2 Corinthians 3; 2 Corinthians 4:1 - 12; 2 Corinthians 5:20 - 21

G.R.C. I thought we might consider what Paul calls "our gospel", in verse 3 of chapter 4: "But if also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost". In chapter 3, relative to "our gospel", he says that he and those with him were competent new covenant ministers, verse 6; God had made them that: "who has also made us competent as new covenant ministers", as the note indicates. On the other hand, in chapter 5, he says they were ambassadors: "We are ambassadors therefore for Christ, God as it were beseeching by us", verse 20. As competent new covenant ministers, they had a ministry which would meet the need of every man; as ambassadors, they were beseeching and entreating because of the longings of God's heart. They represented God in their entreaty and in their beseeching. In the one case, what is in mind is the need of man; in the other, as we say, the need of God. So these two features are both linked with the word "our gospel". Some may say, Surely Paul's gospel was the gospel of sonship -- and so it was, and is; that is the great blessing. He is writing to sons; in most of his epistles, he writes to sons. The salutation here is "Grace to you, and peace from God our Father", 2 Corinthians 1:2. He is writing to sons, and he says that his preaching was "the Son of God, Jesus Christ", 2 Corinthians 1:19. But then sons should know the moral basis on which the gospel comes to them. Those who were marked out beforehand for sonship needed redemption, and it is essential that they should know the moral basis on which the gospel has reached them; otherwise they will never

be in the liberty of the relationship. And so in chapter 3, Paul speaks of the ministry. He and those with him were made by God competent new covenant ministers, but he tells us what the ministry is, in verse 8: the ministry of the Spirit subsists in glory; and in verse 9: "the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory". They were the things which he and those with him, as new covenant ministers, were ministering. God was ministering, indeed, through them, the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of righteousness, subsisting in glory and abounding in glory. So that the gospel from this standpoint is the gospel of the glory, as Paul says: "the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God", chapter 4: 4. It is a radiant message. The gospel comes from the glory, fits men for the glory, and attracts men into the glory. God is bringing many sons to glory -- Hebrews 2:10. I thought this morning we should dwell mainly on the aspect in chapters 3 and 4. How God had made Paul and those with him competent as new covenant ministers; what the ministry was, and where it brings us, not leaving out of our thoughts that the longings of the heart of God are in the matter. I suggested reading the two verses in chapter 5 for this reading also, that we might see both sides -- that those who were carrying the gospel at this time were made by God competent new covenant ministers, and they were also ambassadors. An ambassador cannot be an ambassador unless he comes from the presence of the king. They were men who were in the gain themselves of new covenant ministry, who were habitually in the presence of God Himself, and knew the longings of His heart; therefore they were ambassadors. Then the last verse of chapter 5 shows the foundation of the whole matter. The foundation is not referred to in chapter 3, but whichever view we are taking -- whether that of new covenant ministry, or the ministry of reconciliation --

both are founded upon the momentous truth that "Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in him", chapter 5: 21. So at the beginning of the reading, our hearts no doubt will be solemnised as we think of that -- the awfulness of it -- Him who knew not sin, God has made sin for us. Apart from that, there could be no new covenant ministry, and no ministry of reconciliation.

L.F. Is that what is involved in the suggestion that the competency is of God? They are competent ministers of the new covenant, but that competency is of God Himself, is it not?

G.R.C. Quite so. It is remarkable what Paul says, "not that we are competent of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves", chapter 3: 5. It is not a question only of doing, it is a thing to take to heart, that we are not competent of ourselves even to think anything as to ourselves -- showing how dependent we are upon the Holy Spirit.

S.E.E. Would it be right to say that in the new covenant ministry, as meeting the need of men, God is telling man what He is for him, but in the ministry of reconciliation is it more what man is intended to be for God?

G.R.C. Yes, I think so. Chapter 3, as you say, brings out in a remarkable way what God is towards us, and what He is ministering through those whom He fits for the ministry. But then, the ministry of reconciliation brings home to us the longings of the heart of God to have man in His presence in suitability, that all distance should be removed, and the lengths to which He has gone to bring that about.

D.A. Have you any thought here as to the title of the Spirit: "the Spirit of the living God", chapter 3: 3?

G.R.C. Well, it is very touching, the expression "the living God", in contrast, in verse 7, to "the

ministry of death, in letters, graven in stones". You cannot imagine anything more set and fixed than something graven in stones. And what was graven in stones was a ministry of death and of condemnation. This would be a warning to us not to produce anything in what is current amongst us "graven in stones". In contrast to that, you have "the living God". "Thou shalt not make thyself any graven image", Exodus 20:4. There is nothing static, as it were, speaking reverently, about God. He is the living God -- always active, always in movement, and, as the expression "living God" must imply. He is a loving God, His affections are living and always in activity. And so we have "the Spirit of the living God" writing, but writing on fleshy tables of the heart -- verse 3. In chapter 6, we have the temple of the living God; we are connected with what is living. God is living; it is the living God who is dwelling among us and walking among us. Everything in the system is living, and if we personally are not living, we are not vitally in the system at all. The ministry of the Spirit is to make us alive. "The letter kills", verse 6. That is a general principle, that "letter kills, but the Spirit quickens". You will notice the note on "letter"; it is characteristic, 'For letter kills'; but the Spirit quickens. The ministry of the Spirit is to make men alive towards God, so that they can livingly be in the system -- the divinely established system.

W.F. This had a very attractive result to the Thessalonians, having "turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God", 1 Thessalonians 1:9.

G.R.C. Quite so. "To serve a living and true God, and to await his Son from the heavens", verses 9 - 10. And we belong to the city of the living God -- Hebrews 12:32. But there are those who do not give heed to God's voice, because the idea of living means that God is speaking every day: "Today if ye will hear is his voice", Hebrews 3:7. It is not that God has spoken;

it is not that we have everything there is to know on the bookshelves; God is speaking: "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts". God is the living God, speaking every day, and if we do not heed his current voice, in principle we are turning away from the living God.

G.C. Not only being made to live, but being maintained in life.

G.R.C. Quite so. Paul was an example of this, even in the fact that he did not need a letter of commendation. He said, "Ye are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read of all men", 2 Corinthians 3:2. That is to say, Paul did not need to carry a letter of commendation about with him; it was so manifest that the Corinthians were written on his heart, that they were his letter. And this raises the whole question as to how we regard the brethren, how we talk about them. I feel certain that if anyone met Paul, they would not have heard about all the troubles at Corinth although he would tell Timothy and Titus. But there is a tendency in our hearts, which we know, to dwell upon troubles and difficulties. Brethren go from one country to another, possibly, and they say, 'What are the brethren like in that country?' And the tendency may be -- well, it is, with the natural heart -- I am only saying this as a warning to myself and to others -- to begin to talk about troubles and difficulties. But that is no letter of commendation -- that is the opposite. It does not commend a brother to me, when he is talking like that. Paul would speak to others of the positive side of things at Corinth, but he would bear in his own spirit the side of what needed adjustment. We should speak well of the brethren, viewing them as God views them, as the work of God; not comparing some to the disadvantage of others. To spiritual persons who are concerned and who may help in the matter, it is another thing to confide, in view of help. But the general thing was that the

Corinthians were Paul's letter, as written on his heart. It was so evident that Paul loved them, through thick and thin, as we say -- never mind what they were to him, and they were treating him very badly. Paul had been treated disgracefully by the Corinthians, but there was not a bit of personal feeling against them. Through thick and thin, as we may say, he loved them, and everybody knew it. That was his letter of commendation.

G.C. Love is the highest and greatest expression of life, do you not think?

G.R.C. Well, it is. And so Paul goes on to say they were manifested to be Christ's epistle -- 2 Corinthians 3:3. What can you say against Christ's epistle? There were many practical things out of order at Corinth, but he maintains the view that nevertheless they were Christ's epistle, "ministered by us, written, not with ink, but the Spirit of the living God", chapter 3: 3. There was some definite writing at Corinth to talk about, without talking about the difficulties.

Ques. Is this what is distinctive, in relation to Paul's gospel? You spoke of "our gospel". At the end of Romans he speaks of "my gospel". It is the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, the ministry of the Spirit coming in in that way.

G.R.C. I think I have already referred to the fact that sonship is an outstanding feature of Paul's gospel, but so is the glory. We have here the gospel of the glory, "the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God", chapter 4: 4 -- and I think we need to lay hold of this side of the gospel in its liberating power. It comes from the glory; it is a ministry from the glory, fitting men for the glory. And therefore Paul did not need to put a veil on his face.

N.B.S. Could you say how we come into the gain of the new covenant which is made with Israel?

G.R.C. Well, this is not the new covenant made

with Israel; this is our gospel. Our gospel is greater than the new covenant made with Israel. It is simply that the character of it is new covenant, not old. It is ministered on new covenant lines, on the line of "I will", not "Thou shalt". It is the character of it that is new covenant -- "competent new covenant ministers" -- and we are not to go back in our spirits or actions to the old covenant. Our gospel is greater than any covenant, far greater. It exceeds beyond comparison the covenant yet to be made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah -- although we have one thing in common, and that is the forgiveness of sins: "their sins and their lawlessness I will never remember any more", Hebrews 8:12. We have to come into that, just as they do, by repentance and faith and forgiveness. But after we have got away from the basic matters, then we come to what is distinctive of Christianity. Paul is speaking here of Christianity, "our gospel". It far exceeds anything Israel will ever know; it takes us within the veil. That is the point of this ministry: "But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit", chapter 3: 18. In principle, in certain respects, it corresponds with Hebrews. Hebrews presents the blood of the covenant which will yet be the basis of the covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, but this epistle shows that that blood, which is the basis of that covenant, has opened the way for us within the veil. Christianity is altogether superior to anything Israel will ever know. Hebrews is to stress that. That blood, which will yet secure blessing for Israel, has opened up the way, and we have boldness by it to enter the holy of holies, where Israel will never go -- nor any other family. And so it speaks of the things of the heavenlies being purified with blood, in Hebrews -- chapter 9: 23. The heavenlies themselves -- "the

heavenly things themselves" literally is "the heavenlies" -- have been purified with better sacrifices than the offerings of old. And we belong to the heavenlies themselves; we do not belong to the earthlies. Israel belongs to the earthlies, but the blood that has secured their blessing has opened up, as it were, the heavenlies to us, and the idea is here. "Our gospel" comes from the glory, fits men for the glory, and attracts men into the glory; that is, within the veil, where Christ is.

G.C. 'The heavens are opened now'.

G.R.C. They certainly are -- But have we been in? Have we entered in spirit yet, and do we live there?

A.I. Is this the character of ministry that comes in through Haggai, in order to get the saints going again when they had ceased to build? "The word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit, remain among you: fear ye not", Haggai 2:5.

G.R.C. Quite so. We can get great comfort from that scripture, as applying it in the light of Christianity. But here we have Christianity itself. This is surpassing. It speaks of it in that way: "the surpassing glory", 2 Corinthians 3:10. There has never been anything like it - never will. "The surpassing glory" -- and what do we know about it? We take the ground, perhaps, that we know the gospel, but do we know it? If we know the gospel, our home will be in the holiest; that is, if we know the Christian gospel -- we may have got a partial gospel.

W.J.H. Would you tell us the connection between the glory and "the face of Jesus Christ" -- why that is particularly emphasised, that the glory should be there?

G.R.C. Actually, in verse 6 of chapter 4, it refers to what is shining in the faces of the apostle and those with him -- but it was the face of Jesus Christ. Christ was formed in them. If you read that verse: "Because

it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth [or"radiancy"] of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". I do not mean that the glory of God is not in the face of Jesus Christ, but the point there is that God had shone into the hearts of Paul and Silas and Timothy for the shining forth, radiantly, of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. They were directly in that light; it was shining directly from His face into their hearts, but was to shine out through them. Their faces, and their measure, were to correspond with His. We ought to be radiant Christians; we ought to have radiant faces.

W.J.H. Paul was concerned about those who had not seen his face. There was something in Paul's face that the saints would miss if they had not seen it.

G.R.C. Do you not think the face of a man is one of the most marvellous features of creation? The face of a man -- perhaps the most marvellous. There is the voice of a man -- man's capacity to sing and respond, which is unique -- but the face of a man! "Let us make man in our image", and so God made a creature with a face capable of expressing divine attributes. A man's face can express love, sympathy, anger, hate, mercy, compassion; a man's face is capable of expressing attributes of God. But then, there is a complete misrepresentation of God in the old man. He expresses anger, but it is not divine anger, it is not God's anger; he expresses hate, but not God's hate. God hates certain things. The old man is expressing what is the reverse of the divine image, but the new man is created after God, in righteousness and holiness of truth. And therefore there should be in the faces of the saints, as well as their actions and words, an expression of God. But all I am saying about the face is to concentrate, in our thoughts, on the face of Jesus Christ.

A.I. Peter could say to the man at the gate of the temple, "Look on us".

G.R.C. Yes -- "Look on us". Well, there was something to look at there, in the way we are saying; the light was shining forth. There was a radiancy about Peter and John, but the face of Jesus Christ is the great study, perhaps the greatest study there ever will be - the face of Jesus Christ. "The glory of the Christ, who is the image of God". There we see a perfect representation of God. We see love, compassion, tenderness, kindness, holiness -- and yet, we will see anger.

L.F. Is it dependent upon being in the holiest, and coming out -- this shining of the face you are speaking of?

G.R.C. The fact is that no one can be a competent new covenant minister in connection with "our gospel" unless he lives in the holiest. The figure used is that when Moses went in to speak to God, he took the veil off, as it says in Exodus. Whenever he went in to speak to God in the sanctuary, he took the veil off; when he came out to speak to the people, he put the veil on. Why did Moses put it on? Paul did not put it on -- that is the difference between Christianity and the old dispensation. Paul went in to God, and looked on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, but he did not put a veil on when he came out. If the gospel was veiled, it was not because he put a veil on his face; it was veiled in those that were lost.

L.F. The very expression here, "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" emphasises what you are saying. It means that it is in the holiest, in the knowledge of the thing.

G.R.C. I think it is most important to see what is being said, that the new covenant ministers come forth from God. They are in the gain of the gospel, they habituate the presence of God; they are looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, and are

transformed; but they do not put a veil on their face when they come out. Moses was transformed, typically, but he had to put a veil on his face. The point, today, is that we can go into the holiest in the full sense. In Moses' case, the holiest was connected with a tabernacle which was a figure of the true. Now we go into "the true", into the very presence of God, outshining in radiant glory, in the Person of the Son, and in coming out we do not need to put a veil on our faces. We may do so, to escape reproach, and so on. I am afraid I have done it, alas, many a time. But we should come out with faces radiant -- no veil.

C.E.J. That came out in Paul in his preachings, did it not? I am thinking of his preaching before Agrippa. He desired that Agrippa might be even as he was, except his bonds.

G.R.C. Quite so -- beautiful. What a man he was before Agrippa! What a radiant face he had! His face reflecting the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

J.C. Does this turn, in measure, upon our capacity to see? And does the matter for those without also depend on whether there is a work of God there, that they may see it in us? If we do not see the things which are there in the sanctuary, if we have not the capacity of sight, we cannot take them on and reflect them.

G.R.C. You mean, as new covenant ministers, if we have not seen them, we cannot express them.

J.C. We need our sight affected, before we can see them. Until we have seen them, we cannot reflect them.

G.R.C. But then, those who are affected by the gospel, see it first in the saints. That is the point here: "for the shining forth". There is the shining forth, or radiancy, of this in Paul and Silas and Timothy. They knew the inside place, and outside they were shining; and the light was to come to others through them. That is still the truth. The Lord can

always arrest a man directly -- Paul being a great example -- but the normal way is that the light reaches men through those who know the inside place themselves. Then if men accept the light as it comes to them through men like Paul, they get the gain of the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of righteousness -- which Paul could minister to them -- which fits them to go in. The first thing is that people should be arrested by the radiancy of light shining in the saints. Then, when a soul is arrested, he says, 'I would like to know something of what you know'. You say, 'Well, we know there is a ministry -- a ministry of the new covenant which will put you where we are. Through wondrous grace we have found a ministry of the Spirit and a ministry of righteousness, and that will put you just where we are, and then you will behold the glory direct'.

W.B.H. What you are saying as to the face of the ministers, does it explain why the emphasis here is on the Spirit -- whereas in similar passages in the Hebrews, you were speaking of the blood being stressed?

G.R.C. Yes. Well now, the soul would get help as to the blood in the ministry of righteousness, but here the ministry of the Spirit is put first. The soul sees the light shining in persons -- and Paul is not limiting this to himself; in measure, it should mark all of us who know our place in the presence of God. Those affected see the light, and then there is the ministry of the Spirit. No doubt there begins to be quickening power working in them, for Paul says, "death works in us, but life in you". But then, to be free, themselves, to enter the presence of God, they must understand the ministry of righteousness. But these ministries are available! God is ministering the Spirit to men as a free gift -- but He is ministering the Spirit to men as a free gift on the ground of ministering righteousness as a free gift. And the

ministers should be thus morally qualified to have these things from God and to bring them to men.

D.J.M. It says in Acts, "specially pained ... that they would no more see his face", Acts 20:38.

G.R.C. Well, what a wonderful face Paul had! What the saints saw in the face of that man! They saw a reflection of Jesus Christ, "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". It is affecting that it should say "that they would no more see his face". I suppose, next to Christ Himself, there has never been such a face as Paul's in testimony here.

Ques. Does the Lord taking Peter and James and John up into the mountain have in view their competence as new covenant ministers?

G.R.C. I think that is so, in principle. It was to equip them for what they would be empowered to do when they had received the Spirit. But I believe we ought to understand this ministry, the idea of the veil, how the veil comes in. We often say there is no veil on the face of Christ, but that is not the main point. It is true, there is no veil on the face of Christ; we can in that way contrast Christ with Moses. But that is not the main point, for Paul says, "Having therefore such hope, we use much boldness: and not according as Moses put a veil on his own face", chapter 3: 12. That is the contrast -- Paul did not put a veil on his own face. He went into the holiest, into the presence of God, and was transformed, but he did not put a veil on when he came out. That is the difference between the Old Testament and the New. Why did Moses put a veil on his face? Because he had no ministry given to him whereby he could say to those who saw his face shining, I have a ministry which will put you where I am. He had not got it; He had only a ministry graven on stones, a ministry of death, a ministry of condemnation. Therefore he put a veil on his face; he could not bring them where he had been. But the point in Christianity is that

those who have been in the presence of God and have looked on the glory of the Lord have got a ministry which will put every soul who accepts the light, who comes to the light, where the minister himself is. So there is no need to have a veil.

W.B.H. Moses could not offer them the Spirit.

G.R.C. He could not; nor could he offer them righteousness. The minister of the gospel, on God's behalf, offers men righteousness and the gift of the Spirit.

G.D. How do you propose that we put what you are saying into operation? Here we are in this city -- how would you propose that we put it into operation?

G.R.C. Well, it should be in operation. It is not a question of putting it into operation -- this should be in operation, because we profess to have accepted the gospel. Now, if I have accepted the gospel, I have received the free gift of righteousness; Christ is my righteousness; and I have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I am perfectly at liberty to go into the presence of God. These gifts have come to me from the glory to bring me to the glory. The glory is my place, and I am to find my home there; I am to live there at every opportunity. It is really where my life is: "your life is hid with the Christ in God", Colossians 3:3. Well, that should mark us all. Then, we should come out with shining faces, unless we put a veil on -- and if we do sometimes put a veil on, we come out as a very astute business man, or something like that; or we have some other status -- a member of an institute -- and that marks us amongst men. Well, that is like a veil on your face.

A.I. What you are speaking of is the radiancy of the glad tidings shining out in persons, and God's glory is secured in earthen vessels.

G.R.C. Yes. There is "the shining forth" or 'the radiancy' "of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". "But we have

this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassingness of the power" -- there is surpassing glory, and surpassing power -- "may be of God, and not from us", chapter 4: 7. We are emptied of ourselves. The moment self gets into the picture at all, it is a veil, and that is why the discipline comes in here. We all need it, to keep self out of the picture -- the big "I". The moment a little bit of the big "I" comes in, there is a veil on our face.

S.E.E. Is the unveiled face seen particularly in Paul and Silas?

G.R.C. Yes, and in Timothy. Paul says in chapter 1 of this epistle, verse 19, "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you by me and Silvanus and Timotheus". Those were men with shining faces; there was radiancy about them. They were men who could say with Paul, "no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me", Galatians 2:20. There was no veil on their faces.

C.D. We have had from time to time, for some years now, preachings in this city, and the Lord has helped in one way and another. Do you think this would come into it? We have never had the support, really, of the brethren in a general way, but do you not think that there should be support for such an occasion city-wise?

G.R.C. Yes, you want plenty of shining faces supporting the gospel. That is what there was in the second of Acts. The whole company had received the free gift of righteousness and the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they all began to speak forth -- that is, the sisters and brothers; sisters speaking -- not in the assembly -- but to those they come in contact with day by day -- you are so radiant about the matter, that you cannot stop speaking. The whole city was one of radiancy, and that brought the crowd together. And Peter, standing up with the eleven, explains the

situation. That is all the preaching can do, explain the situation and offer what God is offering to the people. Peter offers the very same thing: "Repent, and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins", -- that would involve, in Paul's language, the free gift of righteousness -- "and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit", Acts 2:38. He as much as says, 'We have a ministry that will put you where we are'.

J.H. Is suffering vital in this testimony? Paul at Corinth had the opposition from the synagogue, and then finally before the ruler, and in this chapter he says, "always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body", verse 10. Is it not suffering and glory?

G.R.C. Exactly. We are bound to get opposition, because the gospel is so wonderful; it is so radiant, if our faces are unveiled, that the only thing that could cause it not to shine is because it is veiled in those that are lost -- and it tells us how it is veiled: "in whom the god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine forth for them", verse 4. So we are up against the god of this world. He cannot do anything nowadays, except blind men. He can no longer actively wield the power of death; Christ has annulled him who has the might of death -- Hebrews 2:14. He has lost his power in a general way, but he knows that if the light of the gospel really penetrates a soul, that soul is lost to him. So the god of this world is blinding -- according to Ephesians, "the universal lords of this darkness", Ephesians 6:12. The only hope Satan has is to blind men, so that they do not see this radiancy. And therefore we shall come up against the opposition of the god of this world. "For we who live are always delivered unto death", and in the preceding verse, "always bearing

about in the body the putting to death of Jesus" -- see note -- "that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body", verse 10. I think all these disciplinary measures, whether they come through persecution, or in other ways, are to help us not to put a veil on. The other figure is of Gideon's pitchers. The more the pitchers were broken, the more the light shone out.

Rem. Paul, in writing to the Philippians, chapter 2, verse 15, says, "that ye may be harmless and simple, irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation; among whom ye appear as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, so as to be a boast for me in Christ's day, that I have not run in vain nor laboured in vain".

G.R.C. Well, I think that helps as to the general position of the saints. Here it is those whose privilege it is to minister who are specially in mind, although he is writing this no doubt to help the whole of the Corinthians to be radiant. The Philippians were radiant, more than any company; they were shining lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.

A.G. Why does the apostle refer to the Lord the Spirit in connection with what has been said as to liberty in verse 17: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". You are speaking of Satan restricting and seeking to hinder. Is that an encouragement?

G.R.C. It certainly is an encouragement. We have the Spirit. The Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. "But we all" -- now he is not limiting this to himself and Silvanus and Timotheus -- "we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face"; we have a far greater privilege than Moses. He went in with unveiled face to behold the glory. But think of our privilege: we look on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, and "are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the

Spirit". I would seek to urge upon myself and others that we should find our home in the holy of holies. This ministry is from the glory, to fit us for the glory, to attract us to the glory -- which would have repelled us. The glory repelled the children of Israel, because there was no ministry to fit them to be in the presence of it. But it is completely different now; the glory need not repel anybody. It should attract, because God is presenting all that is needed to fit men for the glory, so that they should find their home in the glory, and themselves become radiant.

