1 Timothy 3:1 - 16

F.E.R. It is helpful to remember that these two epistles and the epistle to Titus were written to individuals; so that what comes out in them has reference to individual conduct pretty much. What comes out in epistles addressed to churches is more general. Both Timothy and Titus were servants, and a great deal is brought out in these epistles which is intended to govern the conduct of the servant. Nothing can be more important at the present day than that the sense of individuality should be maintained with us -- everything depends on that. One's position is that one stands apart from the great organizations into which christianity has involved itself. In doing that, however, we have to be uncommonly careful that we do not constitute ourselves another organization. This would only add to the confusion. Two or three of us may be able to walk together, but it does not necessarily follow that we form a kind of community or body.

F.W.T. I suppose it would be necessary to have learned what was written to the churches, before the conduct here could be carried out?

F.E.R. Yes. In the first few chapters the apostle gives the position, and proper order of the church of God -- "These things write I ... that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God" (verses 14, 15). The apostle has tarried long, and it leaves a long interval in which a man ought to know how to behave himself in the house of God. That is the great point in the first epistle; in the second epistle the point is that we should not be ashamed of the testimony. The one comes before the other; before he can take up the testimony, a man needs to know how to behave himself in the

house of God. That should be the principle governing a true servant of God today.

The first few chapters present what marks the house of God; you cannot get any representation of that in christendom today. The truth is the agreement for walking with one another. The first obligation of the servant, and of everybody, is to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit. The servant shows other people what is right by practising it himself; the apostle said to Timothy, "Be thou an example of the believers". The servant takes the humblest place, "I am among you as he that serveth" the Lord said.

The servant knows what is right, and not only so, but he sets the example of what is right. Clergy and ministers take the place of servants, but there are a great number among them whom it would be very undesirable to copy. They preach one thing, but do not exactly practise what they preach. The servant should practise what is right and we should follow those who are servants. It is a very important point for everyone of us to take care what company we keep -- whom we follow.

In chapters 2 and 3 there is nothing which answers to what you get in christendom. Where can you find any allusion to clergy? Yet they are a very important item in christendom. The position of the church is intercessory, and the men are to "pray every where". The woman is not to usurp authority over the man (chapter 2). Then in chapter 3 there is no idea of gifts. The elder people should take oversight of people's souls and deacons should take care of their bodies.

Rem. We often find those who are not qualified according to the third chapter, acting in the position of bishop, etc.

F.E.R. But where are you to find the house of God? That is the great difficulty at the present day;

but if you cannot find the house of God in the concrete form, one ought to know how to behave oneself there. So long as the Spirit of God is abiding here, every one of us is under obligation to know how to behave himself in the house of God. All those who are baptized by the Spirit form the house of God.

The great value of these epistles is not simply to mark out the path of the servants, but they lay great stress upon individual fidelity when the church has failed. The great organizations around do not answer to the church of God at all. When you see that and stand apart from them, then it is you seek to know how a man should behave himself in the house of God. What marks those in the house of God is lowliness, meekness, forbearing one another in love, and so on.

The common idea of ruin is a broken down thing -- and all around us is that which is great in the eyes of men -- the mustard tree. Men have adapted christianity to the world as it is, but that is corruption and not outside of the system of this world. People come into the house of God through the figure of baptism -- it was never meant at all to be accommodated to this world. Just think of what christianity as adapted to this world will be in the end. It will be that all christianity is lost, the form and shadow only left. The harlot rides the beast. Then take Sardis -- what christianity is left there? The world has accommodated christianity to itself and in result all christianity is gone. The mystery of iniquity already works, but the end of it will be that the Lord will come in judgment -- He treads the winepress of the wrath of God.

Professing christianity has assumed the form of a great house. Your obligation is to depart from unrighteousness and to purge yourself from vessels to dishonour. Hence you will certainly have to leave

a great deal that is round about you in christendom. Wherever you get the refusal or non-admission of the rights of God in Christ, that is what I should call unrighteousness. In Corinthians we get "purge out", but we cannot purge out at the present day. We talk about putting out of fellowship, but now what it speaks to my mind is, that we say, I am not going to walk with that man. If a case turns up of a person who by his conduct shows that he is entirely unfit for christian company anywhere, under any circumstances, we put that person out; and that simply means to me that I will no longer walk with that man. In the existing state of things it is very much more a question of purging yourself from those who are going on unrighteously. 'Purging out' was connected with the power of the Spirit of God in the assembly. They put out the leaven; but now I purge myself from the leaven. The principle at the bottom is the same, but it is the altered condition of things that makes it necessary.

The idea has been abroad that the Spirit has a special gathering in these days, but the only gathering point to my mind is Christ. The eyes of a great many have been opened to discern the true state of things around, but as to any special gathering on the part of the Spirit of God, I do not believe in it a bit. If you stand apart from what is around and you give place to the Spirit of God, you begin to get light. It is an activity on the part of God to maintain truth in the church. It is an immense mercy to get your eyes opened, so as to have some discernment of the reality of things as they are in the eyes of God. There is another thing too -- you get the sense brought home to you of the presence of the Spirit of God. It is His working for the benefit of the whole church, for such a one is "serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work". These principles always hold good. Everything

in the early days was held together in the power of the Spirit. The only qualification that men had to carry out any function, was the Holy Spirit. Human organization has taken the place of the Holy Spirit, and in connection with human organization, you get the rule of man, and that is unrighteousness, it usurps the place of God.

Ques. Do you believe at all in a remnant?

F.E.R. No, I do not. I am very much afraid of any particular few people, arrogating to themselves the idea of a remnant. In Israel you get the idea of a remnant all through the prophets, but the remnant included all that was of God. There could be no remnant character to the church strictly speaking -- the church must be the complete thing.

I do not think we ought to have anything which in any way constitutes us a party. Take the House of Commons as an illustration. You must look upon it as a whole, but suppose you have got a few members who decline to belong to any one party and these people walk together, I do not think you could call them necessarily a party. It depends on whether they have some particular point or line of things which holds them together.

There are two things which come out in the house of God here: the mystery of piety (verse 16), and the warning of the Spirit (chapter 4). In the house of God you put everything together in regard to Christ. God has been "manifest in the flesh ... glory". That is the mystery. The initiated are able to put it together. It is only what is known in the house of God. It is a wonderful thing to think that "God has been manifested in flesh, has been justified in the Spirit [resurrection], has appeared to angels, has been preached among the nations, has been believed on in the world, has been received up in glory". That is what is known to the initiated; it is not a

creed or a statement of doctrine, but it is a certainty known in regard to Christ.

Then you get the warning of the Spirit -- "The Spirit speaks expressly", and you get certain principles which attach to man. Asceticism is one thing, and then you get the importance which riches attach to man. In high churches and all that kind of thing, it is a peculiar kind of fleshly sanctity which gives importance to man. That is what comes out in chapter 4. Verse 16 of chapter 3 is your sheet anchor, your mainstay, and by it you have pretty good safeguard against what you get in chapter 4. People will hold one part of it often, but the great point is to put the whole together. That is the mystery of godliness, and that it is known in the house. The last clause, "received up in glory", carries you out of the world and you do not care to attach importance to man, as alluded to in chapter 4. It is amazing to me what an influence the clergy have over man.

It is a great thing to get a divinely given idea of the house of God; you cannot get it from christendom. It helps you to understand how a man should behave himself in the house of God. However small and limited your circle, you would endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

THE TESTIMONY

2 Timothy 1:1 - 18

F.E.R. The second epistle has a very different character from the first. In the first epistle the point is that a man should learn how to behave in the house of God; in the second epistle it is committing the testimony to Timothy unto the coming of the Lord. There is no doubt whatever that when things take the character which is presented in this epistle, the testimony refers to what is coming in. It carries you on to the appearing. You get something of the same principle in Haggai 2:9 -- they had to look on to the latter glory of the house. Of course the testimony always had its own proper place, but it comes more into prominence when things have assumed the character spoken of in this epistle. The testimony is the great interest of the people of God now, and the great point is not to be "ashamed of the testimony of our Lord ... power of God", verse 8. That thought runs through the epistle; in chapter 3 it is, "Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned"; and in chapter 4 he was to "preach the word" (verse 2). Also he says, "Watch thou make full proof of thy ministry". It is well to notice the first verse of chapter 4 too. The servant is looked upon as continuing until the appearing. The apostle passes off the scene, but Timothy represents the servant that continues until the appearing -- it is in that way the testimony is committed to him. In connection with it, the apostle contemplates four generations -- there was the apostle, Timothy, and he was to commit the testimony to faithful men, who should be able to teach others also, (chapter 2: 2).

Ques. What is the testimony?

F.E.R. That is a very hard question, but if you want a short answer, the testimony is the Christ.

I think it is of Christ and of all which shall be displayed in Christ -- Christ in relation to "all things". It is important to see that testimony always has reference to what is going to be displayed. There is nothing displayed at the present time but there is a great deal testified of it, but that which is testified of is going to be displayed. The appearing of the kingdom answers to the latter glory of the house. It is a very great comfort to have before your mind what is going to be displayed.

In the early days in the Acts of the Apostles, people were very much content with what was present. The Spirit ruled, and everything in the house of God took its character from the Spirit -- the disciples were filled with joy in the Holy Spirit -- and that kind of thing. You cannot get back to primitive christianity, and the testimony now comes into prominence, bringing before the mind what is going to be displayed. The best that can be done down here is most mean in comparison with the beginning, but the testimony is the latter glory of the house. People have to be in the testimony morally -- that comes out all through the epistle; "Be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus" -- the truth is to be held in "faith and love which is in Christ Jesus". Christ Jesus is really the testimony and all that will come out in the appearing of Christ in His glory is involved in the testimony now.

F.W.T. Was "the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth" a type of what Christ is in that way?

F.E.R. Exactly. He is the ark of the covenant, and on the ark of the covenant is the mercy-seat. It contemplates everything. The tabernacle was a type of what Christ was down here -- not exactly of what He is now, because the tabernacle could be taken down. What Christ was down here could be taken down, and was taken down, but there is

another truth in the Old Testament -- the tabernacle had to give way to the temple, and what was placed in the tabernacle was placed in the temple that Solomon built. The temple was permanent. Now you have got in Christ what is permanent. He says in John 2:19, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up he spoke of the temple of his body". I do not suppose God took account of the temple when Christ was here -- everything was covered by Christ for God. "All things" were really centred in and covered by one Man when Christ was here; that is the idea in my mind of the tabernacle. Everything was to be evolved from Christ -- that is what will come to pass. If you take earthly things, Israel will come out of Christ morally. Everything will be evolved from Christ.

Ques. Does that fit in with His being "Son over his [God's] house, whose house are we", and "He who has built all things is God"?

F.E.R. Yes. Moses was used as a ministering servant to set up a pattern of all things for a testimony of those things which should be seen after (Hebrews 3). Now the "all things" have come into view. It is not altogether so much as Christ and the church, but a much wider idea; all the mystery of His will was covered by Christ.

In order to complete the figure of the tabernacle you must take in the priesthood. The great point was that the priest should 'touch' the mercy-seat; you could not get anything perfect until the priest could touch the mercy-seat. To have done that under the law would have meant death for the priest; but now, when you come to the reality of things, the High Priest has gone in and touched the mercy-seat. Hence you have got perfection, and the effect is that the approach is equal to the revelation. The ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat is more connected with coming out -- God has found a point in which

He can address Himself to man. On the ground of redemption God addresses Himself to man in Christ. But now, Man has gone in in Christ and touched the mercy-seat -- and what that means is, you have got perfection.

The mystery of the gospel (Romans 16:25; Ephesians 1:9, 10) is all that was centred in Christ, of which the tabernacle was figurative, and so is as much a subject of the Old Testament as of the New. The introduction of Christ really means this -- man has to go out of one door, but he can get in at another. Man has been terminated in the cross of Christ, but then he comes in by another door, and that is by the Spirit. The means by which God is going to regenerate the world is by Christ, but then men will not have Christ.

You get different thoughts connected with the table of shewbread and the candlestick; and in the outer court of the tabernacle there was the laver and the burnt offering, and they are very important elements in the world to come. The laver implied cleansing from the pollutions of the world, and the altar of burnt offering meant a place of acceptance. They are the first principles of the world to come. Everything is to be headed up in Christ. There are two very important points in connection with Christ: He is at the right hand of God, ascended far above all heavens to fill all things, on the ground of redemption -- and He is the giver of the Spirit. Man can come in on the ground of redemption, and receive the gift of the Spirit. Everything will be taken up on the ground of redemption; "By the grace of God he should taste death for every thing", and at the same time all is subdued in the power of the Spirit -- the tabernacle was anointed with oil.

The object of the testimony is to attach people to Christ -- to enable people to apprehend what Christ is as the divinely appointed centre, in the

value of redemption. "I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me"; that is brought about in the soul by redemption and the gift of the Spirit. God makes known His rights in mercy -- that is redemption, and those rights come Out in Christ -- the point of attraction. If men are attached to Christ, they are brought into relation to the world to come, because that is centred in Christ. The testimony is spoken of as the "testimony of our Lord" -- it is His testimony. When the church has failed as a vessel of testimony, this test comes into peculiar prominence.

Ques. What is the "form of sound words" they were to hold fast?

F.E.R. It is "Have an outline of sound words" -- every part of truth may be fitted into its place in a person's mind. It is to be held fast in the power of the Holy Spirit. If people have things in a disorderly fashion in their minds, they will never be able to use them much. Things should be put together in an orderly way by the Spirit of God in people's minds. You want to see every part of Scripture in relation to every other part of Scripture. The whole gives an outline of the testimony of the Christ in relation to all things.

In every prophet Jehovah is presented in some particular aspect. The same thing is true in the gospels and in the epistles. Then the sum total of all these aspects makes up the completeness. Take Romans -- there you get the mercy seat, God declared His righteousness. In 1 Corinthians Christ is presented as the wisdom and the power of God, because the purpose of God is to overthrow all that existed and predominated in the mind of man, and to establish thoughts of Himself. In Colossians the great point is Christ as Head. In Ephesians Christ is ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things. That really was presented in the ark of

the covenant, and the mercy-seat -- the glory of God filled the tabernacle. In 2 Corinthians He is the Yea and Amen. In Galatians He is the true Isaac, the vessel of Abraham's blessing to the gentiles. In 1 Thessalonians He is the harvestman, He gathers up the harvest. In 2 Thessalonians He treads the vintage. In all of the epistles you have the complete testimony of the Christ. No prophecy is of any private interpretation, it forms a part of the whole. So every epistle has to be viewed in relation to the other epistles.

Christ presents Himself to man in the value of redemption and as the giver of the Spirit. If we have been attracted to Christ and attached to Him by the Spirit, we have been taken out of the world, because we belong to the world of which Christ is the centre, and that is what gives force to the expression in this epistle, "in Christ Jesus". Salvation is "in Christ Jesus". God has called us to a holy calling, given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Then Christ has annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light by the gospel, because in that scheme and system of which Christ is the Head, life and incorruptibility will be seen.

Rem. The testimony then is only administered by the Lord Himself here on earth by the power of the Spirit?

F.E.R. That is it; and the point is that we should not be ashamed of it. The great point is to maintain fidelity to the Lord, and not to be ashamed of the testimony. You want to lop off everything that is inconsistent with the testimony. I think very few christians have much apprehension of the scheme of divine purpose which is in Christ Jesus. It is an immense thing when it lays hold of one. I like to call it a universe because it takes in heaven and earth. I think people have missed the mind of God in the prophets in a way, because they have

not seen that the prophets take in heaven as well as the earth. He gathers up all things in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth. The tendency is to connect Christ and christianity with the present course of things. Hence it has tended to blind people to the idea of a world of which Christ is the Head, which involves the breaking up of this world, "Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth".

It is most important to apprehend that Christ has no relation to the present course of things down here -- He is the Head and beginning of God's world. The great point is to present Christ, according to what He is. To present Him as Saviour is only a limited way, because He is only Saviour to them that look for Him. In the gospel you present God in the light of a Saviour God who is favourable to all men, and you present the Mediator. The truth in the Mediator is that God and man have been brought together in Christ, and the only thing left for man is to come into attachment to Christ. The title of Saviour in regard to Christ looks on to Christ, on to the salvation of the body. "God has not set us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ", 1 Thessalonians 5:9.

There is no greater proof of Christ being God than the fact that He has accomplished redemption, because no one has the right of redemption but the One to whom the inheritance belongs. Had not Christ been Creator of all, He would not have been competent to accomplish redemption. If I could create a thing, that thing belongs to me; God created and He alone has the right of redemption, and He took up the right of redemption. That is what Christ came to establish -- the rights of God in mercy.

Christ is the appointed vessel and seat of all for man, and man gets nothing whatsoever except in Christ. God may give providential mercies, but man

can get nothing for his soul except what is in Christ. Christ is the last Adam, and the only vessel of blessing, and He is the giver of the Spirit. A man is put in Christ by the Spirit and then he has everything in Christ. The beginning of it is faith in Christ, and the one who believes receives the Spirit, and is brought into attachment to Christ. Then such an one has redemption, sonship, and everything in Christ. I only know of one Christ and evidently salvation must be in Him, and it is only in Christ you can be outside this world. In another sense we are looking for salvation in the coming of the Lord; then we shall be absolutely outside of this world. At the present time we can be morally outside of it by the power of the Spirit.

POWER WENT OUT FROM HIM AND HEALED ALL

Luke 5:13 - 26

We have in this passage two striking instances of the ministry of the Lord here; both simple and intelligible. In the one it is the dealing with a case of leprosy; and in the other with a case of palsy. Now it is just these that I want to put together, for in a way they are descriptive of the condition of men in the world today -- and I do not think one will have much difficulty in making that plain. Men in this world are universally defiled -- the world itself is full of defilement; and we are so accustomed to the defiling influence of things in this world, that we are scarcely conscious that they are defiling. But no one can come in contact with things as they are around us without being defiled. Now the Lord came in contact with these things here, but the consequence of His coming in contact with them is that in result they are removed. The effect of sin having entered into the world has been to bring about the defilement of man; no one can doubt the defiling influence that idolatry has had upon men; but then the Jew was defiled too. The leper in this passage is a picture, I take it, of Israel: and it shows that Israel had not escaped the defilement of the world, the taint of idolatry was upon them too, many things had been done in Israel which were every bit as bad as had been done in heathendom. They were defiled by that which had been abroad in the world; they had touched idolatry, and were defiled by it. It is impossible for men, being what they are, to escape defilement in a world that is defiled, and the fact is, that whatever defilement you find in the world, you find the answer to it in your own heart. The purest man in the world is not free of the contamination that is in the world; and the effect of the fall has

been not only to make a man liable to contamination, but that he has the power to contaminate his fellows. I do not question that there are different degrees of defilement, but every man is defiled, and liable to defilement, from what is around him. In a great town like this, it is hardly possible to walk down a street without being defiled; the pictures on the walls are defiling; and the literature which is commonly read -- the newspapers, and much else, all tend to contamination. But men would not be contaminated if there were nothing in man's mind and heart to answer to the contamination. "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts" -- these things come out of the heart of man. If the principle and taint of evil were not there, men would not be contaminated by what they see. A holy angel would not be contaminated, because there is nothing in him to answer to it. No; it is we who are contaminated.

But in the case of the paralytic we have another thing, and that is weakness; he was carried on his bed and let down into the midst where Jesus was -- he could not walk, he had no power. There was no power of life in him -- that is the idea in the case of the paralytic. What a pitiable object in the world must have been that poor leprous, defiled man. The leper had to be kept outside the city, or the camp, as the case might be; he was unclean. But then to my mind the paralytic was as pitiable an object as the leper -- and that is the condition of every man by reason of sin; he is weak in regard of God. There may be a certain consent in his mind to good things, many a time have we all consented to the thing which is good, and have found our powerlessness to carry it out. You see this in a child -- a child will often consent to what is proper and good, but fail to carry it out. The weakness is not in the absence of consent of man's mind to what is right,

but in his failure to carry Out what he knows to be right. That is the state of man morally in the world, he is paralyzed, and weak -- and it is not exceptional but universal. The picture here is probably in regard to Israel, but what is true in regard of Israel is universally true. God saw fit to test Israel in a peculiar way in His wisdom, but the condition of that people illustrated the condition of everybody under His eye. I think you will see that these two things mark men here in the world, looked at morally, defilement and weakness. Now I want to show the reason of it, and how it was that such a state of things went on for so long; and then, on the other hand, the answer to it all.

It is a great thing that God has presented His answer to it, and there could be no other answer to it than the one which He has given. Who can make a clean thing out of an unclean? No one; you want something different. Can the leopard change his spots? No; they are part of the leopard's being and so defilement and weakness are part of the moral being of man, and you cannot eradicate them; if you would attempt to eradicate them, you would eradicate the man, and indeed the man must go to whom they belong, the taint is in the spring of man's being, he is defiled and weak.

This state of things existed when Christ came into the world, but in Christ, God made known His way of meeting it, and that is in the introduction of another Man. In the presence of that Man here, the defilement and weakness must both pass away. And you get that pictured here (verses 13, 14, 18 - 25).

It is evident enough that a revolution took place in regard of the leper and the paralytic, and the way of it was either the touch or the word of Christ; they were both brought into contact with Jesus, the leper by the touch of Jesus, and the paralytic by the word of Jesus, and the effect in each case was

the removal of what was there, the defilement or the weakness. The leper was cleansed, and the paralytic took up his bed and walked. Now that is the effect of the introduction of that Man into the world; a Man, who had personally no part in the contamination or the weakness -- He was apart from all that was either defiling or weak, but was brought into contact with it, and with this effect, that both the defilement and the weakness departed from before Him. It must have been a wonderful experience to this poor leper to be cleansed; he could not understand the meaning of it spiritually, perhaps, but what a moment it must have been to him when at the touch of Jesus he finds himself relieved of his leprosy. And it must have been an unparalleled experience to the paralytic, accustomed to his weakness and helplessness, to be made to take up his bed and walk; to either one or the other it must have been an unparalleled experience, and it was evidently not due to anything in themselves, but to another Man, to One who had come into contact with the defilement and weakness of men, though, as I said before, Himself personally apart from it all. But He put Himself in contact with it, so to speak, He touched the leper, and spoke to the paralytic -- "Thy sins are forgiven thee", and then in confirmation said, "take up thy couch, and go". Now I carry the thought on to the future; that One to whom I have referred, who had come into the world, is rejected of men, but He has accomplished the will of God, and is the Sun of righteousness, at the right hand of God; He is not yet manifest, but there is a bright hope before us, and that is of His coming in glory. We get that constantly presented in Scripture; there were people who looked for redemption in Israel at the time when Christ first appeared; they had a good hope -- but now we have a better hope, the hope of the appearing of the glory

of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ -- it is a better hope than that first hope. When He comes again into the world what took place here will come out in a much greater way. What marks Israel at this present time is defilement and weakness; they are in a sense dead. In every part of the world the Jews are marked by defilement, they have been contaminated by the covetous principles that obtain in the world, and have no strength at all; they cannot recover their privileges, and are spiritually helpless. The secret of it is in that they have rejected the Man who came into the world, and until they receive that Man, they will remain as they are. When Christ comes again in glory, He will be the answer to their defilement and their weakness; the reproach under which they are will be taken away, and they will be raised up again from the dust of the earth. That is what will come to pass in the coming of Christ again into the world, and it is foreshadowed in this chapter. What a day it will be when there is the introduction into the world of a Man entirely apart from man's defilement and weakness; and who in putting Himself in contact with men down here in the world, causes their defilement and weakness to pass away. That will be the effect of the introduction into this world of Christ in glory. It will be a Man born into the world -- a new Man, whose coming will impart an entirely and totally new character to everything here. Not only will His presence relieve man of his contamination and weakness, but at the same time He will give a wholly new character to the world: there will be no question of contamination or of weakness in the day of the glory of the Lord.

Now the "grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared, teaching us that, having denied impiety and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and justly, and piously in the present

course of things, awaiting the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ". We receive in the Lord Jesus Christ a better, a blessed hope, and we look for Him. I do not know anything much more beautiful than the beginning of this gospel of Luke, where you find godly men and women cherishing hopes, and you see them fulfilled. Simeon was delighted as He held the child Jesus in his arms; and Anna, too, spoke of Him to all that looked for redemption in Israel. And christians have a hope, they look for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory. When Christ comes again He will be displayed as the Sun of righteousness, who brings the answer in His own Person to the contamination and weakness that mark men at the present time. All that marks Israel will give way before the touch of Christ; and so, too, with the nations, He will in a sense touch them, and their leprosy, their weakness, will pass away. It will be the great day of the restitution of all things, when Israel will come again into their own land, on the ground of the promises made to the fathers. And at the same time the gentiles will be placed in connection with God's people, and a totally new character be given to the world, by the introduction into it of the Man of God's counsel.

Now I want to touch upon what is true in the meantime, for after all it is that which concerns you and me. I think it is most important to get a view of God's ways, and to have the coming of the Lord clearly in view -- and what will be effected at His second advent. I feel one is justified in seeking to bring before men the better hope, the coming of Christ in glory. But now I would point out to you where Christ is, and what is the reason of His being there, and what it means to you and to me.

What marks the present time is not Christ in the world to touch the leper, but we touch Him where

He IS. The leper did not touch Christ, but He touched him; and when Christ went to raise the daughter of the ruler, He took her by the hand as she was lying dead, He touched her. That was true when Christ came into the world, and is a figure of what will be when He comes again. He will touch defiled and dead Israel, and they will be raised from their death and defilement. But now, as I was saying, it is not a question of His touching us but of our touching Him, like the woman with the issue of blood, who said, "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole". That is what marks the present time -- we, by faith, touch Christ. And in touching Christ we touch God; it is impossible to touch Christ without touching God. It is a wonderful thing to touch God; and if you touch God you touch Him for blessing. If it were a question of judgment -- of God dealing with men according to their deserts -- you could not touch Him, but it is God putting Himself within the reach of men, so that they may touch Him, and in touching Him be relieved of all that disqualifies them for Himself. If a man touches Christ, it is to touch the virtue that is in Christ. When the woman touched the hem of His garment He said, "Who touched me? ... for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me"; and we read elsewhere that many touched Him, and there went virtue out of Him and healed them all.

God has in the death of Christ removed the man that was defiled and weak. His dealing with man was by removing man, so as to put another Man in his place. That is what I want to make plain. We get two things spoken of in connection with the death of Christ; there is the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new. The old man, that is what describes us all, is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and that is true of every one in the world. A person of great refinement,

and it may be of great attainments and knowledge, is no more free of the charge than other men; the springs of that man's being are defiled; all may be covered up by worldly polish, and refinement, and proprieties, by education and training, but if you get beneath the surface you will find the springs are tainted.

Now in the death of Christ that man has been removed from before God, and the contamination and weakness have passed away with him: they may not have passed away yet in our experience, but from the eye of God they are passed away for ever. "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh". The Lord Jesus entered into every liability under which man was, the wrath, and the death, and the curse -- everything that lay upon man, but having taken everything that lay upon man by the just judgment of God, He died: that man was terminated; Christ was the victim, and the victim was never revived. In the Lord Jesus Christ we see both the Priest and the victim. The Priest was revived, but the victim never, and the old man was terminated with Him. Now, beloved friends, everything depends on that -- the victim is gone, the lawless man, the defiled and weak man has been terminated in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wrath and the curse and death have been brought to an end in His death. But Christ has been revived from among the dead in order that He might take the place of that man which has been removed in His death. He stands in relation to all men, in a place of contact for all men, as revived from the dead. He came after the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, but He was also the offering Priest -- He was God's Son. A priest in Israel never offered himself, he could not, he offered a victim; nowhere do you get a type under the law which combines in one both the victim and the

priest. But that is what Christ was, He was the Priest; but He died as the victim in order that man after the flesh might never be revived. The apostle Paul says, "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more". But as offering Priest He is revived, and revived in the value of that work which He has accomplished, in the value of that righteousness which He has effected. Christ raised up from the dead goes to the right hand of God, and from that place imparts the gift of the Holy Spirit. One man has been removed that another Man might take his place. Christ, the Man whom God has revived from the dead, is the last Adam, and the second Man, and He stands thus in relation to all men.

Now I can understand how right that is -- if He gave Himself a ransom for all, then it is right that He should have a voice to all. He is the Mediator between God and men, and is presented to every man for faith, and is thus the test of every man. That is what Christ is, as Head of every man. All the gifts for men are in Christ, and have been communicated to men by Christ. All were dead, but He died for all, and hence it is as raised from the dead, as the Mediator, He is set in relation to every man upon earth. There is one thing in regard of Christ, and that is that all preaching centres in one name. I may preach to you for an hour, but all the preaching centres in a name, and the value of that name. The name presents the Head of every man, the Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. The exalted Christ, the Christ who died, and is raised, and is coming again in glory, that is our blessed hope. It is in that name that all preaching centres; it is in the presentation of the virtue that is in that name, made available for man, and available for every man upon earth, so that every man is tested and proved by that name. On

the one hand, if that name is refused, man avows himself to be lawless. He will not be subject to the Man that God has presented for faith; he disdains the name of Jesus, he avows himself to be disregardful of God. But if that name is accepted, then Christ communicates living water to the one who believes. The practical effect of Christ being the Mediator between God and men is that He is set of God in relation to all men, with the effect that the man who refuses His name is avowedly lawless and defiant of God, his sin is proved; but on the other hand, the one who accepts that name receives from Christ the gift of living water, so that he may be livingly connected with Christ. Christ is there for the touch of faith: He Himself will touch man in the time to come, He will touch Israel; and the receiving of Israel hereafter will be life from the dead for the nations.

Now my point is, that the One who is coming again is now at the right hand of God; I have given you His history as coming into the world full of grace and truth, and entering into all that lay upon men by the judgment of God. He gave Himself a ransom for all, and is gone up into the highest place of exaltation, and from that point is coming again. Meanwhile testimony has come from Him there, the Holy Spirit has come so that we might know the reality of His being there; He is borne witness to by the Spirit, so that man may touch Him by faith, and derive from Him the virtue that is in Him. There is in His name the forgiveness of sins; He has obtained it in the accomplishment of redemption, and there is the witness of it now by the Spirit. "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins".

But that is not all. The greatest virtue that is in Him is living water; He will give of the fountain of the water of life to those who believe in Him, and

no one else than those who believe would care a bit about it. But if you bow to Christ -- if you touch Him by faith; or, let me put it another way, if you believe on His name, and it is the name of a Man who is at the right hand of God, of which we know by the Holy Spirit come down, that Man will impart to you the gift of living water. It is no more wonderful for a Man to be in heaven, than for God to be down here upon earth, and it is the Spirit of God that is witness that Christ is at the right hand of God; the Holy Spirit has come down to report His glory, and the virtue of His name, that man may receive the gift of living water. The Lord said to the woman of Samaria, "Every one who drinks of this water shall thirst again", it satisfies but for a moment, but "whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst for ever", you will never drink but once of that water. It is in the believer a well of living water, springing up to eternal life. The first thing is that thirst is quenched for ever; the believer is content with the water that Christ gives him; it is drunk once and for all, and one is never to thirst again. But then it goes further, it shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life; it springs up in the appreciation of Christ.

Now I would impress upon you, first, that the defiled and weak man has been removed in the death of Christ, and there abides for God, and for you, "ONE MAN"; and when you have known the fountain of living water that springs up in the appreciation of that one Man, you are consciously apart in the eye of God from the defilement and weakness that was connected with the other man. It all lies in the appreciation of Christ, the result of the springing up of the water that Christ gives. It was a wonderful word that Christ spoke to this woman of Samaria, a word she poorly understood,

but I do not doubt the moment came when she did understand it. And perhaps it is so now; it may be that people hardly understand one word; they hear these things, yet as to intelligent apprehension of what they hear, for the moment they have none. What I have been speaking of to you tonight may be Greek to you, and yet I have only sought to show you that there is an actual living Man tonight at the right hand of God, and we know this by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who has come down here to testify to Him. That witness has been in the world for well-nigh two thousand years, it has been maintained by the Spirit of God. The Spirit has maintained the testimony of the virtue that is in His name, so that, in our consciousness, there might take place what took place for God in the death of Christ, the removal of the man that was defiled and weak, so that the Man who has gone to God might fill his place -- the Man, I say, who came from God, and who is gone to God, and who abides for God, that is the Man who comes full into view by the springing up of the living water. But that is not the beginning; the beginning is the touch of faith, the believing on His name. We often believe in the name of some great person in this world; now I want you to believe simply on the name of the One who is at the right hand of God. Just as the woman who touched the hem of His garment got virtue from Him, so I want you to touch Him that you might get virtue too from Him, the gift of living water, so that you may never thirst. The woman of Samaria had tried hard enough to please herself but she was still athirst, and the Lord meets this in divine grace.

May God grant that you may believe on Christ's name, so that each one may prove the value and the virtue that is in His name.

UNITY: HOW IT IS PROMOTED

Ephesians 4:1 - 16

Scripture attaches great importance to unity. This cannot be disputed; almost the very first idea presented in Scripture is union, and that leads to unity. It is the very first witness to unity in Scripture, that God took the woman from man, and they became one.

In the Old Testament you get the unity of the Godhead. In the New Testament you get the revelation of divine Persons, but then they are one. Then, again, you get a witness to unity in Israel -- there were twelve tribes, but they were all one. The twelve loaves on the table of shewbread proved that; when they divided, God did not approve of the division. You get plenty of prophecies of the unity of Israel -- we get it alluded to in Psalm 133:1: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity". Then when you get that, you get the blessing of eternal life (verse 3). In the New Testament all the writers attach great importance to unity. Paul, Peter, and John, all do. So, too, does the Lord Himself. He prays "that they may be all one". Here in Ephesians 4 the apostle is exhorting to unity. So long as will exists, you cannot get unity. When all are governed by one will, then you get unity; it will be so with Israel. When they are united under one Head, they will be really united. "Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not trouble Ephraim", Isaiah 11:13. So, too, in regard of christians -- you get it brought about when all are governed by one will. It is in the house of God that unity is to exist; we are exhorted to "keep the unity of the Spirit", and that unity will exist when individual will is set aside and all are governed by the will of God. We find

great practical difficulty in walking together in unity, and the difficulty is, people are not all governed by one will. The only possible assurance or way of unity is by all being subject to the will of God. The unity of the saints was to be the witness that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. In early days there was a witness to unity, and there was thus a witness to the truth that the Father sent the Son, etc. Now the unity of the Spirit is broken, and it cannot be put right again. If I were asked why I am not connected with any section of christendom, I should say I could not be identified with what is a denial of the unity of the Spirit. The unity of the Spirit is not practicable in christendom -- that is justification for standing apart from all the organizations around. We cannot expect unity to be re-established, but we are under the obligation to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit, and it is a great thing to seek individually to be controlled by the will of God. There are three Persons in the Godhead, but only one will. Unity is what tests us; it tested Israel -- ten tribes split off from two. The great practical test for us is, Can we go on together? And the answer is, Can we go on, being governed by the will of God and not by our own? Now God has but one mind in regard to men. Christ is the mercy-seat -- that is one point of view, but we are entitled to meditate upon what Christ is to the saints. That is another point of view, and the justification for looking at both is that Christ bought the field; but then He bought the field for the sake of the treasure. In the passage I read, we get what the saints are to Christ -- the treasure -- and what Christ is to them. What marks the present time is that all men belong to Christ. He bought the field, but then He bought the field for the sake of the treasure. These two

things have to be held together: Christ as God's testimony to men, yet what the saints are as Christ's treasure. I want to bring before you what the treasure is in regard of Christ. Now look at the passage (verses 11, 12): "He has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ"; and again (verses 14 - 16), "That we may be no longer babes ... may grow up to him in all things ... works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love". Certain things act and react. It is true in chemical things, and so it is in moral things. Two things should mark all of us, and these are intelligence and affection; they are agents, acting and reacting. Intelligence will lead to enlarged affection, and affection tends to intelligence. In Mary of Bethany, her affection became the means of intelligence. It was so with John. Did you ever think that John was a Galilean fisherman? And yet his writings are very profound and abstract. The key to his intelligence was affection -- nothing can be more important than affection, and it is equally important that christians should gain intelligence, "the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ" (Ephesians 4:13), that is intelligence. Then the "self-building up in love". These are the two.

