divine institution you open the door to the incoming of every kind of evil.
Ques. Why, after the Lord speaking of what is "of Christ", is the first question on the natural side?
C.A.C. I think because divine adjustment is called for in regard of natural relationships under the influence of Christ; the influence of Christ touches and adjusts everything divinely. The house is the place of intimacy where the influence and instruction of Christ are known privately amongst His own. The whole point is that purity of affection is required so that every sacrifice should be salted with salt.
Ques. Is Christ brought prominently before us in this question, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother"?
C.A.C. Yes, we see in that that the assembly takes the place of precedence, so Christ has left Israel and kept to the assembly for the present, cleaving to His wife. Christ is absolutely entitled to the pure affections of the assembly.
Ques. If we are of the Christ is it not important that we should cherish the teaching of the Head and take character from Him?
C.A.C. Yes, that is exactly how the influence of Christ would express itself; it would bring about in us a very jealous and holy cherishing of the original thoughts of God which are connected with Christ and the assembly; so that the assembly should not be alienated from Christ but should be fully responsive to Him in those affections proper to the indissoluble bond.
Rem. At Ephesus there was secret decline before the outward manifestation.
C.A.C. Yes, the failure was in wifely affections. God is faithful to the bond as far as Israel is concerned, and Christ is faithful to the assembly, so our exercise is that we should not be unfaithful.
It is a great encouragement to return to the original character of things; that is the whole point in incorruptible affections. There is an incorruptible bond on His side and the Lord looks
for the uncorrupted bond on our side, so that at the end of Ephesians it speaks of "them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption". The church epistle leads to that end; we have a company on earth preserving fidelity to the incorruptible affections proper to that indissoluble bond -- it is beautiful to see Ephesians finishing on that note. While natural relationships are set in their original light here, great and far-reaching principles are unfolded in them.
Divorce is not permissible in Mark's presentation. Mark has in view restoration. We have been noticing what a definite place restoration has in Mark's gospel. Being a restored man himself, he is a suitable vessel for prophetic ministry to effect restoration. We see the unchanging character of things on the divine side, so if there is any movement on our side we are quite sure it will meet with full response on the divine side. It is very important to view restoration, and very encouraging for us. We have no hardness on God's side.
Ques. Why do the children come in here?
C.A.C. The Lord would greatly exalt the thought of what comes out in a little child; it is that kind of material that suits the kingdom of God. A little child has not yet been corrupted by the ambitions and lusts of the world, and it has receptiveness and confidence. A little child according to the divine thought is not an object to be looked down upon, but looked up to as a model. It shows the moral conditions suitable to the kingdom and the blessing of Christ.
Ques. Has this service in view?
C.A.C. It speaks in a previous chapter of receiving one such little child when it is a question of being sent forth by the Lord in service -- received as a person of importance to the affections of Christ and not of importance to this world.
Ques. He lays His hands on them. Is that identifying Himself with them?
C.A.C. The little child spirit is that which the Lord loves to commit Himself to, and on which He can put His abundant blessing. What marks a child is that the ambitions and objects and lusts of the world have not asserted themselves there.
Ques. It is the only way of entering the kingdom?
C.A.C. Yes, and it is a question of receiving, "Verily, I say to you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter into it". The question of receiving precedes that of entering. The principle of my size
in the kingdom is determined by what I have received. What I have received of God and of Christ is my measure in the kingdom. A little child cannot give or do, it can only receive. I think the little child's spirit is always naturally despised, and we are in danger of despising it. As born into this world we have no importance; our only importance lies in the wonderful blessedness in which God has made Himself known to us in Christ, so that all we have we derive from Him. It is a question of receiving; there is ability to enter into the kingdom of God; we come into it intelligently.
Ques. In what way are we liable to despise little children?
C.A.C. I think we see the spirit coming out in the disciples, a consciousness of greatness in themselves. Under the influence of Christ we get adjusted in our perceptions as to what is great.
These are two very great principles: the unchangeable inviolability of what has been divinely instituted, and then this beautiful spirit of which a little child is a model. The little child of today gets corrupted very early; it is one of the sad features of the present day that the little child character disappears so early. The Lord was the receiver; it was all seen in Him. He was always receiving from the Father, His ear was opened morning by morning. He came down here to receive everything and He never departed from that. The little child spirit is to be maintained along with the affections that belong to the relationship.
Ques. What did you refer to in speaking of the other side of Jordan?
C.A.C. I was thinking that natural affections belonged to the wilderness side of Jordan. What marks the Lord here is the recognition of what was originally of God. We see it in the young man, too (verse 17). There was a great deal beautiful about him, but the Lord searches out a subtle hindrance. The young man was evidently able to appreciate the goodness he perceived in Christ; he had desires to inherit eternal life; he had kept the commandments which the Lord quoted to him, so he drew out the Lord's love; but there was a chain holding him of which he was quite unconscious until the Lord pointed it out to him. Possessions here have a greater influence on us than we have any idea of. The Lord exposes here the subtlety of the snare, and shows what a powerful chain holds the soul from making spiritual progress. Riches give one a certain importance in this world.
Ques. What is the thought in the Lord loving him?