H.J.M. Was not Stephen an outstanding expression of this?

G.R.C. He was. They looked on his face to begin with, and it was as the face of an angel, which may refer -- I do not know whether it does - to judicial glory; but that is a feature of God's glory. An angel is a messenger. Stephen was God's messenger at that time -- not exactly an ambassador, but a messenger, bringing an indictment. But there was a glory about his face, and at the end he sees the glory of God in Jesus, and that glory is morally reflected in his face as he dies.

Ques. Was Paul himself really affected by Stephen?

G.R.C. Well, that is very interesting. We may say that Paul's first touch was on the road to Damascus when the Lord appeared, but in a way his first touch was at the stoning of Stephen. He refers to it in speaking to the Lord: "when the blood of thy witness Stephen was shed", Acts 22:20, he said. And undoubtedly Paul saw the radiancy of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shining forth in Stephen, so that when the Lord appeared to him, a certain groundwork had been prepared, because the Lord said, "It is hard for thee to kick against the goads", recounted by Paul in Acts 26:14, omitted in Acts 9. Paul had seen something which had reached his heart and conscience.

W.F. That might make room for enquiry on verse 12: "we use much boldness". I would like a little help on that expression. We have been encouraged this morning about going in, and having boldness for it. What about this expression of using boldness? Is that the testimonial side?

G.R.C. I think it is boldness in coming out. We have boldness in going in by the blood of Jesus, and we want other men to have boldness to go in; and therefore we go out. Here, it means going out. "Having therefore such hope, we use much boldness" -- because of the ministry that he had got from God. Why should we not be bold in going out with the gospel? Look what we have got in our hands, as it were -- a ministry of righteousness, and a ministry of the Spirit. I am using that order, although the reverse is put here, because Paul is speaking to the Corinthians, where things were getting into a ritual and into a groove. They were tending to go back to what was graven on stones; which is all men can do. Men can only grave things on stones; they cannot put anything into the hearts of people. That needs the Spirit of the living God. So that is why, I think, Paul brings the Spirit in first here; but you do not present that first in the gospel. What you present in the gospel is the ministry of righteousness, which abounds in glory -- comes from the glory, and abounds in glory. Why, our righteousness is Christ in glory! It is a glorified Man who is our righteousness. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness", 1 Corinthians 1:30. It is a glorified Man who is our righteousness. Think of presenting that to men! A glorified Man as their righteousness, which gives them right to go into the glory -- but the Spirit gives them power, quickening power.

J.C. The Galatians were going back to the stones. Paul says, "He therefore who ministers to you the

Spirit", Galatians 3:5. Is he referring to his own ministry, his own service, as well as that directly from God?

G.R.C. The Galatians were certainly going back to the stones. "Weak and beggarly elements" -- they make us all paupers. If we go back to what is graven in stones, we shall all become paupers spiritually, and all have very dull faces. But the ministry of righteous- ness and the ministry of the Spirit sets us up in divine wealth and glory, and makes us radiant -- if we take advantage of it, if we go in. The gospel is to place us right inside, in the very presence of God, in perfect suitability.

G.D. All these scriptures you have brought before us bear on what is the result of going in, so that a witness publicly was in the mind of the apostle, would it not be, for Corinth? That every face was to shine with this wonderful ministry -- in Corinth, I mean? And is not that to be in Sydney?

G.R.C. That is just what I am thinking. Because you take what Paul says in the first epistle: "Ye are temple of God". They were the very shrine -- that word means the 'shrine'. But entering the holiest is the individual side, where we should continually resort; it is our home. I would like to press that -- it is our home. If we have another home, we are on a lower level; we are not on the Christian level. But collectively, we know the presence of God amongst us, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, if things are right. If the Spirit is free and ungrieved, Christ will be enshrined amongst us whenever we are together; and where Christ is enshrined, the Father's presence will be known. That is the truth of the matter. There is God -- Father, Son and Holy, Spirit -- known amongst us where things are right, so that we are the very shrine. And in principle, our gatherings, therefore, are in the holiest. We are in the very shrine itself, the presence of God. The gatherings vary. Some people limit the temple to the

thought of enquiry, but that is only one side of the temple. In the temple, every whit utters glory. God is there -- transcending thought! God Himself! We are in the presence of glory. If we are temple of God, and know the presence of God, surely the whole company should be radiant.

G.D. And surely that should have a witness for the men that we are concerned about. We do value the truth of the position into which the Lord has brought us, but we do not want that to become a bar to others coming into this wondrous glory that should shine in all our faces, do we?

G.R.C. The Lord Jesus was perfectly exclusive, but He was the most accessible of men. That is the true separation -- entirely separate, but perfectly accessible. The other kind of separation is pharisaical.

D.A. Could you say a word as to the spirit of the new covenant? It has been spoken of as being the administration of it. This word "spirit" with a small 's', would that be the spirit of the new covenant?

G.R.C. "Not of letter but of spirit". Well then, he immediately goes on: "For the letter kills, but the Spirit" capital 'S' "quickens". There are no capitals in the Greek, of course. It is just a question here of the translator's spiritual discernment as to when he puts a capital and when he does not. "Not of letter, but of spirit" means, I would say, that Christianity is characteristically spirit and not letter. We have to take everything up on that line, in the spirit of it, not the letter. Letter kills.

J.N.G. So that this bears not only upon the public preaching, but on the way in which ministry is taken up amongst us, and on our relations amongst the saints.

G.R.C. Well, it bears much on our relations with one another. One legal person in a meeting can do a lot of damage. A legal person usually causes terror. They did not cause Paul terror, but they cause most

people terror. Paul was not terrified by legalists, even though Peter was, at Antioch. Paul would withstand them to their face. But this does bear on our relations with one another. It is not only a question of shining faces as expressing the radiancy to the world, but it is the way we should be radiant towards each other -- all helping towards liberty. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". "But we all" -- no one left out -- "we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed" -- the whole company should be transformed -- "according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit".

S.E.E. Things ministered in the letter engender bondage. If the saints are brought into bondage over anything, you would question it, perhaps, whereas what is in spirit, or spiritual, would engender liberty, would it?

G.R.C. Yes. Any dictate, or dogma, comes between the soul and God, which is a very serious matter. It comes between the soul and God. If people obey a dogma, they are not obeying God; it has come between their souls and God. So that the apostle himself says, in the first chapter of this epistle, "Not that we rule over your faith" -- that is Romanism, the very principle of Romanism, to rule over people's faith -- "Not that we rule over your faith, but are fellow-workmen of your joy", chapter 1: 24. What a way to approach! The apostle is as much as saying, 'All I am seeking to do is to help you joy. You are going on with things which are hindering your joy -- you are standing in your own light -- and I want to get you free of them'. But he did not put things down as a dogma to rule over their faith, but in such a manner as to exercise their souls relative to God. He would put them in touch with God in his ministry, so that they worked the thing out with God. We have to say straight things, we have to

speak clearly and faithfully about what is wrong, but there is the manner, in which it is done. It should be done in a manner like that of the apostle in the first epistle, which puts the soul in direct exercise before God, so that the soul reaches it with God.

Rem. I was thinking that this occasion should help us in relation to this radiancy. The Lord is speaking to us now in the same way as Paul was speaking then to the Corinthians.

G.R.C. Well, this is the spirit in which we should approach matters. Even in applying Old Testament types, they are to be applied in the spirit of the new covenant, not in the letter of the old covenant, which will only kill.

J.N.G. So that if matters come up in ministry which call for adjustment, if there is a touch of glory about the way the truth is ministered, all saints will respond.

G.R.C. Well, all who are in a state to respond. There may be some who do not. But if things have been handled in keeping with the ministry of glory, and then there is no result, it is because will is at work. In fact, the apostle tells them in the second epistle to examine themselves and see if Jesus Christ was in them at all. If people do not respond to the ministry of glory, the question is, are they in real Christianity at all? They may be, but you have to leave it as to whether they are or not -- but you have to deal with them as not in the thing vitally. But to bring a thing to an issue without acting in the right spirit, is a very serious matter.

Ques. Is that seen in the 10th chapter? Paul is so in the joy of this, that he is able to refer to himself; "But I myself, Paul, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of the Christ", verse 1. Is that "the same image"?

G.R.C. I think so. You think of all that Paul had put up with from the Corinthians personally; their

treatment of him had been disgraceful. He refers to how they were treating him more than once in the two epistles, especially in the second epistle, but he never brings in anything personal in the way of personal feeling or resentment -- not a bit. It did not affect his love towards them at all. He leaves out what is personal, although the way they were treating him was disgraceful. And even after all that had transpired, apart from the personal side, all the wickedness that was there in Corinth, even in the tenth chapter, he is saying, "I ... entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of the Christ". What forbearance still to be on that line! But he did not remain on that line. If ministry of new covenant character does not produce results, you cannot remain on that line then; it is a question of people doing despite to the grace of God. And so Paul said, in the last chapter of this epistle, that if he came again, he would not spare -- chapter 13: 2. Things would happen then. And that is another feature of the divine glory. Paul's face would then still be expressing God -- the anger of God. It says of the householder in Luke 14, that "in anger", he said to his bondman, "Go out into the ways and fences and compel to come in", verse 23. We have to take account of the anger of God when grace is refused.

J.C. Normally, the saints will respond to the Lord's requirement, if it is put before them attractively, and they are not pushed into it. If the thing is set out attractively, the saints will generally respond to it.

G.R.C. Well, thank God, that has been the feature for many years now, that saints have been ready to respond-though some may be slower than others. We need to know, however, when the character of things changes. The time comes when God is angry. Divine anger will be seen in Christ on the great white throne; it will be seen earlier: "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry",

Psalm 2:12. But it will be divine anger -- God's anger, not mere human anger; not anger because the brethren are not doing what I tell them to.

W.B.H. It was seen in Stephen -- you were referring to it earlier. It was not the gospel he preached, was it? He was not condemning them. But as he was dying, and saw through into heaven, he was the exhibition of the gospel, was he not?

G.R.C. He was. It was wonderful with Stephen. His mission at that time was a message of indictment, and his face would be in keeping with that; he was arraigning them with murder. They had had every opportunity to repent, and had not, and he arraigns them with murder. And yet, when it is what is personal to himself -- and how much this causes difficulty among the brethren, what is personal -- when it came to what was personal to himself, having finished his indictment as to the murder of Christ, he says, "Lay not this sin to their charge"; and looking on the glory, he was confirmed of the glory. And so the last view of Stephen is a radiant expression of the gospel of the glory.

F.R.G. The Lord Jesus is presented in the end of the first chapter of Revelation in this judicial character, and it speaks there of "his countenance as the sun shines in its power", verse 16.

G.R.C. Yes. And when the sun shines in its power, as you realize in this country, there is a great deal of heat in it. It is not only the beneficent side. The sun shining beneficently is one thing, but the sun shining in its power can become over-powering -- and that is how the Lord's face can be.

THE GOSPEL OF THE GLORY - READING 2

2 Corinthians 5:10 - 21

G.R.C. This passage is of great importance as showing, among other things, the kind of judgment Paul arrived at, and which governed him in his outlook on the saints, and would also govern him in his outlook amongst men, as an ambassador. If we pass by judgment, we pass by the love of God, as the Lord says. The Pharisees had passed by judgment and the love of God -- Luke 11:42. And as an ambassador, Paul would represent God in grace and love, and in the longings of his heart. His judgment would be formed by being in the presence of God. He says in verse 13, "For whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God; or are sober, it is for you". I understand that expression to mean that whenever Paul was not actively engaged with his service and care for the saints, and his testimony to men, he was in the holiest. This would be another reference to it. The term 'holiest' is only used in the epistle written to the Hebrews; but he says, "whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God". That is to say, whenever he was at leisure from his many responsibilities, he was beside himself to God; he was in the presence of God, in the presence of Him who is the effulgence of God's glory, "the expression of his substance"; in the presence of perfection in Manhood; he was beside himself. You can understand a man being beside himself in the presence of God. The spectacle is so amazing -- God's glory in radiant display in a Man, all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in that Man bodily. How could we be other than beside ourselves? Then, in the presence of God, we get God's outlook and judgment

on matters, so that the more we are in the presence of God, the more we shall apprehend and come to God's judgment as implied in verse 21: "Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in him". In that most awful expression of judgment, God's love has come into display. In fact, His glory has come into display; His nature and character have come into full display. The glory that is shining in Jesus now has come into display, and is available to us, to look upon and be at home in, because that very One in whom the glory is shining now -- God's nature and character in radiant display -- has been right down into the lowest place, and borne the consuming wrath of God against sin. What love there is in it! "That we might become God's righteousness in him".

This links on with what we have had already, as to the ministry of righteousness, "abounding in glory". J.N.D. speaks of "God's righteousness with glory bright". One outstanding feature of the glory is that love has achieved all that it purposed without compromising righteousness in one iota; but achieving it in such a way that we, who were once lost and undone, shall become the eternal display of God's righteousness as in Christ. That is, we in Christ, will be the eternal display of God's righteousness, but with what "glory bright"; love having achieved its end at all cost to itself, without compromising righteousness in one degree, but instead upholding righteousness. And incidentally, to understand this is what brings peace to the soul. "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever", Isaiah 32:17. The first epistle shows that a glorified Christ is our righteousness, and here it shows that we become God's righteousness in Him. You could not think of anything more secure, therefore, than the position of the believer. A glorified Christ is his righteousness, and

-- I suppose it looks on to the time when we have glorified bodies -- we are to become God's righteousness in Him -- an unchallengeable position.

But then, as we were speaking of Paul's judgment being formed, this is the basis, in verse 21, of our being free to enter the presence of God. It is what is called in the Old Testament "atonement", and called in the New Testament "reconciliation", and with it is linked the other great type of Christ's sufferings -- the red heifer. One is in Leviticus, one in Numbers, each perfect in their setting. And so Hebrews 9 says, "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and a heifer's ashes sprinkling the defiled, sanctifies for the purity of the flesh, how much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?" verses 13 - 14. It is very instructive that the types of Christ's sufferings in Leviticus 16 and Numbers 19 are brought together -- "the blood of goats and bulls, and a heifer's ashes sprinkling the defiled" -- and in 2 Corinthians 5:21 undoubtedly both types are in mind. Leviticus 16 refers to the sufferings of Christ relative to God; God is primarily in view. We get the benefit, but it is His sufferings to meet the claims of God and His throne, and the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat eastward and before the mercy seat. But in Numbers it is the sufferings of Christ particularly for us to contemplate. It is not for the eye of God there, but one was to slaughter the bullock before Eleazar's eyes. I believe, therefore, both types are needed to form our judgment and to give us true liberty of approach.

L.F. Does this reference to God's righteousness in Christianity give us a different concept altogether as to righteousness that might have been before men -- something entirely new, something we are taking on, all in accord with God Himself?

G.R.C. Well, God's righteousness, according to

Romans, was revealed in the gospel. God was always righteous, of course -- He could be no other -- and had He manifested Himself as a judge and dealt with men in judgment, He would have been righteous, but His purpose as to man would have failed. But in the gospel, He has revealed His righteousness relative to the saving of men, and the carrying out of His purpose.

S.E.E. "For the love of the Christ constrains us". Is Paul being affected there by the red heifer type of the death of Christ? Then "if one died for all, then all have died" -- would that be more Leviticus 16? In the footnote to verse 13, it refers to the calculations of love.

G.R.C. Yes, quite so. Well, I would think perhaps both types enter into it-"the love of the Christ constrains us". After all, in what he was doing for God, going in by His own blood, according to the type, Aaron was making atonement for himself and his house; he was making a way in for us; He has dedicated it for us, "through the veil, that is, his flesh", Hebrews 10:20. But then, the other type emphasises His sufferings; it emphasises the grace which took our place, the awfulness of the man whose place He took That is Numbers 19, and it is to be before our eyes, so that we might know our awfulness, and have a judgment of it. The death of Christ viewed in these two ways is the basis of our approach. Reconciliation is effected, distance is removed, the way is open into the holy of holies -- as we have had it already. There is a ministry of righteousness and a ministry of the Spirit on this basis to us, and we see in Paul a man who, when he was free from other things, was beside himself to God, and therefore his judgment would be formed according to God. He had before him the judgment seat of Christ. Many of us will want much adjustment at the judgment seat of Christ, undoubtedly; but Paul, as one who was habitually in the presence of God and had such a deep appreciation

of verse 21, had arrived at a judgment. So that he was in keeping -- if any man ever was -- with the judgment seat of Christ while he was still down here. So that when it came to departure, he knew what he would receive there. We are to receive the things done in the body, whether good or evil -- verse 10. But Paul knew what he would receive. He said the Lord, "the righteous Judge", would give him "a crown of righteousness" in that day -- 2 Timothy 4:8.

S.E.E. You spoke of being in the presence of God. In 1 Corinthians 6, much is said there of "judgments", and Paul has to say, "Thus there is not a wise person among you, not even one", 1 Corinthians 6:5. This would be over judgments with his brethren. I was wondering if this feature of wisdom is not something that is derived from the presence of God personally.

G.R.C. Well, it is. In the presence of God, we see "Christ God's power and God's wisdom", 1 Corinthians 1:24. That is another view of what we see in the presence of God -- "Christ, God's power and God's wisdom". The Psalmist says, "To see thy power and thy glory, as I have beheld thee in the sanctuary", Psalm 63:2. So we see Christ, God's power, Christ, God's wisdom, Christ, God's glory in the sanctuary.

S.E.E. What you said as to Leviticus 16, propitiation, is that in view of God coming out? Would that be behind the ambassadors?

G.R.C. Yes, it is a basis of God coming out -- although the great point is, man going in. What God yearns for is for man to be before Him in love without distance. But he comes out with a view to man going in. But the coming out properly is in the new covenant ministers as Paul speaks thus of himself and those ministering with him. They come out with a ministry which will fit men for the presence of God, which will fit men for the glory. God is sending that out, but it is all on the basis of verse 21 of chapter 5. 'God is sending out the message', as we sing; the light is

shining in the ministers; there is the odour of the knowledge of God in every place-there is not only light, but odour, and sound; "we also believe, therefore also we speak", chapter 4: 13. The spiritual senses of a man as he enters the holiest, become truly exercised; all our spiritual sensibilities are in exercise. There is the sight, the glory, the odour; Christ going in typically as in Exodus 16 -- Aaron going in in the cloud of incense, typifying Christ going in in the fragrance of His own Person. He goes in by His blood, but in the fragrance of His own Person, that fragrance having been fully brought into display in the very sufferings of atonement. He goes in in that cloud of incense. And then there is sound in the holiest -- there are divine communications. So that in every way our sensibilities are in activity as we are in the holiest, and we come to a judgment.

N.D.S. "Having judged this". Is there a definite point reached in his outlook, as the result of something definite that he comes to and holds to?

G.R.C. And he tells us what it is: "that one died for all, then all have died" -- or all "had died", see footnote. We have thought about a dead body being unclean, and the whole position is unclean. If anyone is to come into blessing, all need to be sprinkled with the water of separation, as well as having their hearts sprinkled -- which would refer to the blood -- "from a wicked conscience", Hebrews 10:22. We all need it, and in principle it is brought to us in the gospel. We may need the application to us in our practical lives as Christians, but from the divine side, these things are brought to us in the gospel that "all have died; and he died for all, that they who live", and they would be those quickened in the way we have been speaking in the previous reading; "the Spirit quickens"; "should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised", 2 Corinthians 5:15. Then this next point is perhaps the practical working

out of the judgment. "So that we henceforth know no one according to flesh; but if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. So if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new: and all things are of the God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ", 2 Corinthians 5:16 - 18. Now I take all that as part of the judgment Paul has arrived at, and it is just a question how far we have arrived at this. "We henceforth know no one according to flesh", and "the old things have passed away". Now is that true of us? I am not talking now about practical life, but our outlook, our judgment of matters, involving our outlook on the saints. Paul is brought into line with God's own outlook. God's own outlook is that "the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new: and all things are of the God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ". That is how God is looking at the saints; new creation is here and now, not only future. New creation is existing, as it says in Galatians, "as many as shall walk by this rule", Galatians 6:16 -- that is the rule of new creation. Paul was walking by it here; his judgment was formed and his walk would be according to it. "So that we henceforth know no one according to flesh; but if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. So if anyone be in Christ there is a new creation". That is true at the present time; there is a new creation.

C. Paul says at the end of Galatians: "For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision; but new creation", Galatians 6:15.

G.R.C. Yes, that scripture was in my mind just now. "And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God", verse 16. Well, who does walk according to the rule of new creation? What do brethren say about new

creation existing at the present time?

C.E.J. When Paul was here, he said, "I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago", 2 Corinthians 12:2. So it must be the present time, would you think?

G.R.C. Quite so.

H.J.M. It says here, "So if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation"; it is the present tense.

G.R.C. It is existing on earth; it is here and now -- not the whole of it; not a new heavens and a new earth yet; but new creation is existing here and now. Have we apprehended that. How can we walk by the rule of new creation if we do not know it is here?

J.N.G. Would you open up a little further what the rule of new creation means?

G.R.C. I think if we look at these passages, the Spirit of God may help us. I believe it helps to think of the tabernacle, because Corinthians has the tabernacle in mind -- the tabernacle of witness, or testimony; it is the assembly in the wilderness. What was the tabernacle of witness composed of, Mr. G.?

J.N.G. Are you thinking of the boards, and the central figure being the ark?

G.R.C. I am thinking of the whole of it.

J.N.G. It is the saints, is it not?

G.R.C. Yes. But what do the materials of which it is composed represent? Do they represent features of the old man?

J.N.G. Do they represent what Paul gives at the end of Romans in the salutations -- "In Christ"?

G.R.C. I think if you look at the materials of the tabernacle system, they all refer to Christ as formed in the saints -- "Created in Christ Jesus", it says in Ephesians 2, "for good works". Part of the good works, one of the most important of them, is to function in the tabernacle system to which we belong. That in a way the first and foremost good work, and we are "created in Christ Jesus for good works". Now the tabernacle system, typically, in every part was Christ --

the Ark, Christ Himself; but even as to Christ Himself, not Christ after the flesh, according to this passage, "we henceforth know no one according to flesh; but if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know [him thus] no longer". We know Christ glorified; it is as such He is among us-"Christ in you, the hope of glory", Colossians 1:27. But "the riches of the glory of this mystery" involves the assembly here as of Christ-"the body is of Christ", Colossians 2:17 -- and Christ in us characteristically and Christ among us personally; just as the tabernacle was Christ characteristically, and the ark was Christ personally. What would the tabernacle be without the ark? CHRIST among us, the riches of the glory of such a mystery. But is Christ dwelling, as we may say, among the features of the old man? Not at all. If Christ is among us at the present time, it is relative to new creation.

M.R. Does it not say in the Authorised Version, "If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature"? In J.N.D.'s translation, it is "there is a new creation".

G.R.C. Yes. The first is not correct, of course. The point here is, that "if anyone be in Christ, a new creation". It is really where he finds himself. I think J.T. Sr. used that expression a good many years ago, that if anyone is in Christ, he finds himself in a new creation. He is part of it, but what is the new creation at the present time? Well, the tabernacle is a type of it -- I am only referring to that as a type -- the tabernacle of testimony. Here and now, the tabernacle of testimony is on the earth. The tabernacle of old was just a figure; now the real thing is here, the assembly is here. All the materials of the tabernacle represented Christ. Well, how is Christ here? "A new creation" -- a new creation in the saints; the new man, created after God. God is not dwelling with the old man, Christ is not among those who have the features of the old man. It is a question of the new

man, as it says in Colossians, "having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new, renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him; wherein there is not Greek and Jew; circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is everything" -- that is like the tabernacle; the whole structure was characteristically Christ -- "and in all", Colossians 3:10 - 11. "Christ is everything" would also mean that He is 'everything' as object and 'in all' in character. Well now, are we conducting ourselves as those who apprehend that new creation is present and existing -- not in its totality, but it is here. God would not be dwelling here otherwise.

