PREFATORY NOTE (to pages 3 - 104)
IT has been thought well to preface these lectures with a few words of explanation. They include two series of lectures, the first delivered at Greenwich at the close of last year; and the second at Park Street, Islington, in the beginning of the present year. The connection between the two will be readily perceived; in a sense the second series precedes the first, though they are printed in order of delivery. The subject of the second series is the testimony of "The Christ", as pervading all the word of God. The first seeks to set forth that which in Christians is appropriate to their part in the testimony, for it must be remembered that the testimony is living, and bound up with the power of the Spirit of God in believers. In view of the coming of the Lord, may God be pleased to awaken in all a deeper interest in the testimony, as being the witness of that which He will shortly display.
A short separate address on the same subject has been included (page 105).
1 Timothy 2, and 2 Timothy 1
Everybody should be prepared to admit that it is extremely important that we should understand where we are, and why we are there. These are two serious considerations. It is a poor thing to be in any position religiously and not to know why you are there. Every one ought to be concerned to know where he is, and further, why he is there.
I want to touch a little on these two points; and to give you an idea of the position which I individually occupy, and a great many more also, and to make it plain to you why I am there.
Everything in such matters depends on what is according to God; and the question is whether Christendom all round is, or is not, according to the mind of God. If I look round at the religious bodies in the world, they all maintain that their existence is of God. They might not defend every detail, but they would maintain that, in the main, things in the world are according to what God intended. But things in the world are not what God intended. If they were, we might very well be content to be identified with these great bodies; but they are not. Thus, everything depends on whether Christendom, as it exists, answers to the mind of God. There is one thing we must remember, that when the church was set up God had not given the New Testament scriptures; but now He has been pleased to give us these, and the scriptures are the law and testimony. Every one of us is justified in testing things around us by the scriptures; and not only so, but we are under the obligation of
testing all that maintains any kind of profession by the scriptures, and to refuse it if it speaks not according to the law and the testimony.
All that we see around us, the great religious bodies, maintain, as I have said, more or less, that the institutions which exist are according to God's mind.
Popery may be generally condemned, but people imagine that other institutions are right, and that Christianity has had developments which God intended. It is the common idea, and in that point of view, the divisions in Christendom are not abnormal but normal. Such have not in their thoughts any idea that ruin has come in. They do not look upon Christendom as being a ruin, that is, something which God's mind never intended.
Now, when we subject things to the test of scripture, we find that the inspired writers, without exception, contemplate what we may call the ruin of the professing church. The Apostle Paul, in the epistle which we have read, uses the figure of a great house in which were all sorts of vessels, some to honour and some to dishonour, and presses upon Timothy the obligation to purge himself from vessels to dishonour. He foresaw the ruin of the professing body, and that a moment would come of which it could be said, "The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity" (2 Timothy 2:19). Peter also foresees ruin; he speaks of false teachers coming in, but never contemplates any amendment. All the writers contemplate the ruin which would come in, but never give the idea of any possibility of restoration or amendment. John speaks of the "last times", and of there being already many antichrists. He gives us a striking picture in the Revelation, a kind of account of the church from the beginning to the end, from Ephesus to Laodicea.
He shows what would come in, with regard to the professing body, but never holds out any idea of amendment.
All this is striking, but it is not accepted in Christendom. If it were, and the real condition of things were acknowledged, the great bodies around us which justify their existence, and consider it to be according to the mind of God, would melt away. Thus, when all that is around is tested by Scripture, we find that the apostles contemplated the ruin of the great professing body, through the working of influences and principles which they saw would come in, and which would bring in confusion on every hand. And we see that in the midst of all this the Spirit of God has been pleased to mark out a path for us; and one can, as an individual, take a place outside of things which falsify Scripture and are not according to God.
Now that is the reason why I am where I am. I stand as an individual, and a great many of us have taken up that position, outside of these great systems which exist. The reason that I stand apart from them is that it is evident to me that they do not answer to what the Spirit of God has been pleased to present to us with regard to the church.
We will come now closer home, and speak of that which is the special bond in the present state of things.
I draw your attention to a passage in 1 Timothy 3:14, 15, "These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how though oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God". Now read 2 Timothy 1:8 There is a great difference in the language of the two epistles. In the first epistle the point is that a man should know how to behave himself in the house of God, and in the second that he might "not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord".
It is extremely important to get an idea of the house of God in order that you may be able to measure the general departure from the truth of it. If you have not the standard you cannot measure the departure.
If you refer to the second chapter of the first epistle (verses 1 - 11), you will find some details of the order of the house. I want to dwell on these details for a moment, for they give us an idea of the character of the house of God. It was not a material building, but a building composed of living stones. We see in verse 1 that it was a place of thanksgiving and prayer, where there was intercession for all men, then for kings and for all in authority. That is a first principle. Then in verse 8 the men prayed everywhere, for the house was composed of people. What marked the house was that the men prayed everywhere, not ministers and clergy, but men universally were marked by prayer; wherever they were, the men were to pray. Then, on the other hand, the women were not to be conspicuous, but were to adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety. But there were other marks; all in the house were cared for in soul and body. There were overseers for looking after their souls, and deacons for looking after bodily wants; and whether soul or body, everything was carried out in the early days in the power of the Holy Ghost. These things were brought under Timothy's notice, that he might know how one ought to behave himself in the house of God.
I believe it to be of great importance to have some definite understanding of the true character of the house of God, in order that we may judge of all that is around us at the present time. I do not see anything around that answers to what is presented to us in this epistle. I do not see men praying everywhere, nor women generally adorned with
shamefacedness. I do not see overseers looking after people's souls and deacons looking after their bodies. The systems around do not answer to the test, hence I judge myself to be right in standing apart from them. They do not leave room for the application of Scripture injunctions. Men could not pray everywhere, for it would cause disturbance; the systems leave no room for the Spirit of God; every Christian ought to feel under the obligation of bringing these things to the test of the law and the testimony.
Now supposing some of us through grace have separated from these things, are we to form another system? Do you think that would be according to God? I think that is the thing which we have to avoid most strenuously. If the Spirit of God has given us any true perception of the character of what is around, that it does not answer to the test of Scripture, and if we have been enabled in faith to stand apart, we must most carefully maintain the sense of individuality. We may have the privilege of walking together, if we are agreed in mind, but we have diligently to avoid the formation of any system whatever: if we do not, we simply drop back again into the error of all that is around.
Supposing a few are agreed in that way, it is a wonderful thing to stand in obedience to the Lord. We have all known what it is to be dependent on props, but we ought not to want the support of others. We ought to look to the Lord to be supported, and if we are supported by the Lord we shall be a support to one another.
Now is there between such any special bond? I have not a doubt that there is, and I want that bond to be much more real to us, and that we should have a more definite idea of it than we have had. If it please the Lord to give us any intelligence in regard to the bond, we shall see that it is one which
really holds us together. I believe the testimony to be the bond, and I want to give you an idea of what the testimony is. I think the Spirit of God desired that the mind of Timothy should be imbued with the principles of the house of God, and the same Spirit shows what would be the bond in the time of departure.
The "testimony" is an expression which we very commonly use, but I doubt if many have a very definite idea of it. I will tell you the idea which it conveys to my mind. Testimony is that which God gives of what He is going to establish before He establishes it publicly. God does not give testimony of anything that He is not going to make public. The Spirit of God has come down to testify of Christ, but the point is that God is going to make Christ manifest.
I refer to two passages. Look at 1 Timothy 2:6 and 1 Timothy 6:14, 15. The one shows that a time is appointed for the preaching, and the other that a time is appointed for the appearing. I want to make plain that testimony refers to something which is going to appear. Testimony loses its force and character if you do not connect it with that which God is going to display. What God is going to display is comprehended in one word, and that is CHRIST, His purpose in Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ is going to put down every evil power, that is, to subdue all things that are contrary to God, and to bring to light His grace and His righteousness. God intends to have a universe which will be under the power and influence of His grace. It is His purpose to display Christ, and there will be a universe controlled in every part by the grace of God.
Now before Christ is displayed God gives testimony, so that we may be now in the light of that which is to be displayed. The effect of this upon
us will be to deliver us from the influence of all that is existing. What is existing is not according to God. Sin reigns by death; but God is going to make evident His purpose and grace in Christ Jesus before the world began. God will fill the universe with blessing.
Now there is another point in. connection with this: we get the annulling of death and the bringing to light of life and incorruptibility. If God is to have a universe according to His purpose, the power of death must be annulled. Death has to be swallowed up in victory, and when the Lord appears life and incorruptibility will be evident. Christ will be the fountain and source of life. As the sun is the fountain and source of light and life to this earth, so Christ will be as the Sun of righteousness. Creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption, life and incorruptibility will come to pass, and death will be annulled.
Now I want to carry you back for a moment to what came to light in Christ when the Lord came into the presence of death on earth; death lost its hold. The Lord called Lazarus out of the grave; so too in other cases He dispossessed death. Thus we get the beginning of the annulling of death when Christ was here, and at the same time life and incorruptibility came to light in Him; speaking of Himself He says, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it again". "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption". Instead of being subject to death He dispossessed death, while He went into it, bearing the judgment that lay on man. Life and incorruptibility were found in Him; but it was necessary that death should be annulled, on behalf of us, in Christ. All this will come out in result when Christ is displayed. It will be manifest then that death is annulled. Death could not have
been annulled unless redemption had been accomplished. It was by entering into death that Christ acquired the right to abolish it.
It is a great thing to be here in the testimony; and for this you must have an understanding by the Spirit of God of that which God is going to display in Christ, His purpose and grace in Christ Jesus. That forms a special bond at the present time.
It is a mercy to have been delivered from the entanglements around, to have had grace to stand apart from them. May God preserve us from other entanglements. If we want to be kept clear from these, I am sure that we must have an interest of surpassing importance to keep us walking together. I believe the interest which will hold us together is the testimony of the Christ. The testimony does not belong to any particular class, not merely to teachers and preachers, it is common property, and a bond which holds us together in the present state of things. If you want any clear or definite idea of the testimony you must apprehend that which God is going to display according to His purpose.
Looking at the world at the present time in its lawlessness and in the corruption which is the effect of lust, I see around moral confusion, and that continually increasing, but God is going to make manifest another order of things in Christ. He will have a scene where lust will not prevail, but grace will reign and Christ will be the centre.
The great witness and expression of Christ will be found in the church, as she will be seen in perfection by-and-by; and every family in the universe, according to God's purpose in Christ Jesus, will be affected by it. Israel will have their light through the church, and the nations will walk in the light of the heavenly city. In that day death will be
swallowed up in victory, life and incorruptibility will be brought into effect.
Well, it is a great thing to be in the light of Christ, and what we want is to be faithful to Christ. It is the moment when we are being put to the test. The test of the moment is to maintain fidelity to Christ, and not to run in the course of the world, nor to be influenced by the lawless principles here. Now is the moment of testimony. Is it your supreme interest? Depend upon it, if it is, it will tend to bind us together.
May God give us intelligence as to the testimony, that we may see its reference to what is going to be displayed.
Now the question is, How far are we at this moment in fidelity to the testimony? We are left here in the moment of testimony, and the word for us is "Occupy till I come", and our desire ought to be, to be found faithful till He comes. God grant it may be so.
We had before us last time the thought of the testimony as being a rallying point in a day like this. The object of the admonitions in the first epistle to Timothy is that a man might know how to behave himself in the house of God, and in the second that he should not be ashamed of the testimony. The second epistle contemplates an evil day, when confusion has come in and Christianity is really in the rule of man. When Christianity began, everything was in the rule of the Spirit of God. It is impossible to read the account in the Acts without seeing this. There was no preaching except in the Spirit. All the detail connected with the saints was carried out in the power of the Spirit. The rule of the Spirit characterised everything. Then the rule of man came in, and brought with it all kinds of confusion. This is contemplated in the second epistle to Timothy. When that state of things came in, the rallying point was the testimony, and so at the present day. The testimony is a simple and a very great thing. Nobody can exaggerate its greatness. It refers to that which is going to be displayed. It is exceedingly important to keep that in view, because it brings in the thought that we have to reckon with it.
What I want to touch upon now is what qualifies us morally to be in the testimony. The expression "being in the testimony" is often in people's minds indefinite. Very few understand what the testimony is; and if you do not understand what the testimony is you cannot very well be in it. But if you understand it, then you see the importance of
being in it. I mean being in it morally. I want to speak of what I regard as the first principle of being in the testimony: it is found in what we get in this chapter, that is, abiding in Christ. I will give you, if I can, an idea of what is meant by the expression. Just refer to verses 5 and 6, "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him". That is what I want to dwell upon now. "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not". Now refer to John 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you". You get very much the same thought in this chapter in verse 22, "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight".
The point which I want to make plain is the thought of abiding in Christ. It is not easy to make it clear, but it is extremely important. Two things are certain. "He that abideth in him sinneth not". That is a great point. The other is that "if we abide in him, and his words abide in us, we shall ask what we will" -- that is, there is communication between us and God, and what we ask we receive. That is the confidence that we have in Him.
Now if you look abroad in the world, all is more or less lawless, while men are trying very hard to deal with what one may call the possibilities of good and evil. I have no doubt people think that a great deal may he arrived at by legislation. Then other things come in, education and cultivation. A great many things are entered upon, and I think it is with the idea of realising possibilities that are supposed to exist. But we find, steadily increasing, the disintegration of society. It has greatly increased
in my recollection, and it is going on. The old bonds which held together different classes of people are being dissolved, and disintegration is steadily going on, which is an evidence to my mind of the increase of lawlessness. The more prevalent lawlessness is, the greater the disintegration. If there were lawlessness in a school, there would be undoubtedly disintegration. So, too, in a family, if the spirit of lawlessness prevails, disintegration will follow. You cannot conceive that people will long hold together if they are lawless in regard to One whom God has appointed to be Head. If we go back to the beginning we find that "By one man sin came into the world", and sin is lawlessness. What came in almost at once was disintegration. Instead of Cain and Abel being together in brotherly love, hatred came in. This confirms what I have been saying. Disintegration is bound to follow upon lawlessness. So long as lawlessness exists there cannot but be moral confusion in the world.
The state of things round us confirms what we find in Scripture. Scripture gives us what nothing else pretends to give us, the origin of things, it acquaints us with the origin of lawlessness.
Now I want to touch for a moment on the way in which God has come in to meet this lawlessness. God has been pleased to reveal Himself in righteousness, and to assert Himself in a centre. Lawlessness came in through man breaking away from God; and lawlessness can only be met by man being brought back to God. The only corrective to lawlessness must be by man being brought back under divine rule and influence. It is that which God has taken in hand to bring about. It appears to me that the way God has taken to bring it about is proof of divine wisdom. As I said, God has come out to reveal Himself in righteousness, but in such a way as to gain man. Righteousness as
presented to us in the New Testament is not like righteousness in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament we have "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not". The righteousness of the New Testament is this -- "When they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both". That is, the righteousness of the New Testament exceeds the righteousness of the Old, because it is the assertion of the rights of God in mercy, and those rights are asserted in a Man. Now that is the first step in the course which God has taken to bring man back to Himself. God has been pleased to assert His rights in mercy in a Man, so that a Man may be a centre and point of attraction to men.
The scheme of grace depends entirely upon Christ being divine; apart from that it falls to the ground, because the point is this, that Christ Himself is God come out in the rights of mercy: if God comes out in the rights of mercy He must come out in the Son.
What do you think invited the mercy of God? We learn this in the parable which the Lord spoke in the house of Simon. "A certain creditor had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty, but when they had nothing to pay". It was not simply the debts, but the fact that they had nothing to pay which set the mercy of God in activity. God looked down upon man, not simply as having debts, but in his perfect helplessness, and what lies behind mercy on the part of God is wisdom. (See Romans 11:31 - 33.) The coming out of God in mercy really means the recovery of the universe.
Well now, God has come out in that way, and the effect of it is that Christ has become a point of attraction to men. There was no point of attraction presented to men in the Old Testament. That is why the righteousness of the New Testament exceeds the righteousness of the Old Testament.
Everything that the Lord Jesus did here was a witness of divine mercy -- healing the sick, cleansing the leper, raising the dead. Hence a Man became a point of attraction to men. A great many were not drawn to Him, but at the same time there were those who were drawn to Him by the mercy He expressed.
Now a word or two in regard to Christ. Christ is the righteousness of God, for He is the expression of God's rights in mercy, and the point of attraction to men. He has taken up the liabilities under which men were and from which they could not disentangle themselves. Men had nothing to pay, but Christ took up the debts, and in virtue of having discharged the liabilities, He gives living water to men: hence He is a point of attraction to men. The Lord Jesus said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me". It is not simply that He has paid our debts, but having paid our debts He gives us living water. I am sure nobody can measure the value of living water. We can in a way measure the riches of men, although very often that is almost beyond our power, but who can measure the value of living water? That is what Christ gives. He came here, the expression of divine mercy, to bear the liabilities under which men were, in order that He might impart to man the gift of God; so the Lord Jesus says, "Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely". The greatest gift which even God can give is living water. We know the value of it here, and we shall know it hereafter.
Now I come to our side, for we must be practical. I want to show how each one of us is recovered from lawlessness, so that we may be in the testimony of Christ. You cannot be in the testimony of Christ except as you abide in Christ. It is a very important point to abide in Christ. "Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not". Every person not abiding in Christ is really lawless, for there is no way out of lawlessness except in abiding in Christ. This chapter makes that as plain as it can be made. To abide in Christ really means to abide in the light of Christ. Nothing can be more important than that. The earth abides in the sun, that is, it abides in the light and warmth of the sun, nothing permanent comes in between. It is impossible that the earth can be detached from the sun; clouds and fogs may come in, and if there were a perpetual fog the earth would not get fully the benefit of the sun, but we could not say that it did not abide in the sun. Now to apply that to ourselves. If you abide in Christ, the first consideration is that you abide in righteousness; and abiding in righteousness proves that you are righteous. Christ is the declaration of the righteousness of God, the declaration of God's rights in mercy; and we want to be in the light of that as long as we live down here, that is, in the light of divine righteousness as set forth in Christ. Do not let fogs or clouds come in so that you do not get the full benefit of the sunshine. Abiding in Christ in my judgment is abiding in God.
Now in the world, I see people, and Christians too, pretty much taken up with business. They say business so occupies them that they have very little time for anything else, and they need relaxation. But I want to speak for a moment about the relaxation. What is your relaxation? With many people I have no doubt their relaxation is taking up things which appeal either to the imagination or the senses, and if that be the case it will greatly hinder your abiding in Christ. I urge upon everybody here the paramount importance of abiding in Christ. "He that abideth in him sinneth not". If you are abiding in Christ you do not sin. I cannot conceive anything more important than the
soul abiding in the truth which is set forth in Christ. God has set forth the most wonderful things in Christ, His rights in mercy, when men had nothing to pay. I do not think mercy is a thing once to know and then to lose the sense of.
