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FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF CHRISTIANITY

(1) RIGHTEOUSNESS

Romans 3:21 - 28; Romans 4:13, 16, 17, 22 - 25; Romans 8:9, 10; 2 Timothy 2:22

G.R.C. It is in mind in these readings to consider certain fundamental truths that have their basis in the sacrificial work of Christ. Therefore, it is proposed this morning to consider the subject of righteousness, which includes the truth of justification; justification really meaning being judicially set right, or set up in righteousness, before God. Each of the features of the truth we may consider we can only touch lightly. The subject of righteousness is a very vast one, and the passages read speak first of all of righteousness of God, in chapter 3. In chapter 4 we have righteousness of faith (verse 13), and in chapter 8 practical righteousness, "the Spirit life on account of righteousness". The verse in Timothy, while it would include every feature of practical righteousness, includes also ecclesiastical righteousness.

Righteousness of God is an immense thing. It is said to be revealed in the gospel, as in chapter 1 -- "for righteousness of God is revealed therein, on the principle of faith, to faith". And we cannot think of this subject without thinking of the great day of atonement. Indeed, in chapter 3 it moves on immediately to it, referring to "the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of his righteousness". So that we have to look at the passage in chapter 3 in an objective way to get the bearing of the greatness of it. We come into the matter in chapter

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4, but chapter 3 is referring to righteousness of God; that God might be just (or righteous) and the Justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus. The whole passage in chapter 3 relates to God. Therefore the truth is presented at its height. Chapter 4 is our coming into it. We come into it by righteousness of faith, and chapter 4 (if we take the type of the day of atonement) scarcely goes further than what is called, in the Authorised Version, the scapegoat, namely, that Jesus was delivered for our offences and raised for our justification. It is the way things are brought down to us to meet us in our need.

B.H.T. Is it quite in contrast to what prevailed under the old economy? You spoke of being set up in righteousness. Under the old economy they had to attain to it, did they not?

G.R.C. Yes, and there was no possibility of attaining it by works of law. The law was given that the offence might abound. The law was weak through the flesh. If it had been possible for man in the flesh to carry out the law he would have lived by law. And that would have been man's righteousness -- not God's. If the law could have been fulfilled, at the very best it would only have been man's righteousness.

B.H.T. Is that the very start of Romans -- God's righteousness?

G.R.C. Yes, it is in contrast to man's. All that the law could require was man's righteousness, but the law only proved that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and so there was no hope on that line. It only caused the offence to abound. It exposed the offences and made them more hideous and apparent. We therefore needed Someone to come in Who would be delivered for our offences.

F.J.F. It was like a looking-glass, was it not, to shew you how dirty you were?

G.R.C. Quite so. The law is our tutor up to Christ. For those who use the law lawfully, that is,

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apply it to themselves, honestly, it brings them to a point where their only hope is in Christ. It shews them there is no hope in themselves at all. The real purpose of the law is to bring us to an end of ourselves. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. If only people would use the law honestly it would bring them to Christ.

N.C.J.C. What is in mind where it says that the law is "holy, and just, and good" as over against what we are saying?

G.R.C. The law is the perfect standard of conduct for man on earth, and therefore it is holy and just and good. The righteous requirement of it, which is not in the letter, is that "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thine understanding; and thy neighbour as thyself", Luke 10:27. That is the spirituality, as it were, of the law. But the very form in which the literality of it was given, showed that man was a sinner, because nearly all the commandments are negatives -- they are prohibitions, proving that they were addressed to man as under the power of sin and telling him what he should not do. And therefore, in its very nature -- though men would not accept it and had to learn by experience -- it proved that it could not be the way to life and righteousness for men. The very prohibitions indicated that man was under sin. But the positive side of the law, the spirituality of it, is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Through divine grace we do love God and, if we move on in His love and abide in it, we shall be brought to a point where we love Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and the sooner we get to that the better. But it is divine grace alone which brings us to that -- the knowledge of God and His love and His righteousness.

F.J.F. The Lord magnified the law and made it honourable. But He was the only One who did.

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W.E.G. I suppose the law is like a plumbline. They used it in the olden days to show that the wall was not straight. But that plumbline could never put that wall straight.

G.R.C. And yet, of course, there is a greater plumbline. The law was the rule of conduct for man on earth. But Christ is the true standard. What came out in Christ exceeds anything which the law commanded. The law never commanded anyone to lay down his life and to save sinners. The law said "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"; but after every kind of indignity and suffering had been heaped upon Christ, He then took all the guilt upon Himself. The law never visualized such a thing. So that Christ is the great standard, Christ is the One who truly expressed God. The law does not express God fully; it sets out God's righteous requirement for man on earth but it does not display God in His nature and character. Christ displayed God in His nature and character. He is the image of God and that is the real standard. Law is not the real standard. The law has been our tutor up to Christ, but it is not the real standard. Christ is the standard and that is indicated in the passage we have read, "for all have sinned" -- that is one thing (as the note indicates) -- "and come short of the glory of God". Now that is the standard. We have come short of our responsibility as men: we were created to express God's image and glory. 1 Corinthians 11:7. That is greater than the law. The face of a man was created with ability to express the attributes of God. Man can express love, kindness, compassion, mercy, anger. God created a creature with a face capable of expressing Himself in His character, and man has failed. We have all come short. The responsibility committed to man was to represent God in the creation and man has failed in that responsibility. The degrading sins we have dropped into are incidental, but the primary thing is that we have failed in the initial

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responsibility put upon us. Christ has come and has fully displayed God in a way man in innocence could never have done, and the glory of God is now seen in His face; that wonderful face of Jesus expresses every feature of the divine nature and character in full display. Wonderful contemplation, which will ever be ours! But we have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

R.S. So that the standard that disclosed what man was, was answered by a standard that has no limit. Where sin abounded, grace over-abounded.

G.R.C. That was specially seen at the cross. Sin abounded at the crucifixion. It was man's greatest sin; his reaction to perfect goodness was seen in the way he treated Christ, and judgment had to fall at that moment. Judgment could not be delayed. That is what we have to see -- the great crisis had arrived. Satan no doubt thought that having led man to that crowning sin of crucifying God's Son, God would be obliged to sweep the scene in judgment, and God's purpose as to man would fail. But Satan does not understand love. Love is foreign to him; and I do not think he ever could have thought that the holy Sufferer would then take all the guilt upon Himself. Where sin abounded, rose to its height, in the crucifixion, grace over-abounded, and Christ took all the guilt upon Himself. Satan was utterly confounded, utterly defeated. That is how the battle was won and that is how God's righteousness has come into manifestation.

R.S. Is that why without law the righteousness of God is manifested? God has reserves in Himself of mercy and love.

G.R.C. Law came in that the offence might abound. Ostensibly it was to give man a rule of life so that he might earn eternal life, but from the divine standpoint the law came in that sin might abound and that all might be shut up under sin. So that in Romans 1 - 3

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you have every kind of man brought before you -- man in his depravity, civilized man and the Jew. Every kind of man is brought before you, and all are shown to be without excuse. In whatever way you look at him, man could never work out his own righteousness; there is no such thing as righteousness of man. But then against that black background, righteousness of God is manifested; when everything on man's side had failed, then righteousness of God, without law, is manifested, borne witness to by the law and the prophets. That is the remarkable thing; the very law by which the offence abounded, was accompanied by the tabernacle system which was really typical of Christianity. In bringing the law in, which was only going to make the offence abound, God brought alongside of it Christianity, typically. So righteousness of God is manifested, but it was borne witness to by the law in all the offerings and the sacrifices and the tabernacle system generally, and by the prophets. It is a wonderful thing that God has borne witness to His righteousness from the beginning of time in that sense, even in the clothing of Adam and his wife, and faith has always laid hold of it, faith has always gone outside of law for righteousness.

R.L. Man in innocence knew nothing about righteousness, did he?

G.R.C. No. He had not the knowledge of good and evil.

F.J.F. That young man that came to the Lord and said he had fulfilled the law -- "all these things have I kept from my youth", Mark 10:20 -- did not know what was in his own heart.