L.F. Would you say that in the acceptance of this great thought of new creation, it provides for us a way out in regard to all that is old, and in that way in our apprehension a way in to all that is new?

G.R.C. Well, our way in, of course, is by the blood of Jesus, by "the new and living way" into the very presence of God. And the more we go into the presence of God, the more we shall see that what He is looking out upon is a new creation -- here and now. We are "His workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works", Ephesians 2:10. But then the point is that we should come to His outlook. Therefore, walking according to the rule of new creation involves that we henceforth know no one according to flesh. Now what about that?

A.I. Paul says, "For me to live is Christ". The Centre of the universe for God is Paul's Centre now, is it?

G.R.C. Yes, and in Galatians he says, "No longer live I" -- that big 'I', that is the man to get rid of -- "but Christ lives in me", Galatians 2:20. But then, what about walking according to the rule of new creation? We know no one after the flesh -- how have we got on in that? Paul would come to that judgment, in the

sanctuary. He was not favouring a rich man more than a poor, nor a white man more than a coloured; he was not concerned about any man. He did not respect any man's person; His only concern was the work of God.

R.P. Does this link at all with Exodus 30, in which the shekel of the sanctuary is brought forward as bearing on our judgment, and the weight of matters in the sanctuary? And then you have the anointing oil, made according to that measure too, which was not to be put upon man's flesh.

G.R.C. Quite so. I am sure this would involve the shekel of the sanctuary and coming to God's own valuation of things. What God values is His own work in the saints; God has no respect for man in the flesh in this connection. Verse 21 of our chapter excludes that man completely, especially in the burning shown in Numbers 19. The whole animal was burnt, even including the blood, although some of the blood was sprinkled seven times before the tent of meeting. The type in Numbers shows that we have got no relationship, even with the tent of meeting, apart from this aspect of the death of Christ. When it comes in Leviticus 16, the body of the victim is burnt outside the camp, but there it is what is for God that is the great point; the blood was for God, and went inside and has made away. Through it, we have boldness to enter, because God wants us there; we would not have thought of being there. It is because of the longings of God's heart that the way has been made for us into the holy of holies. We would never have considered such a thing, much less desired it; it was God's desire.

J.L. Would the burning of the red heifer "before his eyes", as it says, be intended to affect us so that we are done with man after the flesh?

G.R.C. That is just what is meant -- "So that we ... know no one according to flesh". When we come

to what is practical, we very easily get carried away by the cedar wood of man after the flesh; we are not much concerned with the dung, it may be.

R. As to the man after the flesh, was that the adjustment that Mary needed at the sepulchre, when the Lord says, "Touch me not"? Mary would have had Him as she knew Him in the days of His flesh. Is that right?

G.R.C. Well, she had to learn that even Christ was known no longer after the flesh. But this judgment we are speaking about is a searching matter. Take the matter in our own locality, each one of us. Are we governed by this rule? Have we got special friendships after the flesh? Are we specially favouring those on the same social level, or the same race -- if we have people of other races. We should have an outlook on all races. And how the cedar wood attracts us -- a better status amongst men! How we are apt to boast in this brother and that who, in God's ordering, it may be -- I am not suggesting they are wrong at all -- has a high position in the world. How we are all apt to cherish that bit of cedar wood. Then there is the hyssop and the scarlet. But all has gone into the burning; it does not count in the assembly at all. To be rightly in the assembly, we must arrive at this judgment; "having judged this". Paul had judged that he would not know anyone after the flesh. He says in Galatians, when he went up to Jerusalem, speaking of those who appeared to be conspicuous, "whatsoever they were, it makes no difference to me", Galatians 2:6. Brethren appear to be conspicuous through all sorts of things. There is a right sense of conspicuousness -- there are those who are seen to be pillars; it is right to be pillars. But there are other kinds of conspicuousness which are attached to the flesh, which we are apt to be governed by.

G.C. You can only trust the work of God.

G.R.C. Quite so.

D.J.M. Was Paul walking by that rule when he withstood Peter?

G.R.C. He certainly was. Peter was afraid of the legal man, and no one causes such terror as a legal man. Even one legal person in a meeting will have a baneful effect. "A little leaven leavens the whole lump", Galatians 5:9. But Paul had many against him; there were all those who had come from Jerusalem with Peter, and Barnabas carried away by the same dissimulation. And Paul knew that Jerusalem was behind them at that time; there was the weight and the influence of Jerusalem behind the situation -- although, of course, Paul had been up earlier, and certain things were settled, as far as the general position went among the Gentiles in his earlier visit to Jerusalem. But yet, those who came from Jerusalem influenced Peter; there was still the thing working at Jerusalem.

J.H. It came from James. Is that the point? Peter had been right at first -- he had eaten with those of the nations. But when somebody came from James, then he withdrew.

G.R.C. Of course, James -- if he is the writer of the epistle; I do not know whether he was, for certain -- is a remarkable man. The epistle of James is a most remarkable epistle, an outstanding part of scripture. Nevertheless, at that time, those who came from James -- whether it was through his influence or not -- acted wrongly. They were reviving the man who was consumed according to Numbers 19; they were bringing in the cedar wood of legality, and the scarlet of human glory in that connection.

J.H. If we do or say certain things when somebody spiritual is present, they will still be the right things to do and say when there may be some unspiritual present.

G.R.C. Quite so. We must not be afraid of men's persons.

W.F. I was thinking of your remarks about the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet. We may think we have a judgment of what we are according to flesh, but the 19th of Numbers teaches us there is only one place for it, in the burning of the heifer. Is not the contemplation of the heifer in Numbers 19 magnificent as to the Person of that blessed One: "a red heifer without blemish, wherein is no defect, and upon which never came yoke".

G.R.C. Yes, it is a very affecting presentation of Christ as the One who knew not sin, not even in the way of a yoke. He knew not sin, yet was made sin for us. The burning in that chapter, as far as I have seen in scripture, is the most extensive of any connected with an offering. And it is to be before our eyes, Eleazar's eyes; it is the priestly element amongst the saints. That was always before Paul's eyes. "For I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified", 1 Corinthians 2:2 -- that would be the red heifer. And again in Galatians: "to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified among you", Galatians 3:1.

Dr. D. Would you say a word as to why it is a heifer?

G.R.C. I do not know that I can say much. It may be that it is to show that it bears on our subjective state, as compared with the perfect state of manhood in Christ.

S.E.E. Is it because of the subjective state in view?

G.R.C. Yes, but then Mr. F. has been saying where it leaves us. Well, where does it leave us? In ashes. There is nothing left of me but ashes, under the eye of God, and that is my blessing. Where should I be if I had not been reduced to ashes vicariously? I should have gone to hell. But the consuming judgment has been borne, and so far as what is before God goes, I am only ashes. The thing is done and finished; the judgment is over, I would have gone to hell

otherwise. That is what we need to come to, that Christ has saved us from hell.

A.G. Had Abraham that judgment of himself? "I, who am dust and ashes", Genesis 18:27.

G.R.C. So that "dust and ashes" is the place of repentance; dust recognising the government of God in connection with physical death, and ashes recognising our deserts as to the second death; and Christ has taken our place. That should draw out our affections to Him. And in the sanctuary we get the full thought of these things; they are brought home to us more in the presence of God than it could be elsewhere.

F.R.G. Would you say something in relation to the expression "upon which never came yoke". You referred to it as not even sin in that way. What did you mean by that?

G.R.C. Well, it shows the bearing of it on practical purification. We are thinking now of things from the divine side. God views us all, if we are vitally in things at all, as having been sprinkled with the water of separation. He is not viewing us as linked up with man after the flesh. The man from whom we needed to be separated most was ourselves; that is the man it was essential that we should be separated from -- ourselves. And it is the man we leave last. We might get out of every association around and still retain ourselves, and that is a very poor thing. Let us see that the water of separation as sprinkled upon us as we receive the gospel -- if we receive a full gospel -- involves our coming to a judgment of ourselves, and separating in mind from ourselves, like the seventh of Romans. "It is no longer I"; you disown the man. What right have you got to disown the man? Because Jesus has borne the judgment, and in the divine view ashes are all that is left of the man -- and what a relief that is to me!

G.C. Would that be seen in Abraham -- "I who am dust and ashes"?

G.R.C. Yes, he goes further, in reality. Job says, "I repent in dust and ashes". But. Abraham, who, as far as we know, was contemporary with Job, and who had had long experience with God, says, "I who am dust and ashes" -- a wonderful statement; and that is where we ought to keep. And so what was sprinkled on them were the ashes, "a heifer's ashes, sprinkling the defiled". It was the ashes that were sprinkled. It is the force of judgment fully borne, and that man gone in all that he could boast in -- that is what is to be brought home to us in the sprinkling.

J.C. Why does not Paul bring this in the first epistle? He brings the cross in there to meet the condition of the Corinthians, but this seems to be something further, does it not?

G.R.C. This really involves the cross, but he could not go into it to this extent in the first epistle. I would say they were not ready for this; I do not think many of us are. I do not know how many brethren there are in the world ready for this. What do you say?

J.C. Well, I think that is a most arresting statement -- we are all exercised by it.

G.R.C. We think of the death of Christ as meeting our need in the way of justification, and so on, but this was at the bottom of it-we should not have been justified apart from this. Have we gone into the matter with God, down to its depths, in all that was involved? So that we are thankful for the water of separation, which gives me a right before God to separate from myself. Then, of course, I can take up separation from what is around. But on Him "never came yoke".

R.W. And is this necessary before reconciliation can be effected?

G.R.C. No. Reconciliation was effected at the cross.

R.W. Well, where was the groundwork for reconciliation to be effected?

G.R.C. At the cross. Reconciliation is what has been done for God. The red heifer is what is done for us. But even then, from the divine side it has been done, and if we are in the thing at all, we have been sprinkled from the divine side, but perhaps not from the practical side -- that is what we want to come to. But reconciliation was effected at the cross.

S.E.E. In Hebrews 10, it also adds, in regard of entering into the holiest, "through the veil that is, his flesh". Would you say a word about that?

G.R.C. Well, it involves His death. It speaks of the days of His flesh in Hebrews-from the Hebrews standpoint, they are over. He has been into death, and we enter "through the veil, that is, his flesh". You have a similar expression in Colossians 1, where the Fulness is in mind, the Fulness bringing us into its presence for its own satisfaction. We may say it is the holiest viewed from the standpoint of the joy of the Fulness, and it says "you ... now has it reconciled in the body of his flesh through death" -- that helps us as to Hebrews -- "to present you holy and unblamable and irreproachable before it, if indeed ye abide in the faith founded and firm, and not moved away from the hope of the glad tidings", Colossians 1:21 - 23. It is a question of the glad tidings. That is our subject today -- the glad tidings. But how much have we understood it? Hebrews presents the holiest in its benefits to us, Colossians 1 what it is to the Fulness, that the Fulness can present us before it, holy and unblamable and irreproachable.

C. Does the expression "in Christ" cover what you are presenting? If we are "in Christ", we are in this position, are we not? And if we are not in this position, we are not "in Christ".

G.R.C. If we are "in Christ", it is a new creation; otherwise, as you say, we are not "in Christ".

C.E.J. I was wondering why the apostle brings in the ministry of reconciliation immediately following

this matter of all things becoming new and all things being of God.

G.R.C. Because we have to see the bearing between new creation and reconciliation. We have been talking about the positive side of new creation -- it is not only that, it is true -- but we are speaking of God's outlook on the saints: He sees a new creation. But then it says, "the old things have passed away". That is how God looks out -- because of the work of reconciliation. God can look out upon us as a new creation, and old things have passed away. The tabernacle and all its utensils were sprinkled with blood. The blood covers, as it were, all that is of the flesh in us; that man has gone, that man vicariously reduced to ashes, and the blood is the witness to the work of Christ completed in that respect. Therefore, the tabernacle and all its utensils were sprinkled with blood. You may say, 'If the tabernacle is of material which represents Christ, why the sprinkling of blood?' Well, it was to complete the type as to ourselves. We are created in Christ Jesus; there is the new man here, a new creation under God's eye. But the world is still with us, in actual fact, but because of the work of reconciliation on the cross, God is pleased to look at us from the standpoint of "the old things have passed away". They have finished for Him at the cross; the judgment has been borne, so that "the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new". Now, there again, have we arrived at God's outlook? As we look at the brethren, have, for us, the old things passed away?

N.B.S. It says "the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new". Do we need to come to a judgment with God as to the old things, but have our eyes on the new?

G.R.C. That is very helpful. First the fact is stated: "if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation". Then the next thing is that the old things have passed

away, and that involves an apprehension of reconciliation: the old things have passed away. But until you have that, you cannot appreciate the new. It is there: "if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation"; but until we have arrived at this judgment of matters in the light of the cross, we are engaged with the old things. We may say, 'Well, yes, there is a work of God in the saints', but to a great extent we shall still be engaged with the old things. Therefore, we do not see the beauty of new creation. So the order is, that there is a new creation; then, the old things have passed away -- that involves reconciliation -- and behold, all things have become new. Now the word "behold" as much as expresses the delight of Paul's heart in the whole matter. He says, 'Just look at the vista! The old things have passed away, and look, behold all things have become new!' "And all things are of the God who has reconciled us". Well, that is finished; the old things have passed away in the cross. He has reconciled us; that is a past matter. The present matter is, Look, behold all things have become new. What a vista!

C.A. Does Paul's word, "that I may be found in Him", Philippians 3:9, bear on the subjective exercises in the way of desire to be in continuing consciousness of the reality of what you are now speaking about?

G.R.C. I am sure that is right. Other scriptures, as you say, show how the soul would bend all its energies to be in the gain of this. Paul was bending all his energies to come to the realisation of this in his own soul. But here, it is getting our judgment formed and our outlook according to God. We have been in the presence of God, and how is He looking out on the saints? He is dwelling in the tabernacle of testimony. How is He looking out on the tabernacle of testimony at the present time? Well, for Him, the old things have passed away. He would not stay

with us if they had not; God would not have dwelt with the saints these two thousand years if this were not true. How could He have done? Think of all the evil which comes in amongst us practically; God has not left us. Why? Because He has the right to look at things this way: "the old things have passed away". There is the cross in the background. "The old things have passed away; behold all things have become new".

G.C. What is the link between reconciliation and new creation?

G.R.C. Well, I have been trying to explain it, but I am a very poor hand. New creation is the work of God in the saints, Christ in the saints; we are created in Christ Jesus, His workmanship. Reconciliation has dealt with all the old matters; they have been settled for God's eternal glory at the cross. All that was offensive to God is now in ashes -- and they do not trouble anybody much.

J.B. There is a reference in Isaiah 65:18: "But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create".

G.R.C. That is a good word. There is that which God has created here on earth in the saints at the present time, and we should be glad and rejoice in it. We should say to one another, "Behold, all things have become new". What a sight!

W.B.H. Could I ask a question as to verse 5? Would you just explain: "Now he that has wrought us" -- not 'wrought in us', but "wrought us" -- "for this very thing".

G.R.C. Well, I am very glad you have mentioned that. We are apt to speak of the work of God in the saints, but it is evidently rather a defective expression. He has wrought "us", and then in Ephesians "We are his workmanship" -- not simply His work in us, which I often refer to. I am glad you have put me right.

W.B.H. I was not trying to correct anything, but I thought of what you said earlier as to looking at

one another without seeing anything at all which attaches to the flesh, because the only things which keep us apart are certain habits, or attitudes, or ways of speaking -- those things attaching to the flesh. If we can strip them off, we have got to a unity which is unassailable, have we not?

G.R.C. We have. And I think what you draw attention to is very affecting. "We are his workmanship", and here, "He that has wrought us"; we are created anew in Christ Jesus. It is not just something in us, but we ourselves. What a wonderful thought that is!

W.B.H. It shows what you said as to new creation being present. We are waiting for our house, "a building from God ... eternal in the heavens" -- we are waiting for that -- but we are wrought for this.

G.R.C. That is it. We are already wrought for it, with a view to the body being clothed upon with a house from heaven.

G.C. Would reconciliation be connected with the work of Christ, and new creation with the work of the Spirit?

G.R.C. That is just right. Reconciliation is the work of Christ upon the cross -- and let us give Him all glory for it. We have been reconciled to God by the death of His Son; we are "reconciled in the body of his flesh through death", Colossians 1:21. That is where reconciliation was effected -- through death. But new creation is the work of God; it is the work of the Spirit, but it is remarkable that in Ephesians 2 it is also attributed to Christ. He brought into being the first creation. If you look at Ephesians 2, verse 14; "For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of enclosure, having annulled the enmity in his flesh, the law of commandments in ordinances, that he might form:" Now that word 'form' is 'create'; it is the same word as in verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus". Therefore, it is attributed

there to Christ: "that he might 'create' the two in himself into one new man". It is creation.

S.E.E. What is the difference between new creation and new birth?

G.R.C. New birth is part of the new creational process. New creation is not an act of power like the old; it is an act of power, but it is not on a par with the first creation, it is not simply "He spoke, and it was done"; it is "workmanship", "wrought". Those words do not come into the original creation.

G.D. It is remarkable. I was just looking at Balaam's prophecy in the 23rd of Numbers. He says, "Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in his midst. God brought him out of Egypt ... For there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. At this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought", Numbers 23:21 - 23. The note says that "At this time" is at the end of the journey through the wilderness -- it is just as they were about to go over into the glory. How applicable it is to the position of the saints now!

G.R.C. "What hath God wrought!" Exactly. So that new creation is a process, based on the solution of the question of good and evil. Creating in innocence is one thing, but creating after God in righteousness and truth and holiness is another matter.

Ques. "The love of the Christ" -- is this the soul coming into the apprehension of the One who has made this glorious system possible?

G.R.C. Well, if we pass by judgment, we pass by the love of God, and we shall never understand the love of Christ either. That is, the measure in which we retain ourselves and do not understand the extent of the judgment which was our due, beclouds our knowledge of the love of God and the love of Christ.

S.E.E. What is the force of the apostle's statement, "Be reconciled to God"?

G.R.C. Well, I think it means to receive it. We are making our boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. God has removed the distance by removing the man in judgment, at unspeakable cost to Himself. And now His ambassadors take the place of entreating and beseeching, because they know the heart of God; they have been in His presence. They have been beside themselves to God; they know the longings of His heart, and by understanding the judgment, they appreciate the depths of divine love, and the depths of the longings on the part of God to have man for Himself. So they beseech and entreat.

A.E.D. You were going to say something about the ambassadors, speaking of an ambassador in that setting.

G.R.C. In chapter 3 it is the competency of the ministers; God has made them competent. We need competency. But then, we also need to be true ambassadors. An ambassador is the personal representative of the king; he comes direct from the presence of the king to take up his appointment. It all hinges on what we are saying, that the presence of God is our home, and the ambassador is continually coming forth from God, freshly impressed with the longings and yearnings of the heart of God, and what it has cost God to have His way in love. So that the ambassador would rightly represent God.

THE GOSPEL OF THE GLORY - READING 3

2 Corinthians 6:1 - 18; 2 Corinthians 7:1

G.R.C. This chapter is one of practical exhortation based upon the gospel of the glory and the ministry of reconciliation and the truth as to new creation, having in mind that as the result of the ministry that Paul had brought before them in the previous chapters, God should be able to dwell complacently in His temple. He says "Ye are the living God's temple; according as God has said, I will dwell among them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be to me a people". The gospel of the glory -- which fits us for the presence of the glory, gives us access into the holiest -- and the ministry of reconciliation, are to secure for God a dwelling here -- in fact, they have secured it: God has His dwelling. But we would all desire that we might be in keeping with the God Whose dwelling we are, so that He might dwell complacently and walk complacently among us. That is really the answering recompense. The gospel fits us for the presence of God and gives us access to Him, but on His side it is to enable Him to dwell amongst us; He would dwell with those He loves; He would dwell with us while we are still here in mixed conditions, not waiting till perfect conditions -- He loves us too well to wait. So God has come down, as it were, to dwell among us here where we are. It's again like the tabernacle of testimony, God dwelling here. And what we had before us yesterday indicates how from His side He is free to do so, because as He looks out upon the saints, "the old things have passed away". The work of reconciliation has been effected, and on that basis, for Him "the old things have passed away"

and "all things have become new", 2 Corinthians 5:17; the tabernacle showing typically that all things have become new, God is thus free to dwell among us for the satisfaction of His own heart. But then there is the practical side as to being in accord with these ministries: if we have come to the judgment that Paul came to; if for us "the old things have passed away", and "all things have become new"; if we are with God in His judgments, then we shall put them into practical effect. And so he is beseeching the Corinthians. He does not say here he is commanding, he is not at this point threatening them with what might happen, but as fellow workmen they are beseeching them "that ye receive not the grace of God in vain". But in this connection in verses 11 to 13, he brings in the great thought of expansion. The ministries he has brought before them -- the gospel of the glory, and reconciliation and new creation -- if understood, would lead to great expansion of heart. They had become narrowed up: we are all in danger of being narrowed up and parochial, There were a large number of saints in Corinth -- "I have much people in this city", Acts 18:10 -- but in result they were not looking beyond their borders, and they were puffed up. To be puffed up means to be narrowed up. But Paul is bringing these ministries before them in order to bring about expansion of heart. His previous letter had had some effect, so he says, "Our mouth is opened to you, Corinthians, our heart is expanded", He was not so restricted as he had been in speaking to them -- the fact that he could bring these ministries before them shows that he was not so restricted as he had been. He felt there was a state to take in things, which had not previously existed. But now, having put these things before them, he says, "but for an answering recompense, (I speak as to children,) let your heart also expand itself", verse 13. As our heart expands itself in the gospel of the glory, and in the ministry of reconciliation,

which brings to us the longings of the heart of God -- what a price He has paid to have man for Himself -- and in an apprehension of new creation -- as our hearts expand themselves in those things -- the practical answer in our conduct here will become simple.

H.J.M. Is there some indication of what is in your heart and mind at the moment in Isaiah 60? "Arise, shine! for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee", Isaiah 60:1. Then, "Lift up thine eyes round about, and see" the numbers gathering together, verse 4. "Then thou shalt see, and shalt be brightened, and they heart shall throb, and be enlarged", verse 5.

G.R.C. That is helpful. Paul was ministering to them in order that the glory might indeed shine upon them, and then they were to shine: "Arise, shine! for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee". I trust it rose upon us yesterday as we were speaking about these things. Then there is the testimony: "Jehovah will arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen on thee", verse 2, in the midst of darkness. Then you were thinking of verse 4: "Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee". And that is what we would desire, that we might be such exponents of the truth that we hold, so in keeping with God's dwelling, that our joy might be full -- and in that connection God's joy will exceed ours so that others may gather themselves to us. Then, as you point out, it says, "thy heart shall throb, and be enlarged; for the abundance of the sea shall be turned unto thee". We want results in the gospel; we want expanding hearts and throbbing hearts.

R.P. Does the heave-offering of Exodus 25 bear on this? There is the Divine side in Exodus 15, "The Sanctuary, Lord, that thy hands have prepared", verse 17, and then the practical side, as you say, in the bringing of the materials in chapter 25.

G.R.C. Yes, I think so. Chapter 25, properly, in the New Testament would be Romans 12, where those in the liberty of sonship according to chapter 8 gladly bring the material. Paul beseeches us there. But there are the willing-hearted who bring the material. The material is our bodies. We need all of our bodies to work out the truth of the one body in Christ, and that is the basis of all that is collectively for Christ and for God. It is the basis of the tabernacle system, among other things, in its reality, that we bring our bodies-that is the material. And it is one great heave-offering. It is spoken of as one heave-offering in Exodus 25, and "a living sacrifice" in Romans 12. We present our bodies -- that is, all of our bodies -- as one great living sacrifice for one specific purpose, primarily. The primary thing is immediately spoken about in the chapter. "Thus we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other", Romans 12:5. The Apostle has to remind the Corinthians of that in his first epistle. He says, "Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you"? 1 Corinthians 3:16; "Do ye not know that your bodies are members of Christ"? 1 Corinthians 6:15; "Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God", 1 Corinthians 6:19. It may be in some degree they had brought the great heave-offering, but they had not maintained that devotion, and their bodies were being used for other things. We have to be careful about our bodies, and what we use them for, for our bodies are primarily to be used in functioning in the one body in Christ, so that Christ gets His portion from the assembly and God gets His.