It is of such immense importance to abide in Christ that I wish all would take it into account and make it a matter of great concern. The attention is very much taken up with other things, and people very often give but the fag end of their time to divine things. I think you want to give the best of your time. It is a great thing to sit at Christ's feet. People take long journeys to winter abroad with the idea of keeping in perpetual sunshine. You will not have to do that. It is only wealthy people who can go those long distances to winter resorts; but you can get yourself morally into sunshine, in the light of divine mercy, without any expense at all. It is as open to the poor as it is to the rich, and the benefit of it is immense. I have little doubt that if people were happier morally they would suffer less physically. It is a great thing to keep ourselves in the love of God. If you do you will be in the sunshine. Christ is the Sun of righteousness, the rights of mercy shine out in Him.
I think you want to take care as to your relaxation. People must get their living, but it is a poor thing if the only relaxation which they can find is that which ministers to their imagination and senses. It will give you momentary gratification, but will not permanently profit you.
I come to another point. I have spoken about the escape from lawlessness -- abiding in Christ. You come into the sunshine, you do not sin. But now you get another thing. You will bear fruit. It is a great thing to bear fruit. I will tell you what will characterise you -- you will be merciful and wise. You will not stir people up; as you pass through the
world your yieldingness will be known to all. It is remarkable that when James speaks about wisdom from above, he speaks of it as being full of mercy. Mercy is the outcome of wisdom. It is full of mercy and good fruits, and if you go through the world full of mercy and good fruits you do not stir up evil passions, but very much promote quietness, and instead of being injurious you are beneficial. All this no doubt is the effect of abiding in Christ. He is wisdom to you down here -- you see your way. You walk in the virtue of the wisdom from above, and that wisdom is divine.
Just one point more. I said at the beginning that disintegration is bound to follow upon lawlessness. Now I can tell you what is bound to follow upon righteousness. If you are abiding in Christ you are righteous. There is no neutral ground. It is either abiding in Christ, or lawlessness, because the way God has taken to meet lawlessness is in the introduction of Christ, and everything outside of Christ must be lawless. But I said that lawlessness is bound to result in disintegration. It may come out in various ways. Hatred came out in Cain; but when you come to abiding in Christ, that is, righteousness, what then? Unity will be seen. Your course will not tend in the direction of disintegration but of unity. "By this we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren". Without loving no one really abides in unity. I have not a shadow of doubt that a person abiding in Christ will be zealous and will endeavour, as far as possible, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I should be afraid to do anything here which would tend in the direction of disintegration, because I am sure it is not according to God's mind. You may depend upon it that lawlessness and disintegration are hateful to God.
If you have followed me at all you will be bound to admit the wisdom of the way in which God has appeared in the assertion of Himself in the rights of mercy, that is, in righteousness. People have had a poor idea of righteousness. They have not seen that the righteousness of the New Testament exceeds that of the Old. Christ was the expression of God's mercy "when they had nothing to pay". It is that which has made Christ to be the blessed point of attraction.
Take care, as I said before, that fogs and mists do not come in so that you do not get the benefit of the sunshine. It is a great thing to keep in the sunshine continually. To abide in it will have a mighty effect on you. First, you do not sin; secondly, you bear fruit; thirdly, your pathway is guided by wisdom from above; fourthly, your course will not tend to discord but to unity. You will walk in love towards all, seeking not to be injurious but beneficial.
May God keep you in divine light. There is no divine light outside of Christ.
Luke 14:15 - 35
I have tried in previous lectures to give some idea of the testimony. It is a great point not to be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, but, then, we need to understand what that testimony is. I have no doubt the word "testimony" is an indefinite expression in the ears of a great many. The fact is we need to be intelligent in divine things. Christianity is not dogmatism, though dogmatism has come into Christianity a great deal. One great principle of Christianity is intelligence, what the apostle expresses as "the full assurance of understanding". We get a similar thought in John's first epistle, "He has given us an understanding that we may know him that is true". Therefore it is not the divine thought that we should be unintelligent. Then, again, I do not think that we want other people to understand for us. We want to understand for ourselves. In times gone by people used to be largely content for others to understand for them. No one can understand the things of God by mere natural power nor otherwise than by the Spirit of God; but then the youngest believer, as well as the most advanced, has the Spirit of God, and therefore there is the possibility of the youngest believer understanding. Now I think you get the idea of the testimony in what the apostle Paul calls "the mystery of the gospel". Two or three times he employs that expression. His desire was that he might make manifest the mystery of the gospel; not in a public way, but to the intelligence of believers. The gospel had been committed to him, he himself had been made intelligent in the mystery
of the gospel, now the point was that he might make it known, for to that end he was an ambassador in bonds.
I think we all have an idea of the glad tidings in their suitability to man's condition, but what I have been referring to goes further, being spoken of as the "mystery of the gospel". I think the mystery of the gospel is "the Christ". If you turn to Romans 16:25 - 27, evidently it lies in "the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery". The mystery has now come out in the way of testimony, and is apprehended in the simple expression "the Christ". "The Christ" really covers a great deal of ground; it covers the length and depth and breadth and height of what we may call the promised land.
Now in speaking about the testimony I have laid stress on one point, namely, that the testimony is of that which will be displayed in its own time. God has appointed a time for display just as He has appointed the present time for testimony. God displays nothing till He has set it forth in the way of testimony. The time of testimony is very important, and where the testimony is accepted it brings us into the light of God and God's purpose. One is no longer unintelligent or dogmatic, but living in the light of God and in the knowledge of His purpose in Christ; because it is that which is made known in the testimony, and we are prepared for what He is going to display.
I took up another point, and that was, our qualification to be in the testimony, and the first principle is abiding in Christ. In that way we are no longer lawless, for we have come into attachment to Christ by the Spirit of God. We come under divinely ordered rule, and move in the orbit which God has appointed for us. "He that abideth in him does not sin". He is no longer lawless but righteous, and
so practises righteousness. That is, he does the will of God down here. You could not be in the testimony if you were lawless.
It is a great thing to have escaped lawlessness, and to be here subject to Christ, no longer carried about by your own will and fancy. I do not think man's will is a safe guide, it is impossible to know where it will lead him. The only safe way is to abide in Christ. The disciples were continually abiding in Christ. They were fruitful in good works while they were with Christ. So too after Christ was risen and ascended we see the same thing in them. The Spirit of God had attached them to Christ. They were no longer lawless, but moving in the divinely appointed orbit; and as the Lord Jesus said, "That ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain", their fruit has remained to the present day, because they continued in Christ and His words continued with them.
I come now to another point. I have spoken of our qualification for the testimony, I want to speak of two things which go with the testimony and mark those who are in it, that is, those who are in God's will, in the secret of His purpose. It is a great thing to be in accord morally with that which God is going to display. If you are not in such accord, you may depend upon it you are all wrong. The two marks which will, I think, characterise those who are in the testimony of Christ come out in this chapter. They are two very simple things -- the one is feasting and the other fasting. Feasting takes place inside, and fasting takes place outside. We have to do with both the inside and the outside, in a sense, by the life of Christ, and in the Spirit we are inside, that is, in the house, and we have feasting in the house; but then as a matter of fact we have still to do with the outside, for we have the outward
man, and the duties and obligations which are connected with the present life, and have to go through the world, and I look upon that as being the outside. When you come to the outside what is proper to us is fasting.
I just call your attention to verses 15 - 24. The supper gives you the idea of a feast. You get the same thing in the next chapter, verse 22. I want to point out that the feast is inside a certain domain, and the domain is God's domain. It is not a domain of this world, it is God's domain and His supper. So, too, in the next chapter, the feasting takes place in the domain of the Father. Now I would make plain to you where the Christian can live and feast. There is a moral domain, true to faith, which is apprehended in Christ. I believe the thought of the mystery of the Christ brings before us a domain. It is a moral idea which has to be apprehended by the soul, but it is to be apprehended; the Spirit gives us the apprehension of a moral domain in Christ. I do not think it will always be simply a moral domain; we anticipate the time when everything will be put under Christ, and what is now a moral domain will become an actual domain. Christ will fill all things. "All things" is not only a moral domain, but an actual domain; but now it is a moral domain which is apprehended in Christ. It is the "within" which is brought before us in this chapter under the figure of a house. Unquestionably that is a moral idea, but then there is "my supper". I will tell you what I understand by "my supper". It is the celebration of grace. Grace has come to pass in Christ. I understand the kingdom of God to signify the reign of grace. The reign of grace has come to pass, and what goes on in the house is the celebration of grace. There was a very different kind of reign until grace came in -- "sin reigned by death". Everybody was
under the dominion of sin and death. Nobody celebrated that. But now another reign has come in, the reign of grace. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The moment we come into the light of Christ we come under the rule of grace. Then we have "a throne of grace where we can obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need". We have to resort to it continually, it is essential to us down here; and we are told to come boldly to it, I mean in the difficulties to which we are exposed. But further, the point is that grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, that is, the effect of grace is to bring to pass every condition in which man can live with God; grace reigns to that end. We get the gain of this now, but it will be brought to pass publicly. The conditions necessary to human life are found to a large extent in the rule of the sun; and the conditions which are essential to spiritual life are brought about by the reign of grace, grace reigns through righteousness unto it, through Jesus Christ our Lord. God has been pleased to interfere thus in divine mercy.
It is wonderful to think that the reign of grace is established. It is not appreciated by the natural mind of man. It is true to faith, and it is a very great thing to apprehend it; if you do apprehend it you are at the supper, you have part in the celebration. It will be a wonderful day when all the results of grace come out. Grace reigns now morally, but it will reign publicly and manifestly, as the sun reigns. In the meantime we are in the house and have part in the celebration. I think everybody ought to delight in the thought that grace is on the throne.
Now that is what I call the feasting. You get something of it in the next chapter. The father said, "Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and
let us eat, and be merry". What wonderful terms are brought in, that we should be "merry"! I wish that would get hold of us, so that instead of being taken up with the things of this world we should see the wonderful things which have come to pass through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are entitled to feast in that sense, but if you feast it must be in the domain of Christ, it is not feasting in the world. My point is that every believer is in that domain. I do not mean physically, but in faith and by the Spirit of God.
Now I come to the other side. If you refer to verses 28 - 30 you come to the outside; here we get another scene. A great many things are found in it. There are people that mock, and a king with twenty thousand men. This is not inside the house. There was no mocking inside the house, and there was no going to war. Outside you find people ready to rejoice in the breakdown of a Christian, and there is the king with twenty thousand men. It is a great thing to understand the gain of the inside, what takes place there and the rejoicing that is proper to the inside; then you are qualified to come to the outside. I see around that people like building towers. Now I very much doubt if it be at all wise for a Christian to build a tower. What I understand by building a tower is to make a name. I doubt the prudence of this, the probability is that one may not have sufficient to finish. He may have enough to lay a foundation. On the other hand it certainly is not wise with ten thousand men to go to meet a king that comes with twenty thousand. The chances are that one will meet with defeat, and it leads to making terms. My impression from the passage is that it is undesirable for a Christian to go forth in human power to meet the enemy. People get into controversy and argument with infidels and sometimes bring upon themselves defeat
and shame. You may depend upon it the enemy is far more acute than you are. I do not think infidelity is met by controversy and argument and that kind of thing. The point of the passage is that if a man is to be a disciple of Christ he has to forsake all that he has. The Lord could meet the king that came against Him for the simple reason that He was what He said He was. Therefore when the enemy came against Him with twenty thousand he was defeated. Christ is what He says He is. We could not say that of ourselves.
Now what have you to do? What is the path of wisdom? You have to forsake all that you have. When we come to the outside and our pathway through the world, the safe place for the Christian is the place of self-abnegation. I am sure that, while on the one hand we have celebration and rejoicing, there is the appropriateness of fasting. Fasting, I take it, is self-abnegation. The Lord would not have the disciples fast when He was with them because fasting was not appropriate to that moment. No more will it be appropriate when Christ comes again. A man will not have to forsake all that he has in that day. The Bridegroom is not in the world, and therefore for the moment fasting is appropriate. The first thing in fasting is the refusal of the flesh. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live". We have to accept the rule of the Spirit, and the Spirit sets itself against the flesh. You do not the things to which you are prone for the reason that the Spirit is opposed to the flesh, and will not tolerate it. But there is another point and that is self-abnegation. You have to let your yieldingness be known unto all. If you stand upon your rights you do not give up all that you have; and after all man's rights are very shadowy, he brought no rights into the world, and every right that man
claims is acquired, Scripture makes the path of the Christian plain. "Let your yieldingness be known unto all. The Lord is at hand". I am content to have my rights with the Lord. If I have part in the rights of the Lord, I think that I may be well content, and in the meantime the path of wisdom undoubtedly is to let your yieldingness be known unto all. The apostles all walked on that principle. Peter and John did not assert their rights; Paul rarely asserted his rights, and when he did he was wrong; in the latter part of his course you never see him standing on his rights, and it is he who gives this admonition.
There is another point: in fasting we have to deny ourselves not only in regard to things that might be considered wrong, but in respect of things that are lawful but which are not appropriate. I have no doubt that there are things which in themselves are legitimate but which are not proper for the moment. The poor live from hand to mouth. My sympathies are with such. They can do very little beyond providing for what is necessary; but there are a great many people differently situated in the world. Of course you cannot expect to find very many of the rich among Christians; but supposing riches are within your reach, the question is whether what they can compass is appropriate. You have to take into account that the Bridegroom is not here, and while the Bridegroom is absent fasting is proper. You have to look to it whether this thing and that thing is suitable in His absence. In the midst of a lawless world my impression is that we want to be as simple as we can, avoiding every self-indulgence. If I had much means, people might ask me why I did not maintain a large establishment. I should say, because I think a large establishment and display, and that kind of thing, inappropriate in the absence of the Bridegroom.
There will be a large house, and plenty of glory and honour, when He comes. I think we want to wait until that day. In the meantime it appears to me that largeness in this world, and everything connected with it, is inappropriate. When we come to the inside, in the domain of Christ, feasting is the order, and you cannot have too much of it. "They began to be merry", and there is no end to the merriment. Let your feasting be on what I might call moral dainties, not natural dainties, or dainties of this world. Then when you come to the outside, as I said before, you are in the world. You may have to meet mockery and opposition, and the king that comes with twenty thousand. Do not attempt to build a tower. Do not try to be conspicuous, and do not make war in your own strength. The true path is to forsake all that you have, to refuse the flesh and its working, to renounce all idea of maintaining your own rights, and to be prepared to exercise self-denial in a world from which the Bridegroom is absent. In that path you will be simple and not hampered. You will be able to take up the discipleship of Christ. You do not want to be better than your Master. We have to tread the path that Christ trod, and we do not wish to be better than our Master; we suffer now, but the reigning time will come; when Christ reigns you will reign with Him. You do not want to anticipate this. Just be prepared to accept the outside and what is suitable. Depend upon it nothing is suitable to the outside but discipleship of Christ. Thus you will be suitable to the testimony. It is a great thing to be prepared for the path of self-denial, to tread in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus here upon earth. It will greatly aid us in fasting outside to be in the feasting inside. As we do so, the path of self-denial will be what we shall desire.
Ephesians 6:10, 11; Isaiah 59:16, 17; 2 Thessalonians 2:6 - 12
My thought is to continue on the line of the testimony, and the armour as we have it given in Ephesians 6 is essential in the maintenance of it. We have had the testimony before us, as a rallying-point for the saints in the ruin of the church. No one can gainsay the ruin of the church. No person with any intelligence in Scripture could maintain that Christianity, as it is in the world, is according to the mind of God. If you could dissect it and find out the elements of which it is composed, they would be very various. No doubt there are certain elements of truth in the creeds, but then we find in practice a large infusion of heathenism and Judaism. As Christianity advanced in the world, and spirituality declined, other elements were admitted.
I pointed out in connection with the first epistle to Timothy that we find nothing that answers to the features of the house of God, as set forth in that epistle, in what is abroad now. My point was, there are two things essential to the individual, and especially so to the servant of the Lord. Still I do not want to talk to servants, but to believers. I do not care to limit what I say to servants. One is to know how to behave himself in the house of God. This is very important. I cannot think that anything absolves us from our responsibility as to that while the Spirit of God is still here, for if the Spirit of God is here, the house of God is here.
Then we ought to learn that fundamental lesson, "Not to he ashamed of the testimony of our Lord". So far as I understand the second epistle to Timothy,
the point is that in the general confusion the testimony of the Lord is a rallying-point of saints, and I believe this to be of great moment.
I judge that of late years a great many people have run rather into the idea that they might construct some sort of representation of the church. I think it has been in the mind of a good many to construct a sort of ecclesiastical system but it has always broken down, and to my mind it is useless to go on that line. I do not think that is the thought of the Spirit of God; my impression is that in an evil day the Spirit of God has provided a rallying-point, and that rallying-point is the testimony. The second epistle to Timothy is perhaps the last epistle that Paul wrote.
There was another point -- that the testimony is always a witness of what God is going to display. This gives the testimony a very definite character. To testify beforehand of that which is to be displayed is an unvarying principle in the ways of God. In regard to the first coming of the Lord, God gave testimony of that. So too in the Old Testament -- in the recovery of the Jews from Babylon, God first gave testimony. But now testimony goes a great deal farther. Testimony is of all that which God has bound up in Christ, of which Christ is the beginning, centre and head. It is a witness to Christ as in relation to "all things" (or rather the witness of all things in relation to Christ). A great many of us have had limited ideas in regard to Christ, and so too in regard to the return of Christ. We have talked of the coming of Christ in connection with the kingdom. The point is that Christ is not simply King, but He is very much like the sun in our solar universe. He is the head and centre, the beginning of a moral system which is to be displayed in connection with Him. Scripture is full of it. Even when God brought Israel out of Egypt into
the wilderness, He gave them in the tabernacle a figurative representation of the "all things" -- things in heaven and things on earth. The "all things" are not yet come to pass; but what has come to pass is that Christ, as the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat, has come in, and thus all things are grouped around Him. The Lord Himself spoke very much about "all things". He spoke of all things in connection with the coming of the Comforter -- "All things that the Father hath are mine", and taught that the Spirit would make known to the disciples all things.