G.R.C. The commandment by which sin slew Paul was the last one. Romans 7:11. It is not the law that slays people. Sin slays people by the law, and brings on them the curse of the law. In connection with that young man, the last commandment is not quoted. Paul "was alive without law once", Romans 7:9. The first

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nine commandments did not trouble him. He was self-righteous and thought he could make a good case as regards fulfilling the first nine. But when he put himself honestly under the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not lust", sin wrought in him every lust -- the law exposed all the lusts that were there. The fact that there was a commandment "Thou shalt not lust", brought home to his conscience that in his heart was every kind of lust, and he could not get away from that; and therefore sin, getting a point of attack by the commandment "slew me". And it is a good thing if it slays every one of us. Then we begin to live to God. "I, through law, have died to law, that I may live to God", Galatians 2:19.

C.M.M. Does the Lord put His finger on the spot when He says: "No one is good but one, that is God"? Would that have a bearing on the righteousness of God?

G.R.C. It would. And what He puts to the young man is just the test of the last commandment -- "sell whatever thou hast and give to the poor". The Lord knew that that young man's heart was bound up with his possessions, that he wanted eternal life simply in order to go on enjoying his possessions. He may have had some fear of God but there was no thought of God being the centre of his life. So the Lord says, "sell whatever thou hast and give to the poor ... and come, follow me". That was the test as to his love for God, and bears on the last commandment, for unbridled desire (or lust) is idolatry.

B.H.T. Would you kindly give a definition of the word "righteousness"?

C.M.M. Did Mr. Raven not say that righteousness is what is right?

G.R.C. Yes. God is righteous in all His ways and just in all His works. But then, God would have been righteous if He had executed judgment upon the whole race of men on account of the sin of the crucifixion.

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When His judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. So that there is that aspect. But righteousness of God here is a specific matter. It is not simply that God is righteous, because if He judged the world He would be righteous. But this is righteousness of God for man. Sinner as he is, when man could not work out his own righteousness, God brought in righteousness for him, righteousness of God. Therefore in the gospel righteousness of God is manifested. Not simply that God is righteous, that is always true; but in the gospel God brings forward righteousness of His own, when men could do nothing about it.

F.v.R. If the young man had answered to what Scripture says -- "Jesus looking upon him loved him" -- that would have been his salvation.

G.R.C. And how God has looked upon us and loved us. We might wonder why the first thing brought in in connection with the glad tidings is righteousness. Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the glad tidings; ... for righteousness of God is revealed therein, on the principle of faith, to faith", Romans 1:16, 17. We might say to Paul, 'Why did you not say the love of God is revealed, because it is true?' The fact that God has revealed His righteousness for men is the proof of His love. Everything that comes to us in the glad tidings springs from what God is. God is love, and it is because He is love that He has found a way, at infinite cost to Himself, of bringing in righteousness for men, "the free gift of righteousness", chapter 5: 17. He has provided it. Divine love has done that -- perfect love. Perfect love means a love that does not act at the expense of righteousness. A love which acted without regard to righteousness would never cast out fear. But perfect love casts out fear, because perfect love acts on the basis of righteousness at all costs to itself, and that is what God has done.

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W.E.G. So all the time God was working to bring us in for His pleasure.

G.R.C. He was; and all the time He was bearing witness; "borne witness to by the law and the prophets", Romans 3:21. God always had in His mind that He was going to manifest His righteousness, and all the way through He bore witness to it in the law and the prophets. But now it is manifested, now it is as clear as daylight, as we may say.

E.S. It is "towards all, and upon all those who believe". It is available for all men, but it is upon those that believe. It is clothing them.

G.R.C. Yes. Like the coats of skin He made for Adam and his wife. We are clothed, because it is upon all those who believe; and that brings in chapter 4, verse 13; that is "righteousness of faith". Righteousness of God is what the righteousness is, the quality of it. It is of God, nothing of man in it. It is righteousness of God, manifested, available to all, and upon all them that believe; it is a free gift, the free gift of righteousness. But we come into it by faith. It is only those who believe that get the benefits. From our angle therefore it is called "righteousness of faith", in contrast to works.

N.J.C. So God had Christ before Him in this matter of righteousness. And the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ means that we should have Him objectively before us?

G.R.C. It means that Jesus Christ is the object of our faith.

F.J.F. Did we see this righteousness set forth in Abraham when God asked him to count the stars -- and it says "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"?

G.R.C. Yes. So that he is the father of us all; he has marked out the way, or God through him has marked out the way, that we may come into the gain of it. "It was not by law that the promise was to

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Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be heir of the world" (verse 13) "but by righteousness of faith". It was not that righteousness of God had been manifested then; Abraham could not have explained to you on what ground God was reckoning him righteous. But what Abraham illustrates is the way we come into it, that we come into it by faith.

W.E.G. So Christ is the object of faith. That is why it does not say "believe in" but "believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved".

G.R.C. Quite so. And we must not think that because it says "righteousness of faith", it means our faith is our righteousness. That is not the point at all. Our faith is not our righteousness, but it is by faith we come into the gain of God's righteousness. It is righteousness of faith in that sense, but it is not a question of the amount of our faith; as soon as we are of the faith of Jesus, God accounts us righteous. But it is not our faith that is our righteousness. It would be a great mistake to think that.

L.D.V. Would you help us as to the basis upon which the righteousness of God is? It speaks of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

G.R.C. I think it is set out in chapter 3. It would refer to the day of atonement and the way the blood was taken in and placed on the mercy-seat, and we know that what gave atoning efficacy to the blood, in the type, was that the body of the victim was burnt outside the camp. What has given such efficacy to the blood of the Christ is that He has endured the all-consuming judgment of God in respect of sins and sin+.

+Hebrews 13:11-12 is a New Testament scripture referring to this holy subject. The intrinsic value of the blood of Christ is infinite. But the point here is its efficacy to satisfy the claims of God's throne and the requirements of His holiness in respect of sins and sin. For this His sufferings from God as bearing sins and as made sin were essential. His sufferings from man as the perfect witness or martyr would not have sufficed.

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He has borne it all! That gives His blood efficacy; and it was sprinkled on the mercy-seat and seven times before the mercy-seat, in the type a full witness before God that every right of His throne has been upheld, and that a basis is laid whereby He can move out to men in absolute righteousness, and yet justify them. That is the righteousness of God as revealed in the gospel. God can be righteous and yet set up the sinner in righteousness. God's righteousness would have been manifested if He had just come out in judgment, but the righteousness of God which is manifested in the glad tidings, is that Christ has gone in and the blood is on the mercy-seat, and, in virtue of that, God has a basis whereby He can be righteous in an absolute sense and yet freely justify the believer in Jesus.

F.J.F. Why do not men receive it more?

G.R.C. "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", 2 Corinthians 4:4. The radiancy of the glory of God is now shining in the face of the Man who glorified Him on the cross, shining now in the presence of God, shining for men, and the enemy can only hold men away by blinding their thoughts. There are the lords of this darkness. The conflict lies in bringing light to men. The way is clear now, the way to God; it is only a question of enlightening men as to it. But the god of this world is blinding the thoughts of the unbelieving. Is that so?

F.J.F. Yes, beloved. I am sorry to say it is so.

G.R.C. And, of course, man's will is in it.

F.J.F. He does not want God at any price.

D.M.S. What is the thought of the "faith of Jesus"?

G.R.C. It means that He is the object of faith.

C.M.P. The perfection of His manhood, to which the law had nothing to say, made it possible for God to bring such a One as the sacrifice, so that He alone

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becomes the Object of faith for men.

G.R.C. Quite so. Jesus alone could fulfil the qualifications needed for the sacrifice. The sacrifice had to be without blemish, and without spot.

J.W.B. Is that the way it is given in Corinthians -- "Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in him", 2 Corinthians 5:21. Christ in that way is enhanced in our affections, is He not?

G.R.C. He is. Jesus knew no sin, and "in him sin is not".

F.J.F. He did this as a man. Though He was God, He did it as a man.

G.R.C. Quite so. He must be a Man to take up man's case and to glorify God where man had dishonoured Him. It must be through a Man that the victory is won.

L.D.V. We understand in some measure that the blood of the Lord Jesus has washed us from our sins, but do we not need to understand, if we are to come into the joy of God's righteousness, how that blood has been put on the mercy-seat?