R.P. It says in Exodus 25, "And they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them", verse 8.

G.R.C. Exactly. The beginning of that in Christianity is the one body in Christ. That is the foundation, both of all corporate response to Christ, and of

the dwelling place of God. Because, after all, "the body of Christ" is another view of the house of God, or the dwelling of God -- in fact, it is a basic view. The bride, the Lamb's wife, is seen in Revelation as the city and the tabernacle of God.

A.G. Would you say a word as to being "fellow-workmen" with the apostle? It seems that there should be no disparity between the workmen and their work. The "accepted time" seems to be connected, does it, with that?

G.R.C. Yes. It is very important that the ambassadors should have proper ambassadorial garments, and you see that in all circumstances Paul never soiled his ambassadorial garments. It is put in the plural here"We are ambassadors". So this is not exclusively Paul. It is for us all to see that our garments are right -- "in everything commending ourselves as God's ministers".

C. What is the difference between the "one body in Christ" and the "body of Christ"?

G.R.C. "One body in Christ" is the initial conception -- that is in Romans 12"we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other", verse 5 -- and the initial test of body relations lies in that expression "each one members one of the other"; Romans 12 is to teach us to have respect for one another, because God has dealt to each a measure of faith for action in the body. Every brother and sister has got a measure of faith dealt by God to enable them to act in the body. It is not justifying faith, it is faith for action, in the body, and every brother and sister has a measure of faith which is different from my measure. And we are to encourage one another, not rival one another, but encourage one another as "each one members one of the other". That is the Romans view. But in Corinthians it is not so much our relations with one another -- although that is still there, but it is supposed that the teaching of Romans

deals with that -- Corinthians deals with our relations with the Spirit. If we are right with one another, now the thing is to be right with the Holy Spirit, and to make way for His manifestations through the members of the body. And it is in that setting, where the Spirit is viewed as operating and manifesting Himself through the members of the body, that it is first called, Ye are the body of Christ -- 1 Corinthians 12:27, "Now ye are Christ's body".

C. Is unity and what is corporate in mind in Romans?

G.R.C. That is corporate -- "One body in Christ" is corporate.

C. That would deliver us from independence.

G.R.C. Exactly. We need to see that the great heave-offering which our brother has referred to -- the presentation of our bodies as one great living sacrifice -- is primarily that we should each and all be functioning in our place in the one body in Christ; and learning, as to Corinthians, to be on good terms with the Spirit in that connection, so that He might be free in His manifestations through the members of the body. Then, if we are free with one another and free with the Spirit, it makes way for Colossians, where we learn the place the Head has, that He is the Head of the body, the assembly. But we cannot get the gain of Christ as Head unless we are first right with one another, and then right with the Holy Spirit. Then we get the gain of the Head. Then Ephesians develops what that vessel is as the great vessel of response to Christ and to God.

C. Would Ephesians take in the whole of the saints from Pentecost to the rapture?

G.R.C. In some passages it might include them. It is the assembly according to purpose, "the fulness of him who fills all in all", Ephesians 1:23. Chapter 5 shows what the assembly is to Christ personally -- how He loves it, how He did love it and deliver Himself up

for it, and how He loves it now in leaving other things to be united to it. But then chapter 1 shows what it is as His consort, His helpmate, His like -- but chapter 3 shows what it is to God. So does the end of chapter 2, "a habitation of God in the Spirit", and chapter 3, the marvellous vessel of God's praise.

G.A. What have you in mind in speaking of our being on good terms with the Holy Spirit?

G.R.C. Well that is just what the Corinthians lacked. They were babes in Christ because they were occupied with big men. Men filled their vision, leaders. But the apostle brings before them the manifestations of the Spirit through the members of the body, in chapter 12, and brings in the sovereign will of the Spirit, that He distributes to each in particular as He pleases -- not as we please. The body is a matter of sovereignty, and that is why we must be in the gain of sonship to accept truly our place in the body. In sonship we are all firstborn, but in the body we each have a different place according to divine sovereignty, not according to our choice. And if we are not in the gain of sonship, we are in grave danger of quarrelling with the place God has given us in the body. Indeed, if we are not free from the big "I", we shall bring ourselves into the picture, and grieve the Spirit. But the great point was that the Corinthians should be right in their relations, not only with one another, but with the Holy Spirit. So in the second epistle it speaks about "the Lord, the Spirit", 2 Corinthians 3:18.

L.F. Is there anything for us following that in this twofold reference in the second verse to the "day of salvation" having a bearing on what you are saying -- and there might be wrought out in us the complete sense of deliverance and liberty and freedom, and of all that is involved in the thought of "a day of salvation"?

G.R.C. Yes, and the great point in verse 2 is that God is listening. What is He going to hear?

"I have listened to thee in an accepted time", verse 2. Now what is God going to hear? Whom is He listening to?

C.R.J. It says, "thee", does it not?

G.R.C. "I have listened to thee". If you look at the scripture in Isaiah, it refers to Him listening to Christ. In Isaiah 49, verse 8, it is speaking of "His Holy One", "to him whom man despiseth", verse 1. "Thus saith Jehovah: In a time of acceptance have I answered thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; saying to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves". Now that indicates to me, since the primary reference is to Christ, that the application of it here is that He is listening to the priesthood. He is listening to the saints.

W.J.H. Moses said, "Jehovah listened to me" at a certain point, did he not? It is a wonderful thing to get the divine ear in that way.

G.R.C. It is. It ought to affect us to think that God is listening. This is "an accepted time" and "a day of salvation". God is willing to do most marvellous things in this accepted time, this day of salvation. It is the great day of reconciliation, effected according to 2 Corinthians 6:2. It is the great day of reconciliation, "the acceptable year of the Lord", as we may say. God is ready to do great things, and He says, 'I am listening to you in this accepted time. What are you asking Me to do?'

D.J.M. The Lord's words on the cross, "Father forgive them" -- could we bring that in?

G.R.C. I am sure we could.

D.J.M. And how the malefactor was evidently affected, and also was heard?

G.R.C. Yes, I am sure we could bring that in. How that God listened to the Lord -- "Father forgive

them, for they know not what they do" -- and how the prayer was answered! But now God is listening. What does He hear in our daily approaches? We have spoken of entering the holiest, and then praying. What does he hear? He is listening. What does He hear in our prayer meetings? God is listening.

A.I. The word in Isaiah 62:6, "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, Jerusalem; all the day and all the night they shall never hold their peace: ye that put Jehovah in remembrance, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth".

G.R.C. Well, that is a very fine scripture. We should give God no rest until He prospers the assembly, as we might say, in every way.

M.R. A solemn contrast, is there not, in Jeremiah 7:16, "And thou, pray not for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, and make not intercession to me; for I will not hear thee".

G.R.C. Yes, that is a terrible thing. That is perhaps like a time that is coming, when this day of salvation is over. God will no longer be listening in this respect. But we need expansion of heart to take advantage of the fact that God is listening to us. Are our prayers large enough for a day of salvation, an accepted time? Are we in sympathy with the heart of God?

V.D. This will help us, will it not, in view of this evening? Much prayer there will be in the households in this city this evening.

G.R.C. Yes, I am sure it will help us.

W.B.H. Would you care to open up a little more the scripture in Isaiah 49 from which this is quoted, and what the purpose of the listening is?

G.R.C. I think it is that we are living in the accepted time and the day of salvation, the day when reconciliation is effected, and in one way there is no limit to what God is prepared to do. He expects us

to ask largely, and He is listening because He is pleased to move in relation to the priesthood here. The Corinthians were fearfully narrowed up. I expect if we had gone to their prayer meetings, we should have been alarmed and amazed -- and perhaps we are now, sometimes, in prayer meetings. And perhaps if we weigh over what our morning and evening prayers are at home, we should be alarmed and amazed at how narrowed up they are, that there is no expansion about them. Our hearts have not yet expanded as to the greatness of the present moment, when the gospel of the glory is sounding out, and the world is in provisional reconciliation, and God's outlook upon all men is favourable.

C.A. Would the word in Acts 4, confirm what you are saying as to God hearing? "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness", verse 31. Would that not have been well known in the then assembly history, of how God had listened and had responded?

G.R.C. Yes, and it should be our daily and weekly experience. God is listening, but are the prayers worth listening to? Are the prayers centering in ourselves and our circumstances? Are the prayers centering in a self-complacent attitude as to our own local meeting, like they were at Corinth? They were very satisfied with themselves -- nobody else was. God was not. We can be very satisfied with ourselves when nobody else is, and our prayers just centre round ourselves. Whether we think of our personal matters, or our family matters, or our local meeting matters, our prayers circle round and round these things, instead of our hearts expanding in the love and the glory of God, according to the ministries we have been speaking about -- instead of our going into His presence and getting His outlook. If we go into God's presence and get His outlook, we shall get expansion, and our

prayers will take character from the expansion of outlook, and expansion of emotion and feeling that we get in the very presence of God. We shall begin to ask in the way God wants us to ask. He is listening; He wants to hear something He would like to hear.

S.E.E. Expansion would not take in less than what Paul exhorts, "for all saints" in Ephesians, and for "all men" in 1 Timothy.

G.R.C. Exactly. The two altars were square. It is not simply that the measurements tell us they were square; the Holy Spirit not only gives us the measurement which show they were square, but says of the altar of burnt offering, that it was to be "square" and of the altar of incense that it was to be "square" and again, when they are constructed, it is repeated. Of each altar, it says it was "square", Exodus 38:1 and Exodus 37:25; and of the breast-plate, it says it was "square", Exodus 39:9. That means a universal outlook. That is, as you say, prayer "for all saints", constantly, prayer for "all men", prayer for "kings and all in dignity"; and to have expansion of heart in the way we are praying, as those who know what it is to be in the presence of glory, in its radiant expression, and as those who are in tune with the longings of the heart of God who has effected reconciliation.

S.E.E. For God "desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth", 1 Timothy 2:4. That remains, does it?

G.R.C. It does. And He desires that "all saints" should be in the truth.

W.B.H. In that regard I would like to refer back to Isaiah 49. I do not know whether we have "got" what you are getting at. In the 8th and 9th verses of Isaiah 49, you spoke about it that Jehovah is answering the rejected Messiah, is He?

G.R.C. Yes.

W.B.H. And He says that He will "give thee for

a covenant of the people, to establish the land" and so on -- and so that He can say to the prisoners, "Go forth". Do I gather that you are applying this to the ministers, such as Paul here, who goes on to outline the sufferings that enter into his service, leading up to the deliverance of the Corinthians in the latter part of the chapter?

G.R.C. Yes, and having in mind the deliverance of all saints from Babylon at the present time. I am not saying they will be all delivered before the Lord comes, but surely there should be no less in our minds and hearts than the deliverance of saints from anything that is holding them in captivity; and the salvation of men, too, and operations in government in Russia and everywhere, that will further the testimony. Why do we not go to God about these things? He is listening, and He acts relative to the requests of the priesthood. It gives Him a moral ground for action, as we say, when the priests ask Him to do something which He would love to do, as it were, and which He has a moral right to do, because it is the day of reconciliation. I have often wondered why there should be an "Iron Curtain" in this "accepted day", this "day of salvation". We can understand these things happening when the church is gone, but why should they be there when the church is here? Are we interceding? Are we quiescent about these things? What about Rome, and the inroads she is making? Are we in our minds and hearts just allowing "the woman Jezebel"? The Lord says, "But I have against thee that thou permittest the woman Jezebel", Revelation 2:20. We see Rome making strides, but what are we doing about it? God says, "I have listened to thee".

N. Is it a matter as to how much room and place we are able to give to the Holy Spirit?

G.R.C. Well, that is a great point in the matter. We should give place to the Holy Spirit, and apprehend, by entering the presence of God, the outshining

of glory and the feelings of His heart. But our hearts should expand themselves. It will be in the power of the Spirit, but it will not be without our using the power of the Spirit to enter the presence of God and get His viewpoint and His feelings.

R.P. Does Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 8 show the largeness of heart that God had given him? It follows the coming in of the glory.

G.R.C. Yes, I think so. And so, as Mr. B.H. says, it is applied by extension to the ministers, because Paul quotes the earlier part of Isaiah 49, "I have given thee for a light of the nations", verse 6, which there again refers to Christ primarily, in the 13th chapter of Acts as applying to himself and those with him -- verse 47. And here in 2 Corinthians he is applying the later part of the chapter, "I have listened to thee". God was listening to Paul, undoubtedly, and Silas and Timothy, but I think Paul here is wanting the Corinthians to come into it, because while the ministers are primarily in mind, I think in this assembly day God is concerned about the whole priesthood. The Corinthians were not in priestly state and expansion of heart; there was nothing very much, I am sure, that God could find pleasure in listening to, in their prayer meetings.

S.E.E. There are prayers for the ministers, too. In the passage referred to in Ephesians 6, after praying "for all the saints", the apostle Paul adds: "and for me in order that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the glad tidings", Ephesians 6:19. How far can we go in praying for persons who are preaching the gospel? I mean, apart from ourselves. We pray for you, here; we pray for other brethren whom we know and can walk with. How far can we go in expansion in relation to God's desires for all men in praying for others who are preaching the gospel?

G.R.C. I would pray that wherever Christ is

preached, wherever that Name is proclaimed, that God would use it in blessing. I would supplicate Him continually for that, that every proclamation of the glorious Name should be used by Him in blessing. God over abounds in grace and uses it in blessing, and we pray for that. We pray for wherever Christ is preached, as Paul would, as he indicates in Philippians 1, that even if people were preaching out of contention, he rejoiced and would rejoice as long as Christ was preached. So that we rejoice that Christ is preached, and in this wonderful day of reconciliation, sovereignly, God may use any preacher to reach souls -- that is His matter.

F.R.G. Would you be free to say a little more as to what you had in mind in regard to the Government of Russia -- our prayers in relation to that?

G.R.C. Well, the Sadducees were the priestly class of old, and the Lord warns us against the leaven of the Sadducees -- of unbelief. We have referred to that in connection with the service of God -- it can only be carried on in faith, in the recognition of the Spirit's presence and the presence of Christ -- the Minister of the holy places, but it also applies to prayer. Prayer can become a formality, with no real faith in it; but God says, "I have listened to thee", and He looks for those in the gain of the ministry as we have been speaking about to have great expansion of heart, and to approach Him with great expansion of heart in prayer, knowing how to pray, intelligently, knowing what is needed for the testimony, knowing what His heart desires, I think we should learn to pray in faith and expect something to happen. There is nothing too hard for God. Things are happening all the time, prayers are being answered all the time. It is not a question of an occasional matter. Some people make a lot of it: 'We prayed and the prayer was answered' -- as though it is most exceptional! Prayers are being answered every day of the week!

A.I. Daniel continued over a long period, some seventy years, in prayer.

G.R.C. Yes, but he specially prayed after he had read the books and knew the time was coming for release from captivity. He had special supplication then. Nevertheless, as you say, his window had been open to Jerusalem, three times a day -- a wonderful thing. That was expansion of heart in relation to God and His interests.

A.I. I wondered if he had been in the understanding of God's committal to Solomon. God pledged Himself that His eye should be on his house and His ear opened to the prayer made toward this place. God was committed to it, was He not?

G.R.C. I think so. And so Daniel's window was open to Jerusalem three times a day. How he loved God, and loved what was precious to God, and cherished it in that day of weakness! But when he knew that the time was coming -- because we should be intelligent, and Daniel became intelligent -- then he made supplication. Supplication is something urgent and specific, something urgently needed at the moment. In the prayers of Ephesians 6 for the saints, and in the prayers of 1 Timothy 2, "supplication" is mentioned in both. It says in Ephesians 6, "praying at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints". Then as to men and kings and all that are in dignity, it begins with "supplications", 1 Timothy 2:1. "Supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings" -- suggesting that we ought to know how and what to pray about as to Russia; not just a generalised prayer. If we are priests, we surely have some intelligence to know how and what to pray for -- what to supplicate about. "Supplication" means that you know what you want, and you are urgent about it.

B. So would you say that most of us here understand

the presence of the Spirit down here amongst us in the assembly and in the world is restraining forces of evil, continuously; thereby we have peaceful settings in our meetings, and so on. But now, in view of what you have been saying in regard to prayer, should we pray more incessantly in relation to matters at which we often look and say, 'We wonder how that is allowed'.

The enemy is breaking through -- even in regard to ourselves. Should we be more incessant in prayer relative to the Spirit in His restraining force here?

G.R.C. I think the restraining power of the Spirit is largely exercised through the saints. He is dwelling in the saints, dwelling in the assembly, and our prayers have an important place in the matter of the Spirit's restraint at the present time, and in our testimony before men. Brothers now approaching authorities and setting out Christian truth, and the truth as to God and His rights -- we do not know how far that influence extends. Men are brought face to face with this, that there is a God, and He has a people here, and that they are not prepared to compromise. Well, that is a great restraining power, and the Spirit would bring that home with conviction to rulers, if we are prepared to take our part in it. The spirit's restraint, I feel certain, stands related to His dwelling in the saints here, and our being available to Him, both for prayer and supplication in the Spirit and for testimony in the power of the Spirit. That restrains. Then, in answer to our prayers, there is angelic restraint. God can send an angel and alter the whole course of a country's operations. "He deposeth kings, and setteth up kings", Daniel 2:21.

D.J.M. Is that why it says in verse 6, "in ... Holy Spirit"?

G.R.C. Yes, "in ... Holy Spirit".

J.N.G. Is there a tendency with us, referring to the "Iron Curtain", as we speak of it, to think that matters

in relation to that might lie more with those in Europe, whereas it is our matter.

G.R.C. It does not merely lie with those in Europe. It affects the whole world. It affects the saints in Europe, in their liberty in Eastern Germany and Russia, but nevertheless it affects the saints all over the world, because it hinders our access to members of Christ's body. Why should there be a hindrance of that kind? How long are we going to allow it, if you might put it thus? I know we have to leave God to have the last word as to what He does, but in some things it may be that we have let it go on; we have not been exercised about it.

J.N.G. We have heard about our brethren in the Ural Mountains, with whom we have not been able to be in touch for a long while. It may be it is our fault.

G.R.C. And then it is our fault, perhaps, in another way, because it seems evident that the Russian threat has been a necessary discipline for us. Whether we should be in the testimony at all, now, without it, is just a question. In the post war world of prosperity, with young people growing up, never having known what hard times are, like some of us have, if there had not to be all this expense on armaments, and if there was not a Russian threat that might reach any country at any time, might not we have been carried away by "pride, fulness of bread, and careless ease", and got to the state of Sodom? -- Ezekiel 16:49. We have come out of Western civilization, which would answer more to Abraham's coming out -- Ur of the Chaldees was something like Paris in its culture; Abraham came out of that. So we have left Western civilization in principle, but the next thing Abraham and Lot were faced with was the other aspect of the world: "pride, fulness of bread, and careless ease". Well, the Russian threat has helped us against that, and therefore our spiritual state may have something to do with how

long God allows it. We should look to ourselves even from that point of view.

W.B.H. That may be why verses 14 to 18 of this chapter 6 are coming before us in a special way now. These associations that we have allowed ourselves to be involved in have largely involved us in, perhaps, economic positions that God may not be pleased with, and He is bringing in a measure of limitation now in separation, do you think?

G.R.C. Limitations in that respect mean expansion. Every link we have with the world, and any unclean association, means narrowness of heart. You cannot be in worldly association without to that extent being narrowed up. The freer we are from such things the more our hearts are free to expand themselves in the love of God and the presence of the glory. Therefore, the first thing is expansion of heart, and if we begin to get expansion of heart on the lines I am saying, we shall long to get free from everything that would narrow us up.

H.J.M. Was not one of the secrets of Daniel's power with God the fact that he carried Jerusalem in his heart, on the one hand, but he was in separation from evil, fully, on the other -- from every Babylonish principle?

G.R.C. That is very good indeed, because he was in a very high position in Babylon, and could easily have got into all kinds of yokes -- no doubt was continually pressed to get into them -- but he never did. He began by refusing the king's meat, and he kept himself right through. At risk of his life, he kept himself right through. Yet he was not dismissed from his position, and that is what often happens. The world knows the value of a Christian, a man they can trust, who will work honestly and reliably for them. If you stand faithfully, often, though you may fear you will get dismissed, you find you are not. In the end, they will say, Well, we will have you on your

terms. That is what happened to a brother in South Africa recently. He was tempted with a Directorship and so on, in a very big concern, but in the end they said, 'You can have the job without the Directorship, we want you for the job'. And he said, 'Well, you know I can't have anything to do with social matters -- entertaining'. They said, 'You take the job on the terms that will please your God, and we shall be happy'.

D.A. Could you say a word as to the expression "the servant of rulers" in Isaiah 49:7?

G.R.C. I cannot say I really understand that expression very well. It is referring to the Lord, of course, in the place of reproach, and that is where the saints are. We have to think of the saints at the present time as carrying the testimony, not the Lord Himself here, and really that is what the saints are -- we are the servants of rulers as regards this world. We are not to aim at big positions in the great corporations of man. We are to be content with the place of servants, servants of rulers, and yet we are the kings and priests. We hold the highest office of anyone on earth. The office that the saints hold as a kingly priesthood is greater than any monarch, so that it is those who are greater than any monarch who approach God about monarchs. But then, we do not parade that; we are prepared, in our ordinary walk of life, to be the servant of rulers.

D.A. I wondered in that way if we had a responsibility to pray for them as serving them.

G.R.C. Well, I think we have a responsibility to pray for them as priests of God, not as serving. If you are actually employed, you could pray for your employer, but this is more general; it is not a question of my employer, or anybody else's. It is a question of the office we are placed in. We have spoken of relationship and offices. Our relationship is that we are sons, and the office we are in is priests, and we are

to exercise the office; and prayer is one of the ways in which we exercise the office. We have access to the "King of those that reign and the Lord of those that exercise lordship", at any time. We are His priests and the office we hold is greater than any office that is held on earth at the moment.

W.J.H. Would we be helped in the enlargement you referred to by seeing that in the book of Revelation the golden altar in one place is before the throne -- the throne of God, really -- and then in another place it is before God? Prayers are related to the throne of God and to God Himself.

G.R.C. That is very good, The golden altar before the throne, as you say, in one setting, and before God in another. What a place for the priests to serve! Do we value our privilege and responsibility in the priestly office? God is listening to what his priests have to say. Let us take this to heart, as to whether our prayers are worth God listening to. Are they in faith, or are they just a formality? We know that rulers ought to be prayed for on Monday night, so we get up and do it. That is not a prayer of faith.

G.A. Would you say that we have before us the divine standard as seen in Jesus, who in regard to His blessed prayers could say, "I know that thou hearest me always"? Would that not be the kind of outlook that God would wish to have towards His saints, that He might hear them always?

G.R.C. I think that is what 2 Corinthians 6 implies. God is listening. Wonderful that God should take that attitude -- listening. "I have listened to thee in an accepted time". Do we know the time we live in? What a wonderful time it is, "the accepted time" and the "day of salvation", the time when God is ready to be entreated! The work of Christ is finished; Christ is glorified in His presence; God is ready to be entreated.

C.E.J. Would you say a word following that, as to

"I have helped thee"? Would that stand connected with what you have been saying as to God answering our prayers in faith, whether they be in relation to the saints in the Ural Mountains, or whether they be in regard of our individual business positions? I was thinking of what was said as to those who were in jobs that require the principle of separation being applied, so that they might be clear of any evil association.