The gifts are given for enlightening and intelligence, and these tend to expansion of affection, and in that way they work together -- we must not despise intelligence. Gifts are given for that end; they will not bring about affection, but intelligence leads to exercise, and that tends to the expansion of affection. Now I want to speak of gifts. Gifts are the expression of the care of Christ for the saints; they are given for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body. Gifts were never given

to create a clergy, nor to distinguish those who have them. I admit they do distinguish them, but they were never given to that end. They were given for the work of the ministry. The apostles had no idea of being distinguished by their gifts, nor yet to keep what they had to themselves. John communicated all he knew, that the saints should have fellowship with them, and that the saints should be enlightened. We have the benefit of it at the present day. That is very important in the face of all that exists in christendom. I touch on the end in view: "Until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ" (verse 13). That is the object for which they were given. Here we get the unity again -- the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Unity is inherent in the knowledge of the faith and of the Son of God, and it is the only unity worth anything morally. What I understand by the faith is the revelation of God. We only know God by faith, because God has not come out yet publicly -- we only know God by testimony and revelation. We are in the light of the revelation of God. Grace and truth are in the thought of God for man -- law never was. Grace and truth are by Jesus Christ. No one can walk in the light as God is in the light, save by faith. It is the unity, too, of the knowledge of the Son of God. That point is of very great moment. When we speak of the Son of God, it is interesting to see the different connections in which the different apostles had to say to the Son of God. Peter confessed Him as the Son of God. John witnessed to Him -- all his writings are in connection with the Son of God; and Paul preached Him. The Son of God is the last Adam, the Centre and Head of God's universe, and the divine Source of all blessing

for man. Eternal life is given to us in God's Son. That is what I understand by the Son of God. How important that we should have a clear knowledge of the Son of God. Now the gifts are all given to that end: "Until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man" (Ephesians 4:13). A perfect man is where there is no defect, "the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ". The fulness of Christ is the church. How far have we all arrived in these things? The unity of the faith -- the full light of revelation -- walking in the light as He is in the light; then, too, the clear knowledge of the Son of God, in the light of what the Son of God is, according to divine counsel, Head and Centre of divine counsel. These are things which are to occupy the attention of the saints, and not the frivolous things of this world. Unity becomes a very great test. If people go on and increase in the faith, and in the knowledge of the Son of God, people will be found together in unity, for unity is inherent in these two things. That, then, is the great object of gifts. Do not wait for, or anticipate, any great revolution down here. The church has ceased to be what God intended it to be (Revelation proves that); but as an individual I seek to walk in the light of divine revelation, and to increase in the knowledge of the Son of God; and the effect would be to promote unity. The circle might be limited. I would scout the unity of 'brethren'. I want no unity save what is inherent in the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God. I repudiate every other kind of unity. The result is, going on in that way you come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ. Now pass on to the next point (verse 16), "Works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love". Take a company -- an association

of any kind on earth -- take the House of Commons for instance. The head should be the perfect expression of what every member of the company ought to be. In human things that cannot be realised. The Speaker of the House of Commons may be a very clever man, he has the intelligence -- but he is not perfect. Now in divine things we have a perfect Head, "may grow up to him in all things", Ephesians 4:15. When He exhorted them to love one another, He added, "as I have loved you", John 13:34. He was the Head, the intelligence, and He never exhorts us to anything that He is not towards us. All has been expressed in Himself. He is the intelligence. We are to grow up to Him in all things, not only in point of intelligence, but in point of nature. Our love to Christ is proved in that we love one another. The world took account of the disciples as having been with Jesus. The Lord loves us perfectly, and He exhorts us to love one another. He is the Guide of our circle, and has the ordering of things in every possible way. We are to grow up in the divine nature. I suggest to you the importance of cultivating our relations one toward another. The way in which we cultivate our relation towards Christ, is to cultivate our relations one towards another down here. "United together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding", Colossians 2:2.

One word more, (Ephesians 4:16). It is but to look to find. Some people say they never find affection for the saints, but the point is every part supplies. But where do you get supplies? It is by coming under the influence of Christ. There is no one to whom He is not Husband. Christ is law to us. He would make us conscious of His love in many a way. No member in the House of Commons can speak until he catches the eye of the Speaker. Now

we have the eye of Christ. The way to supply (which is an obligation) is to come under the influence of Christ, who is the perfect expression of what we should be. Then we shall be bent upon supplying, and when we supply, then we find. Then there is effectual working in every part -- it is the supply of affection. The truth is when people come under the affection (or influence) of Christ they get a surplus and excess, so that you are able to supply and convey affection to the body. So you get "works for itself the increase" in every part. Do you get so little of Christ, that you have nothing to spare? There is enough for every part, and then you can supply to the body, and thus every member has enough for itself, and then has something to spare. In that way there is self-building up in love; that is the way the thing works. The treasure belongs to Christ, and is very important in the eye of Christ. He has given gifts for the expansion of the intelligence, and He is, too, the Head and intelligence of the body, so that every member may be content and happy, and have a surplus for the self-edifying of itself in love.

May the Lord give us to be exercised in the light of the truth, and to go on in the energy of the Spirit of God, and that notwithstanding the fact that the body will not be together again in unity in an outward way.

THE BODY DESCRIPTIVE OF THE HEAD

Colossians 1:18 - 29; Romans 16:25, 26

We have had a good bit to say about the body of Christ this afternoon, and the thought before me tonight is to say something about the Head; you cannot understand the truth of the body except in connection with the Head. I want to say a little as to the purpose the body serves towards the Head, and how the body is at the direction of the Head. You could not understand nor enter into the truth of the body apart from that. I take myself, or you, as an example. Your body is directed by your head. And we always connect with it the idea that the body is at the disposal of the head. My members do not move of their own accord; all is traced from the head. Any thoughtful person can see that the body is at the disposal of the head.

Now I want to speak a little about the Head, but in the first place I must show you how the body is formed, and the place which Christ has in relation to it as Head, and then I want to show you the purpose the body serves for the Head. And nothing can alter this purpose. Not all the failure of the church, though tending to obscure it, can alter it, because the failure cannot alter or do away with the body. The whole body is here on the earth as really as ever it was. There may be very few in the light of it, but that does not alter the fact. The body is here, and it is a great thing to get light -- the divine mind, as to the body. It will help you greatly to understand the ruin around you, the character of the things in christendom, and to enter more intelligently into the fellowship in which it has pleased God to place us. What is the great gain of knowing the truth of the body? We become

more intelligent for the Lord, and about the fellowship to which the Lord has called us. And I defy any one to understand the true character of christendom in the present day if he is not brought into the true idea of the body, and the purpose it is intended to serve.

I feel the subject is most important, and I have a very deep sense of how powerless one is to handle it. It is a subject spoken of as the mystery of the gospel, and therefore it is evidently a deep subject, though a mystery which has been made manifest. The apostle was exceedingly anxious to make manifest the mystery of the gospel. One remark more. In the very nature of the expressions employed in Scripture, the truth of the body must be hid in the gospel. If it is the mystery of the gospel, it is as evident as possible that the truth of the body must be involved in the gospel, and it must be made manifest from the gospel. In Ephesians 6:19 you get the expression: "That I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel". We have become much accustomed to speak of the two ministries, the ministry of the gospel, and the ministry of the church. And it is true the apostle does speak of himself as minister -- not a minister -- of the gospel and of the church; but you must remember the truth of the body lies in the gospel. It is the mystery of the gospel.

Now further, we get the recognition of the truth of the body in Romans 12:4, 5: "For as we have many members in one body". Now that passage makes it perfectly certain to my mind that you must have in Romans a doctrinal basis for the body. Because when the apostle comes to the hortatory part that we have in this chapter 12 he makes this statement as to the one body. There is no previous allusion to the subject in the epistle; for neither the truth of the body nor of the Head is taught in

Romans. But nevertheless what is certain to me is, you must have in Romans a sufficient doctrinal basis for the body. And it lies in this, that by the very fact of the reception of the Spirit we are of necessity constituted one body, and Romans teaches the communication of the Spirit in chapter 5, where it says, "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us". But the Holy Spirit is one, and therefore the same Holy Spirit resides in all the saints, and the love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of all saints by the one Spirit.

And again, when I come to chapter 8 I read, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you". There is only one Spirit of God. So later on, verse 15; there is only one spirit of sonship. Every believer participates in the same Spirit; all are baptised "by one Spirit ... into one body". One Spirit brought the love of God into our hearts; we are all in the one Spirit if the Spirit of God dwell in us. There is only one Spirit of God's Son, and that is the Spirit by which all believers cry, "Abba, Father". That is the truth of the Spirit in the believer, and therefore I understand you get the truth of the presence of the Spirit recognized, and although the truth of the body is not taught, the body is involved inasmuch as you get the same Spirit in all the saints. You must have one body because one Spirit.

Now I think it must be plain to every one here tonight that in the very fact of its being taught in Romans that we all receive the Spirit we are necessarily constituted into one body; thus the apostle says, "We, being many, are one body in Christ". Not one body in Adam, not one body in our responsible life down here, for the body involves new creation. There is thus a certain doctrinal basis in Romans for the truth of the body, and therefore he

brings it in to enforce his exhortation in chapter 12. The believer's responsibility is brought in there, not in connection with the body, but "having then gifts". A man is to wait on his gift. I want to make this point clear, that the truth of the body is the mystery of the gospel, and that therefore of necessity the truth of the body must lie hid in the gospel, but it is made manifest to the saints, for the apostle's great anxiety was to make it manifest. It was hid there -- that is, in the gospel, and he was conscious it was.

Now as to the formation of the body. We look at the body before we look at the Head. Let me say one word which may perhaps cut across the thought of some here as to the body of Christ. The one body is the same evidently as the body of Christ. These are not two different thoughts in Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 12 we read (verse 13), "For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body", and in the same chapter (verse 27), "Now ye are the body of Christ", because the one body is the body of Christ.

What I want to show you now is this, that the truth of union is not taught in connection with the body. What is taught in connection with the body is unity, not union. And the truth of unity is involved, I think, in connection with the body in these scriptures, "There is one body, and one Spirit", and again, "For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body". Thus the teaching of the Spirit of God, in connection with the Spirit and the body, is not to show union but unity. By the very fact of the reception of the Spirit the saints have been formed into one body. We find in the Acts, in the early part of the church's history, the saints were gathered together by the testimony of the resurrection of Christ. Then they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of the Holy

Spirit constituted them the house of God. But the truth of the body had not yet come out, and the first intimation was in what Jesus said to Saul, "Why persecutest thou me?" What that means was this, that Christ was in the saints. Now when the truth of the body came out, we see it existed by the very fact of the baptism of the Spirit. There was never but one baptism of the Spirit, that on the day of Pentecost, and then the saints were formed into one body, and that was unity. You cannot have a stronger idea presented to you of unity than the body. What is a body without unity? We have many members in one body. What would my body be without unity? If I get any failure in the unity of my body it is a proof that there is paralysis. Every member is depressed, a certain proof that something is out of gear, the nervous system is gone to the bad. You cannot have a stronger idea of unity than this scripture presents, that "we, being many, are one body".

The next point is -- the body having been formed by the Spirit, Christ is given the place of Head of the body, that is, Head in the sense of Chief.

Suppose we take the figure of the human body in connection with the head, the moral idea connected with head is direction, and Christ in taking the place of Head of the body takes the place of Chief. I will give you a passage of Scripture for it, Ephesians 1:20 - 23: "Which he wrought in Christ". It is the fulfilment of the prophecy in Psalm 8. The Son of man set over everything. Then the additional truth, He "hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church". He is given as Head to the church which is His body. Thus the church is formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and Christ is given to be Head over all, and Head to the church which is His body. But I cannot dwell on this.

In Colossians 1:18 we read, "And he is the head of the body, the church". That is the first statement we have of His headship. I put Colossians before Ephesians, because in moral order it comes first. In chapter 2 we read, "from which" -- that is the Head -- "all the body ..." I take it slowly as I want the points to be clear as I go on.

Bear in mind first how the body is formed. The body is the mystery of the gospel remember, because I do not want you to think that the gospel is one thing and the mystery another. It is the mystery of the gospel, because the body is hid in the gospel, and the gospel goes on to the communication of the Spirit, and no believer is in the good of the gospel till he has received the Spirit. The great end of the gospel is that God may be revealed in the heart of the believer, but that cannot be until the Spirit is received. Love is not known else. "The love of God is shed abroad ... by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us". And I say unhesitatingly, no person is in the good of the gospel until he has received the Holy Spirit. God's end in the gospel is that He may be revealed in the heart of man; man's idea is that God's object is to save him, but the gospel brings you to the Spirit; and the moment the Spirit is received the body is formed. And why? Because Christ is in you. Now the body is formed by the baptism of the Spirit, and having been thus formed, Christ is in the place of Head. He is looked at there as Man, and the place given to Him of God, and it is regarded as being the highest place of His exaltation, "Head over all things to the church". Now, mark this, that the truth of union is not taught in connection with the body, union brings in the thought of the bride. The idea of union is that the church will share in the glory and exaltation of the Head. Just as a woman who marries a man superior in position to herself

shares his position, so in regard to the church and Christ. And that is taught in Ephesians 2:5 - 7, "Even when we were dead in sins ..." It is to satisfy the love of God. It is not to satisfy the heart of the church, but the heart of God.

So far we have the idea of the body, and the truth taught in connection with the unity. Now we will go a little into detail. And what I venture to say first is this, you do not find the truth of the Head until you come to Colossians. You get the truth of the body both in Romans and Corinthians. In Romans it is to check independency and in Corinthians to check clericalism. If I recognize the truth that I am a member of the body I cannot be independent. If a man is set in a position not dependent on anybody else he can take the ground of independency. A man might say, I am not concerned about anybody else. But if he is a member of the body of Christ he is so far dependent. No one of us can be exclusively individual. Many christians are too individual. They are taken up far too much with what is connected with their individual paths, "We, being many, are one body". You may carry independency too far as to the individuality of the saints. I admit each has his individual path, but we must not use our individuality to the extent of forgetting that we are members one of another. You may find saints coming to the meetings on the Lord's day morning, and you do not see much of them for the rest of the week. They forget we are members one of another. So the truth of the body is brought in in Romans as an antidote to independency. He is not to think too highly of himself, but as God has given him a place in the body. But Christ is not seen as Head of the body in Romans. The character in which He is presented there is as Lord. And that is a different idea to that of the Head; He is Lord in the house -- the

church looked at in that aspect; but Christ is not Lord to the body, He is Head to the body, and that is a different association of ideas entirely. My head is not lord of my body. The body is dependent on the head, but the head is not its lord. Christ is Lord in the house, and if He sees fit He can assert His lordship there. You will find that in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11.

Now look at 1 Corinthians 12:12: "For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ". See also verse 27: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular". Speaking of all the saints at Corinth they were the body of Christ. Now what I want to show is, that the thought of the body is brought in there, not as a check to independency, but as an antidote to clericalism. The principle of clericalism is, the head can say to the feet, I have no need of you. The antidote is, the head cannot say to the feet, I have no need of you. The feet belong to the body, and are for the assembly. Even the most obscure member is necessary, for it may be the vessel for the manifestation of the Spirit. You cannot limit the Spirit to the more conspicuous members. An eye is more conspicuous, but in the assembly you cannot limit the Spirit. The truth of the body is introduced in connection with the assembly come together, as an antidote to clericalism. There is one body, and the manifestations of the Spirit come out in the various members, all by the same Spirit. You cannot therefore have such a thing as clericalism in the assembly. I have great sympathy with two or three coming together for prayer, but that is not the assembly. They are come together for a specific object according to Matthew 18:19, 20. But that is not the assembly. When you come to the assembly you must leave the

Spirit free. You could not say we come to the assembly for prayer, even in regard to the things of the assembly, you would so far fetter the Spirit. I would be glad to associate in that way with two or three, or two or three hundred, coming together for prayer; but that is not the assembly, you cannot fetter the Spirit in the assembly. There He uses the members as He pleases. Thus you may get prayer or praise or thanksgiving or worship or ministry, but you cannot fetter the Spirit in the assembly, properly speaking. In Matthew 18 it is an agreement to ask for some particular thing in Christ's name. That is quite right. But in the assembly, room must be given to the Spirit to act as He will; and the Spirit uses whatever member He pleases. So there must be no clericalism in the assembly. And I could not go to a so-called church or chapel where the service is all performed by the minister. It is a complete denial of the truth of the assembly. Many persons perhaps are sitting in the congregation whom the Spirit might use.

Neither Romans nor Corinthians give us the Head. In Corinthians Christ is almost invariably presented as Lord. On account of the state of the assembly there the apostle could not unfold to them the truth of the Head. It used to be said that Christ was never brought in as Lord to the assembly except when evil was there. There was disorder and confusion of all kinds in the Corinthian assembly, hence Christ was brought in as Lord. But my great point is to come to the thought of the Head. I have shown how the truth of the body is brought in, but now I come to the purpose which the body serves for the Head. That comes out in Colossians; and exceedingly important it is that you should see how it works out -- the wonderful idea of the Head being connected with the

body. And we can only learn that, when we see that Christ being Head to the body His body is the complement. The body is a vessel descriptive of Himself, just as my body is descriptive of my intelligence, and my intelligence is seen through my body. That is what the church is to Christ. It is the fulness of Him.

There is not to be a quality lacking in the vessel set down here in the world in order that it might be descriptive of the Head. You have the wonderful truth of the Head in glory, and a body here to be descriptive of the Head in glory. That is what is brought out in Colossians -- the connection of the Head with the body. And can you conceive anything more wonderful? Look at the travesty of the thing around us! Take popery, it sets up a human imitation. A remarkable thing about the Roman Catholic church is that it is the only real imitation of the body. A state church is not. That does not profess to be universal, the Romish church does. But what they have done is this, they have transferred the privileges of the body to the house. They have set up a body of professors, and attached to the house the privileges which properly belong to the body. I might go as far as this, and say, it is a diabolical imitation of the real thing. The real thing is a Head in heaven, exalted to be Head over all things, but having a body here on earth to be morally descriptive of Himself in the scene from which He has been rejected. If I may use the expression, it is the perpetuation of Christ here: that is the true character of the body -- the continuance, the perpetuation of Christ here in this scene whence He has been rejected.

Now I want to work this in with another passage from 1 John 5:9; and we shall see how one scripture writer supports another, "This is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son". What is the

witness? See verses 10, 11. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself ... And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son". What that teaches us is this, he looks at the saints, and he says, God has given to the saints eternal life, and mark this -- "this life is in his Son". Every saint disclaims the thought that that life is in himself, but what he maintains is this -- "God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son". Thus you have a body of saints on earth, brought into the blessing of eternal life, all disclaiming the idea of eternal life in themselves, but maintaining that it is in God's Son, and that is the witness here. Thus He has given a living witness to Christ in glory. The first four chapters of this epistle are taken up with the subject of eternal life as manifested in Christ down here; the apostles witness of this, but in chapter 5 it is the Holy Spirit witnessing to Christ in glory, for they never saw Him there; they had seen Him down here in resurrection, but the witness is to Christ in glory.

God has given to us eternal life, but we should not say eternal life is in us. We are in eternal life, and eternal life is in God's Son, and that is the witness here. Now I think it is the same thing as to the body. The body is the vessel in which Christ in glory is described in this scene from which He has been rejected. And I could not conceive anything more wonderful. The world succeeded in casting Christ out, but God has ordained that there should be a vessel here in which should be described the very Christ whom the world has cast out.

That is what the body is for. It is an unvarying principle in Scripture that anything God has established on earth always abides. The world cannot get rid of it. And if God has set Christ here on the earth, not all the power of man can put Him out.

So He is represented here again in His body; and the church remains till He comes again in glory. So as to the temple which God has set up. At one time it may be a material temple, and now one of living stones, but the temple is here until the material temple is re-established again at Jerusalem. So as to everything else. Once God has established a thing on earth, not all the power of earth and hell combined can disestablish it. Man cannot defeat God. You may get the thing in a new character but the thing abides. So as to Christ, the wicked Jew crucified and killed Him, but the Holy Spirit comes down and forms the body here. And Christ is given to be Head of His body, and the body is to be descriptive of that Man whom the world has rejected.

God has given unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. It is perfectly wonderful, and if you accept the idea you will understand the terrible defection and departure of christendom from the thought of God in regard to the church, and how very poorly we have entered into the idea that the body is to be descriptive of Christ in the very scene where He has been rejected.

Turn to Colossians 1:24. There is His body, not simply the one body. To the Romans and Corinthians he had taught the one body. Now it is "His body, which is the assembly" -- because he has spoken of the Head -- "of which I became minister" -- not a minister -- (see verses 25, 26); so that saints are to know it -- it has been made manifest to them, and only to the saints (verse 27), Christ in the gentiles, the hope of glory. That is what has come to pass. You have this great fact, that the gentiles have become a vessel in whom Christ is, and He is the hope of glory. That is what God has gained!

You might say when Christ was here personally He was the hope of glory. He was doubtless the pledge of all the fulfilment of the purposes of God.

But now the wonderful thing is that Christ is in the gentiles -- Christ in the saints in the pledge of the fulfilment of all God's purposes and counsels -- Christ in the gentiles, the hope of glory. Now to come to what this mystery means. If I speak of the saints being in Christ, that is not a mystery. "God has given to us eternal life". That is our position before God, and we have the witness in ourselves. But the mystery is another thought altogether, the mystery is Christ in the saints. Do you ask, how does it come out? It comes out in this, you have all the character of Christ, not as in the flesh, but in moral suitability down here, reproduced in the saints. Not Christ known after the flesh, but all the moral characteristics of Christ in suitability to the scene down here reproduced in the saints, because they are His body. That is the relation in which He stands to the saints, as Head of the body.

Therefore the meekness and gentleness and lowliness -- all the sensibilities of Christ and the peace of Christ, are all to be reproduced and displayed here, because the church is His body and the vessel which is to be descriptive of Himself in the very scene where He has been rejected. That is what the body is. It gets everything from the Head, and therefore if not practically subject to the Head you cannot get the character of the Head in the body. We are not saved to be simply saved sinners, but to be members of the vessel in which Christ is to be displayed in the scene whence He has been cast out, a moral representation of Christ. That is the idea of the body, and that is the hope of glory. Think of it, that in the very scene where Satan is god and prince, God will now have such a presentation of Christ, as the pledge that He will accomplish all His purposes to put everything under Christ. And I am perfectly certain that we shall reign with Him; that is the hope of glory. I cannot conceive

anything more wonderful! I have been at it in a certain way for many years, but I am only now beginning to see the thing in its reality. When God came in perfect grace to the world the Jew rejected Christ and cast Him out, did violence in every way to God. But Christ is not to be cast out, but perpetuated here, and He is now to be described in the body. Therefore the body being composed of those who believe in Christ, they confessing Him as Lord, He is given as the Head, and the body is subjected to Him, and now in the body the grace of Christ, all the moral characteristics of Christ are produced in this scene. Not what He is at the right hand of God, but in moral suitability to the scene where we are. It is not the reigning time, therefore you get meekness and lowliness and forbearing one another in love, and "to all these add love, which is the bond of perfectness". There is also to be wisdom and such like -- all to be descriptive of the Head.

Now all this is brought to us in Scripture as light, not in the way of ecclesiastical formation. There is no such idea connected with the body. It is brought to those who were in the fellowship, as calling on the Lord -- given as light that we may understand the fellowship into which we are called. We are now called to special fellowship, called to "follow righteousness, faith ...", 2 Timothy 2:22. And if you see the divine idea of the body it will greatly help you to carry out the fellowship; it will greatly accentuate our fellowship, because the more distinctly we understand the relation in which we stand to Christ the more the character of our fellowship will be affected.

As to the body, it is Christ's body, "the fulness of him". In certain epistles it involves the privileges of the saints, but in Colossians we learn what the saints are to Christ.

If you do not understand what you are in Christ you could not apprehend the truth of the body. Here in Colossians the Spirit of God turns completely round; after showing the saints what they are in Christ, He shows what they are for Christ, a vessel for Christ. The Christ displayed as a witness down here. And you cannot have a greater benefit than the light of it. It is a great thing to get the truth of the Head, the intelligence of the Head as displayed in the body.

May God give us to understand it. I know I am a poor hand to explain it, but I am always thankful beyond measure when I get a fresh idea of the greatness and wisdom of God. There is one thing which will strike you in regard to Scripture -- the resources of God are boundless. You see instances where you might think God would be baffled, but there, too, you see boundless resources.

The wisdom of God is Christ. And it is that by which God baffles every combination of men. And look what the combination had come to: "This is your hour, and the power of darkness". But 'No' (God says), 'you are not going to have it all your own way. You may cast Him out, but His body shall be maintained in divine power till He comes again'. There is no reason to fear, beloved friends; the power of the enemy is very great in this scene, but however great may be the power of men and of the devil, yet God will have the last word always. Why, when Christ was on earth if He came into controversy with men He always had the last word. And so God will. May God give you to understand it better than I can unfold it. My great object is to show you that the truth of the body is moral not ecclesiastical. And what I mean by moral is, when Christ is reproduced in the saints. That is not ecclesiastical, but moral. May God give us to see

it and to get more light on it, that we may be greatly helped in the practical carrying out of our fellowship here. And that is, that we "follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart".

THE LAST ADAM

1 Corinthians 15:45 - 58; Revelation 3:14

There is something remarkable in the way in which the Lord speaks of Himself to the church of Laodicea -- "These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness". That looks at Him as the end, the "Amen" is the confirmation of everything. The thought of the "faithful and true witness" is in contrast to every other witness. The Lord said to Israel, "Ye are my witnesses", but they were not true witnesses. Instead of being witnesses of God against idolatry, they became idolaters. So also has the church failed in its witness; and the Lord had to warn them that He would take their candlestick out of its place except they repented (Chapter 2: 5). And the end of it is, He will spue it out of His mouth because it is an unfaithful witness. Then He comes in as the true Witness; and "the beginning of the creation of God". It is remarkable to find One who is both the beginning and the end. The roof has relation to the foundation of a house. Christ is the climax, and at the same time He is the beginning of the creation of God. Historically He was not exactly the beginning, for, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15, "But that which is spiritual was not first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual". But the point is this, that the spiritual is really the first morally.

Now I want to speak a little of Christ as the last Adam. One thing is clear, everything for God and everything for man is bound up with the manifestation of the last Adam. Christ must of necessity be the last Adam on the basis of redemption, and the reason for that is very simple. If He were not the last Adam on that ground He could not be a life-giving

Spirit. "The first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam a quickening spirit". That means a very great deal, it involves redemption. He could not impart living water except on the ground of redemption. Therefore it is that which led me to remark that everything for the glory of God and the blessing of man is bound up with the manifestation of Christ as the last Adam. We have got the testimony of Him as the last Adam, but all the ways of God really wait for the manifestation of Him as such. Christ has never yet been seen as the last Adam, but we in the light of the Spirit can apprehend that He is the last Adam; everything waits for His manifestation. I have no doubt that while here upon earth the Lord Jesus gave testimony that He was the last Adam, but I do not think it was understood. One testimony of it was in the resurrection of Lazarus. It was on that ground, too, that the Lord spoke to the woman in John 4 -- "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water". He spoke there as the last Adam, because the last Adam is a life-giving spirit. The way He is a life-giving Spirit is as the Giver of living water.

In connection with Lazarus in John 11, the Lord Jesus said to Martha, "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" The glory of God was all bound up in the last Adam. Again, He said, "I am the resurrection, and the life", and He proved it as the last Adam. He said further, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die". In the revelation of Christ as the last Adam, no one will die who believes and is living then.

I only refer to these things to show that while the Lord was here upon earth there was witness borne to Him as the last Adam, though He was not

manifested nor apprehended as such; that waited for the gift of the Spirit.

In John 17 He says, "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him". That is a witness to Him as the last Adam, and in John 20 the Lord breathed on His disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit". He was there acting as a life-giving Spirit. Never had the Lord done such a thing as that in His pathway down here. It was when redemption was accomplished that He did so, and it was the witness to His being the last Adam. Then when He ascended, He said, "I ascend unto my Father and your Father". The glory of God and the consummation of our blessing depends on the revelation of Christ as the last Adam; that has not yet come to pass, but we have the testimony of it by the Spirit. When He is revealed everything will be changed. There will be the revelation of God's glory in connection with Him. He comes out as the Beginning of the creation of God, the Root of David. All the universe will be filled with the glory of God, as the tabernacle was filled with God's glory, and at the same time there will be the consummation of man's blessing. Then will the power of death be annulled. Those who are living will be changed, and resurrection will take place, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:54, "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruptibility, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word written: Death has been swallowed up in victory". Christ has annulled death; life and incorruptibility are brought to light, though they are not yet established, but in the coming of the Lord, then it will be seen that death is annulled and life and incorruptibility will prevail.

It is a great thing for us to be by the Spirit in the light of the last Adam. Our testimony is bound up

with the last Adam; He is the great subject of testimony. Testimony refers to that which is going to be displayed. The last Adam is not always going to be hid where He is now. Christ will appear as the last Adam, that is, as a life-giving spirit. It will be a great day for all upon earth. It will mean the revival of Israel: "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake" -- He will prove Himself to be the last Adam in regard to them, it will be a resurrection from the dead for them nationally, and even the nations will be revived in the resurrection of Israel.

But Christ is also "the beginning of the creation of God"; the whole creation of God is going to be established on the ground of resurrection, because Christ is in resurrection. We are said to be "risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead", Colossians 2:12. That is a remarkable expression. The "operation of God" gives us the thought that God will place everything on that ground, that everything may be in accord with Christ.

Now there is another point that comes out in 1 Corinthians 15:46 - 49: "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven ["out of heaven", New Trans.]. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly".

Here we get another thought in connection with Christ -- not exactly the last Adam, but a thought very much akin to it, and that is the second Man. The first man is out of the earth, earthy; the second Man is out of heaven. He has got to be displayed

from heaven, that is a very important point to remember. Morally He is out of heaven, but also He comes from out of heaven. He is going to be revealed out of heaven, and everything awaits that moment. The apostle goes on to say, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly". We all naturally derive our moral constitution from the earth. No child is beyond his parents. A child may be more or less clever than his parents, but he gets his moral constitution from his parents. His mind and his feelings are all of the same character as those of his parents. "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy" is true of every one; our moral constitution is gained from our parents. But now we have another point, "As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly". The second Man is out of heaven, He is heavenly; and the point in regard of us is that we are heavenly, for we are really begotten of the testimony of the heavenly One. Every christian has derived his spiritual condition from the testimony. The apostle said of the Corinthians that he had begotten them in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Our spiritual constitution is according to the heavenly, "As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly". Of course, things may be very feebly developed in most of us, but if you take the christian who is begotten of the testimony of God he is in apprehension, mind, and sensibilities really according to the heavenly. The christian does not look at things according to the natural man and as man regards them, but his sensibilities, discernment, apprehension, conscience and everything about him partakes of the heavenly.

What do you think is the great witness to Christ here in this world? Some would say, and rightly so, the Holy Spirit; but He is not seen;

Christ's body is the real witness to Him. His body is what is of Himself. The great point in the epistle to the Colossians is that the christian circle is characterized by Christ. The real power and secret of it is, "As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly". A christian is a kind of complex being. We have not yet done with the earth. We get aches and pains and all kinds of things which remind us that we have not yet done with the earth. But at the same time it is equally true that "As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly", and there are those down here whose spiritual constitution has been begotten of the testimony of Christ, and that constitution really answers to Christ. If you ask me what christianity really is, I should say it is Christ formed in the saints by the Spirit. It is not holding a certain system of doctrine. Christianity is vital, it is Christ living in the saints by the power of the Spirit. The saints are morally in that way according to the heavenly. I cannot conceive of anything more wonderful than to be able to say that the spiritual constitution of the believer is really derived from the heavenly, so that it can really be said, "As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly". John says in the third chapter of his epistle, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is". In other words, to take the expression we get in this chapter, "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly". The heavenly has not yet been brought upon the scene, but what I want to point out is that the heavenly is really the beginning of the creation of God, although there is a long gap between the formation of the earthy and the revelation of the heavenly.

If you look at the worthies in Scripture previous to the coming of Christ you will find that they all bear some trait of Christ. It is not at all difficult to prove it. Read Hebrews 11:1 - 9 and 17 - 20. I only just touch on these cases to show before Christ came there was a witness of Him. That is a very great point with all these men. They were not all alike, but they each bore some remarkable witness of Christ. Take Abel; he offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. What made it more excellent? Because he was in the mind of God. He had the recognition of what lay upon man by the judgment of God. He came to God with an offering that recognized that man was under death. The result of it was that God bore witness of his offering. We see that in perfection in Christ. All His life here He was speaking of the Son of man suffering. He was ever in the mind of God as to what lay upon man, and He ordered His ways with reference to the mind of God; and we get in Him the other side also, even that God bore witness of the offering. He bore witness of the offering of Christ by raising Him from the dead. In that way Abel comes before us as bearing that particular trait of Christ.

Now the point with Enoch is that he walked with God. There was no moral divergence between himself and God. He believed that God is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. That, too, is a trait of Christ. Christ expected no kind of reward from man. Of necessity He walked with God -- He fulfilled all righteousness. When He came to John the baptist to be baptised He said, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness". He walked in the sense of God as a Rewarder. You get the idea of it in Psalm 16, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance ... I have set the Lord always before me". (verses 5, 8.) He walked with God, and He says, "because he is at

my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope" (verses 8, 9). He was going to get the reward, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (verses 10, 11). Enoch walked with God and by faith he was translated to the scene above. Christ could not be translated in the same way because He had the work of redemption to accomplish, but at the same time He waited to be taken to the right hand of God; His flesh did not see corruption. He walked with God and in the consciousness that God would reward Him. This psalm is a proof of it.

Then look at Noah. He was a man of testimony, a preacher of righteousness, and one point with him was that "he condemned the world". He prepared an ark for the saving of his house, and if he did that it was evident that some catastrophe was coming upon the world. In that way, therefore, he condemned the world; but at the same time he was a preacher of righteousness. The fact is we are told it was Christ who preached in Noah. Christ all His life long was preparing an ark to the saving of His house. We are His house. The place of salvation was completely prepared when the Holy Spirit descended. If the Lord was preparing a place of salvation for His people outside the world, of necessity He condemned the world. Continually you get the condemnation of the world in the testimony of the Lord Jesus, not simply by word but by that which He was occupied with down here. He was going back to the Father in virtue of redemption and He was to send the Spirit so that there might be a place of salvation for those who were Christ's house.

Now I take up the case of Abraham. He left country and kindred and father's house and went out at the call of God. Do you remember what the Lord Jesus said in Psalm 69:7 - 9? "Because for thy sake I have borne reproach ..." I think that it is a remarkable utterance on the part of the Lord. Christ left kindred and country and father's house for the will of God. In John 7 you find His brethren did not believe in Him. He became an alien and a stranger. His friends sought to take Him, but He disowned them in a way. He said, "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? ... whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother". He was the true depository of the promises of God, and for the zeal of God's house He became a stranger to His brethren and an alien to His mother's children. In this way the course of the Lord was anticipated on the part of Abraham. One thing more in regard to Abraham. He offered up Isaac in the faith of resurrection. We get the same things in Psalm 16, in regard to the Lord. He offered up Himself in the faith of resurrection. All the promises of God were bound up in Christ; He was the true Isaac, but He gives up all, in faith that all would be restored to Him in resurrection.

Then "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come". So the Lord could bless the disciples in regard of things to come -- He told them that the Spirit would show them things to come.

The great point of interest in Hebrews 11 to my mind is that wherever you get a man of faith he bore some trait of Christ; and if any one of those men had been placed in the room of any of the others his faith would have come out in the same way; the principle that governed them all was faith.

Christ said, I am "the beginning of the creation

of God", and it is in that connection that I have shown that every one acting in faith bore some trait of Him. They really got their faith from Christ. Do you know what light is? It is the blending of certain colours. Now in all these men to whom I have alluded there is some colour of Christ, but when you come to Christ Himself there is no colour, there is perfect light, for every one of these traits of faith are in Him.

Christ the last Adam is the Sun of righteousness. Adam was not a sun. Christ is the Sun of righteousness who will arise with healing in His wings. He will bring in the kingdom, and the influences which will affect man down here upon earth will result in fertility and fruit-bearing on the part of man. Do not take your notion of His throne and kingdom from human thrones and kingdoms. Divest your minds of human ideas. The kingdom of God in Scripture means the moral influence of God affecting man down here upon earth, just as the sun by light and warmth so affects the earth that it becomes fertile. We get one very important point in regard to that in 1 Corinthians 15:50. The kingdom of God comes in with the last Adam. The kingdom of God is wholly and entirely dependent on the Sun of righteousness. The Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in His wings, and the introduction of the last Adam in that light will have the effect of bringing in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God cannot be evolved out of flesh and blood. It has to come in by the Sun of righteousness.

