Matthew 12:18 - 21; Psalm 45; Song of Songs 2:16; Song of Songs 5:10, 15 - 16; Ephesians 1:3 - 7

I wish by the Spirit's help, dear brethren, to say a word about the Beloved. It is a title which Scripture attaches to only one Person. What an object of love the Lord Jesus is! As regards the world, He is the most hated of men; rejected, despised, cast away as worthless, treated with every indignity. But while the most hated by unregenerate men, He is the only one in the Bible who carries the title of the Beloved; what a wonderful thing to have an appreciation of the One who is the Beloved! All our blessing depends upon our being drawn to Him, delivered from the current of the world which has hated and rejected Him, and brought into the current of the Spirit where He is glorified. What grace, then, that we are all here tonight as those who can say that we do love the Lord Jesus! "If anyone love not the Lord Jesus Christ", the apostle says, "let him be accursed at his coming", -- a terrible thing! (1 Corinthians 16:22).

The Lord Jesus speaks of Himself as being loved before the foundation of the world by the One whom in Manhood He could address as Father. (John 17:24). As to the abstract relations of Deity we cannot penetrate into them, but we know there must be relations of infinite love, for God is love. Then, if we think of the eternal purposes of love, all centred in the Lord Jesus; all looked on to the Incarnation; all things were created by Him and for Him, all in view of the Incarnation. God's plans thus centred in Jesus,

and centred in Jesus as in Manhood. In Manhood He has this wonderful title, the Beloved. I say we cannot penetrate the infinite love that marks the relations of Deity but we can understand how divine love centred in Him, and how the thought of the incarnation was ever present in purposes which centred in Jesus. But think of Him coming! "Coming into the world" He says. No one could impose that on Him, His coming into the world. Read what J.N.D. says about that in the Synopsis on Hebrews 10, referring to that statement the Lord made as about to become incarnate. "Coming into the world he says, Sacrifice and offering thou willedst not; but thou hast prepared me a body ... Lo, I come ... to do, O God, thy will". He came to die. In dying He was the glorious Antitype of all the offerings of old. How much He was loved as coming into that new condition! "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee". And then the word, "I will be to him for father, and he shall be to me for son". (Hebrews 1:5). And if such a One came forth, the One who was with God and was God, if such a One became flesh, how God, as it were, exulted that He should come into that relationship, so as to be able to say, "Thou art my Son ... I will be to him for father, and he shall be to me for son". You can understand what an Object He was as thus born; how heavenly hosts were moved to praise! And then see Him at His baptism, "Thou art my beloved Son"! What an Object of affection at that point, Himself beginning to be about 30 years of age, the age when all the faculties of a man are fully developed! What delight to God! "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight". "Growing up before him as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry

ground", (Isaiah 53:2), and now in the full vigour of Manhood, God could say to Him, "In thee I have found my delight". Think of Him further, that He could say, "On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again ... I have received this commandment of my Father". What Object He was of the Father's love as He moved on to lay down His life, saying, "the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" And then think of His coming forth from death -- "raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father". Think of the joy then between the Father and the Son! All the work of suffering now behind -- the atoning sufferings -- that cup of bitterest woe. It was all over. Love had sustained it all. And the triumph too in His being raised from the dead by the Father's glory. "He hath put a new song in my mouth" He says (Psalm 40:3). The Lord Jesus rose from the grave with a song in His mouth which, speaking with all reverence, could not have been sung had He not become incarnate.

It is wonderful to think of the One by whom all things began to be, by whom all things subsist, coming into a position where He could have experiences which were not possible in the glory of Deity; His coming into a condition where He learned obedience from the things which He suffered, and was able to have experiences of the deepest sorrow; it says, of one momentous hour, that He began to be sorrowful and deeply depressed; and exclaimed, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death". Think of Jesus -- God over all blessed for ever, One with the Father and the Spirit in Deity -- coming into a condition where He would have such experiences,

and going through them all, even the atoning sufferings, when deep called unto deep at the noise of God's cataracts! Think of Him coming through all that, and the joy of coming forth, and, we might say, the relief of all being over! "He hath put a new song in my mouth". J.N.D. asks whether we can join in the stirring song that He sings when in resurrection He comes forth from all the sufferings?

Think of the Father's joy too, now that all is over, for who can know what the Father suffered to see the Son suffer? We cannot measure that at all. Genesis 22 is just a type, "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest". Think of the Father's joy that it was all over. What joyful exultation! We might say, it goes on, it never ceases; and we are to be brought into it. Similarly, think of the joy of the Holy Spirit! Think of the Holy Spirit's part in the whole matter from the time when it was said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God". How the Holy Spirit had moved throughout, coming upon the Lord at His baptism, leading Him in (Matthew says carrying Him, and Mark driving Him, into) the wilderness; how right through His pathway the blessed Spirit was with Him, and then by the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9:14). Can you fathom what all that meant to the Holy Spirit? Scripture speaks a great deal of the Holy Spirit's feelings, even from the outset of creation according to Genesis. But think of what it meant to the Holy Spirit when Jesus offered Himself by the Eternal Spirit without spot to God! So we can now think of

the Holy Spirit. If there is joy on the part of the three Divine Persons, set out in the parables in Luke 15, over one repenting sinner; think of the supreme joy when Jesus went into heaven, victorious over death, the joy at the terrible sufferings being past! And a glorious Man, the Beloved being up in glory. We cannot attempt to measure it, the joy of the Father's heart, the joy of God.