G.R.C. Yes, I am sure all that enters into it. "I have helped thee in a day of salvation". It would no doubt have a special reference to those serving in the ministry, especially like Paul, going out and enduring great hardships. But then, I believe it is to apply to all the saints. That is why it is brought in here. He is beseeching them that they receive not the grace of God in vain, He is beseeching them to answer to the responsibilities and privileges of the moment, and there- fore this has an application to all the saints, that God would help us. In our prayers we would make it collective. "I have helped thee" refers initially to Christ, but now it would refer to the assembly. The assembly needs help; the saints in all parts of the world need help, and this is the day to pray for their help, whether in ministry, or in the way of government -- God operating in government to alleviate their circumstances-or in whatever way it may be. And then we must not leave out also the individual side, that our brother has referred to. If we are acting in faithfulness to God, with reference to what is due to Him and His house, as in the later part of the chapter, here we have the promise: "I have helped thee in a day of salvation". God will surely help us.

J.C. John says, "And this is the boldness which we have towards him, that if we ask him anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have ask asked of him", 1 John 5:15.

G.R.C. Yes, I was thinking of that passage. That indicates again that he always hears us if we are in the right state. Our brother has said of the Lord, "I know that thou always hearest me", because the Lord was always keeping His commandments. And so, according to John's epistle, we can be privileged to have a similar certainty, if we ask, it says, according to His will -- and we know His will. His will has been disclosed to us, and we should ask accordingly.

W.F. Does Hannah set that out?

G.R.C. Yes, Hannah would set that out in an individual way.

A.G. I was wondering if this was not of such great moment, that we have also the service in relation to intercession of not only the saints in a priestly way, but the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Himself making intercession for us.

G.R.C. Quite so. Their intercession never fails, but we have to keep in mind that God moves relative to the intercession of the saints. I do not mean He does that only -- He will move of Himself -- but it is the way He delights to move. The way God delights to move is in answer to the intercession of the saints. So He waits upon us in many matters, as to what we would tell Him is needed; I feel sure of that.

J.C. So that God is waiting for us to pray on positive lines. Very often our prayers for rulers are almost negative, seeking restraint in certain matters which affect us, or the saints. But is God looking to us to speak to Him on positive lines in these matters?

G.R.C. We shall do if our hearts are expanded. The reference that Mr. E. made to praying for Paul, that he might have boldness to speak as he ought to speak is a positive matter. We ought to be praying continually that Paul's ministry might have right-of-way with all the saints on earth. That is a big thing to ask, I know, but what I mean is that there should be an increasing right-of-way for Paul's ministry among

all the saints on earth. That should be a continual prayer and supplication; as its says in Colossians, "that God may open to us a door of the word to speak the mystery of the Christ", Colossians 4, 3. And that is what Christians need, that is what they do not understand "the mystery of the Christ". You say, it is impossible to speak to them. But have you ever prayed about it? Have you prayed for God to open a door of the word? And the objective would be that in every place there should be offered incense to God's name and a pure oblation, Malachi 1:11. So we have a long way to go -- there are ever so many places where it is not offered yet. We hear of one here and there -- we are delighted -- but there are a lot more places.

Ques. It says in Ephesians 3"But to him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think", verse 20. Would we be encouraged by passages like that?

G.R.C. Yes, I am sure-as to what God can do. And now we ought to move on briefly to the later part of the chapter, because these exhortations, from verse 14 onwards, stand related to Paul's heart being expanded towards them. He is free, now, to speak. Why did he not bring this into the first epistle? Why did he not make this an issue? You may say, 'Why was it not made an issue earlier with us?' But how patient God is, that now there is some expansion, He is free to speak about the gospel of the glory, and about reconciliation and new creation. There is a groundwork. He exhorts them to let their hearts expand themselves and then to deal with what would cause contraction. We might think that the looser we were and the more things we linked up with, the greater freedom we should have, but it is really the greater bondage, the greater contraction of heart relative to all that is of God. And so this is an appeal of love. The apostle is reflecting God in this. As one of the ambassadors, he is beseeching them, as the

chapter opens. This is how to approach the brethren on this question -- you do not approach them with a cudgel! He says, "But as fellow-workmen, we also beseech that ye receive not the grace of God in vain", chapter 6: 1. Then he says, "Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers", verse 14. It is the appeal of a lover. He ends with saying in chapter 7: 1, "Having therefore these promises, beloved". He is appealing to his beloved. He says, 'Now let your heart expand in those great spiritual things, and you will find it will be easy for you to get free from all these yokes'. A young man who was in them a good bit, recently wrote to say that at the last meeting he attended of a learned society, he felt terrible. He was longing to get out of it, because they were just clothing themselves with their knowledge, glorifying themselves, and giving no glory to God. He said it was all cedar wood, and he was longing to get free. Now, that is the attitude that Paul's ministry is calculated to bring about, that you are longing to get free. So he says, "Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers", and in his manner of speaking he is really representing God. He is really speaking on behalf of the God who is dwelling among them and walking among them. Who is the God who is dwelling among us in love, come down in love to dwell? How is He going to talk to us in this matter? Is He coming out of His dwelling, as it were, with threats? No, he is speaking to us in the first instance in love. He does not say, Go out here, He says "Come out" -- Come to Me; be ye right in relation to Me and my dwelling. "Come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord".

J.L. In Numbers 23, it says, "Lo it is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations", verse 9. It might appear as if that would narrow them up, but the next verse goes on to say, "Who can count the dust of Jacob" -- having in view great expansion.

G.R.C. That is a very fine illustration, and, of course, that principle is always true. It is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations. We should not have our name on any of these rolls of membership, and that kind of thing. We have to be enrolled on Parliamentary electors' lists -- that is no question of ours, it is a matter of what the State does; we do not use our vote. But it is not for us to be numbered among the nations. That is a principle of all time. God's people are not to be reckoned among the nations. And, as you say, instead of that meaning contraction, it means great expansion, and I believe that is what we shall find if we answer to the call of God -- His loving call to come out, to come out to Himself; come out to enjoy His habitation in a way we have never known it before. I believe we shall be so in accord with the truth, that other Christians will be attracted out, and then, "Who can count the dust of Jacob?" So that it is not only spiritual expansion, but we can look for other kinds of expansion too.

A.I. Why is the title, "Lord Almighty" used here?

G.R.C. Well, just as comfort -- comfort to us in the pressure that we may fear through giving heed to these injunctions. "The Lord Almighty" can do anything in all circumstances. But that is not the first way we learn Him as Almighty -- this is a secondary way. Abraham learned Him as Almighty in connection with his own body, in the quickening of his own body. We really learn the Almightiness of God properly, if we learn it at all, in the exercise of Romans 7 and 8. We learn the almightiness of God in the gift of the Spirit in our own bodies, so that we can bring our bodies into subjection and control, and we get over that great mountain of sin in the flesh. That is what is typified in Abraham. He learned the power of God in his own body in connection with that Name being disclosed. Therefore, I believe if we have learnt the

power of God according to Romans 7 and 8 in our own soul history, we shall be ready to trust Him as to circumstances. Circumstances are nothing like the mountain of sin in the flesh.

M.R. So, instead of fearing circumstances, chapter 7: 1 says, "perfecting holiness in God's fear".

G.R.C. "Having these promises". The greatest of the promises is, "I will dwell among them, and walk among them" -- a most amazing thing! I do not think our hearts have grasped the magnitude of it at the present time, God dwelling among us, and walking among us, and being our God, and we His people. What a promise! Who would miss it? Who would miss the gain of it? Then there is the matter of His care in our circumstances. And having those two promises, "let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God's fear" -- and we need to fear God.

F.R.G. So that you were saying in another place that this matter of separation must proceed from what is inward.

G.R.C. Otherwise we are like the swine, the animals that had the cloven hoof but did not chew the cud. There was nothing inward.

J.H. Does it appear that these yokes would have been contracted during the time that Paul was there, and when he wrote? The revival began on the basis of total separation, but it would appear that material prosperity and other things had caused this drift to come about?

G.R.C. Well, I think the revival began as to separation from religious evil, There was, of course, separation in other ways, too, but the stress at the time was religious evil. But then, of course, since that time the great bodies of men have been built up, have they not? The trades unions, and the great trading corporations, and the professional associations were not existing at the time the revival began. We

have become involved in some of these things, and it is a question of extricating ourselves.

J.H. We have been caught in the thing. The great American industrial progress, and so on, in the western world, has dominated this last half century. We have been caught up in the thing. J.N.D. and F.E.R. came out on the basis of total separation.

G.R.C. Yes, total separation but in F.E.R.'s day there was not the same stress on separation in business matters, and the saints generally were not so concerned about it. When I first came into fellowship -- I came from outside -- not that I was in these things -- my recollection is that saints were not so much concerned. F.E.R. was stressing religious separation, the ecclesiastical position, so that some respected brethren in my early days even said that all that mattered was religious separation. But then, that was never true. J.N.D. on this passage we are reading, is very emphatic that it involves complete separation from every standpoint. You can read that in J.N.D. He had no other thought, nor had Mr. Mackintosh. There is a piece by Mr. Mackintosh written 102 years ago, on the unequal yoke, which is right up-to-date and I believe it would help us all to read it. He takes up the four-fold yoke: marriage, business, religion and companionship.

H.S.H. Is there something in the expression "out of the midst"? Would it mean it is something done by us without shirking?

G.R.C. Yes, but it is touching to me that it says "Come". God is inviting us to Himself. "Come", He says, like a father inviting his child -- "Come". Who would not go to him? The child has got into something unsuitable, the Father says "Come" -- "Come out from the midst of them".

A.F. That article you referred to, by Mr. Mackintosh, where do you find it?

G.R.C. It is one of his bound volumes of miscellaneous

ministry, and it was printed at the time separately also. It is dated 1856, but I am afraid brethren did not hold to that during the intervening years, and so we have got caught in things, and it is a question of extricating ourselves. And we are all involved -- not only those actually in the matter; we are all involved, because we are linked up with those who are involved. And we have condoned it, we have gone on with it, we have made excuses for it -- therefore it is a question of all of us taking the sin offering to heart. But God has been patient; He has not pressed it before we were able to hear it.

F.S. Would what you are saying now be suggested in these references to things that are total opposites -- unbelievers and believers, lawlessness and righteousness; Christ and Beliar, and God's temple with idols? They seem to be completely opposite, and there is a tendency to perhaps compromise, or some form of neutrality might come up.

G.R.C. There is always the tendency to compromise. We have to watch it -- especially with Englishmen. Most of us here I suppose are Englishmen, or Irishmen or Scotchmen, and it is the noted characteristic of the British race -- to compromise, in political matters, and all matters. So, of course we have to watch that, but in being uncompromising it does not mean we are to be unloving; it does not mean we are to allow the domination of religious flesh to get hold of us.

L.F. Does the great answer to this call for separation come from implicit confidence in God? I was thinking of the quotation in Isaiah from which this scripture comes, as to the call to come out and touch not what is unclean, and he says, "Ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for Jehovah will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rearguard".

G.R.C. We ought to look at that passage -- Isaiah 52:11, 12. You will notice that that closes

the section from which the first quotation comes. This section begins at the beginning of chapter 49, where it says, "I have even given thee for a light of the nations", verse 6, and "In a time of acceptance have I answered thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee", verse 8. That is the beginning of the section. The section closes at chapter 52: 11, 12. It closes with, "Depart, depart, go out from thence, touch not what is unclean; go out from the midst of her, be ye clean, that bear the vessels of Jehovah", verse 11. This is a very interesting passage because it refers evidently to the return from a captivity of some kind. It may be that the Babylonish is prophetically in mind, but anyway it is a return from captivity, and that is our position. Then it goes on to say, "For ye shall not go out with haste nor by flight". We might have thought God would say, 'You have got yourself into this trouble and now you can do the best you can in getting out'. But He does not say that; He says, 'Though you have got yourself into the trouble, I am going to see to it -- you are my people -- that you are going out with dignity'. So He says, "ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight" -- in the French Bible it says, "nor as fugitives" -- "for Jehovah will go before you". What grace there is in this! You have got yourselves into the trouble, but God as much as says, Never mind, you are My people, and you are not going out as fugitives; you are not to go out with haste nor by flight, "for Jehovah will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rearguard". God as much as says, I will be just the same to you as I was when you came out of Egypt. When you came out of Egypt, you went with a high hand, in rank. The cloud went before them, and God says, 'You will go out just the same'. This has an important bearing on the way we go out. We are to go out in a way that honours God, with "the arms of righteousness on the right hand and left". God will not excuse us if, because

we have been unrighteous in getting into an unholy yoke, we go out in a manner which sacrifices righteousness in other ways. We have to humble ourselves and get out the right way, and we have to wait on Him as to what the right way is, so that He goes before us.

N.B.S. It is imperative that we should go out, but we should bear testimony to God in our going out, and does He not come in in great help where there is a confession of His name as to the ground of going out, so that those we have to leave know why.

G.R.C. That is very fine, because if, in going out, we render a true testimony to God, it is going out with dignity -- it is not going out with haste, or as fugitives. We face the people concerned, and we discharge every righteous obligation in going out -- otherwise, we dishonour God. We may have dishonoured Him in getting into it, but we might dishonour Him in getting out of it, and what is the good of that? We are to have "the arms of righteousness on the right hand and left" in the way we go out. In this book of Mr. Mackintosh, he illustrates it by a partnership. He says, 'You have got into a partnership; well, get out -- that is the only thing to do -- but be careful how you get out. You cannot go to the man overnight and ruin him by saying',I am going out tomorrow'. If you ruin your partner, that does not honour God'.

B.S. In the part you have already referred to, in chapter 1 of this second epistle, it brings in the thought of "glory to God by us".

G.R.C. Yes. You are thinking of that having an application all along the line?

B.S. Quite so.

G.R.C. You were asking about this passage, Mr. B.H. What do you think about what has been said?

W.B.H. You have helped. This quotation, "I will dwell among them", is from Leviticus 26, and really does not allude to them in the wilderness, but rather alludes to them in the land. I thought it

might bear on what you have been bringing before us as to the glory of the gospel brought forward in these earlier chapters.

G.R.C. Quite so -- very good. And coming in Leviticus shows that it is a question of priestly feelings to be in activity, does it not, as those who belong to God's habitation -- expansion of heart in priestly feeling and outlook.

OUR ACTIVITIES MUST BEGIN FROM THE TOP

1 Samuel 3:2 - 4; Isaiah 6:1 - 9; Luke 2:27, 28, 36, 37; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Revelation 15:5 - 8; Revelation 21:22 - 24

The gist of what I have to say, dear brethren, is that all our activities must start from the top. Our place is at the top. Even the new birth carries that idea with it -- "born from above", or "born from the top", as Mr. Taylor reminded us. "He who comes from above" is the same idea. "He who comes from above is above all", John 3:31. Christ, of course, in a supreme sense, came from the top. He is "over all, God blessed for ever", Romans 9:5. But in that chapter of John 3, He says, "If I have said the earthlies to you, and ye believe not, how, if I say the heavenlies to you, will ye believe?" verse 12. That is the literal word, 'the heavenlies', the same word as in Ephesians. Our place is the heavenlies, and our High Priest has entered into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us -- Hebrews 9:24. The thing of first and foremost importance is to enter into and find our life in our true place -- and that is at the top. Any other level of life is not Christianity, whatever it may be. It may be enjoying life on the level of a lower family, even on the level of a godly Israelite, but it is not Christianity. Thousands around us, who truly belong to that innermost place, know nothing about life there; it may be there are many in fellowship who know little or nothing about it. This is a matter that should rouse us all up. God has given us a place at the top, and that is Christianity; I mean that is what characterises Christianity. And have we ever touched Christianity yet, or are we on some lower level? If we do not enter into our place

which, according to the type, is within the veil, where Christ is-as He says Himself, "That they may be with me where I am" -- if we do not enter into that, if we have never touched it, we have never touched Christianity proper yet. And if we do not enter there, and if our activities do not flow from entering there, our activities are not on the level of Christian activities. We may presume to take up Christian activities, we may be devoted in what we do, but our activities will not be on the level of true Christian activities. And if we attempt to take up assembly administration without being on our proper level as to our life, what can we expect? Furthermore, if we do not enter into what is our own proper place, I doubt if we shall stop at the place of a lower family. It is almost certain, if not quite certain, that we shall descend to the level of religious flesh. The Spirit is not here to support people on a low level; He would bring us all on to the top level. If we are not prepared, the danger is that we go back to the level of religious flesh. That is just what the Galatians were doing. We have to understand our place and calling, and the grace of God, and the way He looks at us, to qualify in any way to apply the Lord's commandments to one another. The Lord's commandments are essential; they are the necessities of the divine nature. In a practical way, God cannot vouchsafe the consciousness of His presence to us if the Lord's commandments are not observed, because they are necessities of the divine nature; they are not arbitrary. And how are we to help one another to keep them? What did the Lord say about keeping them? "If ye love me", He said, "keep my commandments". That is not like the law of Moses -- the law of Moses said, "Thou shalt not", and so on. The Lord says, "If ye love me". What an appeal! "If ye love me, keep my commandments". How did Paul set about helping the Corinthians to keep the Lord's commandments? First of all, he showed them -- and

that is the first thing. "And yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence", 1 Corinthians 12:31. It is not a bit of good my trying to help the brethren to keep the Lord's commandments if I do not show them in my own conduct. The first and foremost commandment is the new one: "as I have loved you, that ye also love one another", John 13:34. Now when you face up to that, and the level of it -- "as I have loved you" -- that is Christianity; that is the Christian level. It is far beyond anything the law of Moses required. "As I have loved you, that ye also love one another". But He showed them how to do it; He washed the feet of the disciples, and He said, "I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also", John 12:15. The Lord showed them the new commandment, and, of course, in the full sense, the new commandment was expressed in His death. "Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us". The law of Moses never commanded anybody to lay down his life for anyone -- "and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives", 1 John 3:16. That is the new commandment.

Unless we are keeping the new commandment, it is not a bit of good exhorting people to keep any other; without the new commandment operating, the others will just become legal formalities. How can we be preserved in loving one another as Christ loved us? Only by going into the holiest continually, keeping at the top, continually going into the presence of God. "As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you", John 15:7, that is the level; it starts with the Father. As the Father loved Him, so He loved us, and we are to love one another, as He loved us. Well that was exemplified in Paul. He said, "And yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence". He showed it to them! So the first thing is to show one another; not to demand, but to show. The next

thing Paul did was to shine. First he showed the thing, and then he shone. He shone upon them "the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God", 2 Corinthians 4:4. You say, 'Yes, but the Corinthians were already converted'. Certainly they were. But they knew little or nothing about radiancy of glory; they had not parted with the first man. So Paul shone upon them. Then he went further: he besought them and entreated them. Now it is on these lines that we help one another as to the Lord's commandment. You can see how different the application is from the old covenant -- the Lord says, if you love Me, keep them. Paul shows how to do it, shines upon those who were not doing it, entreats them and beseeches them. And then, if you think of the Lord's commandment, it is not only connected with cases of discipline; the Lord's commandment includes many positive things. One is the truth of the body. That is the Lord's commandment -- Corinthians 12. Are you keeping that? Have you found your own place in the body, and are you encouraging every other member to function in his place unselfishly, glad if another member is glorified -- no envy, no rivalry? That is the Lord's commandment. We may be pressing some item of the Lord's commandment dealing with evil and so on -- which is essential in its place -- and yet ignoring the positive commandment; not in any way concerned about fitting in our place in the body, merging with our brethren bodywise; and therefore we shall never know the truth of the temple. If you do not merge with the brethren bodywise, you can be sure of this: in the measure in which you fail to merge with the brethren bodywise, you will fail to know anything about the temple, collectively.

So we have the positive commandments of the Lord, as well as the negative. And how we need to encourage one another on the positive commandments, on all of them, by "showing" one another, by seeking to

be an example, on these lines. I do not wish to go into any further detail as to the Lord's commandments, but what I am saying bears on what we have had before us today: the distinction between old covenant ministry and new. If, of course, every overture is rejected; if the showing is rejected, if the shining is rejected, if the entreating is rejected, if the beseeching is rejected, if the "many tears" of Paul are rejected, there is nothing to do but exercise assembly discipline.

Well, now, to return to our subject of knowing, and enjoying, and living, as it were, in our own place. In the first passage we read, we find a boy. It is the second mention of the temple in scripture, the first mention being in the first chapter of the book of Samuel; but this is an important mention, and there are certain features brought in. But the astonishing thing is that in this first mention of the temple dealing with positive truth, a boy is concerned. And what is stressed is the lamp of God and the ark of God; they are two great features of the temple. The lamp, the light of God is there. We speak of the temple as the place of enquiry, and so it is: the lamp of God is there, and the light is shining; but to refer to what I said a moment ago, as far as our practical getting the gain of it collectively is concerned, if we are not in the good of the body, we shall never get the gain of the temple. The manifestations of the Spirit are through the members of the body, and it is through the manifestations of the Spirit that the light shines in the temple. The lamp of God was there -- it had not gone out -- and the ark of God was there. What a glorious presentation of Christ: the Ark of God -- not here the ark of the covenant, nor the ark of the testimony, but the ark of God. A magnificent presentation of Christ -- the ark of God. In one place in connection with this title it speaks of God sitting between the cherubim -- 1 Chronicles 13:6.

But what I wish to stress is that a boy was there. What a privileged place! What an encouragement for young people! What an encouragement for parents like Hannah. This was the result of Hannah's exercise and her vow, and how she lent her son to Jehovah all the days of his life. And the result was that, as a boy, Samuel was in the temple of Jehovah, where the ark of God was. Think of being in the presence of Christ like that -- right at the centre of the system Typically, in the very innermost place; it typifies our place. The temple then was a figure; now we have the reality -- Christ Himself, in the presence of God. And you will note that the temple here is the temple of the tabernacle; the house was not built. The tabernacle had a temple, and the house had a temple. The temple is the shrine where God is, where the ark is -- most blessed place. The holiest is the temple of the tabernacle; that is what is in mind in Corinthians. Corinthians is the tabernacle setting, the assembly in the wilderness, the tabernacle of witness, "Ye are temple of God" -- Editor's note: there is no article before 'temple', 1 Corinthians 3:16. It is the temple of the tabernacle of witness, here on earth. Individually, we can enter into the shrine, the presence of God, as Hebrews shows, but whatever we enjoy individually, if things are right -- and mark you that word, if things are right -- we shall enjoy more when we are together. It is in the assembly that we enjoy things in fulness. Indeed, the assembly is "the fulness of him who fills all in all", Ephesians 1:23. So the Corinthians were characteristically "temple of God", the temple of the tabernacle. That is where Samuel was, in the type, and where we can bring our children. It is the present position -- the temple of the tabernacle. "Ye are living God's temple", he says. I love that word "living" coming in! It disposes immediately of hard and fast rules in the service; we get general light, but it disposes entirely of a liturgy. The Lord is the great "Liturgios", the Minister of the holy places. That word 'minister' there in Hebrews 8:2 means

that He is in charge of the liturgy. Men cannot make one! But of course it needs the exercise of faith. The leaven of the Sadducees says, 'We must have a rule, we cannot get on without it'. Faith says, 'The Lord Jesus is the Minister of the holy places; He is the "Liturgios" of the holy places; He is in charge of the service'. On our side, we "worship by the Spirit of God", Philippians 3:3. Therefore, you have "Ye are living God's temple". There is nothing dead about it, nothing fixed and formal about it. We have light; we know that the supper is the Lord's supper; we know that the Lord says, "My Father and your Father, My God and your God"; the Lord has given us light as to the service; but the details of it are in His hands, and on our side we take our part in it by the Spirit. There is no other way to serve acceptably; the flesh profits nothing. "Ye are living God's temple". Would to God we knew more about it -- the very presence of God in our midst, and the service proceeding.