I say that much in connection with the principle which I put forward, that is, that God displays nothing until He has previously given witness of it. We are waiting for the blessed hope and appearing of the Lord Jesus, not simply for the appearing, but for the display of all that God has established in Him, and in the meantime I think our rallying-point is the testimony. I do not think anything but that will bind us together according to God. I do not think zeal for ecclesiastical order will do it. If you ask what the testimony of our Lord is, it is comprised in one word, and that is, the Christ. The thought of the Christ covers a great deal, it not only refers to Christ personally, but covers all that of which the Christ is the head and centre, and that is an immense field for consideration.
I was speaking last time of what should characterise those to whom the testimony is dear. I referred to the appropriateness of fasting and feasting. Fasting is not always abstaining from food, but denial of self in legitimate things within your reach, which are inappropriate in the absence of the Bridegroom. Then feasting is in the house, in the power of the Holy Ghost -- all the joys connected with Christ at God's right hand.
Now I go a point farther, that is, as to our equipment.
It is difficult to stand in the evil day without proper moral equipment. It is no slight matter to withstand in the day of evil. I do not see many people who withstand when prosperity is brought against them. They get engulfed by it; and some people break down under adversity. The devil has plenty of methods to catch people, and, as I said, they often break down. Many would stand under ordinary circumstances; but supposing temptation were to come in some severe and subtle form, in the way of prosperity or in some way which would tend to gratify you naturally: how would you stand then? We want to withstand, in an evil day, every allurement of the enemy. The Lord stood against all. The devil came to Him with every kind of temptation, in natural things, in spiritual and in worldly things, but the Lord withstood in the evil day. And there is another important point which we see in Christ, He not only withstood every temptation, but He dislodged the foe. He went into death that He might destroy him, and He came out victorious. The enemy was not only withstood, but dislodged, and those who had been subject all their lifetime to bondage were delivered. The same thing should be true in regard to us. We have to withstand the power of evil in this world. The great point is not how a person begins, but how he continues. Continuance is the test. Starting is not the real test of strength. Many may go ahead in a race at the start, but the real test is the power of stay or continuance. You want to be able to withstand in the day of evil and to dislodge the enemy. You get the figure of this in the case of the children of Israel when they came into the land of promise; the first thing was to withstand. The enemy sought to prevent their getting into the land; but when they got into the land, they had to dislodge the enemy, and they
never did it thoroughly. I think that is our part. It is a great thing and I wish I could impress on all the importance of it.
Now I want to give you an idea with regard to the armour, Ephesians 6:10 - 18. The idea is that the seat of wickedness is the heavenly places. In Isaiah 59:17 - 20 we read, "For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord". I refer to this to show that the armour is that which is characteristic of Christ in His coming again, and really characteristic of Him as Jehovah. I want you to notice this, because as it is a principle that the testimony refers to that which God is going to display, so the armour anticipates the coming of Christ in power. The passage that I referred to speaks of the coming in of the Redeemer to Zion; then it is that He puts on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon His head, so that evidently righteousness and salvation are characteristic of Jehovah. Everlasting righteousness and salvation will characterise Christ when He comes out in blessing. You cannot understand the bearing of the armour if you do not apprehend that. In contrast to this look at 2 Thessalonians 2:8 - 10, which also refers to the coming of the Lord in connection with the revelation of the wicked one. The state of things which the
Lord will meet at His coming is seen, which He will destroy. The principles which you get there are falsehood, unrighteousness, confusion and moral destruction. These four principles stand in contrast to the different parts of the armour, which are truth, righteousness, peace and salvation. The Lord Jesus comes in with the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. He comes in truth, righteousness, peace and salvation, but while He comes in that way, it means destruction to all that is opposed to Him. He will destroy all that is opposed to God with the "brightness of his coming". He will come on behalf of His people to bring salvation; He comes as Redeemer to Zion. Now the armour is that which is properly characteristic of Christ at His coming, and in contrast to the principles which accompany the revelation of the wicked one. The principles which characterise the lawless one are exactly opposed to the principles which come out in the Redeemer.
Now a word or two with regard to the epistle to the Ephesians. The first thing which you get brought out is a very important point -- the mystery of God's will. God has made known to us His will to head up all things in Christ. We have read that passage often enough, but have we ever realised the greatness of it? It means a universe centred in Christ. The next thing in the epistle is the place of the church in relation to that universe, that is, a place in heaven. The saints are raised up together and made to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ. You cannot understand that except in relation to the universe of which I spoke. The next thing in the epistle is the state which is correspondent to that, because if the church is set in another place, then there must be a state corresponding to it. Supposing such a thing were possible as that a beggar in this world were to be put in the position
of a king; the beggar must have a state to suit his new position. Saul was a very simple man until God took him up, until then he had not the heart of a king. God gave him the heart of a king. His state was altered to suit his position, and so it must be, as I said before, even in this world. If a man is taken from a very low position and finds himself in a very high position, there is a great alteration in what I might call the state of that man. Now when we look at things in divine light, our position is in heaven. None of us is in heaven actually, we are here upon earth; but it is important to remember that the place of the church, in reference to the great scheme which is centred in Christ, is in heaven, and what is already true in regard to us is that God has wrought in us a state suited to that place. You may say you apprehend it very poorly, and it is quite true that we see very little evidence of it, but none the less the state is there -- it is Christ dwelling by faith in our hearts. As surely as you have Christ dwelling by faith in your heart, you have the state. Now supposing the state be in some measure true of you, that is, that you have been strengthened with might in the inner man, you will have a great increase of intelligence. Put a beggar in the place of a king, he would need more intelligence as a king than as a beggar. How are you and I going to get the increase of intelligence suited to another place The more really Christ is dwelling by faith in your hearts, the more you will be able to apprehend with all saints the breadth and length and depth and height, so that you really get the intelligence suited to the place. Now supposing that you apprehend the new place and have the state suitable to the place, you have to stand your ground against the wiles of the devil, so that you may not lose your place. The next thing is to dislodge the enemy. What do you think is the instrument for that?
There is nothing but the sword of the Spirit -- the word of God. That is the weapon confided to us. There is nothing by which you can dislodge the enemy except the testimony. It is a great thing to be able to handle the testimony. A great many are not qualified to handle the testimony because they are not equipped with the whole armour of God. You want to be invulnerable. I do not suppose armour, in a worldly sense, is of much use in the present day. The weapons surpass the armour, they penetrate the armour, but in this chapter, the point, in regard to us, is that we should be invulnerable morally, so that we cannot be wounded. When the wicked one is revealed he is defective in every point. He comes with lies and makes himself out to be God; then he comes in unrighteousness, he does not give God His rights. And there is no peace, because where unrighteousness is there is bound to be confusion; and there is no salvation, because the whole system, and all that he comes with, is moral destruction. There is no moral soundness. When Christ comes the first great point is truth, for He is the revelation of God. There is a striking expression, "Whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming". The brightness of His coming is the revelation of God. Now the brightness of His coming to us is truth. Christ has come in the light of God. He has come in truth, and now we can have our loins girt about with truth, because Christ is light to us, we are in the light of God. We have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The only-begotten Son has declared God. It is a very simple thing to understand what truth is. Christ came not only in grace, but in truth. He came in truth not imputing trespasses, He came in truth so that man might be recovered, so that the affections of man might be regulated by truth. Truth orders
and regulates everything according to God. Where you find the soul of a man in the light of the revelation of God, the affections of that man are not irregular, but directed and regulated in divinely-appointed channels.
But Christ came not only in truth but in righteousness, He came to maintain what is right. Christ came in the assertion of the rights of God, and the rights of God are right, and where the rights of God are not allowed nothing is right. Then He came in peace. He is the Prince of peace. He came in that character with regard to us, for peace is bound to follow upon righteousness. When once the rights of God are asserted and maintained the effect is peace. Then He came in salvation. That is the character in which Christ came, "a light of the Gentiles and God's salvation to the ends of the earth". There is no salvation possible except by Christ. There is no salvation in Adam or Adam's race. Salvation is exclusively and entirely in Christ, I might say that Christ is truth, Christ is righteousness, Christ is peace, Christ is salvation, and Christ is the sword of the Spirit, for the sword of the Spirit is the testimony; and if we want to withstand in this day and to dislodge the enemy we have to be equipped with what is characteristic of Christ.
There are two parts of the armour which do not so distinctly apply to Christ. They are faith and prayer, but every other part of the armour is that which is properly characteristic of Christ Himself. If we anticipate the coming of Christ it will have a twofold power, it will be destruction of the power of evil, and at the same time be salvation and blessing in the world. He comes on the one hand to destroy the wicked one, and on the other hand He will appear to them that look for Him a second time apart from sin unto salvation. He comes in truth to assert the rights of God in mercy and in peace as the
blessed Prince of peace, and He comes to believers as salvation. The Lord Jesus said, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world".
We want to see that the armour is that which is properly characteristic of Christ, and to take it up in the order in which it is given here. It is given in suitable moral order. I do not think you will get much understanding of righteousness if you have not the truth; and if you have not righteousness you will not know much of peace; and if you do not know peace you do not know salvation. It is most important that the revelation of God should be effectual in us in ordering and directing our affections, then we can stand here and assert the rights of God in mercy. Peace follows upon that. Peace is the effect of righteousness, and following upon peace we can stand in faith, that is, in the conviction that God is above all evil. Then you can take up the helmet of salvation, that is, Christ, and the sword of the Spirit, which I take to be the testimony of Christ, and the last part of the equipment is prayer. Faith and prayer are important principles in regard to us. The enemy has plenty of strongholds in this world in the hearts and minds of men; if we only are properly equipped, we should find that the power of the enemy would be dislodged. I can understand anybody saying that Christianity at the present day is very feeble. I know it is, and I think I see the reason -- people are not equipped with the armour. They do not know what the sword of the Spirit is. The mass of people have come under the influence of a worldly Christianity. If Christianity had been intended to be a system in this world, what would be the use of the armour? It is because we expect to find a foe here that armour is wanted, and you not only want armour, but the sword of the Spirit -- the testimony
to dislodge the enemy. I wish I had more confidence in the sword of the Spirit.
God is going to dispose everything according to the mystery of His will. We have to stand here for Christ until He comes to assert His rights.
I want to bring before you the thought of the testimony of God in the Scriptures. The ground upon which I go is found in the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Christ expounded to the disciples in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. He was the great testimony of God, so that He could do this. He marks the three great divisions of scripture, that is, Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, with the same object, as containing the things concerning Himself. He gave a comprehensive view of the testimony of God in all the Scriptures. Now it is with that idea that I want to bring the Scriptures under your attention. I take up the books of Moses at this time, and, if I have another opportunity, I will take up the Psalms, then too the prophets.
The object in each is different; but whatever may be prominent in each, the whole is covered by that one word "Christ". That is what we want to see in Scripture. We are told that "the word of God" is "the mystery", and the mystery of the Christ is the testimony. The word of God and the testimony are perhaps equivalent, and the testimony of God refers to that which God is going to display. It seems to be the way with God that He displays nothing without having first given testimony; and for a very long time, now extending over some six thousand years, God has been giving testimony of that which He intends to display. If I do not misunderstand the Scriptures entirely, God's testimony is the one thread running all through, whether it be in Moses, in what we are accustomed to call the
Pentateuch, or in the Psalms, which are largely celebrations, or in the prophetic part of scripture. The testimony of God, as I have said, is the word of God. In the highest sense Christ is the word of God, that is, in the sense of being the revelation of God. When He comes into the world He comes as the word of God, that is, as the testimony of God. All that God has fore-ordained, all His counsel, is not only established in Christ, but will be displayed in Him.
One word more: that it is Christ personally that gives character to everything under Him we can well understand, but the thought of God's testimony is not simply of Christ personally, but of Christ officially, that is, Christ in relation to "all things". "All things that the Father hath are mine". "All things are delivered to me of my Father". You get that thought continually in the teaching of the Lord, and I want to make plain the idea of Christ in relation to "all things".
In speaking about the testimony of Christ we must bring "all things" in. "All things" is an expression commonly used in the New Testament as denoting all that is put under the Headship of Christ. "And hath put 'all things' under his feet, and gave him to be head over 'all things' to the church". Hence we have Christ in relation to "all things", and "all things" in relation to Christ.
I take up now what may be called the beginning of the testimony. In this chapter God gave details of the testimony which He intended to establish in the midst of Israel. The tabernacle was called the tent of testimony; and the ark of the covenant was the testimony which God gave. God set up, in a figurative way, His testimony in the midst of Israel. Now I do not think I am going too far in saying that if that be so, this chapter is really the most important chapter in the Pentateuch. It is
a very common thing in the present day for critics to attack Scripture. Scripture has lost its sacred character in the eyes of people to a great extent. Men assail it, but in general the attacks are addressed against the detail. People will tell you that this detail and that are irreconcilable with what men of science have found out, and that kind of thing. But in coming to Scripture, the point is not the detail, but to know what the mind of Scripture is -- what the secret, the spirit of it is. The detail is a secondary consideration, though I have no doubt the detail will be found all right. I venture to say that no person that ever attempts to assail Scripture has any idea whatever of the purpose of Scripture. In regard to that I judge that they are in the dark. They look at the surface, but not being divinely taught, they have no apprehension of what is the spirit and real point of Scripture. The point of Scripture is the testimony of God, and the testimony of God is Christ; but, as I have said, Christ in relation to "all things". I take up a figure often used: the sun in our physical universe stands in relation to all things; there is no planet in the solar system to which the sun does not stand in relation. The sun may be called the centre of the system. The same thought applies in regard of Christ. Christ is the centre of the whole moral system. Every part of the moral universe refers to Christ, and Christ to every part of the moral universe.
All the detail that God gave in the early part of scripture, and afterwards (a great deal comes out in the succeeding books, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) refers to what is found in this chapter. God here gave directions for His testimony to be set up among the people; therefore I am justified in saying that this chapter is the most important chapter in the books of Moses. If this chapter were rightly understood, no one would attempt to
assail any of the detail that precedes or that follows it. The detail was all leading up to the fact of God taking up a people, and was a type of redemption coming in; then it was that God set up His testimony in the midst of that people. Once the testimony was established, as we get it here and in the early part of Leviticus, everything had relation to that testimony. The children of Israel had to pitch their tents in reference to the tabernacle; and when they went through the wilderness, the ark of the covenant went before them, and God marked out a way for the people; they had to follow the ark of the covenant through Jordan, and the ark preceded them into the land. So too, the ark of the covenant had to be carried round Jericho; everything centred in the ark. I want to touch now upon what God set forth in the tabernacle, not in detail -- I am no great hand at detail -- but in the general features of it.
I desire to show you how in the tabernacle God set forth a figurative representation of that which was before Him. What is presented to us in the books of Moses is to a large extent figurative. In the Psalms we have not a figurative representation -- for the Psalms are rather prophetic in their character, they are in the nature of celebrations. I would say in passing that in the Psalms we get the thought of a Man capable of going up on high: One who first came down, and was capable of going up, so as to fill all things. In the prophets, again, it is not a question of figurative representation, but of prophetic testimony, all pointing on to the same thing. We see in the prophets the thought of God Himself assuming all the kingdoms of the world. It is no longer safe that they should be entrusted into the hands of man, and God Himself becomes King of the whole earth in the midst of His people at Jerusalem. We read in Revelation 11, "The kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever". If you put these three points together, the figurative representation of that which was before God, the Man who could come down and could go up, so that He should fill "all things", and the assumption of the kingdoms by God, so that Jehovah alone should be King, you get the idea of God's testimony. The great system of the world is to be broken to pieces. God allows it to go on for a moment for wise purposes, but all will be swept away, and it will not take God long to do it. God never interferes until principles are ripened. The present is an accepted time and a day of salvation, and I suppose the character of this moment will continue until men reject all revelation and set up a rival to Christ; then God will interfere and the existing system of the world will come to an end in a moment, but in that moment God will display that to which He has given testimony from the beginning. The system of the world will be put aside by the judgment of God, to make room for Christ and "all things". The Father's counsels are centred in the Son, and when the Son is set forth -- and the Son is the great subject of testimony -- then God will set forth the "all things" centred in the Son.
I will touch now on the things of which God spoke in connection with the tabernacle (verses 10, 16, 17, 23, 31). I refer to the items which formed the furniture of the tabernacle, because they were the things which God set forth before the people. The first and foundation of everything was the ark of the covenant. The covenant was put in the ark, and the ark of the covenant implied the means by which the goodness of God should be available to man in spite of what man was. It was a wonderful thought. In the beginning of God's dealings with
Israel, God took account of man's condition, which really ruined everything; but what was typified in the ark of the covenant was Christ, and the tables of the covenant were placed there. In Christ you can understand how, in spite of all man is, the goodness of God is available to man. The same sort of thought comes out in the bringing back of the ark to Mount Zion. We are told "Ye are come unto Mount Zion". When man had forfeited everything by the crucifixion of Christ, God gives back Christ in resurrection to man in His sovereign mercy in the virtue of redemption. Christ was taken and by wicked hands crucified and slain, but He was delivered by "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God". I understand Christ to be now both the ark and the covenant (not the ten commandments). He is the true covenant, and the covenant is, that in spite of man's condition the mercy and goodness of God are available to man. That is the first principle of "all things". I cannot conceive how "all things" could possibly be brought about without the goodness of God being known and realised. In any household what gives character to the household is goodness in the parents. What is the worth of a household if there be not that? and what is the value of the universe, as God's house, if there be not goodness in God, and that goodness displayed and enjoyed? Well, what God has designed and brought to pass is that the goodness of God should be available to man in spite of man's condition. Christ is available to man, and there are two things in Christ -- He has accomplished redemption so that man might be relieved of the liabilities under which he is, and on the ground of redemption Christ is able to impart living water to man, to conform man to Himself. That is what I understand by the ark of the covenant. It is on that the mercy seat is founded.
The mercy seat could not have been founded on the ten commandments, it could be founded only on the ark of the covenant. Christ magnified the law and made it honourable. He was the righteous One, He hated lawlessness and loved righteousness, but that would not have been available to us had He not accomplished redemption. He had to taste death for everything, and on that ground He imparts to man living water, so that man may be conformed to Him. God has to say to people about their sins, but it is to announce forgiveness. If in preaching you make an effort to bring home responsibility to man, the reason is that God's mind in regard to man is forgiveness. When Christ was here God was not imputing trespasses, indeed occasionally we find the Lord forgiving, but in general the principle was that God was not imputing, He was reconciling. Now God goes further than that, He announces forgiveness, "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things". The mercy seat is established upon the ark, and hence it is that God's mind in regard to all men is forgiveness of sins, and the point to be reached is that man may be brought into the enjoyment of the goodness of God. Were it not for redemption, and the ark of the covenant, man's condition would have been an impassable barrier to his knowing anything at all about the goodness of God. God has wrought that His goodness may be available, and enjoyed and delighted in by man. The condition of man has been met in redemption, and Christ is the mercy seat, so that in Him God can put Himself in contact with man. In the mercy seat we get the declaration of the rights of God's mercy; and where those rights are recognised man receives forgiveness in the gift of the Spirit. That is the first principle of God's universe. By the ark of the covenant and
the mercy seat God establishes the universe. You could not talk about God being in moral contact with this present world. I admit there is a testimony of God to man in this world. God puts Himself in contact with man, but by what belongs to another world, by the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat.