In all these matters we can see how Jesus is the Beloved. And really Matthew is a gospel of the Beloved. It opens as the book of the generations of Jesus Christ, Son of David, and David means 'beloved', and Solomon, David's Son was, too, "beloved" (2 Samuel 12:25). So Matthew's gospel is the gospel of the Beloved, the One who is the Root and the Offspring of David. Solomon was in the type son from birth, God said, "I will be his father, and he shall be my son". So he was a son from birth, as it were, and beloved on that account. That is one view of Christ. Another view is the David view, and David became beloved because of his moral worth. Both these views centre in Christ, and Matthew has specially that latter side in mind in the passage I read. God says, "Behold my servant". He tells us to look at Him; we need to take account of this word "Behold". Fix your whole vision on Him. "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen", that is the David view of it. David had been "chosen out of the people", chosen because of his moral worth. God says, "I will make him firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth". We need to keep both views of Christ in our minds, to know Him as the Only-begotten, the only Son of the Father, but then as loved because of His moral excellency. Everything about

Jesus justifies the divine choice of Him and of no one else. God speaks of His soul, "in whom my soul has found its delight". Has your soul ever been moved when you looked upon Jesus? God would love to see all our souls moved thus. In view of His moral worth and beauty, who would not worship the King? God says, "My Beloved in whom my soul has found its delight". We do not often read of God's soul being moved, but it is moved in regard of Christ. And it is because He is the Beloved that He is the King. God says, "I will put my Spirit upon him". That means that He is the King, He is the Anointed. "And he shall shew forth judgment to the nations". (Isaiah 42:1). You make Him your King! God wants us to do what He has done. God says, "My Beloved" with a view to our saying 'Jesus is our Beloved'. God says, "I will put my Spirit upon him;" He is the Anointed, He is the Christ, He is the Head over all things in heaven and on earth, the only Man worthy to be so. And God would have us to view Him in just the same way. The Father wants us to be in communion with Himself in His thoughts concerning His Son. He has given us His Spirit that it might be so.

He has put His Spirit upon Him, but in the greatness of the Father's grace He has put His Spirit upon us too that we might be in communion with Him in His thoughts of the Son. In what is said about the Son here there is no suggestion -- nor could there be -- of publicity. "He shall not strive or cry out". He was here to glorify God Himself. "A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench". (Isaiah 42:3). How tenderly He regarded the work of God! "Destroy not him with thy meat", the apostle says, "for whom Christ has died". (Romans 14:15).

A weak brother with a conscience about meat or drink is just a smoking flax; but there is something that is burning. Observe the tender and graciously gentle way the Lord deals with all those in whom there is a work of God, however small; in great contrast -- sad to say -- to other things we know only too well. Oh! to take character as learning from God's Servant, His Beloved! Think of the tender way the Lord has ever dealt with His own! Whoso handles them roughly misrepresents his Master. Peter failed about seven times that we know of. There was great failure there; what a bruised reed Peter was! But then the Lord would never break a bruised reed. Man in the flesh is a broken reed. The Lord Jesus would deal so skilfully and gently with His own that they would never be broken. Peter having failed, the Lord turning round looked at him, and Peter went away and wept bitterly. But the Lord in resurrection grace appeared first to Peter, that very bruised reed, that it might not become a broken reed. Beloved brethren, that is how we need to deal with each other; we learn this from the Lord. So when He comes to His own He says, "Peace be unto you". They had all forsaken Him and fled. But He says, "Peace be unto you". "Not as the world gives give I unto you". The world would not treat failing servants like that. The world would dismiss them in disgrace. But the Lord says, "Peace be unto you". How we love His voice! Peter might have thought, "It is all right saying Peace to the others, but it cannot mean me". He had thought he was the best brother, but he found he was the worst. But the Lord saw Peter privately, to make sure that when He said, "Peace be unto you" Peter should not feel that he was excluded.

Now I pass on to Psalm 45. It is "An instruction". God would instruct each one of us as to making a song of the Beloved, and this song would help us. It is a Psalm; it is as the result of beholding God's King, that the pure heart and mind begins to make a song of the Beloved. It is a delight to God to hear songs of the Beloved going up. The heading of the psalm says. "Upon Shoshannim" which means Lilies. That is how saints become lilies, by being occupied with the Beloved. There is not much of the lily character about those who get occupied with the wrong man. They put on other features. But if you get occupied with God's Beloved, 'so spotless, pure in all His ways', you become like that. The lily suggests purity, chasteness, fragrance. Let us give our whole attention to this One whom God calls attention to, and we shall become lilies. It says in the Song of Songs, "He feeds his flock among the lilies". What environment for the feeding of the flock, so that they are found nourished in features so pure and chaste, their affections bound up with and taking character from Himself! So in this song, which one might call an objective view, the heart wells forth with a good matter and ranges over the glories of the King, the Beloved. God's thought of a king is that he is the beloved of His people, and that he reigns in love, not by fear. He has the willing allegiance of the hearts of all His people. So this Psalm of the Beloved goes over the glories of the King, His moral glories, His glories as the warrior King who overthrows every enemy, His glories on the throne and as wielding the sceptre, and His glories as in His palace -- it is a wonderful thing to be in the palace for that is where the queen is. And

so God would help us tonight to make our composition concerning the King. If we do so we shall delight the heart of God, be a help to the brethren, and full of testimony to men, able to speak well of Christ among men. The Spirit would enable us to compose our song of the Beloved.

But in the Song of Songs the spouse takes the matter to herself; it is not now the Beloved but my Beloved. What an amazing thing it is when the heart realizes that the One who is God's Beloved and the Beloved can be my Beloved; so that each one of us can say, "My Beloved is mine" and then "and I am his". You may say, 'that is really the assembly speaking', and I do not deny that in the fulness of it, it is the assembly. But I believe we need to come individually also into the relationship of the wife, the spouse. It should be something that is real to us every day, "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit". According to Romans 7 we are to be married to Another, who has been raised up from among the dead; so that we are to be able to say individually, "My Beloved is mine and I am his". This is the secret side of the intense affections which exist between the spouse and the Beloved. How our hearts enter feelingly into this passage as not only knowing, but possessing, Him as our own. "My Beloved is mine and I am his". What rapture! "In his shadow have I rapture and sit down; and his fruit is sweet to my taste". Then she can describe him. She says, "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand". He is Chief to God, He is Chief to the Father. The Father has made Him Chief and so that is what He is to me, "the chiefest among ten thousand". "His bearing

as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars". How choice a bearing and even under the greatest pressure! As when before Pilate He went out after being scourged -- and a Roman scourging is a terrible thing -- crowned with thorns, a purple robe upon Him, blows had been given Him on the face. He had been spat upon -- He went forth, "Jesus went forth without" it says "wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe". And Pilate was so greatly impressed with the bearing of Jesus --"his bearing as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars" -- under the onslaught of the greatest provocation, that Pilate as it were involuntarily says, "Behold the Man!" God had said, "Behold my servant", Pilate exclaims in wonder at the majesty and moral greatness with which Jesus went forth, "Behold the Man". In the midst of such truly unique and regal majesty, shining through all the mockery, Pilate became the more afraid on account of Him. He says finally, "Behold your King!" So we can well say, "His bearing as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars; his mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, yea, this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem". The idea of friend is a bosom thought and, of course, where things are right no man can have a bosom friend to compare with his wife. If things are right she shares all his secrets. And that is fully so between Christ and His spouse. When we come to this point, what would not Christ trust us with! We become each His confidant. And of course the Church is that 'par excellence', the confidant of Christ. How wonderful then to be in the assembly, where all are lovers of the Lord Jesus!