C.A.C. I think there is a lesson for us to rightly take account of what is according to God even in a natural man. At the same time the Lord faithfully exposes the chain that was holding the young man. We see here that the natural man can go a long way in the appreciation of goodness, and can apparently be upright and full of integrity as far as his own conscience was concerned. That which is good in itself is in the natural estimation proof of the favour of God. People often refer to natural advantages as a proof of the favour of God -- that is a real snare. I think there was that about the young man that was very attractive as far as it went, but the real state of his heart had to be exposed. We do see people sometimes so amiable and marked by so much grace and kindness that one cannot help admiring them, but when the Lord touches the real state of heart -- He alone can do it -- it brings out what is there. This man was tested by possessions; he preferred them to the infinite goodness disclosed in Christ. It comes to light that naturally a man does not estimate treasure in heaven as having greater value than possessions on earth; it is impossible for him to estimate treasures in heaven more than what is on earth.
Ques. In what way does the Lord touch it today?
C.A.C. In exposing to us the many influences that act on us that are not His own influences. The question is, What place has Christ in our hearts? The Lord invited the young man to follow Him, as He invites us. The Lord says, You disencumber yourself of your own possessions and follow Me -- but he went away sad. We all profess, and no doubt sincerely, that we appreciate the goodness seen in Christ, but the question is, Is He paramount? If the supreme goodness of God in a blessed Man has come before us, it is entitled to command us absolutely; and if it does not it is because the influence of the world is holding us back. Christ was not to this man the infinite treasury of what is divinely good, and he did not recognise that God Himself was the source of the good. The blessed Lord maintained that God Himself was the source of the good, He was Himself the treasury of all the good that God was the source of. If that comes in power before the heart, He is entitled to command allegiance, and He takes precedence of everything else. This man found his possessions more to him than infinite goodness. He had come forward to assert his
belief that Christ was the good Teacher, but when he was tested he attached more to his possessions than to infinite goodness. That is the spot the Lord touches. When we have to do with the Lord He always touches us at the spot that tests us, and if we are humbled under His touch we turn to God and get the blessing of the touch. Riches are not harmful in themselves, but tremendously so in their effects on the souls of men. It is no matter whether they are small or large; I may be as much hindered by small possessions as another by large.
The Lord would instruct us in what the almighty power of God can do; it can make Christ, as the treasury of divine good, more attractive and precious to us than anything in the seen condition of things. The Lord gives us every inducement to move after Him. When Peter says, We have left all, the Lord says, What you have left is the hundredth part of what you have got. The Lord proposes that you get the compensation of what you left a hundred times more in the company of the brethren. The Lord has not deceived us when He says, You will receive a hundredfold more in this present time. It is not when you get to heaven, but in this present time. The great trouble is, we have left so little. What a wonderful opening out there is here of the wealthy compensation which we find in the company of the saints for what we have given up; there is a new kind of possession and a new system of affections which are infallibly secured to us by the Lord's word. Every one of us should look to find this among the brethren. If I find that the brethren are not compensation to me it raises the question of whether I have been on the line of leaving things for Christ. Your compensation among the brethren is commensurate with what you have left.
Ques. Would the young man be "the last" (verse 31)?
C.A.C. I think the Lord drops that word in at the end to remind us that we have not reached final adjustment. There may be those prominent at the present time, and when the adjustment of the kingdom comes out it may be that the prominent one may find himself at the rear. The Lord says, Do not form your estimate of things by the present position, but remember that the kingdom involves adjustment. Certain men are prominent, teaching and preaching, but when the adjustment is made, the one who is prominent now may be far back. It does not follow that they will be prominent when the kingdom is adjusted. Saints in obscurity may be more marked
by the spirit of suffering and service than those who positionally are more prominent.
The personal pathway of the Lord must always be of the deepest interest to those that love Him, and that part which comes before us in verses 32 - 45 is very touching. The Lord was going to Jerusalem for the last time, His service in Israel closing up. He was as it were preparing Himself and His disciples for suffering; so we come here to that which very closely touches and affects us. We have seen something of the wonderful character of the Lord's service, the perfection and grace of it, and now it comes out that the service is in no way appreciated by men, and it only results in suffering. It was perhaps the greatest element of sorrow to the Lord that His service was refused by His people: they say of Him, "What are those wounds in thy hands?" and He says, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends". That shows how keenly the Lord felt the rejection of His service. That is the import of the wounds in His hands -- those hands of unwearying service were wounded.
The Lord recognised at certain points in His pathway that service is to be replaced by suffering. He is the blessed instructed One of Isaiah 50He says, "The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of the instructed", so He has learned to succour by a word him that is weary. That has been the character of His service. But there came a time when He was instructed in view of suffering, so He says, "I was not rebellious; I turned not away back. I gave my back to smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair". The moment comes when it is manifest that the service of God involves suffering and rejection here, and no lesson could be more deeply important for us.
Rem. It seems connected with the title Son of man.
C.A.C. Yes, it is very touching. It is not the Christ but the Son of man, the One who has taken a place on man's side so as to be claimed by man; that is involved in His title Son of man. He puts Himself in relation with man to be claimed by man, and He was the One whom Jehovah visited because of His delight in Him. It is wonderful that He could say in the words of the prophet, "Man acquired me as bondman from my youth", Zechariah 13:5. It is the One whom man has acquired who is delivered into the hands of men for their judgment, and that is the character of the present time. A divine Person has
come in on the line of service to man -- "Man acquired me" That is the Son of man, and they cannot get away from the responsibility of having acquired Him. Now the question is, What do they think of Him, what estimate have they formed of Him?