G.R.C. I think we learn as we go on, how the blood has met the claims of God, and of His throne. This chapter is setting things out from the divine side. I do not think it is a question here of how far we have apprehended the blood going in, but it is a question of God; righteousness of God is manifested, and we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" -- that is justification viewed at the highest level, not as at the end of chapter 4. There it is more the scapegoat aspect, which we need down here. But this is the full thing. We are before God according to His full thought in Christ Jesus. And then it says "whom God has set forth". Christ Jesus, this blessed Man, is glorified and in the presence of God, He Himself the ark, He Himself the mercy-seat with the cherubim of glory overshadowing; He Himself

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the One through whom God is shining out on men, as it says that God would "appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat", Leviticus 16:2. What a glorious Person is presented -- "Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of his righteousness". It is what God has done to set Himself free, as it were, "for the shewing forth of his righteousness ... that he should be just, and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus". But according to the sin-offerings, you see, the faith of Jesus comes right down to a bloodless offering. It is possible for a person to be saved without much, if any, apprehension of the value of the blood. The smallest sin-offering was the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, Leviticus 5:11. "But if his hand cannot attain to two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin-offering: he shall put no oil on it, neither shall he put frankincense thereon; for it is a sin offering. And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it, the memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar, with Jehovah's offerings by fire; it is a sin-offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin which he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him". How it shows the grace of God -- "him that is of the faith of Jesus". A soul may have no further apprehension than the absolute perfection of Jesus and say, 'I will trust Jesus because He is the only perfect one', and that is sufficient from the side of our coming into things. But this chapter is presenting what was necessary from God's side to do such a thing. The thief dying by Christ's side, I would say, was like the one who just brought the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour. His appreciation was "this man has done nothing amiss", and then, in praying to the Lord, he

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shows that he trusted Him. He was trusting in the Man who had done nothing amiss+.

J.v.N. God brought in everything and it is God's righteousness, so it says, "and where then is boasting?" There is no boasting for us in all this, verse 27.

G.R.C. No flesh can glory in His presence. God has done all this Himself, through Christ Jesus, and now He sets Him forth in the gospel. The heavens are opened now, as we sing sometimes; we can direct men to Christ Jesus, the glorified Man in the presence of God; and if you present the gospel as it should be presented, persons will have an apprehension of the value of the blood, but still, it is comforting to know that it covers everyone who is of the faith of Jesus.

S.P.S. Does that emphasize God's own sovereignty in the greatness of the work of Christ? It would help to set us free from any thought of ourselves and our faith, as you said just now. It is a great comfort that just a simple apprehension of Christ Himself is sufficient. It would emphasize the greatness of the work of Christ, and what God has secured in the work of redemption.

G.R.C. God's righteousness is thus manifested as a glorious thing. If God had manifested His righteousness only in judgment, there would have been a certain glory attached to it, but nothing like this. Mr. Darby says,

"God's righteousness with glory bright,
Which with its radiance fills that sphere --
E'en Christ, of God the power and light --
Our title is that light to share". (Hymn 88)

+"There is an even smaller measure in one who brings 'the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour'. This represents the feeblest measure of exercise that is taken account of in this connection..... a sense that he has done wrong, and ... of the perfectness of Christ. He could say of Him, like the thief, 'This man has done nothing amiss'". C.A.C. "Leviticus" Chapter 5, pages 62-3.

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Think of the radiance of glory which now shines because of the way God has established and manifested His righteousness! All that God is in His nature and character has come into display. His nature, love, is now in full display; He must be love to have acted like this, and His character is in full display; He is perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, hating sin, judging sin. You have the full display of God now that His righteousness is manifested.

C.M.M. Would it be right to speak here of the millions of children that die in infancy? Is all that covered by the mercy-seat, and God's righteousness?

G.R.C. It appears so. "The Son of Man has come to save that which was lost", is said in connection with the little ones.

It is most important that we should understand the righteousness of God, for two reasons. One is that on our part it brings peace and assurance, and nothing else does. A gospel which only presented love would never give assurance, because it would leave you with an impression of love like human love, not perfect love. It says "the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever", Isaiah 32:17, and no soul has real settled peace and assurance without some apprehension of righteousness of God. The more we understand the righteousness of God, the more thoroughly settled we shall be in our souls with God. Secondly, it promotes worship.

M.S.V. Are you suggesting that the righteousness of God should be more emphasized in our preaching? Many might not have true peace.

G.R.C. That is a good exercise. Every preaching should lay the basis of righteousness in the soul, otherwise no soul will get peace. But we need it in our own souls, too. That is one's concern now. I do not think we know much about righteousness of God. We may dismiss this as elementary, but it is not elementary because we never get beyond it. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:21,

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"Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in him". The saints in glory will be the eternal display of God's righteousness. You may say, 'Surely, the display of His love' -- and that is so. Surely also a display of the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:7. But how essential that we should be the display of His righteousness.

A.A.E. In our gospel preachings we should constantly include some definite reference to the atoning work of Christ.

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

Remark. David moved in regard to Absalom on the basis of love apart from righteousness.

J.H.H. In the preaching of the glad tidings we are apt to think they are only for unbelievers, but they are necessary for the saints to constantly build them up in their most holy faith.

G.R.C. A sister who had been breaking bread for thirty years, recently found peace for the first time at a preaching where Christ was referred to as our righteousness. 1 Corinthians 1:30. She had known in a general way that Jesus was the Saviour but she had never been able to say 'my Saviour' until then. We have had other cases somewhat similar, people breaking bread for years who never understood the basis of their salvation. That is a reflection on our preachings, is it not?

F.J.F. And doorkeeping.

G.R.C. Yes, indeed. J.N.D. made a remark to the effect that Christ is our righteousness, and we become the righteousness of God in Him. If you put those two things together, you cannot think of greater security for the believer. The righteousness of God involves that God has so wrought that Christ is the righteousness of the believer. That is the quality of the righteousness which God has brought in for man.

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It says, "of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness", 1 Corinthians 1:30. Christ is our righteousness; and it is a matter of righteousness with God to place us where Christ is. Christ took our place and glorified God in taking up our case and therefore God has glorified Him; and it is an act of righteousness on God's part to place us in glory with Him.

F.J.F. And that will be set forth to wondering worlds. And does it not necessitate a glorified body?

G.R.C. It does. God gives us a glorified body on the basis of righteousness.

R.S. This dual reference here to shewing forth -- "for the shewing forth of His righteousness" in verse 25, and in 26 "for the shewing forth of His righteousness in the present time" -- do you think that involves the Christian testimony in this wonderful dispensation? So that these things should be constantly known, not only in the preaching, but in our behaviour amongst men and amongst the brethren.

G.R.C. I do not think you can speak of the righteousness of God now manifested in the gospel without speaking of the full outshining of God. It is God's righteousness with glory bright. In manifesting His righteousness as He has done, He has displayed His love and every feature of His character.

W.E.G. Mr. Darby's remarks, to which you referred, are too precious for words. We need the fundamentals.

G.R.C. I am sure we do. I would say everyone present, including myself, needs this foundation thoroughly laid in our souls, and one result of it will be, we shall be worshippers of God with a note in our worship that has never been there before.

M.S.V. In regard to the scripture "the righteousness of God in him", when are we actually "in him"? Is it by the Spirit or is it a transaction by faith in the soul?

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G.R.C. It is both. There is no thought with God of a believer not having the Spirit. They may not receive Him at once through defective gospel; but the pronouncement of the first preaching in Acts is "Repent ... for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". Repentance and faith go together, and the results go together normally, namely, remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit; and therefore we are in Christ.

E.S. The lady who had been breaking bread for 30 years, did she have an appreciation of the perfect Man that you were speaking of in Leviticus 5? But had she no appreciation then of the blood and of the righteousness of God? What I am trying to get at is -- was she eternally safe for those 30 years, or was she deceiving herself?

G.R.C. I would say she was on the line of that smallest sin-offering. She had an appreciation of Christ. In her way she trusted Him, but never had peace because she did not understand the foundation. It was peace she had not got. And there have been other cases somewhat similar.

M.S.V. So it is very comforting to know that we are not saved on the basis of our apprehension of the truth.

G.R.C. That is why we have to look at chapter 3 by itself. It is a question of God. Chapter 4 is our side, and from our side it is righteousness of faith. It is not a question of the quantity of our faith, it is the quality of it. It is the "faith of Jesus", however feeble. And as soon as we have faith, God reckons righteousness to us. Our faith is not our righteousness, but as soon as we have faith, God reckons to us the full value of righteousness which is in His mind, that is Christ as our righteousness. So that, if a person only has the "faith of Jesus" like the smallest sin-offering, nevertheless the full value of Christ as righteousness is

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reckoned to that soul by God. Chapter 3 shows us how God is free to do that.