Now I pass on for a moment to Ephesians. We have been talking today of home life, and here we

have it. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has "marked us out beforehand for sonship through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has taken us into favour in the Beloved". This is home life. "Taken into favour in the Beloved". Our home is in His bosom, the bosom of the Father's affections, and the Father takes us into favour in the Beloved. That love which embraces Him embraces us in Him. The Father's love embraces all. Now that is home life. The Spirit is here that it might be a great reality to us. Let us go in for it! The Spirit will be entirely with us to help us in going in for this, to know our true, our eternal home, in the Father's presence, consciously embraced with Jesus in the Father's love, taken into favour in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood. Nothing at all to hinder. Love has removed all hindrances and we have redemption through His blood; the blood of the Beloved, and the forgiveness of offences "according to the riches of his grace which he has caused to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence, having made known to us the mystery of his will". Now this bears out what we have been saying today, that things begin with home life properly speaking, and work out from that. So that to those who know home life, and their place in divine affections and thus know that they have eternal life, living now in eternal relationships, God causes the riches of His grace to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence making known to us the mystery of His will. That is to say that those who know these home conditions are trusted with divine secrets. It is again the bosom

idea. These divine secrets are comprised in the mystery of God's will, and He takes us into conditions of home life with the closest relations with the Son and with the Father; and with our hearts thus bound up in divine love, we abiding in God and God in us, He delights to introduce us into the secrets of divine love, what divine love would tell us. And, you know, what love would tell us, only love can take in; only love can understand what love conceives. It does not call for a brilliant brain to understand it. In Ephesians 3 Paul prays that the Father would strengthen us with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that the Christ, (the Beloved) might dwell, through faith, in our hearts, being rooted and founded in love. It does not even say founded in the letter of scripture, but founded in love -- in order that we might be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3). What is necessary to acquire divine intelligence is love. We are to be rooted and founded in love, in those affections proper to divine home life. And from that point you can understand everything, all that love planned. So it says the riches of God's grace have been caused by Him to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence, having made known to us the mystery of His will ... We may not understand much about this mystery, if as yet we do not know much about home life. Maybe we do not yet know what it is to abide in love and to abide in God and God in us. It may be just a verse of scripture to us. But if we are abiding in God and God abiding in us by His Spirit, our heart is there; we dwell there. A man when asked as to where he

lives states his home, not his business, address. So a Christian going about his daily work, fulfilling the responsibilities of this life, ought to be able to say in answer to the question where do you live? 'Well, I dwell in God and God in me. I carry out my home duties and my business duties as coming out from where I really live'. What a wonderful thing it would be if that were true of us all! So, as I say, that is the way of divine intelligence, the more we know of this divine home life the more we shall be able to apprehend the whole scope of the mystery of God's will, that which He is about to bring into display, a universe headed up in Christ. Let us then be rooted and founded in this inward side of things, with Christ as our Beloved, and we embraced with Him in the Father's love.

THE BEGINNING AND THE END

Colossians 1:18; Revelation 3:14; Revelation 21:5,6; Revelation 22:10 - 13; Psalm 150.

I wish, dear brethren, to speak of beginnings, and then of Jesus as the Beginning, and of the One who speaks of Himself as the Beginning and the End. The One who speaks of Himself as the Beginning and the End is before all beginnings. John the Baptist said of the Lord Jesus that He was before John himself, but it says in Colossians, "He is before all"; and the One who is before all beginnings, must be the Source of every beginning. So the Scriptures commence, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". Every beginning involves fresh acts on the part of God and Psalm 150 says, "Praise him in his mighty acts". There has been praise to God relative to all His operations, and that praise will grow in volume and go on to eternity. God said to Job, "Where wast thou when I founded the earth ... when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" That is not recorded in Genesis chapter 1 but actually that is what was then happening, the morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God were shouting for joy to see the earth founded.

Of course, the first verse of Genesis goes back before that. We do not know when angels were created but they come into that first verse, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". Angels are created beings. When God founded the earth, in view of His purposes for man, the morning

stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Another thought about the acts of God is that they are always marked by perfect wisdom. It says in Proverbs, in chapter 8, where Wisdom is speaking, "Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old"; so that, whereas man may tell us that the creation happened by chance, and has moved on in an automatic kind of way; Scripture denies that. It tells us that God possessed wisdom "in the beginning of his way, before his works of old"; that means that everything was according to plan. Everything that God has done has been according to plan; and from Proverbs we learn that, from the very outset, wisdom's delights were with the sons of men; that is, so far as this present creation is concerned, man was in view from the beginning, before the "works of old". And, of course, Colossians confirms that, because it says all things were created by Christ and for Christ. Primarily, Christ was the Man that was in view before the works began. Paul's doxologies enter into all this; in his doxology to God as Creator he says, the Creator is "blessed for ever". Who can say that now but a Christian? Speaking of God as Creator "who is blessed for ever" -- not only because of His goodness expressed in creation; but as Christians we know the meaning of the creation; "All things were created by him and for him". This world was not created as a stage for display of man's glory and power; men are using it that way at the moment. They strut feverishly across the world's stage for a little while for the display of themselves, but they soon perish for ever and their name with them. But the Christian knows that all things were created by

Christ and for Christ -- every mountain and hill and river and valley and island, all things visible and invisible, were created by Christ and for Him. And He is soon going to be manifested, the One who is "before all things", and we shall see then fully that all things created by Him were for Him.