So here we have a boy in the temple. How it would encourage us as to our children, to have them at the meeting, where the lamp of God and the ark of God are. And how early God communicated His mind to this boy! So it is an encouragement to the boys and girls, as well as to parents. How many parents here have made a vow as to their children? Then, if we apply this to the daily approach, how important that our children should become accustomed to the altars of God: to the holiest, and to the altars of God. Think of the Psalm: "Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she layeth her young, thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts, my king and my God", Psalm 84:3. How important it is that we should have priestly households, and that in our personal and household relations we should begin at the top; begin in the presence of God; begin in the holiest. How important, as getting God's viewpoint -- and we have spoken about that this afternoon -- the

viewpoint of new creation and reconciliation, that we should come to His altars. Without His viewpoint, we can never pray aright! You will never pray aright unless you have been in the holiest. But then our children are carried along with us, so that they become accustomed, not merely to a family altar -- that has its place; and they are also taught to have a personal altar -- but to the altars of God. The sparrow finds a house there, and the swallow a nest. The sparrow might suggest what the saints are as bearing the reproach of Christ, and the swallow what we are as birds of passage, having no continuing city here. But where is our home then? Our home is in the presence of God. The Old Testament cannot go all the way; it cannot say that the house and the nest are, as it were, in the holiest, but Samuel was in the holiest, as the type goes. Here the way into the holiest was not made manifest, yet the Psalmist goes as far as he can: "thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts, my king and my God". It is a great thing that our children should learn to be at God's altars and thus get the scope of what is before God in their early days. It is the safe place for the children -- the altars of God. We do not want them to have a home here. Our home is there, in the house of God. "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house" -- not visit it. For how many years, it may be, we have been content to be visitors in the house of God. "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house". For it means that we take every opportunity of entering the holy of holies, and of serving at the altars of God. It is our dwelling place-and our children are there, with us. Well, may the Lord encourage us in these things, to have our children with us, both in our personal and household approach, as well as in the assembly.

Then, in our next passage, we have a servant in the temple. Samuel was to become a servant, a great prophet, but here we have Isaiah. This passage shows

that we get our commission from the top. Whatever service we are given to do, if we do not get our commission from the top, our service will never be what it should be; it will never have the full flavour of Christianity about it. So we find Isaiah in the temple. In the year that king Uzziah died, he saw the Lord "sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up". A wonderful thing, the link between the throne and the temple. It is in Revelation, all through the book, Isaiah saw "the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up" -- "the Lord", "Adonai", a divine title of God, often used of the Lord personally, as in Psalm 68, but here evidently referring to God as God, for it says, "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts" (verse 3). In the light of Christianity, it is the Trinity. But how do we know the Trinity in a man? So it is Jesus; Jesus is the King. He is the One sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, but the One in whom "dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily". What a King! So that, as in His presence, from this standpoint, we are in the presence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Where the Lord is exalted and supreme like this, the Father's presence is always known, like the cloud on the mount. You cannot separate divine Persons in this sense. You can distinguish; but where surroundings are suitable, divine Persons are never separated. If conditions are there for the dwelling of God, we shall know the presence, not only of the Holy Spirit, but of the Son, and of the Father. So this passage sets out the idea of the temple in the full blaze of glory, and the seraphim are examples for us -- the service is proceeding. All priestly service should proceed in the light of the holiest, in the light of the glory -- in our day, that is. It was not so in Israel's day, but it is in our day. It is in the light of the holiest, and in the enjoyment of our place in the holiest, that we can take up the service, at the altars. And here was Isaiah -- he sees the seraphim. "Holy, holy, holy

is Jehovah of hosts", they call to one another. What a bearing this has on assembly service -- the idea of alternate singing or praise, calling to one another, each note going higher. "And one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" verse 3. Think of the majesty of the scene! We should touch majesty at the end of the morning meeting; as well as other features, we should know what majesty is -- the greatness, "the right hand of the greatness on high", Hebrews 1:3.

And so "the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke", verse 4. It bears on what we have been saying as to a right judgment about things. When it is a question of dealing with what is offensive, the house is filled with smoke. Isaiah was not yet fit for the place -- the house was filled with smoke. And so he says, "Woe unto me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts", verse 5. Here was a self-judged man, and rapidly one of the seraphim flies: "and he had in his hand a glowing coal, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; and he made it touch my mouth", verse 6 - 7. This is a very affecting scene: "Thy hand hath ope'd these lips, once dumb".

Isaiah's lips were to be opened, in testimony to men and praise to God. And the King, Jehovah of hosts, sitting on that throne, "high and lifted up", was the very One who suffered on that altar, so that a glowing coal might expiate Isaiah's sin. That is the most touching thing. Whatever glory and majesty we are in the presence of, as we see it shining in Jesus, glorified, how it touches our affections that the One in whom we see the glory now, in radiant display, is the One who has been to the very bottom. The glory is in display in Him, and we can be in the presence of it, in virtue of the fact that He has been to the very

bottom. God made Him to be sin -- that very One! -- who knew not sin, "that we might become God's righteousness in him", 2 Corinthians 5:21; that we might be in glory with Him on the basis of righteousness; that we might be in the very shrine for ever, on the basis of divine righteousness. Can we conceive of such a thing? Our hearts can hardly grasp the idea that this great One, the King, on a throne high and lifted up, in His grace has suffered as a sacrifice on that altar. Otherwise, Isaiah would have been expelled forever. Instead of the glory expelling us now, it attracts us. How we love the King! We think of where He has been for us. No wonder our lips, once dumb, are opened to sound forth His praise! The point in reading this scripture is that we get our commission for service from the top: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" This is another touch of the Trinity, I suppose. "Who will go for us?" "Here am I; send me". And so here is a man going out in service from the very presence of God. There is no other proper way to go.

Then if we pass on to Luke, we have a man, Simeon, and it is said of him that "he came in the Spirit into the temple", Luke 2:27. The official priests were faithless and dead -- Sadducees -- but here is one who, though not an official priest, is a real priest. He came in the Spirit into the temple. What a functioning priest he was! They brought in the child Jesus, and it says "he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel", Luke 2:29 - 32. How fully Simeon functioned as a priest! First, praising God, bringing in the mind of God in praise -- which we always ought to do -- prophesying in praise as all the singers prophesied; bringing in the

positive mind of God in praise: "a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel". First blessing, praising God, blessing Mary and Joseph and then a word of prophecy to them, dealing with the actual state of affairs.

Then we have the encouragement for sisters -- Anna. She did not depart from the temple, "serving night and day with fastings and prayers", verse 37. What an enormous benefit a praying sister is! Some who are laid aside and cannot take on active service can be just in this position, in the temple of God day and night with fastings and prayers. The greatest form of service is still open to them: priestly intercession and supplication. And you may depend upon it, those lips engaged in intercession and supplication will often burst out in praise. So it says, "she coming up the same hour gave praise to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem", verse 38. What a happy service sisters have, in speaking to individuals. They are not called upon to speak at the desk; it is a happy and loving service that is open to women: "The Lord gave the word: great the multitude of the women who published it", Psalm 68:11. That is Mr. Darby's rendering in the French; in our Bible it says that 'publishers' is a feminine word. The Lord gives the word, a word for the moment, but it becomes the theme of conversation: that is what it did with Anna. It becomes the theme of conversation amongst all the holy women, and the holy women know who those are who are looking for redemption. It is the sisters who know, or should know, where real believers are in the place where they live. They have the privilege of disseminating the ministry with a feminine touch which only sisters can give. "Come, see a man". The woman in John 4 was not preaching at a desk: "Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ"?

But all this begins at the top. I have already referred

to Corinthians, to the collective assembly aspect of the temple, and that it is the living God's temple. Let us keep the praise, and everything else, on a living basis. Let us be living and spontaneous in our response to the Holy Spirit -- not laying down rules.

Now we come to The Revelation, and "the temple of the tabernacle of witness in the heaven", Revelation 15:5. That is a remarkable statement. The tabernacle of witness is here on earth at the moment, but it is soon going to be in heaven. It is the Corinthian view of the assembly, but as transferred to heaven. The tabernacle of witness had to be carried through the wilderness by the Levites. The 15th chapter of Revelation shows that the Levites have done their work, the tabernacle of witness has arrived at its final place. "The temple of the tabernacle of witness in the heaven was opened". Now this deals with what is judicial, and what is judicial must proceed from the top. Where do these angels come from who had the seven golden bowls, full of the fury of God? Out of the temple. They come from the top, the very presence of God, from the shrine. And which temple? The temple of the tabernacle of witness. They come forth from the presence of those who have learned God's judgments down here. We have learned them in the Corinthian position. I wonder if we are learning God's judgments? You will only learn them, and get a right judgment, in the presence of God. In the presence of God you will get a right estimate of the types we have spoken of -- the day of atonement, and the red heifer. It is in the presence of glory that you get a right judgment of all that was dealt with at the cross. And practical judgments proceed from that level. You say you have a judicial matter on, in a locality? Well, repair to the temple. Individually, enter the holiest. If we have all been there, we shall arrive at a common judgment -- and a true one according to God. Collectively, let the judgment be in a

temple setting, in the consciousness of the presence of God. It is a special setting; it is not the temple filled with smoke, "from the glory of God and from His power", verse 8. The temple here is ourselves, as having arrived at our heavenly place in actuality -- "the temple of the tabernacle of witness". Had you ever thought about it, that it is our judgment which will be judged on the world? "Do ye not then know", says the apostle, "that the saints shall judge the world?" "Do ye not know that we shall judge angels?" Therefore, when these final judgments of the fury of God are poured out, where do the emissaries come from? They come from us; they come from God, from the very presence of God -- but God amongst His saints, those who form the shrine. "This honour have all his saints", as it says in Psalm 149, as to executing judgment. Do you understand the dignity of our position, the privilege and the favour of it, the blessedness of being engaged in praise and worship in the temple? But do you know this other side, of being wholly in accord with God in His judgments? Think of these beings who come out of the temple; think of how they are clothed. It gives you an idea of how pure the temple is, and how wonderful the inside is, as it were. They come out "clothed in pure bright linen, and girded about the breasts with golden girdles", verse 7. Then verse 8: "And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power: and no one could enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed". We shall never arrive at right judgments about anything until we have understood the judgment of God at the cross. And I would like to say this, that if our place is at the top, if it is the innermost and nearest place, it is because God's wrath has been fully revealed -- wrath from heaven at the cross; because sin in the flesh has been fully judged; because all that was offensive to God in the flesh has been removed out of His sight in unsparing

judgment, in the fire of God's wrath -- reduced to ashes. It is on the basis of finality of judgment that the way into the holy of holies has been made manifest, and we taken in -- "taken into favour in the Beloved", Ephesians 1:6. This nearest and most blessed place which is ours could never be until judgment in its fulness had been revealed -- and executed, as we may say. What a shame it is on us if we seek to enjoy this special and privileged place, and are not with God in His judgment, which has made this place possible for us. We are placed there on the very basis that all that we are as after the flesh has come before God in judgment, and is ended. But God counts upon us being so formed in our judgment -- and indeed we shall be. We shall pass before the judgment seat of Christ -- thank God for that! What is not adjusted here, will be adjusted there -- but the judgment seat of Christ may be a sad time for many. We shall be in bodies of glory; there will be no question of penal consequences, but of having to accept adjustment and rebuke in that day, in the presence of the One sitting on the throne. Because the judgment seat implies that -- we have spoken of the throne in Isaiah. But to have to accept adjustment in the presence of the One sitting on the throne who went to the altar for us, will be a most heart-rending experience to any lover of Christ -- and we are all lovers of Christ, thank God. And so, finally, you have the temple in accord with God in His judgments.

Well, I have only one more word to say, on Revelation 21, referring to the city. It is the final reference to the temple. "And I saw no temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb", verse 22. What a view of the assembly! The city itself is the shrine. It is not like the tabernacle, which had a holy place and a most holy place; the city itself is commensurate with the shrine. So that there is no temple in it; it is itself the temple, in that sense. And so far as

needing a temple, the Lord God Almighty Himself is its temple-and the Lamb. The Lamb is the great Light-bearer: "the glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof" -- the lamp of the glory -- "is the Lamb", verse 23. He is the effulgence of God's glory, "the expression of his substance". I believe only the citizens of the city will ever behold "that glory beam, unhindered face to face". It is our portion to be in the immediate Presence, always and for ever; we have access there, and shall do eternally, at all times. But the nations walk by the light of the city; they cannot behold that glory beam, they cannot look upon the glory of the Lord in the way we can. Other families, as far as I understand, cannot have a direct view. The city comes out of heaven having the glory of God because those who form the city are in the direct rays of the glory shining in the Lamb, but she has the glory of God to diffuse, according to the measure of the various families; none share her privilege in being in the immediate presence of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.

Well, may God help us to understand a little better what Christianity is, and to see that every kind of activity which we undertake will only be in keeping with Christianity if we learn to habituate our true place in the immediate presence of God, for His Name's sake!

Hymn 74, verses 1 - 4; verse 6

Hymn 79, last 2 verses

PLANNING (GOSPEL ADDRESS)

Proverbs 8:22 - 24, 27 - 31; Proverbs 9:1, 2, 4 (latter part), 6, 10; 1 Corinthians 1:23, 24, 30, 31; 1 Corinthians 2:6 - 10

Note: In reading Proverbs 8, Mr. Cowell said: "Jehovah possessed me" -- that is, wisdom -- "in the beginning of His way, before His works of old". I would like to explain to any here who may not understand that the word 'Jehovah' was the Name of God in the Old Testament; God is now declared in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. "I was set up from eternity".

I wish to say a word tonight, dear friends, on power and wisdom relative to planning. This is a great day for planning: every nation, especially the leading nations, is planning; the United Nations is planning. In a way, every one of us is a planner -- we seek to plan our lives: we have our business plans, it may be, and our plans as to our home, our family. So that planning is a thing that affects all of us.

You would all agree that in connection with planning, you need wisdom. It is a very foolish thing to plan either in a small or a big way unless you are a wise man, because your plan will not be much good. And the second thing that is needed if you are going to plan is power to carry it out. Now the world is especially engaged on planning at the present time, as we know; huge plans are afoot. And the planning in a way can be separated into two parts. Everyone in the world knows, every intelligent being, that something is wrong. I am sure everyone here will admit that anyway; we shall agree on that point, that there is something wrong with men, and with the world in general. Therefore, the first thing that must

engage planners is to deal with the problems, to seek to deal with what is wrong. There are many tremendous problems to be solved -- even as far as human planners see, there are many problems to be solved: racial problems, national problems, labour problems, international problems. So if planning is to be of any effect, the first thing is to deal with the problems; the next thing is, to plan a better world, once the problems are settled. What shape is the new world going to be? -- is a question that sometimes comes into the minds of human planners. You know, this quest for a better world has been going on for six thousand years or so, and we do not seem to be any nearer to it, do we? We have a much cleverer world, but not a better world. Evil is as mighty and powerful as ever, perhaps more mighty. The more clever you make a man, you see, if he is not right with God, the more scope he has to pursue what is evil. And so, in a way, with all the inventions and the cleverness that marks men of this age, the basic problem of sin and wickedness is worse than ever; instead of a better world, in many ways it is worse than ever. We want a peaceful world: but then peace is further away than ever.

And so men are engaged with planning, both as to meeting the problems and as to bringing in something better. Whatever they may plan, they need power to carry it out, and so men are seeking power; each party with its plans wants power -- each party thinks its plans are best, and it seeks power to carry them out. The history of mankind shows a continuous tale of disappointment -- the planners are always disappointed, those who had hopes; the plans have always failed. You may not believe it, but I will tell you this: the plans always will fail. The planners do not, and cannot, go deep enough; the planners only touch the surface -- racial problems, labour problems, national problems, are just touching the surface; they

just touch the social life of man, and the most the planners hope to do is to make the social life of man a little bit pleasanter during the brief span that a man is here on earth. You live to seventy years perhaps; a little bit easier life for seventy years -- well, so far so good; but it has only touched the fringe of the problem. The real problems the planners never tackle, and never have tackled. What are the real problems?

Satan -- Satan is abroad; sin -- sin born in the hearts of men: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life -- 1 John 2:16. The most altruistic planners have to cater for those lusts, otherwise they will be turned out of office. Those lusts, as I may say, bedevil every situation: that you must cater for the lusts of the flesh; and for those to whom the grosser lusts of the flesh may not appeal, you must cater for the lust of the eyes -- all the changing fashions in dress and so on, and everything else that appeals to the eyes; and you must cater for the pride of life -- every man wants to be a somebody, a somebody in business, or a somebody in education ... Sin, therefore, is a very great problem: Satan ... sin ... sin is comprised in those three things I said: the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Who is there here who will dare to stand up and say he is not a sinner? Who is there here who will dare to say that he is not conscious of the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? -- the pride of life, you know, the way you envy your neighbour: whatever she has, you want; you want to be one better. Who dares to stand up and say he is exempt from those things? And the final thing is death. The planners never try to touch death. They are trying to make a living cell and have not succeeded, not even the simplest living cell has ever been made, not the most primitive form of life. The greatest scientist on earth cannot explain even a blade of grass; he cannot account for it; he cannot

tell you how it comes, why it comes. Men adorn themselves with their knowledge, and they have found out a good bit, but from another sense they have found out extraordinarily little if they cannot explain a blade of grass; and that is the truth of the matter. They cannot make a grain of edible food -- they can process foods that are already foods, but they can make in the laboratory a substance of the same formula as edible starch in wheat, and the human stomach will not digest it. See the limitations of man!

But all those remarks sprang from the statement that the planners have never tackled the matters of life and death. The medical profession extends our lives to some extent, but death is always around the corner. You see, what I can hold out to you, even the youngest here, as a certainty is not that life is before you, but that death is before you. That is the truth and the thing that needs to be faced. A boy or a girl may well say: well, I am only five years old, six years old, twelve. In ordinary average reckoning, we would say, well, you have life before you, but we cannot say that for certain. One thing we can say for certain: that, unless the Lord Jesus comes and you belong to him, you have death before you.

Well now, in planning we ought to face up to these things; but men blind their eyes to these things, they go on with surface matters. I do not want to decry those in authority; God uses them for the preservation of men, but I am thinking of the world planners. It says in the passage we read in Corinthians that the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God. Human wisdom at its very best is just foolishness in the eyes of God; it does not touch the root of anything, it gets you nowhere; it just scrapes the surface, and leaves you where you were.

Well now, I want to speak about some other planning. I have spoken of Satan: Satan is planning,

and always has been from the beginning; Satan's plans are deeply laid -- at the beginning, in the form of a serpent, he deceived the woman, he deceived man into sinning, so that he might be able to exercise death, the power of death, that he might be able to claim, as it were, that on God's behalf, he must bring death upon man; that is the subtlety of Satan. He would deceive man into sinning, in order to claim that on God's behalf, as a matter of righteousness, man must die. Satan is still planning. And with all the planners as regards mankind in this world, they more or less, and they are always in danger of it, fall into Satan's hands, and further his plans. And you know, men are no match for Satan.

But now, I do not want to delay too long on negatives; I want to come on to God's planning. God has planned; and Job came to it -- he says to God: "Thou canst be hindered in no thought of Thine", Job 42:2. God's plans are going through without the slightest doubt. Men would like to think, who do not believe in God, that the whole universe came into being haphazardly, chaotically. That is wishful thinking, you know, that is all it is; just wishful thinking. You see, men who are not prepared to face the truth as to their own need of a Saviour indulge in wishful thinking, and their wishful thinking says: well, let us pretend that this great universe in which we find ourselves just came into being chaotically -- certain atoms and molecules decided to become a horse and others decided to become other things and so it all came about, and we just came into being by chance. Well, I would say unequivocally, and many of the most renowned scientists agree with this now, that this is just wishful thinking; it is wishful thinking because you would like to shut God out, and feel that after all you could live and die and do just what you like, and in the end you would never have to face God and give an account to Him. Now, do not indulge in

wishful thinking. Nothing has happened by chance, or chaotically. God has always worked according to plan; God is supreme in wisdom, and therefore his plans are perfect; God is supreme in power, therefore they must go through against all opposition -- that is the thing to face. You have to do with God: you are here tonight to come face to face with God. Sooner or later, either now in grace, or soon in judgment before the Great White Throne, you have to give an account to God. No wishful thinking will stand you in any stead -- you must have to do with God; you belong to Him, He is God and you are His creature; you cannot escape, it is impossible to escape from God. Your very breath is in His hand; He brought you into being. And so our great desire is that any wishful thinking on that line might be banished from your mind.

Now the passage I read in Proverbs refutes the idea of the universe having come into being haphazardly. It says "Jehovah", meaning God, "possessed me", that is, wisdom -- wisdom is personified in that chapter as you will see if you read the chapter -- God possessed me "in the beginning of His way", Proverbs 8:22, that is, God did not begin His operations without a plan; because that is implied in wisdom. God did not begin anything without having the whole plan in His mind. You say, well why did He bring things, why did He create this universe? He created it for His pleasure, and it will yet be for His pleasure under the reign of Christ. But we are told in Colossians a reason why He created it: it says there, speaking of Christ Himself, "All things have been created by Him", Colossians 1:16 -- mind you, the One we are preaching tonight, Jesus the Saviour, is the One who made this universe -- "All things have been created by Him and for Him". Men act as though it was all created for them. God did not create this earth to be a stage for proud and simple man to strut

across, and display himself and his fancied greatness -- not at all. This earth, and the heavens too, were created by Christ and for Christ, and Christ is soon coming to take them, and to show the whole universe why they were created. God had a purpose in everything; He possessed wisdom in the beginning of His ways, everything was done according to plan. And right at the outset when He began His operations, it says: Wisdom's "delights were with the sons of men", Proverbs 8:31. Think of that -- that God had men in mind; His affections are set upon men. That is why the gospel is going out, because His affections are set upon men. God is determined to fill His presence with men in perfect suitability, in perfect happiness, for ever and for ever, in a new heavens and a new earth, in a city, New Jerusalem. God is even going to show in this heaven and this earth, and that before many years have passed, how He can do all that men have failed to do, solving the problems and bringing in a world of peace under the reign of Christ. Everything is going according to plan -- do not doubt it for a minute -- but, the point at the moment is your position relative to the plan, where you are going to stand when the plan is completed. Where will you be? Where will you spend eternity? Will you be among the lost, or amongst those men redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, who will be in happiness in the presence of God for ever?

Now, as I have said, planning involves settling problems first, if problems are there, and then bringing in a new world. You say, how is God going to do that? That is what we are preaching for -- to tell you: "We preach", the apostle says in Corinthians, "Christ crucified, to Jews an offence, and to nations foolishness", 1 Corinthians 1:23. It sounds foolish to the wise of this world, but, mind you, the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God, because with all their wisdom, men are not touching the basic problems,

and they cannot touch the basic problems, they have no power. So if the preaching sounds foolish to you, and it may sound at first hearing, do not forget that the wisdom of the world is foolish in the eyes of God; and give heed to the preaching, because by this very preaching you may come to know the One who is "God's power and God's wisdom", 1 Corinthians 1:24. So it says here: "We preach Christ crucified, to Jews an offence, and to nations foolishness; but to those that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, God's power and God's wisdom". That is the Person we present to you in the gospel -- Christ. We present Him to you to believe in, to entrust your soul's salvation to Him. There is salvation in none other, for "salvation is in none other, for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved", Acts 4:12. We present to you Christ the Saviour, Christ crucified, and we preach Christ glorified. Christ crucified! It is there we see how God has met the problems, has solved every difficulty. As glorified, we see Him seated as the One who is God's power and God's wisdom, in settling the problems of the universe -- and He is available for you, to settle your problems, to settle the eternal problems relative to your soul at this very time. That is why we preach Him; we preach Him for you. The problems will be settled, the new world that God has planned will shortly come in -- "the world to come, of which we speak", the world to come, over which Christ will reign as Head over all things, when He will speak peace to the nations and they will learn war no more. That time is surely coming, but we are preaching for your sake, that you, as a personal matter, might get the gain of the One by whom God is going to settle everything.

Now it says, "We preach Christ crucified". Have you ever thought of the cross of Christ? "Wouldst thou know ..."