In the furniture of the holy place you get two important items -- the table of shewbread and the candlestick. There was also another item in the holy place, the altar of sweet incense. That comes in another connection; you do not get that in this chapter. In the detail of the furniture the altar of sweet incense is brought in last. What we get in this chapter presents in type that by which God intended to establish the universe, and as I have said, the first thing in that is the ark of the covenant. Christ is seen in that light. The table of shewbread and the candlestick present two great principles, what I may speak of as administration and light. They will come out not simply in Christ but through Israel, that is, so far as the world is concerned. All that was in the first tabernacle related in a way to Israel, and the proof of that is that the priests in Israel went always into the first tabernacle accomplishing the service of God. The things with which they dealt in the first tabernacle were the things which related figuratively to Israel; although the table of shewbread and candlestick represent Christ, yet I take it they represent Christ in connection with Israel. Israel will, in the ways of God, be a vessel of administration, and the great light in the midst of the world. In Isaiah 66:19 we read, "And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory;
and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles". One cannot doubt that in the ways of God, Israel, in connection with Christ, will have a remarkable place in the earth both in administration -- that is, in the administration of spiritual food, for the declaration of God's name is really food -- and as a light in the world.
But I will proceed to the court of the tabernacle. In the court of the tabernacle was the altar of burnt offering. The altar of burnt offering is a type of Christ, but in another light, that is, in that it presents a place of acceptance for man on the ground of sacrifice, so that man may find acceptance with God. There is that now set forth in Christ. Man does not come into the favour of God by his own conduct, but is accepted on the ground of sacrifice. That ground of acceptance will subsist in the world to come. The altar of burnt offering will be available for all when the system of the world to come is established. The world to come will be set up on that ground. This is seen in principle in the offering of Abel. There will be another principle true in the world to come: all will be pervaded by the Spirit of God. The tabernacle was anointed with oil. God will pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh. The Spirit will be in that day the subjugating influence in regard to man. That is the testimony which God gave. In the construction of the tabernacle and in the details of the furniture God set forth in figurative representation what was before Him in regard to the world to come. From beginning to end Scripture has in view the testimony of God, that which God has purposed to display. It is not that this came in when everything had failed in the hands of Israel, but God showed in Israel what He had from the beginning before Him. The people did not understand it, very few at any rate; their minds were veiled to a large extent; they did not
understand the figurative character of these things. They took them all up in a material way. It is we who get the benefit. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning". We can understand these things because Christ has been presented in whom all is established; and God has given to us His Spirit that we may have intelligence in regard to all that is before God. My object in taking up these things is that the great design of God in Scripture may be seen, so that none may be terrified by attacks that may be made upon this detail and that detail. You will not think very much of these attacks if you see the great underlying principle and purpose in Scripture. But there is another object before me, and that is that the attention of saints may be diverted from the course of things transpiring in the world and fixed upon that which God presents to us. All is comprehended in the great fact that Christ is before God.
Now I will say another word in regard to man. Some would perhaps observe, Yes, all these things are before God -- the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat, the table of shewbread, the candlestick and the altar, but there is no man. In Ephesians 3 we read, "Of whom every family in heaven and on earth is named". God has evidently designed to have many families before Him. In the ways of God Christ is the centre of many circles; all the circles have reference to the one centre. When you come to the detail of the holiest of all you do not find any man spoken of save Moses; so in regard to the holy place, there is no mention of any man, it is simply the furniture. The furniture is what God set forth before man. When you bring in man, the point is man before God. But if God is before man, presenting things to man, there must be a response to it, that is, that man
should have a certain place before God. That came out in the priests of Israel: they went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service. But all that was to pass away. I suppose at the beginning of the system Aaron may have had liberty to enter into the holiest of all. Moses could approach the mercy seat, but Aaron was not allowed to enter at all times; the high priest went in once a year, and under certain conditions, and for a certain purpose. Now I say that, in order to bring in perfection, the priest must touch the ark. The two must be brought together. You must have the covenant of God brought into conjunction with the man that approaches God. The priest is the man who approaches God on behalf of man; and to complete the system, we must have the man who approaches God on the part of man joined with the One in whom God set forth His pleasure in regard to man. That never could be fulfilled save in Christ. You could not have any one really to approach the ark of the covenant until Christ. If we look at Christ on one side, He is the ark of the covenant on the part of God. In Psalm 40 He comes forth from God with God's law in His heart; but in another point of view Christ was the priest taken from among men, He sprang from man in the ways of God. He was made of a woman, made under law; He was to approach God in that light, and hence we find in Christ the two things brought together -- the ark of the covenant, and the man that could approach God on behalf of man. Christ does not take up priesthood until after resurrection; but still, the moment He was born, the Priest was there, the One who could be joined to the ark of the covenant; the two are brought together. The practical result is that you get many families. They all have to come in by Christ. The great High Priest has entered the holiest in the virtue of
His own blood, and, as a result of that, many families may come in, really because they are joined to Christ. They do not come in on any title of their own, on any hereditary principle or ground of personal excellence. Every family which approaches (and many will) approaches in connection with the great High Priest. I can understand that when God was giving the detail of that which He saw fit to set forth before man, we do not get any reference to families. Families come in on the other side, in connection with the high priest who could go in and touch the ark of the covenant. In Hebrews you get the idea of the holiest, and the ark of the covenant is there, that is, what God saw fit to set forth in Christ, the apostle; but there is another thought, Christ has entered once into the holiest by His own blood. The priest has touched the ark, the two are bound together, if I may use the expression, and now you get the various families. At the close of Hebrews we have the church of the firstborn and the spirits of just men made perfect; all depends on the priest having entered in once in virtue of his own blood. The inmost of these families is the inmost circle, the companions of Christ. In Hebrews we are told that we have become companions of Christ. "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren". The priest is as great as the ark. In Israel the priest was not so great as the apostle. Moses was faithful in all God's house. Aaron was hardly that. For the reality of things you have the priest as perfect as the ark of the covenant. In virtue of the priest having gone in, every family can be named, and every family can in measure approach God. "Through him by one Spirit we both have access (Jew and Gentile), to the Father". We do not go in because we are very advanced Christians, but
simply as companions of the high priest; very much akin to the sons of Aaron. One word more: in times gone by the holy place was the place of service, but the holy place no longer has that position, the place of service is the holiest of all, the veil has been rent. When the holy place was the place of service there was no other service. But another service has come in: we have liberty to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The holy place never will again, I suppose, be the place of service of God; all the service will take its character from those who enter the holiest of all. In Revelation 14 there is a company here upon earth who hear the voice of harpers harping with their harps in heaven, and they learn the heavenly song. There will be earthly families as well as heavenly, and the service of God will take its character from that which transpires in heaven.
It is important to see that the scripture is the book of God's testimony, and that God's testimony has reference to that which God intends to display. Christ is not yet displayed in glory. According to God's counsel He is to come out in that light, and when He comes out "all things" will come out. God will bring to light the extent of "all things", the breadth, depth, length and height. My point is, that from the outset, from the moment that God had a people and a type of redemption, God gave testimony, figuratively, of that which was before Him and which He intended in due time to display. We can understand these things because we have before us the reality, Christ having come in. We can understand the Scriptures, the Spirit of God having been given to us, so that we can enter largely into that which the Spirit of God indited. Scripture is a wonderful book. Do not think you have got to the bottom of it. People are often content with the surface of it. Few go much beneath the surface.
The great point is not the detail, which is given wisely, but the great principles of truth which are found there. I believe they are summed up in the testimony of God, and the testimony of God is comprehended in one single word, that is, Christ, but in relation to "all things". The last word of the Old Testament is, "To you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall".
Psalm 8; Psalm 40:1 - 9
I mention, for the help of any that may not have been present last time, the line I hope to pursue. My thought in all that I have to say is the testimony. To many minds this presents a very indefinite idea; but it is the thing for the moment. When the church has broken down, as it has done, the testimony is the rallying-point for saints -- the thing which will hold them together in a day like the present. None of us looks for the restoration of the church down here, no such thought is presented in Scripture; its failure and decay are shown. Christianity has assumed a form never intended by God, it has been taken captive by the world and has been used in a way for the world's purpose. This is what we see around, and our position is that we stand apart from the great systems into which Christianity has dropped. The church has got down to Babylon, Christ and Christianity are identified with the course of this world, and that must be false. You may be confident from the fact of what Christ is, the Son of God, begotten into the world, that He must be the beginning of another system -- a world that is going to displace the existing world. Christ is the Head of "all things", not as they are now, but as according to God. What I understand by the testimony is Christ in relation to "all things" on the basis of redemption. Christ occupies that position by divine appointment, and that is the testimony for the moment, which is the time appointed for it. If that be the case the testimony ought to be of supreme interest to every one of us. The gospel is the testimony and the testimony is the gospel.
I have previously made one remark in regard to the testimony, that it is of that which God is going to display. I believe that to be the principle that prevails through Scripture. "Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets". A very important principle too, for it connects itself with the responsibility of man. Man is bound to listen to that which God has to say, and before God interferes in a public way He gives testimony. The responsibility of man at the present time is intimately bound up with the gospel. God makes Christ known in the way of glad tidings, in that which may be believed, and the glad tidings are a very important element indeed in the responsibility of man. The great question at the present time is not of detail. In the day of judgment the detail of people's conduct will come out, but at the present time the question is not of detail, but of what men think of Christ. Christ is the great question in which man's responsibility is involved. God has set Christ in relation to man, and therefore every man is responsible in regard to Christ.
I refer again to the point that testimony invariably refers to that which God purposes to display, and in that connection touch on another point that I brought under your attention, that the testimony of God is comprehended in one name, that is, Christ. Not Christ as Christ first came, but Christ as Christ will be when set forth in glory, that is, as the Head and Centre of "all things". God has made known to us the mystery of His will to head up in one "all things" in Christ; it is that which is to be displayed, that is the testimony of God. It is the burden in all Scripture, not simply in the New Testament, but in the Old, and in every part of the Old. The Lord said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they
which testify of me". But the Scriptures testify of what Christ will be when displayed in the glory of God.
I spoke last time of the three great divisions of scripture, that is, Moses and the Psalms and the prophets. There are subsidiary parts, but the three main divisions of scripture are these. My point in taking up each part (of course, it can only be done rapidly and cursorily) was and is to show how in all the testimony of Christ is evident. We had before us last time that which I ventured to speak of as the most important chapter in the whole of the Pentateuch, Exodus 25, giving the description in detail of the furniture of the tabernacle, and for the reason that that which the tabernacle contained was a figurative representation of Christ in relation to "all things". It brings before us the great thought that the moment is coming when God intends to fill the universe. But not only does it give that general idea, but the more particular idea of that by which God will fill the universe. Hence I took up some detail, that is, the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat, and then the candlestick, and the golden table and the altar of burnt offering. I touched on these as showing us the means by which God will fill the universe. We are waiting here, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ". Christ has been set "far above all principality and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come". There is a universe which God purposes shall be filled not with confusion like the present world, but with order and blessing and light.
Now we come to the Psalms. I want to run rapidly through the Psalms, or rather to touch on some few of them to point out the way in which
the testimony of Christ is presented. You cannot have anything clearer than what we have already had, that is, the presentation of the testimony of the Christ in the tabernacle, when we understand the typical meaning of it; but we have not in the Psalms figurative representation; we come to what is more precise, and speaks more definitely of Christ. There are many things which I shall pass over, because in the course of an hour it is entirely impossible, even if one had the ability, to go into all that is presented to us in the Psalms. One can only touch on a few points to convey a general idea. Many here are aware that the Psalms consist of five books. This is rather important, for each book has its own distinctive character, and the Psalms are not really understood unless you see the division. But I do not want to try to give you understanding of the Psalms; my point is to attempt to show the very distinct way in which the Psalms give to us the testimony of the Christ. There is a great deal in the Psalms beside that, for many of them furnish detail of experience and exercise on the part of saints; but evidently the main point in the Psalms are the things concerning Christ, in that which Christ will be when He is set forth in glory. That is the subject of the testimony. You see this in Psalm 2:7, 8 and Psalm 118:25 - 27. The Psalms, properly speaking, close with Psalm 119, which, in a way, corresponds to Psalm 1. Psalm 1 describes and looks for the godly man, and in Psalm 119 the godly man is found. Psalm 118 corresponds to Psalm 2. Psalm 2 celebrates the coming of the Son of God into the world, "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee". That clearly refers to the incarnation of Christ, His coming into the world. He was immediately claimed by Jehovah as His Son. That comes out
in the announcement of the angel to the virgin Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee". He was not born according to nature, but by the power of the Spirit of God, and for that reason He was to be called the Son of God. That is prophetically spoken of in Psalm 2. He was begotten by the Spirit of God in time. Well now, in Psalm 118 we get His coming again into the world. When the Lord was in Jerusalem for the last time He said, "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39). The Lord quoted Psalm 118, which is evidently to be fulfilled at the coming again of Christ. Thus in the beginning of the Psalms we have the first coming of Christ, His incarnation celebrated, and in the last of the Psalms, with the exception of one, that is, Psalm 119, His coming again to His people is celebrated. They will say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord"; they did not say it when the Lord came into Jerusalem the first time; but the time will come when it will be said. So we get what may be called the testimony, the celebration of Christ prophetically not only in incarnation, but in His coming again into Jerusalem.
I have referred to that in order to show the scope of the Psalms, that is, that they properly embrace a period from the first coming to the second coming of the Lord. Now in Psalm 8 we find the "all things" which are put under the Son of man. In John 1:48 - 51 Nathanael recognised Christ according to Psalm 2, that is, the Son of God and the King of Israel; but the Lord Jesus speaks of "greater things", that is, the "all things" that are spoken of in Psalm 8 -- the "all things" that are put under the Son of man.
The great importance of that psalm to my mind is as showing that the thoughts of God have reference not simply to the earth, but to heaven, that is, to "all things".
I pass on to Psalm 22:22. Here we get another great point. Psalm 2 is the introduction of Christ in incarnation. In Psalm 8 we have seen "all things" put under the Son of man, the greater things to which the Lord refers in John 1. Now in Psalm 22 we get the idea of the revelation of God, the declaration of the Father's name. We find that fulfilled in John 20. The Lord in resurrection declares His name; and it is a great principle in regard of Christ, that in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; that means, so far as I understand it, that in Christ God is brought into contact with man.
I pass on to Psalm 40: 6 - 9. All I have spoken of so far in regard to Christ is what one may call introductory. Now, we have that which corresponds with what was before us last time; we get here the true ark of the covenant. You could not conceive anything more vitally important than the ark of the covenant, that in which everything is secured for God and for man. The covenant is the disposition of God toward men; and until the rights of God are recognised by man nothing can possibly be right. Now God has taken His own means to secure that; everything is secured for God in the ark of the covenant. When the Lord became Man all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily; but there was another point in connection with Him, that is, the law of God was in His heart, as the tables of stone were placed in the ark. The ark typified Christ; when He became Man the law of God was in His heart, that He might make that law to be the law of the universe. The meaning and force of God's covenant is that man may answer
to God. As regards the law no one but One who is love could command love; the fact of God commanding man to love his neighbour as himself proved that God was love. God is love, and therefore has the right to demand love. His righteousness is that He has the right to demand it. But to demand love is one thing, to secure it another. The mind of God is that He is to be loved, and that man shall love his neighbour as himself, and God intends to have that mind effectuated; He has taken His own means to bring it about, and His means is seen in the ark of the covenant. Christ has come in to meet the transgressions under the first covenant, but also to make the law of God to be the law of the moral universe: that is, that men may love God with all their heart and their neighbour as themselves. This is verified in Christians at the present time. The righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in them "who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit". One word as to how that is carried into effect. I should speak of a covenant as an expression of disposition, very much like a man's will. In a will a man makes known his disposition; if he be a man of property he does this in the disposition of his property. But if a man has property to leave he should have those to whom to leave it; therefore, in a sense, you get two parties to the covenant -- the heirs and the testator. Christ is testator. Another point comes in: suppose a man to be possessed of large property, with many people to come into it, what would be wanted in human things would be a capable lawyer who should have everything in his hands, and possess the confidence of those who should inherit the property; that gives me the idea of the mediator -- one perfectly conversant with the property and the mind of the testator, and at the same time knowing those who are to come into the property so that he
can properly represent them. That is what we get in Christ. On the one hand Christ is conversant with the mind of God, because of what He is, and with all that into which man is to come according to the thought of God; but He is also Mediator, in the sense that He can represent those who are to come into the property. The covenant in that way is established in Christ. He not only represents God, "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily", but He represents the heirs and has the ability to conform those to Himself. That is what we see in Christ. He is the Ark of the covenant and at the same time the Mediator, and hence it is that God really has everything in His own hands. In that way God is able to carry out His purpose to fill the universe. The Ark of the covenant is the great instrument in the hand of God to effectuate all His will. I cannot conceive anything much more important than to see how God has established and effectuated the covenant in Christ Himself; the law of God is in His heart with capability to make that law to be the law of the universe. That is what we get, I take it, brought before us in Psalm 40, "I come to do thy will".
We will pass on now to a psalm in the second book, Psalm 68:18, 19. Any one with intelligence can see the connection of this psalm with that of which I have already spoken. This psalm brings before us the great subjugating power. Christ first descended into the lower parts of the earth, as in Psalm 16. Here it is, "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts in man". He has taken captivity out of the hand of the enemy; but not that alone, He has received gifts in order that He might confer gifts on man, and gifts are connected with the subduing power which resides in Christ. I trust we all are subdued to Christ, and if so it is
through the agency of the gifts. So you get a reference of the gifts here to Israel, for the rebellious also, to what end? That the Lord God may dwell among them. As before said, in Psalm 8 we have the thought of "all things", the greater things of which the Lord speaks in John 1, all in the heavens and the earth put under the Son of man according to the divine will; then we have all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily; then the true Ark of the covenant by whom God will effectuate everything; now we get here the subjugating power, the Spirit, which Christ has received in order that He may confer it on man, so that men may be subdued to Himself. When here on earth Christ subdued by the influence He exercised; now He subdues by the Spirit. So in the world to come, the Lord God will dwell in the universe because all is subdued to Christ, and the Spirit is the power for that.