In connection with that we get the dispossession of death. The moral influence of God affecting man must be accompanied with the practical setting aside of death. That is one very great thing connected with the last Adam. He is a life-giving spirit. "By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead". I may go further, by man came death,

by man will come the dispossession of death. Death will be swallowed up in victory. That refers to earth, it is a quotation from the prophet Isaiah, and you will see there that it is manifestly connected with earth. He will swallow up death in victory, and He will make a feast of fat things for His people. The reproach of His people will be taken away and a time of blessing will come upon the earth. Sin and death will reign no more, but there will be the result recorded in the end of Romans 5, "as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord". All that is consequent upon the Sun of righteousness arising with all His healing influences, and the Sun of righteousness is Christ -- the last Adam -- a life-giving spirit.

It is a very important point to my mind that the saints are going to rule with Christ. And how? By heavenly influence. I firmly believe that the great vessel of influence in the world to come -- the vessel by which the influence of Christ will affect the whole universe is the church. Christ is going to reign supreme and He is going to reign by influence, just as the sun reigns by influence. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him". If you suffer with Him you will have a corresponding influence when He reigns. We are looking now for the revelation of Christ as the last Adam. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly". It is a great thing to get an idea of Christ as the Beginning of the creation of God, and it is a great thing to look for the advent of the last Adam, the second Man who is out of heaven.

THE OFFERING PRIEST

Luke 1:5 - 20; Luke 4:18, 19; Luke 23:27 - 46; Luke 24:46 - 53; Romans 15:15 - 19

I daresay you will hardly understand my purpose in reading these scriptures, but they have a connection in my mind and in them we really trace the course of Christ. It is intimately connected of course with the way in which Christ is presented in this particular gospel. In Matthew the kingdom of heaven is established in Christ; He is the Sun of righteousness in heaven. In the gospel of John He is presented more in the light of the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat; but in the gospel of Luke we have Him taken from among men; His genealogy is traced right back from Adam. The point of the gospel is Man taken from among men and eventually going up to God. Morally down here He was the Priest. There is one parable in chapter 10, that of the good Samaritan, which indicates it. The priest and the Levite failed, neither of them could deal with the man that was half dead, and Christ, the Neighbour, undertakes priestly service with regard to the man. He comes in to fill not simply the place of the Levite but the place of the priest. His service was priestly. He poured in oil and wine, set him on His own beast, brought him to an inn and took care of him so long as he was in circumstances to need care. The priest and the Levite were unprofitable, they could do nothing with the man, but all was fulfilled in Christ.

For us that is the introduction of a better hope by which we draw nigh to God. "Through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father". We draw nigh as priests, but we are priests on account of our relation to the High Priest, like the

sons of Aaron who drew nigh because they were kindred to the high priest.

Now I want to mark the transition from Aaron to Christ and also to show the consequence of it which comes out at the close of the gospel. You get the consequence of it, too, coming out in Paul. The priestly service began with the Lord but it comes out in a remarkable way in the apostle Paul. He says, "For me to be minister of Christ Jesus to the nations" -- he was ministering in priestly service in order that "the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit", Romans 15:16.

In Luke 1 you get taken up every thread of piety that existed among the Jews. It is the more remarkable because this gospel was written by a gentile. The priest Zacharias and his wife were God-fearing people, "walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless". They were of the priestly line. Zacharias gets the announcement of the birth of a son, but he is not up to the announcement, and the result of it is that for the time being he comes under the judgment of God. This sets forth really that the line of Aaron failed, and failed in a very good representative. The angel told him that he should be dumb until what was spoken was fulfilled. It indicates the position of the line of Aaron to the present day. How can a dumb man speak the praises of God? It forms a kind of landmark. That order of things was about to come to an end. It could not possibly be otherwise because the mind of God was contemplating at that moment the birth of Christ. John the baptist comes before us not as priest, though he was the son of a priest, but as a prophet. The priesthood broke down in the Aaronic line because the true priest was just about to come into the scene.

Now look at chapter 4: 16 - 19. We get here what was essential in the case of priesthood. No man could exercise priestly function unless he was anointed with the holy oil. So the Lord says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised". There was an end in view in the Lord's priestly service down here and that was that there might be a company to offer up to God. You get the idea of it in Leviticus 23, 15 - 17, where on the day of Pentecost there was the offering of the two wave loaves. There was leaven allowed in the two wave loaves, but they were presented to God in the sanctification of the Spirit. That was a type of the result of the priestly service of the Lord Jesus when He was here -- even that there might be the offering up of an acceptable sacrifice to God on the part of God's people down here.

I can understand people making dispensational difficulties about it and saying that Christ was not a priest till He went to the right hand of God; but in anticipation of that I cannot question that Christ did a great deal of priestly work down here. See what He said to Peter before his fall, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not". That was priestly work. Christ when He was here was the anointed vessel to bring about a certain result and that was that there should be an offering up to God, a company acceptable to Him, and that was priestly work.

Now pass on to another point in connection with the death of Christ -- chapter 23: 28, 34, 43, 46. There is a very great contrast between the way in which the death of Christ is presented in this gospel and in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. In the two latter you have Him as the Victim -- He is

viewed as suffering vicariously; but in the gospel of Luke what is prominent is the offering Priest. It is as evident as possible that the only victim which He could offer was Himself, and moreover no one could offer the Victim but Himself. There again we get the Spirit brought in, He "by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God". What marks the offering Priest is evidently the eternal Spirit, which indicates that the mind of the offering Priest was in perfect accord with the mind of God. You get all the detail of that brought out in Luke. When the Lord was going to the cross He is not concerned about Himself; He says to the women, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves" (chapter 23: 28). Then for those who crucified Him he takes the intercessory place. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (verse 34). He was entirely in the gracious mind of God. You get the same thing coming out in connection with the thief, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise". The mind of God was perfect unalloyed grace. Then, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit". You could not have a more wonderful relation given than in that passage in Luke. There is the presentation to us of perfection -- not exactly in the victim, though of course there was that, but in the One who offered Himself by the eternal Spirit without spot to God. The victim was ended in death, but what abides to us is the Priest, and that is a point of the greatest moment to us. The victim represents man after the flesh, which Christ ended in His death, and God will never revive him. The offering Priest abides still and is exactly the same as what He was when He offered Himself without spot to God.

I think you and I want to have a greater sense of the perfectness of the offering Priest. A great

many people have a sense of the perfectness of the victim. The victim was perfect, but the victim in that sense has passed away. Christ is no longer known after the flesh; that has been terminated in His death; but as the offering Priest He abides: He is the same yesterday, today and for ever.

I would call your attention now to verses 46 - 53 of chapter 24, and in connection with that Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 4:7 - 10. We have in this last passage in Luke the accomplishment of Psalm 68. In the act of blessing the disciples He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Blessing the disciples was a priestly act. Whenever you find blessing going on in the Old Testament it is priestly. You get Abraham blessing Isaac, Isaac blessing Jacob, Jacob blessing his twelve sons. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not ordained priests, but all the family of the priests spring out of Abraham. What do you think enabled them to bless? They were in the secret of God. I do not hesitate to say that it is the priest who knows the mind of God, because he has access to God, and because he knows the mind of God he blesses. Melchisedec was able to bless Abraham, because he was the priest of the Most High God; he was in the mind of God. In this passage (verses 50, 51) we have the Lord blessing. He had been offering Priest, He was qualified, He had made atonement for the sins of the people. He was not only qualified, but the point to my mind is that He was capable. All that transpired in connection with the offering of Christ proved how perfectly He was in the secret of God's mind. Therefore you can well understand that when He was being parted from them He was blessing them. It was a priestly act; He was the true Priest after the order of Melchisedec, and in the act of blessing He was parted from them. He says, "Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you". Of necessity therefore

He must ascend, as you get in Psalm 68. In Ephesians 4:10 there is a very important point, the One who descended is the same also that ascended. He came down here to do the will of God, but He ascended up as Priest that He might communicate the gift of the Spirit. The sending of the promise of the Father was on the line of blessing. That and His blessing the disciples were both priestly acts.

It all opens up to us the transition from Aaron to Christ. The announcement of the heavenly host (chapter 2) was, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men", because a Man was taken from among men. Then you get the anointing of the Spirit (chapter 4) in order that He might carry out the ministration of divine mercy upon earth. Then you have the very many traits of the perfectness of the offering Priest coming out in the death of Christ, and then in resurrection you have Him carrying out the true Melchisedec function of blessing and sending the promise of Father from on high.

From the first moment priesthood is presented in Scripture the thought of blessing is included in it. One thing on which Christ is bent at the present time in His service to us is to make us conscious of blessing, and if people are not conscious of blessing they do not get all the good of the service of the Priest. Christ would maintain us in the consciousness of blessing.

The disciples were no longer under malediction. Grace had abounded over guilt, blessing over cursing. All had been changed by redemption, and the function of the Lord is to make them conscious of blessing, and so the Lord would serve us. What I understand by blessing is the consciousness of divine favour. Christ has become Priest to that end. He was going to the right hand of God in order

that He might communicate the promise of the Father -- the power from on high. The power from on high came upon the apostle Paul, and he says that he was Jesus Christ's minister to the gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, "that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit", Romans 15:16.

It is a great thing for us to be in the good of it all. Christ would maintain us in the consciousness of blessing and nearness to God. The promise of the Father abides; it has never been removed. The attitude in which Christ left the earth is the attitude of Christ still, so that we can be maintained in the good of the blessing. Christianity is a living thing. It is not a belief of doctrines; you get nothing by faith, though you have nothing without faith, but everything you get is communicated to you in the power of the Spirit. Hence it is that christianity in every part of it is vital and experimental.

(1) THE SERVICE OF CHRIST

Luke 10:21 - 42

I want to bring before you the service of Christ. Everyone has some idea of it, but I do not think many quite discern its character. I distinguish between the priestly service of Christ, and the revelation to us in Him of God. The two things come out in one Person, and it is the fact of everything coming out in one Person that brings in perfection. In times gone by, to represent anything like completeness, two had to be taken into account. For instance, in Israel there was Moses the apostle and Aaron the priest. In the prophets we get Elijah and Elisha; and so on throughout the Old Testament. But when we come to Christ we get completeness. To take the figure I have employed, of Moses and Aaron: in Christ we get both; He is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, and therefore we get completeness. What has come to pass in Christ, and what brings in perfection, is the fact that approach is equal to revelation. You get revelation by the apostle, and approach in the priest, and in Christ the approach is as perfect as the revelation. It was very different with Israel. Moses was the mediator; the communications of God were all by him, and he was faithful in the setting up of the tabernacle. But Aaron failed at the outset, and made the golden calf; therefore you do not get perfection. The approach which was typified in Aaron was not equal to the faithfulness of Moses; hence in that system there was imperfection.

Now it is important for us to apprehend that in connection with Christ, perfection has come in; the priest is equal to the apostle. You can understand that, because Christ is both. I wish to bring before you that we have the service of Christ in both lights. In this gospel (Luke) and the following one Christ comes before us in two different lights; but we need to put the two together, each is essential. In John, Christ speaks of His body as the temple; the Jews had defiled God's temple, and the Lord says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up". His body was the temple, and what followed upon that was, the oracles of God were there. When the Lord Jesus was here upon earth, the disciples had not much idea of going to the high priest to get the oracles of God. They had the sense that the oracles were there in Christ. But in Luke, Christ is presented as the anointed Man, who, in result, is the Priest. He is the anointed Man with knowledge, and, in result, going up on man's behalf to God. At the close of the gospel Christ is not looked at quite in the light of the victim, but as the offering Priest. In Matthew and Mark we see Him more as the victim; in Luke He is the offering Priest; and we get the perfection of the Offerer. We have not there the record of His being forsaken of God; and in the last chapter, in the act of blessing His disciples, He is parted from them and taken up into heaven, in order that He might communicate the promise of the Father. He goes up to God on behalf of man in the value of His offering. That is all priestly. The Apostle is to make God and His mind known; the Priest is what Christ is on man's behalf.

I call your attention to a passage in Luke 4:16 - 19. I wish to contrast that with what you get in John. It is not in Luke a question of revelation; the point is not of the temple, nor the oracles of

God; but of the Man anointed with the Spirit, who has come close to man with the object of announcing the truth and bringing it home to man -- to preach glad tiding to the poor, to serve the poor; I have no doubt there is in that the thought of the priest. The priest's lips kept knowledge, and the law was sought at his mouth, and here was one with knowledge, the anointed Man, come close to man in order to bring to him the knowledge of God. It is not difficult to distinguish between the two things; they are combined in Christ; He was the Temple where God dwelt, and He was the anointed Man, diffusing the light, bringing close to man, by priestly service, the knowledge which was proper to Him.

I think the same thing is in a sense true in regard to the church; the church is the temple of God. The apostle says to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" The Spirit of God dwells in the church; it being the temple of God, the oracles of God are there. Whatever light there is of God is in the church by the Spirit. But there is another truth connected with the church: the church is the body of Christ, where gifts are set, where there is the word of wisdom and knowledge, in order that the light may be diffused, may be brought to man in the way of service. In 1 Corinthians 3, the apostle says, "Ye are the temple of God", and in chapter 12, "Ye are the body of Christ". That is what we are called to down here. Service is more than levitical; rightly understood, it is priestly. The service of the Lord Jesus was not simply levitical: it was priestly, and had in view the offering up of a remnant of the people. That came to pass on the day of Pentecost; a remnant was offered as a result of the service of the Lord Jesus here on earth.

Now I want to touch upon the priestly service of Christ in regard to man. The objection may be raised that Christ is only Priest on behalf of His people; but at the same time there is a light in which Christ can have to say to all men. If He gave Himself a ransom for all, to bring home to man the knowledge that is His own, this ministry is priestly service on the part of the Lord.

First I will say a word in regard to the tabernacle of testimony. All the detail of the tabernacle was given to Moses, and Moses had to set it up according to the fashion shown to him. The first things about which God spoke to Moses were the ark and the mercy seat; I go no farther than that. Evidently the ark and the mercy seat were connected with the revelation of God. Everything was thus set forth in the way of figurative representation. The time was coming when God would put Himself in communication with man by the mercy seat; all was connected with revelation. But then, in connection with the tabernacle of testimony there was the priest; people often take up the tabernacle of testimony and the detail of it, but the priest was an essential part. Suppose there had been no injunctions about the priest, what good would it all have been to man? There would have been no approach to God. The furniture of the tabernacle was connected with God's way of approach to man; but that would not be of much value to man unless there were with it the thought of man's approach to God, and you get that in connection with Aaron and his sons. When God gave directions as to the tabernacle and its furniture, He gave directions for Aaron and the garments of Aaron; in order to make a system complete, you must have not only revelation, but also approach to God, and that was set forth in Aaron.

All that was typical; now we have come to the reality of things, and what is brought to our view is not simply revelation, but that the approach is equal to the revelation. You cannot understand approach except in Christ. You must remember that He has gone in as Priest; and, as to its application to us, we are taught that "through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father"; it is through Him, the One who has gone in. This is brought out at the end of the gospel of Luke. The Lord in resurrection brings home to the disciples the reality of His being Man, and after He had commissioned them, a cloud received Him out of their sight and He went up on high, in order to communicate the gift of the Holy Spirit. All that has been fulfilled; the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat are no longer typical. We have the temple and the oracles of God; God's mind is declared in Christ, and, on the other hand, approach to God is perfect, because Christ is the Priest.

Now in Luke I think we see priestly service on the part of Christ. I want to show you the way in which Christ waits upon man, to bring home to man the knowledge of God. We are in a world where we have to meet a great many things; the conditions of man's life are complex; we have to meet vicissitudes, disappointments, trials, sorrows, bereavements, weakness, and many other things. Now, if you are to pass through these things, what is going to be your stay in them? I only know of one thing that is available, and available in everything, and that is, the knowledge of God. Hence one can see the grace connected with the priestly service of Christ, who waits upon man, in order to bring home to man the knowledge of God, so that, whatever we have to meet down here, we always have a stay -- and that is God. It is not

only (I venture to say) that Christ has revealed God; the point is that, having revealed Him, He attends upon man, to bring home to him the knowledge of God, in such a way that it should be the stay of man in every circumstance.

I dare say you will remember that there is a succession of parables in Luke peculiar to that gospel. I refer to one in chapter 7: 41 - 43. I read one also in chapter 10, then I turn to Luke 14:15, and following. The final one is in chapter 15. Now we see in each of these Christ waiting upon man, to bring home to him the knowledge of God, because that knowledge is to be the stay of man down here. I may remark in regard to these parables that they are not found in the other gospels; they are peculiar to Luke, and connect themselves with the particular way in which Christ is presented in that gospel. I may say another thing: as you increase in the knowledge of God, you increase in the sense of blessing. If your knowledge is elementary, you will not have any very great sense of blessing. God is intent on blessing, He is called in Scripture "the blessed God"; hence the more we increase in the knowledge of God, the more we increase in blessing. What I understand by blessing is, God brought near to man, so that man may be conscious of being in the favour of God.

I take up two of these parables now, the one in the seventh and the other in the tenth chapter. They are progressive; I will first touch on the four and note the progress.

The first unfolds to us the attitude of God toward all men.

In the second there is an advance on that, and that is the resources of man in the knowledge of God.

In the third, the supper, man is called to have a part in a great divine celebration; therefore in

connection with the supper you get the thought of joy.

In the fourth, chapter 15, is the climax. The prodigal is brought back to the Father's table, to be conscious that the Father has complete complacency in him. What a wonderful thing it would be for us if we were conscious of being with the Father in such a way as to know that He has entire complacency in us, and that there is nothing to interfere with the complacency. That is what is presented to us in the thought of the prodigal. He is at the Father's table, they began to be merry, he is conscious of the Father's complacency in him, and that nothing interferes with it. I think you will be prepared to allow that there is progress in what is unfolded in these parables. The first thing that Christ sets Himself to bring home to man is the attitude of God toward man. That comes out in the parable of the creditor and the two debtors. The mind of the creditor was alike in regard to the two debtors. The two debtors represent all men. In that particular case they were intended to represent the woman and Simon, and the parable brings out that the mind of the creditor was alike to both. That is a great lesson to be brought home to man. The Lord had a very inapt pupil, for Simon was the one for whose benefit the parable was spoken. We do not hear much more about him; but, so far as we can tell, he was sceptical about Christ. He was not very sure whether, after all, Christ was a prophet. What marked the Lord was priestly grace, and therefore He could attend on Simon and bring the truth before him. It was a reproach to Simon, but we see the grace of the Lord who could utter such a parable for such a man. Christ was attendant upon man, in priestly grace, His lips keeping knowledge, to bring home to man what at that particular point was the attitude of

God toward all men. It is a lesson which the Lord would bring home to all of us. I cannot conceive anything more important than to apprehend what God's attitude is, without reserve, at this present time, not only toward the repentant, but toward all men. The secret of it is that Christ has given Himself a ransom for all, and thus every man comes into the view of God, and God is propitious toward every man. Christ is the propitiation; that is the light in which God is presented at the present time.

I pass on to the second parable, Luke 10. The priest and Levite pass by the half-dead man on the other side, because they had to make room for the real Priest. They were the official men. Experience has taught me to distrust officialism. The moment you find officialism in divine things there is danger. In Judaism there was officialism; but it broke down, and I do not think God intends to repeat that. They passed by on the other side, but they made room for the one who was really the priest. The priest's lips are full of knowledge. Here again, the Lord had a very inapt pupil: the pupil was the lawyer. The lawyer was tempting Christ; there was nothing encouraging about the pupil, yet Christ attended on the lawyer. Lawyers and Pharisees were not very hopeful; but the Lord sought to bring home the truth to the lawyer. The question here is not of God's attitude toward all men, but of God found as a resource for man down here. There are few people who have not moral wants; what is going to heal them? The knowledge of God. What is going to carry you along? The knowledge of God. What is going to comfort you? Because you will certainly now and then need comfort. I know only one thing, and that is, the knowledge of God. Whether it is support or comfort in the pathway here through the wilderness, Christ supplies all,

and supplies all by the knowledge of God. The apostle John said to the babes, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things". The man that fell among thieves found everything by the Samaritan, and Christ is waiting upon man to bring home to him the knowledge of God, in such a way that it will suffice him in every circumstance and exigency in which he may be down here.

How important the knowledge of God is to us! How important that we should be set upon it! Christ is set upon it; He will serve you in that way. We do not want to be sceptical like Simon, or like the lawyer, tempting Christ. There needs readiness on our part, and we have to look to God for grace that the one thing we are athirst for is the knowledge of God. What we really want to know is divine love in its application to us in our pathway here. That is the first element in the knowledge of God. It is not the knowledge of God in the highest sense, but in the most important sense in regard to us. It is the apprehension of divine love in connection with our responsible life. I dare say I have before pointed out how this comes out in 1 John 4. The apostle takes up the love of God in its application to saints all along their responsible pathway (verses 7 - 12, 16 - 19). It does not talk about the love of God to us in heaven, as in Ephesians, where God has set the saints in heavenly places; it does not go beyond our responsible pathway here, closing up with the day of judgment, and in that connection you get the love of God. It runs parallel with what the apostle Paul says at the close of Romans 8. It is very wonderful to see the application of divine love to us, even in the way of discipline. It comes out in that way; God has to discover to us something in ourselves which has an undue place in the heart; some idol perhaps; and love is in the way of discipline. But it is also in

view of the day of judgment; because "as he (Christ) is, so are we in this world". Not in heaven, but as in this world; it is divine love in its application to us down here. What can be so important to us as the knowledge of God? I mean the knowledge of God in that which He is toward His people here upon earth. I think we may also know God in another light; we are privileged to be led into the knowledge of God in the counsels of His love. It is a great point to be with God, to get an insight into His things. When I speak of God's things, I refer to what the Lord said in John 16. "All things that the Father hath are mine". The Spirit of God would lead us into the land of promise, and give us an apprehension of all the things of which Christ is the centre. God has made known to us the mystery of His will, and the Spirit of God would lead us into the knowledge of God and of the counsels of His love.

One point more. It is a point of the greatest interest for the soul to be entering into God's things. You will not enter into God's things if you do not see how God enters into your things. Unless you apprehend God's love to you down here, it is futile to expect to be led into the range of God's things; but if you are led into that great circle of interests, that universe which is centred in Christ, you have to learn the capability of God to fill it all. The universe would be no good unless it were filled. Our physical universe would not be of much account unless the sun filled it all. Hence there is fertility and life. God has a universe; a vast system consisting of all things, and all centred in Christ. But it is a very blessed thought that with God there is the capability to fill it. I would not care about the thought of a universe unless I knew how it is to be filled. God has not only devised and brought to pass a universe, but He is capable of

filling it. Christ is to fill the universe of God (like the sun fills our universe) with the light and knowledge of God.

I think there ought to be with us a readiness to be led on in the knowledge of God. Grace and peace will be multiplied to us in it. Christ is waiting upon man in priestly service; there is wonderful grace about Him, though we may be dull and inattentive pupils; yet He is waiting upon us. It is a great thing to know that you have a support and a source of comfort in whatever you may be exposed to here. If you lose the dearest relative, you still have a stay and support in the knowledge of God. Christ takes care of us, and the proof of it is in bringing home to us the resource that we have in the knowledge of God. It is a great thing to be led on in the apprehension of love in the details of its application towards us. And the Spirit will lead you further into those things which are centred in Christ.

If the enemy is coming in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a banner against him. Where is it to be lifted up? In the saints. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the knowledge of God by the Spirit. That is the thing which is impregnable. You never had a single bit of knowledge of God except by the Spirit; but the gates of hell will not prevail against the knowledge of God. I desire that we might be led into it by the grace of Christ, so as to have more sense of its applicability to us in our circumstances here. Thus we shall be proof against the assaults of the enemy.

(2) THE CELEBRATION OF GRACE

Luke 14:15 - 24; Luke 15:11 - 32

There are certain parables which are peculiar to this gospel, just as there are those which are peculiar to Matthew; if you were to transplant any of these parables to another gospel, you would find that they would not fit in. If you were to take the parables in Matthew and attempt to transplant them into this gospel, they would not fit, though they have their place there just as these have here. I allude particularly to the four parables I have mentioned on a previous occasion, in which it is not difficult to apprehend a progress in the unfolding of the truth. One was the parable of the creditor and the two debtors, in the seventh chapter; then the parable of the good Samaritan in the tenth chapter; now we have the parable of the supper in the fourteenth, and still another in the fifteenth; that is the succession of parables peculiar to Luke. My point was to view these parables in the light in which Christ is presented to us in Luke. Luke specially presents to us the service of Christ as the anointed Man. I illustrated that in the parable of the good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite, official representatives of the old covenant, passed by on the other side; but they passed by to make room for the true Priest, the anointed Man. I quite admit that Christ would not be a priest if He were upon earth; but I have no doubt that many things which the Lord did when He was on earth were anticipative of what He is doing at the present time; they illustrate it. We have to take into account where Christ now is, at the right hand of God, a

Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Many things brought before us in this gospel will help us to understand the character of the service which Christ carries on in regard to us now. When you read the gospels, you should read them in the light of where Christ is now. It is not that they present Him where He is now; but if you read them in that light, it will help you to understand them. In Luke we get Christ a real Babe, born into the world, made of a woman -- a Child, then a Man; then we have His death and resurrection; but all is leading on to what is brought out in the last chapter, Christ going up to heaven and communicating the promise of the Father. It is in the light of priestly service that Christ is presented in the gospel of Luke. Even in the account given to us of the sufferings of Christ, what comes before us is the offering priest rather than the victim.

Now the point in these parables is that we get the instruction of Christ; the anointed Man is the Instructor. I referred to a passage in Malachi 2:7, "The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth": you never get that verified except in Christ. Throughout this gospel you have the Lord as the anointed Man, waiting upon man, to bring home to him that which He knew. The knowledge of God was perfect there: in fact, He was God; but looking at the Lord as Man, the knowledge of God was perfect, and He was attending upon men to lead them into the knowledge of the suitability of God to man down here. When a man is awakened to know anything, the first principle and element of the knowledge of God is to apprehend the attitude of God toward man; that is, not imputing trespasses, not calling men to a reckoning; His disposition toward man is forgiveness. You get that coming out at the close of this gospel: "Thus it behoved Christ to suffer,

and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations". That could never have been preached had it not been in the pleasure of God. Then in the parable of the good Samaritan we saw the true Priest, leading man into the knowledge of God, in the suitability of God to man, in his need down here. He poured in the oil and the wine, set him on his own beast, and took care of him so long as he needed care. That is what the knowledge of God means to us. It is the one thing that we have; our mainstay, and if you have not that, you have not very much. A christian is to find his comfort, his stay and support, in the knowledge of the way in which God can adapt Himself to man in man's weakness down here. It is a wonderful thing to think that God will care for a man's soul -- for his body, too, for the matter of that -- but for his soul so long as he is in need of care.

Now I pass on to the two remaining parables; they complete the series. My point is that we still have the Lord before us as Instructor. Teaching properly belongs to the priest; I do not think anyone could teach if he were not a priest. Suppose I had the capacity to teach: where did I get it from? No one can teach a christian except as he himself knows God; and if I know God, that is priestly. The fact of knowing God and having access to Him is priestly, and that is one's only capability to teach. I often feel half-afraid to take the place of teacher, feeling that one's knowledge of God is so limited that one is very little able to teach others.

People have thought they could be teachers because they had a great acquaintance with Scripture. It is not the amount of Scripture which can be stored up in the mind, which makes a man capable of teaching others. No man is capable of teaching beyond what he is as priest. We get that initiated in the

Lord Himself. He was the anointed Man, ever with God, and therefore competent to teach man; and the substance of what He taught was the knowledge of God.

Now these two parables, that of the supper and that of the prodigal, give to us another side of the truth. It is not giving man the knowledge of God in its suitability to him, but His thought and purpose here is to lead man into God's things. It is one thing to understand how suitable God is in His grace to me here; it is another thing for God to instruct me in His things, the things in which He can delight; that is the point we get now. We see that in the parable of the supper. I call your attention to the terms of the invitation: "Come; for all things are now ready". They are all ready on the part of God. It is not God attending to man's wants, it is an invitation to man to come into God's things. The One who provides the supper says, "Come; for all things are now ready". And what do you think they are ready for? So far as I understand it, they are all ready, morally, for the great day of display. The day of display has not yet come; it may not come just yet, but it will come; and the point of the present moment is that all things are ready. In Old Testament times this could not have been said, and for two reasons; the first, that the ground was not there. There was not the ground of resurrection; redemption was not accomplished. Then another reason was that the Man had not yet come who could bear the burden of all things, who should be the Centre on which all might hang; then, in order that others might have part in that, there must be redemption as the basis, and in connection with redemption, the ground of resurrection. Christianity brings into view a Man, the anointed Man, and at the same time redemption accomplished; the ground of

resurrection is there. All things are ready on the part of God. The apostle could say to the Hebrews, "Ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God". Everything for God is established in Christ, in One who is capable of upholding the pillars of the universe. Everything in the world is out of course; all is lawless; but Christ bears up the pillars of the moral universe; the Man is there on whom all this depends. If He were not great enough for that, things could not hold together. "All things subsist together by him"; in Him all are held together. But it is extremely important that He has brought in resurrection as a footing on which man can be with God.

Did you ever consider what the supper meant? Evidently a supper is for the honour of the one who gives it. If I give a supper or a dinner I give it on my own account; it is an occasion for me. So it is in regard of God. He invites the guests, and they come in, but it is an occasion for God, and therefore He will have His house filled. If a man makes a supper, and has laid his table and provided seats for a certain number of guests, he does not care to see half the seats unoccupied; he would like to see his table filled. "Compel them to come in": there was a deficiency, because there were those who had been bidden but would not come, who had some engagement more important in their own eyes; they made a gap in the company; but God wants His house filled. I understand the supper to be the celebration of righteousness, and therefore it appears to me that the thought of resurrection must enter into the supper, because resurrection is the real celebration of righteousness. I think Christ would lead us, by the Spirit, into the apprehension of the force of resurrection, that is, of His resurrection. If you get an apprehension of the power and meaning of the resurrection of

Christ, you can understand what it is to be at the great supper, and you will see that the supper is the celebration of righteousness. I refer to two scriptures, Philippians 3:9, 10, Colossians 2:11, 12. In the one passage we get the power of His resurrection spoken of, and in the other, the operation of God who raised Him from the dead. Evidently the resurrection of Christ is a point of the greatest possible moment on the part of God. "The power of his resurrection" is a remarkable expression, and again the "operation of God". It is the energetic working of the power of God that raised Him from the dead. So the apostle prays in Ephesians 1, that the saints might know "the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead". All these passages confirm me in putting forth the thought that the resurrection is the celebration of righteousness. The truth is that righteousness was accomplished in the death of Christ. What I understand by righteousness is redemption. Every right of God was taken up in the death of Christ and maintained; the right of mercy was declared, every liability under which man lay was met by redemption, and so the death of Christ was the accomplishment of righteousness. But we have not only the accomplishment of righteousness, but the celebration of righteousness. Righteousness is established and celebrated in a Man. Hence the expression used prophetically in regard to Christ, "Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings"; righteousness involves healing.

That is what I think the great supper means; it is man coming in mind to that great celebration, and entering into it. At the beginning of Genesis God ordered a world out of nothing; but we apprehend

in the resurrection of Christ the power and ability of God to bring to pass a universe out of death. The morning of the resurrection was the greatest that ever was; it was, morally, a morning without clouds. Everything had been dark in the death of Christ; all evil had culminated there; but the morning of His resurrection was the brightest possible morning, because, in principle, God there brought a universe out of death. That is what I understand by the operation of God that raised Him from the dead. We are accustomed to look at the resurrection of Christ as a simple fact; but we want to see the import of it. At the great supper we learn the import of the fact. Hundreds can repeat as a creed, 'I believe in the resurrection of the dead'; but the point is to apprehend the import of the resurrection of Christ, that is, the ability of God to bring a universe out of death. In the world to come everything is brought out of death. The Old Testament saints, Israel, the church, are all in one way or another brought out of death. The dry bones, in Ezekiel's vision, are breathed upon and made to live; so with the nations it is life from the dead, everything is put on the ground of resurrection. That is the ground on which God establishes everything in the world to come. I will illustrate it in Elijah and Elisha. The two prophets came close together: one preceded the other. In Elijah, Israel in a sense died; he went through Jordan, and in his passing away, Israel, according to their existence under law, died. But Elisha comes back into Israel through Jordan, the right way, into the land, to Jericho. Elisha represents the revival of Israel in Christ; hence, in connection with Elisha, you will find the power of resurrection. I refer to one incident in connection with his ministry, the case of the Shunamite. God gave her a child on account of her attention to the prophet. But the

child dies; then the prophet comes in, and the effect is, the child is revived. The child was revived through Elisha having been identified with its death. The child probably points on to what will come to pass in the revival of Israel in connection with the One of whom Elisha was the type. Even in that day there was the thought of the power of God to revive Israel, and to place it on the footing of resurrection. Nationally they are buried in the dust of the earth at the present time, but the Lord will revive Israel, as He revived the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue.

It would be a great thing if we were true to our baptism, and had ceased to live in spirit in the course of this world, and were really in mind risen with Christ. But, in the first instance, we want to get the good of the great supper, to learn the power of God's operation, His capability to bring to pass a universe of bliss -- the womb of which is the death of Christ, and the pledge and beginning of it the resurrection of Christ. All, as far as man goes, was lost in the death of Christ, but in His resurrection everything is revived. Christians may go on a long time in this world, and have their part in the life of the world, but as sure as possible they have to come to the truth of their baptism. Then you can go a point farther; you learn that you are risen with Him.

I pass on to chapter 15, verses 21 - 23. What this parable brings before us is the complacency of the Father in the prodigal. It is not so much a question of what the prodigal got; the point is what the Father got; just as in the supper, the supper was for the man who made it. The Father had complete complacency in the prodigal. He says, "Let us eat, and be merry". I lay great stress upon what was put upon the prodigal. It has been said, and truly enough, that what was put upon

the prodigal formed no portion of his first inheritance. I regard that as being a most important point. What he got never belonged to man as man. What the elder brother claimed, in a way, belonged to man as man, but what the prodigal got did not. The prodigal had had his inheritance; he had no claim to anything; but he comes back to the Father, and gets what formed no part of his first inheritance. The great point is, these things were with the Father; the ring, the shoes, the best robe. The Father could not have commanded the servants to put these things on the son if they had not been there. The prodigal was there; he had repented, so that he was not there unsuitably; but the point was, that he might be there with nothing unsuitable for the Father's eye. I think Ephesians 1:5, 6 gives you the idea. "Having marked us out beforehand for adoption [sonship] through Jesus Christ to himself". Sonship formed no part of our first outfit. Then it adds, "Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved". It is evident that the Beloved was ever with God. The best robe was ever with the Father, and now He has made us accepted in the Beloved. The reason we are made accepted in the Beloved is that we may be under the eye of God for His pleasure, and that we may be the witnesses of the riches of His grace. The parable of the prodigal is the climax of these parables; you cannot get beyond it; you could not have a greater place with the Father than to be made accepted in the Beloved, and it brings to pass the great testimony of God, the riches of His grace. It is a great thing to be made accepted in the Beloved; but one could not talk about it unless conscious of it. The best robe, the ring, the shoes, were put upon the prodigal; he was conscious of what was conferred upon him by the Father. I quite admit it is the thought of God for every christian that he should

be accepted in the Beloved; but I really could not speak of that being true of anyone unless there is a corresponding work of God in that person. You may depend upon it the principle is true, that what is true of you in the ways of God is true in you; and if this were not the case, there would be a measure of unreality with people. They would claim -- and have claimed -- a great many things as true of them which are not true in them. I do not think it can be God's way to sanction or promote unreality in any way. What is true of you is by a corresponding work of God made true in you. If you are accepted in the Beloved, there is a corresponding consciousness wrought in you by the Spirit of God. Now that is what I understand by having on the best robe. You cannot have it on without knowing it. The work of the Spirit in you makes you conscious that God has brought you before Himself in such a fashion as that He can have complacency in you. That is what I should call the climax of grace. It is not only to know the power of the resurrection of Christ, but the knowledge of acceptability in the Beloved in the eye of God, in the One who was ever with the Father, but who became Man, and died, and rose, and who has become a covering to us, that we may be before God for His complacency.