Then we are told in Ephesians that God "created all things, in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God according to the purpose of the ages". If we know that now as a reason for the creation, it ought to put us all on our mettle, on the alert. Think of God creating "all things in order that now ..".we think of Christ filling all things in a future day, but what about now? You may say that creation is not serving any purpose now; but that is not so at all. Everything is working out according to God's will, the counsel of His will. And so, "God ... created all things, in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God". Wisdom is seen in creation; but God's all-various wisdom is seen in the assembly. And that being so, there is no need of regimentation and sameness in the assembly. God's great thought is unity in variety, "all-various wisdom". Even as to the gifts, there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit, that is diversity in unity; "Each according as he has received a gift, ministering it to one another, as good stewards of the various grace of God;" (1 Peter 4:10). There is a great service for each believer which is inimitable and has its own uniqueness, and we are to minister

to one another the various grace of God. There is great variety, and there are great things going on at the moment; creation is not in any way in vain at the moment; all things are working together for good to those who love God; and all things are working together in relation to those who form the assembly, so that even now the all-various wisdom of God might come into display before principalities and authorities in the heavenlies, even though the earthly authorities take no notice of it. All this should magnify the Creator in our minds and, as I say, help us as to the doxologies, because the fact that God possessed Wisdom in the beginning of His way enters into the doxologies in Romans. His purposes were conceived before the work began, His purpose as to Christ and the assembly. So Paul in those doxologies speaks of the Creator, and of Christ; and the riches of wisdom of God's judgments and ways in chapter 11 saying, "For of him and through him and for him are all things: to him be glory for ever". Then at the end of the epistle he speaks of "the only wise God ... to whom be glory for ever". So that our hearts should be full of praise. The separate doxologies all merge into one another.

And then if we think of that great beginning, the Incarnation -- Creation was in view of the incarnation -- again there is a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God, and they say "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men". (Luke 2:14). It is wonderful to think that each step in God's ways has brought forth praise. Praise has not failed at all. The enemy would rob God of His praise but the praise has been there. What praise there was in the beginning of Luke -- what utterances!

Who of us here could compose such things as were composed in chapters 1 and 2 by persons filled with the Holy Spirit? All this was evoked by the incarnation. So at the time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 -- "Every day ... praising God and having favour with all the people". What praises were resounding in Jerusalem! We have often thought that probably there was a meeting place in every street; thousands were converted, and there would be praises to God from every street after the coming down of the Holy Spirit.

And all this is to culminate in the great Hallelujahs of Psalm 150. We read Psalm 150 in the light of Christianity; that is to say, not only in the light of the world to come -- although we love the world to come and speak of it -- but we read the Psalm too in the light of the notes of universal praise that will continue all through eternity. We know that what will give the lead to this universal ascription of praise will be the glory accruing to God from the assembly in Christ Jesus, the assembly giving the lead. In the assembly there will be ascribed glory to God in the highest, and the whole universe will become responsive in praise to God, every other family taking its cue as it were from the assembly. So the Psalm says, "Hallelujah! Praise God in his sanctuary". We may regard the sanctuary as His own supreme dwelling-place, but, so far as regards the created sphere, His sanctuary in that eternal day will be the assembly. "Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in the firmament of his power". In the expanse of God's power there will be the features of light and rule corresponding to the great light, the small light and the stars of Genesis chapter 1: seen in Christ and the

assembly, the heavenly city, being placed there by divine power. And "Praise him in his mighty acts; praise him according to the abundance of his greatness". What a time to look on to! Scripture speaks of the end; Paul says, "Then the end". (1 Corinthians 15:24). What an end! God has been the Source of beginnings, but what an end! The end is universal praise; the Son delivering up the kingdom to Him who is God and Father; the mediatorial kingdom is terminated with a view to God Himself being "all in all"; the Eternal King, the King of the ages, the One to whom we render "honour and eternal might" in praise. We look on in that sense to the eternal day, the King of the ages; it says "to him be honour and glory to the ages of ages". (1 Timothy 1:17).

Now all this is to be known in the assembly now in a spiritual and anticipative way. We may touch the eternal day in our spirits now. You say, "How can we do it?" Well, the verse in Revelation 21 shows how we do it. "And he that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new". That is the last of God's mighty acts to bring out these greatest notes of praise. And then He said to John, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely". That shows that we can touch it at the present time. The One on the throne made an announcement, "Behold I make all things new", and then He turned with a word in private to His bondman, John. As John records, "He said to me, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely". That means that if your soul is thirsty for those eternal conditions, you will

surely get your thirst met. The eternal conditions are presented to us in order that this soul-thirst may be met. This is not the thirst of the sinner in connection with his need, but the thirst to possess God in the fullest way that the creature can, to have God in His fulness, "filled to all the fulness of God", reaching to the eternal scene. If the soul is athirst for that, the One on the throne says to such thirsty soul, that he will get what he is thirsting for. "I will give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely". You may be thirsting to touch eternity, in your spirit. God wants you there; He would help us to be there. And unless we touch that in our spirits and touch it freely, God does not get fully His praise. We can be sure God will get it in the day when it will be actually said, "Behold, I make all things new", but the Spirit is here to bring eternity into the present, to give us a foretaste of it now. So Paul could already say, "The old things have passed away; behold all things have become new". They had already become new for Paul in the power of the Spirit. And it is only as that is so that God gets adequate praise at the present time. So we touch finality. We not only touch beginnings but the end. That is the way to glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus now. And it is in some way an adequate return to God now and, as I say, God desires it more than we could, and if we are thirsting for it we may reach it now in the power of the Spirit. God says, "I will give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely". We should go in for these things until we know them freely, really touch these eternal matters freely; and then God will be given such an outburst of praise at the present time that will give

pleasure to His heart. There will be incense and a pure oblation offered to the great King in every place, (see Malachi 1:11); and full hearts poured out to Him as anticipating the eternal day. We may all reach that in our spirits at the present time. If there is any hindrance it is with us. Who can withstand the One on the throne, the One who has done all from the beginning, and who finally says, "Behold, I make all things new"? Who can stand against Him?