Now pass on to a psalm in the third book, Psalm 78:67 - 72. The importance of this passage may not be seen at first sight, it is in that you get the ark of the covenant identified with Mount Zion. Nothing can be more vitally important than that. We read in Hebrews 12, "Ye are come unto mount Zion". This refers to what took place in connection with David. One thing which David did was to bring the ark to Mount Zion. God had allowed the ark to be taken by the Philistines, Israel's glory was delivered into the enemy's hands, it was a dark day for Israel. "Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation". The widows died too -- it was a day of death and darkness; the priesthood had entirely failed; Eli died, the ark was taken, and every link with God broken. It pointed on to that which really took place in the crucifixion of Christ; every link with God, so to speak, was broken by the crucifixion of Christ, but
God was behind all. He gave the enemies no peace. Mount Zion represents a most important principle connected with the ark of the covenant that "His mercy endureth for ever". It is the principle of the sovereignty of mercy. I look upon Mount Zion as representing a risen Christ. Men lost Christ and everything connected with Him when they crucified Him, but God gave Christ back in resurrection in the virtue of redemption. I believe that to be the most important principle in connection with the ark of the covenant, and it is the way by which we come in. Christ is the true Ark, the law of God is within His heart, and He has subjugating power; but a door must be opened for man, and God has opened that door for man by Mount Zion. Hence "the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men", Jew or Gentile.
We pass on now to Psalm 101:1 - 8; also Psalm 102:23 - 28. In Psalm 101 I take it we have Christ, as the true David, coming into David's house and David's city. Having established the principle of Mount Zion, Christ comes in to take possession, and, as a principle of God's government, lawlessness will not be tolerated. He takes away the sin of the world. The psalm brings before us the principles of His government. He has loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore He is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. When He comes into David's city there is no longer the toleration of wickedness or slander. Then in Psalm 102 we have, at the close, the recognition of the suffering and humiliated One as being essentially God. He is "the same". This is a remarkable expression employed in Scripture; everything else may pass away. The heavens may be rolled up, and the earth pass away; but He is the same, and His years have no end.
I refer to two psalms in the fifth book; Psalm 110:1 - 4,
and in that connection Psalm 118:26. I was alluding last time to a very important point for us, that is, that in Christ the priest has touched the ark of the covenant, a thing that was entirely impossible in the days of Israel. The high priest would not have dared for a moment to touch the ark of the covenant. But Christ is not only the ark of the covenant, He is the priest, after the order of Melchisedec, who has entered in. I want you to apprehend the force of that morally, approach is equal to revelation. In the mercy seat we get the revelation of God's disposition, and approach is equal to that because the priest is as great as the ark. Jehovah has said to David's Lord, "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" (Psalm 110:1). There it is He is saluted as priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Believers are, by the Spirit, kindred to the High Priest. "Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father".
All closes in the great climax, which is the coming of Christ, and His being received with acclamation in the very place where He was rejected. In that place they will say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord", and the meaning of that is, to carry out the purpose of God to dwell in all. That is the reason for which Christ comes out, to accomplish and display the universe of bliss, in which God is to dwell, and where all will be blessed according to God. That is the testimony in the Psalms. It was foreshadowed in the tabernacle of the testimony, it is not difficult to see the thought, like a golden thread, running through these books of psalms. What I have said is imperfect enough, but it will give you the idea, and I trust it will tend to establish you in the faith. It is wonderful to see a book written by a great number of persons, in different countries and times, intended for every
class of people, for every time, and every part of the world; such a compilation as it is, yet the testimony of God pervading it, and when you know what the testimony of God means, then you have the key to every part of the Scriptures. You can understand the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Prophets, "they are they which testify of me". It is a very poor sketch I have given you, but do not let it pass by, let these things occupy your attention. You have the Bible in your hands, fill up the thought for yourself. But above all, the one thing which I would like to leave on every mind here is, that Christianity is vitality, and access now to God is as perfect as revelation. I have very often said there are two principles which constitute us worshippers: one is purgation, but the fuller qualification for worship is the appreciation of Christ; if it says "through him" it involves the appreciation of Christ. We are kindred to the High Priest and can approach. May God impress all our hearts with the testimony of the Christ.
Isaiah 24:20 - 23, 25
I feel that I need to make an apology for what I am now about to bring before you, because it will be on prophetic ground, and that is in itself hardly a part of Christian ministry; but the point with me is not to open up prophecy, but to take it up as one great part of the testimony of the Lord. That must be my justification. I shall have to pass over the ground very rapidly because prophecy is a large subject. I only seek to give a general idea. My point is to show what is stated in Revelation 19:10 that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy". You will never understand prophecy if you do not take that into account. It is a saying of the Spirit of God, not of man. All that I have taken up hitherto has been in connection with the testimony of our Lord. I have sought to show that the testimony of the Christ is that which prevails through the entire Scriptures: not simply of Christ personally, or of what He is in relation to us, but in relation to "all things". "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things". I have taken up this thought in connection with the books of Moses, and with the Psalms, now I want to show the same thing in the prophets. I hang all on the expression, "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy". I would offer a remark in regard to the meaning and power of the name Jesus. The angel, in announcing His birth, told Joseph "his name shall be called Jesus"; and the reason given for it was "for he shall save his people from their sins". The meaning of the name
is "Jehovah, saving". You have to bear in mind that the name carries that import.
There are three great principles which appear in the Old Testament. The first definite thought on the part of God is that of blessing. It came out at the beginning, and much more definitely with Abraham. The character of the promises to Abraham was blessing. The way by which God would accomplish the blessing came out only dimly, but God made known His purpose. Then in connection with Israel we get two great thoughts, first that God would dwell; we have had that before us previously, in connection with the tabernacle of the testimony and the ark of the covenant. There must be some mediatorial means by which God could dwell, and the tabernacle set forth what that would be. Then the third great thought, in connection with David, is the throne of God. You will see that these three thoughts are taken up pretty much in the prophets. It is curious that in the prophets there is as much or more about God dwelling than about God reigning. The general idea in the prophets is that God is going to assume the kingdoms for Himself, but in view of God dwelling. The way in which God comes in to bless is really by dwelling. If God dwells, it cannot be otherwise than that there should be blessing. So, at the present time, if we know anything about the house of God, it is a place of blessing, and a man ought to know how to behave himself in it. God does not dwell really in the universe until the curse is removed. When the curse and death are removed then God takes up His abode to bless. At the present time Jew and Gentile are built together for a habitation of God by the Spirit. If we realised the true character of the house of God in the present time, if there were a full recognition of the presence of the Spirit, we should be very conscious of the
blessing of God. God dwells in order that He may make us conscious of the reality of His favour. Blessing means God bringing Himself near to man that His favour may be known. There will be what is spoken of in the Psalms -- a night in God's anger, but a lifetime in His favour.
I just refer for a moment to what has already come before us, that is, that the great central point in the books of Moses is Exodus 25, where God gave directions in regard to the construction of the tabernacle, that God might dwell among Israel. I think it is the first time that you really get a complete idea of the testimony. You get many things leading up to that. It has been said that Genesis is a book of roots, of which you get the full-blown fruits in the Revelation, Scripture begins with the roots, but it brings before us the fruits. We get detail in Genesis, parts of God's purpose, but no complete setting forth of the testimony of God until the ark of the covenant, then we have an idea of the testimony of God in its completeness, and a very wonderful thing it is. That there should be a universe in which God will dwell, and which God will fill with blessing, is a wonderful conception. The means by which God will do it are seen in the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat.
In the Psalms I touched on two main points: the one, Christ coming down, and the other Christ going up; each has its own particular significance. In Psalm 40 we have the thought of Christ coming down: "I come to do thy will". "A body hast thou prepared me". "Thy law is within my heart". The law which Israel broke was in the heart of Christ that He might make that law, on the ground of mercy, to be the law of the universe. The covenant is made good in Christ. The ark of the covenant really becomes the new covenant. Then in Psalm 68 we get another thought, and that
is, "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts in man". It is not Christ coming down or out, but going up on high. So too in Psalm 110, "Sit thou at my right hand". The two things are brought together in Christ, the Ark of the Covenant and the Priest. Hence we have the pledge of blessing, not only revelation but approach, and the approach is equal to the revelation. Christ has come out to reveal God to us in the purpose of His love, and now through Jesus "by one Spirit we have access to the Father". All that is foreshadowed in the Psalms. It is on the lines of the tabernacle of the testimony. I come now to the prophets, and I am obliged to take up so much detail that I feel in a sense ashamed. I want to give you two or three main thoughts in connection with the prophets. The first I speak of is the destruction of the Babylonish world system. That is one thought which prevails through the prophets, "The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth". This takes in not only the world system in its ramifications, but that by which it is governed. There cannot be a doubt that the present world system is maintained by the power of evil which exists in heaven. We are told who is the god and prince of the world, but God intends to break to pieces the whole system from top to bottom; that is one thing in prophecy. But I speak of another point: God intends to reconstitute the world according to Himself. He intends to make Jerusalem the centre and joy of the earth. He intends to establish Mount Zion, and to make Judah and Israel the vessel of blessing in the midst of the earth; that is another great point. Jehovah is coming in to reign Himself, to assume the kingdom, not only the kingdom in regard to Israel, but as King of the whole earth. In connection
with that there is another important point, and that is, that God will dwell; and as I said before, that is a thought almost more prevalent in the prophets than even that of God reigning. If God did not reign you can understand that He could not dwell. Everything on earth must be subject to divine rule if God is to dwell, that is evident; but if God dwells then He commands blessing. His dwelling will command universal blessing. It says in Psalm 133, "There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore". I call your attention to these three main points in the prophets.
I touch for a moment on the three great prophets -- Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. The great thought in Isaiah is that God in His faithfulness reverts, after her warfare, to Jerusalem. Then in Jeremiah the thought is that God establishes the new covenant. That brings in Christ, as the expression of His mercy. Israel will come in, as we are told in Romans 11, on the ground of mercy, through redemption. Ezekiel shows the quickening power of God. This must come in in regard of Israel, as it has come in in regard to us. Where would we have been except for the quickening power of God. And the same will be true in regard of Israel. They must live by the quickening power of God. These three points I take up, and refer to a scripture or two in the three prophets. In Isaiah 24:21 - 23, we read, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before
his ancients gloriously". Then there is the answer to it in the next chapter. "Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth". God exhibits His faithfulness, and reverts to Zion and Jerusalem. This involves the blessing of the nations. God is not content with blessing Israel, but provides for the blessing of the nations in connection with Israel. I dare say the song of Simeon will occur to you, that Christ was to be a light for the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of God's people Israel. So we get here, "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory". That takes place after the resurrection from the dead, as we see from 1 Corinthians 15. So we get the punishment of the high ones on high, the breaking up of the whole Babylonish world system and God reverting to Zion and Jerusalem, and in connection with that the nations coming into the view of God for blessing, and death swallowed up in victory. You could hardly get anywhere a better idea of that which God will effect in the world to come.
I refer now to Jeremiah 33:14 - 21. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers". You must remember that this was written a great many years after David was dead, so that it cannot refer to him personally. It must refer to the true David. If you study these chapters (31 to 33) you will see that the ground on which God is acting is that of the new covenant. He cannot revert to the old covenant because Israel has no footing under it, but God makes a new covenant. You cannot understand the ways of God if you do not apprehend that the new covenant is Christ. That is the pledge and expression of divine mercy. We stand on the ground of divine mercy now. So too will Israel in the future. But Israel was part of a great system -- of a world. Israel was bound up with a system of nations, and these nations were bound up with Israel.
It is a mistake to limit the dealings of God of old to Israel. It has a most important place as a centre, but it was a centre. There were nations around Israel which formed the world that God governed. Moab was one of them. When God brought judgment upon Israel He would not leave the nations unpunished. Judah came under judgment by Nebuchadnezzar. Then God allowed all the nations to come under Nebuchadnezzar, and that world was broken to pieces by the judgment of God. It was swallowed up by Nebuchadnezzar, and in Babylon there was the beginning of the great
world system which exists at the present time. But in regard to the future it says, "Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord". Then you get the same thing in regard of Ammon in chapter 49, and in verse 39 as to Elam. If you read these chapters you will find that while they speak of the destruction of all these nations, they speak of their restoration in the latter days, that is, when Israel is reconstituted and the throne of Jehovah is established.
In the prophecy of Ezekiel one point of interest is, that the prophet is shown a valley full of dry bones. Then the Lord puts the question to him as to whether the bones could live. Well, he could not tell, but what came to pass was that the bones came together; sinews and flesh and skin came up upon them, and breath came into them. It was a vision of the moral or spiritual state of Israel which seemed to make it impossible for them to live. If you look abroad at the Jew in the present day it seems almost impossible that he should be made to live spiritually, but it is not impossible with God. The great point in Ezekiel is the quickening power of God. He will revive the dead bones of Israel, and they will be made to live nationally upon earth. But you get another point, that is, "I will set my glory among the heathen". "The heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity". If Jehovah sets His glory among the heathen, God has not lost sight of the nations. You get in Isaiah the removal of the veil that covers the nations; in Jeremiah the captivity of certain nations is to be reversed in the latter day, and here God sets His glory among the nations; God has a world in view, of which Israel will be the light and the centre. The twelve tribes of Israel will dwell in unity according to Psalm 133. There will be the candlestick, the light of the earth;
they will be qualified for that by their knowledge of God.
I have just touched on the three great prophets, now we may turn to Daniel 7:27, "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him". I refer also to verses 13 and 14; "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed". Verse 27 would seem to indicate that Israel will have a dominion in connection with Christ. Israel are probably the people of the saints of the most High. The kingdom under the whole heaven is in view, not the kingdom of Israel. There is a passage in Revelation 11:15 which refers to the same thing. It says, "The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of his Christ is come". It is a peculiar expression. There is a world of our Lord and the kingdom of it, and the dominion under the heaven is given to the people of the saints of the most High. The saints in heaven will reign with Christ above. We get the idea of that in the heavenly city. But there is the people of the saints of the most High who will take their dominion from Christ, but previous to that there is the smashing from top to bottom of the whole Babylonish system. In the vision that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar the whole image from top to bottom was in the end broken to powder. God is going to punish the host of high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the
earth. I refer to Hosea 2:19 - 23 to show you the connection of the heavens and the earth. Jehovah says, "I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel". This evidently indicates connection between heaven and earth. Jezreel is a symbolic name given to Israel.
I pass on to Joel. The heathen are judged, and, according to what we get in Matthew, the goats are separated from the sheep. But there is the idea that Jehovah will dwell. "I am Jehovah your God dwelling in Zion". The practical result is that living waters go out from Jerusalem. You get the same thought in the prophet Ezekiel. Now if you look at Amos 9:11: "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old". I refer to Amos because it brings in again the thought of the heathen -- there are the heathen who are called by Jehovah's name, they are to be possessed by Israel. Israel is to have the kingdom, as we read in Daniel. The passage is quoted by James, Acts 15. In Micah the nations, instead of being marked by self-assertion, are brought into their true place in relation to Jehovah. Then in regard to Israel, "He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old". Then in Zephaniah prominence is given to the thought of Jehovah dwelling. "Jehovah thy God in the midst of thee is mighty".
I pass on for one moment to what are called the post-captivity prophets. In Haggai 2:9 we read,
"The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former". The verse should read, "The latter glory of this house". I might have read verses 3, 6, 7, 8: not only the earth but the heavens shall be shaken; not only the desire of Israel but the desire of all nations shall come. It presents this to us in connection with the rebuilding of the temple in that day -- the people had been slack -- the admonition comes to build, to go on with the work. The prophet presents the idea of the latter glory of the house, and that Jehovah would dwell there, and His presence would insure peace. Now in Zechariah you get a different point; the presence of Jehovah will be the great test of the nations (Zechariah 14:16, 17). If they do not go up to the feast of tabernacles they get no rain. Rain is looked upon in Scripture as a mark of God's favour, and the nations get no mark of God's favour unless they acknowledge Jehovah reigning in Zion. Haggai brings in the thought of God's dwelling, and the latter glory of the house, but His presence is the test of the nations in Zechariah. One more thought in Malachi 4:2, "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall". This is the crown. There is one thought to which I should have referred in the prophet Micah 4:1 - 4. It is a very important passage showing what Jerusalem will be to the nations: they will go up to Jerusalem to learn the law of Jehovah, and the result will be peace and blessing and security upon earth. But in the last three prophets it is interesting to see that in two the great point is the dwelling of Jehovah, and in the last one, Malachi, it is the Sun of righteousness. Christ will come in as the true Ark of the Covenant. Now we anticipate all that I have spoken of, the fact of God dwelling and reigning; and the blessing
in connection with the dwelling of God is made good to us by the Spirit of God in the midst of a very contrary world, where everything is confusion and perverseness. The Spirit brings in all the good of what is to come that we may become acquainted with God and with His ways and purposes, for the righteous are to shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father; that is the place of the church; it is going to exercise the greatest influence in regard to all that is here upon earth; the heavens will hear the earth, they are to be brought into conjunction, the heavenly city is to be the light of the whole earth, the nations will walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour unto it. We want understanding in the testimony of our Lord; to get a comprehensive view of Scripture, we need the gracious service of the Lord to open our understanding that we may see that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is a wonderful thing to think of there being a time when God will take in hand the whole universe, when it will be illuminated by the light and glory of God; and by the very fact of His dwelling God will command blessing, then all evil will be subjugated -- death will be swallowed up in victory. But I should be sorry to occupy the attention of Christians with prophetic truth. Prophecy is a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts. What we want is that which will enable us to understand anything and everything, that is, Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith. Then we shall have our feet firmly planted in the testimony of our Lord. May God grant that we may be according to Christ here. If the righteous are to shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, we ought to be shining morally now; the only way in which that can be attained is by Christ dwelling in our hearts.
1 Timothy 3:14, 15
I have read this passage as introductory to what I want to speak of now. My object is to continue the thought of the testimony, taking it up in connection with the New Testament. Hitherto we have been occupied with the Old Testament, that is, with the aspects in which the testimony of God comes out there. It is very important that we should apprehend what comes out in the New Testament, for this reason, that while in times gone by the testimony was figurative or prophetic, the foundation of everything has now been laid. Christ has come, and has accomplished redemption; He has been exalted to the right hand of God to fill all things, and now the Holy Ghost has come. Well, that is an immense advance on the Old Testament, so that things are not spoken of figuratively or prophetically now, but as established. They are not yet displayed, though the moment is appointed for the appearing; but they are established. There is a remarkable passage in Hebrews 12:22 - 24. It says, "But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel". This presents the contrast between what is true now in believers and what was true in Israel. Israel came to Mount Sinai, the mount that might be touched; we are said to have come to Mount Zion and to a great
many other things too. We could not be said to have come to them if they were not there. The Spirit of God does not of course speak of material but of moral things. They are what we have to do with now that everything is established in Christ. The moment is appointed for the appearing, but the present is a time of testimony. The testimony instead of being figurative or prophetic is of that which God has established in Christ.