I do not think that we are made accepted in the Beloved simply by faith. You have on the best robe, the ring, and the shoes by the Spirit, and are there inside in order that the eye of God may be upon you in complete and entire complacency. In the ages to come the church will be the witness to the universe of the exceeding riches of God's grace.

I press upon all that Christ is the Teacher. He has given us an unction, that we may know all things; He is the priestly Teacher, to lead us into

the knowledge of God, and of those resources which God ever had with Him, which have now become a covering for man. You may depend upon it that the teaching of Christ is effective teaching. If He makes good the great supper, it is that you may understand the character of the celebration, the character and power of Christ's resurrection. No one can make any progress unless they appreciate the meaning and power of the resurrection of Christ, and see how God could bring a universe of bliss out of the death of Christ.

The parable of the prodigal is most beautiful; but it is much more beautiful when you look at it on the divine side. We can take it home to ourselves; though, as a matter of fact, it was spoken to a company of Pharisees. Most of the parables were spoken to unbelieving people, tempters, or emotional people; but the point is that Christ is the Expositor, and by the teaching of Christ we can understand the parables which He spoke.

(3) CHRIST'S PRESENT ATTITUDE

Luke 24:36 - 53

The facts recorded in this chapter happened well nigh two thousand years ago; that is a long time in the way in which we reckon, but we sometimes forget that God does not count time: "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day". But any way, the lapse of time has in no wise altered the attitude of the Lord. The point on which I purpose dwelling, the Lord helping me, is the attitude which Christ took here in regard to the disciples; it is still His attitude towards His people down here. I speak of His attitude, and of the proof of it, for the Lord is not only occupying a certain attitude towards His people, but is giving proof of it.

I take up the subject in connection with what I have had to say previously in regard to this gospel, as to the way in which Christ is presented in Luke. He is, I judge, presented in a priestly way all through this gospel; attending upon man, in priestly grace, to bring home to him the knowledge of God. We see this in the case of the thief on the cross. The Lord was Himself suffering, and in the company of the thief; but He took occasion of it to attend on the thief, to bring the knowledge of God's grace home to him.

Now we have the same thing in a remarkable way in the close of this chapter, in the position which the Lord takes up in regard to His disciples. He was their Instructor and the Expositor of Scripture. I quoted a passage from Malachi, "The

priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth". That is what came to pass here; they sought the law at His mouth, and they got it. The law was the Scriptures, "He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself". The Lord goes farther; He showed them what behoved, that is, what was morally appropriate; "Thus it behoved Christ to suffer"; it was in order that He might have a name. Then He speaks of what He purposed doing; He was going on high to send the promise of the Father. Then at the close He lifted up His hands and blessed them, and in that act He was parted from them. I do not think the attitude of the Lord is limited to the disciples, for it was in the act of blessing them that He was parted from them; the blessing was, in a sense, not finished. Simeon had blessed the parents of Jesus; now we have Christ Himself blessing those whom He had gathered round Himself in the course of His ministry. Blessing is a great thought in Scripture; it is a difficult word to attempt to explain. You will certainly not get the idea by looking the word up in the dictionary. The thought of God from the outset was blessing; we get it time after time in the Old Testament; "Blessing I will bless thee". Then the blessing of God is confirmed in Isaac, i.e., in Christ risen, and we read in Galatians, "That the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith". You will find that blessing is pretty much connected with the priest. The first time we read of the priest in Scripture, it is in connection with blessing. He took tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. The same thought is seen with Moses and Aaron; when they came out of the tabernacle they blessed the people. Blessing is the proper function of the

priest. In the great time of blessing which is to come, we are told that the counsel of peace shall be between them both, the king and the priest (Zechariah 6:13). You cannot get blessing without the priest. In a sense, you will not get it without the king, for the authority of God must be established; but you certainly will not without the priest.

The first thing the Lord does here is to assure the disciples of the reality of Himself as a risen Man; He took pains that way (verses 36 - 43). Nothing can be of greater moment than that, for if there is no resurrection, there is no triumph of God over death. Death is the penalty which has come in upon man by sin, resurrection is the triumph of God's power over death in virtue of redemption: hence resurrection is a point of cardinal importance. The apostle takes it up doctrinally in 1 Corinthians 15, "By man came also the resurrection of the dead"; it has been brought to pass in the last Adam, the Head of every man. Here the Lord shows to them the reality of resurrection, in that He was actually in a body, even capable of eating and drinking. If we have not the resurrection, we had better give up the faith altogether, because the triumph of God over what has come in upon man by reason of sin cannot be witnessed to otherwise than by resurrection from the dead.

After that the Lord takes the place of Expositor (verses 44, 45). In that we get a wonderful expression of the grace of the Lord. He opened their understanding: He did it more abundantly when He went on high. A christian is one who has an unction from the Holy One, and knows all things: not of himself, nor by natural power. The Lord, in a sense, took the place of the unction here. Christ is the key to the Scriptures; no one will ever understand them except in the faith of Christ. People often go to the Scriptures to find Christ, instead of,

by the Spirit, bringing Christ to the Scriptures. You want the key; the Lord gave it to the disciples, He opened their understanding. The Scriptures testify of Christ; that is the divinely given evidence of all Scripture. I do not suppose anyone would be disposed to look for evidence outside Scripture: if you do, you are on doubtful ground. You do not go outside the sun to find evidence that it shines; the sun carries its own evidence. The same thing is true in regard to Scripture; in Scripture the Sun of righteousness shines, and we know it is Scripture because of that. You may divide Scripture up, as the Lord did; and in every part of it you will find the testimony of Christ. If you take the books of Moses, you have the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat; they did not come in until after the defection of Israel. In the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat God showed how, in spite of a broken law and the defection of the people, He would put Himself into contact with man in the rights of mercy. I believe that the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus is the most important chapter in the whole Pentateuch. God gave to Israel the tabernacle of testimony, and the beginning of the detail furnished was the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. Then in the historical books there are two great points: one I understand to be David; David slew the giant, and established the ark in mount Zion. David did many other things; but nothing to equal these. If you look at David as a type of Christ, you can see the application. Christ is the true David; He has slain the giant, and in Him the ark is brought to Mount Zion. When Israel or man had forfeited all in the crucifixion of Christ, God gives Christ back to man in sovereign mercy, on the ground of redemption. Then, too, in the historical books we get Elijah and Elisha; they practically teach the same thing. Everything that

would in any sense serve Israel has to come to them in that which is foreshadowed in Elisha, a risen Christ and the power of the Spirit. In the Psalms also there is a complete testimony to Christ. You get Christ incarnate, suffering, exalted, Priest for ever, and coming again into the world. It is a very complete witness running through the Psalms like a golden thread, beginning with His incarnation in Psalm 2, and ending with His coming again into the world, and the people saying, "Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Psalm 118:26). In the prophets we get the principle: "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy". Jesus means Jehovah saving. I believe it to be exceedingly valuable to apprehend how, in every part of Scripture, the great subject is the testimony of Christ. Do not be too much taken up with detail; the point is to seize the great principle, and the principle throughout Scripture is the testimony of Christ.

I have said enough to show that Christ binds every part of Scripture together. We have not a number of books brought together in a kind of heterogeneous mass. The books are divided into classes; and if you take up the classes severally, you will find the same thing to be the pervading feature in each, viz., the testimony of Christ. Scripture is irrefutable. Critics may deal with the letter, but they have no understanding of the spirit. They do not know the first principle, that is, that the testimony of Christ is the spirit of Scripture; if they did, I do not think they would be carping at the letter and the detail in the way they do. There is an effort abroad now to invalidate the Old Testament; but the greatest witness to the Old Testament is the Lord Himself, and if you touch the Old Testament scriptures, you touch Christ. The testimony of Christ is just as much the pervading feature in the Old Testament as it is in the New.

When the Lord spoke of "the scriptures", of course He referred to the Old Testament Scriptures.

I pass on to verses 46 - 48. The first consideration with God was man, not Israel. Israel thought that they were every consideration with God; but the truth comes out in Christ risen that He is the last Adam: that puts Him in relation, in a sense, to every man. The first Adam is dead long since; he is not head of anybody, he lost his place of headship morally when he fell; hence there really never was but one Head. In order that the Christ might take the place of the last Adam in regard to man, it behoved Him to suffer and to rise again, so that, in the name of the last Adam, the One who stands in relation to every man, repentance and forgiveness of sins might be proclaimed. His suffering and death had acquired for Himself as last Adam repentance and forgiveness of sins in regard to man; hence they were to be preached in His name. It is not simply that they were to be preached; the important expression in the passage is, "In his name". He had a name in relation to men, a new name which He had acquired by redemption. In Christ God is propitious toward the whole world. There is nothing which Christ has accomplished which He did not accomplish in a sense for Himself. He accomplished righteousness, that He might be the Sun of righteousness; He acquired forgiveness and repentance, in regard to man, that He might be the last Adam, the Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. It would not have been possible for Christ to take up the position of last Adam, had He not acquired repentance and forgiveness in regard to man. Now they are at the service of every man upon earth, they have been acquired by the One who is Head of every man. The anointed Man did not belong simply to the Jew; the proper idea connected with the Messiah

is that He is Head of every man. One difference between Christ and us is this: He was anointed in order to accomplish redemption; we are anointed in virtue of redemption.

We come to the next point, verse 49: in this we see the effect of redemption, of His being the last Adam; no one would doubt that the reference is to the Spirit of God. It was not only that Christ had acquired repentance and forgiveness of sins; but, having acquired them, He was the One who could send the promise of the Father. I have little doubt that all the ways of grace in regard to man are in view of man receiving the gift of the Spirit. I do not think that forgiveness is the end and purpose of God's ways; but that man may receive the Spirit, and thus be brought into attachment to Christ. All God's ways and counsels centre in Christ. He is the One in whom God has purposed to gather together in one all things. The giving of the Holy Spirit was on the day of Pentecost, and the disciples were brought by it into attachment. The bond was established between them and Christ; they no longer belonged to this world. One brought into attachment to Christ belongs to Christ, and to the world of which Christ is the Centre. The great mistake which has been made in christendom generally is to connect Christ with this world. Christ and christianity have been captured, and made to do service to the world as it is. That never was the purpose of God. Whoever received the Spirit and was brought into attachment to Christ was delivered from the present course of things, because such were brought into that world which is centred in Him. To that end the Lord was going up on high, to send the promise of the Father. The point was that the testimony might go out from thence. Heaven was the real source of the testimony, and the substance of the testimony was Christ exalted

on high in the value of redemption. What a testimony that is! God has borne witness to His work, like He bore witness to the sacrifice of Abel. There is a Man exalted on high in the virtue of redemption; that is the witness which is gone out into all the world. Any man is accepted of God in the faith of that Man and of what that Man has accomplished. The disciples had no natural qualification for the work which the Lord entrusted to them; they were to wait for power from on high.

In verses 50 and 51 we have the climax. It is remarkable that the Lord did not first bless them and then say that He would send the promise of the Father upon them. That seems the more natural course. He speaks about sending the promise of the Father, and then He blesses them. It is important to my mind, because in moral order the blessing follows upon the promise of the Father. The mind of Christ toward them was blessing, and in blessing them He was parted from them. Christ has gone up on high; the Comforter has been given. Attachment to Christ is brought about; we are married to Him, and the attitude of Christ towards His people here is still blessing. The predominant thought in Luke's gospel is of Christ as Priest. He is Priest after the order of Melchisedec, which is blessing. You may say, Is there nothing else connected with priesthood? Yes, surely; He sympathizes; He succours the tempted; He saves to the uttermost; He makes intercession. There are many things He does; but I do not think that even all these things come up to the height of His priesthood; He is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec, and what is properly priestly is the blessing of the people. The time will come when people will not want care or sympathy, when the universe will be filled with the knowledge of God; when people will not need to be saved to the

uttermost. That is peculiar to the present time, and will be peculiar to Israel in their time of trouble. But hereafter priesthood will be after the character of Melchisedec, that is, in blessing. That is the true character of priestly service, and it is the attitude of Christ. I think I can prove this; it seems to me that throughout Scripture the sign and proof of divine blessing to a people down here is that God gives rain, and consequent prosperity. One point in regard to the land of Canaan was that it received rain from heaven. So, too, in the world generally, we get rain and fruitful seasons. The deprivation of rain was a mark of disfavour, whilst the presence of rain was a sign of the blessing of God (Hebrews 6:7, 8). I take it that spiritual rain comes by the grace of Christ; it is the effect of His blessing. Sunshine is of all importance, but we want rain so long as we are down here. The earth could not do without sunshine, but it is often in want of rain. God sent a plentiful rain for refreshment upon His inheritance when it was weary. Refreshment is a sign and proof of the blessing of Christ, and the object of it is that the earth (we are the earth in that sense) may drink it in, and receive blessing from God. It is priestly service on the part of Christ, so that we may be according to God, sensible of the favour that comes to us, so that we may show fertility. On the other hand, you may get idle ground nigh unto cursing; that is possible. Mere professing christendom will come under that; they do not answer to the care of Christ, and their end is to be burned.

It is a great thing to apprehend the attitude of Christ to His people. Christ is indispensable to us. We want care and sympathy, and the Lord knows how to succour the tempted; many things come to us which cause exercise; we need to be kept here; we need One at the right hand of God to make

intercession for us; but it is very blessed to take in the idea of the proper priestly attitude of Christ in regard to His people. Everything that the Lord did in regard to man upon earth, He does in some sense now. He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. If when upon earth He laid Himself out to attend on man, to bring home to him the knowledge of God, the same thing is true in regard to Him now at the right hand of God. He is in the attitude of blessing; He never gives it up, and the proof of it is that rain comes; by rain I mean the ministry which comes to the Lord's people in the way of refreshment, the object of which is that we may be fruitful, that the ground may respond to the care which is exercised in regard to it.

It is a great thing to be in the region of realities, to live in the region of the Spirit. People move in a way a good deal out of the region of the Spirit, and are exposed to many dangers. It is a great thing to keep within the Spirit's region; it is a safe place for saints to abide in: the region of the Spirit is instinct with life; there is no death there. The moment you move outside that region there is moral death in every direction. People say, where am I to find the region of the Spirit? I think it is to be found; it certainly existed at the beginning, and in that region life prevailed, not death. It is a great thing for us to be found there, because there we live in realities. The greatest of realities is what Christ is towards His people down here, in the attitude of blessing, which He never gives up. When the Lord comes again for His people He will come in the attitude of blessing. We look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. He will come in the attitude of blessing, to give us the climax of all; "I will come again, and receive you unto myself". It is a great thing for the heart to be familiar with blessing; there is plenty in this world

that is not blessing at all. There is no service which the Lord carried out when He was upon earth that He does not still carry out in regard to His people; He is unchangeably the same.

(4) THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID

2 Samuel 23:1 - 7; Acts 17:31; Hebrews 1:7 - 9

The last words of a great man are generally of moment. He cannot have much before him in connection with this world; and is in measure free from being swayed and prejudiced by motives connected with worldly advantage. When a man comes towards the close of his life, he reviews his pathway, and you can therefore attach importance to his last words. Here we get the last words of a very distinguished man. He was raised up of God; God took him from the sheepfold and raised him up on high, set him in a distinguished place in the political firmament. God had a garden here upon earth, which consisted of a number of nations, in the midst of which God ruled. Israel was by far the most distinguished nation, and David the most distinguished man. He was the anointed of God, and ruled by divine right. Then he was the sweet psalmist of Israel; and Scripture gives us his last words. I think that we may fairly attach importance to them; they are pregnant with meaning, and well worthy of consideration. The interesting part is that, while he has to admit the failure of his own house, "Although my house be not so with God", yet his refuge was in the fidelity of God. This is a great thing for us; most of us would be prepared to admit that our houses are not perfect with God; we could not find unalloyed satisfaction in our houses; still, there is a refuge for those who are in the fear of God; we can count on His fidelity: "He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure".

I point out one thing in regard to David. In the historical books of Scripture David is the central point. The ordinary links of the people with God had previously broken down. The priesthood had failed; Eli had died; the ark had been taken by the Philistines. Then it is that David is raised up of God. He was "the beloved"; that is the meaning of his name; he formed a fresh link of the people with God on the ground of sovereign mercy. That is excessively important. The kingdom properly comes in with David; Saul was set aside from the outset. The kingdom really means the intervention of God in the rights of mercy. I do not think people sufficiently connect the idea of mercy with the kingdom; but that is what the kingdom is to us, and its purposes and intention is the bringing of man under the moral sway of God. Nothing else than mercy would do this. If man is to be brought under the moral sway of God, it must be through the expression of God's rights in mercy. There could be no kingdom of God except in mercy, and so it must be based on redemption. Men are all under death, under the curse of God; and unless redemption had come in for a foundation, there could be no kingdom of God at all. You will see how that comes out in connection with Christ.

I say one thing in regard to David: he was the expression of the mercy of God. He was raised up in a very special way. At the beginning of his history in connection with the people he adventured himself against the giant Goliath, and killed him. It was the intervention of God in mercy on behalf of His people. But there is another very important point connected with David; he was raised up of God to bring the ark to Mount Zion. God would not allow the ark to remain among the Philistines; He smote them in the hinder parts and put them to a perpetual shame; and David brought the ark to

Zion. Zion was the place where God saw fit to dwell. They celebrated the establishment of the ark with the song, "His mercy endureth for ever". I think all ought to be able to see that the kingdom was the expression of God's rights of mercy in regard to the people. God retired into His rights and raised up the kingdom in David, to bring the people under the moral sway of God thus made known. Nothing very much was effected in that day; yet the kingdom went on for many years.

Another thing marked David; he appreciated the mercy of which he was the expression. That he was the expression of God's mercy there can be no doubt, he came in when there was no help for the people except in the mercy of God; but in the history of David it is evident that he appreciated the mercy of which he was the expression. I refer to these things because they make it evident that David looked on, and the kingdom looked on, to One who was much greater than David. The ways of God did not terminate with David; and the promise to David, to which God pledged Himself, was that of his seed He would raise up One to sit upon his throne. You have to read Psalm 89 to get the idea of the sure mercies of David. The sure mercies of David have pledged God to the restoration of Israel in the world to come. You will find that the prophets go on the ground of the sure mercies of David.

The utterance that we get here on the part of David is evidently prophetic; he was just about to pass away, and he reviewed his course. I have heard it said that when a man is drowning, in a moment all his life passes before his view. So it was with David, and the effect of it was that David could not find satisfaction in himself or in his house. David speaks here prophetically, by the Spirit of Jehovah, of the ruler among men. In a

certain sense David himself had been a ruler among men; but he had not fulfilled what was spoken of here. "He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God". As a matter of fact, David on more than one occasion proved himself lawless. David was really a man of faith and beloved of God; but when he came to the zenith of his power he proved that there was lawlessness with him. David was brighter in the day of adversity than in the day of prosperity. In adversity he shines, in prosperity he fails. Now he that rules among men must be just, or righteous, ruling in the fear of God. He should be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds. One cannot doubt for a moment that this points to the Sun of righteousness. What do you think will bring in the morning without clouds? I think the Sun will do it. In the physical world we see the beneficent effect of sunshine on the earth after rain. This scripture looks on to the time when the Sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in His wings. Before that the earth will come under very pernicious influences morally; there will be the combination here of all the influences of evil; then the Sun of righteousness will rise and disperse all.

The moment the Lord Jesus came into this world He presented the kingdom of God, for He presented the rights of God in mercy. The law of God was in His heart, but He presented the rights of mercy, that men might be brought under the moral sway of God. You remember Mary Magdalene; the Lord cast seven devils out of her in the rights of mercy. She had no particular claim on God for that, but the Lord exercised the rights of mercy, with the effect that she was brought into the kingdom, the moral sway of God. So with the woman in the synagogue who had been bound eighteen years; the Lord released her; He exercised the rights of

mercy, and the woman was brought under the moral sway of God. In the case of the ten lepers: they were all cleansed, but nine of them never came into the kingdom; still God secured His tithe; the tenth came back and glorified God, he was subdued by the mercy of God. You must remember that the kingdom is God's assertion of Himself in the rights of mercy.

Now I say farther in regard to that, Christ appreciated the mercy which He expressed. He delighted in mercy, and in the exercise of it. The Lord never conferred any benefit grudgingly. He Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. It has been said by a very intelligent servant of God that Christ bore in His spirit what He took away by His power; and if He felt the ills under which men suffered, do you not think that He appreciated God's mercy towards man? I am sure everybody would be prepared to allow that.

When we pass on we find that, in the mercy of God, the Lord laid the foundations of the kingdom in redemption. The mercy of God must rest on redemption, because man lay under liabilities to God, and they, of necessity, had to be met. Redemption came in; Christ by the grace of God tasted death for everything. Now God has appointed a day in the which He will judge, not only Israel, but the world, in righteousness. The ruler among men must be righteous. God is going to govern the world in righteousness, in the rights of mercy; and He has given assurance of it in the resurrection of the Man whom He has appointed. This is a wonderful thought to my mind; it shows me that God will establish the kingdom on the basis of resurrection, so that man may have a footing there. If the kingdom were established on the old ground of nature, death would be there, and the curse. God has been pleased to establish the kingdom on

the basis of resurrection, through redemption, in order that man may have a place there, and so He has given assurance of the kingdom to all men, in that He has raised Jesus from the dead.

We have come now to the truth of things, the Sun of righteousness and the kingdom. As to the character of it, I quote a verse in Hebrews 1, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity" (lawlessness). Christ proved Himself to be just. He delighted in righteousness; He loved every acknowledgment of the rights of God, whether it were in law or in mercy.

Now I trust you will be able to see how far the prophecy of David has been fulfilled. David looked forward to One not only positionally greater, but morally greater than himself; One who could be said to be righteous, the Sun of righteousness, rising with healing in His wings, bringing in the morning without clouds. The expression is beautiful. I want you to contemplate Christ in that light. We have come into the kingdom, under the moral sway of God; it has been established in the hearts of believers in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that the scripture can say, "The kingdom of God is ... righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit".

I turn to verses 4 and 5, the sure and everlasting covenant. Christ was the sure and everlasting covenant which God made with David; the sure mercies of David meant Christ. In Acts 13 the apostle Paul quotes that expression in confirmation of the truth of a risen Christ. In the case of David, and of the Lord Himself, there was the appreciation of the mercy which they expressed. Christ was the perfect expression of the mercy of God. When the Syrophenician woman appealed to the Lord on

the ground of mercy, she got what she desired; so with the blind men: the Lord gave them their sight. On the other hand, He was the covenant of God. The sun in the heavens is a kind of covenant between God and man; at all events, a rainbow is, and the recurrence of day and night. But, after all, the great pledge of God's mercy and goodness toward man is a risen Christ. It is in principle very much like the bringing back of the ark. Israel had forfeited everything by their folly in taking the ark into battle; then God gave the ark back to them in the sovereignty of mercy. God had established a covenant with man in the fact of Christ having become man; but man broke the covenant; they crucified Christ, and now God gives Christ back to man in resurrection, on the ground of redemption.

It is a great point to apprehend that everything is assured; we have not only got the perfect expression of God's righteousness and mercy, but the appreciation of that righteousness and mercy in a man; Christ is perfect in His appreciation of all that which He has Himself expressed. I believe that to be the security of the universe. God has secured a Man in whom everything is effected. That is the covenant, "ordered in all things, and sure". I can say, my house is not so with God; there are many things we have to deplore, looking back on our own path; yet, after all, God has ordered and established with us a covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. I can turn my eyes away from my imperfections, and those of my house, not only to the revelations of God, but to that Man in whom the appreciation of mercy is perfect. We can say much more than David, that Man has been pleased to give us living water, in order to conform us to Himself. What is all our desire? It is Christ. I am sure no one can look upon himself with anything like unalloyed satisfaction. But if I look at Christ, He

is the Mediator between God and men, perfect in the appreciation of the mercy of God, and having the capability and power, in virtue of redemption, of communicating living water to conform us to Himself.

I turn to Revelation 22:16, 17. That passage is extremely beautiful in connection with what I have said in regard to David. The Lord says, "I am the root and the offspring of David". David saw Him as his offspring; but now the truth comes out that He is the root of David. He was the root of David morally. Then He says, "And the bright and morning star". He does not say, I am the Sun of righteousness, because He has not yet come out in that light. Then He says, whosoever is athirst, let him come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. The ruler among men must be just; He is the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning Star; He will appear as the Sun of righteousness, and bring in the morning without clouds; but in the meantime He imparts living water, to conform us to Himself. I do not think anybody need be disappointed at being a failure. I little dreamt forty or fifty years ago what a failure I would find myself to be. If people get disappointed in themselves, it only proves that they do not know themselves. God never expected to find anything in you. What He works in you is the appreciation of Christ. I can esteem Him as the everlasting Covenant, the One who came to express the mercy of God, and who appreciated the mercy that He expressed; and He has given living water, to conform us to Himself. Now we have another spring; we have the nether as well as the upper spring, that is the covenant ordered in all things, and sure; Christ cannot fail. There is not only grace with Christ, but power. He has power to subdue all things to Himself. Christ can touch a

man like Saul of Tarsus, and he gives in, in a moment, like Jacob. Then Saul could not find much satisfaction in himself; but Christ subdued him, brought him into the kingdom, and communicated to him living water: Saul was conformed to Christ, he says, "For me to live is Christ". I think people have not sufficiently contemplated Christ on two sides. They have apprehended Him as the expression of the mercy of God, but have failed to appreciate Him as delighting in the mercy which He expressed.

I refer for a moment to verses 6 and 7. The truth is that there are the sons of Belial. There are those who are irreconcilable. I do not expect that all men are going to believe the gospel. What then? The irreconcilables, when they prove themselves such in the apostasy and the setting up of Antichrist, will be thrust away and come under the judgment of God; they will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. That is what David prophesied. He was the sweet psalmist of Israel, yet he could speak of very solemn things. You will find many a bitter word in the Psalms, because there are those upon earth who are sons of Belial, and irreconcilable to God. All will come out in due season.

Now I think we ought to have profound delight in the thought of the Sun of righteousness. Think of God bringing to an end the terrible confusion and lawlessness in this world. All the noxious and poisonous influences which affect men in the world will be dispelled by the advent of Christ. He is just, and will rule in the fear of the Lord; and the fear of the Lord will be the great ruling principle in that day; when men universally will be brought under the influence of the mercy of God. We can look forward to that day. But it is equally a comfort to think that, in the consciousness of our

failure, we can fall back upon the certainty of God's covenant. If you ask me where that covenant is, I point you to Christ as Man. He knows perfectly well all our infirmity. He came in contact with all kinds of people; but He never made anything of their failures; one was as good as another to Him, or as bad. It was just a question of those who were subdued by the mercy which He expressed; then He could give to them living water, to conform them to Himself. What came out in those who immediately surrounded the Lord -- Peter, and many another -- was weakness, lack of intelligence, and faithlessness. Peter thought he had some good in himself; he would not deny the Lord, though all the others might. He had no power of faithfulness, and the Lord knew it. Then the Lord communicated to Peter the living water, to conform him to Himself. It is such a comfort to think that Christ expects nothing in us. He is going to work everything in us. He will not have a bit of you and a bit of Himself; He is going to displace you morally, and conform you to Himself.

It is a great thing to apprehend Christ as the covenant that cannot fail, ordered in all things, and sure. This hope was the comfort and stay of David when he was about to pass away, and the same is really much more true in regard to us, because the covenant has come in; hence we understand its terms better than David could.

THE NEW MAN

Colossians 3:8 - 17

What I want, beloved brethren, is to speak a word of a practical character (though I know I am not a good hand at that). I desire to bring before our souls for a moment, by the Lord's help, the testimony of the saints here. I do not mean our individual testimony, but what I might call our corporate testimony. What I mean by this is, the front which saints ought to present down here; or to put it in words which will be better understood, the way in which the saints are looked at corporately, as a vessel for the display of Christ here, the expression of the heavenly Man. It is what comes to us here as the new man. And I think we have the realisation of the Lord's prayer in John 17:21: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me".

Before I speak of this I would say a word about the contrast in these different epistles, Romans, Colossians and Ephesians, because I think we have been, perhaps, a little too much inclined to regard them simply as stepping-stones from one to another: for example, Romans to Colossians, and Colossians to Ephesians. I do not doubt for a moment there is a measure of truth in that. I have no doubt we apprehend truth in that way. I question if a person who did not know Romans would understand much of Colossians; or if one who did not know something of Colossians would understand much of Ephesians. But it is important to remember that each epistle presents christians in a different aspect. If we apprehend what has come out in one, it does not shut out what has come out in another.

This afternoon we had the christian presented in two aspects very distinctly: as "in Christ", and in his actual condition down here. If we look at the christian in Romans, we see him in his individuality. You do not get the "one new man" in Romans. The body is only brought in incidentally. The christian is a justified man in the place where he was a guilty man; he is in the Spirit, not in the flesh, or a debtor to it; it is a christian in his individual pathway through the wilderness. We do not get into the land in Romans. When I pass on to Colossians I come to another aspect. It is more corporate. In the passage read, I find the truth of one body. "To the which also ye have been called in one body" (verse 15). I have no doubt the reason is because this part of the epistle shows to us the testimony which is to be presented in saints down here corporately. That no one christian is adequate for the expression of Christ I should think every one would allow. The Lord when He comes is "to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe". In all His saints. In that day the saints will be the vessel for the display of the glory and beauty of the heavenly Man.

The great point in Colossians is Christ in us; not we in Christ, but Christ in us; because it is more a question of character. "Christ in you, the hope of glory". Then speaking about the new man, he says, "Christ is all, and in all". Anyone, I think, would see that this is quite distinct from Romans -- the individual saint indwelt by the Spirit of God, guided by the Spirit of God through the wilderness. Here we have the proper testimony of saints as one body; the beauty and excellency of Christ as the heavenly Man is to come out here in the one body. As "the elect of God, holy and beloved", they are to put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.

Above all they are to put on love, which is the bond of perfectness; the peace of Christ is to rule in their hearts; the word of Christ to dwell in them richly. Christ characterises them.

I just pass on for a moment to look at Ephesians. There I find another truth which does not shut out either of what we have seen. Christians are there viewed distinctly in Christ according to the full height of the privilege. I do not mean that it is not touched in Romans and Colossians, but in Ephesians it is distinctly new creation. "Chosen us in him before the foundation of the world"; "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works". It was really the beginning, God's start with us. We may not apprehend it that way, but God began that way, and we are a new creation in Christ. That does not shut out the teaching of the other two epistles, clearly; the saints remain in their individuality down here, and the testimony and service which come out in the saints in Colossians abide. The truth in Ephesians fills out the others; and more -- if the truth of Ephesians is apprehended, that is, that there is a new creation in Christ, the truth of Colossians and Romans is better understood -- we can see better what it is for Christ to be in the saints, and are better able to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

I have just said this because I think there is a little danger of looking at the epistles simply as stepping-stones, though I have no doubt we learn in order. When we get to Ephesians we really get to where God started from; when we were dead in trespasses and sins, He quickened us together with Christ. That sheds immensely greater light on what we get in the other epistles; but Colossians continues as long as we are down here; there is to be the testimony of the new man, and at the same

time we have to be guided through the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a wonderful thing to be a justified man where one was a guilty man, and to have Christ as the spring of life, no other spring but Christ.

I desire to refer to the exhortations that come out here, and to add one word as to deliverance; we know so little of it. I hesitate to speak of it because one knows it so little, but it is a point of so much moment, we cannot advance in divine things without it. Deliverance is not that which is realised all at once. I do not say it is not ours, but I do not think it is realised all at once in our experience. In Colossians we find the deliverance is very complete. We do not get deliverance in Ephesians. The truth unfolded there does not leave room for it; it is not a question of experience, but of new creation. You can hardly find room in new creation for that which is experimental in the way of deliverance. But when we come, as in Colossians, to the collective testimony of the saints here, it becomes a very important point. So it is in Romans. How can I walk here as reckoning myself alive to God if I do not know that I am dead to sin? I have to accept that I am dead to sin; thank God I am! Sin does not come in between the believer and God. It has been completely put out on the cross, or how could I go on with God? You cannot put "alive to God in Christ Jesus" and "sin" together. There must be the other side of it -- that you are dead to sin.

We had alluded to this afternoon a point of importance: the difference between deliverance and liberty. Deliverance from sin is by the word and is effected at the outset. Liberty lies more in the power of the Holy Spirit, and is a law. The idea of deliverance is, I think, very much enlarged in Colossians. I will tell you why: the new man is brought

in; the point is testimony, and the testimony is that of the new man; therefore deliverance is very full indeed. What we get in Colossians goes even to this: 'We have put off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; we are dead to the world'; that goes a very long way. The death of Christ is very absolute here. With Him it was actual death, and a complete bringing to an end of all that we are morally, good or bad. I do not talk about good in respect of God, but there may be certain things estimable in man down here. In the death of Christ all that we are was brought to an end, morally, before God. There is the ground of deliverance; we could not have it otherwise. It is not a deliverance I have to work out, and in a certain sense it does not depend upon my realisation of it, though it is no good to me if I do not realise it. It lies in the death of Christ; all the springs of my being were judged in the cross of Christ; so that the old man and flesh does not come in now between God and me. It is not merely sin, but the christian has put off the body of the flesh, that which fitted me for the course of things down here. In Colossians it is taken up more as the religious course of things. What have I to fit me for the course of man in the world? The life of the flesh: and every christian professes to have put off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, "buried with him in baptism". What I avow is this -- that I have no life for the world morally (not actually of course); I am entitled to avow it because of what has taken place in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. A great privilege it is to know that nothing whatever stands between God and me. I am before God according to His quickening power, everything removed that stood between Him and me.

This is brought before us to pave the way for the proper testimony of christians here, the corporate

testimony. The saints are to be the expression of Christ here; it is an important point to regard. It is, as I have said, a very different thing from going through the wilderness in the power of the Spirit of God, which I find in Romans. In Colossians 3 there is something morally outside this world. When you come to talk about the new man you must remember you have something outside the course of this world altogether. The body of Christ is outside this world; it is here, but as to its nature, by the very fact of being united to the Head, it is outside the course of this world. And so the new man; it is a new creation, not suitable for the scene here. I have put off the body of the flesh that fitted me for this world, its philosophy, religiousness, and so on; and now I come into the presence of something which, in its nature, is outside this world -- the new man. We find it very difficult to understand its place and character in this way: christianity is so mixed up with the world. Real christians have got so mixed up with the world that there is great difficulty in distinguishing the new man. It is "renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him". That is the first characteristic of what we have put on. The word there, "renewed in knowledge", means that account is taken of a completely new order of objects. The word in the original is very strong. Suppose we were placed in heaven, and had to look at everything and everyone as it is before God, that is to say, morally, I think we should be taken aback to a very great extent, because we are so little accustomed to it. We judge of things according to appearance, according to what is external. This was the case with the Corinthians. But suppose we were in heaven, in the conscious presence of God, then everyone and everything has to be looked at as to what they are before God, and therefore, through

grace, the first may be last and the last first. The first in nature, last in grace. The new man is renewed in knowledge. Mark this! You begin to get a knowledge, a view of things according to the image of Him that created him; all is measured by Christ. Do you think the Lord, when here, judged things according to appearance? Do you think He took account of people as the world takes account? Nothing of the kind! He took a true estimate of everyone and everything according to God. "As I hear I judge". That was His principle. He was dependent. This then is the first characteristic -- "renewed in knowledge".

What is the next thing? "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free". It is all outside this world, outside the wilderness. I find Jew and Greek down here; but in the new man it all vanishes. We have to take account of saints in that way, apart from all that distinguishes them in this world. When we look at saints in that light, as the vessel of testimony here, we have to leave aside all these artificial distinctions, and to view them apart from it all, because we look at them as before God. It is a tremendous lesson; the sooner we set ourselves to do it the better! We shall have to know it perfectly in heaven; everything will be seen there according to its true worth. The sooner we learn to judge of ourselves and one another, according to what we are by the grace of God, the better. When we get outside wilderness circumstances we learn to look at things as God sees them, and we see the first last, and the last first. Everything is overturned in the presence of God. Thank God we can learn it! It is a wonderful thing, with our judgment and thought of things formed by the world in which we have been brought up, to find all reversed when we look at things in

the presence of God. I can bear to see it all reversed in His presence. Christ is now "all", the Object, and "in all".