He says, "He that overcomes shall inherit these things and I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son". Let us go in for these things, dear brethren, not only for our sake, because there is no full satisfaction of heart for us unless we reach that, there will still be thirst of some kind unless we reach that -- but also for the heart of God. And then on Lord's Day morning the experience will be cumulative because we shall expand in the knowledge of God in His greatness and blessing, and in the eternal day God Himself will be our eternal portion. We shall possess untold blessing -- every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ -- but we shall not be occupied with our blessings, but with the Blesser, and in being occupied with the Blesser we really touch the greatest thoughts of all -- God Himself being our portion. So there is an ever-expanding yield for God and all for His glory; there are 14 doxologies to God in the epistles and Revelation, and not one of them is a repetition, 14 notes of praise to God, each distinctive. What enlargement in and response in the gain of the knowledge of God! We read four of these doxologies today. In fact if you count those relative to the Lord Jesus, there are 19 or 20; if you count also those to both God and Father, there are

about 25 or 26. But to God as God there are 14. And you see how much we need to know God in each aspect of His glory, and the more we know Him as Father and know the intimacy of home relations the more we shall know how to glorify Him as God in the vast range of His glory as God. We must begin with knowing Him as Father, and the more we know of that the more we shall want to know His glory in every respect. And that is what is involved in Psalm 150. The assembly has a peculiar place as giving character to the praise of the universe. What a wonderful thing to be in that now, in the sphere where no failure of man can deprive God of His response! We need to go forward with God, to go forward in the knowledge of God. We may be detained. And so in chapter 22 the word is, "Let him that does unrighteously do unrighteously still; and let the filthy make himself filthy still". Let us not be detained by these things. He says, "The time is near". There is no time to be detained, you cannot afford to waste a minute, "The time is near. Let him that does unrighteously do unrighteously still". Do not get occupied with persons' unrighteousness; do not get occupied with the evil that has surged in at the present time, do not feed on it, there is not time; the time is near. Jesus is about to come. So that whatever folly and evil is being done by others even in Christ's name, he that is with God will pray for the deliverance of such; but you have not time to stop and look at it and be occupied with it; the word is "Let him that does unrighteously do unrighteously still". That is to say, I am not going to be detained by it. "And let the filthy make himself filthy still". I am sorry about them and sorry for them, but I have not time to stop.

the time is near. "And he that is holy, let him be sanctified still". If through grace there is holiness with us, let us get on with that. "And let him that is righteous practise righteousness still". 'Our path is on with earnest haste', for the Lord is coming quickly. Think of the way He presents Himself "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward with me to render to every one as his work shall be". We do not want to miss the reward. "Hold fast what thou hast that no one take thy crown". (Revelation 3:11). He will "render to every one as his work shall be". We must hasten on, and, as to every work we have to do, let us get on with the work.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end". Well, in the light of that what can you do but fall on your face? In the previous chapter God is speaking from His throne. He says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end;" He had said, "Behold I make all things new;" But here it is Jesus saying it, the One who is coming quickly, He is saying the same words. He is God over all blessed for ever, this glorious Man, and He has a right to say the very same words as God Himself. He says I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Do you know Jesus like that? If you think of Jesus like that, all you can do is to fall on your face, prostrate before Him. He is the One with whom you have to do. We all have to stand before His judgment-seat. "My reward with me to render to every one as his work shall be". Wonderful thing, the mystery of the Person of Christ. In the eternal state the Son shall be placed in subjection that God may be all in all; and yet, nevertheless, the Son is

what He is: the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Although retaining Manhood in the eternal state, and although He takes a subject place and His glories as Man -- as the Christ for instance -- recede so that God in His supreme greatness may be before all, that God may be all in all, yet He never ceases to be God Himself. Think of the King on the throne making a proclamation, "Behold, I make all things new", and then, seeing His beloved bondman there at His side, He says to him "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end". John would thus know that if he were to distinguish Persons, it was really Jesus speaking then; but He is not speaking in the display of His own glory, in a sense, but speaking on behalf of God. He is God and yet He is speaking on behalf of God. The One on the throne will for ever be Jesus. All that is to be seen of God will be seen in Him. The glory of the Father shines in Him, in Him we know the Father; the Father is a separate Person, but we know the Father in the Son. As to the glory of God in His nature, the effulgence of God's glory, we see it in the Son. We also see God's majesty in the Son. Earlier it speaks of the great white throne and One sitting on it. We are not told who the Person is but it is God, and yet the One in whom God is seen is Jesus. "In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily". (Colossians 2:9). It is not His glories as man that are being displayed but what He is as the One in whom all the fulness dwells. And on that great white throne, it says, is One from whose face the earth and the heaven fled. Now we can look on the face of Jesus with unveiled face -- that is the privilege of those who form the assembly. But think

of that face in its majesty -- "from whose face the earth and the heaven fled, and place was not found for them". It is good to get some sense of the majesty of God in the One in whom is all the fulness of God, the One who says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega" -- all that can be expressed is seen alone in Him, all that can be expressed of God and His mind and will, all that can be expressed orally, all that can be expressed in writing; He is the Alpha and the Omega. All this makes us consider how great a matter was the Incarnation! And when we think of Jesus as the glorified Man in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and who is the Alpha and the Omega the very expression of everything that is to be known of God, and He is the First and the Last, none was before Him and none will come after Him, and He is the Beginning and the End, the Source of everything; He is the Beginning, before all and the Source of all other beginnings and He is the End. To Him our worship will flow eternally. And He is the Beginning and the End for each one of us individually. We have to begin with God as creatures in repentance, and faith, and then as brought into the family, we learn the Father and the intimacy of family relationships; but we end with God, extolling Him in the greatness of His eternal Being. He is the Beginning and the End, not only to each of us but, to the whole universe.