The Lord goes on before, He sets His face like a flint. He knows what the path involves, and He leads that way up to Jerusalem, and we have to learn to follow Him in that path. He was sustained by divine affection and by the consciousness of being approved of God by resurrection -- "after three days he will rise again". In relation to service we have to move on these lines. In seeking to follow this blessed One we have to prepare ourselves for suffering and the judgment of men. Just as that blessed One was delivered to the judgment of men, so the saints at this present time are placed under the judgment of men; and we do not expect that judgment to be anything but adverse, and never favourable to what is of God. But the Lord was content to set His face like a flint, to move stedfastly on, knowing He would be vindicated. He was not ashamed, but justified and approved of God in resurrection.
Ques. Does the Lord educate us to be superior, too?
C.A.C. None of us would be naturally superior to the judgment of men. Often with us, in seeking to move in service, there is an expectation of being approved of men, perhaps even of being approved of brethren; it is the same principle.
This character of things covers all the period and that is why the gentiles are brought in as well as the Jews. There is a period during which the Son of man should be subjected to the judgment of those who have acquired Him. Men have acquired Him in the favour of God, they acquire Him to be a subject of judgment -- what do they think of the Son of man? That test is going on still. What do they think of the service in which He has placed Himself so near to men? Will they still wound His hands? The principle is spread out over the whole period; it is still the period of His being delivered into the hands of men for their judgment, and their judging Him is a very solemn thing. He is still in the hands of men and still the subject of man's judgment: men are left to form their opinions and come to their conclusions about the Son of man. Man lies under the responsibility of having acquired that wonderful Servant. What does he think of Him?
Ques. It has been said that the Son of man is a name which
a divine Person has assumed in order that He might come near to man?
C.A.C. Yes, and what is God's answer to man's judgment? That character, that condition of man that has been placed before man's judgment and has been refused and rejected, His blessed hands of service wounded -- that Man is to be supreme in the universe of God.
Ques. Why were the disciples amazed and afraid? The Lord had said nothing to them.
C.A.C. I think they had an intuitive sense of the character of the path in which the Lord was leading; they did not understand it intelligently, but they understood it intuitively. He was going to Jerusalem and they must have had a sense that all that was expressed in Him would not meet with the approval of men.
Ques. Would you say that His suffering involved theirs?
C.A.C. I think they ought to have perceived it. We all ought to perceive that His suffering involves ours. If we follow Him in that path of service it results in the same character of service for us. They were in the way going up to Jerusalem; we are in that way, there is no other way for those who are followers of Christ.
Rem. When He chose His disciples, it is said, "that they might be with him".
C.A.C. Yes, it is only as under His personal influence that we have an impression of Him to carry forth. We cannot give an expression of Christ if we have not received an impression of Him. If you and I are to give an expression of Christ, we must get an impression from Him.
Rem. We would like to do that, but when it is in connection with His sorrows it is an exercise, and we often do not like it.
C.A.C. Yes, it is a real exercise. The Lord brings it before those who wanted a great place: James and John come in as desiring a place with Him in glory. There was self-importance mixed with it. They were out of touch and out of tune -- the Lord was thinking of His sufferings. These instances serve to show that the presence of the Spirit is necessary to put the saints into tune; without the Spirit none of us would be in tune. Christians miss a great deal by being out of tune often; they have something before them of God, but not the particular thing that the Lord would bring before them at the moment.
We may be in the right path and have the Lord before us but not be in tune.
Ques. What would encourage us to take up His pathway?
C.A.C. Coming where the disciples came under the personal influence of Christ; there is no royal road to it but that.
The Lord brings them back to the line. He says, "Ye do not know what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup which I drink, or be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?" The cup here would be the deep inward sorrow of wounded love.
Ques. Did not Paul follow closely in these steps?
C.A.C. Yes, we see the deep sorrow of Paul's heart in the refusal of the service of his love. "All in Asia" had turned away from him. His hands too were wounded in the house of his friends.
The Lord here is setting them free from human thoughts in connection with the glory, and seeking to identify them with His own thoughts. There is a path in which God's will can be done, and in which God can be served. We must be prepared to step out in a path that will not be approved by natural men or by carnal believers, to step out on that line and have no place of glory. I believe in connection with service there is sometimes a thought for self. These beloved disciples were thinking of the glory of Christ; it was a subtle kind of self-importance, but the Lord indicated to them the true character of service. The question for us all is, What can I do to serve the brethren? What am I prepared to suffer in that line of service? If you want to have a place on His right hand and on His left you can have it in the greatest nearness to Him in that lowly place of suffering service. The Lord says to them, 'You can be as near to Me as you like in the way of suffering, but as to nearness in glory that is not in My hands'. He refers that to the Father, but He says, 'You can be as near to me as you like in suffering'. Then the Lord introduces the principle of sovereignty: everything brought out in glory will be the fruit of sovereignty according to the Father's purpose. This wonderful place at the Lord's right hand and left is prepared for certain persons known to the Father. That lies in the region of sovereignty, but the Lord says, 'You can have the place at my right hand and left in service and suffering'. God is the Father of glory; the system of glory has its origin in God, the Father of glory. He will place the saints in glory
according to His own purpose, and the Lord says, 'Do not be exercised about that; I want you to be as near to Me as possible in this path that I am treading'.
In James we see the rejection of his service at the hands of those outside. John was left here to be one hundred years old and to see his service rejected inside. Diotrephes loved to have the first place -- he was a man on the line of glory, but it was self-glory in the christian circle; and in that circle John's hands were wounded. He wrote a letter and they would not receive it. One feels the need of being prepared to suffer; how little we are prepared for it! If we get a rebuff or a slight, how soon we get our backs up instead of being prepared to suffer! Is there a readiness to break loose from everything which would detain us? It is a question of being in the way here; if that is the way we should not want to be hindered. We all have something to hinder us like the blind man; he was a poor beggar in contrast to the rich young man, but he had a garment that hindered. The poorest had some hindrance -- throw it away. This blind man threw his garment away.