I refer briefly to what we have already dwelt upon: that testimony through Scripture invariably has reference to that which is to be displayed. The time of testimony and of the appearing are both spoken of in the New Testament. I want to show you the things spoken of typically and prophetically in the Old Testament, now established in Christ. The New Testament does not speak of different things from the Old Testament, but it shows you all established in Christ. Hence the testimony of the present time is not only of Christ, but of all that which God has been pleased to establish in Him. Until Christ came nothing could be established, there was not a suitable vessel or head. Now everything is established in Christ, and that is the testimony. The Holy Ghost has come down to report the glory and place of Christ at the right hand of God, and the fact of everything being established in Him; and that is the testimony at the present time. The church is really the depositary and vessel of the testimony; hence it has a very important place. I think we get the thought of this in the passage I read in the Epistle to Timothy, "which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth". The testimony is the truth, and the church the pillar and ground of the truth.
I will touch in a few words on the points which have come before us previously. I spoke of three
divisions in the Old Testament sanctioned by God Himself. It has been truly said that the great witness to the Old Testament is the Lord Himself. If you discredit the Old Testament you invalidate and falsify the words of the Lord -- a very insidious mode of attack on Christ. Men do not quite care to do this openly through the New Testament, so they attack Christ through the Old Testament, to which Christ is the witness. If Christ is witness, as He is to every part of the Old Testament, then if you invalidate the testimony you invalidate Christ. We have to be on the alert, we are not, as the apostle said, ignorant of the enemy's devices. The three divisions to which I referred in the Old Testament are well known, that is, the law of Moses, and the Psalms and the prophets. The Lord took up these three divisions, and expounded to the disciples in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Therefore I was justified in asserting that you must find the testimony of Christ in each of these divisions. I pointed out in regard to the first division that the central point is the tabernacle and its furniture; the tabernacle was the tabernacle of testimony. The testimony of God was figuratively in the tabernacle. Then in regard to the Psalms. They occupy us much more with the history of Christ. We get Christ come out from God to reveal God. Then the service of Christ; so long as He was here upon earth He was the preacher of righteousness and faithfulness. Then we have the accomplishment of redemption, "I come to do thy will". He does the will of God, and is seen in that way as the Ark of the Covenant. Then He is raised and exalted, and being exalted He receives gifts and sheds them forth, and in result He comes again into this world. That is the history of Christ as found in the Psalms. Now as to the prophets, I refer again to an expression in the Revelation,
that is, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The significance of the name Jesus is Jehovah saving. To sum up what we get in the prophets: we have God coming in to break up the existing system of the moral universe both in heaven and on earth; He is going to punish the host of the high ones on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth. But that is only one side, that is, what is going to be brought to nought; we get the other side, that is, God is going to save His people, that is, Israel, and to re-establish Zion. We have come to Mount Zion; He is going to make Zion His dwelling-place, to take up the kingdoms of the earth and to dwell, in order that He may accomplish the blessings which have been promised; so we have the assumption of the kingdoms and the re-establishment of Zion.
I pass on to the gospels. I maintain that everything that comes out in the gospels is in perfect accord with what went before. I want to present to you in the gospels the confirmation and establishment of all that was previously spoken of. There is just one other point, a very important one, namely, that the Lord passed everything on to the disciples. The great salvation began to be spoken of by the Lord, then it was confirmed unto us by them that heard. At the close of each gospel we see that what Christ had been doing Himself He passed on to the disciples. At the present time the church has come in, and has its place as the pillar and ground of the truth. I take up first in that connection the Gospel of John; the arrangement of the gospels as we have them in Scripture is, of course, only arbitrary, there is no particular purpose; morally I think you have to begin with John. We see there the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat; that is the basis of all God's ways. I want to make the point plain if I can. What I understand the ark
of the covenant to point to is God glorified in man. The tables of the first covenant were put in the ark, and it is in the true Ark of the Covenant that the will of God has been done. Now that is essentially what appears in the Gospel of John. Christ glorified God on the earth; but there was in Him a greater thing, He was the Word, the perfect expression of all that was in the mind of God in regard of man. The love of God had its perfect expression in Christ as a Man down here. He is the true Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat -- the point where God has put Himself in communication with man. The Gospel of John is the foundation, so to speak, of all. Other things, equally important, come out in the other gospels; but the Gospel of John is the foundation. Have you ever noticed how prominent in the Gospel of John is the thought of the Son of man; and it is in the Son of man that God has put Himself in communication with man. You get remarkable statements connected with the Son of man; to begin with, "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man". Then "the Son of man which is in heaven". Then "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" The question is raised by the people, "Who is this Son of man?" The Son of man was an enigma to them; the Son of man is really everything, but you cannot understand anything about the Son of man if you do not apprehend that the Son of man is the Son of God. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". The Son of man is the only begotten Son of God, the last Adam,
the true Ark of the Covenant, the One in whom God has been glorified. "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him (that is, in the Son of man), God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him". We see Christ as the Ark of the Covenant. He is the perfect expression of God's disposition toward man. At the same time He is the Mercy Seat, because in Him God has put Himself in communication with man. His body was the temple, and the temple means that the oracles of God are there. "In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily".
I pass on to Matthew. Undoubtedly the thought in Matthew is very much more of the kingdom, that is, administration and light. You can hardly get any true idea of the kingdom that does not take in these two thoughts. In Matthew we get the thought of the righteous shining forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). Now almost the last prophetic word in the Old Testament is, "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings", and the Gospel of Matthew connects itself with that word. In Matthew we have the Sun of righteousness, and the two principles of administration and light are brought in. They are two great points connected with the kingdom. We certainly get in the sun both light and warmth, but then also by the sun everything in the universe is held in its place; that gives an idea of the administration that resides in Christ. The kingdom of heaven is seen in Christ exalted; we come under the sway of that which God has established in heaven. Christ having accomplished redemption as the foundation, everything is established in heaven in the Sun of righteousness; we have in Christ that power of administration that can hold everything
in its own appointed place, while at the same time He can afford light and warmth to the whole moral system.
Now I touch on the other two gospels, which present things more on man's side. In the Gospel of Luke we see Christ much more on the priestly side, on the part of man. What I mean by that is this: We have Him from the beginning, humanly; the circumstances connected with His birth are given. Great pains are taken, so to speak, to bring out the reality of His birth. We get the same thing in connection with His resurrection. The Lord assures the disciples by various means that He is still a real Man. The end of all is that He goes up as Priest in the act of blessing; blessing really belongs to the priest; and from above He was to send the promise of the Father, fulfilling what we get in Psalm 68, "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts in man". Having received gifts in man, He would shed forth those gifts. In Luke we get Christ as the vessel of reconciliation. The prodigal was reconciled to his father; he was presented to the father in the best robe. It has been said that all those things which were put on the prodigal formed no part of the prodigal's first inheritance; when he came back to his father he was invested in them. I take it that the object was that the complacency of the father in the prodigal might be complete. Christ has become Man to that end. At the birth of the Lord Jesus the song of the angels was "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men"; it could only be by Christ; He was the vessel of good pleasure, His birth was the pledge and sign of good pleasure in men. You may carry that thought all through the gospel; Christ is the point of complacency, and in the end He is received up; God is complacent in
man; reconciliation has come to pass in Christ, for there is a Man in whom God is infinitely complacent. He was received up in the act of blessing others. He had drawn them to Himself; He blesses them and so is parted from them; they are to wait in Jerusalem until they should receive the promise of the Father. He goes up on high as the accepted Man, the blessed vessel of reconciliation. When the work of offering was done, the offering Priest goes to the right hand of God to be saluted as High Priest, and to receive gifts that He may shed forth these gifts on men. That is what we have in the Gospel of Luke.
In Mark we have the brief period of Christ's sojourn on earth as the servant. Very many things had apparently lapsed in the ways of God. For instance, there had been four or five hundred years without any prophetic testimony. Israel had largely passed out of sight; man generally was hid in the darkness and degradation of idolatry. The temple of God had become a den of thieves. Now in the gospels we see all these taken up afresh; they are revived, but in a different way; they are revived in Christ. In Matthew we get the true Israel; in Mark the prophetic word; in Luke man is brought into view, and in the Gospel of John we get the true temple. There is the revival of all that had been in connection with Israel, and it goes beyond Israel to man. In Mark Christ is seen as the servant ministering the glad tidings. And what were the glad tidings? The glad tidings could only be Christ Himself; but at the same time He was the servant-prophet preaching the word and casting out demons, and at the close of the gospel He goes up to the right hand of God, and the disciples are sent forth to preach the glad tidings to every creature, and the Lord works with them and confirms the word by signs following.
That is the light in which Christ is presented in the gospels, fulfilling all that we get in the Old Testament. You have the account of Christ, that had been set forth prophetically, fulfilled in the gospels. We have "Immanuel, God with us". At the same time we have what was set forth in the ark of the covenant established in Christ. Now I want to give an idea of the greatness of the system which is contemplated in the gospels. That system takes in not only earth but heaven. In the Gospel of John Jesus speaks of the heavens being opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man. It is evident that the heavens and earth are brought morally into conjunction. Then we have the thought of the Son of man ascending up where he was before; and, in the Gospel of Luke, there is another point in connection with heaven, referred to in the prophets: the Lord Jesus said, "I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven". The power of evil is to be cast down from heaven, and all things delivered to Christ; this last is seen in Matthew. The point in Matthew is the kingdom of heaven, the universal moral sway of that which God has established in heaven: at the close of the gospel the Lord says, "All authority is given to me in heaven and upon earth". What I have said will convey to you the truth that the gospels not only contemplate the blessing of man upon earth, but of all things being taken up, so to speak, for the abode of God, all things brought under the Son of man, the power of evil cast out of heaven, and the angels attendant on the Son of man; everything brought under the moral sway and administration, and into the light, of that which God has been pleased to establish in heaven. You can hardly understand the kingdom of heaven if you do not take it into account in that way. Administration is committed to the church and to Israel, and light is conveyed
through both. Now I will refer to the way in which the Lord passes all things on to the disciples. They had a remarkable place. In Matthew's gospel the disciples are to be teachers; in the Gospel of Mark they are to be preachers, in the Gospel of Luke they are to be witnesses, and in John they have a mission, and a remarkable mission too. The Lord Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost". Then He said, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you". I have no doubt the Father sent the Son to be the beginning of something entirely new. It is remarkable in the writings of John how we get "What was from the beginning". Christ is indeed the beginning. The fathers knew Him that was from the beginning. Christ came here, not simply as the witness of the righteousness and faithfulness of God, but as the beginning of the creation of God. This was inaugurated morally by the coming of Christ Himself, but then the Lord Jesus said, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you"; He was about to ascend, and they were to be instruments to establish that which was connected with Him ascended to the right hand of God. In Luke they were witnesses of His death and resurrection, and are to preach the import of these. It is of great importance that they were witnesses of the facts. The Lord says you are witnesses of these things. Then in the Gospel of Mark the Lord Himself had first been the servant and the preacher, and they were now to preach the glad tidings to every creature. That was their commission in the Gospel of Mark, and to baptise. In Matthew they are looked upon as a remnant of Israel, and were to teach the nations to observe all that which Christ had commanded them. I think you will admit that we get in the gospels the establishment, confirmation and setting forth of all that which had been spoken of in the Old Testament.
There is a point where everything is established. Redemption is accomplished, and everything established in Christ. It is that which marks this moment. Another time I hope to take up the gift of the Spirit, as bringing in the witness of Christ at the right hand of God, and what we get in that connection. The gospels bring before us that which Christ was here upon earth; but if you contemplate Christ in any light, He is necessarily the point where everything for God is established and confirmed. My object is to show you the unity of the testimony of Scripture. Scripture contains its own evidence. People do not argue whether the sun shines or not, they know very well it shines: and if men want evidence of the authenticity of Scripture the great point is to find that evidence in Scripture itself. There is nothing more important to apprehend than the unity and perfectness of Scripture testimony. The Old Testament does not speak of one thing and the New of another. The Old Testament speaks of all that which was before God, and which God intended to establish, and will establish; it speaks of it figuratively and prophetically, and in the New Testament every thought in the Old Testament is established and confirmed in Christ, every type fulfilled. Christ is gone up on high for the moment and is at the right hand of God, and the Spirit is given. You may say, What do we want to know all these things for? Well, how are we to grow as Christians; what is to be the principle of growth? I know of no principle except that of which the apostle speaks. "Till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ". I have endeavoured to point out the unity
of the faith. There are not different faiths presented in Scripture, we are to come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. I pray God to give understanding and enlargement so that you may be able to take in the extent of that which is presented to us in the Scriptures in regard to Christ, and all that hangs on it; the universe in which God will dwell, and which of necessity will be filled with life and blessing. The world at the present time is filled with lust and pride. God has before Him a universe which He intends to make His dwelling-place; and everything in it will take its character more or less from the One who dwells in it. I think we ought to have it before our minds. We are left here in the moment of testimony that we should bear witness, and are morally apart from the present course of things because we are in the light of that which God has established in Christ.
1 John 5:9 - 13; Ephesians 3:14 - 21; Revelation 21:9 - 11, 22
What we have seen hitherto has been the testimony of God set forth figuratively, or spoken of prophetically, then secured in the Person of Christ Himself. We have now to look at the testimony as secured in the vessel of testimony. Everything for God has begun now. Nothing had really begun in the Old Testament times; Christ came in as the crown of promises, and the Jews were put to the test by Him and failed to answer to it, and all that order of things after the flesh was broken up; but Christ was the beginning. It is said in Colossians 1, "Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence". We have come to the beginning, and in that sense to the church, and the church has a very important place as connected with the beginning. It is the vessel of testimony, for every part of the testimony is in some sense deposited in the church. It is our privilege, properly speaking, to know Christ effectively by the Spirit in every light. It is in that point of view that I read the passages before us. The witness to God's Son is that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The saints, or the church, are looked upon as an efficient witness. The witness is there. It is the witness which God has witnessed concerning His Son. That is the value of it; it is not concerning us -- God gives no witness concerning us -- but concerning His Son. So in the passage I read in Ephesians 3. The prayer has reference to what is very vast, that is, every family in heaven and upon earth. It presents a vast scene; but the point of the prayer is that the Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, that the
church may be competent as a witness, "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God". This is connected with the glory of God, and every family in heaven and on earth; and if you know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, it is evident you are filled unto all the fulness of God; you are competent as a witness. We have the idea of the church being the vessel of witness down here, and competent to that end. Then I read the passage in Revelation, for there we get not simply the witness in a moral sense, which is the character of the witness at the present time, but another thing, that is, the display. The bride is shown by the angel to John, and he records the vision, and we see what comes out in the bride, the Lamb's wife. The city comes out in heavenly light. It has no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. God does not need to be screened in a temple and they have no need of the light of the sun or of the moon, because "the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof". "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it"; we see there the connection between the heavens and the earth. The universe of God which God purposes to display comprehends not only earth but heaven. As we read in the prayer in Ephesians, "Every family in heaven and upon earth". I say that much before I come to what is more immediately before me. I take up the light in which Christ is known in the church, because the epistles present to us the way in which Christ is so known. Last time I was dwelling on the gospels, where we have Christ personally on earth, and see everything secured in Him. Now in
the epistles we are on the ground of the Spirit; it is no longer Christ upon earth, but at the right hand of God, "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things". And in connection with the Spirit there is the competent vessel of testimony here upon earth, so that it should be true that "this is the witness which God has given concerning his Son". I hope that every one will apprehend the difference of the ground on which we are from that on which we have been before. Evidently the presence and continuance of the Spirit must make a vast difference. In connection with the presence of the Spirit is the equally important fact, that is, Christ at the right hand of God. The apostle says to the Colossians, "Set your mind on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God". I think we ought to be as diligent to pay regard to the right hand of God as ever Daniel was to regard Jerusalem. He prayed and gave thanks three times a day, his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem. Well, evidently, we ought to regard the right hand of God; the right hand of God is really where our Jerusalem is.
Now I touch shortly on what has been before us. In regard to the tabernacle of testimony, I pointed out that before the detail of the tabernacle is given we get the detail of the furniture. Where the furniture was to be deposited, that is, the tent of testimony, was important; but what was of primary importance was the furniture of the tabernacle. The habitation of that furniture might be changed and was changed, for eventually the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat found their place in the temple that Solomon built; they found a different location, but for the moment they were placed in the tabernacle. That is what I look upon as being the central point in the communications
to Moses; it indicated what was before God, that is, that God had before Him a way by which He would dwell in the universe, in order that He might fill it with light and life and blessing. The central point in the historical books is the history of David. He was God's anointed, God's king, and in a sense God's testimony; I only just touch on that in order to complete the review. David was imperfect, like a man after the flesh, and he came into a great position, where he was almost -- except for the word of God -- an absolute king. The consequence is that very often, in David, we find the testimony obscured; but still, the testimony shone out in David, and there is no moment more important than that when David brought the ark to the city of David. God's testimony is the spirit of the historical books. In speaking of the Psalms, which are largely by the sweet Psalmist of Israel, David, I sought to make plain that we get a complete testimony of Christ as having in the first instance come out from God to reveal God, and to accomplish the will of God, then going to the right hand of God, and eventually returning to be received here upon earth; that is found in the Psalms. Then one word in regard to the prophets, that is, the statement in the Revelation, that the testimony of Jesus (that is, "Jehovah saving") is the Spirit of prophecy. The prophets look on to Jehovah coming in for the salvation of His people, and not only that, but that the dwelling of God may be established in Zion. "Jehovah in the midst of thee is mighty".
Last time I touched on the gospels. We looked at the Gospel of John as the presentation, so to speak, of Christ as the true ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. In Matthew we have the King in a sense, according to the prophet Isaiah, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace". At the same time He is Immanuel, God with us. What comes to pass is not the establishment of the King in Zion, but the establishment of the kingdom of heaven, and the first to come into the kingdom was a remnant of the Jews; God did not disregard His people. In a certain sense the Jews had Christ within their power for a moment; they said, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours"; but then God raised Him from the dead. It became the crucial moment to Israel; but God took care of a remnant, and that remnant was the first to be brought into the kingdom of heaven. The keys of the kingdom were entrusted to Peter; and in the Acts we find a remnant brought in before ever the word went out to the Gentiles.