Now I read two scriptures that speak of Jesus as the Beginning but I do not propose to dwell at length on them as I have been led in the other direction; but it speaks of Him as the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead. We need to remember that new creation is based on resurrection. Everything connected with the old man is passed away; old things

are passed away from God's sight, as Revelation 21 states, "the former things have passed away". They had already passed away in Paul's mind and heart and they should have done in our minds and hearts. The old things have passed away. Our old man has been crucified, and is dead and buried, vicariously, and should never be revived. Jesus is the Beginning: there is to be nothing but what takes character from Him, from the risen Man from among the dead; all the old order left behind and gone in the grave. Think of Jesus as the Beginning of a system of life, life out of death. He is the Beginning of that vast scene in which God will rest, which is all in the power of His resurrection, and where there is nothing but Christ; He gives character to everything. That is the Tabernacle system, every item in it speaks typically of Christ; there was nothing but Christ there. And thus it is true abstractly of the new man today, Christ formed in the saints; for speaking of the new man, it says Christ is everything and in all. If only we could be true to the death of Christ, recognising that our old man has been crucified and buried, we should have a sphere even now on earth where in actual fact Christ is everything and in all.

Then in the last passage which we read, from Revelation, the Lord says. "I am the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God". We can think of Him thus as the Source of it, for even as to the first creation all things began to be through Him. As to the new creation, it says "that he might form (or create) the two in himself into one new man". Thus even as to new creation, Jesus is the great Operator, Creator, creating us in Himself into one new man. So He is the Beginning as the

Source, but then again He is the Beginning as the Pattern. Jesus has become the Pattern of the new order, new creation; all takes character from Him. Well, may God so help us that our appreciation of Christ and our appreciation of God Himself may be increased; remembering though we cannot fully grasp it, that Christ is so great, that not only is it said of God as such that He is "the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end", but it can be said by that coming Saviour, "I come quickly ... I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end". That is the One, of unspeakable greatness, who is our Saviour, our Lord, our Head. Let it sink into our hearts! Then He goes on to the language of love, "I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning Star". This truth does not nullify the other. That One who is so near to us and loved by us is the bright and morning star and the Root and Offspring of David. In His own Person He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, and He is the Beginning and the End. Let us then, because of our nearness to Him, bow down and worship before Him, and give Him that assembly response from our hearts that no other company but the assembly can give, for His Name's sake!

LIVING STONES

1 Peter 1:1 - 9; 1 Peter 2:1 - 10.

The words that I have read were written by the one of whom the Lord said he was a stone: "Thou art Peter". They were written by the sample living stone in Matthew's gospel. It is well to listen to what he said. One thing that his writings prove is that persons who are really living stones are never defeated; they are not overcome by circumstances. Indeed they thrive in adversity; on that account the gates of hades cannot prevail against the assembly. The gates of hades cannot destroy the foundations -- Christ Himself -- "on this Rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of hades cannot prevail against it", the Lord said. They cannot prevail over those who have truly come to Jesus, and maintained that as a characteristic of their lives -- coming to Jesus the glorified Man. They are able to resist the devil himself, as Peter exhorts at the end. He is writing to other living stones, he is not the only one. He speaks of "the devil as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist, steadfast in faith, knowing that the self-same sufferings are accomplished in your brotherhood which is in the world".

In one way, though there is much that is very sorrowful about it, it is a privilege to have had part in the sufferings of the past year or two. So there are many privileged persons here tonight; because in the sufferings we prove many things; and perhaps one of the most important things is we learn to test our foundation, as to where we stand, and in so doing our links with the Lord are greatly strengthened. We learn as a habit of life to come to Him as a living

Stone. We must get into our minds that this idea of coming to Jesus is a continual thing to be done every day, and it may be many times a day: "He that comes to me shall never hunger". We need several good meals a day; we need to come to Jesus. "If any one thirsts let him come to me and drink". We get thirsty; let us come to Jesus. It means we are living, characteristic believers -- believing every moment: "Ye believe on God, believe also on me", Jesus said. They are the kind of people that cannot be overthrown by the enemy's power; because John said: "And this is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith" (1 John 5:4). So Peter's last word in the first epistle is: "whom resist, steadfast in faith".

I have spoken of the assembly; it is interesting too that Peter uses his own phraseology, and brings forward his own impressions. His view of the assembly is that it is a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. We must keep in mind that there are diversities (distinctions) of gifts, but one Spirit; but if ministry is really of God there will be no copying one another's phrases. Each servant has his own link with God and expresses things according to that link; and so, while there are distinctions of gifts, Paul says "the planter and the waterer are one" in the scripture we had this afternoon. He was referring to himself and Apollos; you could understand him better if he was referring to himself and Timothy, his child in the faith; but he was speaking of himself and Apollos. Apollos was a man who had his own line of things from the Lord; but Paul said they were one; that is what marks ministry that comes from Christ -- there is diversity, but oneness, all operative to the same great end. And we need to remember too that the great end in view is God Himself, and therefore His house, And on the way to that is Christ Himself and the satisfaction of His heart as Man -- in having

us as living stones with Him. So whatever the gift is, it is working to the one great end. According to Ephesians 4, all the particular gifts mentioned there are for the edifying of the body of Christ -- gifts are for building up. Paul had power to overthrow too -- that is needed at times -- but the great point is what he says that the authority he received was for building up and not for overthrowing. And all gifts are for building up, even the evangelists. When I say 'even' the evangelist, I don't mean that it is the least gift; by no means, it is one of the greatest gifts. But there is always the danger of separating the gospel from the church. The evangelist is for the building up of the body of Christ, and for the establishment of the "habitation of God in the Spirit" down here. He is bringing in material; he loves souls; he yearns for souls to be saved. But his greatest joy is that he is bringing material for the house of God -- bringing in the cedars of Lebanon.