We find the same spirit in all the twelve: two were wanting a place, and the ten were indignant because they did, so the Lord has to reveal all their thoughts. The ten were on the line of exercising lordship and authority, but that is the opposite of service. To exercise lordship and authority is what we naturally like, but Paul says, 'We have no dominion over your faith but would like to be helpers of your joy'. If an apostle could say that, it becomes you and me. I am sure the Lord would lead us along this way of affection, and it would fortify us against a great many things that severely test us.
How the Lord delights to become a model for us: it is a great delight to Him when He can say, "Behold, I and the children which God has given me", Hebrews 2:13. The children are those who take character from Him, so they become signs and wonders. Why? Because they are like Christ; they have come out as true children of Christ -- that is what gives Him such delight. They can be recognised as of Christ; nothing is of spiritual value with any of us but what is of Christ. There is no value attached to anything of Adam, but what is of Christ has divine value. He is presented here as the great Servant; He comes in to serve. Nothing could be more wonderful for us than to take up this path under the influence of Christ, as we reverence Him in affection. J.B.S. used to say, 'We first
admire, then accept, and then adopt'. We first admire it with reverence and affection in Christ, we see how it surpasses everything else: He is "The chiefest among ten thousand". Then we accept it -- there is no other divine path for us, no other spirit but that for us. There is a definite moment in the soul's history when we accept it, and then we come to adopt it, and spiritual power is needed for that, to adopt the features of Christ. The great point in Mark's gospel is that the kingdom comes in power; it is patterned in Luke, but in power in Mark.
Ques. Does the dying of Jesus come in here?
C.A.C. This is just the point where we come into that order of things. The Lord had been serving up to this point, but from this point forward it is a question of the dying of Jesus, the experimental giving up of all connected with His acceptance and service in Israel. He gave it all up. Paul could say, "always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body", 2 Corinthians 4:10. The life of Jesus is a life of serving love; the youngest of us can take it up. People talk of things being over the heads of the young, but this comes in at the level of our hearts.
Ques. Is spiritual power love?
C.A.C. I think it is, when you come to the root of it, because the life of God is love in activity; it is the very life of divine Persons. You could not have anything more powerful and energetic than that.
We have noticed that the Lord's service was closing, the final scenes were at hand. The Lord was coming up to Jerusalem to suffer and it was important that He should be seen at such a moment in all the dignity of His kingly rights, so the blind man addresses Him as Son of David. It was the first time such a title had been accorded Him in this gospel; it involves all the glory that attaches to Him in Psalm 72; He is the King's Son, the true Solomon. It is a little remarkable that it is only blind men who gave Him this title, save the Canaanitish woman who had no right to use it. It has often been said that the scribes had the thought that the opening of the eyes of the blind was the miracle reserved for the Messiah, Son of David; and it certainly was so in fact.
The ability to see is very important, especially at moments of crisis such as these. Bartimaeus says, "Rabboni, that I may see". The Lord in His kingly rights gave to the remnant the
ability to see, to perceive things according to God; and He is the only One still who can give us ability to perceive things according to God, to see the character of the moment, and what is suitable to the testimony at the moment. No doubt Bartimaeus represents the remnant to whom the Lord gave this ability of perception, the result of his seeing being that he followed Jesus in the way. He moved in harmony with the present movements of Jesus. It was said of the Son of David that He could hear the cry of the afflicted and save the souls of the needy. His kingly rights come out in that way; His kingly rights are exercised in priestly grace.
Mark 10 and 11 are most affecting: it was the closing moment and a very solemn time. We have come to a closing moment, too; there is a great analogy between the moment when the Lord was here and the present moment. The ability to see was of the greatest importance then and is now. We only get that ability directly from the Lord, so it says, "they that seek the Lord understand all things", Proverbs 28:5. Those that seek the Lord get their eyes opened. John says, "we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we should know him that is true", 1 John 5:20. It is a very blessed thing to be conscious of that. To have understanding would answer to opening of the eyes, and the question with us is, Is that our desire? "Rabboni, that I may see" was the blind man's great desire. It is only as the Son of God comes into our consciousness that we get an understanding. I do not think the statement, "the Son of God has come", refers merely to the historical fact of His incarnation; it involves the life and affection of His saints.
Ques. Had the blind man partial sight before?
C.A.C. He was evidently taught of God; he was one of those divinely taught. There is such a thing as spiritual vision. Paul prays in Ephesians 1, "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him, being enlightened in the eyes of your heart". That is like the opening of the eyes; it is the specific act of divine Persons giving ability of perception so that there is understanding according to God of what is going on at the moment. There is nothing more important, especially in times of crisis; it is very important that we should be able to see at such a time.
Ques. Would the Lord appreciate the blind man's desire?
C.A.C. He would indeed, because He would become the supreme object of the one who sees. When the man opened his eyes he opened them on the Son of David, the Christ, and followed Him in the way. That must have been very delightful to the Lord.
Ques. Does the challenge apply to us, too?
C.A.C. Yes, there is great analogy in the present circumstances to those that were present then; the question of this world is the question of the kingly rights of Christ. In the next chapter it is entirely a question of the kingly rights of the Son of David, and I believe the giving of sight is divine ability to see what is connected with the kingly rights of Jesus Christ. It is most important, because those kingly rights are just about to be asserted, but, before they are asserted in a public way, have we spiritual vision to see what is connected with them? I would encourage myself and all my brethren to say "Rabboni, that I may see".