Now we get exhortations. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye". It is Christ under the eye of God here. The first man, as I may say, is gone; every distinction in flesh all gone, and you have the saints now in your eye according to what they are in God's eye, Christ in them. You see them as the elect of God, holy and beloved. We naturally look at each other according to our peculiar eccentricities, and judge each other hardly oftentimes. We are to look at each other as "the elect of God, holy and beloved". Christ has passed out of this world, but He is here in the new man. The new man takes the place of Christ here in a way. The saints are here as the "elect of God, holy and beloved".

Then he speaks of what is suited to it. Christ is the standard of conduct, beloved brethren. All this truth never came out until Christ was entirely out of this scene, every link with the flesh broken. When He was raised from the dead, and at the right hand of God, this wonderful truth came out. I do not think this truth could have been borne before; I do not think we could bear it now, except by grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, to break away from everything here, and view the saints as they are before God holy and beloved; then to put on all these things, and above all, love, which is the bond of perfectness.

As I said before, no one saint is adequate to be the expression of Christ down here. One trait may come out in one saint, another in another; but we

need to be placed in relation one to another in order that the varied beauty of Christ may be reproduced. However we mar it, or spoil it, down here, it will come out in the day of the glory of Christ. He will be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe. We want to look at each other apart from the eccentricities that distinguish us down here, and to see instead the saints as the vessel for the display of Christ. The more we know what the saints are before God -- a new creation -- the better we shall understand it.

This was what was before my mind; and I think it is a day when we need to have it brought before us, and our hearts recalled to it: to get outside individual peculiarity and see what the saints are as the vessel of God's testimony down here. Deliverance is a very important feature in it. Indeed, I do not think we can enter into the truth except as deliverance is ours. We have put off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Then the realisation of it is another matter. We have all of us taken the place of being dead to sin, dead to the world in the death of Christ; but the realisation is another thing. Thank God! it has all been wrought for us. It does not depend upon our realisation, it belongs to us. The great thing is to enter into it, so that we may bear our part in the testimony which God has been pleased to bring about on this earth for His Son, who has been rejected here on this earth.

CHRIST'S PRESENCE IN THE FATHER'S HOUSE MAKES A PLACE FOR US

Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 10:1 - 22

Ques. What shall we read?

Rem. Well, I was thinking we might go on with Hebrews and have a little more about the priest gone in, in the end of Hebrews 9. I suppose it is not exactly the priest here; it is not exactly priestly service, though it is He who is the Priest.

F.E.R. No; you get the priest again in chapter 10 as "great priest over the house of God", verse 21.

Ques. What distinction do you make between "heaven itself" (chapter 9) and the holiest (chapter 10)?

F.E.R. If you had not a place in heaven you could not enter the holiest. Christ has gone into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us. He is not only there, but He is there for us. If you have not a place in heaven by the will of God you could not enter the holiest, the idea in which is moral -- the place of privilege of saints on earth.

Ques. Does His place determine ours?

F.E.R. I think so. He has gone into heaven to appear in the presence of God for us.

Ques. Is His place now the place we shall have hereafter?

F.E.R. I think so, as in the Father's house.

Ques. Would you call that our standing?

F.E.R. No; it is more place. He goes up and takes that place for us. He is there for us, that gives us a place in heaven. It is His presence in the Father's house as man that makes a place for us. It is not the making a place in any material sense. It is more than title, because it is a place prepared for us.

Ques. Is it as Forerunner He prepares the place?

F.E.R. As Forerunner He has entered within the veil, it is more a moral idea; heaven is a place.

Rem. It was a question when the Lord left the earth whether He would return, the eleven only saw Him go into the cloud, they did not see any further. When the moment of His rejection came in the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7) the heavens were opened, and Stephen looked up and saw the glory of God and Jesus, and the moment he saw Jesus (he looked through the cloud, for he says, "I see the heavens opened"), that is home; he knew where he was going; going home. That makes our place. Stephen saw Jesus there and that made a place for him. We know the Person who is there. The moment you see the glory of God and Jesus in it, it is home.

Ques. Would you say a word about the end of chapter 6?

F.E.R. The idea of the holiest is that which is within the veil.

Ques. Are we to understand that "within the veil" corresponds to the place in chapter 10? Is chapter 6 moral and not exactly the heavenly places?

F.E.R. Chapter 6 is not exactly the same as chapter 10. In chapter 6 Christ has entered within the veil and become a priest, to lead us into it. "Which (hope) we have as anchor of the soul" in chapter 6. When you come to chapter 10 we enter in.

Ques. In chapter 6 within the veil is connected with the hope. Does the hope apply to us?

F.E.R. Yes; for as a christian here on earth, whether you enter into your privileges or not, your hope is there. Even the Jew had fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope, but in chapter 10 we enter in; it is not the hope there, but a question of entering into privilege. You embrace your privilege. The Hebrews had not entered into privilege at all, because

they were still in the camp; but their hope entered there; the anchor of the soul sure and steadfast.

Ques. Can you tell us the meaning of within the veil?

F.E.R. You cannot understand the expression or what it is unless you apprehend what the sanctuary is. An Israelite knew what it meant, because he understood what the sanctuary was. "Within the veil" was the holiest of all, where the high priest went once a year. We have not, as they, a material sanctuary. I believe it is the presence of God; the revelation of Himself in that which is before Him for His glory. The sanctuary in its entirety is the full display of God. The sanctuary took in all, the holy place and the most holy.

Ques. The veil being rent, it has all a different character?

F.E.R. You must understand what the sanctuary is before you understand the rending of the veil. It is the full revelation of God through Christ's death.

Ques. Why do you say the veil rent is God coming out?

F.E.R. The veil is never seen as rent in Hebrews, you go through it. Indeed, you do not get the rending of the veil except in the three synoptic gospels. It was rent from the top to the bottom, that was God coming out; but that is not what we have in this part of the epistle to the Hebrews.

Ques. Why?

F.E.R. Because you must go in through death, and that is death effectuated in you, you have to appropriate the death of Christ for yourself. It is not here a rent veil, an opened way, but a way through, which depends on the appropriation of death in you. The way is there.

Ques. We must go in through it?

F.E.R. The great point is, Christ is gone in first. It is not simply God come out, but Christ has gone that way through death. He is the first to go in. He went in through death, and that is the way you go in, a new and living way. It is not merely by faith in His death, but that death is effectuated in you.

Rem. You cannot go in as a living man in flesh. You must appropriate His death.

F.E.R. You cannot bring in anything that the rending of the veil has set aside. To put it in other words, it is the soul's realisation of privilege, all is based on the virtue of the death of Christ, His perfect sacrifice. In my soul's appropriation of death I am on an entirely new footing before God.

Ques. Then in the gospels the rending of the veil would be God coming out, and in Hebrews we go in?

F.E.R. Yes; it is the end of man in flesh; it must be made good in us. It is the appropriation of Christ's death, as bringing man to nothing as in the flesh.

Ques. Is it not the place where every christian always is?

F.E.R. No; it is privilege. Access, if you like. In Hebrews it is not power but the way that we get in. It is the privilege of the saint here, the soul passing that way. It is the soul's appropriation of privilege, you go in to your privilege. Privilege indicates something conferred on you through the grace of God. The soul passes into it. Every christian has the privilege; it belongs to him, but he may not be enjoying it. You must not confound privilege with moral state.

Rem. The moral state is settled by the way you go on. Every christian has the privilege, but every christian does not take it up, he does not go in by the new and living way.

F.E.R. You must maintain the privilege, because that is on the divine side and our title.

Ques. What is the new and living way?

F.E.R. The way by which He passed through. He has died to sin and lives unto God. He is alive, a Person out of death. He has taken up a platform on which we can be with Him. I think Romans 6:10 explains it. No one could ever have been with Him after the flesh. He is the corn of wheat that has fallen into the ground and died, He has left the order of things connected with man in the flesh, and has taken up a place in resurrection, out of sin and alive to God, in which we can be with Him. We never could have had association with Him in the flesh.

Ques. What is "through the veil, that is to say, his flesh"?

F.E.R. That refers to the fact of His death.

Ques. I should like to know why you object to the veil rent in Hebrews?

F.E.R. Because if the way were perfectly open to man we should go in as we are, as alive in flesh; but we go in through the appropriation of Christ's death to what we are as in the flesh, and you do not go in except that way.

Rem. You must go in the same way that Christ went in, but you have to go that way, and you will not go in unless you do go that way.

Ques. Does it correspond to John 6?

F.E.R. It is very much the same.

Ques. Is it right to say that Christ went in in virtue of His death?

F.E.R. He went in in the full value of His death. He took the ground up for us, that there might be a divine basis for His people to go in upon.

Ques. What particular part of John 6 corresponds to it?

F.E.R. "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood".

Ques. What is "my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world"?

F.E.R. It is His flesh given which is the ground for the life of the world. We appropriate His death to enter into our place as sons. The privilege of sonship is connected with entering the holiest. The enjoyment of the place of sonship and all privilege with God lies wholly and entirely in the Spirit, not in the flesh. Our companionship with Christ lies wholly in the Spirit, and we must for that appropriate the death of Christ to all that to which He has died.

Ques. "I am the way"?

F.E.R. Yes; He is the way.

Ques. Is this in Hebrews 10 any allusion to the rending of the veil when the Lord died, or is it Aaron entering in within the holiest?

F.E.R. We have the priest entering in in chapter 9. The allusion in the expression "through the veil" is to the death of Christ; but, as J.N.D. said over and over again, you never get a rent veil in Hebrews. If it were rent on our side as it is on God's side we could go in as men in the flesh.

Rem. And Israel would enter in by-and-by and they will not.

F.E.R. The point is, there is a veil to go through. To come to the assembly -- we come into the assembly as christians (the Corinthians came together as christians), but when thus come together, then in the power of the Spirit of God we pass right away in spirit from all distinctions of the flesh (neither Jew or gentile, bond nor free) into the privilege of the sons of God. By the power of the Spirit of God we pass into the sense that we are all companions of Christ and sons of God. It must be by death, because it is only through death we can

get free of the distinctions of flesh. It is only death that can abolish them. When we come out of the assembly we resume our individual position here; these distinctions exist and must be recognized in their place. You may be a free man; you may have a bondman; but in the assembly, in the power of the Spirit of God and of spiritual affections, you pass out of all this into the place of enjoyment and privilege with God. You pass into a new scene where Christ is all and in all, and that is the sanctuary, where there are no distinctions whatever.

Ques. The veil will be up again in the millennium?

F.E.R. It has never, on our side, been taken down. You cannot alter the fulness of the revelation in which God has come out. The question of entering in, according to the full understanding of the revelation God has given, is another thing -- that is a question of apprehension.

Ques. The veil is not removed on our side?

F.E.R. No; but on God's side it is rent from top to bottom. He is fully come out. I do not know whether you could say it is removed on God's side, it is rent on God's side, so that God has come out; and in Matthew 28 you see the full extent of it. The Lord gives the commission to go out and baptize all nations, "to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"; that is, because God has come Out in that way; but it does not mean that all nations will necessarily enter into the meaning and power of that revelation.

Rem. We want to get away from the material thought to the spiritual idea.

F.E.R. That is the great difficulty.

Ques. Is reconciliation connected with the idea of God coming out?

F.E.R. I think reconciliation is God Himself removing the distance between Himself and man.

It affects nothing for you as to your state. It is God coming out.

Rem. The rending of the veil has removed the distance.

F.E.R. Yes; in the work of Christ God on His own side has completely removed every barrier between Himself and man.

Ques. How far will this epistle affect the remnant by-and-by?

F.E.R. I think it is all a question of what God will give them according to their spiritual state. They will get the law written on the heart which fits them for earth; we get the spirit of sonship which fits us for heaven. Everything is dependent on the purpose of grace. God has called us in this privilege. He will call them in another -- we cannot go beyond what He calls us to.

Ques. Is not the remnant contemplated in Hebrews? Is not that why the veil is not rent?

F.E.R. I think the apostle goes beyond christianity, and brings in the thought of the world to come. When "the world to come" is established, you are completely through. It is not then a question of going through, you are in. Everything has been completely met for God; every demand of His glory completely satisfied; Christ "once in the consummation of the ages ... has been manifested for the putting away of sin by his sacrifice". Every claim of the glory of God in respect of sin has been met by the offering of Christ.

Ques. Is not the blood always for God?

F.E.R. The blood is first for God, but also for you.

Ques. What is the sevenfold sprinkling?

F.E.R. The sevenfold sprinkling is that everything has been met for God.

Ques. Are there not two sprinklings, on the mercy-seat and before it?

F.E.R. Yes; but I think it is all for God when it is a question of carrying the blood into the holiest, it is what is suited for the glory of God inside.

Ques. Will you say once more why you so insist on no rent veil in Hebrews?

F.E.R. Because you have to go through the veil, not an unrent veil, but through the veil; you have to go through by the way Christ made, and by that way alone you pass into privilege that cannot belong to you as a man on the earth.

Ques. May we say that as God has come out through death we have to go in through death?

F.E.R. Yes; you can only get free of your position as a living man on earth by death.

Ques. You get everything on the ground of death, as to title?

F.E.R. Yes; but you must go in by death if you are going to enter into privilege, which does not belong to you as a living man on earth, because it must put you away. It is only death that can put an end to you as a living man on earth -- but then it is Christ's death.

Ques. How do we appropriate death?

F.E.R. I think we are attracted. It is by attraction. The soul is attracted to Himself, and then we are willing to accept the way. You will be where Christ is, nothing short of that will satisfy you; that is what love claims; I will be where He is; that is what makes it a privilege to accept death. It is wrought by affection. Love claims to be where He is.

Rem. It is the known Person who attracts.

F.E.R. Yes; that is why the priesthood is brought in on your side first in Hebrews. He engages your heart and affections thus, then affection claims to be where Christ is.

Ques. Is it the same thought as in John 6:68, when the disciple says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life"?

F.E.R. Exactly; it was plain there was no one else to go to. No one can minister anything to me but Christ, and I cannot get Christ anywhere else but where He is. The secret of Christ's love to us lies in our having been given to Him by the Father. The lines --

"Thou gav'st us, in eternal love,
To Him, to bring us home to Thee"

express the thought.

Rem. When we talk of having accepted death, we must remember it is not a kind of monkish effort; it is real affection and attraction to the Lord. I see it with Elijah and Elisha. "I will not leave thee" was always his answer; three times he says it, "I will not leave thee"; then he goes over Jordan with him.

F.E.R. When you come into the assembly you may for the moment think what a crooked person this or that is. You have partialities for some and prejudices toward others, but if your soul gets into the power of the Spirit of God, He carries you above all that, and all fleshly distinctions, to the place where Christ is all and in all. Assembly privilege is on the ground of death: you have gone out of life on earth, and are in the enjoyment of your privilege before God. He leads you into the enjoyment of the Father's love outside all this.

Ques. When you speak of being in the assembly, you do not merely mean sitting together with a company of saints?

F.E.R. Of course not! That leaves out the presence of Christ in the assembly, and it is Christ's presence in the assembly that leads us to Him, outside all here, that we may be His companions. It

is not going into the room, it is the power leading you in affection outside everything here into the holiest of all where He is. Of course we come together simply as christians.

Rem. You take that ground when you are there. You begin with the Lord's death, which abolishes all distinctions. Most people end with it.

Ques. Do not people sometimes think mere outward connection with the assembly is sufficient?

F.E.R. That would be leaving out the place Christ has there. The soul must realize its privilege of companionship with Christ before the Father.

Ques. What is the force of Hebrews 10:19, 20, "by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way"?

F.E.R. The blood is the ground -- the title on which you can be there consistently with God's glory. The new and living way is the way you have to go in. It is not the power that is presented in Hebrews that takes you in, but the way you go in. People have not a proper idea of the sanctuary. The sanctuary is God's blessed revelation of Himself, and of His satisfaction in His Son.

Ques. I suppose the best way to learn the holiest is to be there?

F.E.R. I think you must learn what the sanctuary is first.

Rem. I am not quite clear as to what the sanctuary is.

F.E.R. I think it is the delight of God in that which He has accomplished for His own glory in that Man. It is wonderful that His infinite and eternal satisfaction should be found in a Man! and One that is an adequate object for the love of God. You get the idea in the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat. That is the wonderful thing that has come to light, not simply what God is from all eternity but what He is as come out, that He has

found in a Man His infinite and eternal glory and satisfaction.

Ques. Would you say Christ Himself personally was the sanctuary of God, and if we are found there in our affections and heart we are there with God?

F.E.R. I think so; other things come out in connection with the sanctuary; you get the connection of Christ with Israel; therein was the table, the shewbread. He is not only the antitype of the holiest, but the antitype of the whole thing. The sanctuary is, as I understand it, the revelation, the light of God in Christ in that which He has accomplished for His own glory. It is not only God has come out, but He has gained for Himself an adequate object in Man. It is a wonderful thing that man could be an adequate object for God.

Ques. Do you mean that what is portrayed in the sanctuary is God's delight in man?

F.E.R. Yes; the eye of God could rest on the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat, and see a Man in whom was fulfilled all His counsels and purposes. We speak of the sanctuary in its application to us, but if you speak of the sanctuary in a broad way, you must go on and take in its application to Israel and all.

Ques. Does it include the thought of God's dwelling-place?

F.E.R. The sanctuary includes the holiest and the holy place. It is not only God's dwelling-place, but that He rests in infinite satisfaction in what He has accomplished for Himself, not only for us but for His own eternal satisfaction.

Ques. Does 2 Corinthians 3:18 correspond with this?

F.E.R. Yes.

Rem. If the veil had not been rent for God to come out, we could not have gone in.

F.E.R. Quite so; it involves it, but it is important to keep things as Scripture puts them. God must come out if we are to go in. It is of the very last importance to maintain that the veil is rent on the divine side, and that is equally true for the millennium as for now.

Ques. Did it signify the setting aside of the whole of the old system?

F.E.R. Yes; the first system of things could not exist at all with a rent veil; that system could only exist so long as God did not reveal Himself; the whole thing must go when God came out, it must all pass away.

Rem. God did come out in a certain way when Christ came into the world.

F.E.R. Yes; it was the beginning. The revelation of the Father in the Son was complete in His life here, but the revelation of the love of God came out in the death of Christ.

Ques. If the sanctuary included the holy place and the holiest, why was the veil put between the two?

Rem. You find a remarkable difference in Chronicles and Kings. In Chronicles you get the veil and the brazen altar. In Kings there is no veil and no brazen altar, but you get the oracle there. Israel itself, I believe, is much more in question in Chronicles; the outward display in Kings. Israel is the place on earth through which everything comes out from heaven. I do not think Israel goes in, but you get a company in the millennium morally near to heaven. The porch is specially dwelt upon in Kings. My own impression is that the porch figures the administration of what is heavenly to earth; it is not heaven or earth exactly, but the connection between the two. Though not in heaven, yet the one hundred and forty-four thousand (Revelation 14) are morally beyond the earth, they sing the song of

heaven, and are thus a connecting link. You get in the first part of the sanctuary the holy place -- what is heavenly in its aspect earthward. You get the oracle in Kings, because Israel are the people who get God's mind from within.

F.E.R. The whole order of things then will be coming out, not our going in.

Rem. We have gone in, they do not go in, but they communicate the heavenly, they learn the heavenly song, though not in heaven. They are the people to whom God's mind is made known, and through whom the revelation comes out.

Ques. Will it not be true in that day that Christ Himself will have come out?

F.E.R. I doubt if Christ is ever seen apart from the church. It is in the church, the heavenly Jerusalem, He is known. He does not come out apart from the church; there He is displayed. The body is the vessel in which He is fully declared. "Every eye shall see him". It will all be made good, but I cannot tell you how. He comes to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe. It is there He is displayed, I believe. That is what I understand by the expression, "his body, the fulness of him that fills all in all". He is fully declared. I do not think Israel will ever have again the same thing that has been in the presence of the Lord, as He was among them. I believe Israel missed their opportunity when Christ came among them in humiliation, and my judgment is, they will never have what they missed, they will never get that opportunity again, they will have to learn everything in the church. The identification will be complete there.

Ques. I understand you to say that before getting into the holiest we have to learn Christ in the sanctuary. I do not quite get hold of that; will you say a little word about it?

F.E.R. I do not think I said you learn Christ in the sanctuary, but what I said was this -- you must learn the revelation of God, the way in which He has come out, before you can enter in. The high priest could not go in until the sanctuary existed. You must know Christ as Apostle before you know Him as Priest. Moses inaugurated the system and Aaron maintained the system that was inaugurated. The system is inaugurated by Christ as Son and Apostle. It is maintained by Christ as Priest. You must first apprehend Him as Apostle before you can be led in by the Priest. What He leads you to is the Father. It is the Father's delight in the Son, not only God's complacency in Man.

Ques. Is not the great intent of the Spirit in Hebrews to lead us into the holiest?

F.E.R. I think so. I came across a beautiful remark by J.N.D. which confirmed me in this thought and opened it out, that in the first part of Hebrews Christ comes to our side with sympathy and succour, in order to bring us to His own side; the great point is to lead you to God's side where He is at home and where He orders everything. Christ orders nothing in this world, He sympathizes with me down here and succours me, but He orders everything for God. In the beginning of chapter 8 the "summary" is "We have such a one high priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens; minister of the holy places".

Rem. We have nothing else but Christ.

F.E.R. No; and what can you want more? What can equal for a moment the fact that I am an object of the love of Christ and He takes me into His delight before God? You will not get to Him except by affection. Faith will not take you in, though you cannot get in without faith, because without faith you would not have light from God.

It is affection that takes you in. Power will take you in by-and-by, but nothing but affection will take you in now.

Ques. Is to "draw near with a true heart" response in affection?

F.E.R. I think so, but it is a true heart -- affection. Faith is light from God, but when it comes to the realisation of anything with God and with Christ it is always a question of the Spirit of God working in you by affection.

Rem. That is the value of the illustration so often put before us of Rebecca and the servant.

F.E.R. Yes, if you go into heavenly places, it is all by affection; you only go there by affection now. By-and-by the power of God will take you there; so too in regard to the sanctuary. If you are going to be led in in communion with Christ it is a question of affection, appreciating His affection. Affection goes in with Him, nothing short of that will satisfy it. That is why 1 Corinthians 13 comes in in connection with the assembly, because love is your measure; without it you are nothing. You may have everything, "all gifts", and be nothing. Your stature is measured by love and love abides when faith and hope shall cease.

Ques. What is the "veil ... upon their heart"?

F.E.R. They were all in that state; that with which the veil was connected was Israel, who were clinging to the first order of things; and God has set all aside in the person of Christ. They were doing their utmost to maintain the first order of things which God had set aside and they could not see clearly.

Ques. A christian may be in that state?

F.E.R. Yes, if you are clinging to "beggarly elements" you are in that state. Christendom is set up on the pattern of the first order.

GOD'S TESTIMONY

Ephesians 1:1 - 14; 2 Peter 1:16 - 21

I feel in a sense the difficulty of presenting the subject which I have before me -- that is, the testimony -- and for the reason that many will regard it as a worn-out theme. The term has almost become hackneyed amongst us. But nevertheless I will venture to say a little about God's testimony, and will trace the line of that testimony through Scripture, and seek to show, if able, where that testimony now resides. And in connection with the subject I will say a word on the vessel of the testimony, and on the relation of the testimony to the vessel. Now, here are three pretty distinct points: the first, the testimony; then the vessel of the testimony, which in a certain sense is inseparable from it; and then what properly characterises the vessel of the testimony. That comes down, if not to practice, to what is very practical.

I have taken up the passage in Ephesians because it presents two thoughts. One is our calling, and the other our testimony. For the sake of brevity, I will say the calling of the church, or of the saints; and the testimony of the saints. These two thoughts appear. As regards the vessel of the testimony I would say, that if you do not understand the calling, the testimony must be defective. Depend upon it, we are not up to the height of the testimony if we do not apprehend the calling. If it be the case, as no doubt it is, that a great many people go forth gospel preaching with little or no knowledge of the calling, you may be sure that their preaching will be defective. Even though outward effects may be produced by it, the effects will not convince me that it is otherwise. It cannot but be defective from the lack in their own souls. I am

not speaking of those in fellowship with us, but of many who go out preaching.

I begin by tracing the testimony of God through Scripture, and it is very interesting to see one mind, one thread, running through the whole word of God. The apprehension of this cannot fail to have the effect of confirming our confidence in the word of God, so that we have the sense that whatever may fail, or however we fail, yet the word of God cannot fail. That is a point to which every one of our souls must come. You have in the word of God not only what is in itself infallible, but what cannot fail us.

The first point I take up in God's testimony is that seen in Abel, and I may remark that up to the church the testimony of God would appear to have been identified with individuals. I think that was so. The difficulty might be presented that Israel as a nation was here for the testimony of God; but I doubt if they really were that according to the purpose of God. They ought to have been a testimony, to have given by fruit-bearing, witness that they were a vine on earth; but when Christ came into the world, He says, "I am the true vine". Israel had the place of God's vine, but they were not the true vine. The Lord says, "I am the true vine" -- the genuine vine. Israel will, under Christ, come into the place hereafter, and will be a testimony here for God, but only in abiding in Christ. I make that remark in order to guard the particular point that in the Old Testament the testimony of God is bound up with individuals.

I am for the moment referring to the testimony before the flood. The beginning is in Abel. What he did bore witness to the ground of acceptance. That is the principle apparent in his testimony. He died on account of his testimony, but it is remarkable that "he being dead yet speaketh".

Now I pass on to the next point, namely, Enoch. The theme of his testimony was the Lord's coming, "Behold, the Lord has come amidst his holy myriads". At that early date, that was his witness. It was in view of what was a necessity for that that he walked with God, and that he was not, for God took him. If you had not the light of translation, you could not understand how the saints would come with the Lord. It is in principle the difference between 1 and 2 Thessalonians; in the first epistle the saints are caught up to meet the Lord in the air; in the second epistle they come with Him. That is what came out in Enoch, and the effect of it on him was that he walked with God; he was thus the vessel of the testimony. He did not make a conspicuous figure on earth; he was obscure, and he disappeared, for God took him. He was the witness for God in that day.

I pass on to Noah. Noah is not, as Enoch, a witness of the coming of the Lord, but of the coming judgment. I need hardly say that judgment must connect itself very intimately with the coming of the Lord. Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and what righteousness meant was expressed in warning men of coming judgment. The effect on him of his testimony was that he, believing God, did what God told him to do -- he prepared an ark for the saving of his house. You see thus the effect of the testimony upon the vessel of it. Abel died; Enoch was not, for God took him; Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and built an ark for the saving of his house. That carries us up to the flood. Morally all was in a line.

Now I come to later times, namely, to Abraham, and in him is marked a point of departure. It is not now simply a question of moral principles, as before the flood. In Abraham we come to another line, and it is indicated in that the God of glory

appeared unto our father Abraham. "The God of glory" and "the glory of God" are two expressions connected in Scripture. If you look at Acts 7 you will see that Stephen in speaking began with the God of glory, and ends with the glory of God. The glory of God is the climax, the result of what the God of glory works. The glory of God is the climax reached in Christ. The God of glory marks the point of departure. It indicated that God was One that had His own purposes. His purposes are His glory, and in the accomplishment of His purposes His glory is displayed. That is what I understand to have been presented to Stephen. He looked up to heaven and "saw the glory of God, and Jesus".

But to return to Abraham. God gave the promises to Abraham. He promised to bless. In that way He anticipated the law and the curse. But another point comes out also in connection with Abraham, and that is, the title of God to dispose of the earth as He pleases. The world had become apostate; the spirit of antichrist was there; Babel was the proof that man had become apostate. In the face of this, God announces His purpose to dispose of the earth as He pleases. The earth does not belong to man. God has given it to man for enjoyment, but the earth is the Lord's and He will dispose of it to whom He will. God gave to Abraham the testimony of blessing -- he was to be the vessel of it, What was the effect upon him? He dwelt in a tent, but he looked for a city. He was a stranger and a pilgrim in this order of things, but he had a prospect -- he looked for a city that has foundations. He was a man of expectation. I never knew of a city in this world that had moral foundations. Rome had no foundations, or it would not have passed away. Its renown was largely built up on violence and tyranny. London has no foundations -- no moral ones. Abraham "waited for the city

which has foundations, of which God is the artificer and constructor". He looked for the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, founded in righteousness, in which no hand of man has ever been employed. It is a wonderful thing to contemplate a structure, whether it be a house or a city, in which man has had no hand, whose builder and maker is God. It is a work which God does not entrust to any man. It is all of Himself. You get something akin to it in Matthew 16, where the Lord says, "On this rock I will build my assembly". So with this city, the Builder (the Architect) and Artificer is God. That is what Abraham looked for. As has been often remarked, Abraham had an altar, a place of approach to God, and on the other hand he dwelt in a tent. He did not run in the current of the course of things in this world, but confessed that he was a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth, for he believed God and had His promises.

I do not profess, in what I have been saying, to be exhaustive, or assume to compass everything connected with Abraham, I only bring two or three prominent points before you.

The next thing I take up is the tabernacle, and here the vessel of testimony was Moses. The truth foreshadowed in the giving of the law and the setting up of the tabernacle was this -- that where the law was written God would dwell, that was what God indicated. I hope to be able to make clear that when the law is written in man's heart, then the way is prepared for God to dwell among men. For the time being the law was written on tables of stone. God was acting on the principle of testing, therefore the law was not yet written in man's heart. But in the ways of God the law will be written in man's heart. The point of departure here is Christ. He said, "Thy law is within my heart". Not that the law was written

there, I need hardly say, but it was within His heart, and the consequence of His coming is that the law will be written in Israel's heart; and when that is so, God will dwell with man. I do not doubt that this will be fulfilled in Israel in the future, when God consummates the new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. "Giving my laws into their mind, I will write them also upon their hearts; and I will be to them for God, and they shall be to me for people"; but "I will be to them for God" must be consequent on the law being written in the heart. There are two things consequent on the law being written in the heart: one is, that man becomes the reflex of God -- Christ as man was the reflex of God, He was so perfectly, as we see in Psalm 40 -- and the other is, that at the same time every one has individual knowledge of God. Consequent on that, God sets up His dwelling among men. I think that was foreshadowed in the direction to make a sanctuary which God gave to Moses. Moses had to set up God's dwelling -- place, and to make everything according to the pattern shewed him in the mount. Moses was the vessel of the testimony in that day, and what marked him was that he was faithful in God's house. He was not only a stranger and a pilgrim -- he could not very well help being that, for he was in the wilderness. It had been different with Abraham: he dwelt in the land, and being rich he could have been otherwise. But it is in connection with God's house that Moses is spoken of as faithful. He did not deviate one jot or tittle from the directions given to him in the mount. He had a due sense of the importance of God's house, and of what it was to have to do with it. I think it would be well if we had more sense of the importance of God's house and of having to do with God in regard to it; we would not depart

from the divine order and directions. Even in a day of the greatest confusion, faithfulness is the principle that ought to govern us -- Moses was faithful in God's house.

But to pass on. We have had the promises in Abraham, the writing of the law and the tabernacle in Moses. The next point, I think, is the throne. David was in this the vessel of testimony. Again it was an individual. The throne came in when everything had failed after the first order. Prophets had testified, Samuel had come upon the scene. There had been a king after the flesh in Saul. Then comes in as king the man after God's own heart -- the anointed of God; and the testimony of God is bound up with David. He was the witness, the reign of grace, when all had been lost under law. Now, there are two things that mark David: he was ever subject to God's word, and was unflinching in opposition to God's enemies. He stood in the truth, always subject to the prophet. He was not a wilful king that did his own will. It is on the ground of what was seen in David that the throne of God in this world rests. The enemies are subdued and set aside, and the throne is maintained in all faithfulness to God's word.

I will not now speak further of the testimony of God as presented in the Old Testament; we have had the promises with Abraham, the tabernacle with Moses, the throne with David. I come now to the point where all these testimonies meet and rest, and that is in the Lord Himself. I will refer for a moment to what Christ was after the flesh. These different testimonies were all centred there, not one was lacking. The promises were there, for He was Abraham's seed and the vessel of the promises; the tabernacle was there, for God dwelt there in a prophet who was like unto Moses; the throne was there -- or perhaps I should say,

the title to the throne -- in the true Son of David. That is how the Lord came into this scene and was presented to His people after the flesh. The consequence was this, that at the close of His course here the Lord rides into Jerusalem, claiming the throne. He enters Jerusalem as Zion's King, claiming the throne. "Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass". He rides into Jerusalem, claiming His inheritance. That was the testimony presented in Christ after the flesh, and that was rejected. They rejected the promises, they rejected the One in whom God dwelt, and they rejected the One who had divine title to the throne. Christ was the vessel of the testimony, and what marked the vessel of the testimony when you get every testimony centred there? It was the perfect solution of the whole question of good and evil. "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity". That was what marked the pathway of the Lord Jesus here in this world. It has been said (and truly) that the opposite will mark antichrist; he will love iniquity and hate righteousness; the result to Christ is -- "God, ... thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows". There was the unvarying resistance of sin and evil all through His pathway here. In His death He took the place of death to sin, but in His pathway it was not death to sin, but striving against sin. (Hebrews 12:4). He resisted sin in every form in which it presents itself, every kind of evil; the whole question of good and evil was completely gone through, the complete conflict with sin and the complete maintenance of good -- all that was due to God. What came to pass in the Lord down here, to put it in the language of scripture, was, that evil was overcome by good. It is most terrible to think that the Lord was rejected in spite of all

the good that came out in Him. All good from God was presented to man here, and yet the vessel of it was rejected. He resisted unto blood, striving against sin. That was the pathway of the Lord Jesus Christ down here.

Now the Lord Jesus Christ is no longer here. Other things had to come into view. Redemption had to be accomplished and Christ to be exalted to the right hand of God. The whole ground of action had to be changed. The man after the flesh, after the first order, had to be set aside, and the Man after another order had to come in. Man after the flesh was annulled, and in the resurrection of Christ man after another order was brought into view. God had to be glorified in man after the flesh; for that reason Christ came in flesh that He might glorify God. But there was another reason. The Man from heaven had to come into view when He had severed every connection with man after the flesh. Now what I say is this: The testimony is still here, but it is now no longer connected with an individual, but with a company on the ground of faith. The ground has changed. The One in whom the testimony was presented is rejected and is now on the right hand of God and is Head of the church, which is His body here. It is not individual testimony now. I understand that the church is left here in testimony to what belongs to Christ. It is no new testimony, that is to say, it is not of anything further that has to be accomplished, for every element of God's glory is secured in Christ at God's right hand. God has His way. Christ is the true ark of the testimony and the mercy-seat. The church is here, properly speaking, in witness by the Spirit of God to the glory of Christ. That is the position of the church, maintaining here in this world a testimony to the rights

and inheritance of Christ, and in which latter the church itself has its own proper part.

Now no one of us could do that if he did not first know the calling. In the passage I read (Ephesians 1) you first get the calling. If you are not in the truth of the calling you cannot be in the full enjoyment of God's love, for that is the great point in the calling. "He has chosen us in him before the world's foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love". Love is the very essence of sonship. The secret of sonship lies in the knowledge of God's love; we are in that position in the enjoyment of God's love, and responsive to that love, and no one can be of any account practically in regard of God's calling, except as he responds to His love, for He has chosen us to be before Him in love. We must be holy and without blame or we should not be suited to God, but the essence of sonship is love. God has made known His purpose as to us to that end, that we might be formed in the divine nature. Sonship is that we might be before God according to His nature. If God sees fit to have sons for Himself they are "before him". Testimony down here is not the point in this passage, but "to himself". The thought in sonship is "to himself". We need to be in the light of that, in order to be responsive to that love.

When you know the calling then you are fitted to be here in the testimony. The two points that come before us in this passage are: First, we have the forgiveness of sins. Secondly, we have intelligence of God's will, and the will of God is to head up in one all things in Christ. Everything that was presented in times gone by in type and shadow is now gathered up in Christ. God has made known that no purpose of His will has failed, however it may have appeared to fail. All is established

in Christ, gathered up in Him, and in Him we have obtained an inheritance; and in whatever Christ has taken up in the way of promise, or as regards the dwelling-place of God, or in connection with the throne, we -- the saints -- have part with Him. It is not the higher side of blessing; I fully own that the calling is that, because it presents what we are to God; the calling is the supreme thought; but the testimony of forgiveness of sins, and of inheritance is vastly important down here; to put it in the language of Acts 7, we bear witness to "the glory of God, and Jesus". And we have the Spirit, the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.