W.E.G. I am glad you have spoken of that, because this puzzled me much as a young man, and I suppose all of us too. The quality of your faith, the amount of your faith, whether you have faith, this used to puzzle me for a long time, and I did not have peace. But it is very comforting that it has nothing to do with the amount of faith, but if it is in that blessed Person, God reckons us righteous.

G.R.C. Even old people are sometimes occupied with their faith and whether their faith is sufficient; but our faith is not our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness, and however feeble the faith, if it is the faith of Jesus, the whole value of the righteousness God has provided is reckoned to us. That is a great thing to see.

D.M.S. At what point does a soul give glory to God? Abraham was strong in faith, "giving glory to God", Romans 4:20.

G.R.C. He was inwardly strengthened by faith, not being weak in faith. That is the great point. We would not like to be amongst those who have the smallest sin-offering. We would like to be strong in faith so as to give glory to God, and that would touch on what we have been saying, that a person who apprehends this great truth will be a worshipper. He will be continually giving glory to God. He will be perfectly at rest in his own soul; in peace, and he will be continually giving glory to God who has shone out in such a marvellous way. But then in chapter 4 the teaching does not go further, in a way, than the scapegoat, and it is helpful to see that in considering the day of atonement. The blood of one of the goats was put on the mercy-seat, and the living goat had all the sins confessed upon its head and was sent away into a land not inhabited. The two goats refer to the basis of Israel's blessing in the day to come. They will be blessed here

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on earth in flesh and blood conditions; and what a person in flesh and blood conditions needs is to be sure that all his sins have been taken away; he is still in the old circumstances, where they might be raised against him. So it is a great thing for him to be assured that all his sins have been borne and carried away. But we must not dismiss the two goats as having no application to us. While we come into things on a higher plane altogether in connection with Aaron and his house, and the bullock, yet we begin just where Israel begins, in the sense that we are sinners down here, and we need to begin with being sure that our sins and iniquities He will remember no more. That is the first need of the soul. And so, Romans 4 brings the matter right down to that elementary point of soul need, because we are in flesh and blood conditions ourselves. Israel will remain in them during the millennium, but we are still in them ourselves down here, where we can be accused of sins by our fellowmen who can say 'We know all about him, we know his past history', and Satan can accuse us in our consciences. The first thing therefore we need is assurance that our sins have been carried away. And so it says, "Jesus our Lord, who has been delivered for our offences" (He has carried them all away) and "raised for our justification".

L.D.V. The resurrection is the proof of the sins being carried away. The apostle says that "if Christ be not raised -- ye are yet in your sins", 1 Corinthians 15:17. So that the resurrection would show that God is giving us the assurance that all the sins have been dealt with and are removed for ever.

G.R.C. That is the elementary need of the soul. We believe in the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offences. They were all on Him then. He confessed and bore our sins. But He is raised clear of them. So that our sins have gone into the land of forgetfulness. The end of the chapter 4 is the scapegoat aspect of things. In the note on

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chapter 3: 25, Mr. Darby says, "we have the two parts of the work of the great day of atonement, here and in chapter 4: 25". That is, here in chapter 3 we have the blood on the mercy-seat: and the other part of the day of atonement is the scapegoat, the sins being carried away in chapter 4: 25.

J.v.N. So is that why the Lord could say "It is finished", on the cross?

G.R.C. The great work of atonement, in so far as His drinking of the cup of wrath was concerned, was finished. We know His burial was an essential part, and the blood and water that flowed from His side, but these occurred after His death. So far as His life in flesh and blood was concerned, the work was finished+.

C.M.M. Would you just say a word about the distinction between propitiation and substitution?

G.R.C. Propitiation is that view of the work of Christ which meets the claims of the throne. That is, the blood is carried in, and all the claims of God's throne are met; sin has been put away from before God's sight judicially. Therefore He can look out

+This remark has been amplified to make clearer the thought that was in the speaker's mind and to avoid ambiguity.

"The water and the blood that were shed were when He was dead -- it is vital to hold that He gave up His life and that it was not taken from Him by shedding His blood. I quite admit He had really to die. But the reality of His drinking the cup of wrath, which, unquestionably from Scripture, was accomplished before He gave up His spirit, is of the last importance". (J.N.D.'s Letters Volume 3 page 392 New Series. 464 Morrish. Ottawa, November, 1867.) "In the measure in which He knew holiness and love, and that was absolute, He felt what it was to be made sin before God and forsaken. And though the physical death came after, then He, morally speaking, drank the cup. It was necessary He should freely give up His own spirit, all being finished, in peace ... a divine act when all was done". (J.N.D.'s Letters Volume 3 page 195 New Edition. 231 Morrish. November 12th, 1881.)

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favourably upon all men, because sin is put away from His sight judicially. But substitution refers to Christ taking the place of those who believe; He actually took our place so that the believer can say, He was "delivered for our offences". That is faith appropriating it. Is that so?

C.M.M. We would have to be careful, in preaching to unbelievers, about saying, for instance, 'He bore your sins in His own body', would we not?

G.R.C. We have to keep to Scripture and say He "bore our sins". We can say in the preaching He "bore our sins" because we are referring then to those who believe, but it is not right to say to a mixed audience, 'He bore your sins'.

C.M.M. Would that bear on the distinction here, broadly speaking: chapter 3 would cover propitiation and chapter 4 be more the substitution side?

G.R.C. The scapegoat is more the substitution side. The sins were actually confessed on the head of the scapegoat, and those sins were borne and carried away.

E.S. The whole world stands in provisional reconciliation before God.

C.M.P. There is a word in John that says "he is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world", 1 John 2:2.

G.R.C. Yes. God is looking out favourably upon all men, because the work of propitiation is accomplished.

L.D.V. Why does it say here, in connection with the carrying away of the sins, that we should believe "on him who has raised from among the dead Jesus our Lord"? In chapter 3 it was faith in His blood and faith in Jesus.

G.R.C. Because this is the kind of faith which gives you peace. Abraham was evidently in his day given some sense of justification, that he was free with God, though he was looking on to Christ. But this is the kind of faith of which it speaks in chapter 5, verse 1 --

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"Therefore having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God". He was raised for our justification.

L.D.V. So would the righteousness of faith lead to justification? It gives the quotation from Psalm 32. The one side is that the sins are covered, but the other statement is that Jehovah reckons no sin to us.

R.S. Is that not what is meant when it says "and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus"? That brings you into a sense of justification, does it not?

G.R.C. That is God's side. God justifies the man who is of the faith of Jesus. He views him as justified. Chapter 4 and the beginning of 5 is our coming into the gain of that and getting peace.

R.S. Do you think you could have the one without the other? If God gives a sense of justification do you think that would work out in my soul in the way of justification by faith?

G.R.C. But chapter 3 does not say that God is going to give you the sense of it. It just says that a situation has been brought about where God can be just and the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus. That is entirely God's side. He would view a person who is of the faith of Jesus as justified in His sight even though he had not peace. But the end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5 shows how we come into the thing on our side; and that is what we should see. We do not want to remain in an unsettled state of soul. Abraham "found strength in faith, giving glory to God".

R.S. So that you are stressing the exercise of faith in the soul in response to the glad tidings.

G.R.C. Yes.

L.D.V. Is not the point of justification that I see now that the sins have been removed for ever? He says He will not reckon sin to us at all.

G.R.C. Yes. Justification involves that we are set up before God in a state of subsisting judicial righteousness.

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In a note of J.N.D. to chapter 5, verse 16, the latter part, it says 'It is the state of accomplished subsisting righteousness before God, in which justification places us'. You cannot expect to find in the Old Testament a clear setting out of what justification is. You must come to the New. We are justified in Christ, See Galatians 2:17; Acts 13:39. We have accomplished subsisting righteousness before God, because Christ is our righteousness.

F.J.F. It never varies. And would you say that once we have peace we never lose it?

G.R.C. Not in this sense. The person who has come to this will never have fear of the penal consequences of his sins again. "The worshippers once purged having no longer any conscience of sins", Hebrews 10:2.