Ques. What is the difference between "Son of David" and "Son of man"?
C.A.C. As presented in this gospel the difference would be rather between His kingly rights and His service. The Lord has been seen in this gospel as engaged in the service of men. He comes in as a bondman acquired of men; He comes in to serve man, and He carries that to the point of giving His life a ransom for many. But chapter 11 brings in a different subject; it is a question of the kingly rights of Christ. It is a great thing to see His kingly rights and to be in accord with them. It is an immense thing at the present time to be prepared in the light of that for suffering, to be disallowed of men in the sense of the kingly rights of Christ, and then to see how He has claimed us. So far in this gospel we have been occupied with the way need claims His service and gets His service, but when we come to chapter 11 it is the other side -- His claims. He asserts His rights, He claims the colt for Himself, "The Lord hath need of him". The point is that the Son of David is Jehovah. Jehovah opens the eyes of the blind; David's Son is David's Lord. It involves a discerning of the fact that the Son of David is Jehovah. If you take the desire to see in the
light of what it illustrates, it is the desire to have the capacity to perceive all connected with the One who is going up to suffer, but He goes as the One in whom all kingly rights are vested. He goes to suffer in that character, as rejected in His service, and His hands wounded in the house of His friends. This means that His service was rejected, not His hands wounded at the cross: those hands that were unwearied in their ministry were wounded, and the service of love refused. That is the cup He drank, love's deep sorrow in having His service refused. He goes up outwardly as Jesus of Nazareth, but if we have spiritual vision, we see He is invested with all kingly rights, and that He claims us absolutely for Himself. It is no question of our need claiming Him here; but that He in kingly rights claims us for Himself. I hope we have all been touched in reading this gospel and seeing how need claims Him, but there is another side not to be overlooked, and that is He has kingly rights which claim us. It is a question of what He needs, and with kingly rights there is power -- He must have what He needs -- the colt.
Bartimaeus shows the activity of the Lord under which we must come if we are to have any perception of the situation. Everyone in christendom has a Bible, and many are conversant with it, but the mass of christendom have no perception of the situation. Bartimaeus is the contrast to the young man in the previous chapter who allowed his possessions to be a snare to him. Bartimaeus, though poor, has something to throw away and he throws it away. If we want to have the Son of God in our lives we must throw away our garments.
Ques. Will you tell us about the title Son of man?
C.A.C. It is a wide title, and hence the gentiles are brought in; but it involves suffering and death, because it involves taking up every question connected with man and glorifying God about it. Then as having done that He is morally entitled to be Head of God's universe and have all things put under His feet. He rules absolutely as competent and qualified to do so; He is rightly placed over all things.
Ques. Would you present kingly rights in preaching the gospel?
C.A.C. Paul must have, because it went about that he said there was "another king, one Jesus". It is part of the good news that God is going to bring to an end sin and confusion, and that kingly rights are vested in Jesus; it is an important
part of the testimony to make that known. We find here remarkable testimony, how He is acclaimed in relation to the coming kingdom. It is what many are doing now.
Ques. Do kingly rights differ from His rights as Lord?
C.A.C. As Lord He has universal rights, He is Lord of all, but His kingly rights as Messiah are more connected with Israel. He is in the midst of Israel here, and He is going to suffer, but to those who have their eyes opened and who know Him He is King, He is vested with kingly rights.
Ques. Is there any significance in the setting of this incident -- the crossways?
C.A.C. I think the Lord has come to the moment of which Daniel had spoken when he prophesied of Messiah the Prince. There was a definite period fixed and it was necessary that He should come into Jerusalem as Messiah the Prince; it pleased God to make everything subservient to that. The colt and the crowd and everything were subservient to the fact the Lord should appear as Israel's King, "Behold thy King cometh".
Ques. Would you tell us its connection with the present crisis and our having sight?
C.A.C. I think we should all admit that the present is a very critical moment, and that it is a question of confessing the rights of Christ. It is largely the testimony that we should confess the rights of Christ, that we should carry Him in testimony. That is what is set forth in the colt. He was an unsubdued creature, but the Lord in asserting His rights brings this creature into absolute subjection to Himself, so that it carries Him in testimony. It is a striking picture and represents what man is naturally, but the Lord subdues him. We get it illustrated in Saul of Tarsus; he was an unsubdued, untamed colt. Man is said to be a wild ass, a colt. "The Lord hath need of him" -- there is that side of the truth that every one of us is absolutely claimed and Christ has the right to claim us because all the rights of God are vested in Him.
Ques. Was the colt being tied providential?
C.A.C. Yes, God has in view from the outset what He is going to do. Saul was tied from the outset, he says, "God, who set me apart even from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace", Galatians 1:15. He was secured from the outset; it was the exercise of sovereign rights.
Ques. What is the force of the crossway?
C.A.C. It was not the main street. The colt was not in
the king's highway, but in the crossway where we all were. It suggests that man is out of the way.
We only carry the Lord in testimony as we are subdued to Him. There is a difference between the colt and the crowd. The crowd was acclaiming Christ and honouring Him, but the colt sets forth a creature subdued to Him so as to carry Him. Many may be by divine grace ready to acclaim and honour the Lord, yet not at all personally subdued to Him so as to carry Him in testimony through the scene of His reproach.
Ques. How does the subduing take place?