How good it is to get back to Divine thoughts on these matters! Peter had his own way of putting things, and he refers to the spiritual house and the living stones. But he is addressing his epistle to the sojourners of the dispersion, or as the Authorised Version says, "The strangers scattered abroad". There has been a scattering, dating back a long way in history; and no doubt many he was writing to have been evangelised in the places to which they were scattered. You know, scattering is a very unpleasant thing to nature. And there is a scattering in the Acts after the stoning of Stephen. No doubt some of those scattered were included in these. Think of them; many were living stones in a real and practical way. The scattering proved it, and brought into relief what those people were; brought out the gold tried by the fire. It says, those scattered abroad after the stoning of Stephen went everywhere evangelising the word. Peter says here, in thinking of their suffering,

"Wherein ye exult for a little while, at present, if needed, put to grief by various trials". Think of the trials of those brethren! Refugees going out of Jerusalem, where they have had big meetings; a great spiritual system had been working in Jerusalem; and away they go to strange cities in twos and threes, may be. In similar circumstances, persons, who are not living stones, would be filled with despondency. Some are filled with despondency today. 'Where shall we go?' people are saying; but the living stone says, 'I know where to go' -- "To whom coming", Peter now says. He had once exclaimed "To whom shall we go?" (John 6:68). They had been in the habit of going to Him; they had already come out of the Jewish system in Jerusalem, and now are scattered abroad. They were not at a loss; they were not concerned whether to settle down here. The point was they had got a living glorified Saviour and Lord -- the living Stone -- to go to Him every day. They could go to Him, without referring to the Scriptures; they could go to Him for rest, they could go to Him for life, they could go to Him for food, they could go to Him for living water; what more could they need? And they went forward into those various cities of Palestine as well as to Gentile cities. They were exulting. And you know what testimony they were; they were of greater testimony than if they had remained at Jerusalem -- discovering what great results they had in their souls. They became more and more living as found in the house of God. They might have said, well, how are we to get on now? Only two of us in this city; only three of us in that city, how can we get on? How can we function in the priesthood? We have been used to large companies in Jerusalem; they were not despondent at the thought of it. No one could rob them of the living Stone. Steadfast in faith, they had Him as their continual resource -- Where two or three were gathered

together unto His Name, there He was in the midst of them. Could anyone be at a loss with Jesus in the midst of them? That is His promise in Matthew 18.

Instead of things becoming less real, everything became more real to these souls as they went forward. They were so joyful about it, as divine things became more real to them. They went everywhere evangelising the word. And that is what the Lord is looking for at the present time. There has been a scattering; brethren, many and in small numbers, have experienced a wrench of natural ties, which these refugees must have proved in some measure -- the up-rooting and so on. The Lord is looking to us for the results that should flow out of this; that is, that we so prove Him as we have never done before as the living Stone, and our living Resource. Our links with Him and with one another becoming ever so much more real. Then our heavenly inheritance, also, becoming so much more real -- the living hope and the incorruptible, undefiled and unfading inheritance filling our souls with exultation. Living water flowing then for men as never before. Living water had been flowing at Jerusalem -- rivers of it -- but now living waters were flowing to many Gentile cities; things were moving that way. Evangelising the word is like the living water; that is what the Lord is really looking for. Did the praise of God suffer? No, it did not suffer at all; the praise of God would not suffer at all if we are exulting. Exulting in a new found reality for our spiritual links with Christ and with one another and the joy of our inheritance. Think of what our inheritance is! We have spoken of "The Christ" this afternoon -- that wonderful title, The Christ; the One Who is the Head over all things; the One in Whom all things in heaven and earth are to be headed up. At any moment He may come, with a view to His public appearing -- Christ's great manifestation and Christ's reign. And following,

"to head up all things in the Christ ...", it says: "in whom we have also obtained an inheritance", Think of that -- we are "Joint-heirs with Christ". Think of being associated in glory with One Who is "Head over all things to the assembly which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). "An incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, reserved in the heavens for you".

A living hope! These dear believers, deprived of earthly hopes, found the "living hope" far more bright and real than ever before. And it is persons who are thus full of hope that can serve God. I have spoken of the service to men -- the living waters flowing out -- but the service of the spiritual house does not cease. The spiritual house is not any particular centre on earth. The living Stone is in heaven, to whom we come. He is the living Stone, not only as the Corner Stone, but as the foundation: "Behold, I lay for foundation in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation",the scripture says: Isaiah 28:16, What a thing it is to have Jesus and to realise that He is the foundation on which we stand! "On Christ, the solid Rock I stand", as another has said, and we shall never be disappointed, if we are standing there. And as for coming to Him as the living Stone, as another has said, the spiritual house functions all over the earth. And it is surprising how John confirms this. John does not mention the assembly in the gospel, and only once in his epistles, I believe. But he shows how this works out in a day of scattering: "Ye believe on God, believe also on me" (John 14). The Lord goes on to show in that chapter that even one isolated believer can know the joys of the house of God. "If any one loves me" -- one of the refugees only, found alone may be in a city -- "if any one loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and

make our abode with him". Not to stay for a day or two, but make Their abode with him. The Spirit already dwelling in him, abiding in him for ever. The Father and the Son coming, because he loves Jesus and keeps His word.

So you see, both Peter and John show the privileges of the spiritual house, and therefore the service Godward flows from it and can be brought down to the smallest numerical number. And so while the scattering went on, we can be sure the service of God went on. They were being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood; and instead of the priesthood being concentrated at Jerusalem, they were now spread away over the cities of Israel and went as far as Antioch. And in Antioch, some of them preached also to the Greeks and the Lord's hand was with them. I love to think of these refugees, strangers scattered abroad. The Scripture gives us an account of the one among them who was a gifted evangelist -- Philip. He had the gift of the evangelist, but it does not limit the evangelical activities to Philip. It says of all of them that they went everywhere preaching the word -- living waters were flowing from them wherever they went. And the living waters reached as far as Antioch and went out to Greece. And the Lord's hand was with them -- He used those souls. How bright their testimony was! And so great a crowd was secured; Barnabas fetches Saul -- a tremendous Divine triumph on that account. Saul was the instrument of the scattering; it was through his murderous onslaught that they were scattered. It looked as though the enemy had won the day. Not at all. The gates of hades did not prevail. The Lord brought the persecutor down to His feet. Those scattered, instead of being despondent, went everywhere with exultation holding up the banner of Christianity which Saul sought to destroy. They went everywhere holding up the banner and the living