Now just a word or two on practical righteousness may help. If we appreciate the righteousness of God that has been manifested, we shall hunger and thirst after righteousness. We shall not be satisfied without practical righteousness. No one who understands his justification in Christ and the cost at which it has been brought about, could ever be satisfied to go on as he did before. He must, in the very nature of things, yearn to yield himself to God as alive from among the dead and his members as instruments of righteousness to God. So he hungers and thirsts after righteousness, practical righteousness; and Romans 8 shows brow God has come in, in grace, to enable us to fulfil the desires of our hearts in that respect; and also He desires to have a people here, not only set up before Him in a state of subsisting righteousness in Christ, but also maintained in a state of subsisting practical righteousness on earth, in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is all in divine grace. Remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit is what is presented in the gospel -- not one without the other. The remission of sins is what we have been speaking about, but then there is the gift of

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the Holy Spirit which sets us up in practical righteousness before God on earth.

W.D.McK. So that you wonder if these great matters that you have been bringing before us are not included in the depths of God.

G.R.C. I am sure that is right. Think of the depths into which Christ went, the depths of suffering, the depths of divine love that have come into expression.

W.D.McK. Yes, indeed. "The love of Jesus, what it is, none but His loved ones know". I believe the depths of God are in that.

G.R.C. So that we cannot write off righteousness as just an elementary subject. It enters into the very depths of God and the heights of glory. Depth and height come into it.

L.D.V. Is the power of the Spirit essential for practical righteousness? The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk in the power of the Spirit.

G.R.C. The flesh cannot do anything righteous. The mind of the flesh is at enmity with God; as in the flesh we cannot do a single righteous act. We are wholly dependent on the Spirit. We are wholly dependent upon God in Christ for our justification, and wholly dependent upon the Spirit for our practical walk and righteousness.

C.M.M. Would you include "whom he has justified" in Romans 8 in that? Would it have a practical bearing?

G.R.C. "Whom he has justified, these also he has glorified".

C.M.M. I was thinking of the "justified" too in the sense of one being set up practically in righteousness, on the line of justified in the power of the Spirit.

G.R.C. It would certainly bear on "justified by works", James 2:21 and 24.

C.M.M. That is what I meant.

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F.I.F. So you would have on the breastplate of righteousness as you moved about.

G.R.C. And righteousness is paying our way, not simply paying twenty shillings in the pound -- that is part of it, of course -- but we do not want to be spiritual paupers. The only way we can pay our way, the only divine currency, is love. The righteous requirement of the law is love. Love is the fulness of the law, it says. We love God with all our being, and we love our neighbour as ourselves. The Spirit brings into our souls the wealth of divine love, so that we have a very big banking account whereby we can pay our way. And if you cannot pay your way, you are a miserable man.

C.M.M. Had you a word for us as to ecclesiastical righteousness?

G.R.C. In our day, we have to include ecclesiastical righteousness because of the state of Christendom. It is righteousness relative to the assembly. It is a matter of righteousness that we should withdraw from iniquity and separate from vessels to dishonour, purifying ourselves from them by separating from them, and that then we should follow righteousness. It would include the righteous requirement of the law in the practical matters of life, but it also includes assembly righteousness as we may say, and the righteous requirements of the fellowship. Together we pursue righteousness, and the other things, but righteousness first. We are always pursuing righteousness with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

L.V. You referred to the work of righteousness and the effect of righteousness, but would the fruit of righteousness cover this matter of what is practical and ecclesiastical?

G.R.C. Very good. There is the fruit of righteousness, and that would, as you say, be seen in Romans 8 and 2 Timothy 2.

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(2) RECONCILIATION AND APPROACH

Leviticus 16:2, 3, 11 - 14, 16, 27; Colossians 1:19 - 23; Hebrews 10:19 - 22

G.R.C. This afternoon we might consider the special place and blessing attached to Aaron's house. In Leviticus 16:3 it says "In this manner shall Aaron come into the sanctuary: with a young bullock for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt-offering". And in verse 11, "And Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house". These scriptures have specially in view the saints of the present period. At that time the way into the holy of holies had not been made manifest, Aaron was only to enter once a year, but now, "Christ being come high priest of the good things to come, by the better and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand (that is, not of this creation,) nor by blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, has entered in once for all into the holy of holies, having found an eternal redemption", Hebrews 19:11 - 12. So we have to read this chapter in the light of the New Testament. Christ has entered in by His own blood, having found an eternal redemption; and He is still inside, He has not yet come out. When He comes out He will take up Israel's case. We referred to what was proper to Israel this morning. We come into an appreciation of that, according to Romans 4:25, but the application of it to Israel is future. At the present time Christ is within and our place is within the veil with Him.

This chapter especially views the work of Christ in the way it affects God, and stresses the perfection of

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the One who did the work. There is the young bullock and the ram, and also a type of Christ in Aaron himself. It says in verse 12, "he shall take the censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before Jehovah, and both his hands full of fragrant incense beaten small, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense upon the fire before Jehovah, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat which is upon the testimony, that he die not". There is, therefore, a great stress on the perfection of the Lord Jesus. He has gone in a cloud of fragrant incense, the cloud of incense covering the mercy-seat which is upon the testimony (verse 13). Thus the cloud of incense met the cloud which is spoken of in verse 2 "for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat". That is to say, God would appear between the cherubim. He is spoken of as the One who sits between the cherubim, and He would appear in relation to the cloud of fragrant incense. Thus there is the perfection of the Person of Christ in verses 12, 13, and then the efficacy of the blood in verse 14: "And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle with his finger upon the front of the mercy-seat eastward; and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood seven times with his finger".

All this was primarily for the nostrils and for the eye of God, the cloud of fragrant incense filling the most holy place and the blood upon the mercy-seat and seven times before the mercy-seat. The odour of the fragrant incense was brought out in its fulness by His submission to the very sufferings of atonement which gave atoning efficacy to the blood. Christ was fragrant to God all through His life, but the fragrance was brought out in fulness and perfection in the intensity of the sufferings in the garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. And it is in the power of all that has come into expression in the intensity of suffering, that He has entered into the presence of God.

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C. de K.F. So would you say, that what we had this morning in Romans chapter 3, "the shewing forth of his righteousness" as linking with this, would give us a very great impression of the glory which attached to Christ in sacrificing Himself?

G.R.C. Indeed it would. Romans chapter 3, is connected with God's approach to man: God manifests His righteousness in approaching us with what we need, justification and the gift of the Spirit. But the work of Christ had in view not only God coming out to us, to meet us where we were, and to justify us and set us up here on earth in the power of the Spirit, but also our going in to God.

B.H.T. Hebrews gives our approach to God; but in Romans God sets Him forth as a mercy-seat?

G.R.C. God sets Him forth in testimony as a mercy-seat through faith in His blood.

B.H.T. That shews the profoundness of the gospel.

G.R.C. The whole matter is set out in the gospel. Christ Jesus, the glorified Man in the presence of God, is set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in His blood. But Romans, in respect of that, treats mainly of the way God has come out to man with what he needs down here; that is, justification and the gift of the Spirit. Hebrews brings in the other side, namely, that the gospel also sets man completely free to draw near to God.

B.H.T. It shews how wonderful the gospel is and what fulness there is in it.

G.R.C. What Paul calls new covenant ministry in 2 Corinthians 3 is a ministry of righteousness and a ministry of the Spirit. The free gift of righteousness and the gift of the Holy Spirit are available to men, a ministration from the glory to fit men for the glory. This meets the need of man. But the other side is the need of the heart of God. God's love requires that He should have man in the greatest nearness to Himself.

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F.J.F.

"He's gone within the veil,
For us that place has won;
In Him we stand, a heav'nly band,
Where He Himself is gone". (Hymn 12)

G.R.C. Quite so. He has brought in a state of things to satisfy the longings of the heart of God, who would have men within the veil, with Christ; and who would dwell among men brought into such nearness to Himself.

E.S. So the Lord Jesus could tell the woman in John 4 the truth in a very simple way "for also the Father seeks such as his worshippers".

G.R.C. Quite so. And to worship God in the way He desires involves our understanding of what is before us now -- our liberty of approach to God.

F.J.F. This is seen in Aaron and his sons?