C.A.C. By the power vested in the Lord Himself. Here is an untamed creature with no desire to be subject; it was not broken in -- "upon which no child of man has ever sat", yet the Lord asserts His rights to have that creature and to bring it into perfect subjection to Himself. The epistle to the Philippians speaks of "the power which he has even to subdue all things to himself". There is a power vested in that Person. There was no desire in Saul of Tarsus to be subject, just the opposite. There was in him the most intense and inveterate opposition, he was a thoroughly unbroken man, yet the Lord subdues him in a moment. It is a sovereign matter and we should greatly covet to come under that subduing power. What greater honour could God put on anybody than to bring them into such subjugation to Christ that they are able to carry Him in testimony in the full recognition of His kingly rights! He has an absolute right to control us. There are many shouting Hosanna today who are not prepared to be subdued to Christ.
Ques. Why did not the Lord fetch the colt Himself?
C.A.C. The Lord likes to be served by His servants; we find the service of Ananias in connection with Saul. The subduing is the direct influence of the Lord applied to us sovereignly without any sort of condition being there on our side to help it on. The Lord says of Saul, I have need of him. God presents these things to us to awaken desire; God's sovereignty does not exclude desire on our part.
Ques. It creates desire, but then, if it is connected with sovereignty, is it within our reach?
C.A.C. Yes, I think the sovereignty of God has put it within our reach. He has put us where such exercises are raised. We all obtain peculiar favour in the sovereignty of God. It is in the sovereignty of God that we are here tonight
and He has put very great spiritual privileges within our reach. To find that I have been the subject of sovereign favour is one of the most subduing things; though I have deserved nothing and had no more claim than others, yet peculiar favour has been shown me!
A great many have the truth of the Lord's coming, and they are ready to acclaim Him as the One who is coming in to have His rights as King; many are writing books and shouting Hosanna, but perhaps not identified with the testimony itself. Now is the time for the testimony; the rights of Christ are as great this minute as they ever will be when He takes kingly power and everything is in subjection to Him. His rights are as great now as then, and the question raised now is not whether we are ready to acclaim His rights which He will soon exercise, but whether we have come personally under His subduing influence so that we carry the testimony of what He is through the world. That is the form which the rights of Christ take in their claim on us now. The rights of Christ are paramount; no one has any claim -- neither the colt nor its owner has any rights in the presence of the rights of Christ. Man ties us up but the Lord looses us; we are loosed so that we may be serviceable to Him. It is a greater thing to carry Christ in testimony than to shout abroad concerning the glory of the coming kingdom, though those who do it have their place in the public ways of God.
Ques. Would this be connected with, "We have come to mount Zion"?
C.A.C. We have come to it now. It is our privilege to be like the 144,000 in Revelation 14, who were with Him on mount Zion before the kingdom was set up. We are privileged to be with Him now in the recognition of His kingly rights before they are publicly acknowledged.
It was a wonderful opportunity for the daughter of Zion when her King came in this way -- a lowly King -- but having an infinite salvation in Himself. There seems to be a certain analogy between the Lord's presentation of Himself to the daughter of Zion, and His presentation of Himself to the church as the "root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star", Revelation 22:16. He presented Himself to the affections of the daughter of Zion as having in Himself everything she needed, her King and salvation. The complete salvation of Jehovah was there in His Person for the daughter
of Zion. In a certain way the Lord is presenting Himself to the assembly now in that character. What is learned of Himself will give character to the coming day. We learn the blessedness of the coming King, not that He is exactly King to us, but we learn Him as lowly and having salvation -- it is all in Himself. There is no true, spiritual deliverance for any of us except what we find in Himself; it is only as that Person acquires His place in our affections that we know what it is to be delivered from what is not of God.
We have to learn that, while the Lord comes in and presents Himself in the blessedness of His lowly character and in the wealth of salvation that is in Himself, yet He comes in as entitled to pass everything under His scrutiny and to have a judgment as to all that goes on in the christian profession. So He asserted His kingly rights and expressed His judgment on all that went on in the temple in that way. One side is His presenting Himself in His affections to His people, and the other side has to do with His moral judgment of all things. Both are very important.
The hunger of the Lord, His inward cravings, could not be satisfied from anything that Israel after the flesh, or indeed man after the flesh, brought forth. It is only as He Himself is received and honoured, the lowly One who carries all the power of God's salvation in Himself, can there be any fruit to answer the cravings of His heart. "From me is thy fruit found", He says by the utterance of the prophetic Spirit to Israel; Hosea 14:8. We should receive Him in responsive Hosannas. Hosanna means, Save now: it is a time now when we can lift up our hearts and say Hosanna. The great deliverance God has effected for His people in these last days has been brought about by the influence of that Person; we should all be still trammelled and filled by what is of man if we had not come under the influence of Christ.
Ques. Is learning the cursing of the fig-tree the beginning of having right thoughts of man?