Just one word more, and that is this. We can understand that our testimony must be completely ineffective except as we are apart in spirit from the course of things here. If you are disposed to settle down here in a path of earthly ease, I do not see how you can be going on with the testimony of God. That is a danger which besets us all. If you fall into it you are not faithful in maintaining the witness of God's will, and that, you must remember, is part of the testimony. Even in the very first principle of the gospel to the gentiles it is, "that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance". Inheritance is in Christ; it does not refer to the present order of things; and if we have it in Him we are left here to be witnesses, not of our inheritance, but of His.

I do not think that our path here is exactly as was Christ's in conflict with sin. It is true that we have to walk as He walked, but as regards sin our place is of death to it. People I daresay will not leave us alone if we are in this path and walking as alive to God in Christ, they will be against us; but still our path is different from

Christ's, it is death to sin rather than of conflict with it. We get an indication of our path in Peter (Matthew 14) when the Lord encouraged him to leave the boat to go to Himself on the water. I am here, but I do not set myself to attempt to stem the current of evil; but to walk in correspondence to Christ. I am not going to try to improve the world or anything of that kind. At the same time I am waiting here until the time comes to reign with Christ, and am here in the power of the Holy Spirit to witness to His inheritance.

I believe that to be our testimony, and I think it is of all moment to apprehend it, and to see that the testimony of God is now bound up with the church. It might be said, Where is the church? Where am I to find it? I must leave that, but I think it is important to see that the church was the special vessel of the testimony. When Christ was here it was individual; He was alone; though even then He associated twelve with Him. Now it is no longer individual. The church is the vessel of it. People say, 'Ah, but the church has failed'. It has failed as God's house on earth, but I think we ought still to be like Abraham, strangers and pilgrims here, and like Moses, faithful in God's house, and like David, true to God's word and unflinching in opposition to God's enemies. In the light of the glorified Man, walking in death to sin, and coming consciously nearer and nearer to the One who is the blessed expression of God's purpose in regard to us, getting more to the height of God's calling as chosen in Christ that we might be holy and without blame before God in love, predestinated unto sonship. I do not believe in the power of any testimony here save as we are fully in the light of sonship, since I do not think we shall be effective if we are not in the enjoyment of it.

I feel how imperfectly I have presented the subject to you, for the reason that I am so little up to it myself -- but it is a great thing to see the line of God's testimony right through Scripture, and to realise where at the present moment the testimony of God resides.

THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN

Hebrews 12:18 - 29

We have now to entertain the idea of One who is speaking from heaven. There is an allusion in this passage to what took place with regard to those who disregarded the one who spoke on earth -- Moses; and the point pressed upon us is, to be attentive to the One who is speaking from heaven. The great thing is that our hearts should be in connection with heaven. Christianity was established by a voice speaking from heaven -- Christ speaking by the Spirit. It came through apostles, but it was Christ speaking. When God spoke upon earth through Moses He spoke to men of things connected with man's responsibility; but when He speaks from heaven, He speaks of things which it is His purpose to establish, and I may say of things which He has established according to the Man whom He has brought in. That is the character of the communications now. In a sense, God still speaks, for the Spirit is here, and we have to regard the One speaking from heaven, and it is of great importance for us to be attentive to what is of interest to God, to regard what He has established.

God speaks of everything as about to be shaken. It is in the power of God to shake everything. A mountain may be shaken to its foundations and vomit out fire. Everything that is material may and will be shaken, but there is no shaking of what is moral, "We receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved". To get a true idea of stability you must connect it with what is moral. What is of God and of Christ cannot be shaken. It may be humble and insignificant in the eyes of men, but when everything passes away, that which is moral

abides. The character of the kingdom of God is "not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit". That cannot be moved. "Our God is a consuming fire"; He burns up that which is not of Himself, He consumes the dross, but He does not consume that which He has built. If He builds a kingdom, that cannot be moved.

Now I want to point out to you what it is that God has established. The coming of Christ has brought in everything. Before He came there was nothing established for God. In the Old Testament you do not find anything established for God, but now, Christ having come, we have come to that which God has established. It is the consequence of Christ having come in. He came to accomplish redemption that He might be the centre and sun of God's universe, just as our universe is centred in the sun. The foundations have been laid in redemption, and Christ is the blessed centre of the divine system. I want to show you of what that system consists. We read in verses 22 - 24: "But ye have come to mount Zion; and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels, the universal gathering; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven; and to God, judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, speaking better than Abel". Every one of these things is consequent on Christ having come in.

What I understand by mount Zion is a risen Christ. A mountain in Scripture is often used symbolically of a great power. The power of God is a risen Christ. Mount Zion took its character from the ark having been brought there by David after it had been taken captive by the Philistines and sent back. Mount Zion was nothing in itself, it is distinguished by what took place there. So

with the mount of transfiguration, it is called the "holy mount" on account of what occurred there. We have come to the true mount Zion, not the material. The true mount Zion is really seen in Christ risen. One world was lost in man and was ended in the death of Christ. The princes of this world crucified the Lord of glory, and now is the judgment of this world; but Christ raised from the dead is the sun and centre of God's world. That is what mount Zion means for me, and the practical effect is that I am delivered from the world and all in it and attached to God's world. Our interests are in that scene of which Christ is the centre. We are "married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God". Every hope connected with this world was lost in the death of Christ, but everything is established for the universe of God in the resurrection of Christ. Christ has taken up His place in God's world on the ground of redemption, and all men may come in because redemption has met all that man was. Men were under death and curse, but a door has been opened by which they can enter that scene of which Christ is the centre. There is now a bond between Christ and us in the Spirit. We may have bonds down here, but every such bond will be broken by death; but there is a bond which unites us to Christ which cannot be broken. He is to us the mount Zion that cannot be moved.

Next we come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The city could not be until Christ came. I look upon a city as being the centre of an empire. The first city started with the idea of an empire; at Babel man would build a "city and a tower". So Jerusalem was in a sense the centre of an empire; so also Babylon. When Babylon swallowed up all that existed it became a great centre. The heavenly Jerusalem is the centre of

an empire such as the world has never seen. It is the city of the living God. We have come to it. I understand it to mean all that subsists here by the power of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost, and in what He established you get the city of the living God; we get the good of it now. Men thought a good deal of Rome, as in the present day they think a good deal of London. They are much more struck by the cities of this world than by the city of the living God; in their eyes it is contemptible, but to us that city is the centre and seat of true imperialism -- divine imperialism. Let us hold to imperialism, but let it be that of the King of kings and Lord of lords. A city is dependent on a covenant; Jerusalem of old was dependent on and characterised by mount Sinai; the heavenly Jerusalem is formed and characterised by the new covenant. Jerusalem above is free, because dependent on the new covenant. There are three things connected with the heavenly city; God is known, appreciated and approached; "God is known in her palaces for a refuge". That is the value of the new covenant. There are cities in Germany which have a peculiar place of liberty and privilege; the heavenly Jerusalem is characterised by liberty, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". There was no liberty under the old covenant because God was not known; where God is known liberty follows. The heavenly Jerusalem enjoys liberty and confers liberty on her children. Liberty depends on knowledge, it is reached in no other way. If a father going away for years on service leaves an infant, and the child grows up without knowing its father, it will not have liberty with its father when he returns. But with a child brought up in the presence of its father there is attachment and liberty of approach. The child has not the same liberty with a tutor, but it knows its

father's disposition towards it. The secret of liberty lies in the knowledge of God, and it is in the new covenant that God is known. Christians in systems do not enjoy liberty, they must leave their boats and come into the region of the Spirit to enjoy liberty. Liberty does not belong to those great worldly systems.

The heavenly Jerusalem was established in the power of the Spirit, and is enjoyed in the power of the Spirit. We have come to it that we might be characterised by the new covenant and have the enjoyment of liberty. We have the power to approach God which the knowledge of God confers. We are in the region of the Spirit; until Christ came there could not be the Spirit, but now Christ has been glorified and we have received the Spirit.

Now I come to the next point, "To myriads of angels". Until Christ came, where was the man on whom angels innumerable could attend? The heavenly host sang and praised God at Christ's birth; in His temptation angels waited on Him, and at the close of His course an angel strengthened Him. The angels waited for the Man -- the Son of man. Now the Son of man is come. In the world to come angels will ascend and descend on the Son of man; everything will be put under His feet, as we find in Psalm 8. The angels now guard the city; they are ministers sent forth to minister for the heirs of salvation. They are sent to guard God's people; as they were attendant on the Lord when He was here, now they are attendant on those who are the Lord's here on earth. We do not know how much we are guarded by angels.

Then follows, "To the assembly of the firstborn, who are registered in heaven". That could not be before Christ came. The Firstborn had to be brought in first. Christ is the true Firstborn; He is the beginning of the creation of God -- He must

have the pre-eminence. In our physical universe the sun has the pre-eminence, so in God's universe Christ is pre-eminent. The church of the firstborn is in accord with Him, they are pre-eminent in the thought of God, their names are written in heaven. Properly speaking we belong to heaven -- we are raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2). Our ability to have to do with God is dependent on our apprehension that we belong to heaven. If I understand that it is the pleasure of God to have me in His own place I can approach Him. It was God's pleasure to have Israel in His land, not in the wilderness. It was God's land, so in regard to us, it is His pleasure to have us in His own habitation, "God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love wherewith he loved us, (we too being dead in offences,) has quickened us with the Christ, (ye are saved by grace,) and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus". I love my children and would have them with me and feel it painful to be parted from them. I do not know a greater pleasure in a natural way than to have them return home after they have been absent, so it is "because of his great love wherewith he loved us" that He has made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ. Every believer expects to go to heaven. But why? Not because of their faith, or their deserts, but because the love of God will have them there. That is the thought connected with the church of the firstborn, and in apprehending that we have liberty to approach God now. But until Christ, the firstborn from the dead, had come in, you could not have the church of the firstborn, any more than you could have mount Zion, or the city of the living God.

Then we have "God, judge of all". God could not take up this position apart from Christ.

How could He put Himself in touch with His creation until Christ became man? God whom no man hath seen or can see. All was dependent on the incarnation and resurrection of Christ. Now it has come to pass that God is judge of all, and we can apprehend Him in that light. God takes that place in regard to creation. Judgment will return to righteousness and it will be a great day for the meek of the earth. "The meek shall possess the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of prosperity" (Psalm 37:11). Judgment has long been divorced from righteousness, but it will return to it, and the meek of the earth will follow it.

We have come to "the spirits of just men made perfect". This could not be apart from Christ. They had to be made perfect through redemption. The great cloud of witnesses in chapter 11 -- Enoch, Noah, David, Samuel -- are made perfect because Christ has come in; their fear of God could not make them perfect. These righteous men are now made perfect through redemption; their spirits are spoken of because they have not their bodies yet.

Then we have "Jesus, mediator of a new covenant". No one but Christ was competent for this, because He died for the transgressions that were under the first covenant, and the new covenant is really Himself. I have no doubt that Christ was the covenant the moment He became Man. He is the mediator of it by redemption; He is minister, too, of the holy places; He walks in the holy places. The holy places are the saints; He is concerned as to the saints, and ministers that He may present them in suitability to Himself, "having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things; but that it might be holy and blameless", that He may offer them up thus to God.

Then "the blood of sprinkling, speaking better than Abel". The blood of Abel defiled the earth,

and it has been defiled ever since. The earth looks beautiful outwardly, but looked at morally, 'Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile'. Man gives character to the earth; how much since Abel's day has the earth been defiled with moral abominations; but the blood of sprinkling is the divine answer to all the defilement.

Now God speaks to us of all these things, He is speaking from heaven. Nothing is displayed yet, but all has been established in the coming in of Christ, and is made known to us by the One who speaks from heaven. I pray you not to be inattentive to that voice. It is your obligation to pay attention to it. It is a great thing when Christ is dwelling in the heart by faith, it proves that you have listened to the voice that speaks from heaven, and have a divine apprehension of these things by the Spirit. There is nothing that God has not now in Christ. We come to it in the power of the Spirit in apprehension. God intends you to see all established in Christ, so that nothing can fail. These things should be the interest and food of our souls. May God grant that they may be.

THE SERVICE OF THE LIVING GOD

Hebrews 9:1 - 28

I would offer at the outset a word of apology, as my thought is to speak to you on a subject, and I do not very much approve of speaking on subjects to believers; for a Person -- Christ Himself -- is evidently the subject of all testimony. But what I want to speak of is important enough, and if I can carry my thought through, you will not think that I have introduced it without the idea of a Person.

My subject is worship. It is important for us to understand something about worship; all the ideas around us as to it are fundamentally wrong, and I will tell you why -- it is that people come together for what they find prepared for them. Now that is not a true thought, for in what is true the point is not what you find but what you yourself bring. It is a fundamental difference which most can appreciate. In a large part of my life my thought as to the service of God was of coming to what I found ordained and arranged. In result I found, like many others, that true worship must be dependent on what we bring, for apart from that there is nothing to be found; and moreover you must not trust in any one else to bring anything. People come to our meetings and they have a sort of confidence that somebody will bring something, but the point is what you bring. The true ground of service or worship is seen in this chapter. We often speak of preaching or teaching, which have men in view, as service, but that is not the way in which the word is employed here; it means the service of God. In verse 1 and again in verses 6, 13, 14, it is the same word -- to serve or worship the living God. In verse 6 the worship of old is seen to depend on the priests, but who is the "your" in

verse 14? It is the believer, the one who attempts to draw nigh. It is that contrast that I want to bring out. The priests went into the first tabernacle, but what about the people? They had no part in carrying on the service, they were lookers-on, all was carried on by the priests. It was in a way (I would say it reverently) ready-made service, the people could bring nothing to it at all, they only came near to what was already prepared. And yet the people were the great concern of God. Now you have to a large extent the counterpart of that in christendom. Whether in church or chapel, certain arrangements are made, and all is carried out according to them; there is a worldly sanctuary and the clergy or ministers go into the first tabernacle accomplishing the service of God. People come to what they find, they are not exercised to bring anything at all. They may be invited to join in it, but it is carried on officially, and the people come to what they find -- prepared to accept such an arrangement. Now even in the simplest kind of meeting you may find the same thing prevailing. People come, in their own thought, to a ready-made meeting; the service will go on whether they bring or do not bring anything, they come to a service, and go back in that way to the first tabernacle. That is all fundamentally wrong; there is no such thing in the present day as anything prepared or official priests entering in; there are no official priests. If Christ were on earth, He even would not be a priest; and in regard to the common people, which we all are, we do not come to a ready-made service, our service can only be carried on by what we bring, and if we do not bring anything, there is no power to carry on any service; all is dependent on what we bring; the service will never be above what we bring, a very important principle, which I wish all would lay hold of.

I refer to the other error -- the expectation that someone else will bring something. Everyone should be concerned to bring what is necessary. What you can bring will have a very important influence on the meeting. I charge everyone here not to come to the meetings with the idea that you will find a ready-made service, for if you do you are going back to what God has rejected. You may depend upon it that the worship will be dependent on what we bring.

I will say a little as to the preparation: if you have got the preparation, you will bring something, and so the preparation is very important.

Perhaps you will look at verses 11 - 14. Did you ever consider what that passage means? What I understand it to signify is that Christ has formed a platform before God which is available for us. You may say that it is a difficult idea to entertain; but you must entertain it. When He was down here it was not so. He abode alone in His own personal perfection, and there was nothing to hinder His returning to heaven from whence He came. But having accomplished redemption, Christ has entered on a ground which is available for us -- a point of the last moment for you and me to apprehend. People may say, Where is the holy place? I believe it is a moral idea; it is the ground or footing which Christ has taken up, and which is available for us, because He has ordained eternal redemption. It is a great thing to see that He has entered on a footing that is available for us. He did associate people with Himself on earth, but as to the platform on which He was, He was evidently alone; but now He has entered in. It is not a question of heaven or earth, it is not a place, but a ground, or whatever word you like to use, available for us, and on that we can stand before God. You do not want to go to church or chapel for that, nor to the meeting.

If you do not find it outside the meeting you will not find it inside; it is the platform that He has found, and it is now the question of the individual apprehension in the soul of the place which Christ has taken. That is the first thing. I cannot talk of worship if that is not apprehended. It was not the mind of the Lord to return to heaven alone, He has found a ground available for us; you do not want a clergy or anything official, it is a question of the apprehension of each soul.

Now there are two points in the preparation -- appreciation and purgation. You cannot do without either, and they have to follow in that order; then you have your preparation complete and are qualified for the service of God. You may have an archbishop or a cardinal, but without this preparation he cannot serve God; and if there is appreciation and purgation, a bed-ridden woman may be as qualified to serve as any other. A child might serve the living God, for with a child there may be appreciation and purgation, and no one can serve the living God without them.

Now look at chapter 8: 6 - 13 and turn for a moment to Luke 10:38 - 42; 11: 1 - 4. I do not suppose you will see exactly the connection in my mind between these passages. I was saying that the first point as to qualification is to apprehend the platform on which Christ has entered.

But I am going to speak now about the preparation. The first thing is to appreciate Christ as the covenant; you cannot understand what it is to approach God if you do not. In your own thought of things your man has changed; you have become another man by your appreciation of the covenant. I will tell you what is essential to a covenant on the part of God -- that it should make known what God is in His disposition towards us, as a man's will makes known his disposition towards his heirs.

I might go through scripture and point to many covenants; the covenant after the flood made known the disposition of God towards man, and so with David, it made known God's disposition towards him, and the new covenant makes known His disposition now towards man. We only know God by his disposition towards us. Many of us here have children; my children know me by knowing my disposition towards them, that I would do the best I could for them. They cannot read my inmost heart, but they learn me by finding my disposition towards them.

But there is another point, and that is -- knowing that disposition I respond to it. My child learns from infancy what my mind is toward it, and knowing me thus it responds to it. Those are two principles which everyone ought to take in.

Now, in the new covenant the importance is that God is known in His disposition towards us, and then that we respond to that. If that passage (chapter 8: 11, 12) means anything it expresses the disposition of God, and thus He is made known. But in the preceding verse it is said, "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people": that is the response to the knowledge of God. Things are stated in the inverse order to what is the case in their application to us, in that the knowledge comes first, and then the law of God is written in our hearts; that is the principle.

Now how is all that to be brought about? By the appreciation of Christ, for we cannot see the truth except in Christ. We cannot understand the disposition of God towards men except as we see it in Christ. Hence, as I understand it, Christ is the covenant, for on the one hand it is in Him that

God's disposition is set forth, and on the other, He is the perfect response as to all that man should be for God. He is the bond.

In Luke 10:38 - 42 we see how Mary appreciated Christ, and I think it was founded on this, that He made known God in His disposition towards her; I connect it with verse 22, "All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is pleased to reveal him". The ground and character of her appreciation was that Christ revealed God to her. But in chapter 11: 1 - 3 we get another point. What suggested to the disciples that they should ask Him to teach them to pray? We might have done the same. I think they felt that Christ was everything a man should be for God and therefore that He could teach them to pray; He Himself could spend a night in prayer to God. When He was born there was good pleasure in men. Now if you have followed what I have said, you will see that we get two things in Christ. He declared God's disposition, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, it was declared in Himself. Those who came in contact with Him felt the grace of God, there can be no doubt about it. I refer to Luke 7:41 - 50 because it is evident to my mind that the woman in Simon's house apprehended that God was declared to her in Jesus; in the parable that the Lord propounded He exposed things as they were, but there was grace. He was the creditor, and she felt it; but He was the covenant to her; God was declared to her soul. But my point is, we want to appreciate Christ not only as declaring God, but as being the perfect response on man's part before God, so that you can ask Him to teach you to pray. He leads us into the response, we get the ability to pray from Christ. Christ is the covenant; we apprehend Him as the One who has

declared God; but who is also all that man should or would be for God. It is a true saying that people are pretty much what they appreciate, and if you appreciate Christ as having declared God's disposition, and as being all that a man could be for God, you have changed your man; you have set yourself aside and put on another man -- the new man which is created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth. You could not understand the new man if you did not learn it in Christ. I discard the old man and appreciate the new, and am characterised by what I appreciate. If Christ is appreciated in my heart, God is known, and my delight is in the knowledge of God, I joy in God by our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to glory in knowing God, and we know Him by knowing His disposition. But then there is the other side; Christ teaches me to pray, I pray by His Spirit. I cannot conceive any more radical change in a person, it meant a change of husband, and if so, a change of man morally on my part. I am no longer in the flesh, for the Spirit of God dwells in me. Christ is available for everybody, and He is the covenant to me, and so the believer gets the appreciation of Christ, and if he comes to the meeting he brings his appreciation of Christ. Do not put this aside, and say, somebody else will bring it; take care that you bring it. It is not the exclusive portion of the learned or intelligent, but it is for the youngest and most illiterate. What is there in this Babylonish world that is really worth anything but the appreciation of Christ?

The second qualification for service is purgation. This is not known till you have the first -- appreciation. Many here might put it the opposite way, but I believe in the order I have indicated. The one who has appreciation of Christ has purgation, that is my conviction. When forgiveness of sins is preached and one receives the testimony in faith,

it is not that he believes that he has got it, but that it is there for him in Christ, and the Spirit is the seal of that faith. He appropriates it. But when he gets the Spirit he sees that Christ has sealed the covenant in His blood, and he has purgation. We get the covenant in Christ, and the seal of it in His blood, and that brings purgation of conscience so that we can serve the living God. It is what is brought before us in the Lord's supper. That all may be confirmed by scripture. (See 1 John 5:6 - 8.) Christ "came by water and blood". In the order of presentation in the gospel the blood comes first, but when the Spirit bears witness to its application to us it comes last. No one can know the witness of the blood until he has the Spirit. The first thing is the appreciation of Christ in the soul as the covenant, then you get by the Spirit the sense of purgation, so that you can worship the living God. Two things are essential -- Christ known in the heart as declaring the disposition of God, and the seal of the covenant in His blood; hence you get purgation from dead works to serve the living God. Those are the qualifications at the service of the simplest and humblest believer. In coming to the meeting it is not a question of coming to find but to bring, and what we bring must of necessity be according to God. You want to understand in your soul the platform that Christ has established, and to have the appreciation of Christ as the covenant, and the sense by the Spirit of the blood of purgation.

I believe the question of worship is a very important one, for we may practically drop down to what is around and look for a worldly sanctuary and ordinances of service. It might have been right once, but it is not so now; now all depends on what we bring; each must bring something; do not trust your neighbour to bring it, bring it yourself.

THE WAY OF ENTRANCE INTO SPIRITUAL BLESSING

John 5:17 - 29

I would like to say a word as to the progress of the soul, and its entrance into the sense of spiritual blessing.

It is evident that we cannot at once enter into things in the measure in which God has presented them to us. If God speaks to us, He speaks of necessity from His own fulness; it is impossible that we can all at once take in all that God proposes to us; if that were the case we should in a sense be as great in understanding as God. I believe we are led on into the consciousness of blessing just in proportion as we are in the apprehension of Christ; that is, we enjoy it, the truth works within us just as there is the apprehension of what is true in Christ, for the Spirit in the believer answers to what Christ is at the right hand of God.

Now I have been struck with the sequence of the three chapters, John 4, 5 and 6. I believe they speak on the side of our apprehension of the truth. The Lord had revealed in chapter 3 the proposition or thought of God, and therefore to my mind John 3 is essentially a gospel chapter, it is the revelation of what God has proposed. Our entering into it I believe comes out in the succeeding chapters 4, 5 and 6, and culminates in chapter 7.

I will just touch for a moment on the point of these chapters, especially on what comes out in chapter 5. I think there are three forms of pressure from which the Lord proposes to deliver man in the three chapters. In chapter 4 the deliverance is from sin, in chapter 5 the deliverance is from weakness, and in chapter 6, in the satisfying the soul, if I might use the expression, the deliverance

is from want -- these are three great things for God in His grace to effect for man down here in the very scene of sin and weakness and want. I assert that man is delivered from sin, raised up out of weakness, and every need of his heart is satisfied and more than satisfied. I think everybody would admit that that is a great thing to be effected for man down here, and in it is the fulfilment of the thought in chapter 3, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". I get it carried out experimentally in that way. It is noticeable that there is but little reference to the future except in chapter 6, where the Lord says, "I will raise him up at the last day".

I want to touch, seriatim, on the points I have indicated. Jesus is presented in chapter 4 as the Christ, for although the Father's name occurs in the chapter in connection with worship, the name of the Son does not appear, and it is as the Christ that He communicates to the believer the living water. We read in Ephesians 1, "In whom having believed", that is, in the Christ, "ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise". It is a great thing to get hold of the truth of the Christ. In the Old Testament we find the thought of the anointed of God, the One who, rejected here of men, is to take the earth for His inheritance. I believe you have a larger range of thought opened out in Hebrews, that He is the heir of all things; that connects itself with what we have in Ephesians 1, the mystery of God's will. To gather up in one all things in the Christ. He is the One who has to take all things, and in John 4 it is He who communicates the living water; the water that He would give was to be in the believer a well of water springing up into everlasting life. This is what I would call initial and introductory. Sin has met its judgment in Christ. He has fulfilled the type of the brazen

serpent, the judgment of sin in the flesh, in order that the Spirit might dwell in the believer.

In connection with the truth of eternal life comes in the most important point of deliverance from sin. You will never gain deliverance from sin except by getting another object than self before the soul. You must of necessity be superseded in your own eyes, and this is only by the power of another object, another man before the soul. I know that plenty of people would tell me that you are dead to sin, but you will not die to it till you get another object before the soul, and that is the second Man, who has entered into the holiest for us, and in the apprehension of that really lies the secret of deliverance from sin.

In chapter 5 I get a point further; it is here more than the communication of the Spirit of life to be in the believer, for we get the man raised up. The Son quickens the body, but the point in the chapter is that He raises up the man, and a wonderful thing it is for a man to be raised up out of the weakness which sin has brought upon him. The point of the chapter is the raising of the man. I believe it is effected by the apprehension in the soul of the truth of the Son and what depends on this, for in this chapter it is not the Christ who is brought before us, but the Son -- He reveals the Father. I get here the truth of the Person; He is the Son, and therefore He is competent to reveal the Father, that is the wonderful thing that comes out in this chapter. He knows the Father, lies in His bosom, knows all that is there. The Father loves the Son and shews Him all things that Himself doeth. You have got now to a grand point, you are raised up into a new scene altogether, and the new scene presented to us is an unfolding beyond all that was ever revealed before. None but the Son can reveal the Father, it is not any amount of language that could reveal the

Father. He alone is competent here and therefore He says, "He that hears my word, and believes him that has sent me, has life eternal, and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life". You are really raised up by the introduction of the soul into a new scene. It is not only that the Christ has communicated unto me a great gift, but He is competent to reveal the Father. He says, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work". What things to open out to poor things like us; it is to me perfectly wonderful that down here He has raised man out of his weakness to enter into things that he never could have dreamt of -- the Father revealed in the Son. The secret of all that God is has come out. It is not simply what the Father can do, but it is the Father's heart that has come to light. The Father loves the Son and shews Him all these works of grace. The Son is as man dependent, but He is none the less the Son. He is as truly a divine Person as the Father, and can say, "He that hears my word, and believes him that has sent me"; and it is in this that we really enter into the place of children, are made conscious of being raised up in this very scene.

There is only a word more as to the third point, that is, deliverance from want. We have seen that there is the well of water springing up in the believer into eternal life, and that he has a revelation of new things to his soul. Now there is another thing; he has to be formed constitutionally; that is what I get in chapter 6, the effect of the living bread. The constitution of a child is formed by its food. The bread from heaven is the believer's food, and there is another character of food to that, eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood; that is, that I have to appropriate death to that system in which the flesh lives. But I am fed with living bread, "he also who eats me shall live also

on account of me". My spiritual constitution is formed as surely by the food on which I live as is that of a child. The believer apprehends in Christ the Man that is the object of heaven's delight. It is a great thing not only to be brought into these things, but to be in them constitutionally; we are, I fear, very small constitutionally, and I think it is because we are not fully nourished. "He also who eats me shall live also on account of me". The whole idea of the chapter is, I think, satisfaction. The blessed Son of God has become man, entered into that state that He might be everything to the believer, as He is everything to heaven; thus his soul is fed, and he is independent of all beside.

I only add that all this depends on the apprehension of what Christ is, and we have seen the order in which the soul has to apprehend it. You do not begin at the top, though God speaks from the top. I do not think that a soul in the first place takes in what are called in a familiar hymn 'the higher mysteries of Thy fame'. When God begins to work in the teaching of the Spirit we are led on in the apprehension of Christ so as to become more deeply conscious of the blessing which God has purposed for us; and anything to surpass what is presented to us in this chapter I cannot conceive. You are brought into all the light of heaven in what is presented in the Father and the Son, and in chapter 6 it is not only, as we have seen, that we are to be in it as under the power of the Spirit but also constitutionally.

I do not want to add more, I would rather others would seek to open it out for themselves.

I believe that God intends to bring us into all that He has revealed to us, but it is another thing how far we have taken it in. I think I can see the wonderful grace of God and the power of the Spirit in the way in which our souls are led on.

"THAT THE CHRIST MAY DWELL, THROUGH FAITH, IN YOUR HEARTS"

Ephesians 3:17

There are very few of us that do not hail with some measure of gladness the advent of a new year. The sun, the power, in a sense, of life, has reached its lowest point in the heavens, and hope and geniality in our minds accompany its rising again. We have seen the same thing repeated many times, yet we cannot resist the effect of the recurrence. Now we must all admit that, in the view of the church, Christ, the true sun, has gone down very low indeed, and all are suffering from the effects of this. There are dark days, and a great absence of geniality among those that ought to be filled with gladness. For them the sun is not high in the heavens. But it is in the power of God to give a reviving by His Spirit, for there is no thought more comforting than that the Spirit abides here still. And there is no limit to what the Spirit can effect for Christ in the saints.

The form that the reviving would take would be, I judge, in the Spirit producing in the hearts of saints a deep sense not only of that which Christ is personally, but of that which He is officially, of the place which He fills as the Centre and Head of the counsels of God. This brings Him into view as the "Sun of righteousness", the life of the world to come. And the view of Christ in this way can hardly fail to revive hope in the hearts of saints even in the darkest day. It is in this light that I desire to present Christ.

We have been very much disposed to put the coming again of Christ in contrast to His first coming, and in a sense the contrast is very great; but looked at in a moral point of view, the second

coming is the complement of the first. What was then set forth in testimony will be established in power. One simple thought will be sufficient to establish this: He testified the righteousness and faithfulness of God in the great congregation; when He comes again it will be to establish that righteousness and faithfulness in the world, and not alone in Israel. So too the works of mercy that the Lord did in the way of witness were the powers of the world to come. Again the holiest of all, the kingdom of God and eternal life were all here in His Person, and available for man had man not been blind, and all these will be established in His second coming. The great salvation began to be spoken by the Lord and will be accomplished in power in His second coming. We see in this way how the first coming is the pledge and sample of what marks His coming again.

In the first coming of Christ it is extremely interesting to see that everything that had been here for God, and had in a sense lapsed through sin, is renewed, it comes again into view. Man comes into view in the Son of man. The law is seen in the perfection of it in Christ; not in the detail of its requirements, but in the great moral principles that were, so to say, the soul of it. Israel came again into view, not in a small remnant of Jews that in the providence of God had been brought back to Canaan under gentile domination, but in the perfection of the whole, in God's Son that was called out of Egypt, and was in spirit outside of all domination, whether of Satan or man. The word of God that had ceased for many a long year is revived in the power of the Spirit, in glad tidings to the poor. The temple of God comes into view, not in a house that had become corrupt through the covetousness of man, but in One who was marked by unsullied holiness.

All this was of the deepest interest for God, and is of the greatest moment to us, for nothing can be more important to us than to realise the impossibility of anything that God has ordained ending in absolute failure. Satan is not going to achieve a victory over God. Thus Christ is the great answer on the part of God to all that has come in by sin. And it is profitable for us to study the gospels in this light.

But another consideration comes in, and that is that men with whom Christ had connected Himself (not morally, but in the fact of incarnation) were under liabilities in regard of God, and under the power of evil, in abject bondage. And yet they were the objects of the sovereign mercy of God, whether Jew or gentile. Hence these liabilities had to be met by redemption; Christ came in the grace of God, was made a little lower than angels that He might taste death for everything. And here we meet a most momentous fact, that all that had been revived for God in the incarnation of Christ was laid down, as after the flesh, in death. And it could not be otherwise if men were to have any part in blessing.

But the resurrection morning broke, and all comes into light again in One who, having charged Himself by the will of God with all that under which man lay, is now revealed in respect of man as a quickening Spirit, with power to subdue all things to Himself! Surely this is great ground of rejoicing. If heavenly hosts celebrated the birth of Christ into this world with rejoicing, should not the resurrection of Christ be hailed with acclamation by man, the subject of God's mercy? If man did not rejoice, the stones would cry out.

But we can see still a point further by the power of the Holy Spirit that has come down from heaven. The One that descended into the lower parts of the earth has ascended far above all heavens, that He

may fill all things. He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him. We are at liberty to behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face. He is the Mediator of the new covenant, the establishment of which will fill the world with blessing by the knowledge of God. It is in this way that Christ is now before the eyes of His people, the pledge of the reconciliation of all things to God in Himself. And now all is to come forth from Himself. Nothing will be seen until He rises from the right hand of God. Then He will come to take His place and to establish the universe of bliss. He will come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all those that believe. The church is the special object of His love, that with which He has been concerning Himself in His absence, and in it His glory will be set forth. He will be known by her in the gate. Israel too will in a sense come forth from Him. It may be said that they will be gathered from all places in which they have been hid, but morally they will come forth from Christ. He is the true vine, the true Son of God that has been called out of Egypt, and all that will distinguish Israel morally as a people on earth will be of Christ. They confer no distinction on Christ, but He gives character to them. Then too He is a light for the revelation of the gentiles, they will come out of the close places in which they have been hidden from God, in the degradation of idolatry. Men will be blessed in Him, the true seed of Abraham, all nations will call Him blessed. He will fill all things with blessing. The One that takes away the sin of the world is the One suited to fill all things with blessing according to God. All this is hid in Christ at the present time at the right hand of God. The world goes on its course perfectly regardless of all this, and, alas! many christians are very little

affected by it. The terrible mistake has been made of regarding Christ as having come in to better this world, instead of seeing that the moment He comes in as man He is the beginning of another world, in which man can have part by the Spirit of Christ in virtue of the accomplishment of redemption. Hence Christ is the hope of the christian, who is most deeply interested in all that which Christ will bring in at His coming.

In the light of what has been said above, there can be little difficulty in entering in some little measure into the prayer of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 3. The church is here as the bride of Christ, but the Bridegroom is absent, and His absence is a test of the fidelity of the bride. If she is true to the Bridegroom, she would have Him dwelling in her heart by faith. She would regard no interest but His, would cherish all that concerns Him, and would not allow anything to conflict with His rights in the heart. In this way the Bridegroom would be reflected in the bride. She would be a witness to Him in His absence. How far this has been realised in the church I leave anyone to judge. But the power of the Spirit of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ can strengthen us with all might in the inner man that this may be the case. One cannot allow that the prayer of the apostle is to have no answer in the present time, and if so, even at this late moment there may be the witness of fidelity to the Bridegroom. The point is whether we are prepared for this strengthening in the inward man, for it may be accompanied by a corresponding weakening in the outward man, so that all the links with the world may be loosened. But there is great gain in it. The result is that we are rooted and founded in love, for love, in the true sense, lies in the inward man, and if we are strengthened there it is in the way of spiritual holy affections, the

secret of all real intelligence. It is the enlargement of the man that is wanted that there may be the opening of the intelligence. Then we have a vast expanse presented, the breadth and length and depth and height. This is a wonderful subject of contemplation, the vastness of that moral expanse that presents itself to the one that apprehends the true thought of the Bridegroom, who enters into alliance with and gives character to all that which is for God. It is an expanse which will be filled with the glory of God, and will rejoice in liberty from ill, and in the blessing of God. Then we know too the warmth with which all will be filled, the love of Christ that passes knowledge. The church is privy now to these things, and the knowledge of them qualifies her to be an expression of the wisdom and love of God while she waits the coming of the Bridegroom. One can only pray that saints may be awakened to this in these last moments, that there may be an answer morally to all the infidelity that is abroad, and a support to the testimony of the gospel.

WHAT GOD HAS ESTABLISHED

1 John 2:12 - 27

The special addresses which are given in this passage to christians in various stages of growth are well worthy of careful study, not only in regard to what is said as to each particular stage, but because what is involved in the whole really covers the whole ground of christianity. The prominent thought in the fathers is the One from the beginning, in the young men, the word of God abiding in them, and in the little children, the knowledge of the truth by the anointing. If the One from the beginning, the word of God, and the truth are put together, there is not much to be added.