G.R.C. Strictly it was never seen in the Old Testament. Aaron's sons could go into the holy place; that is a question of service, where they served. Aaron himself went in to the holy of holies once a year. But we have come to the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man, "For the Christ is not entered into holy places made with hand, figures of the true, but into heaven itself", Hebrews 9:24. Christ has gone in, our High Priest and our Forerunner, and we have liberty to go in. The holiest is not exactly a place of service, it is a place of immense privilege.

L.D.V. Would this answer to what we have in Romans 5? We have access, we stand in favour before God; it is changeless because Christ is there?

G.R.C. Yes. Access is touched on in Romans, chapter 5. "We have also access by faith into this favour", without giving us the character of the favour. It also says, we "boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom now we have received the reconciliation", Romans 5:11. So there is a ground-work laid in Romans as to access, but it is developed in Hebrews and Ephesians.

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C.M.M. Had you something more to say as to Aaron and his house?

G.R.C. Does it not apply to the saints of this dispensation?

C.M.M. Yes. I thought it would be the assembly, showing that side of Leviticus 16 which is so precious to us.

G.R.C. We have our appreciation of the other side of the day of atonement (the scapegoat) but the concern of the Spirit is that we should understand this aspect which is especially our own.

S.P.S. Why has this reference to Aaron and his house particular reference to our day?

G.R.C. Because we are the only family whose place is within the veil. It was not clearly manifested in the 16th of Leviticus, even in that which was a type. Aaron's house could not enter within the veil at that time; but when we come to Christianity we know that typically Aaron's house relates to those who form the assembly, and that our place is within the veil.

M.S.V. You pointed out that our going in is not exactly service. Would you help us that we might move in with liberty? What really takes place in the holiest?

G.R.C. I think contemplation, adoration, and divine communication. When in the immediate presence of God, all our spiritual faculties are engaged and absorbed with God and with Christ as before God.

M.S.V. God communicated to His servant Moses from off the mercy-seat, there were holy communications.

G.R.C. I think, as in the presence of God, our ears would be alert for communications. Moses went in to speak with God and God took the initiative. He spoke to Moses and then Moses spoke to Him. All our faculties are engaged, our ears are engaged (I am speaking spiritually now), our eyes are engaged, because we are in the presence of Him who is the effulgence of God's

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glory and the expression of His substance. It is a wonderful thing to be in the immediate presence of the Man in whom God is shining out in radiant glory, and in whom "dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily". There is also the cloud of glory and the cloud of incense. If you think of all that we are in the presence of, in the holiest, you can understand that all our spiritual faculties will be engaged with what is presented to us. There is what engages our nostrils, spiritually. We are enveloped in a cloud of fragrant incense in which Christ has gone in -- the fragrance of Christ as He is before God. Our eyes are also fully engaged and our ears are attentive.

R.S. Is that the great thought of worship, that all our faculties are fully engaged with God Himself?

G.R.C. I think so. So that worship in the sense of adoration, and prostration, is proper to the holiest.

R.S. Would you say more as to that being unique to the assembly?

G.R.C. No other family has a place within the veil. It would link with what Christ says in the gospel of John, "that where I am they also may be with me".

L.D.V. Do you link the cloud on the mercy-seat at the end of verse 2, with the fulness of the Godhead in Colossians?

G.R.C. I think it might. We have to see that both sides are presented to us in one Person. On the one hand -- "in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" and thus God is shining forth in Him. On the other hand, Jesus is the One in whom is absolute perfection, as Man, before God. He has gone in to God in a cloud of fragrant incense, and with His own blood.

D.M.S. Would you care to say a word about the veil itself? We enter in through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.

G.R.C. It may be well in that connection to refer to Colossians as well as Hebrews. But before we come to that in Colossians, I think we should see what the

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work of atonement, called reconciliation in the New Testament, has effected for God. Hebrews is more what it has effected for us. But the main point in the work of reconciliation is what it would secure for God, that the longings of His heart should be satisfied. When reconciliation is referred to, the thought of "to Himself" is brought in: "who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ", 2 Corinthians 5:18; "being enemies, we have been reconciled to God through the death of his Son", Romans 5:10; "to reconcile all things to itself", Colossians 1:20; "and you now has it reconciled". I think the primary thing is that this great work has been done to satisfy the heart of God. It has been done to meet our need, and Romans gives what particularly meets our need; but God has gone far beyond our need. Through Christ, He has carried out a work to satisfy the needs and requirements of His heart. And Colossians is very touching in showing what has been effected for God, or rather as it puts it there, for the Fulness.

L.D.V. Do we not need to see that reconciliation has not only removed the man that was hateful, but has secured man in suitability for God's pleasure?

G.R.C. If you look at the type in Leviticus 16, the stress is not upon the removal of the man that was hateful. That is involved and is brought out at the end in verse 27 -- "the bullock of the sin-offering, and the goat of the sin-offering whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the sanctuary, shall one carry forth outside the camp; and they shall burn with fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung". There you get the unsparing judgment of God upon the man that was hateful to Him, but borne by Christ. But the chapter as a whole is stressing the preciousness of the One who has accomplished this sacrificial work -- Aaron, the bullock, the ram, all types of Christ; and then the cloud of fragrant incense in which Aaron went in. So you are left with an impression of how pleased God is with everything relative to Christ and what He has done --

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what delight it has brought to Him that His presence should now be filled with the fragrant incense that has been brought out in fulness through the very sufferings of Christ in the work of atonement. The fragrant incense which has resulted is filling God's presence. And then the blood -- what it means to God to have the blood before Him. It is for His eye, according to this chapter, on the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat. So that as God looks out from the mercy-seat, from His standpoint, sin has been put away judicially. So He looks out with pleasure. The blood is the evidence of a work completed which has dealt with what was offensive. But His presence is filled with what is precious. Reconciliation is thus a wonderful thing.

A.A.H. So that J.N.D. breaks out in song in his hymn

"Love that on death's dark vale
Its sweetest odours spread". (Hymn 235)

G.R.C. The Lord Jesus has gone in in the fragrance of those sweetest odours; and at the same time He has gone in by His own blood. What an outlook God has therefore!

W.E.G. The sprinkling of the blood is mentioned in Leviticus, and again in Hebrews, to show how precious that blood is.

G.R.C. And so in Colossians, it says "for in him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to itself having made peace by the blood of his cross -- by him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens". The blood is viewed as having made peace for the Fulness. In Romans it is a question of peace for us, peace with God. But in Colossians it is peace for God, peace for the Fulness.

F.J.F. So that no disturbing element can ever arise in that scene of glory.

G.R.C. Quite so. And the wonderful thing is that, as God looks out even now upon His habitation here on

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earth in the Spirit, He looks out with pleasure in virtue of the blood; because the blood, as it were, covers and removes from His eye, judicially, all that is offensive in the saints. God looks out thus with pleasure upon the saints. He sees us all before Him in the fragrance and acceptance of Christ; and also as His workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus.

N.C.J.C. Is there a connection between the fragrant incense and the holy anointing oil of fragrant drugs? He is fragrant to God in His going in and the assembly takes character from Him.

G.R.C. The holy anointing oil would be the fragrance that results from the Spirit giving character to the whole system. It is the Spirit of Christ marking the whole system; but the incense in Leviticus 16 is the fragrance of Christ Himself, which fills the presence of God.

A.A.G. Could we have a word on this expression "the fulness" please?

G.R.C. "In him all the fulness was pleased to dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to itself". I believe the expression especially links with the gospel of John. That gospel shews in a particular way all the Fulness dwelling in the Person of the Son; and that is the gospel which alone refers to the blood of His cross.

L.F.J. I wondered if the cloud (Leviticus 16:2), involves the mystery of the Person.

G.R.C. I think it may have some reference to Colossians 2:9.

L.F.J. Fitting in with the Fulness?

G.R.C. Yes. In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. As we come into the presence of God He is before us thus. In and through Him we know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are privileged to be occupied with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in an objective way, made known to us in and through the Son.

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C.M.M. Would you say more about the meeting of the two clouds?

G.R.C. Does it not bring out the two sides of what is expressed in the person of Jesus? On the one hand, in His glorious Manhood, there is the full expression of God towards us, "in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily". On the other hand, there is the expression of perfect manhood towards God in Him.

C.M.M. I think that is very beautiful.