C.A.C. Yes, the Lord would teach us, not only that Israel and man after the flesh have utterly failed to produce any fruit for God, but there is never to be any fruit from that. There is to be no expectation from the flesh henceforth. The two things go together: an intense appreciation of Christ, and a complete distrust of the flesh -- the one suggests the other. We need to get a vision of the One who thus presents Himself, and we
cannot doubt that the Lord presents Himself at the end in a remarkable way to the assembly. There is analogy between His saying, "I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star", and His presenting Himself as the lowly King to the daughter of Zion. It is a closing action at the end of the period, but everything needed for salvation was there in His Person, and, when we see that, we are prepared to accept His judgments on everything contrary to God. One thinks of the Lord at the present moment as looking round (verse 11). "He entered into Jerusalem and into the temple; and having looked round on all things, the hour being already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve". One feels that is very much what the Lord is doing today, looking round on all things. It is not exactly action, but scrutiny and discernment. He is looking round on all things, on the whole profession. There is no precipitate action, but He is looking round with deliberation and calmness and kingly dignity. The Lord values moral judgment more than action. He has a moral judgment on everything, He discerns everything contrary to God and Himself, and He is seeking to have His own in correspondence with His moral judgment, so He retires to Bethany with the twelve. It is very like the place of moral separation into which He calls His own today. We get hearts there to anoint Him. He was anointed at Bethany, a little circle where the wealth and rights of His Person were recognised, and became the subject of adoring affections. What a privilege to have a judgment in correspondence with the Lord as to all that is going on, to be in moral accord with Him and to know a sweet retreat! What must Bethany have been to the Lord! We do not know that He ever spent a night in Jerusalem; He had no resting-place there, but in Bethany He had a resting-place in the circle of family affections where He was greatly appreciated. The daughter of Zion should have greeted her King; she should have crowned Him.
Ques. Would this correspond with the movement ninety years ago?
C.A.C. The fact that there was a movement ninety years ago would not affect us now. The Lord is looking round on all things now, and while He does not act He forms a definite moral judgment. It is most important that the saints should have a moral judgment and not only come into outward separation.
Ques. Is it at Bethany that moral judgment is arrived at?
C.A.C. We could not enjoy companionship with the Lord at Bethany unless we had first arrived at moral judgment in concert with Him. "He went out to Bethany with the twelve". He went out carrying His company with Him, and they went out as in correspondence with Him.
Ques. Many do not go here and there because they think it is contrary to the rules of brethren.
C.A.C. Yes, that makes it so important that we should have a moral judgment, spiritual understanding for the present moment. Being in a certain position religiously will not secure anything for the Lord, but having a moral judgment in accord with His own is of great value, and it is really fruit. Jehovah looked for fruit from Israel, Zion's King looked for a state of hearts and minds in correspondence with Himself, but He did not find it. "He looked for justice, and behold, blood-shedding; for righteousness, and behold, a cry", Isaiah 5:7. Jehovah looked for what would correspond with Himself and did not find it in Israel. The Lord's hunger was for what would correspond with Himself; nothing but that could satisfy Him. The Lord shows us that the product of man in the flesh could never satisfy His hunger; nothing could satisfy the cravings of His inward being but what was in correspondence with Himself. Israel was not, and the assembly as a public profession is not.
Ques. Numbers come out in separation. Does the Lord look for all such to have moral judgment?
C.A.C. The affections of the Lord embrace every true saint, and He regards them all as divinely called to the fellowship, but nothing will satisfy His heart but that they should be in accord with Himself. He will place us all in accord in glory. He is presenting Himself in a peculiar way to bring them into accord with Himself; even to Laodicea He says, "If any one hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me", Revelation 3:20. He says, as it were, I will bring him into communion with myself: that is what he is seeking to do for the whole assembly. It is the twelve, the completed company. The Lord is jealous about the completeness of the assembly; He will not leave one out.
Ques. Is Bethany a response to the presentation of Himself?
C.A.C. I think it is. It is the spot where there is a family circle, it is where the Lord was received, appreciated and honoured; and where He was anointed. It is wonderful to
think that there is a circle like that today. What a privilege to be where the lowly One who has salvation is received and honoured! We look to Him alone for salvation, and we say Hosanna to Him; no one else can save us. In the midst of a corrupt christendom, who can save us but the One who has salvation? There is nothing in outward things to satisfy the Lord's hunger, but we can be sure that He found something at Bethany to satisfy His hunger -- they made Him a supper and ministered to Him. Man after the flesh could never satisfy Him -- "their heart is far from me". We all have to learn to distinguish between leaves and fruit. There are many leaves about that look very nice; they are the proper beauty of the tree, but we have to discern between them and the fruit.
Ques. In moments of difficulty and trouble Hosanna is a good cry for us?
C.A.C. Yes, we have to learn to say it in all our exercises. If you come to the morning meeting and find yourself out of tune, you cannot shake off that business worry, what are you to do if you cannot say, Hosanna!
Ques. What about "in the highest"?
C.A.C. It implies the absolute supremacy of the Lord in His saving power. It is a quotation from Psalm 118, and it involves the sending of prosperity, "Oh save, Jehovah, I beseech thee; Jehovah, I beseech thee, Oh send prosperity! Blessed be he that cometh in the name of Jehovah". You can always say Hosanna to Him, whatever difficulty you are in, whatever the state of soul, however low the key. You can always say Hosanna even when perhaps you cannot say Hallelujah. I have come to a meeting feeling right down low -- what can I say? Hosanna. It brings in the power of salvation; we have to say Hosanna to beseech that blessed One to give prosperity. What a great thing it is to be in divine prosperity! In the last days it will be possible for the remnant, the true daughter of Zion, to be in spiritual prosperity, and that in spite of the disorder and corruption in the temple and in the city. If that lowly King who had salvation is before their hearts, they can say Hosanna to Him, they can be in prosperity, and so can we.
Ques. What is to bring about Bethany conditions with us?
C.A.C. I suppose they are brought about as we come under the influence of His love. The Lord is known in Bethany; there was a household there pre-eminently marked as subjects
of the love of Jesus, and there they learned to see the glory of God and the glory of the Son of God.
Ques. Does the Lord commit His rights in relation to Israel to the custody of those who love Him and would cherish them?