It may be useful to take up these thoughts a little in their particular connection; we thus learn that which happily marks christians in various stages of spiritual progress, and, what is of more importance, apprehend that which God has established here so immovably that, though obscured, it cannot be shaken. It may be well in the first instance to touch on that which is addressed to the little children.

The apostle's desire for the little children evidently was stability, that they might not be moved by any antichristian influences that were at work. The object of these was to neutralise the revelation of God in Christ, that which is designated as "the truth". The Father and the Son were denied. The real test in regard to this is the Son, for there may be loose talk as to the fatherhood of God to men, which does not come out of the fact that the Father has been set forth in the Son. The unwary might be beguiled by this. Now the safeguard of the little children was, that they had received from the Holy One that which completed the truth, and made good in them the revelation. The Father had sent the

Son, and the Son had sent the promise of the Father. The little children had an unction from the Holy One and knew all things. They had not need that any man teach them. Now this position ought to be clearly understood. Every soul begins with the faith of Christ, and consequent on this the gift of the Holy Spirit is communicated. And, in the Spirit, the believer has all the truth. The Spirit is the truth. The revelation of God was perfect in Christ, and the Spirit has sealed a complete testimony. There is nothing to be added to it. All that we want is clearer apprehension of what was expressed in Christ by the Spirit, and is now made good in our hearts by the same Spirit. Any addition to this must be false. Nothing can be more important for the simplest believer than to see that, in the possession of the Spirit, he has all truth, and that what is needed for the apprehension of it is the cultivation of relations with God as He has been revealed. Here lies the secret of all growth in spiritual intelligence, and man gets his true measure in our thoughts. Men may seek to accommodate the Scriptures to the results of man's investigation, or to conclusions at which the human mind has arrived; but if this were possible there would really be no revelation. We must have the truth as it is, or reject it as a whole. There can be no compromise, for the truth professes to set forth divine Persons, who could not have been known if They had not been revealed. Thus the little children knew the Father in believing in the Son in whom the Father had been revealed. All this is confirmed in us by the Spirit, and from the time that the Spirit is received we are placed in relation to the Persons revealed; and in the maintenance of this lies the safeguard of saints and the way of progress in intelligence. They have to abide in that which was from the beginning. God is now revealed not simply

in names which imply divine attributes, but in His nature, and this has involved the whole truth of the Godhead coming to light. It is a great point to bring home to young believers that they have the truth in having the Spirit, and that in giving place to the Spirit is the secret of advancement, and this in the knowledge of God. And the Spirit will always keep them within the lines of Scripture, so that they can always appeal to the law and to the testimony. But the truth lies in that the living Persons of the Godhead are livingly revealed. And this puts revelation outside of all that is or can be of man.

What more peculiarly marks the young men is, that they are strong and that the word of God abides in them. This does not imply that they had not all that the little children had. All had the unction, and the young men had overcome the wicked one, which refers probably to the false anti-christian workings of Satan. Now vigour is that which is commonly seen in young men. And in divine things it is expressed in the word of God abiding in them. A distinction may be made between the truth, and the word of God. The former perhaps refers to the revelation of God, and the latter to the making known His mind. It is true that the one hangs on the other, but the revelation of God in Himself is clearly distinct from the expression of His thought as to man. It is in the young men that the testimony abides. The little children need to be established by the Spirit in the truth; when this is the case, they are young men, and in such the testimony abides. We see the apostle Paul committing the word to Timothy, who may be ranked among the young men. The vigour is there, in which the word of God is maintained in witness in the world. It is not difficult therefore to see the importance that attaches to the young men. The truth is secured in the presence here of the

Spirit, the word of God abides in the young men, in order that it may be kept before men. We are to preach the word, to be instant in season and out of season. And on the other hand, to beware of the things of the world, which are always at hand to ensnare us, and to obscure and spoil our witness.

The fathers had known Him that is from the beginning. The thought "from the beginning" clearly marks a point of departure; and the Son of God, become man, must of necessity be this. He could not simply be the crown of things that existed. He is the beginning, but He is also from the beginning. This may refer to the fact that the true light now shines. This is true now in Christ and christians. God has come out in light, and in Christ is the Sun of righteousness, not yet arisen, but hid beyond the horizon of this world's vision. But the true light now shines, and the question is what may abide this light. Here it is that Christ occupies the place of centre and sun. As in Genesis 1 we have the light from the outset, and then on the fourth day the sun set in its place in relation to the earth, so in Christ we have first the light of the revelation of God, and then Himself as the appointed light to rule God's day. He is both "from the beginning" and "the beginning". I take it that the moral outset of all in the ways of God is the revelation of Himself in His nature. And the One who became man, that this might be, must of necessity take the central place in the universe of bliss. This was apprehended by the fathers, and in the apprehension of it their thoughts were diverted from all else. The world, in which man has glory, had passed from their regard. Another order of things had come into view in which, in result, God would be all in all. Not only had they believed in the One from the beginning, but they knew Him, and in knowing Him they had reached the eternal life. There is in Him a power

and energy of life that can hold in impotence death and all the powers of evil. The fathers had realised christianity in the true power of it.

I think that it will be admitted that there is great interest in getting in our minds the sum, as it were, of what is embodied in these words to the various classes; the truth, as the foundation, assured in the anointing; the word of God abiding in those that were strong; and the One from the beginning appreciated here in the midst of a world that knew Him not, and knows us not. And all this combining to give to the christian circle a character which should make it agreeable in the eye of God, and to the praise of Christ. One may mourn how little it is realised at the present time, and any true heart would desire to be so in the reality of these things as to be an overcomer in the midst of the terrible defection.

THE REVELATION OF GOD AND THE GLORY OF CHRIST MAINTAINED BY THE SPIRIT

Luke 12:1 - 12; Luke 24:36 - 53

In chapter 11 the heavenly Father waited to be asked for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and here in chapter 24 we have "Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you". We know that He did send Him, and they were endued with power from on high. Christianity in one word is Christ; it is made good in the soul by the work of the Spirit. The believer is brought into sonship and liberty by the Spirit.

In the ministry of Christ there was an entirely new beginning. The visits of the Spirit of God before had been fitful; often long intervals between, and before the advent of Christ there had been a dearth of hearing the prophetic word for some hundreds of years. Now there comes a new departure, an announcement of righteousness for man, and deliverance from spiritual ills. It is a very great help to us to see that the Lord's ministry here upon earth contemplated for us a new beginning, and that all since has been a continuation of that. In chapter 4 the Spirit of Jehovah was upon Christ, but in chapter 12 the Lord contemplates a time when He would be absent, and the word spoken in the last chapter would be fulfilled, "Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you". The point is, that on the one hand men would blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, for which there would be no forgiveness -- that testimony being final; and on the other hand the disciples were to commit themselves to the power and teaching of the Holy Spirit. We cannot take into account too much the presence of the Spirit. Christianity knows no other power.

Prophets spoke before, and in that sense we have none now, but we have something much greater in the presence and power of the Spirit. This ought to affect us as to our speech and witness. Christianity cannot be enforced by fire or sword, or by politics, or by anything of that kind; it is wholly dependent on the power and the presence of the Spirit down here. The Lord in Luke 12 was anticipating the moment when He would no longer be here, and He asserts that there would be no forgiveness for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God brought in a closing testimony and that testimony is final.

Two objects present themselves as connected with the presence of the Spirit; the first, to maintain the revelation of God; the other, that He has come down from the exalted Man, to give effect to the counsel of God in Christ. How could the testimony have been maintained apart from the Spirit? The disciples could not have accomplished this. Their memories could not be trusted more than ours. There is no additional revelation, all is complete in Christ. If we speak of the truth, it is the revelation of God. God is love; it was revealed in Christ, and the Spirit has come to maintain the revelation. Again, His presence here is a remarkable witness to the unity of the Godhead. Revelation would be entirely ineffective and effaced from the mind of man if the Holy Spirit were not down here. Man's mind does not naturally care for the declaration of the mind of God, but in spite of all the darkness, it has been maintained. Yet if that declaration is blasphemed there is no forgiveness, all is over.

We get a great deal in the New Testament of the one Man who is the sun and centre of the universe of bliss. The Holy Spirit gives us intelligence of that one Man. Turn to John 16:8 - 15. Those verses

express what the Spirit is here to maintain. Christ is the centre on which all the Father's glory hangs. The Spirit would come and glorify Christ, "He shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you". What comes to pass now in the saints is, that Christ dwells in their hearts by faith. So there are two great results from the presence of the Spirit here -- the maintenance of the revelation of God, and intelligence in the saints as to the exalted Man, the One who has gone up "far above all heavens". The Holy Spirit has come down to report His glory to us: "He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you". The Lord contemplated that in Luke 12. He was going to the right hand of God, while the Holy Spirit would hold the ground down here, and ever keep in the view of the saints the Man in the glory and all that centres in Him. It is a great mercy if God gives us any sense of Christ's official glory. The mystery is now manifested to the saints, revelation is maintained -- man cannot blot it out, and Christ is witnessed to as the exalted Man in whom every divine thought for man is revived for God. He is the pivot on which all turns; why? Because He tasted death for every thing (Hebrews 2:9).

The two scriptures, Luke 24:26, 27 and 44 - 47, are very remarkable. Repentance and forgiveness were to be preached, but in His name. A proclamation was to be made in the whole world through that One who had suffered according to the Scriptures, and was risen again from the dead; and why? In order that those who received it might be attached to that Man by the Spirit. The apostles had to carry out this work as endued with power from on high, and the way in which they carried out their work was again a witness to the unity of the Godhead. God is our Father, revealed in the Son; and the testimony is maintained by the Spirit.

Now see what a great place the Spirit has in this present time. The Lord attaches more importance to His presence here than even to His own presence. "It is profitable for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go I will send him to you" (John 16:7). It was the final testimony. What I plead for is that we should recognise the presence of the Spirit. If we want to order our conduct according to God, there will be the "lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love; using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace". The conduct of all should be regulated by the Spirit of God. He will put no kind of sanction on the methods of man. As christians we ought to be prepared to abandon human methods and ways. There is nothing beneath the Spirit of God down here; even if we are only shewing mercy, it is in His power we do it. Whatever we have to do, there is nothing beneath Him. His power was not only for apostles, but for every member of the body of Christ. Whatever our functions, the smallest and the meanest might be carried out in the power of the Spirit. What would the human body be without oil, or how could machinery work without oil? Even so, what would the body of Christ be without the unction of the Holy Spirit?

We need much of the power of the Spirit to carry out anything for God down here. It is a great comfort to know that whatever has been the defection of the church, the Spirit of God remains. One effect of giving the Spirit His right place is, that we shall be very conscious of being in marvellous light. Another effect is, we shall have delight in the glorified Man at the right hand of God, and in all that of which He is going to be the sun and centre.

(1) CHRIST AS APOSTLE AND HIGH PRIEST

Hebrews 1:1 - 14

F.E.R. I suppose all the epistles go to make up the testimony. I think it follows upon that that every epistle must have its roots in the Old Testament and its bearing on the future. It is important to bear that in mind. The Scriptures are one complete whole, and the testimony of God is just as clear in the Old Testament as in the New. The one great point is the testimony -- "Be not ... ashamed of the testimony of our Lord".

Ques. What is the aspect in the Hebrews?

F.E.R. Christ is the Apostle and High Priest -- the true Moses and Aaron. Yet you get the Apostle, and at the same time He is the great Priest over the house of God. Then the thought of the house of God carries you on to the future, and at the same time it carries you back to the past.

J.S.O. What did you mean by the 'roots'?

F.E.R. Things are taken up in a new way in the New Testament, but the things are really found in the Old Testament. For the moment however, they are secured in that which is not seen in the Old.

P.R.M. Would you say that is true of Colossians?

F.E.R. Yes, undoubtedly.

P.R.M. You get the circumcision brought in.

F.E.R. And a great deal more; you get the head and the reconciliation of all things. It carries you back to the past.

Ques. In what way to the past -- the day of atonement?

F.E.R. I mean you must find some thought of the head in the Old Testament -- the high priest is the head. You may divide the epistles into two classes -- those which contemplate Christ coming

out and those which contemplate Christ going in. Romans, Corinthians and Galatians, His coming out. Ephesians and Colossians contemplate Christ going in.

Ques. What about Philippians?

F.E.R. I could not quite say at the moment. I quote the others because it is pretty plain there.

Dr. M. Would you get both in Hebrews -- the coming in and going out?

F.E.R. Yes, quite so. Take Romans -- there you have the mercy seat -- that is coming out. Then in 1 Corinthians He is the wisdom and power of God -- that is coming out. In Galatians, Christ is the true Isaac, the vessel of blessing to the gentiles -- that is coming out. Now when you come to Colossians and Ephesians, it is really 'going in'. So you "set your affection on things above ... God", Colossians 3:2.

S.L.J. In 'coming out' you mean coming out the first time?

F.E.R. I mean coming out in the revelation of God -- as apostle.

S.L.J. Not as coming out in the future?

F.E.R. No. Because I think then He comes out as king and priest. He came down as apostle, but has gone up as priest.

C-I.B. What is the difference between the testimony at the present moment and the testimony in the Old Testament?

F.E.R. Not a bit of difference in the world.

C-I.B. What is the difference in the display of it?

F.E.R. It is not display, else it would not be testimony. Testimony is in contrast to display.

C-I.B. Was there a living testimony in the Old Testament?

F.E.R. There was a testimony, though it was not set forth in a living vessel, it was there. Now it is set forth in a living vessel. You get Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith. You could not get

that in the Old Testament -- that has to be a testimony living. In chapter 3 of this very epistle, you get Moses spoken of as being faithful for a testimony of the things which should afterwards be seen. He was a servant in God's house for a testimony.

C-I.B. Then does the difference between Moses and the Son bring out the character of the testimony?

F.E.R. Now that the Son has come in, and you get Christ in the saints by the Spirit, you have, I think, the living vessel, that is, the church properly speaking.

If you take this chapter, it is as evident as possible that the epistle to the Hebrews has its roots in the Psalms. Almost every quotation through the epistle is from the Psalms, and almost entirely from Psalm 2 and Psalm 110. But there is another point connected with it -- it all has its bearing on the future. I refer to the throne and Christ seated at the right hand of God until His enemies be made His footstool. It is perfectly astonishing what a comprehensive view of Christ you get in the Psalms. The first book of Psalms is full of Christ. You get Him brought into the world -- "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee". Then, to mention nothing else, in Psalm 8, you get Him as the Son of Man. In Psalm 40, He is the Ark of the Covenant. In the second book of Psalms, He is ascended up on high, and led captivity captive, and you get the ascended Man who has given gifts to men preparing the way for God to dwell. Then you get the sure mercies of David in connection with Zion. Then in the fourth book He comes into David's house, recognised as Jehovah. In the fifth book, He is exalted as Priest and is welcomed when He comes again. It is all perfectly orderly too. You get both ideas in the Psalms -- the coming out and the going in. In Hebrews Christ comes out as apostle and goes in as priest.

J.S.O. The difference in this dispensation is that the relationships are different.

F.E.R. Exactly; but then it is so very interesting to see that in this time of the rejection of Christ you get every divine thought taken up in the church. I think it is in the way of education, so that the saints may become conversant with every way of God -- it is all to fit the saints for the heavenly city.

J.S.O. They are learning now in Christ everything which is to come.

F.E.R. Everything which is to come out publicly, yes.

S.L.J. But the mass of us do not seem to learn it.

F.E.R. Then it is a poor look-out if we do not.

J.S.O. So that everything which broke down in the past history of the Old Testament, in man, will come out in the future?

F.E.R. Yes; but then now it is that through the church might be known the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10).

C-I.B. In Revelation 11 you get "there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament".

F.E.R. It is really Christ seen in heaven -- the ark of the covenant secures everything. The testimony has left the earth but it is seen in heaven -- everything is secured in the ark of the covenant in spite of all that prevails here. We have come to a day when there is a tremendous effort abroad to assail the Old Testament, and we have to be on the alert in regard to that. I think the great preservative is to apprehend in the Old Testament the testimony of the Christ which is just as plain there as in the New.

B. So that in this chapter although the voice is different the testimony is exactly the same?

F.E.R. Yes; that is what made me say that every epistle has its roots in the Old Testament, in the light in which Christ is presented. For instance, if

you take up one simple thing, the tabernacle of the testimony -- it was there in figurative representation, but now you have the thing livingly -- but you have the same thing.

J.S.O. You could not possibly have the testimony of God inconsistent with itself.

F.E.R. Of course not.

Rem. And when Christ came He testified of Himself.

F.E.R. Yes, quite so -- "Ye search the scriptures ... witness of me".

E.D. Would it be too much to say it was more latent in the Old Testament?

F.E.R. I would almost say it is all patent, now that we have the light of the New. Every book in the New Testament has its roots in the Old. I think you get the roots of Luke in Jeremiah and John in Ezekiel, Matthew and Mark in Isaiah. Matthew is connected with the first part, and Mark with the second part of Isaiah. I only suggest this, and am not dogmatising one single bit.

Ques. You cannot therefore separate the Old Testament from the New?

F.E.R. No. It stirs my spirit indeed to see people who prefer to accept Christ in the New Testament and reject the Old.

C-I.B. "Son of man" is an expression which you get very frequently in Ezekiel. How does this apply in John?

F.E.R. The Son of Man is very prominent in John -- "As Moses lifted up ... Son of man be lifted up" and "Who is this Son of man?" -- "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and ... Son of man". I do not however want anybody to think I am laying it down as a fact, I only suggest it. You could not understand the Old Testament, if you had not got the New. In the time of the Old Testament, nobody ever questioned its authenticity. Now, its

authenticity is questioned and you have got the New -- but really the New is the key to unlock the Old. I think the preparation to meet the infidelity around is the intelligent understanding of the word of God -- to see that one thought prevails throughout entirely, and that is the testimony of God. He expounded unto them in Moses and the Psalms and all the Prophets the things concerning Himself (Luke 24). Do not look for anything else in Scripture but Christ. In Revelation 19 you get "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy".

S.L.J. The question is not to meet the critics by working on their line, but to show what underlies the Old Testament.

F.E.R. They are as dark and ignorant as can be in regard to what underlies the Scriptures. The critics set forth that you can give up Scripture because you have got Christ. But then the point is this -- you would have no authority for anything without the law and the testimony. They have no apprehension whatever of Christ as divine, and have got Him as a matter of history. How can you possibly know where Christ is now? You must have a living witness to it. The Spirit has come down to report the glory of Christ and everything hangs upon that. It was so on the day of Pentecost. The fact of the Spirit's presence is witness to Christ -- "He shall testify of me".

M.S. Does not the Lord say, "The scriptures ... testify of me"?

F.E.R. Yes, but He meant the Old Testament Scriptures.

M.S. It has testified to me very often when nobody living was present.

F.E.R. But it was the Spirit who testified Christ to you.

A.S.L. Does Scripture make this distinction between the Old Testament and the New?

F.E.R. The Lord said "he shall testify of me" and then "He will guide you into all truth".

A.S.L. But the Scriptures are one whole.

F.E.R. Yes, and every scripture is divinely inspired. It is a conventional distinction between the Old and the New Testament. I do not think we must allow anything whatever to prevent us from apprehending the peculiarity of the present time in contrast to the past -- that which is dependent on the fact of redemption being accomplished, Christ being at the right hand of God, and the Spirit being here. What we call the New Testament is the new covenant and what we call the Old Testament is the old covenant, yet all is apprehended in the term "Scriptures". God is now speaking through the Son (verse 2) and you could not have any speaker after the Son.

Ques. What does the Spirit say?

F.E.R. "He shall testify of Me". "He shall take of mine" and the record of that is the New Testament.

Ques. If there is only one testimony what did the Lord mean by the "New Testament"?

F.E.R. He has made the first old. There is only one testimony -- that is Christ.

Ques. What is the testimony at the present time?

F.E.R. It is the ark of the covenant, but the curious thing is that in the ark of the covenant is the old covenant, and the tables of stone.

A.S.L. There is no difference between "covenant" and "testament" is there?

F.E.R. No; but the tables were put into the ark of the covenant. "I come ... to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart". You have the old secured in the new covenant. Christ came as the righteous One, but in virtue of redemption He is the new covenant; yet the old covenant is all secured there. The spirit and principle of the law is all perfectly secured there. The spirit and principle

of the law is all perfectly secured in the ark of the covenant but now it is, of course, Christ as the new covenant.

D.L.L. Then what was set aside and what became old was the bearing of it upon man in the flesh?

F.E.R. It was the formal system which became old.

E.D. Is that summed up in, "Christ is the end of the law"?

F.E.R. Yes; all the law is summed up in Him -- "Thy law is within my heart". The law was the expression of rights which properly belonged to God and which it was absolutely impossible for God to give up and even in regard to us, who have come into the new covenant, we really fulfil the requirements of the law.

J.S.O. "Love is the fulfilling of the law".

F.E.R. Exactly.

A.S.L. So in the Psalms it comes out in regard to Christ "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness".

F.E.R. Yes. We have not to do with the law as a system, but we have to do with it in the sense that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us in the power of the Spirit.

Ques. Is there any testimony apart from the person of Christ?

F.E.R. No; but rather, I would say, from Christ -- it is Christ officially. He is the divinely appointed Head of the moral universe. He is the Ark of the covenant, the Priest -- the Head.

S.L.J. Do you make the ark as well as the tabernacle, Christ officially?

F.E.R. I think the ark is according to Psalm 40 "I come ... to do thy will, O my God ... thy law is within my heart".

S.L.J. That is personally.

F.E.R. I think it is officially -- He comes out accomplishing the will of God. He will give place

to the will of God in the universe in the fact that everything is centred in Him.

P.R.M. The tabernacle came under the anointing.

F.E.R. Yes. And you can look at the tabernacle in another point of view -- as a figurative representation of the universe.

S.L.J. But will not Christ fill the universe?

F.E.R. Yes, but I think as the ark of the covenant.

B. Do you take the anointing of the tabernacle to indicate that all will come under the influence of the Spirit?

F.E.R. Yes, the Spirit of God morally will influence everything.

B. It shows the immense power of the Spirit.

J.K. Is that pouring out His Spirit on all flesh?

F.E.R. Yes, I think it is to subdue -- all will come under the influence of God.

Ques. Is there some answer to that now in the church -- God working in you to the willing and doing of His good pleasure?

F.E.R. Yes, quite so.

Ques. How do you understand "the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus"?

F.E.R. He is the Apostle -- the One employed to inaugurate the profession. He comes out on the line of revelation.

Ques. Where you say 'coming out' you do not mean Christ actually present on earth?

F.E.R. That is not so much the point, but Christ coming out to reveal God. He "was come from God, and went to God". He came from God to reveal God's mind and He went to God as Priest.

D.L.H. Is it true that we always either get the revelation line or the going in line?

F.E.R. Yes, Scripture ranges itself on one of those two lines -- revelation or approach.

Ques. Would you say that Moses and Joshua were both apostles?

F.E.R. Oh no. Joshua had nothing to do with the setting up of the profession -- it was all inaugurated by Moses.

J.S.O. Joshua was more on the line of 'going in'.

F.E.R. Yes. He took the people into the land.

J.S.O. The great point in this chapter is God having spoken, is it not?

F.E.R. I think so -- you get the Apostle.

J.K. Is there any difference between that and the Mediator?

F.E.R. I think the thought of the Mediator is not quite like Apostle. The Mediator brings God and man together.

A.S.L. You speak of the Apostle as the one who inaugurated the profession and the Priest as the one who sustains it?

F.E.R. Yes, and the Priest is as great as the Apostle.

A.S.L. Would you say that as the Apostle He is alone, and as the Priest He has companions?

F.E.R. As the High Priest He has a house -- as Apostle He is alone.

A.S.L. The One who is the Apostle is the object of worship.

F.E.R. He is entitled to worship. I think it would be a very poor thing if we were not entitled to worship Christ.

Ques. Is it not important that the approach should be equal to the revelation?

F.E.R. I think it is extremely important. It is a wonderful thing that Christ has gone in. As Son He stands simply in relation to God. In another sense you can view Him as having been born in time and in that sense He has companions.

J.S.O. In verse 8 He is saluted as Son, and in verse 9 it says "Thou hast loved ... companions".

F.E.R. I think that has come in as what you may call the moral foundation of the throne. It is a

throne established in righteousness and hatred of lawlessness.

A.S.L. Do you look upon the companions (verse 9) as priests?

F.E.R. I could not tell exactly but I think it well to keep the thought of priests out of chapter 1. In chapter 1 Christ touches God; in chapter 2 Christ touches man, and then you get the thought of Priest brought in. The throne is established in a Man. It is not yet set forth but it is established in a Man and the basis of it is, "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity".

A.S.L. Is the approach on our part the approach of those who are priests?

F.E.R. No, the approach of those who are sons. We are priests because we are sons. All the revelation -- the apostolic work -- was done before even Christ became Priest. He could not be a Priest until He went to God when all the apostolic work was done. You must have the throne of God (verse 8). God must be the centre of influence holding everything in its place. You could not have any idea of a moral universe without that. Mr. Darby writes of it: 'Our God the centre is'. It is the centre of a moral universe the influence of which holds everything in its proper orbit.

J.K. Is that the idea of the throne?

F.E.R. Yes.

S.L.J. That is eternal, is it not?

F.E.R. I think it is contemplated here in the world to come. It is eternal, but the world to come is the point of the epistle.

(2) THE APPROACH EQUAL TO THE REVELATION

Hebrews 1:8 - 11; Hebrews 9:1 - 28

F.E.R. It is plain that in chapter 1 we get the Apostle and in chapter 2 the High Priest. I think the entire system of the world to come depends on the Priest touching the mercy-seat. Christ has entered in as Priest, but in the very fact of His being the Mercy-Seat of course, the Priest touches the mercy-seat. What it really means is, the approach is equal to the revelation: the revelation is identified with the Apostle, and the approach with the Priest.

J.S.O. You approach by Him who is the revelation.

F.E.R. Exactly. Aaron was not equal to Moses, but now you get the Apostle and High Priest of our profession as one -- Christ Jesus -- you get perfection.

P.R.M. Do you use the term 'touching the mercy-seat' in the sense of identification?

F.E.R. Yes; He goes in as priest but in the very fact of the two being One, the priest touches the mercy-seat.

E.R.C. Does the apostleship cease at the cross?

F.E.R. Well, it holds good now. God has spoken but the effect of what has been spoken abides -- it is all maintained. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth are come to pass by Jesus Christ.

A.S.L. You said the approach is as great as the revelation -- is that in connection with the saints?

F.E.R. The High Priest has gone in, and we are priests in virtue of being kindred to the High Priest -- like the sons of Aaron were kindred to Aaron. It comes out in chapter 2, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren".

J.S.O. As He is the only way of approach, we come unto Him.

F.E.R. I think so; you get in through Him. "Through Him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father". He is the measure in a kind of way, of our approach.

D.L.H. Is not the thought on the one hand of God coming out to man, and on the other of man going in to God?

F.E.R. Yes, but you could not get it brought about apart from Christ -- you can only bring perfection in by Christ.

J.S.O. You would use the word 'approach' a little differently with Christ than with us?

F.E.R. I would indeed, but there is the idea of entering in.

J.S.O. He goes in in all the value of what is accomplished.

F.E.R. Exactly; but then He goes in entirely on our behalf, and that is why it is not without blood. He must go in on the value of redemption. I think people have to distinguish between what you may call the perfection of christianity in itself, and the imperfection of those who profess it. You get the coming outside and the entering inside in perfection in Christ. It is in proportion as man appreciates Christ that he has power to approach.

E.D. On God's side our approach would be equal to Christ's.

P.R.M. It is not as man that He is Apostle?

F.E.R. No: God has spoken by His Son, who is the effulgence of His glory, and the exact expression of His substance, upholding all things by the word of His power.

J.S.O. For the sake of those Hebrew christians to whom he was writing the apostle presents the Son in contrast to all that had gone before.

F.E.R. Exactly. You get the throne, and everything,

hanging on the Speaker. When everything is changed -- "Thou art the Same, and thy years shall not fail".

D.L.H. There is a point of contact in His Person -- He is the Son who is Apostle and the Son who is the Priest.

F.E.R. That there is a point of contact, I quite admit. On the one side He touches God, and on the other side He touches man. In that way you get God and man brought together, and the whole system of the world to come depends upon that.

A.S.L. What is the difference in the thought of mediator and apostle -- they are not the same?

F.E.R. The Mediator is spoken of as between God and man. Hebrews contemplates God taking up a remnant of Israel, but that remnant becomes the church.

E.D. It is the Mediator of the new covenant in Hebrews.

F.E.R. Yes, not the Mediator between God and man.

Ques. Does the thought of Apostle go on to the end of verse 4, chapter 2?

F.E.R. I think so.

M.S'D. Why did you say the apostleship ceased at His death?

F.E.R. I did not say so. I tried to modify it. All the light of God came out at the cross when the veil was rent from top to bottom. The revelation therefore was complete. He could not leave anything else to be revealed.

D.L.H. I think there might be some little misconception as to the meaning of the word 'revelation'. When you use the term you mean the revelation of God?

F.E.R. I mean the revelation of God in His mind and thought toward man.

D.L.H. Exactly, and it must be pretty clear that there could be nothing left to complete it.

F.E.R. The work of the Apostle was done and the revelation was complete. The system has been inaugurated. The Apostle has inaugurated the system of our profession by the revelation of God.

J.S.O. I suppose the word 'revelation' is in connection with the mystery of God?

F.E.R. It is the mystery of His will which has been hid.

A.S.L. "Has spoken to us in the person of the Son" (verse 2) -- that is the revelation of God?

F.E.R. Yes: the mind of God made known -- and we have to take heed to what we have heard.

S.L.J. Has not the revelation of what christianity is come from the glory? -- we do not get it at the cross.

F.E.R. You do not get anything added to the revelation -- the Holy Spirit added nothing to that. Everything came out when Christ was here. He was the expression in His Person of what God had to say. It culminated in the veil of the temple being rent in twain from top to bottom.

D.L.H. The words here seem to suppose the completeness of the revelation -- "Who, being the effulgence of his glory".

J.S.O. There was no competency to take it in until the Holy Spirit came?

F.E.R. No.

A.S.L. It is generally said that when the veil was rent God came out. Did He not come out fully when Christ was here?

F.E.R. All that Christ did in His service here was in view of His death, but it was in death that God came out fully.

W.J. The Son was the only One competent to set forth God, and the Spirit is the only One competent to make it good in us.

F.E.R. Exactly. "God commends His love toward us ... Christ died for us" -- there is the expression of the love of God; but then the "love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit". Every detail of the life of the Lord is explained by His death. You could not understand the detail of the gospels except by the death of Christ. All that came out at the cross governed all His ministry. Take for instance "thy sins be forgiven thee"; how can you understand that except by the anticipation of His death? Giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and so on, was all an expression of the mercy of God, but it was all lighted up by His death, because He came in to give effect to the mercy of God. Then again, all the time the Lord was here, He would never tolerate anything of man, because in His death He was going to terminate man. On the one hand He was introducing the mercy of God and on the other there was the putting aside all the pretension of man. He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him; but it was not likely that He was going to put any sanction upon man in the flesh, because He was going to put him to death. You will find these principles in everything the Lord did.

W.J. It is remarkable to notice the quotations from the fourth book of Psalms.

F.E.R. The whole of the Hebrews is built up on the Psalms. You get in the Psalms the testimony of the Christ very distinctly.

E.D. Is there any connection between the Apostle and the world to come?

F.E.R. Yes; the epistle all has reference to the world to come. Christ has come in as Apostle, but He comes in as King and Priest also, and that brings in the world to come. The great point of the first chapter is the apostleship. Then the throne comes in;

you must have security against lawlessness within and enemies without in any country and God is going to establish a universe on that principle. All that transpires here now is allowed in the providence of God -- not in the light of God: but God is going to build up a universe according to the light of God.

W.J. In Psalm 94 you have the throne of iniquity.

F.E.R. Yes, quite so, and there will be the throne of iniquity when Satan gives his authority to the beast -- "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?".

H.C.A. The priest maintains for God the company within.

F.E.R. That is during the time of God's providence but when God comes out, then the Priest comes out. In Zechariah we read -- "He shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" (chapter 6: 13). The church is the vessel of testimony now and the church will be the ruling seat then. Jerusalem on earth had become desolate because it was under law; then it is that God brings in the heavenly Jerusalem which rules over the kings of the earth. The earthly Jerusalem never has the place she had before, but she gets her character from the heavenly Jerusalem.

Ques. Will the Lord come out as Priest because He is Priest after the order of Melchisedec and not after Aaron?

F.E.R. Yes. When Christ comes out. He comes out as King and Priest and He comes out to establish blessing. Moses and Aaron came out to bless the people -- you get the figure of it there.

S.L.J. Is Israel looked upon now as in the city of refuge?

F.E.R. I think so. God provided for the true Israel in the church. Jerusalem on earth was bound to go. Like Moses, he could not enter the land, not

simply because he failed, but because he represented the principle of law. The old Jerusalem is in bondage with her children, and God puts that aside and brings in the heavenly Jerusalem. In connection with that, what you get in Isaiah 60 is very beautiful -- it is a challenge to "Arise, shine; for thy light is come". The earthly Jerusalem will be lighted by the heavenly, but she will shine as never before. It is in the heavenly city God shows forth "the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus". The earthly Jerusalem will shine in that light.

J.S.O. And the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in His wings will be through the medium of the heavenly city?

F.E.R. I think so.

D.L.H. What do you understand by the great salvation in the second chapter?

F.E.R. I look upon it as being Christ Himself. Where can you make salvation out except in Christ? You cannot find any escape from the world as it is except in Christ.

Ques. Is not that why it is called a great salvation?

F.E.R. I think so.

Ques. In what sense do we inherit it (end of chapter 1)?

F.E.R. That verse is speaking in a kind of way of what angels were "sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation". It is indefinite. But if you look at salvation as a present thing, Christ must be it, because there is no salvation apart from Christ. What possible outlet is there from the world except by Christ? "By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved". I think the disciples in a sense enjoyed salvation in the presence of Christ. Nothing could harm them. The Lord kept them, and they

were saved by His presence. I think we are saved by being brought into attachment to Him.

J.S.O. When the Jews refused his word, Paul says -- "For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee ... for salvation unto the ends of the earth", Acts 13:47.

F.E.R. That will do, will it not? It is very wide. That is what Christ is to us -- salvation.

Ques. Is there any connection with that in Simeon?

F.E.R. Yes. He took the babe in his arms and said, "Mine eyes have seen thy salvation", Luke 2:30.

W.J. It is very interesting in the 80th Psalm, where it is repeated, "Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved".

F.E.R. Yes. That is why the world to come is brought into view here. If you want to be outside the judgment of God, it is by being in attachment to Christ.

J.S.O. Like Noah and his house -- "Come thou and all thy house into the ark".

F.E.R. Exactly.

Ques. In Timothy it speaks of the salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus?

F.E.R. The salvation is in Christ Jesus. Faith is the way you come into it. I think it is that you get out of bondage and you can only do so by being in Christ.

Ques. Salvation is a continuous thing?

F.E.R. Oh yes!

(3) PRIESTHOOD BASED ON RIGHTEOUSNESS

Hebrews 2:5 - 18

F.E.R. In the first chapter we get the thought of Apostle and in connection with that, the throne. In chapter 2 we get the Priest, and in connection with that "all things" -- "Thou has put all things under His feet".

D.L.H. That is as Head, I suppose?

F.E.R. Yes. He tastes death for everything. But then He is crowned with glory and honour and that brings in the thought of priesthood, therefore in the beginning of chapter 3, it is "consider the Apostle and High Priest".

P.R.M. Why does "crowned with glory and honour" bring in the thought of priesthood?

F.E.R. I think the Priest is the One who is Son of man. He is taken from man. In chapter 1 He is the Son of God (much more) but the priest is taken from men -- He is the Son of man; He has to accomplish redemption; then He is crowned with glory and honour. That carries you on to Psalm 110. Then it is, "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek". It is the One who goes up who is crowned with glory and honour, who is constituted a Priest.

J.S.P. Psalm 8 would be more a present kind of Melchisedec priesthood?

F.E.R. I think so.

J.S.O. And the point in both chapters is His superiority to angels.