F.J.F. Psalm 102 says that "He weakened my strength in the way, he shortened my days. I said, My God, take me not away in the midst of my days". There must have been something very wonderful for the heart of God when He gave the answer to that glorious Person in saying, "Thy years are from generation to generation", and "But Thou art the Same".

G.R.C. And so the One who glorified God here in His sacrifice, and who has gone in to God in the fragrance of His Person and in the power of His blood, is the One in whom God is shining out upon us. We have the different items in the type, but all concentrate on the one glorious Person. God is shining forth now in the very One who made the sacrifice and has gone in in the power of His blood; "thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth", Psalm 80:1. God is free now to shine forth in Him, and we are free to be in the presence of that shining, and to be at home in it.

W.E.G. So it is all for the pleasure of the Godhead; "to reconcile all things to itself".

G.R.C. We ought to look at the passage in Colossians to see things from the divine side. It says "in him all the fulness was pleased to dwell". I think we shall see that specially in the gospel of John. The Lord makes clear that He was in the Father and the Father in Him and that the Father who abode in Him did the works. John 14:10. He also makes clear who He is in His own Person, "Before Abraham was, I am". And the gospel also makes clear that the Spirit descended

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and abode upon Him. So that all the Fulness is shown to be dwelling in Him and "by him to reconcile all things to itself". So that the Lord says "It is finished". The primary idea is that it was a work finished for God. The gospel preachers rightly use it, because if the work was finished for God, it was finished for us. But we want to keep the thing in its setting to see the greatness of it, that the One in whom all the Fulness was pleased to dwell, could say "It is finished". The work was completed to the satisfaction of the Fulness, and the blood that flowed from His side was a witness to the work completed to the satisfaction of the Fulness: and so it says "having made peace by the blood of his cross". The blood has laid the basis for the reconciliation of all things. It says in Hebrews 9:21, 22, that "the tabernacle too and all the vessels of service he sprinkled in like manner with blood". And "without blood-shedding there is no remission". The whole system came under the sprinkling of the blood. That is indicated without any detail in Leviticus 16:16 because it says "he shall make atonement for the sanctuary, to cleanse it" and then, further down, "and so shall he do for the tent of meeting", and finally for the altar in verse 18. So the whole system came under the sprinkling of the blood, and if we apply it to the universe, it is soon to be publicly carried into effect. The basis has been laid, peace has been made by the blood of His cross, and the time is near when all things will be publicly reconciled to the Fulness on that basis -- "by him to reconcile all things to itself".

E.S. Why was the blood sprinkled once on the mercy-seat and seven times before the mercy-seat?

G.R.C. It may be that the seven times before it is to give us full confidence in our approach. At the same time it was before God also. But on the mercy-seat was specifically for the eye of God. It settled everything for God. Sin is put away judicially from His

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sight. He looks out now complacently, that matter being settled. The seven times before the mercy-seat may also link with His looking out, but I also think it has a bearing on our going in.

D.M.S. There was no cross like this and no blood like this.

G.R.C. It is good to see the extensive scope of the work from the standpoint of the Fulness -- to reconcile all things -- thrones, lordships, principalities, and authorities. All things were created by Christ and for Christ, but all have come under the taint of sin. Christ is soon to take them up and fill them all. They were created for Him. Soon every seat of authority in the universe will be occupied either by Christ personally or by those whom He has delegated. He will fill all things, as Head of all principality and authority. But before He can take them up publicly and fill them for God, He must reconcile them. And He has laid the basis in the blood of His cross for the reconciliation of all things, so that the stain of sin might be removed from before God's eye in the whole universe. Anticipatively it is so now, no doubt, in the eye of God, but the reconciliation of all things is soon to be publicly manifested. So Colossians gives the reconciliation of all things and Ephesians the filling of all things. One must precede the other. And it is the same blessed Person who does it. He created all things. He reconciles all things and He fills all things. How glorious Jesus is!

C.M.M. Why is the word "atonement" so prominent in the Old Testament, "reconciliation" in the New?

G.R.C. The Old Testament could not go so far as to use the word reconciliation. It is a word involving that what is offensive is removed judicially and that God is complacent. What would you say?

C.M.M. I think reconciliation is very great; as though it were not, so to speak, possible for the Spirit

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of God to bring it forward until we come to the fulness of the New Testament and the greatness of the One who had brought in this favour.

G.R.C. So that atonement implies the idea of covering, that sin is put out of God's sight, judicially; but reconciliation is a positive thing; God has before Him now what is for His pleasure.

C.M.M. Would you give us a word as to the distinction between justification and reconciliation? Would both be objective?

G.R.C. Both are objective. We are justified by faith and then through our Lord Jesus Christ we receive the reconciliation. It is received in receiving the gospel. Luke 15 is an example, is it not, as to the way we receive it? The father himself covered the whole distance, and that is what God has done. He has removed the distance, in the death of Christ, and as soon as there is repentance, He is by the side of the repentant one, falling on his neck and covering him with kisses. So that the son received the reconciliation. He received it where he was. That is the Romans view of reconciliation. We receive it where we are, as it were. But it is in view of our moving in, and, of course, the repentant one did move in, and he was in the house for the father's pleasure. It does not say anything about his feelings. The point there is God's own joy. And that is the point in reconciliation. It is that aspect of the work of Christ whereby God is free now to satisfy the longings of His heart.

W.E.G. So, through reconciliation, God has moved from His side and everything is clear.

G.R.C. Yes. We have spoken of the reconciliation of all things. Then it says "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works, yet now has it reconciled in the body of his flesh through death". Now this is what we were referring to as Aaron's house. This refers to the saints of this dispensation; "yet now has it reconciled in the body

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of his flesh through death; to present you holy and unblamable and irreproachable before it". It is the Fulness acting for Its own satisfaction, to present us, the most privileged of all families, holy and unblamable and irreproachable before it. And the only condition is that we "abide in the faith founded and firm, and not moved away from the hope of the glad tidings". It shows what a position the gospel puts us in, rightly received and held.

J.W.B. Would you say what the bearing is of new creation in 2 Corinthians 5? New creation is brought in first -- "So if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation", and then "all things are of the God who has reconciled us to himself". Is what is brought into reconciliation new creation? But here the persons are emphasized in Colossians.

G.R.C. I think I would put it the other way round, that those whom God has reconciled to Himself are the subjects of His work in new creation. Reconciliation is not the result of new creation. It is the result of the work of Christ and the perfection of fragrance of the One who did the work.

F.J.F. So we do not work up to it. We receive it.

G.R.C. Yes. Years ago some thought that reconciliation depended on new creation. The more the new creation work had gone on in us, the more we were reconciled. It would be well for everyone to read the book where that was corrected. The reading is called "Reconciliation and New Creation", J. T., 1922 [New Series, 18:124 - 178]. It was made perfectly clear from every scripture that deals with it, that reconciliation is through the death of Christ. It flows from the value of the Person and work of Christ, and is received by us through faith. God works in new creation, to fit us for the place which is ours by faith in virtue of the Person and work of Christ.

L.D.V. When it says in Colossians, "to present you holy and unblamable and irreproachable before it",

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does that not show that through the work of Christ we are to be presented holy and unblamable and irreproachable before the presence of the Fulness?

G.R.C. So that this passage stresses the pleasure of the Fulness, what the Fulness has done for Itself. It has reconciled us "in the body of his flesh through death"; to present us holy and unblamable and irreproachable before It. Finality is in mind, of course, but the only condition is that we abide in the faith, founded and firm and not moved away from the hope of the gospel; showing that our position of reconciliation stands related to the value of the Person and work of Christ, and our faith in it, and the Fulness acting for Itself. Think of the joy of the Fulness in presenting us thus. Bring that into the present and think of the joy that it means to God when we enter the holiest. This looks on to completion, but think of what it means now. Think of what we are depriving God of if we do not come before Him in the way that He has provided.

M.S.V. I was thinking of the cloud of incense as we enter the holiest. What dignity it gives to the service of God and to those that are there! Would that be the thought, that we are distinguished in this way?

G.R.C. For the service of God?

M.S.V. Quite so. Not that I have in mind the service of God in the holiest but there is a distinctiveness about the persons that are there.

G.R.C. Well, exactly. None can serve God like those whose place is within the veil. But we tend sometimes to spoil things by bringing in our service too soon. In what we are occupied with now, it is a question of Christ and His service. It is through Christ's service that we have boldness to enter the holiest. It is not our service that takes us there.