water flowed out to men. And so a great crowd were now gathered at Antioch, and the great persecutor, Saul, who had driven them out, is now brought back to teach them the truth. Who could have foreseen the ways of God? And we need to be ready for what the ways of God may bring to pass in present exercises -- let us be ready for it. The enemy is going about seeking to destroy this movement, by bringing in discord and diversions which are a shame. Let us resist him, steadfast in faith. Let there be no more devouring of the flock in partisanship; let there be no personalities obscuring the vision of the saints as they look for the lead of the Great Shepherd. Peter says, "ye have returned to the Shepherd and overseer of your souls". The leaders follow the flock; they don't put themselves between the sheep and the Shepherd. They follow the flock so that they can see the flock and their eye is on the Chief Shepherd, and see too that the eyes of the flock are also on the Chief Shepherd, and not on them. We need to take our eye off men: "Let no one boast in men"; let us get our eyes off men and men's opinions and schools of opinion. Let us be simple and understand the words of the Lord Jesus as to the declaration of God and seek in a right and comely way to respond to every feature of it -- in a right and comely way -- the Spirit of truth will help us. But let us not be diverted from what God would have at the present time, that we should go forward in the spirit of exultation, having been through the experience that we have passed through, having found the Lord more precious and the saints more precious and the spiritual house more precious and finding it workable in the smallest numbers and more reliable than in big numbers, and finding the living hope in a way we never found it before. They were looking for Jesus to come any minute -- their hearts all alive.

All that enters into the testimony; it is that kind of

thing that made the testimony, and those scattered abroad were so powerful. God is looking for this today; so let us go forward with our loins girt about and our lamps burning, like torches in a dark night, because our hope is living. We are living, living stones; we belong to a spiritual house; we belong to a holy priesthood. And in the power of all that the service of God is to go on. We are a kingly priesthood, to show forth His excellencies, to let the torches shine in a dark night "that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light". Brothers and sisters are all in it. God would turn these conditions of scattering into testimony and fruitfulness for Himself and for us.

It is therefore good to take account of what this living stone, Peter, is telling us. Nothing could overthrow him now; he had made ever so many mistakes. There is not a man who ever lived who has not made mistakes, except the Lord Jesus. The idea of sinless walk is just nonsense in that respect; for anybody to claim, or to make a claim for other people, that they have not sinned since they received the Spirit is just nonsense. There is no excuse for sin -- but we have not an example in scripture of a man who got through without sin. James says, "for we all often offend" (chapter 3: 2). He put himself among them; any person who has any sober estimate of things would put himself among the offenders. Peter did not need to say that; everybody knew Peter had gone wrong more than once. But he remained a living stone -- a living stone like Peter could get right; he could write an epistle like this to the strangers scattered abroad.

Peter has especially the priesthood in mind: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and sprinkling of blood of Jesus Christ" (chapter 1: 2). There you have the priesthood; elect according to

the foreknowledge of God, sanctified by the Spirit -- as it says in Exodus, "The anointing shall be to you an everlasting priesthood". The obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ is the ram of consecration; the blood of the ram of consecration. There is the priesthood. He says: "Wherefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope with perfect steadfastness". Girding up the loins of the mind, is like the girdle of the priests of Aaron's sons. Nothing troubles us like our minds; they wander about all over the place, instead of getting light from God. People even look for light, putting their problems to a human being for them to settle, instead of going to the Holiest to get the light of the Urim. Gird up the loins of your mind and be sober; that is like the linen vest -- no natural excitement; and hope with perfect steadfastness. That is like the high caps; and lift up the head with hope, a living hope. That is a living burning hope -- that is a great power in testimony. "Let us hold fast the confession of the hope unwavering, for he is faithful who has promised" (Hebrews 10:23). So in chapter two, Peter speaks of the functioning of the priest; and no wonder that this is going on today, in numerical weakness in so many localities; thank God that in some measure the holy priesthood is functioning with spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Do we feel isolated? However small we may be, we belong to the spiritual house and the holy priesthood -- a strong collective word, the priesthood, and the brotherhood which is in the world. And there is nothing like suffering to prove the brotherhood; the brotherhood becomes a great reality in links formed in suffering. And so that is how he finishes his first letter: "Knowing that the selfsame sufferings are accomplished in your brotherhood which is in the world". The present sufferings are drawing together those who have come out to the Lord, in all parts

of the world closer than they have ever been. The thing is, coming out to Him as the living Stone and becoming living stones, and then we value the brotherhood. God gets the priesthood, we get the brotherhood. Then he says: "But the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, when ye have suffered for a little while, himself shall make perfect, stablish, strengthen, ground: to him be the glory and the might for the ages of ages. Amen". Let us get used to these doxologies! "To him be the glory and the might for the ages of ages". Peter starts with a doxology, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus", and he ends with a doxology. Here is a priest functioning; it is a priest writing a letter -- a living stone and a priest in the house of God.

And then, before I close, as for the brotherhood, the 13th verse is interesting: "She that is elected with you in Babylon salutes you". Peter is no doubt referring to the local assembly in Babylon; but he keeps to his own line, and the 'she' refers to the brotherhood. And so the brotherhood in Babylon salutes the brotherhood in these places where the strangers were scattered abroad. It is so remarkable that in the original 'brotherhood' is a feminine word. So it shows the sisters are not excluded. And finally, I want to show in a further way how Peter and Paul were linked together. In chapter one and verse 8, he says: "whom having not seen, ye love;". Now we were speaking this afternoon of 'The Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith' -- (Ephesians 3:17). By faith means that we have not seen Him; we walk by faith and not by sight. But Peter says, whom having not seen ye love; so that these strangers scattered abroad were marked by 'first love'. Christ was dwelling in their hearts by faith -- not having seen Him they loved Him. And not only so, but "on whom, though not now looking, but believing, ye

exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory". Now, you see, what Peter is speaking of these scattered souls, is as though they are in the full gain of Paul's prayer in the third of Ephesians. The Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith -- though having not seen they loved -- and exulting and filled with the glory. This shows that the ministry of the Apostles was all one, no diversion but was one. It shows that the scattering has in view providing conditions which are suited for the answering of Paul's prayer, that the Christ might dwell in our hearts by faith, being rooted and founded in love, we might be filled even to all the fulness of God.

Well, may God grant that this may be the result, for His Name's sake!