E.D. Then it goes beyond the Psalm although that is alluded to.

F.E.R. It does. There you get "Thou hast put all things under his feet", only this gives its construction

to it. The world to come is here identified with the whole system of things that comes under the Son of man.

A.S.L. Is there any reason why "crowned with glory and honour" comes in here, it does not come in after tasting death for everything?

F.E.R. That of course connects with the first part of the sentence "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man".

A.S.L. You do not look upon it as crowned with glory and honour on the way to death?

F.E.R. No. The last part of the verse is linked up with the first part.

J.B. Was there not a sense in which He was crowned with glory and honour in John 11 and John 12?

F.E.R. No; crowned with glory and honour is above, that is He is put in the place of Head of the entire system. The Psalm runs, "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet", Psalm 8:5 - 6.

Ques. Could not that be said of Adam?

F.E.R. No, I think the psalm applies to the Son of man in distinction to man. What is said of the Son of man could not be said of Adam. Adam was put over the inferior creation, but the point of the Psalm is that "all things" are brought under the Son of man. "In that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him".

P.R.M. Does that relate to, "Who hast set thy glory above the heavens"?

F.E.R. Yes, in virtue of what He has accomplished the Son of man goes to the right hand of

God, and is set over the works of God's hands. It is the great answer to what Satan did down here. Man is corrupted by angels and the Son of man is God's answer to it all. The Son of man goes to heaven and Satan is cast out as lightning from heaven, God establishes the Son of man over all the works of His hands upon the ground of redemption. I look upon it as being the great triumph of God.

J.S.O. So "crowned with glory and honour" would be in respect of redemption.

F.E.R. I think so.

J.S.O. Mr. Darby gives a note, 'But we see Jesus who on account of the suffering of death was made a little lower than the angels crowned with glory and honour'.

F.E.R. That is it. Man lost the place which God had put him in to a large extent and the thing was never redeemed until redemption was accomplished and the Son of man exalted.

S.L.J. But you do not mean Satan is cast out of heaven yet?

F.E.R. No, what I mean is, he is cast out of heaven consequent upon the Son of man going into heaven. The man-child is taken up to heaven and war takes place, and Satan is cast out of heaven with his angels. It is the fact of the man-child being caught up to God and His throne which is the prelude to Satan and his angels being cast out. The Lord, I think, foresaw that in Luke 10.

H.C.A. I suppose the lowest point must be touched before the highest point can be brought out?

F.E.R. Yes, I think it has been rightly said that the exaltation is commensurate with the humiliation.

Ques. What relation has this to the world to come?

F.E.R. It is the world to come that is in view. The world to come means everything put under the Son of man. It is not yet displayed but what we

do see is Jesus crowned with glory and honour. The moment has not yet come for display. The latter part of the chapter explains that for the moment God is bringing many sons to glory. The world to come is not put under angels but under the Son of man. Then it goes on to speak of Psalm 8 which does not simply mean the world to come but "all things".

Ques. Did the Jews understand the expression? They said, "Who is this Son of man?"

F.E.R. No; I think it was an enigma to them, though they ought to have known.

A.S.L. What is the meaning of the expression in Romans 3 -- that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" in connection with this question of glory?

F.E.R. I think the whole universe which God intends to display will be lighted up with the glory of God. God is making that now the standard of everything. It is not the point that men have failed on the ground of responsibility but they have come short of the glory of God.

H.C.A. I suppose the "crowned with glory and honour" is now?

F.E.R. Yes. It says lower down, "For it became him ... in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings".

H.C.A. How do you understand that -- "It became him"?

F.E.R. I think it was what was according to His glory.

J.S.O. Morally suitable. If He was to take this place He should be perfect through suffering.

F.E.R. Yes.

S.L.J. Does not the "whom" refer to God? (verse 10).

F.E.R. Yes. The thought of God's bringing many sons to glory, and it was according to His glory that the Captain of their salvation should be made perfect through suffering.

A.S.L. What is the idea of glory -- a place?

F.E.R. Not exactly place -- glory is the climax. Perfection connects itself with glory -- the perfection of His purpose. You could not get priesthood without suffering, because all priesthood must be based on redemption -- on righteousness. Mr. Darby pointed that out over and over again -- priesthood must be founded on righteousness. The Priest must stand on the basis of redemption, because he has not to say to us about our sins -- that point has to be entirely settled before you can touch priesthood.

H.C.A. Do you take the word "perfect" to mean that it was necessary that He should go that way of suffering, so that He might come into the place?

F.E.R. Yes -- being made perfect, He could take up the position.

J.S.O. He was to do all that was required to be initiated into the office.

F.E.R. That is the idea.

Ques. Does the word "perfect" refer to salvation?

F.E.R. It has reference to our salvation, because He is the Captain of our salvation. The Captain of our salvation had to be made perfect through suffering. He has not got to say to us about sins now, but He brings us into salvation.

E.D. What is the force of the word "Captain"?

F.E.R. Leader. The point is, it is impossible for anybody to realise salvation except in Christ Himself. The more we become attached to Christ, the more we grow to salvation.

J.S.O. Would there be a shadow of difference between leader and high priest; is leader more like Joshua?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so. Christ is the only One outside the condition of things in which the devil operates -- hence salvation is only known in Him.

Ques. What are the sufferings referred to in verse 10?

F.E.R. They are connected with the atonement.

W.B. Would you exclude all other sufferings?

F.E.R. I think so. He "was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death" (verse 9). It is all based on that. Then it is, He became perfect through sufferings.

W.B. It also says He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

F.E.R. That is Himself. Priesthood must be based on righteousness. That is what I understand by, "It became him, for whom are all things". It would be impossible for God to bring many sons to glory without laying a foundation of righteousness. Therefore it became Him to make Him perfect through sufferings.

J.S.O. I thought of His suffering in connection with His being able to sympathise, but perhaps you get that later.

F.E.R. Yes, but then it says "to make propitiation for the sins of the people". I think that the prominent thought is that the priesthood should be based on righteousness.

Ques. Has the crowning with glory and honour any reference to Aaron being clothed with the garments of glory and beauty?

F.E.R. It may have. It has been sometimes said that Aaron never put those garments on -- he was forbidden to go into the holiest. The fact is, until Christ, no one could put those garments on.

Ques. Why were they made?

F.E.R. You get a perfect setting forth of the divine mind in every part of the tabernacle and its furniture, and the clothing and dress of the priests.

Moses had to make all those things for a testimony. God gave a testimony of things that should come afterwards.

S.L.J. It says they were put on Aaron on the day of his consecration.

F.E.R. Then they were never put on afterwards. Everything must be on the ground of righteousness. God has got to consult Himself in regard to the universe, and there would be no security for permanence of anything except on the ground of righteousness.

W.B. Of course, you must connect righteousness with God's acts.

F.E.R. It is not only that, but divine righteousness is really the first principle of the universe. What can possibly be right if God has not got His rights? Any universe must be based on God's righteousness. The abstract principle of righteousness existed long before God made the world. Angels must be governed by the righteousness of God.

H.C.A. That is the basis of the exaltation of Christ -- Thou "hast loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness" (chapter 1).

F.E.R. Yes, because that is the basis on which the throne is established. Any one can understand righteousness if they put it in contrast to lawlessness. In any universe where lawlessness exists, things must be put out of gear. It would be a very poor thing if lawlessness existed in the solar system. The psalmist said, when he looked up to heaven -- the heavens declare the glory of God.

D.L.H. So it brings in the thought of rule?

F.E.R. Yes, what I understand by righteousness is the rights of God, and the rights of God rule. God is entitled to the supreme place in the affection of any intelligent creature. Who could gainsay that for a moment?

A.S.L. Does it necessarily suppose the existence of evil to speak of righteousness.

F.E.R. No, not at all. Righteousness implies the rights of God. I would speak of lawlessness as a relative term, but if sin or lawlessness had never come in, righteousness would not have been relative. Who can doubt for a moment that before ever this world was made at all, holy angels had regard to the righteousness of God. They fulfilled beyond all doubt the principles of the law -- "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God ...".

A.S.L. Was the question of righteousness never in the garden of Eden before the fall?

F.E.R. I think it was. It did not come into prominence until sin came out.

J.S.O. It is very important to notice that there must be either righteousness or lawlessness.

F.E.R. Sin is lawlessness -- departure from rule. Man passed out of the moral rule of God. Then you can very well understand that the first thought of God has been to bring back man under His moral sway, therefore the first principle of the gospel is the kingdom of God.

D.L.H. If sin or lawlessness is departure from rule, that shows that rule must have been before the departure.

F.E.R. Quite so.

A.S.L. In the eternal state righteousness will ever be prominent. It will dwell then and there will be no evil.

F.E.R. Quite so.

H.A.A. I suppose lawlessness means a man is out of attachment.

F.E.R. Yes, like a wandering star.

H.C.A. That characterises the present day.

F.E.R. I do not think anybody can look abroad at the present day without seeing it.

A.S.L. When it says, "Thou hast loved righteousness" and "anointed thee ... above thy fellows" (chapter 1: 9) does that refer to His place amongst His own before the work was finished or in resurrection?

F.E.R. I think it is the place He has in His system of "all things". I take it that the Lord will have companions in heaven and it is possible that He will have companions upon earth. You get the elect company who follow the Lamb, in Revelation.

E.R. I suppose the cross was the greatest testimony of His having loved righteousness and hated lawlessness?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so. Everything was in accord with the cross. That is one of the interesting points in connection with the Lord. Every act of the Lord's ministry was in connection with the cross. The great end of the cross was to establish righteousness. He gave full place to the rights of God. But then on the other hand He himself took the place of the lawless man to abolish lawlessness, because He hated it. He had to take the place of what He hated.

E.D. Is it summed up in that petition in the Lord's prayer -- "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven"?

F.E.R. I think so. By coming in to assert the rights of God, He takes away the sin of the world.

Ques. He undoes the works of the devil?

F.E.R. Yes, because the works of the devil have been to a large extent to entangle the world. Take any man, there are things that are very beautiful. One must be very blind if he does not trace in man something of the creation of God. Look at the affection of a mother for a child -- man and wife -- that is not the devil, it is of God; but the terrible thing is that what is of God has been mixed up with lawlessness. The whole thing is spoiled by man having passed from under the moral rule of God.

J.S.O. The Lord recognised it in the young ruler.

F.E.R. Yes. The point of recovery was right there before him, but he was not prepared to follow Him.

Ques. How do you understand the 11th and 12th verses?

F.E.R. We are the ones set apart for holy use and evidently Christ is the One who sets apart -- the Sanctifier and sanctified all of one, that is the most remarkable part of it -- "all of one".

H.C.A. There must be the exclusion of lawlessness there.

F.E.R. I think so. Properly speaking, the moment a person is brought into attachment there is an end of lawlessness in principle. I mean attachment in the sense of bond, but it works into affection.

W.B. How does the figure of the heavens come in where it says "Abide in me"?

F.E.R. Well, I think you must accept the responsibility to abide as long as things are as they are down here. "Whosoever abideth in him" (you get that remarkable word) "sinneth not".

A.S.L. Do you take this "all of one" to be on the same line as abiding in Him?

F.E.R. It is the same principle, but the best thing I know is the figure employed in Scripture -- Aaron and his sons -- they were all of one. You can take a man up on the ground of his profession. A man may profess to be in Christ but the abiding is the test of it. For instance, we read, "You ... hath he reconciled ... if ye continue in the faith".

E.D. Also in 1 John 2 it is "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked".

F.E.R. Yes, we must allow responsibility as long as we are down here.

E.R. The great point is to be kept in the spirit of dependence.

F.E.R. I think so. We are brought into attachment to Christ and the object of it is that we might bring forth fruit unto God. The object of the Spirit is to create affection.

J.S.O. That is a very important point.

F.E.R. All affection is dependent on the Spirit because the Spirit makes us so sensible of the attraction in Christ. I suspect there are very few christians who have any adequate idea of the attraction that is in Christ. I think we so poorly appreciate Christ because we are so little aware of the attraction that is in Him. To qualify you for service, you want what is spoken of in Ephesians -- "to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith".

(4) RESPONSIBILITY CONNECTED WITH THE HOUSE

Hebrews 3:1 - 19

F.E.R. We have had the Apostle and High Priest before us in chapters 1 and 2 so that the writer can ask for consideration of Him in those two characters.

Ques. What does the term profession take in?

F.E.R. There was the Jewish profession, and now there is the christian profession. Christianity is a certain kind of profession -- we profess certain things. So judaism in the same way was a certain profession of which Moses and Aaron were the apostle and the high priest. In christianity you come to finality -- Christ. I do not think there will be any profession when the Lord comes, but while He is absent there is a profession.

Ques. Have not some told us it should be confession?

F.E.R. I do not mind if it is profession or confession.

Ques. What we confess as christians?

F.E.R. Yes.

Ques. Is it not something like 'the faith'?

F.E.R. There is confession of certain things which we esteem to be the truth or the faith, if you will, because the faith and the truth are pretty much equivalent.

Ques. Does that involve the house?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so.

Ques. What is the difference between the house here and in 1 Timothy?

F.E.R. I do not know any.

Ques. Not as to aspect?

F.E.R. No; I think the thought of the house is brought into this chapter to lay a proper basis of

responsibility. I doubt if you get an adequate idea of responsibility if the thought of the house is not brought in.

Rem. It is a little more structural in Timothy; here the thought is taken up from Israel.

Ques. Is the thought God's house all through, or does it bring in the thought of Christ's house?

F.E.R. Oh no, it is God's house all through; Mr. Darby pointed that out long ago. Moses was faithful in all God's house. I take it that God's house was Israel; you could not make that Aaron's house. Moses was faithful in contrast to Aaron's unfaithfulness. Israel was God's house -- God dwelt in Israel. The object of making the tabernacle was that God might dwell among them, and Israel had the place provisionally, at all events, of being God's house.

Rem. Aaron's house brings in the idea of kindred.

F.E.R. Yes, the great thought in connection with the house of God is that God dwells there. I think it is all to bring in what it says after verse 7. God's house is brought in really to lay a proper foundation of responsibility. Christendom has lost sight entirely of the presence of the Spirit, but the Spirit of God has a voice here -- He could not possibly be dwelling here without having a voice. I think that involves the responsibility of those who compose the house. The moment the house is brought in it says, "Wherefore, even as says the Holy Spirit, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts".

Ques. Have you responsibility in respect to the Son?

F.E.R. I think so, because He is over the house. I think the Spirit always maintains responsibility to Christ.

Ques. Would you say that the house comprises all who make a profession of christianity?

F.E.R. No, there is an 'if'. People may have a certain place in christianity professedly, but they must reckon with the 'if'. There are hosts of people in the profession of christianity, but I would not say they were in the house of God.

Ques. Do not they belong to the responsible body?

F.E.R. I think they belong to the church looked at as a responsible body, but I would not say they belong to the house. They have to reckon with the 'if'.

Ques. Is that apostasy?

F.E.R. I think so, in the real force of it. The Spirit of God dwells in what Christ has built.

Rem. But you cannot separate the fact that we are all on one common platform.

F.E.R. That is what I should call external christianity; we are all on one common platform there, but the Spirit of God dwells in the house which Christ built, not which man builds. Christ built a spiritual house, and the Spirit of God dwells there; only being composed of people down here, you may get a lot of people added professedly who have not any part in it at all.

Rem. Scripture always treats people as christians until they prove themselves otherwise.

F.E.R. I think so; but I think it keeps clear the idea of what is really of God, and what Christ has built.

Ques. When a person is baptised do they come into the place where the Holy Spirit dwells?

F.E.R. No, they come into the precincts of the house.

Ques. How do we gain entrance into the house?

F.E.R. By the Spirit.

Ques. What force do you give to the words, "And it filled all the house where they were sitting"? Acts 2.

F.E.R. I think that is the actual house.

Ques. You will admit that the idea of the Spirit dwelling in the individual is different to the Spirit abiding in the house?

F.E.R. Oh yes, it is a different idea altogether. For instance, the Lord was the temple, but at the same time He was the anointed Man to preach the gospel. He was the temple, God was there, the oracles were there, but I think you get quite a distinct thought in Luke, where He is presented as the anointed Man to diffuse the light -- to preach the gospel. The Spirit of God dwells in you, the temple; but then the church as the body is quite a distinct thought; there you get the diffusion of light.

Ques. But do you not think of the union of the members?

F.E.R. When the thought of the body is brought in, the thought of the gifts is brought in too, for the diffusion of the light. In John's gospel Christ is the temple. In Luke's gospel He is the anointed Man to preach. Both things are true, but they are two distinct thoughts. The Spirit of God to instruct us has drawn figures from human things.

Rem. The idea of the temple is more connected with oracles.

F.E.R. Yes, I think so. The house I think is brought in in connection with behaviour -- that a man may know how to behave himself.

Rem. Take Ananias and Sapphira for a moment -- apart from the question whether they were converted or not; Peter charges them with not lying unto man, but to the Holy Spirit. It is not difficult to see that they were in the house.

F.E.R. I would not say they were there or not there; they were responsible to the Holy Spirit. God takes up people on the ground they take up. If you ask me what is really the house of God, I should say it is composed of those who are baptised by the Holy Spirit. It is a curious thing that the house of

God is never brought in in connection with any particular epistle. It is only brought in in the catholic epistles. It is a general idea and is not brought in an epistle to any particular church.

Rem. You get it in Ephesians: Jew and gentile builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.

F.E.R. But I think that is more the thought of Jew and gentile. Christ had to gather together in one the children of God scattered abroad. The spiritual house is evidently a general idea, and Peter writes to the saints scattered abroad.

Ques. Did not the Lord take up the temple as God's house?

F.E.R. He did; He owned it as long as God owned it, but at the same time, morally, the house was superseded by Himself.

Ques. Is it not possible to do something analogous to that recorded in John 2, and make the house of God into a house of merchandise today?

F.E.R. I think that is what man has done in regard to the temple, at all events in regard to what has been entrusted in his hands. God allows things to work so that people become apostate. They will ruin themselves. I think that one of the most remarkable things in Scripture is the harlot riding the beast.

Ques. That is before the apostasy?

F.E.R. No, I should think it is after the apostasy. The harlot is a harlot and shews that she is Babylonish; and I have not the shadow of a doubt that popery is Babylonish, which means man's glory, idolatry too, It is a remarkable thing in the present day that people are losing their horror of popery. In this country it does not come out in its true character, it adapts itself to the state of things, but I am sure people are losing their horror of it although it is perfectly devilish

Rem. I have thought it one of the most striking things of late that statesmen are awfully ignorant of what they are trifling with.

Ques. Is discipline connected with the house?

F.E.R. It is connected with the local assembly. The local assembly has its responsibility.

Ques. In 1 Corinthians 5 where it says, "Purge out the old leaven", do you get the idea of the body there?

F.E.R. No.

Rem. It has been said, 'Keep the house of God clean'.

F.E.R. I will tell you what I should try and keep clean -- keep your fellowship clean. If we have come into the place of christian fellowship we are responsible that our fellowship is according to God.

Rem. Then it does say, "Remove ... from amongst yourselves", it does bring that element in.

F.E.R. "Amongst yourselves"; people come into christian fellowship and they have their responsibility in connection with the fellowship.

Ques. Is it like the unleavened bread -- the feast of unleavened bread was to be throughout the dispensation?

F.E.R. Yes, I think they had to prove the unleavened by purging out the leavened.

Ques. Would it be right to say that the house of God is commensurate with the body?

F.E.R. I do not think there is anything outside the house of God that is not outside the Spirit of God. I think we want to maintain thoughts of that kind in their own proper character.

Rem. It is a great thing to get the divine idea before the mind.

F.E.R. I think so.

Rem. Only I think a good deal has come from the type used in 2 Timothy, "A great house".

F.E.R. Christendom is the great house, but at the same time I do not see that Paul ever said a word about the house of God in the second epistle. He does speak about the house of God in the first epistle.

Ques. When the Lord says, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of robbers" (Matthew 21:13) does He not shew that He speaks of the temple as to what was according to God?

F.E.R. Yes, it is in the power of man to corrupt christianity, but I do not think it is in the power of man to corrupt what is of the Holy Spirit.

Rem. But you have in 1 Corinthians 3, "If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy".

F.E.R. I think they were corrupting real christians. That is what popery has done -- attempted to corrupt real christians. I look upon corrupters as being unconverted men, but their wickedness is in corrupting what is of God.

Ques. When it says, "Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died", would that be corrupting?

F.E.R. I think the point is that he would destroy by apostasy. The person was not exactly a corrupter; Corinthians is much beyond that -- the corrupter is a wicked person who brings in defiling principles by which real christians might be affected.

Ques. What do you mean by apostasy?

F.E.R. A man who has given up the name of Christ. I think there are many steps on the way to it, but in result they mean giving up all. When the thing is in its early stage it is difficult to detect, but I think sometimes you can see the cloven hoof; that is why it is judgment begins at the house of God. It is discipline -- judgment in the sense of chastening.

Corrupting principles come in and discipline comes in to check it. The house of God here in Hebrews 3 is a very large thought -- it is the church, provisionally, but I have no doubt it is the universe. "He who has built all things is God". God intends to make the universe His dwelling-place.

Rem. The tabernacle was a picture of that undoubtedly.

F.E.R. I think it is one of the most wonderful things you can imagine that when God took up a nation on the ground of redemption He set forth His purpose in regard to the universe in figurative representations.

Ques. How does that come out in detail?

F.E.R. You get the holiest of all; then all that is connected with Israel, then all that is outside the precincts. Heaven is the holiest of all. You get all things in connection with Israel in the holy place; then there is the court of the tabernacle which brings in all that is outside.

Ques. In the millennium?

F.E.R. Yes, I think the wonderful thing about the tabernacle is that for the moment everything was covered by Christ. If you come to think what Christ was under the eye of God down here -- He comprehended a universe.

Ques. I suppose "Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" would be in contrast to Israel?

F.E.R. I think so. It brings in the heavenly calling. The High Priest has gone in -- the approach is as great as the revelation -- it is perfection. Aaron was not equal to Moses, and after all Moses was not the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat: Christ is that; then the High Priest is Christ, so you have got perfection, and you can go on to perfection. My impression is that we are not sufficiently in the good of the revelation; if we were we should have

access according to Christ. "Through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father".

Ques. What value do we get in the expression "Who is faithful to him that has constituted him"?

F.E.R. Christ is the house of God and He will maintain it according to God. It is no good our thinking that Christ will accommodate Himself to us, we have to accommodate ourselves to Him.

Ques. I suppose that is what is meant by behaving ourselves in the house of God?

F.E.R. Yes.

Ques. All the rest of the chapter is really in connection with the 'if' in verse 6?

F.E.R. Yes, you have the Holy Spirit now: "Wherefore as the Holy Spirit saith".

Ques. When you have the thought of God's house does it imply God's household?

F.E.R. Yes; the Spirit of God is there, and I think you are responsible to listen to Him. I think you get the steps of departure marked here at the end of this chapter. The first thing is "provoked", then the next step is "sinned", and finally "unbelief", verses 16 - 19. The deadly thing is unbelief -- that is the real meaning of apostasy. We have provoked God many a time, but the deadly thing is unbelief. "See ... lest there be in any one of you a wicked heart of unbelief, in turning away from the living God".

Ques. I suppose that no one who has the Spirit could apostatise?

F.E.R. Oh no. I think young christians have got to look to it tremendously how far they countenance lawlessness. Lawlessness is exactly the opposite of abiding in Christ. I am sure young people to a very large extent are lawless in a great many things they do -- in what they read and where they go; if they are not abiding in Christ they are lawless, and I am sure lawlessness is very deadly to our walk.

Ques. Is that why we are to exhort one another?

F.E.R. Yes, "Lest any ... be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin". Sin is lawlessness. You have a continual living voice of warning: "The Spirit speaks expressly". He warns of things which may come in, not only of the things which have come in. When people cultivate lawlessness, do you think they will be very sensitive to the voice of the Spirit? I know they will not. Nothing will deaden people to the voice of the Spirit more than the occupation of the mind with what I call triviality.

Ques. In the end, I suppose, falling in the wilderness?

F.E.R. Very likely. I know when we came into fellowship it was a pretty settled thing that we abandoned what we went on with before -- athletics, light reading, and all that kind of thing.

Rem. Not as being under any obligation, but because you had something better.

F.E.R. Well, I think so. The Spirit is a still small voice, and the Spirit is excessively sensitive.

Rem. I felt one could not go on with those things and Christ too.

F.E.R. Now there is a great effort to go on with those things and Christ, and I am sure it is a dead failure.

Rem. The thing ought to be a good deal laid upon our hearts; they are the rising generation.

F.E.R. Yes, I think so. I always look upon my children in two ways, as a father and as a brother. As a father I should like to see them all in fellowship, but as a brother I am not quite so sure.

Rem. I have heard it said that there is so little for young people among us. I think it is well to mention it; the expression, though I thought I understood it, grated on my ears a good deal, because, if there is Christ, Christ is good enough for young people just as much as old people.

Rem. Still there is a certain way of ministering Christ to the state and measure of souls. I have heard a similar remark many a time.

F.E.R. You will never make Christ pleasing to the natural man.

Rem. That is really the secret -- that is true.

(5) THE PRESENT IS A TIME OF EXERCISE

Hebrews 4:1 - 16

F.E.R. There are points of similarity between our position, and the position of Israel. At the same time there are strong points of contrast.

D.L.H. But we are put to the test like Israel.

F.E.R. I think that is so. The first question is in a certain sense a point of similarity -- "Who was it, who, having heard, provoked? but was it not all who came out of Egypt by Moses?"

C-I.B. In what way similar?

F.E.R. I suppose we have come out of Egypt. It was a people who were on the ground of God's deliverance who provoked. The same may be true in regard to us.

Rem. It was they who fell in the wilderness.

F.E.R. Yes, and the principle of it was, they did not hearken to the word.

Ques. Where is the contrast?

F.E.R. They were brought out of Egypt by Moses, and the point of contrast in those spoken of in the epistle is that they had fled for refuge. That was the position of the Hebrews, and our position too, to a certain extent.

D.L.H. We have had the gospel preached to us as they had a gospel preached to them.

F.E.R. Yes, we are in the same position in that sense.

E.R. Would the gospel take in the purpose of God?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so.

C-I.B. I suppose the contrast is that there is One who has entered into His rest?

F.E.R. Well, I suppose so. Israel had been taken up after the flesh, but these had not been taken up

after the flesh. If there were not a point of contrast in that way, it would really be a repetition of what had been, which certainly God never intended. I think there are two great tests to which we are subjected. One is the presence of the Spirit, and the other is the glad tidings. You get the one in chapter 3 and the other in chapter 4.

E.R. In what way are we tested as to the Spirit?

F.E.R. I think it is by the voice of the Spirit -- "Wherefore as the Holy Spirit saith". If we are God's house and the Spirit is there, we have to listen to the voice of the Spirit. I think christendom has failed entirely in regard to that test, having disregarded almost entirely the presence of the Spirit. The consequence is, they have hardened their hearts. Apostasy has set in to a very large extent, because they have practically ignored the presence of the Spirit.

Rem. It is very striking that in 1 Timothy where the house of God is spoken of, it is immediately followed by "The Spirit speaks expressly".

F.E.R. Yes; and so in the third chapter of this epistle -- you have to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

P.R.M. Why is the Spirit brought in before faith in the report?

Rem. I did not think the Hebrews were brought into blessing by faith in the report.

F.E.R. No, they had fled for refuge -- it is more that kind of idea.

D.L.H. You get the same order in other places -- for instance 2 Thessalonians 2:13 -- "Salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth".

F.E.R. You really never get faith in the truth characteristically except by the Spirit.

D.L.H. Will you please explain that. I think there are difficulties in a good many minds in regard to

that, for we have understood that you get faith first, and then the Spirit.

F.E.R. Faith is a characteristic -- "The just shall live by faith" -- and faith characteristically is by the Spirit. I think every man is responsible to believe in the testimony that God addressed to men, but when you come to look at faith, as a characteristic, you must have the Spirit.

D.L.H. What about the Old Testament folk -- those who lived by faith?

F.E.R. I think God helped them, everything was in view of the time when He would give the Spirit.

D.L.G. In that way anticipating in some sort?

F.E.R. Exactly. Whatever this life was, they lived by faith -- "The just shall live by faith". I think in all that they were divinely supported. God has just as much regard for them as for us, and there cannot be a doubt for a moment that God supported them. Faith is simply a fruit of the Spirit.

W.B. Do we not receive the Spirit on the principle of faith?

F.E.R. Yes, you must believe God's testimony. Man must believe the report -- God gives him grace to do so; but the Spirit becomes the spring and source of faith. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit.

D.L.H. That scripture makes it quite plain -- that faith is a fruit of the Spirit.

F.E.R. Every man is responsible to believe God's testimony, and God gives man grace to believe it. Then the Spirit is given and faith is characteristic of the principle of life in that way. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Anyone can see it is one thing to believe a testimony which God addressed to man and another thing for faith to be the principle of man's living. Now, for instance, faith is the substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. It is the principle of our life.

Ques. Would you say the Old Testament saints were helped by the Spirit? David said "Take not thy holy spirit from me".

F.E.R. Undoubtedly they were helped by the Spirit.

Ques. The first aspect, I suppose, would be the obedience of faith?

F.E.R. No, I think the obedience of faith is the test of faith. That is really the place of the Scriptures -- the test of faith.

W.B. Is not the first time that it is mentioned in Genesis 15? "Abraham believed God".

F.E.R. Yes.

W.B. Well, that was a faith that was grounded on a divine work.

F.E.R. Quite so, he believed what God said to him. "Sanctification ... and belief of the truth" (the latter follows upon the first) "whereunto he called you by our gospel". I think the great thing is to apprehend what God has in view in regard to man -- that men should receive the gift of the Spirit. Everything has its source and spring in the Spirit. You get expressions such as "faith in Christ Jesus". That is not exactly faith in Christ Jesus as the object of faith, but faith in Christ Jesus is characteristic of the christian.

P.R.M. Is the "report" here by the Spirit on the day of Pentecost?

F.E.R. We have no report of the land of promise except by the Holy Spirit.

W.B. But is not that report found in the Holy Scriptures?

F.E.R. No, it is recorded but not reported. It is reported by the Spirit. The Spirit has come to bring report of Christ in the land of promise -- that is what I take the report to be.

W.B. That reached people through the gospel?

F.E.R. Yes; but I think it goes beyond the gospel of the grace of God.

W.B. Yes, but "Whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel".

F.E.R. But the truth of the gospel covers everything. Evidently, it is as easy as possible to see that the Holy Spirit has brought down a report of Christ in relation to the world to come. The Lord Himself gave commission that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name, but the Holy Spirit has brought in something different -- He has brought in the light of Christ in relation to the land of promise.

Ques. Would "faith" in the gospel of John be characteristic?

F.E.R. Always, from beginning to end, it is characteristic of the person. It is the believing person all through John's gospel. The term "gospel" is a little too conventional -- it is "glad tidings". Hebrews occupies a very peculiar place, and you cannot put the Jews exactly on the same platform as the gentiles. The announcement to the gentiles was "repentance and forgiveness of sins" but the Jews had "fled for refuge". They take up in a way the position of the man-slayer -- they had been the man-slayer.

C-I.B. That makes Hebrews rather difficult for the gentiles.

F.E.R. It is difficult for the gentiles. They have not been guilty of crucifying Christ but they have come under the guilt of blood and they are those who have "fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us".

Ques. "We which have believed do enter into rest" -- what is the "rest"?

F.E.R. I think it is the purpose of God in regard to believers, that they should enter into rest. It is really God's rest in regard to His works.

D.D.H. Then in the full application of that, it must refer to the world to come.

F.E.R. Undoubtedly. It refers to the seventh day. The seventh day has been a very long day, because it has never had its completion yet.

C-I.B. The seventh day is the day in which God will be able to bring everything under the new covenant?

F.E.R. I think so, and it will be a time when God will have complete complacency in everything. The Israel of God will enter into God's rest beyond all doubt.

H.C.A. I suppose everything in the rest of God takes its commencement in Christ?

F.E.R. I think it does, and where God will find His complacency is in gathering up everything in Christ. So the Lord Jesus is spoken of as the beginning of the creation of God, and if He is the beginning, He is also the crown of the creation of God. When He comes in as the true Witness -- as the beginning of the creation of God, then it will be that God will find complacency in all His works. The rest of God is dependent on Christ filling all things and the one who enters into that, enters into His rest. If Christ is capable of filling a heart that was once estranged from Him, I think He is capable of filling a universe.

C-I.B. Because all hearts are alike.

F.E.R. Yes.

C-I.B. Then did He not bring in a rest constantly in the Old Testament?

F.E.R. Well, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 11 -- "Come unto me ... and I will give you rest". If I had the capability of entering into the thought morally that Christ is capable of filling "all things" then I think I should enter into His rest morally.

D.L.H. The great conclusion here is -- "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God"

and however one might enter into it morally, it remains.

F.E.R. Well, one very good thing is this -- the present is a time of exercise. Some may be quite exceptional christians, but at the same time they need exercise.

Ques. Would there be some allusion here to Joshua and Caleb -- "we which have believed do enter into rest"?

F.E.R. Caleb and Joshua did not enter into rest -- the point is, faith characterises those who enter into rest. Hebrews goes on the ground of "He that shall come will come, and will not tarry". So it says "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation". It does not go on the ground of anticipation of death but of the coming of the Lord, and the coming of the Lord will bring in the rest of God. I think the present is a time of exercise, and when people get out of the way of exercise it is an uncommonly bad lookout for them.

C-I.B. Does not God put exercise in our way?

F.E.R. Well, I think some seem to have little of it. If you get people who are callous and indifferent, I think the word of God will not always prove itself a test to them.

Ques. What is the special character of the word of God here?

F.E.R. It is what the word of God is morally -- it is God in the expression of Himself. When God expresses His mind, you may depend upon it it is His word, and it will detect everything in you.

D.L.H. It seems to me to come a little more on that side, than on the side of nourishment and blessing -- it is more to expose and discover what is unsuitable.

F.E.R. Yes. The point is the word of God brings God to you -- "All things are naked and opened unto

the eyes of him with whom we have to do". God brings Himself to you in all that He is morally. In the word of God, God comes out in mercy. Suppose you do not show mercy, you will be detected. If a man does not follow righteousness -- God comes out in righteousness, and he will be detected. Suppose a man is bent on self-pleasing, or has some particular object before him -- God has not pleased Himself; He has come out, if I may use the expression, in the sacrifice of Himself, and that man would thereby be detected.

E.R. It is the greatest blessing to be detected.

F.E.R. I think so.

E.R. The point is we are detected to ourselves.

F.E.R. No.

Rem. Actions expose you to others.

F.E.R. Exactly. All that kind of thing tends to a good bit of exercise in the course of the christian. In this is the life of the Spirit in a kind of way. The great object of it all is that you may be in accord with God, "holy and without blame before him in love". I think it is very wonderful that the word of God should come in in that way. It is so morally perfect that it will detect everything in us.

Ques. How far are you referring to the Scriptures when you speak of the word of God?

F.E.R. I am referring to the word of God morally. My point is that you want to get into contact with God and all that God is morally. What you have to take account of is that you have the Spirit of truth. You would never get anything whatever detected if you had not the Spirit of truth.

E.R. In that way it is "quick, and powerful"?

F.E.R. Yes, because it is really God in you dividing asunder soul and spirit (that is, what you may call the animal and moral), discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. One knows how much there is in one, in object and purpose, that

is contrary to God. One is very often bent on self-pleasing, and that kind of thing -- having some ulterior motive in doing a good thing. You must accept the searching power of the word of God because the great point of it is that you may be morally according to God. You could not conceive of a greater thing being brought about in a man down here.

Ques. Would the effect of that be to cast you upon the Priest?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so.

D.L.H. Then the priesthood is not connected with all these evil motives but with the helping of a person who is really anxious to get on the right road?

F.E.R. Yes, it has regard to infirmities, not to sins.

H.C.A. It is interesting to see that the exposing of motives does not make you lose confidence in God, rather the reverse.

F.E.R. Yes. I find in all that I do, though one does not want to speak about oneself, there is a tinge of self-pleasing.

E.R. How do you get comfort in regard to that?

F.E.R. You do not get any comfort in regard to it. I am only thankful that God exposes it.

H.C.A. I suppose you do not get the help of the Priest in regard to infirmity whenever you act yourself by the grace of God on a right line, you are sure to get help in yourself.

Ques. Was Peter an example when he said, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord"?