"Where shine forth the wisdom and wonder
Of God's everlasting plan?
Behold on the cross of dishonour
A cursed and a dying Man".

Because He took my place; Christ is the Saviour for me. He took my place on that cross; He bore the curse that was due to me; He bore my sins in His body on the tree; He bore the judgment; He went into the death that was due to me -- my Saviour. He took my place; that is what He did for me. But He gave Himself a ransom for all -- why do you not put in your claim to Him? Think of what He did for you. What did He do in that dread hour when He hung upon that cross? He solved the whole of the problems which human planners cannot even touch; He solved the whole problem of Satan and his power, and sin, and the reign of sin over us, and of death; He really overthrew all our enemies. You say, Well, how can I ever get free from Satan's power? Call on the name of the Lord, and you will be saved. You cannot meet Satan's power, but the Lord can, and He gave Himself a ransom for all ... for you ... that He might be your Saviour. You say, How can I meet the power of sin? Sin is all around me, sin is within me -- what can I do about it? Have to do with Jesus about it, tell Him about it. He died upon the cross that sin might no longer reign in your mortal body, that you might be free from it. He can give you deliverance; He gives to those who obey Him the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwelling in you is more than a match for sin in your flesh.

And what about death? Well, I am sure everyone who knows the Lord Jesus here would join with me in telling you that once you believe in the Lord Jesus and have a link with Him as your own personal Saviour, the fear of death is gone. Why, death only releases me from a body of humiliation, and as absent from the body, I am present with the Lord -- 2 Corinthians 5:8.

I call on Him here; He is closer to me than any earthly friend; I am joined to the Lord, I am one Spirit -- 1 Corinthians 6:17, joined to the Lord, one Spirit, through the gift of the Holy Spirit; I can tell you and before God I am not telling a lie, that Jesus is closer to me than any human being; my link with Him is closer than that with any human being, closer than the closest earthly tie. And if I become absent from the body I am present with the Lord. Where would I like to be better than that? What terror then does death hold for me?

What does death mean to you? I would ask the children here -- even children die sometimes. Boys and girls quite early begin to think; they hear some other young person has died, and they think, well, it might be me next time. Have you not ever had longing to be sure of what would happen after death? Well, you can know that assurance tonight. You come to Jesus as your Saviour, and the fear of death will be gone. You will have certainty: a Christian is certain. He is not planning in the dark his own personal life, because he is certain about the future. The greatest of the world's planners are planning in the dark; they do not know what is ahead -- the next day, the next week, the next year. They are planning in the dark literally; they do not even know clearly what they are aiming at. The moment you believe in the Lord Jesus, everything is changed: you have a link with the risen and glorified Saviour; you belong to Him; your link with Him is closer than any earthly tie; the fear of death is gone, the power of sin broken, your sins forgiven; your soul is happy and peaceful with God -- no cloud between the soul and God; the future is certain -- no future but glory for the Christian, the future is glory with Christ; if I am absent from the body I am present with the Lord; if I am here on earth when He comes, He will change the bodies of those who are living, and He will raise the

dead who belong to Him, and we shall all have bodies of glory like His. There is nothing but glory, in that sense, ahead for the Christian. As to the details of your life here, how simple they are, if you are a Christian; how fully you can trust the One who, as Paul says, "loved me and gave Himself for me". Will He ever let you down? Never. As you commit your way to Him, He will guide and keep, and bless you, all through your pathway here. And the end is assured.

Now, that great transaction at the cross -- how we need to contemplate it! Men plan, but they leave out the cross of Christ. Satan planned, but he never foresaw the cross of Christ. Satan planned to deceive men into sinning, so that he might wield the power of death, not as an open enemy of God, but as wielding the power of death, in view of his position which he once held -- "the anointed covering cherub", Ezekiel 28:14. He deceives men into sinning, this serpent, the deceiver, in order to become the accuser. The word "devil" means "the accuser". Think of the subtlety of Satan! Deceiving men into sinning that he might become the accuser. Then he says you are worthy of death. But Satan never foresaw the cross. It says of the seed of the woman in Genesis 3, "He shall crush thy head". Now Satan's head refers to his plans and his wisdom. Satan is a planner; he has wisdom from beneath; but the Lord Jesus has crushed his head. Satan's plans have come to nought. How? Because of the cross.

"Behold on the cross of dishonour
A cursed and a dying Man".

Satan completely outwitted and defeated; every question resolved for God, and for us, if we believe. Satan deceived men and led them on by their lusts -- that is how Satan leads you on, by your lusts. This world system is built up to cater for men's lusts -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life: a great system, commercial and religious, built

up to cater for men's lusts, but in no sense to cater for God. God is left outside of it. It is no wonder that the world's planning will always come to nothing; God is outside of the thoughts of the planners. It is a great system to cater for man's lusts and to make men more comfortable in the fulfilment of their lusts. Satan deceived men and led them on to that crowning moment of Calvary. See the subtlety of Satan, leading men on, men hating Christ without a cause, men exposing themselves in their utter wickedness at the cross. The cross is the full exposure of the wickedness of man. Man's wickedness could only be exposed by his reaction to perfect goodness, and perfect goodness was never here until Jesus was here. But in the presence of perfect goodness and perfect love, men said, We cannot stand it; it is too exposing. It exposes our hypocrisy, it exposes our sin; we cannot stand a person like that in our world. Perfect goodness and perfect love will not do in man's world. And Satan was behind men, leading them on, until they cast out and crucified, in the greatest dishonour and ignominy they could heap upon Him, the Son of God. 'Well now', Satan would say, 'the crowning sin has been committed; now I have something to accuse men of. There is no escape now -- this is the crowning sin. There is no hope for men!' How he would rejoice as the accuser, as he sees Jesus led to the cross and crucified. Satan thought he had won the day, because the sin was of such a character that judgment had to fall at that time. Judgment could not be postponed; God could not pass by a sin like that. Wickedness was fully exposed, and God could not pass it by; judgment had to fall. If judgment had fallen, and the human race had been swept away in judgment, Satan would have won the day. God's purposes as to men would have failed. But what happened? What Satan never foresaw. That Man, whom we crucified -- Jew and Gentile, we

crucified Him; we hanged Him on a cross, we did not want Him. You say 'I would not have done that'. How are you treating Christ now? When you are out with your friends, enjoying yourself, are you prepared to talk about Jesus? 'Oh', you say, 'No, I would not like to mention His name'. Well, you are just one of the crowd. You do not want Him in your circle. If you have never come to His feet as the Saviour, you are just the same as that crowd that crucified Him. You would say, "Away with Him" -- you are saying it now! In your circle of friends, you do not want Jesus. You are saying, virtually, "Away with Him!" all the time, all your life. You do not even want to be in the presence of Christians who talk about Him. Your whole attitude of life is, "Away with Him!"

We hope there will be a change this evening. We hope you will repent, will change your whole attitude to Christ. But that was the position at the cross, and judgment had to fall. One loves to think of how Satan was confounded, how his head was crushed. What he never foresaw happened, that the holy Sufferer, when we had done our worst, took all the guilt upon Himself. When judgment had to fall, the sword awoke against Him instead of against us -- Zechariah 13:7. Have you ever heard of anything like that? "Where sin abounded, grace has overabounded", Romans 5:20. Sin abounded at the cross, and grace overabounded. I will say it again: When we had done our worst, and said, "Away with Him!" and hanged Him on a cross -- and it may be there are some here who are saying it tonight, in principle -- when we had done that, and a sin had been committed which could not be passed by, when judgment had to fall, it was then that the holy Sufferer took all the guilt upon Himself. The sword awoke against Him instead of against us, and the sufferings He endured then were worse than anything men put upon Him.

It was then He became the curse for us; it was then that He bore our sins in His body on the tree -- 1 Peter 2:24; it was then that God made Him sin for us, who knew not sin -- 2 Corinthians 5:21. It was then that the consuming wrath of God fell on Him, that we might go free. After we had done our worst, as we may say, God did His best, and provided this blessed Saviour who was prepared to take our place. The grace of it is astounding, beyond all human conception, that the One whom we had injured to such a terrible extent should take the guilt upon Himself. Satan was defeated -- he has nothing to accuse us of. He will try to accuse you. If you are a Christian, he will try to accuse you in your conscience; he will get you occupied with yourself. He is still active in that way.

But, really, all that he trusted in is gone. We can overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony -- Revelation 12:11. What can he say when we point to Christ and His precious blood. What can he accuse us of? Jesus has borne the judgment. Now you can see how God has settled the problem. What a free hand God has! How freely the gospel comes! And the word to you tonight is, Come. As it says in the ninth of Proverbs, "Come, eat ye of my bread". This is Wisdom speaking; the gospel is Wisdom's message. "Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have mingled. Forsake follies and live". God is inviting you to come. He has prepared everything for you. He is ready to bestow on the repenting sinner things which He prepared before the ages for our glory. God looked on, before the ages; before He began His operations, He prepared in His purpose things for our glory -- yours and mine, if you are a believer.

He purposed in that past eternity to save men; He foresaw all that would come in. It speaks of the Redeemer as "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world", Revelation 13:8, A.V. -- wording differs in

J.N.D.'s translation. God foresaw everything; God was never taken by surprise. The Lamb of God has come, He has suffered. And for those of us who take advantage of Him as their Saviour, God delights to bestow upon us the things which He prepared before the ages for our glory. Think of the best robe! "Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it", Luke 15:22. God will do the best for you. The best place in heaven is now available for the worst sinner on earth, through the precious work of Christ at Calvary. Is there not divine wisdom in that? Cannot you see the wisdom of God in meeting the whole power of Satan and the wickedness of man? It is all met in Christ crucified. And now, in Christ glorified, the living Saviour, God's power is manifested to carry everything through, and the power of Christ is available for you tonight. He is God's power and God's wisdom. By Him God has settled every problem, and is bringing a world into being entirely suited to Himself. And by Him every problem of yours can be settled, because I want to come down finally to your planning, your personal planning. God's planning is all right; everything is going through -- but what about you, and your planning? I want to speak specially to the young ones here. It says God possessed wisdom in the beginning of His way. Now I want every boy and girl to possess wisdom in the beginning of his or her way. You say, I am only five, I am only six. Never mind: "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom", Proverbs 4:7, A.V. -- not worldly wisdom, but get divine wisdom. Get Christ, in other words; have Christ as your wisdom. "The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom", Psalm 111:10. The way to get wisdom is to fear God, and turn to Him in repentance, and come to the feet of the Saviour. Then you will find that the One who is God's wisdom, who has settled every problem for God, has settled every

problem for you. You could not have settled your problems; you could not have dealt with Satan or sin, or death. They are your real problems. Accept Christ as your Saviour, and you will have Him as wisdom. You will find He has settled your problems which you could never settle. And so the scripture says that He has been made to us wisdom from God -- 1 Corinthians 1:30. Receive Him, dear friend. Receive Jesus, and you will find One who has settled all your problems. Then it says, "righteousness". God has made Him to be to us wisdom and righteousness. What a wonderful thing to have Christ as your righteousness -- a glorified Christ. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, we deserve nothing but judgment, but we come to Christ, and we have him as wisdom -- that means he has settled all our problems. Then we have Him as righteousness, which means we are clothed in perfect suitability to come to God and to be in the presence of God. We are as acceptable to God as Christ is. He, the glorified Saviour, who took my place on the cross, has won for me His place in glory. And He is also our "holiness", or "sanctification". "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified", Hebrews 10:14, A.V. He has fitted us for ever for the presence of God, and He is our redemption, soon to exercise his redemptive power in redeeming our bodies, giving us bodies of glory like His own. Come to Jesus! He is God's power and God's wisdom, and He is available for you, to settle all your problems, and to bring you into this great, new order of things which centres in Himself. And while I have spoken of the world to come, I want to say in closing, that Wisdom has built her house on earth at the present time. You do not need to wait for the joys of heaven until you get there; you can have a wonderful foretaste of the joys of heaven here on earth. The true believers in Jesus form the spiritual house, made of living

stones -- 1 Peter 2:5. Wisdom has built it -- Christ has built it in divine wisdom. We invite you to come into it. You receive the gift of the Spirit -- and that is normal in the gospel; you receive the forgiveness of sins as you receive Jesus, and you normally receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then you really become part of this house; you have a right of entry. And Wisdom is saying, "Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have mingled". It says she has prepared her table -- God has prepared everything for you. In coming to Jesus and leaving the world which has rejected Him, God does not leave you in a vacuum. He has on this earth a place of joy and gladness, where the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor that have entered into the heart of man are known and enjoyed in the power of the Holy Spirit -- the things that God has prepared for those that love Him. We say to you, Come to Jesus, and come into Wisdom's house.

FULL KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL - READING 1

Ephesians 1:1 - 23

In Colossians, the apostle's prayer is, that "ye may be filled with the full knowledge of his will", and that the saints may grow "by the true" or 'full' "knowledge of God", Colossians 1:9 - 10. Ephesians chapter 1: 3 - 14 would bring out the fulness of God's will -- and then Paul prays that the saints may be given the spirit of wisdom and understanding in "the full knowledge of him". Thus the greatest conceivable things are before us -- the full knowledge of God's will, and the full knowledge of God, and it is necessary to have this full knowledge if there is to be a full response to God in the assembly.

Chapter one begins in a spirit of worship -- "blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", and it is to be noted that the apostle brings out the greatest thoughts in either the spirit of worship or in prayer. The apostle was a man who had recourse to the presence of God -- or the holiest as Hebrews would present it -- at every opportunity, and would write from that standpoint. This full knowledge is peculiar to the assembly, and to have "all wisdom and intelligence" which God has caused in the riches of His grace to abound towards us, is proper sonship -- verse 9.

There are two thoughts in the expression "God and Father". The expression links with what we have in John 20, "my Father, and your Father, and my God, and your God", only there the order is reversed for it is the line of approach. Here, Paul is beginning with the Divine side, and thus first, with God, we should be "holy and blameless before him in love", verse 4,

which means we are before God entirely in keeping with His nature, then secondly, in relation to the Father, we have been marked out for "adoption through Jesus Christ to himself", verse 5. Both these relationships are carried through the chapter. Thus, we see that God has been manifested in order that men may be before Him, first, as in keeping with His nature -- holiness and love -- and secondly, in the liberty of sonship in relationship with the Father. Therefore men may have the full knowledge of God, and be before Him in perfect accord with Himself, and be there in the perfect liberty of sonship.

All this section is given by the apostle in the spirit of worship, and this must enter into touching what is inscrutable, for, while through grace we are brought into such blessed relationships, we are in the presence of Him who is inscrutable. We are really in a sphere where there are "waters to swim in", but at the same time it is a "river that could not be passed through", Ezekiel 47:5. Hence, while naturally we would like to feel our feet in such waters, that is, be able to define and comprehend, we are in a realm where things are intuitively realised in communion, through the Holy Spirit, rather than understood by terms of doctrine.

The Ephesians are addressed as "saints and faithful in Christ Jesus", and they were this. Those in Rome the apostle did not know personally, so he refers to them as "saints by calling" but with the Ephesians it was what they were characteristically, and for us to be this is the only way that we can take in the truth on this level.

There are three references in this section to His will. The first in verse 6: "the good pleasure of his will", stands by itself in its glory having reference to the place and relationship we are brought into before God. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing, we are before God in accord with His nature, we have

the relationship of sonship and we are taken into favour in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption. The second, in verse 9: "the mystery of his will", involves on our part all wisdom and intelligence. God has made known the mystery of His will to us because He would have His sons intelligent as to His purpose "to head up all things in the Christ". Intelligence is proper to sonship. The third reference to His will is in verse 11: "the counsel of his own will", and this relates to the working out of things. In carrying out His purpose He "works all things" to the counsel of His own will. This tests our wills. It touches our circumstances, for here the Jew, verse 11, and the Gentile, verse 13, are brought in together. Peter was tested as to the bringing in of the Gentiles, and we may be tested in racial, national and social matters. We might prefer to be in a "better class" meeting for instance, but the thing to see is that God has ordered all things.

God has purposed "in himself"; and it is the counsel of His own will. He does not take counsel with us as to the working out of things. He takes counsel with no one but Himself. It is the activity of our wills that hinders us. We need to know our settled place before God according to the good pleasure of His will, the end in view, according to the mystery of His will, so that we may be happily subject to God in the working out of the counsel of His own will.

Therefore, after the setting out of these three great features of God's will, the apostle prays, for the crowning thing is the full knowledge of God Himself. It is something that the apostle cannot put on paper. Nothing greater can be conceived for the creature than that he should have the full knowledge of God -- it is the sum of creature happiness. Being in the holiest helps as to this. We are apt to limit our thoughts as to the holiest, because the term is only used by the apostle in writing to Hebrews, but

scriptures in other epistles bear upon it. We are to enter the presence of God continually. We often feel we can say more as to what God has done than as to what He is in Himself, but it is noteworthy that Paul is brief in his doxologies. David was an example of one able to speak to God about Himself, and if we gave more time to sitting before God, assembly praise would be enriched.

The full knowledge of God attracts our hearts. What can we want more? "Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah", Jeremiah 9:24.

FULL KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL - READING 2

Ephesians 2:1 - 23

In chapter 1, the apostle in prayer goes over to God's side in his thoughts. Earlier he had been referring to "we" and "us", but now he is speaking about His calling, His inheritance, His power, and then what the assembly is to Christ. Earlier it was our inheritance as sons and heirs through the riches of His grace, but now it is God's side, His inheritance, and that is something that is exceedingly great, for through Christ and the assembly, the whole universe is secured for Him. "His calling" would show the magnificence of it -- "the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus" -- and it would include both sonship, and the assembly being with Christ on high, sharing His headship. The word "assembly" means "called out" ones.

Everything put under Christ's feet, and He being put as "head over all things to the assembly" makes way for "the administration of the fulness of times",

which God had purposed in Himself for His good pleasure. The Lord Jesus is in the highest office in the universe in this way, and thus the assembly is greatly elevated as His counterpart -- His wife. Even in natural things, the greater the office or position a man occupies the more important it is that his wife should be equal to her position as a true help-mate. How great the value of the assembly to Christ. She is not unworthy of Him. She is "the fulness of him who fills all in all", the last part of the phrase showing that the Man whose fulness she is is a Divine Person. No creature could fill all in all. It shows how close the assembly is to deity -- the Man who is united to the assembly, Ephesians 5:31, is a Divine Person.

In chapter 1 we see how God "has set him down at his right hand in the heavenlies", and now in chapter 2 we see how God "has raised us up together and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus". It shows how the members of His body have been secured, both Jew and Gentile being equally dead in offences; but the prison doors have been opened, and we have been quickened with the Christ. In natural things, to have a command to appear in the presence of earthly majesty is regarded as a great honour, but think of what an honour it would be to be made to sit down, to be made "at home" in such surroundings! Think of God doing this, not only raising us up into His presence, but making us sit down -- making us perfectly at home! how great it is! That is the portion of the saints of this dispensation and nothing less would do for the consort of Christ than those who compose it should be thus elevated.

The fact that it says "God has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies" would refer to what is true abstractly, but it could only be said to those who were in some measure in the good of it. We are there as His workmanship.

It is as quickened, which is life out of death, referring to the positive work of God in us, a work of new creation. Workmanship implies skill and detailed work. The Galatians were to walk by the rule of new creation, and this would help us as to good works that we have been created for. It would be "good works" patterned after the Man of the gospels, not dropping to the level of human philanthropy. God has created certain institutions and good works mean that we are to walk according to them. There are institutions which God has established. These are "one new man", verse 15, "the one body", verse 16, heavenly citizenship, verse 19, the household of God, verse 19, the holy temple in the Lord, verse 21, and the habitation of God in the Spirit, verse 22. Walking according to these institutions we would be really like Christ, otherwise we shall try to imitate Him on the level of human philanthropy.

Each of these institutions involves our being set together in right relations. We tend to break down at the very doorway through petty difficulties with one another in the flesh. It is a matter of our walking in them now, if God is to get something at the present time. Is there really an expression of the features of the new man? Are we walking together according to the truth of the one body? Are we really conscious of being fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God? Are we governed by the truth of the temple and God's habitation? The tendency is to break down at the door-way and not walk in these things, and at the same time to try and make a show of so-called good works.

According to God we are seated in heavenly places, so how wicked and foolish it is to allow petty fleshly feelings among the brethren. We need to know more about the cross, and this would help us as to the idiosyncrasies of one another. It is the enmity that is slain, not the brother, be he Jew or Gentile. If we

understood the cross we would know how to deal with enmity.

Thus we need to see that we walk together according to the truth of these great divine institutions, so that we experience the immense spiritual wealth that is available to us in them.

FULL KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL - READING 3

Ephesians 3:1 - 21

(Lord's Day Afternoon)

Paul had in mind to exhort the saints at Ephesus in the light of chapter 2, but then breaks off, in chapter 3 verse 2 and brings in the parenthesis, in which he brings out both in his teaching and the prayer that follows, that which becomes a kind of climax to the epistle in indicating the way of full response to God in the assembly; a response to the God, who has operated in such a wonderful way as we see in chapters 1 and 2.

He had been speaking as to both the Jews and the Nations before, but now the nations are especially in mind, and he says "I Paul, prisoner of the Christ Jesus for you nations". The mystery is involved in the bringing in of the nations, verse 6, and it leads him to speak of his ministry, both parts of which, that is the gospel and the mystery, lead to praise. It is a question whether we would have had an epistle like this apart from Christ Jesus putting him in prison. In this way the powers that be further the dispensation. These "powers that be" are sometimes used in a disciplinary way, to check the idolatry and worldliness of Christendom, in which, alas, we have our part, but we can be thankful to God that governments

favourable to the people of God, rule in the Western world at the present time. The Roman power gave Paul liberty in his own hired house, whereas the religious world would have killed him. Without protection under favourable governments, at the present time, Jezebel would not permit us to live. In countries where she is powerful we could not have meetings like this. But, in mercy, the Lord has cast her into a bed.

The two parts of Paul's ministry are set out here, first, "to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ", verse 8, and secondly, to enlighten all with the knowledge of what is the administration of the mystery, verse 9.

The "mystery of the Christ", verse 4, was opened up to Paul on the road to Damascus, when Jesus appeared to him and said "Why dost thou persecute me", and "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest". The Lord Himself thus named the assembly as His body. None but He could have done that. Paul, the one to whom this light came, was one who had already seen Christ expressed in the members of the body he had persecuted. Paul had this light, and yet moved on in a humble and quiet way until the Spirit said "Separate me now, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them", Acts 13:2. He is a model for us in this. We are not to assert ourselves, but to await God's time.

In verse 17 of chapter 2 the apostle had spoken of "the glad tidings of peace", and if we are not in the gain of this, we cannot know the "glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ", which has in view Christ's headship, and the illimitable wealth available to the assembly in Him. We experience this as His union with the assembly is practically realised, and thus we are equipped for the service of praise and worship to God.

The "administration of the mystery" is a matter of

urgent importance, for if we are in the gain of this, we shall be in the gain of the headship of Christ in the service of God, and in Him, we shall "have boldness and access in confidence by the faith of Him", which is assembly access. Hebrews 10:19 - 22 deals with individual approach.

Access in Ephesians 3 is like the glorious ascent of Solomon, and Paul bows his knees to the Father that we might be furnished so as to be fully in the matter. Heavenly principalities and authorities look on in wonder at this heavenly vessel functioning -- the assembly. Thus the service of God is consequent upon the gain of union with Christ and His headship. Have we known it? We want every believer to be in this -- "To enlighten all" so that all might function in this great vessel in the praise of God.

It is a necessity that the basic steps be taken if we are to function in the service of God. We must, firstly, be in the gain of the gospel of peace -- peace between Jew and Gentile and between man and man -- which sets us together in peace in the truth of the one new man. It is viewed as Christ's own service -- "coming, he has preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off, and the glad tidings of peace to those who were nigh". If we are not truly at peace, we cannot go on to "the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ". The gospel of peace assures that all, as pictured typically in the diverse creatures in the vessel like a sheet let down from heaven, will get on together. Other things will be beyond us unless we get this import of the gospel of peace; we will never know them. Rightly the gospel of peace will set us together in the body, which makes way for the headship of Christ and union, so that the assembly becomes available, under His headship and impulse, in the service of God.