Now as to the epistles. I do not need to dwell very much on the Acts of the Apostles, because it is a book of transition beginning with the receiving up of Christ and closing with the testimony of God at Rome. It gives us what one may call the movement of the testimony, as the ark of the covenant was carried about from place to place. We get some account of what was preached; the testimony began at Jerusalem, then it went down to Antioch, then it was carried out to the Gentiles, and eventually reached Rome.
I trust I may be helped now in giving you an idea of what comes out in the epistles. I go back for a moment to the thought of the tabernacle. A tabernacle is not an abiding thing. A tabernacle can be taken down. Whenever the children of Israel had to journey, the tabernacle of the testimony had to be taken down and carefully carried; but a change was to come; the tabernacle was
brought into the land. It first went to Shiloh, but God rejected Shiloh. Ephraim, the leading tribe, broke down; this is a very important point in connection with the ways of God. But God chose Judah and David and Mount Zion, and the point with David was to bring the ark of the covenant to Mount Zion; then David desired to build a permanent habitation for the ark of Jehovah. We find the expression of that in Psalm 132. David was not allowed to build a habitation because he had been a man of war; but David's son was to build a house for Jehovah. No longer a tabernacle, which can be taken down, but a temple of costly stones, a permanent abode for Jehovah, God of Israel. It was built, there was the change from a tabernacle to a temple. When the Lord Jesus was here He tabernacled with men; but the tabernacle might be taken down, and it was, and gave place, even in Christ Himself, to the thought of the temple. When Christ was here we get for the first time the true temple; what had been previously had been figurative. It had been owned as the temple in a way, but was not the real temple. There was nothing moral in the temple which Solomon built, and a temple in which there is nothing moral cannot really contain God. A church or cathedral may be a very imposing structure in the eyes of man, but it can be nothing whatever to God. What God looked for, I have no doubt, even in connection with the temple, was that there should be the moral element. When the Lord came here in John 2, He cleansed the temple, for He owned it; but He said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up". He spoke of the temple of His body. We have not a tabernacle but a temple. Now there is another point in connection with this -- Christ was the true Son of David. Solomon was the Son of David after the flesh, but the true Son
of David who was to build God's house was Christ, and what Christ built was not a temple of stones such as Solomon built; He built a temple of living stones. The material was prepared while Christ was here, and when the day of Pentecost arrived, the Spirit descended and there was the formation of the temple of God. The temple in that sense was constructed by Christ, it was really the temple of God; and if so, you can understand that the furniture which was found in the tabernacle has its anti-type in the temple which Christ has built. It is the depository of the testimony of God, but very different from anything which went before. The tabernacle had been the depository of God's testimony. When Christ was here everything was in Him. There could not possibly be anything outside Him. What could have been the value of the material temple when Christ was here? Now He has built the temple, and God is dwelling here by the Spirit. "In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit". Now we have the testimony of God established in a living temple, and that is what marks this present moment off from any which went before it. Of course the moment when the Lord Jesus was here upon earth was a very peculiar moment; but the present is a continuous time, not a brief moment as the presence of Christ upon earth, and what marks it is that the temple of God is here, and the temple is the depository of the testimony of God. Every stone of the temple ought to be instinct with intelligence, because all are living stones. "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ". I am justified in saying that every stone
ought to be instinct with life. I do not understand life apart from intelligence. The idea of life is not exactly as in a babe; there is life in a babe, but the idea of life is properly connected with a man, where all the faculties are developed. That is what I understand by the apostle's prayer in Ephesians 3. "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to apprehend". Evidently the idea in that is intelligence, and then, that you may know "the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God".
Now I touch for a moment very shortly on the light in which Christ is presented to us in the epistles. The Holy Ghost has come down to report the glory of Christ, and the apostles present to us what Christ is now as at the right hand of God. But the light in which Christ is presented in every epistle has reference to things which are to be displayed, and not simply reference to the present time. Thus we know Christ in every light, and are affected by every light in which Christ is presented. There is no light in which Christ is presented in any epistle which is not intended to have its moral effect on us. It is part of our education, so that we may be growing in the testimony, that the testimony may not be obscured. I do not doubt that in a sense David was God's testimony, but in him the testimony was often obscured.
I take up the epistles a little in detail. They may be divided into two parts. There are those which present Christ in regard to existing things, and there are others which present Christ in relation to all that is coming. It is an important division. The epistles which I touch on first are those to the Thessalonians; they present Christ in relation to existing things. They are elementary. They were written to Christians who had recently been converted. On the one hand Christ appears as Saviour,
and on the other in glory, executing judgment. As we find in other parts of scripture He will appear a second time to those who look for Him without sin unto salvation, He gathers up the harvest in the first epistle. In the second He appears in order to execute judgment, to tread the winepress. That has hardly to do with the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat, with the system of things which God intends to establish; you can easily see the difference that exists between Christ viewed in relation to the existing state of things upon earth, and to the "all things" that are in the purpose of God. Christ will come in power and glory to deal with everything here, God will not entrust that to anybody else: but to view Christ in that light is one thing, to view Him in relation to the "all things" which God is going to display is another thing. But in regard to what I have said, the truth has its bearing as to us. We are waiting for God's Son from heaven to deliver us from the coming wrath. The coming of the Lord means heaven to those who are now waiting for Him. So too in regard to His appearing in glory, we have our part in that too, He is going to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all those that believe. But Christ is presented in these epistles either as Saviour to reap the harvest, or, on the other hand, to tread "the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God".
Now I touch for a moment on the Epistles of Corinthians. There we get an advance. In the first epistle Christ is seen as the wisdom and the power of God, on the one hand to bring to naught every spiritual influence by which man was dominated, and on the other to establish that which is of God. Therefore the first Epistle to the Corinthians is an immensely important epistle, for in it we see the establishment of the temple of God,
where the oracles are, and the body of Christ as that by which, through gift, the light is diffused; that is what Christ establishes. I quote two statements in the epistle. The apostle says, "Ye are the temple of God". Then in chapter 12 he says, "Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular". We have thus Christ presented in connection with all things, with what is going to be displayed, and hence the epistle goes on to the resurrection and the last Adam, and tells us how death is to be swallowed up in victory. In the second epistle Christ is seen as the Yea and Amen of the promises of God. Evidently the promises of God refer to what God is going to display. God is to be glorified in regard to His promises. This has its bearing on us, the promises are for glory to God by us. We can enter into the promises in a different way from Abraham, because we are in the light of the new covenant. We know what the disposition of God is toward man in Christ.
I pass on to Galatians; there again Christ is presented in regard to what God is going to display. He is the true Isaac, the seed of Abraham, for the blessing of the Gentiles. "In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed". The promise which was made to Abraham and confirmed to his seed will be fulfilled in the coming day; but what has come to pass now is that the blessing of Abraham has come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. If we have received the Spirit, it is a proof that the blessing of Abraham has come to the Gentiles already. But then it has strictly to be fulfilled, "in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed". These epistles have to do with Christ as establishing the promises of God.
Now I pass on to another class of epistles which present to us much more what God has ever purposed
to establish. In that connection I take up Romans. Romans is extremely important, and in connection with Romans I touch on Hebrews; in both I have no doubt we get the true ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. We see the One in whom God vindicates Himself in regard to His righteousness and faithfulness -- that is the great subject of the Epistle to the Romans, God declares in Christ His righteousness and faithfulness, so that on the one hand He may be glorified in regard of all His dealings with man, and on the other hand His faithfulness be vindicated in the fulfilment of the promises. We get another point in Romans too, that Christ is at the right hand of God. He came out as Apostle in order that the righteousness and faithfulness of God might be declared. He is the mercy seat in whom God addresses Himself to man, but He is also the Priest who has accomplished redemption and is at the right hand of God to make intercession for us. The same comes out in a marked way in the Epistle to the Hebrews. He has come out as Apostle that God might approach man, and He has gone in as Priest. He has sat down, when His work of offering was finished, for ever at the right hand of God. I take up the first Epistle of John, as I think it is on the same line; there we have Christ as the true God and eternal life. All these thoughts refer strictly to the day of display; the Priest at the right hand of God refers to the future; He is seated there until His foes are made His footstool. So too in John the true God and eternal life must have reference to the coming age. When Jesus spoke of eternal life He spoke of it as connected with the coming age. His being the true God and eternal life must refer to the time of display. The point before God, which God has made known from the beginning, is His purpose to dwell in the universe in order that man may be
blessed and brought into the enjoyment of life. John presents Christ as the true God and eternal life, and that has its bearing now in regard of us. "He that hath the Son hath life". We anticipate that which is to come.
I take up three other epistles for a moment, Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians. I was saying on one occasion that in connection with the tent of testimony there were two great thoughts. In the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat we get the idea of God's approach to man. Until redemption was accomplished God could not fully approach man, but the idea of approaching man was hid in the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. But in connection with the tabernacle was another important point, there was the idea of man approaching God. The way into the holiest was not yet manifest, but at all events there was the idea of man approaching God. Once a year the high priest went into the holiest of all, and the sons of Aaron had their part in the ministry of the tabernacle. That presents the idea of man going in.
In Colossians Christ has gone in as Head, is seated at the right hand of God. We are risen with Him and are to set our minds on things above. Romans carries Him to the right hand of God, but Colossians sees Him sitting at the right hand of God. The great High Priest has gone in, and we are associated with Him as Aaron's sons were with Aaron.
In Philippians we get a kindred thought, Christ descended to the shame and reproach of the cross here, but He is highly exalted. The thought of the apostle was to reach Christ where He was. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus".
In Ephesians we have a further thought, that is, Christ has ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. He is the great Priest who
descended into the lower parts of the earth in order to complete redemption, and redemption being completed, He has ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things; I take it in a priestly way, as Melchisedec blessed Abraham, so Christ will come out as Priest in the ministration of blessing; we are quickened together with Him, raised up and made to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I only just touch on the other epistles.
In Peter we have Christ as the Living Stone. Then we get the present bearing of that. So it will have its bearing in regard to the future: "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded". Everything will turn on Christ, who is the Living Stone. In the meantime we come to Him and as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. No one can gainsay that the fact of Christ having been planted as chief corner stone in Zion, although a stone of stumbling to the Jews for the time being, involves the establishment of everything in the time to come. In the second epistle of Peter He is the day star in the heart. That means the confirmation of all the word of prophecy. The day star is the harbinger of the Sun of righteousness, who will rise with healing in His wings. What the apostle presses in that epistle is that the vision that they had seen on the mount of transfiguration was the confirmation to them of the truth of the kingdom. "We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ". All refers to the time of display, but has its bearing on us, for the day has dawned, and the day star has arisen in our hearts. We get another thought in the epistle of James, which is the only other epistle I touch on. We have Christ presented to us there as the Lord of glory;
the Lord of glory evidently refers to the day of display, and if you have the faith of the Lord of glory you must have done with respect of persons. There will not be very much respect of persons when the Lord of glory is displayed. Men will be reckoned up not according to their fleshly position, but according to what they are morally. God does not look at the outward appearance but at the heart.
There is no light in which Christ is presented to us in any epistle which has not its present bearing upon us. Although the church is the temple of God one cannot say that the temple is yet perfect, the "whole building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord"; then you get perfection. Then it will be that every stone will be instinct with intelligence. That brings us to the close of Revelation, to the character of the heavenly city; there is no temple there, the Lord God is the temple and the Lamb is the light thereof. It is the dwelling-place of God and the seat of His throne. Every part of the city is radiant with light and intelligence. The testimony of Scripture begins morally with the ark of the covenant, the foreshadowing of God dwelling in the universe in order that He might bring in life and blessing. Scripture ends with the holy city coming down from God out of heaven having the glory of God and her light like unto a stone most precious.
The testimony of Christ is that which binds all Scripture together, and is the most unanswerable witness against every possible attack on it. How could you have the testimony of the Christ pervading every part of a book written by divers people, at divers times, and under diverse circumstances, except as the work of God!
May God be pleased to strengthen us with might in the inner man that we may have the Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith.
It appears to me a matter of importance that we should understand where we are in relation to all that is around us in Christendom, and why we are there. Many and different causes have operated to bring us where we are, some in the providence of God; but it is only poor work to be there without being able to give a reason for our continuing there. I hope to be able to throw a little light on this matter. The two epistles of Paul to Timothy have been often referred to as justification for our having taken a position outside of the great churches and systems which go to make up Christendom as a whole. And indeed it is a great mercy that these epistles have been given to us. Before touching on them I would refer to the position in which many of us are found, and to the reasons that have tended to bring us there. These may be summed up in one consideration, that is that the form which things have assumed on every hand is a practical falsification of all that the words of the Lord and of the apostles lead us to expect. I am of course aware that I am assuming the right of every Christian to judge all that he finds by Scripture. I might have said the responsibility. If the Spirit of God said "to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them", surely we are entitled to bring all things to the same test, and, if need be, to arrive at the same conclusion. I admit the gravity of this, and it ought not to be undertaken in any light spirit, for it may result in the disallowance of many things that are in a sense venerable, and that have held a great place in the minds of many children of God.
What I observe in all around is that the forms into which Christianity has been moulded are not at all
according to the mind of God as far as that mind has been made known to us; and more, that Scripture gives us a very different estimate from that entertained by men of what Christianity would eventuate in. That which in the eyes of men may appear fair and suitable, may in the eye of God be confusion. The main justification for the forms around is that they are suited to the world as it is now. It can hardly be contended that these forms existed at the outset, but things in the world have greatly changed, and hence the order that existed at the beginning is said to be hardly suited to the changed world. It will be seen that this line of argument assumes that Christianity was intended as a religion for the world, and hence has to be adapted to the changes that take place in the constitution of the world. Now all the scripture writers give us the idea that what was established by apostolic care at the beginning would in the hands of men be corrupted, and they hold out no hope of reparation. The apostle Paul gives us the figure of a great house with vessels in it of every kind, and puts on a man the obligation to purge himself from vessels to dishonour if he would be a vessel meet for the Master's use. So too in the second epistle to the Thessalonians, he shows what had already come in within the limits of professing Christianity, and in what it would eventuate. The apostasy is brought into view. John speaks of its being the last time, and that already there were many antichrists. In the beginning of the Revelation, under the addresses to the seven churches in Asia, he pictures the defection of the church, and so far from there being any hope of amendment, all is succeeded by the judgments that precede the kingdom. Peter in his second epistle pictures the unrighteousness that would be brought in by heretical teachers, and how false principles would work; he too holds out no hope of amendment; there
remains nothing but the certainty of the kingdom. Jude shows us the working of apostasy, and sees nothing in view but the coming of the Lord with ten thousands of His saints. The testimony of all the writers is concurrent. It will be evident that this view is diametrically opposed to that entertained by the apologists and ministers of the great systems around. They see not ruin or decay, but would rejoice in the place which Christianity has gained in the estimation of men. And yet this is very unreal. Disguised underneath a respect for what has had a great place in the world, and is still useful in a worldly sense, is a profound scepticism as to all that is propounded in Scripture. And this is intelligible, for the mind of man cannot compass the manner of the intervention of God to overthrow all that held in bondage the conscience and mind of man. But the point at which I arrive is this, that if there is this divergence of view, I am entitled to accept the view presented in Scripture, and to come to the conclusion that things around do not answer to the mind of God, and therefore have no claim upon me. Hence I am justified in standing apart from them. At the same time I would do this in all humility, aware that many Christians are still to be found in these associations.
I come now to the epistles to Timothy, to see the light which they afford as to the course which the Christian should take. The point in the two epistles is evidently different. In the first the object of the apostle in writing is that the servant may know how a man should behave himself in the house of God. In the second the point is that the servant should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. I gather from this the great importance of our being in the first place imbued with a true view of the house of God, so that we may have a standard by which to judge of all around; and having and applying this,
and feeling our obligation to a place of separation, that we should find the special bond that can hold us together under such circumstances. I believe that this is to be found in the testimony of our Lord. If we take our idea of the house of God from the first epistle we shall be bound to confess our inability to find anything that answers to it around. We see in it the saints in their priestly place making prayer and supplication with thanksgiving for all men, for kings and all that are in authority. To do this they must be in a place of moral superiority to all for which they supplicate, whatever this may take in. Then we see men and women relatively in their proper place, the men marked by praying, lifting up holy hands, and the women unnoticeable in modest adornment. It all speaks of moral comeliness. Then there is the care by elders and deacons for the souls and bodies of the believers; and amid such a state of things the voice of the Spirit is heard. Where can this be found in the din and confusion of Christendom. We are compelled to acknowledge that all is ruin. Hence it is that we are confirmed in the place of separation that we have taken. But nothing can be more important than that in that place we should have our minds permeated with true thoughts of what God intended to be the character of His house. And it is to be remembered that the Spirit of God abides here.
But having taken the place of separation, it is important to see that in the darkest and most difficult time there is a bond of surpassing interest that will hold us together, not leading us to form a sect, but holding us in agreement of mind so that we can walk together. For certainly two cannot walk together except they be agreed. I believe that this agreement is to be found in the testimony; we have been accustomed to use this word testimony with more or less of vagueness. I would desire to give
more definiteness to it in our minds. I believe that testimony is always of that which God intends to display. I think it is a principle in the ways of God, that He displays nothing until He has given testimony of it. This is seen in the prophets. Now what God is going to display is comprehended in one word, and that is Christ. Hence Christ is the testimony. In riding into Jerusalem on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass, the Lord gave testimony to Himself as Zion's King, and He will be displayed in that way. He has now ascended far above all heavens that He may fill all things, and He is to be displayed in that way. The Spirit has brought tidings of Him as there, and this is the testimony. Probably every epistle presents Christ in some light in which He is going to be displayed, and the sum of all gives us the completeness of Christ. The point for us now is that we should be strengthened with all might in the inner man that we may have the Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith, so that we may be morally in the testimony. This word covers the gospel and everything. The testimony is not the interest simply of preachers, it is the bond of all saints, and especially in a day when Christianity has assumed the form of a vast pretentious system in the world. We need to be rigidly apart from all that is around, and to be intelligent in every light in which Christ will be displayed. Then it is that there will be real power in the setting forth of the glad tidings of the Christ. The gospel is the interest of all, though all may not be qualified to publish it; and it is the glad tidings of that which is to be displayed.