C.A.C. Yes, His kingly rights, all that is due to Him now, are cherished in the affections of the bride. She is at the present moment the custodian of all His rights. What a treasure to have enshrined in our hearts! If you confess His rights you will be careful that those rights should be maintained by you personally and you would not accept compromise with that which denies His rights. You would have no more sympathy with selling and buying in the temple than He had. Man is using divine things with a selfish motive, turning every sacrifice of God into selfishness. The Canaanite is the trader, and man is so base that he makes gain for himself out of God's things. It is like the ultimate point of man's baseness that he will make gain out of God's things for himself. The Lord has a definite judgment on it all. We can see how christendom is full of it, and we have to watch it in ourselves lest that element come in, "all seek their own" (Philippians 2:21), that in principle is the Canaanite.
I think the Lord would have us to understand as to the fig-tree. The Lord gave the disciples further instruction when they saw that it was withered away: He told them to have faith in God, not to have before them what was great in man's eyes. Israel was in man's eyes great for God, the temple and all its services were like a great mountain, apparently great for God. The Lord would give them a judgment of what was about to be set aside in His own death. We see in His own cross and death the fig-tree withered up from the roots by divine judgment; it was not decay at all but divine judgment, withered from the roots.
Ques. It is important for us to see that we are all capable of the Canaanite in ourselves?
C.A.C. Yes, we have all the corruption of christendom in our own flesh. There is not a single bit of corruption in christendom that I cannot find the germ of in myself, and I must have the moral judgment of it. It makes one cry Hosanna, and one learns the principle of exclusiveness in one's own private exercises -- the man after the flesh must be excluded altogether.
The Lord suffered not that anyone should carry any package through the temple: there is no place there for any private or personal interest. A package or vessel would suggest a man carrying something which was concerned with his private interest.
Ques. What does the temple set forth in contrast to the house?
C.A.C. The temple is the house, but I suppose the thoughts are different. The house is more where God dwells, and the temple is more the place where we get the communications of His mind. We connect the heart of God with the house and the mind of God with the temple. The heart of God comes out in connection with the house -- it was to be the house of prayer for all nations. What an immense conception of the heart of God, a house of prayer set up for all nations, not only for Israel but a place where the universal beneficence of the heart of God is known! It is illimitable and goes out to all nations. How falsified man has made it -- a den of robbers! Instead of people finding comfort there and getting everything they came for, they come to be robbed.
It is the result of having salvation that the voice of triumph and salvation is found in the tabernacle of the righteous. You must have it in your own house first before you can know the blessedness of it in God's house. Your own house must be first in order and then God's house can be cared for.
Ques. What does this mountain refer to?
C.A.C. I think the Lord uses a figure that is of wide application; a mountain is that which is great in the eyes of men. I have no doubt it refers to the place which judaism had in the eyes of men. The temple with all its services, its ancient glory and the traditional reverence attached to it, was great, and the disciples needed to be delivered from that. There is no greater proof of faith than to be delivered from the influence of all that is accounted great; certain things are accounted great as to this world, but faith would deliver us from them. It seems to me that, as seeking to walk in faith, we would find ourselves in the presence of mountains, and one's own particular difficulty seems the biggest mountain, but faith in God will get rid of every mountain. It may be the great external mountain like the christian profession today, which has such a tremendous influence over people that they could not entertain the thought of coming into separation from
it; or it may be in the individual pathway there is what seems to the soul a mountain, but faith gives power to get rid of either mountain. The secret of deliverance is to have faith in God.
Ques. Would standing praying (verse 25) enable one to be in the good of the house?
C.A.C. I think so. We would be in the good of the house and in harmony with the spirit of the house. To pray intimates harmony with God and intense desire of heart that God's will should prevail. What does a man pray for if he is not in harmony with God and desiring God's will to prevail? We cannot pray if we are not filled with the spirit of forgiveness. We cannot address God if we are entirely out of harmony with everything in the heart of God. What marks the heart of God is beneficence, unlimited beneficence for all men, and along with it this beautiful spirit of forgiveness. If people find in praying that they have an unforgiving spirit, the way to get rid of it is to come into the atmosphere of the house; we cannot bring it there. The Lord suggests in these verses the importance of the spirit in which we pray; in the act of praying our spirit is most important.
Following the truth of this chapter you cease to have any expectation from the flesh in yourself or in anyone else; all your expectation centres in God. You do not need to look to the world, to anyone here, or to any mountain; you can get all you need from God, but in order to get what you need from God you must be in correspondence with God. God gives everything to a man who is in correspondence with Himself; we do not get our prayers answered sometimes because we are not in correspondence with Him. God has to wait until we get our spirits into correspondence with Himself, and then He answers our prayers.
Ques. What is the meaning of "heard because of his piety", Hebrews 5:7?
C.A.C. It is a wonderful expression connected with the Lord, and it illustrates what we are speaking of. There was with the Lord perfect correspondence to the mind of God; He was in full recognition of all that death was according to the divine estimate of it. We might certainly say that no one else ever had a full pious sense of what death was. He prayed in perfect correspondence with the mind of God, so He was heard because of His piety and His prayer was answered in resurrection -- "He asked life of thee; thou gavest it him, length of'Wherever we follow Thee, Lord,
Admiring, adoring, we see'. (Hymn 197)CHAPTERS 2: 18 - 28 AND 3
CHAPTER 3: 20 - 35
CHAPTER 4
'My bark is wafted from the strand,
By breath divine.
At the helm there rests a hand
Other than mine'. CHAPTERS 5 AND 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11