FULL KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL - READING 4

Ephesians 4:1 - 32; Ephesians 5:1, 2

At the end of chapter three the parenthesis closes, and in chapter four the apostle commences to exhort the Ephesians as to their walk. He had already said in chapter two that God had prepared good works, that we should walk in them. Now, the apostle exhorts them in some detail concerning their walk, first, as to keeping the unity of the Spirit, which involves walking in the truth of the one body. Following this the apostle shows the care of Christ for the saints and for the body, in what He supplies for their edifying. Unless we walk according to the truth of the body we shall not experience these supplies. Then, from verse 17 on we are exhorted to walk according to the truth of the new man; and then, at the beginning of the fifth chapter, to be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love. These exhortations bear specially on our relations with one another. Finally, the apostle, with reference to our general conduct exhorts us to walk as children of light. The instructions as to walk are therefore very extensive.

In answer to a question regarding chapter 3: 10 - 12, as to whether the thought of the assembly as an entity is carried through the whole service, instead of being in our minds only in the marital phase for Christ, and in the final phase for God Himself, it was remarked that the assembly corporately goes right through the service. We gather in the light of the assembly of God in a place, and in the light of the fact that "we being many, are one loaf", 1 Corinthians 10:17, and we close with glory to God in the assembly; so that there is no departure from the thought of the assembly all through the service. In Ephesians 3 the assembly is seen in what it is for God; in chapter 1: 22 - 23 what it is to Christ. Chapter 1: 22 - 23 is more the 'downward' aspect of headship; the assembly

with Christ in his headship over all things. Chapter 3 is more the Solomon, or 'upward' aspect of headship, having in mind a full response to God.

The Song of Songs ends with the female speaker saying in the last verse, "Haste, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle or a young hart on the mountains of spices". That is the assembly, in type, speaking to her Beloved, urging Him to move upward conscious that she has capacity to move with Him. As under the influence of His love, she is ready when the time comes, to move Godward: which is always His objective. It is a peculiar delight to the heart of Christ to be so urged by His spouse. The Spirit would give her capacity to move at the same pace as He would move. He is the gazelle, and she the hind of the morning.

The assembly is a corporate idea. While the family is collective, it is to be distinguished from the assembly setting. The family setting is like the sons at home, and, while it is always in the background, the point of it is not service. The assembly on the other hand is the great vessel of service. Mr. Taylor, many years ago, said regarding the scripture "Let my son go that he may serve me", Exodus 4:23 -- how does the son serve? as a priest. Where does he serve? in the tabernacle, which is the assembly. The assembly is Christ's fulness, and, like the Ark in the tabernacle, Christ, the beloved, is enshrined in it. It thus becomes God's abode. Where could He dwell, but in the vessel where Christ is enshrined?

In the prayer in Ephesians 3 the apostle is praying "that the Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts"; praying that the assembly may be enshrined in the hearts of the saints in view of full response to God in the assembly. It is the upward aspect of headship; and His offices as Great Priest and Minister of the holy places would be included in it. In writing to the Hebrews those terms are used, because Hebrews would understand them, but to the Gentiles

Paul uses the term Head, which is the greater and inclusive title.

Every one in the assembly is a son, and we reach the liberty of this in Romans 8, which precedes Romans 12, where we have the beginning of the corporate idea -- the one body in Christ. The corporate idea involves great sensitiveness. To use a poor natural illustration, if the music of an orchestra is to be harmonious -- there are many diverse instruments -- every participant must be very sensitive as to the mind and direction of the conductor. Sonship gives us liberty to fill our part, but union with Christ is needed to make us sensitive as to the mind and direction of the Head. Individually we are joined to the Lord, one Spirit -- 1 Corinthians 6:17, and we are united together in one body by the same Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:13; the assembly thus formed is so attractive to Christ that He leaves other interests to be united to her -- Ephesians 5:31. The Spirit is the bond of union. If a man could give his spirit to his wife, how complete the oneness would be. But we have the Spirit of Christ. The assembly is thus a vessel composed of sons, but with extreme sensitiveness as to the impulses of the Head.

Kindredship is there initially, so that there is no discrepancy, we are His brethren; but, we are not detained there. When the Lord came into the midst He showed them His hands and His side, the assembly was in mind, and the great ultimate is "my God, and your God". The Lord singing in the "midst of the assembly", Hebrews 2:12, shows that the vessel is there through the service to the final point, where there is glory to God in the assembly.

The assembly personnel are always sons, but they are not a number of individual sons doing what they like. They fill their place in the vessel of praise under the direction of the King. There is no discordant note for they are all sensitive to the direction of their

Beloved. We speak to the Father as sons, but there is the link with Christ all through. The spouse of the Song of Songs morally merges into the assembly of Israel. The identity of the actual woman is not given, because it is a question of King Solomon as the Beloved of Israel. The assembly of Israel were assembled to King Solomon -- 2 Chronicles 5:6. Not until Christ becomes the Beloved of Israel in the future will the praise of God reawaken in Zion.

In the supper itself it is not our service that is in mind. We are remembering His service. It is His service that takes us in.

In Hebrews 8 the "minister of the holy places" is seated, and perhaps, we have little apprehended what it means to be seated for the service of God. His place as seated, of course, is unique. He is always an Object, even when the Father is the Object engaging us we never lose sight of Him. We could not think of the people losing sight of King Solomon for a moment. It is "Looking on the glory of the Lord", 2 Corinthians 3:18. There is a going forward in the service and everything is cumulative, there is no 'turning' as we sometimes express it, we are moving forward from one phase to another. There is some sense of God's final rest at the height of the service.

If we are walking according to the gospel of peace, we will get the gain of the unsearchable riches of the Christ, that is, Solomon in type with his riches and wisdom. He has riches of wisdom and wealth un- searchable. Solomon was the head, and the Queen of Sheba saw everything properly carried out. She saw "the food of his table", 1 Kings 10:4. It is a question of what food we have in the city, for if there is food, it proves there is good administration. Then if difficulties arise they can be dealt with. The Queen of Sheba saw "his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah", 1 Kings 10:5, and it is the ascent that is in mind in Ephesians 3. What it must be for

the heavenly principalities to see the climax of the service of God, when men in Christ forming the assembly and endowed with His wealth have "boldness and access in confidence by the faith of Him", in their approach to God. This ascent is a wonderful climax in majesty and grandeur, and the principalities look on with wonder at this boldness of approach "in confidence by the faith of him", which they will never have. They take account of the all-various wisdom of God in bringing such a thing to pass, and this from such material. As angels they watch over our walk here, but when the assembly is viewed in its dignity as the heavenly sanctuary they, too, are regarded in their dignity and called principalities and authorities in the heavenlies. All this would greatly promote the service of God in our eyes and make us value it. It is being taken account of in its highest levels by principalities and authorities, and it also would be a testimony to men, so that we would wish to have them there to witness it.

The apostle prays that we might be strengthened and furnished for this wonderful approach and service, indeed, that we might "be filled even to all the fulness of God".

In chapter 4 the apostle exhorts us to walk in dignity, and worthy of our calling "using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace", which would link with "the glad tidings of peace", Ephesians 2:12. We are to use diligence to keep this unity, for, if we do not, the whole matter of the return to God, that we have been considering will be spoilt. Therefore, the body, verse 4, the inner thing, comes first, for there is nothing more important than that. It is not a thing that is just on the surface or that we try to maintain appearances. If a man is speaking and he is not marked by all lowliness, how it grates on the hearers. Paul could say "less than the least of all saints", so we can understand how he

walked among them with all lowliness. "Bearing with one another in love" is surely all worth while that what is for God may be prospered. In Acts 20 Paul is concerned as to walk, for it is the only way that things can be preserved amongst us. Mutual respect, and affection are developed from the outset in Romans 12. God has dealt to each a measure of faith, and if God has had dealings with a person we are bound to respect him.

There are great unities marking the system in chapter 4 -- one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father and so on. One body comes first. We might have put it the other way, but the "one body" is a primary idea. Unity is essential as coming between what is for God in chapter 3, and "our struggle" in chapter 6, for if we cannot walk properly we cannot fight. If our feet are not shod with the "preparation of the glad tidings of peace", chapter 6: 6, the enemy will attack through our feet. Our "walk" really refers to our whole deportment and manner of life -- the way we conduct ourselves. The apostle then digresses from our walk to speak about how the Lord is caring for the saints and the body. If we need teaching how to walk, then there is no lack, for the gifts have come from an ascended Christ to that end. True ministry comes from the highest altitude. We may rebel against it, but we cannot resist it. The words of Stephen were irresistible. We may refuse ministry from the Man above all the heavens, but we cannot gainsay it. Ministry carries its own authority and credentials. It is to be deplored that there are so few evangelists. Many were lost in the 1890 and 1908 divisions, for they had come down to a worldly level in their service. We need to be exercised that evangelists should be raised up, who are true churchmen; evangelists, as the other gifts, are for the edifying of the body of Christ.

FULL KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL - READING 5

Ephesians 5:7 - 33; Ephesians 6:1 - 4

We have been noticing how extensively the apostle exhorts us as to walk, firstly in relation to the body, then to the new man, then as beloved children of God. Chapter 5 speaks of children of light, and this especially has in mind the testimony. As amongst men we are to shine according to the fruit of the light, which is "in all goodness and righteousness and truth". We are to prove what is agreeable to the Lord, and not to "have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness".

As the exhortation proceeds the apostle touches matters that men around us take account of. We are not to be drunk with wine -- in human fellowships they have this -- but we are to be filled with the Spirit. This is to mark all our occasions, as at the beginning of Acts. It is to be manifested in a testimonial sense, in the way we speak to ourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing to the Lord and giving thanks to Him who is God and Father, and in all this persons in contact with the meetings should see the spirit of subjection in the "submitting of yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ". Our mutual relations are marked by subjection, not because we fear one another, but because we fear Christ.

Wives, children, parents and bondmen, we are all to walk as children of light, so that we shine in every department in the testimony. This is most important, and we cannot take it up properly apart from the previous sections, that is, the full knowledge of God, the body and the new man. If we are not right bodywise, it is hopeless to think of being children of light. The testimony depends on conditions amongst us.

A question was raised as to the minister of the

sanctuary sitting, and of our sitting in the presence of God. This brings up the matter of our deportment generally in the assembly the apostle could speak of "seeing your order", Colossians 2:5, and love "does not behave in an unseemly manner", 1 Corinthians 13:5.

There was the deportment of Solomon's servants, and the "order of service of his attendants", 1 Kings 10:5. If there was anything out of order at the lower level, everything would be marred for the Queen of Sheba.

There were "three-score mighty men" around Solomon's couch, and "they all hold the sword, experts in war", Song of Songs 3:7 - 8. Then the inner side is given, verse 9 - 10. Therefore, there is the importance of our outward deportment as coming to and sitting at the Lord's supper. Like the mighty men, who would know how to stand at attention, we would know how to sit. We would not like our attitude to be less respectful than it would be if we were privileged to sit in the presence of an earthly monarch. The spouse speaks of the King sitting at His table, Song of Songs 1:12. A sense of the divine presence would govern any gathering and would bear in mind that the Spirit abides with us. Also we would consider what the heavenly principalities are seeing. What archangel would approach God in an unsuitable way?

In the outward order in 1 Corinthians 11, which precedes the supper, the woman is shown to be in the place of subjection and suitably attired. The angels take account of this. We are not in the assembly as husband and wife, and brothers would normally surround the table; so that, if numbers are sufficient, there would be no empty chairs. Of course, those with responsibility to help care for their own children must carry out their responsibilities, but in the absence of responsibilities or disabilities which

require their sitting back, brothers would normally go forward. At the same time, there is no suggestion of a complete segregation of males and females. It would not be in accord with the truth. Young men moving in sobriety can suitably sit in the front provided there is room. In the service of God the old and the young serve together -- "the small as well as the great, the teacher with the scholar", and "they cast lots", 1 Chronicles 25:8. Taking part "falls by lot" as it were -- i.e. a matter of divine sovereignty -- we do not know where the old or young will come in. In the care meeting, however, it is different, for there it is the elders that are in evidence; it is not the teacher and the scholar by lot. Elihu waited until the aged had finished speaking. We listen to what experience will say. A true elder is old in the sense of having spent many days with God. We look at the emblems and at the saints as assembled with spiritual thoughts and emotions. As we look at the saints we think of the new oblation. It is what the saints are as coming out of their dwellings, like the two wave loaves, baken with leaven, Leviticus 23:15 - 17. But the first thing is the celebration of the feast of unleavened bread; that is there is no sham. We gather in sincerity and truth. As to coming in late -- we don't, unless it is unavoidable.

In answer to a question regarding authoritative ministry, as connected with chapter 4, it was said that it comes from the Man, who has ascended up above all the heavens, and ministry is proved to be such by its being confirmed in temple enquiry in the localities world wide. The Bereans searched the scriptures daily for confirmation. The saints have the unction and the capacity for this. The enquiry in Acts 15 added nothing to what Paul had already received from the ascended Christ; Galatians 2 proves this. But he kept the unity of the Spirit by going to Jerusalem and making way for the apostles

and elders to discuss the matter, and for it to be confirmed by the Spirit in temple enquiry. He is a great example in his deportment at Jerusalem, of one who in all lowliness and meekness, etc., used diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Had he acted otherwise, there would have been division between Jewish and Gentile believers and the very purpose of his ministry -- to bring together Jew and Gentile in one body -- would have been defeated.

The great end to be reached is the body doing things of itself -- "the whole body ... works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love". Thus the more effective gift is in building up the body, the more it can be done without. Local companies become in one sense self-supporting as growing up to, and deriving from the Head.

The features of the new man come out in the conduct of the brethren to one another, and this is a testimony. The walking in love in chapter 5: 1, 2, is like the new commandment of John 13, and our walk becomes a sacrificial walk yielding comfort and edification to the brethren, and a sweet odour to God.

Then the apostle comes to what it is to be children of light in the larger sphere of responsibility. It is light in the Lord. Light shines as we move under His direction. The will of the Lord involves circumspection in our deportment in every department of life, chapter 5: 15. It is a serious thing to change our locality without His direction.

The heavenlies are in contact with the earth. Thus our natural relationships, wife and husband, children and parents, servants and masters, are carried out under the influence of heaven. In these relationships the weaker side, that is the subject position, is put first, for that is where the enemy especially attacks. It was the woman that was deceived not Adam. Therefore the wives are put before the husbands,

children before parents and bondmen before masters. "Children of light" is a fine expression, and it is a wonderful thing to be shining. We are to be the more radiant as darkness increases around.

Our comings together will be good times as we are filled with the Spirit. We are not drunk with wine, that is what the mockers said, but we shall not be of much value in the testimony unless filled with the Spirit.

As we walk as children of light it will govern our homes, for we can shine in divine light as husband and wife. It is a word for every one of us, for every day we feel our lack because of the flesh in us. But there is full testimony as we walk as children of light. As the apostle is speaking of husband and wife, his heart is so full of Christ and the assembly that he brings out the most precious things. Christ has left other interests to be united to the assembly -- how precious this is!

CHRISTIAN CONFLICT

Exodus 15:1, 3; Exodus 17:8, 9, 13; Joshua 2:8 - 11; Song of Songs 6:10. Ephesians 6:10 - 20, 23, 24

It is in mind to say a word on conflict which means fighting. We have sung to the Lord: "His be the Victor's name, Who fought the fight alone". A Christian, whether a brother or a sister, will never get on in the truth if he is not a fighting man. Characteristically he is a son of peace, and desires peace, but only peace based on righteousness and truth. Thus,

while evil is occurrent, the son of peace must be a fighting man.

It is very touching to think of the Lord Jesus as a Man of war. He has done so much. He fought the fight alone, with no man to help Him, and for this chose Calvary as the battleground, which touches every heart. The enemies He had to meet were powerful foes, against which we were powerless. As He entered upon the conflict He began to be sorrowful and deeply depressed; and He had to say to His disciples -- can you not watch with me one hour? but after taking the cup from His Father's hand, He went forward -- He was no longer depressed -- He was like the warhorse smelling the battle afar off, and prepared for the unspeakable sufferings the conflict involved. Every conflict means suffering -- "take thy share in the suffering", 2 Timothy 2:3, Paul said to Timothy. How much are we prepared to suffer? We are not to inflict suffering on others, but to suffer ourselves. The Lord was prepared for untold suffering, and He met the enemy to make a way out for us.

The enemy thought he had won the battle at the death of Jesus. The crucifixion was man's greatest sin -- man's greatest crime; and judgment must fall.

But Jesus won the battle, by taking upon Himself all our sins, all our guilt -- all the judgment upon Himself. He annulled him who has the power of death, and took away the right of the devil to accuse. The enemy was confounded. He does not know love and could not conceive what love would do. Man had done his worst, but Jesus then took all the guilt upon Himself. He not only annulled the devil, but He annulled death itself. He went into death in all that it could mean to Him as bearing and exhausting the judgment of God. "Thanks to God, who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ", 1 Corinthians 15:57. If we are not in victory it is entirely our own fault because sin, death, law, have all been dealt with.

Sin's reign has been overthrown and now grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then, looking forward, the great Warrior is about to come forth and make war in righteousness, Revelation 19:11. He judges first, and then makes war. In men's wars, the innocent suffer as well as the guilty, but not in this war. Many diadems are on His head -- there is no crown of thorns now -- He is our beloved "O mighty one, in thy majesty and thy splendour ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness", Psalm 45:3, 4. How great the majesty of that glorious Person!

In Exodus there is conflict on our part. The first attack on the people of God after they crossed the Red Sea, was at Rephidim by Amalek, and it came at a certain point when the water was flowing out of the rock. Young man, have you a satisfied heart? Have you learnt to get supplies from the rock? It is when he sees that he is in danger of losing power over you, on account of your finding satisfaction in Christ alone, that Satan attacks. He has built up a system to seduce you. His system is the world, and it is made up of the "lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life", 1 John 2:16. If you are not prepared to fight you will become a casualty. You have to learn to use the sword, or go down. Perhaps you do not like a sword, or the edge of it, but it is the only way of safety. Joshua broke the power of Amalek by the edge of the sword. The sword is used as "by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, so ye shall live", Romans 8:13. Satan attacks through the flesh by its lusts. It may be the lust of the flesh, making us dissolute and drunken; or the lust of the eyes, the desire for outward show; or the pride of life, leading us to bend all our energies to get to the top of the ladder in our earthly calling. His aim is that we should waste the best years of our

life instead of using them for God. I am to learn to use the sword against myself, and thus have Christ as my object, my motive, my satisfying portion. The Lord has called you to be for Him in testimony, do not let the enemy overcome you.

The next conflict is with Sihon and Og, and Rahab heard how the people had dealt with them. This is active warfare to capture divine territory, represented by the plains of Moab. Sihon and Og represent the pride and ease, the self-importance and self-indulgence which govern men in their circumstances here. Christians are called upon to overcome these things. It means active warfare so that our homes, businesses and local companies are held for God. Overcoming here will result in wealth, as the later chapters of Numbers and Deuteronomy show. As this area was captured by the people, there was a thrill of dismay in the hearts of the enemies in Canaan, as in the hearts of those in Acts who spoke of the apostles as those who had turned the world upside down. If we are in the gain of the Corinthians position -- which the plains of Moab typify -- no enemy can stand against us; but if we are not, then we are not fit to go over Jordan into the true inheritance.

If the plains of Moab are held for God the position is one of triumph, for we know God amongst us, see Numbers 23:24. If we are in the gain of this the enemies in the land will not deter us; but if we do not deal completely with the "land" enemies then these earlier ones, who we had thought we had overcome, will spring up again. Thus later, we find Moabites and Amorites joining the inhabitants of the land against Israel.

Ephesians really gives the great struggle, the wars of Canaan. We ought not to be detained by the wilderness enemies but to enter the land and take up the true christian conflict. "Our struggle" is really between light and darkness, and we need to walk as

children of light, because against us are the universal lords of this darkness, and they will go to any length to put the light out. In one way it is very simple. The devil, he who has the power of death has been annulled, and we are able to live in "the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of Christ who is the image of God", 2 Corinthians 4:4, so that the light shines out through us for men. But, how few are in this conflict! How many are detained by Amalek, Sihon and Og because they are half-hearted. Let us deal with these, and then thoroughly deal with the enemies in the land. If we do not dispossess the latter, "those that ye let remain of them shall be thorns in your eyes, and pricks in your sides", Numbers 33:55. Speaking of this dispensation, the enemies were never fully dispossessed and therefore there are so many thorns and pricks -- Jezebel is all around and there are numerous heresies, all of which have their source in the universal lords of darkness. The trend is to bring in something religious for every man. Those going on in the truth are like a small beleaguered city in the midst of Christendom, and Satan is ever trying to bring darkness in amongst us.

Our struggle is against the universal lords of darkness, it is not against blood and flesh. Men are just instruments, and we want to deliver them. Normally the whole church should be in the struggle, and in it as loving Christ in incorruption, verse 24, for it is in this spirit alone that warfare can be carried out successfully. It is the church militant and her Beloved, He who is the truth, is being attacked. She is "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as troops with banners". The banners are what we carry and stand for. They cover every aspect of the truth -- the fellowship -- the one body -- the one new man -- the heavenly city -- the household of God -- the temple -- the habitation of God -- the heavenly sanctuary. We would go forth and stand for every

feature, for they all stand related to our Beloved. Thus we are exhorted to stand and put on the panoply of God.

The putting on of the armour is a real exercise, for it involves victory in the previous conflicts. It is no good sending men into battle if in five minutes they are going to be casualties, and just be a burden. Therefore, we need to have each part of the panoply of God. "Having girt about your loins with truth", would connect with the loins of the mind that Peter refers to. The loins refer to strength. All the doctrines of Christianity are to be held in balance, for if one doctrine is held out of balance we have not got the truth. You then become a difficulty to the troops you are with. Then as to the breastplate, our affections are to be governed by righteousness, so that we are not loving the world. If we are not right in our homes, and business spheres, and local companies, we will have a bad conscience, and will be out of the battle.

The feet shod "with the preparation of the glad tidings of peace" would involve that there is nothing in our walk that would cause national, racial or social prejudice. We cannot be a soldier unless our feet are so shod. Then again, Satan will attack and threaten us with penalties such as losing our jobs, so we need the shield of faith to quench his inflamed darts. It would have been said to Paul when he was in prison Look where you find yourself now! If you had not been so uncompromising, you might still be free and continue public preaching. But Paul accepted it all in faith, and said he was the "prisoner of Christ Jesus".

"The helmet of salvation" would go along with hope. Long-faced people are better out of the battle. We are to be abounding "in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit", Romans 15:13, and the more we enjoy assembly privileges the greater will be our hope.

We will be looking on to the actuality, which must be far greater. A good morning meeting imbues us with hope. We will not be good soldiers without helmets.

The sword is the only weapon we need. It was all Jesus needed and the only weapon He will use when He appears. If the word of God can be brought home in power to the conscience, the conflict is over. The word of God convicts a man, and he either surrenders to Christ or turns away to destruction. We will not be able to use the sword against the theories of men and the doctrines of demons unless we have first used it against ourselves in the war with Amalek.

If we go away from this hall with the panoply on ready and able to wield the sword, we will be able to do our part in delivering men from the power of the lords of this darkness, and in keeping the saints clear from the enemy's attack.

May the Lord help us in "our struggle". There are very few in it, but perhaps more than we think. Soon the Lord will come; there will be a shining, the city will be shining, therefore we want to come out like it, and shine for Jesus now. As our faces are shining, and we use the sword of the Spirit we shall be able to deliver others. May it be so for His Name's sake!