In making known to us our calling, God has brought to light the extent of His purpose in Christ Jesus, and what marks the One in whom all that purpose is effectuated is that He has annulled death, and brought life and incorruptibility to light. In
the light and power of this, Christ will be manifested. "By man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ will all be made alive". The last Adam is a quickening Spirit. He has acquired this place in regard to men by redemption, and will be manifested according to the glory of it. Meanwhile it is the moment of testimony, and therefore of the grace of God, and as we have seen, the testimony is Christ. May God grant that we may be led into greater appreciation of Him, and so into moral accord with Him. "As is the heavenly, such are the heavenly".
Luke 4:14 - 22
The subject that I have before me to say a little upon at this time is grace. You will think that it is a very simple subject, and it is so; but at the same time it is a very vast subject. The climax of grace appears to me to be found in what we read in Ephesians 2:7 "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus": there is found there what I should call the full display of grace, in the church. But I do not attempt to go so far as that now; my immediate point is grace in its first principles, and the Vessel of grace; and my object will be completely served if in the goodness of God what I say should have the effect of establishing your hearts in grace. To be established in grace is a good thing; saints are very liable to be swayed and turned aside from the right path, and the reason of it is, to a large extent, that they are not established in grace.
There are two great principles of God's dealings presented to us in Scripture, law and grace; they are the two principles on which God has been pleased to deal specially with men. But it is well to remember that man never was purely under law. Connected with the law there was a certain admixture of grace; for God made provision for failure. If man had been strictly and purely under law, there would have been no provision for failure, as law in itself would not admit of it. But it would have been totally impossible for Israel, even for a moment, to remain in relation with God strictly on the ground of law; and therefore there was provision for failure, and that is grace. I have no
doubt at all that, as to its application, this did not go beyond what was connected with this world. If a man failed under the law, he could bring a trespass offering, and his trespass was forgiven; but I do not think forgiveness went beyond the question of government and what was connected with this life. It was not at all a question of what one might call eternal forgiveness; that was not the idea under the law. Israel was under law as the people of God upon earth; and if a man unwittingly failed (for there was no forgiveness for high-handed sin, in such a case a man was stoned), there was provision, and a man was forgiven; that was the character of God's dealings with man under law.
Now the principle of law evidently is exaction; but the common idea we have of exaction is the exaction of something beyond what may be justly due. A man, if he have the power, will often exact more than is justly due. But the principle of law was that it exacted from man what was man's duty to God. The law did not go beyond what was proper and right in man down here, but it did exact and enforce man's duty to God and to his neighbour. Who can say then but that the law was right? Surely man had duty to God. We recognize readily enough man's obligation to his neighbour; it would be very difficult to go on in the world if there were not such a recognition of responsibility. But surely man has a first obligation to God; he must be a madman who does not allow that if a man has obligation to his neighbour he must have obligation to God, because God is greater than a man's neighbour. The first sin that man committed was in reference to God, the next was in reference to his neighbour. Eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree was no offence to Adam's neighbour, he had no neighbour to offend against; but it was sin against God, that is, transgression of His commandment,
which came in first. Then came in sin against a man's neighbour, Cain slew Abel. Of course it was sin against God; but there is such a thing as sin against one's neighbour, or there may be direct sin against God, like Adam's. Law came in to express in definite form what man's duty was toward God and toward his neighbour. I only refer to law for a moment in order to set off grace, for we learn things to a very large extent by contrast; and I doubt if people will have any very clear idea of grace if they do not understand the principle of law.
Now the first principle of grace is relief. For instance, if a man were rightly my debtor, it makes all the difference whether I stand on my rights and exact my debt, or whether in grace I relieve my debtor; that is the difference in the main between law and grace. It has been said that there is no pleasure so great as the relief from pain or pressure and any one can understand the pleasure which must be derived from grace, from the fact of grace being relief. But there is another great pleasure allied to it, and that is to know the one who has been pleased to relieve you. Those are the two great pleasures connected with grace. Just let me give one example in the case of the woman who touched the hem of the Lord's garment, and immediately her issue of blood was staunched. The first thing was the relief she received, she knew in herself that she was healed of that plague; her plague was the pressure upon her, and she was relieved of the pressure. But she was also led to know the One who had ministered to her the relief.
Now if you bear in mind what I have observed, that the first principle of grace is relief, I think it will help you to understand what I have to say to you. I want now to trace the character of grace as it is presented to us in Christ in the Gospel of Luke. I shall take up passages in the seventh and
tenth and last chapters, merely as giving to us the character of grace as presented in the One who is the blessed vessel of grace. I must first say a word on this point lest some should not understand what I mean by vessel. What suggests the idea to me is the anointing of the Lord; there must be a vessel to be anointed. It was not possible for the Son of God to come here in grace among men except as man; but in becoming man He was the vessel of grace, that is, the blessed vessel in which the grace of God was set forth to man here upon earth. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses; that is, the Son of God had become man in order that in Him as a vessel God might be set forth to men. It has often been said that the spirit or character of Luke's gospel is grace to men in a man. The Spirit of God was there in order that grace might be set forth to men but it was to be set forth in a man, and to that end the Son of God had become man. If I speak of Him simply and purely as a divine Person, you could not have such a thought as being anointed; it was only in becoming man that He could be anointed; He must be a vessel in order to be anointed. It is a beautiful thought that God could be pleased to take account of the pressure under which man was, in consequence of sin and Satan's power, and to relieve man from that pressure. You have a type of it in the case of the children of Israel. God saw the people oppressed under the burden of the Egyptians; and it was the pleasure of God to come down and relieve them from the pressure under which they laboured. We see the same thought in a very much wider sense in the Gospel of Luke, that is, it was the pleasure of God to draw near to man in order to relieve him from the pressure under which he lay, and to that end the Son of God became man.
One word more about the vessel. The vessel is the seed of the woman; the seed of the woman was to bruise the head of the serpent. And how? By Himself bearing sin's judgment that He might administer God's grace to men. What do you think delivers a man from the power of Satan? One thing and one thing only -- the grace of God. Until the grace of God is known in the soul a man does not get deliverance from the kingdom of Satan. The Father has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love; but the way by which it is done is by making known the grace of God to the soul, and when that is known, then there is deliverance from the power of the enemy. The vessel of grace is the seed of the woman. Remember that, because I can also speak of the vessel of grace in another light according to the glory of His Person, for He is the Son of God. But I speak of Him as the seed of the woman, the appointed vessel of God's grace towards man down here.
One point on which I would lay stress is this, that if man was to be relieved of the pressure, it must be in the scene of the pressure; many people fail to apprehend this. The same principle comes out in the resurrection; the resurrection has to come to pass in the scene of death; it is not simply that saints are raised to go to heaven, but resurrection refers to the earth, where the death took place.
The Lord was raised again here upon earth, and He was forty days upon the earth before He went to heaven; God brings about the triumph of His glory in the scene of the ruin. And that is always the principle on which God acts. And therefore the relief takes place in the very scene of man's pressure; and that is where grace has come in.
And now you have the vessel here, the seed of the woman, the babe that was born into the world; and
when the babe was born, the angels celebrated the event and sang: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in man" -- that is, there was to be a man here under the eye of God for God's good pleasure. That is what the birth of the babe signified, He was the vessel of grace.
Next we come to the fact that He is anointed, and for this reason, that in the vessel God might be set forth in grace. It was not only a question of what Christ was personally, but that He was the vessel in which God was to be set forth in grace to man, and to that end the Spirit of God came upon Him. In the Gospel of John oneness with the Father is very much more prominently stated; for instance, "The Father which dwelleth in me, he doeth the works". But in the Gospel of Luke it is, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me", because in that gospel prominence is not given to the person, as such, but to what He had become, in order that in Him God might be set forth to man. Hence you will find in Luke's gospel that, when the Lord performed miracles, He spoke of what great things God had done. When the devils were cast out of the man that had the legion, he was to go and tell his friends what great things God had done for him; for, to use an expression we get elsewhere, it was "God manifest in flesh", it was "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses". I could not conceive anything more blessed than the presence of a vessel here in whom God had drawn close to men, for Christ was the anointed vessel to preach the gospel to the poor. That is how the Lord enters upon His ministry.
I pass on now to speak of the character of grace as we have it in these passages in Luke. "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 broken-hearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord". One thing is evident, if man were to be relieved of the pressure he must first he sensible of the pressure. Many a man of the world would not care for the relief, because he is not sensible of the pressure. In a certain sense the pressure is upon all men; but if a man does not feel it, it is of little use to talk to him about relief from it, for grace is not simply a question of taking people to heaven, but of relieving man of the pressure in the place where he is under the pressure; and in order that he may be relieved of it he must be made to feel it. If the children of Israel had been perfectly at home and comfortable in Egypt, it would have been useless to talk to them of deliverance from the Egyptians. They were allowed to come under the pressure of the Egyptians, under the hard bondage of Pharaoh, and to feel the pressure, so that they might be consciously relieved of the pressure. And so it is when God begins to work in grace in a soul, He first makes that soul conscious of the pressure that it is under, and then it is that grace is experienced; but grace can never be experienced until a soul is made conscious of the pressure under which it is. When I realize that I am sinful with death upon me, and with eternity before me, then I realize the pressure. You may depend upon it, people would be not very easy in the easiest circumstances in this world if they were conscious that death was upon them as the judgment of God; but when the sense of that is brought home to a soul by the Spirit of God, then it is that relief can be appreciated from the pressure. And the relief is this, that I get forgiveness of sins, so as never to come into judgment, and that death, instead of being to me a terror, is that by which I go to be with the Lord; I am relieved of the pressure
under which I was. And thus the Lord speaks here of having been "anointed to preach the gospel to the poor"; that was the beginning of it, God was there presenting to men good tidings. The angels brought to the shepherds good tidings of great joy, a Saviour was born; and here we have "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor", and so on. It was grace come in to give man relief from the pressure under which man was, in the very scene in which he was under pressure. In this chapter 4, in the presence of the blessed vessel of grace, what a contrast we have to every previous dealing of God. The law came in to enforce the rights of God; and prophets were sent to call the people back to their allegiance to God. I quite admit that the prophets spoke of what was to come; but the object and point of prophecy was, in the first instance, to recall the people to their allegiance to God. Grace does not come in on that ground at all; but it recognizes the terrible pressure under which man is by reason of sin, and gives him relief in the very place where he was under the pressure.
And there is the other point of which I also spoke; grace comes in, not simply that man may gain relief, but that he may have the pleasure of knowing the One who has been pleased to minister to him the relief, he is to know God. I have said very often, in speaking of the gospel, that the great end of the gospel is that God may be known in the heart of man; and I think the work of the gospel is not done till God is known in man's heart as He has been pleased to reveal Himself. I do not think you will ever get free from the bondage of sin and of the world till you know God; when you can rest in the love of God, then you are free from the power of all else. Nothing is so great and blessed as to know God; there is nothing in the universe that can
equal the joy of knowing that God is love, and that He loves me. It is a great thing in this world to know that I am an object of love, but how much greater to know that I am an object of the love of God! "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us". I say the love of God is the greatest thing I can ever know, and when once that is known in the heart, I am freed from the bondage under which I lay by the power of the new wine which has come in.
The first point is, that grace in its application to man must be in the way of relief. But now I want to enlarge a little on the character of grace. Just turn to Luke 7:41 - 50. "There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace".
Here we get another principle of grace, and that
is its freeness and sovereignty. A difference between people is recognised in the parable in regard to their obligation; one person may owe five hundred pence and another fifty. In regard to any one now present, you have your particular obligation to God and I have mine; your responsibility to God is not mine and mine is not yours. For instance, I may have been a much greater sinner than you, and I may have sinned with much more light; we are all different in respect of our obligation. Therefore, when it is a question of judgment, every man is judged according to his works. But grace is sovereign and free. It is sovereign in the sense that it makes no difference between the obligations of people. What marked the two debtors was that, while their debts were different, neither had anything to pay. Then it was that the creditor frankly -- that is, freely -- forgave them both. I call that the sovereignty of grace. The principle of grace is this, it does what it will with its own. "Is thine eye evil because I am good?" Grace is good, and grace will do what it will with its own; and therefore it says, "When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both". The creditor says, One owes me five hundred pence and the other fifty, but in both cases I will remit the debt; I am sovereign, I will make no demand whatever; "he frankly forgave them both". What a picture that was of the grace of the Lord in this world! He who came here to be the vessel of divine grace, was born into a world where everybody was a sinner and a debtor to God; He came into a world of trespasses, but God was not imputing trespasses, and therefore Jesus says to the woman, "Thy sins are forgiven". But remember, Simon might have had the same word; it was as near to him as to the woman; the Lord announces it to the woman because she was prepared
for it, but it was just as free to Simon as it was to her. The Lord was as near to Simon as He was to the woman, for He had come into Simon's house; the woman had no business there, but she came in and drew near to the Lord; and Simon might have had all that the woman got, for divine grace was present there in Christ when neither had anything to pay. Simon had no more to pay than the woman when it was a question of God; the position was that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing trespasses. And so you see those two great principles in grace, sovereignty and freeness. And mark one thing which came out as the fruit of it: "Which of them will love him most?" Relief is one great pleasure, but there is a second great pleasure, to know the One who has relieved me; and that is what comes out here, the one who is relieved of most will love most.
But I pass on to chapter 10: 30 - 37. "And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of
these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And be said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise". Now, no one can doubt for a moment but that, under the figure of the Samaritan, we have a beautiful picture of the Lord Himself in His ministry here upon earth. Hence I believe the parable represents the transition from law to grace. The priest and Levite passed by on the other side, they could not help the man who had fallen among thieves; grace is represented in the Samaritan, he came where the man was; and the parable presents not simply the relief accorded, but the care which was to be exercised towards the man until he should no longer be in want of care. Now we can get further light as to the character of grace, the man is not simply relieved, but carried and cared for. The wilderness is where the Christian needs care. He needs to be watched over and cared for so long as he is down here in a scene where everything is adverse, where he is exposed to temptation and to all evil. There will be a time when care will not be needed; when we get to heaven, that scene of divine serenity where evil cannot intrude, we shall not need succour and sympathy as we need them down here, where we need to be saved to the uttermost! And this is what you get here; the beautiful point in the parable is that you get man's true neighbour. The law demanded that man should love his neighbour as himself, but the law never told him who was his neighbour; no one ever understood who was man's neighbour until Christ became man; but when divine grace came in Him close to man, then man learnt who was his neighbour. And as a true neighbour He never leaves you, but undertakes to care for you all the time you stand in need of care. See what a wonderful thing grace is! It ministers relief, it is sovereign and free, and
it cares for its object so long as its object stands in need of care.
I wish you to connect all these thoughts with the seed of the woman; God brought it to pass that the seed of the woman should be the vessel of grace (Christ was a great deal more than the seed of the woman -- He was the Son of God, but He was the seed of the woman); and the seed of the woman was to be the vessel in which grace was to be set forth for man. That was the divine thought from the outset, to bring relief to man in the place where the pressure was upon him, and to give him to know the One who relieved him.
I take you now to the last chapter of Luke: "Thus it is written, and 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, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things". Mark that expression, "in his name". Now that indicates that the Lord is no longer personally here, for Scripture would scarcely speak about His name in that way if He were here. What was set forth was to be preached "in his name", so that it was no longer a question of the personal service of Christ down here. In the other passages I referred to, the subject was mainly of the personal service of Christ. He became man's neighbour, for He came close to man that the grace of God might be set forth to man. But when I come to this chapter, it is the value of His name, as dead and risen. I believe "name" in Scripture to indicate that which God is pleased to set forth in any person. If God gave a name to David or to Abraham, or whoever it might be, the name indicated what God was pleased to set forth in that person. I believe the same to be true in regard of Christ, His name prophetically indicated what was
to be set forth in Him. For instance, His name was to be called Immanuel. Why? Because in Him was set forth the great truth of God with His people. So too here, we have what is to be set forth in Him, namely, a door of repentance and forgiveness of sins. And why set forth in His name? Because the righteousness of God is witnessed in Him. If I want to understand anything about the righteousness of God or how it is that grace reigns through righteousness, it is learnt in Christ dead and risen; that is, that in the setting forth of divine grace God has made no sacrifice of His righteousness, but "grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life". Hence the Lord says here, "Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day", so that repentance and forgiveness of sins might be set forth in Him suitably to the righteousness of God; that there should be no compromise of the righteousness of God, but that it might be maintained in the setting forth of grace in Christ: that is why it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. The thought of name is in that sense wonderful to me, for if a name is given God intends that the recipient shall be characterized by the name He gives him, so that the name should indicate what God wills to set forth in that man. That is true in the highest possible sense of Christ.
Another point here which you could not have got in connection with the Lord's personal ministry is, that grace is without limit. You get it, I think, in the expression "that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem". When every natural link was broken with Israel down here, then the great thought of grace comes out, repentance and forgiveness of sins for all nations; Jerusalem is owned -- and it is a remarkable fact -- but as
the starting point of the activity of grace, and it is to go out thence to all nations.
One word about grace in regard to the Jew. The Jew had no more claim on the grace of God than the Gentile. In a sense the Jew had a claim upon God for the fulfilment of promises, because promises had been made to Abraham and to his seed; but in crucifying Christ they lost the promises, and a Jew had no exclusive claim on the grace of God. Therefore when grace comes out in the fullest sense after the death and resurrection of Christ, it is without limit; it begins at Jerusalem, but it goes out to all nations. It is the great setting forth and the climax of grace as to the way in which God is to be known by man upon earth.
It is to be noted that Matthew and Luke bring before you the way in which Christ is to be known here upon earth; those gospels do not unfold, as John does, the glory of His Person, or the way in which He is to be known in the Father's house. In Matthew and Luke you get the way in which He is to be known by the Jew and by man. Luke unfolds to you the way in which Christ is to be known by man down here, repentance and forgiveness of sins are preached in His name. Repentance and forgiveness refer to earth, not to heaven. It is a point of the greatest moment, that the grace of God ministers relief to man from the pressure in the scene of that pressure; and the end is that man may know the One who has relieved him. If you do not get behind grace to know the One from whom grace has come, the grace of God has not done its proper work in your heart; but if the grace of God has touched your heart, you will not be content until you know the One who has ministered the grace of God to you. The gospel is the glad tidings of the grace of God set forth to men in a man. Christ became man that He might be the vessel ofTHE TESTIMONY AS DETERMINING OUR POSITION HERE
HOW ONE CAN BE IN THE TESTIMONY
FEASTING AND FASTING
THE EQUIPMENT FOR THE TESTIMONY
THE BOOKS OF MOSES
THE PSALMS
THE PROPHETS
THE GOSPELS
THE EPISTLES
THE TESTIMONY AS OUR BOND
GRACE -- AS SET FORTH IN CHRIST