W.E.G. When you are there you simply worship and adore. There are no requests to be made, you

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simply bow and adore and worship, and God is rejoicing.

G.R.C. So that Colossians brings in the divine side, "to present you holy and unblamable and irreproachable before it", but Hebrews 10 is our side -- "Having, therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water". Now we need to link the veil in this passage with the body of His flesh in Colossians. We are reconciled in the body of His flesh through death. And according to the 10th of Hebrews, the new and living way has been dedicated by Him for us, through the veil; that is, His flesh. You were asking about that?

D.M.S. That is, He has not given up His glorious humanity. It is there as making a way for the saints to enter into the presence of God.

G.R.C. He has not given up His glorious humanity, but He is now in a new condition. We are reconciled in the body of His flesh through death. Death has ended that condition. Hebrews speaks of the days of His flesh. They are over forever; "even if we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer". And it is very touching to think that Christ has been here in order to effect reconciliation, that we might be "reconciled in the body of his flesh through death". And so the new and living way is through the veil, that is, His flesh. It involves His death.

F.J.F. Would you say that inside the veil we contemplate the Glory of God?

G.R.C. I do not think there is any veil in connection with Christ's present condition. There was the veil, that is His flesh. As J.N.D. says, "We see the

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Godhead glory shine through the human veil". He still retains humanity, He is glorified; but His glorified condition is no veil, as I understand it. His condition here in humiliation was a veil. But that condition has been ended in death. And now "in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily", and that expression conveys to me that His present bodily condition is no veil at all. Thus, as appropriating His death and going in by the new and living way which He has dedicated, we can, in the power of the Spirit, be in His presence now without a veil on His face and without a veil on our hearts. According to 2 Corinthians 3, there was a veil on Moses' face. But now there is no veil at all, neither on the face of Jesus, nor on the heart of a repentant man who truly believes the gospel. As entering the holiest, he is in the presence of the outshining of the effulgence of God's glory without a veil -- in a glorious Man. And that direct view of Christ, as I understand it, no family but ourselves will ever have. I do not think any other family will be capable of looking, face to face, on the radiant glory of God in Jesus. I believe the assembly is the only family capable of doing it. Other families will get their light through us.

C.M.P. What is the difference between the condition in which the Lord was here and that in which He is now, and the order of His Manhood?

G.R.C. He is ever "the second man, out of heaven" and according to John 3 "the Son of man who is in heaven". There is no change in the moral character of His Manhood. Only there is a change of condition. "The days of His flesh" are over.

C.M.P. I think in the minds of some, the Lord Jesus only became a man of a new order after His resurrection, but that is not the truth. He was always a man of a new order. His condition alone changed. Is that right?

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G.R.C. It would be wrong to say that the Lord Jesus became a new order of man in resurrection. There was a change of condition, but His Manhood was ever perfect and spotless. And so it says "wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God". The change is in the condition but it is the same Jesus.

C.M.M. In the actual service, are we privileged to look out upon the greatness of the universe of many families, the result of reconciliation? Does it enhance the greatness of our position to take account of every family?

G.R.C. Indeed it does. In the holiest we are in the centre of the system; but the first things that engage us, and absorb our attention, are the outshining of God in Christ; and the perfect manhood of Jesus. But then it is also our privilege to look out with God. We realize what the blood on the mercy-seat means to Him; and what it means to Him to take account of the whole system as coming under the power of the blood. It says that the tabernacle and all the vessels of service were sprinkled with blood. Hebrews 9:21. It is a most exhilarating thing to look out with God from the centre of the system and to see things as He sees them, because the blood has removed judicially, from under His eyes, all that is offensive. He is not occupied with it. He is occupied with a scene that is altogether pleasurable to Himself.

E.S. As to the order of man, we need to know that nothing of our order, of Adam's order, can ever enter the sanctuary. Only man after Christ's order can enter there.

G.R.C. That is why we are reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, and why it says "through the veil, that is, His flesh". We go in by way of death. Man after the flesh has been ended in death, judicially, before God. That is the basis of our

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approach. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. There is no change in Him.

W.E.G. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 it says "we all ... are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory". Transformation takes place after His image.

G.R.C. There it is looking on the glory; but then we look out, we get God's outlook on things; and I do not think we can serve God properly until we get His outlook on everything.

F.J.F. Would that be the same as in Ephesians 3, where it says "the breadth and length and depth and height"? You are looking out there.

G.R.C. Yes. Looking out in all four dimensions.

M.S.V. As to washing, it says "sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water". When does this take place?

G.R.C. A soul who truly receives the Gospel is regarded as washed all over; and that is the meaning of the word in this passage. The Lord says, "He that is washed all over needs not to wash save his feet". I think what is in mind here is that Christ, and His work and service, have made the way clear for us to go into the holiest provided we have a true heart and full assurance of faith. That is the condition on our side. Everyone who is truly in the faith of the gospel has a true heart and full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith means unbounded confidence in Christ and His completed work. Such, therefore, have boldness. We dishonour Christ if we have not boldness to enter the holiest. The washing of hands and feet at the laver would mean that we maintain practical cleanness of act and walk. But the point is here the initial washing of the priestly family. They were washed all over on the day they were consecrated.

L.D.V. Would you help us as to the great priest over the house of God?

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G.R.C. The great priest over the house of God is a comfort to our hearts. He is there to sustain us. As we enter the holiest we have two things. We have boldness on the one hand, and we have a great Priest over the house of God on the other. He is there supporting us, having all the saints on His heart and on His shoulders. We need His help and sustainment. His priesthood is an official glory, a glory given to Him, and we delight in it. But, as in the gain of His priesthood, we become occupied, not with a glory given, but with what He is. He is the effulgence of God's glory. That is what He is in Himself. Priesthood is an office which He fills to support us. These verses do not tell us what we are occupied with in the holiest; they shew us how equipped we are to enter.

W.G. Could you help us as to the individual's approach to the holiest?

G.R.C. That is what we are dealing with now. That is what Hebrews specially has in mind. It goes on afterwards to speak of "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together". We should be continually resorting to the holiest. It should be the very home of our souls.

W.G. It is always open, is it not, to any individual?

G.R.C. The way is open at all times. And if we understood the privilege, we shall want to be there at every opportunity.

F.J.F. Conscious of suitability? "Not a cloud above, not a spot within".

G.R.C. That is right. How wonderful to be with God, and to be occupied with God and Christ before God: and then, as thus in the centre of the system, to look out with God and to get His viewpoint of everything.

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(3) SANCTIFICATION AND SERVICE

Exodus 29:19 - 25, 38, 39; Exodus 30:7,8; Hebrews 2:11,12; John 17:16 - 19

G.R.C. We have already considered the righteousness of God as revealed in the gospel, which is the moral foundation of everything that God is doing in grace; and in that connection we considered the truth of justification, God meeting us at the point of our need; the establishment of His righteousness as revealed in the gospel setting Him free to meet us in our need, and justify us, and give us the Spirit and set us up here in practical righteousness. In the second reading we considered the truth of reconciliation, called atonement in the Old Testament, also based upon the righteousness of God as revealed in the gospel, but setting out the work of Christ as it affects God Himself; the way Christ, by His sacrifice and going in to God, has met all the claims of the throne, His blood covering everything that was offensive under the eye of God. So that God dwells in the midst of a system where the blood is at the centre, on the mercy-seat, "And the tabernacle too and all the vessels of service he sprinkled in like manner with blood; and almost all things are purified with blood according to the law"; so God looks out upon a system purified from the standpoint of the blood. That is, all that is offensive to Him is covered, indeed removed judicially, from before His eye, by the blood, although not actually removed yet. Thus God has a complacent outlook on the whole system of which He is the centre. At the present time, this is represented in the assembly as the tabernacle of witness.

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Soon He will have a complacent outlook on all things; indeed it is so at the present time in the sense that the world stands provisionally in reconciliation. So that to consider the sacrificial work of Christ from a standpoint of the way it affects God is a matter of very, very great scope. God would help us to understand more and more what it means to Him. It is not only the question of meeting the need of men, but of meeting the requirements of God's throne and the requirements of His heart. That is what reconciliation has done. It has met the requirements of God's throne but it has also met the requirements of His heart in that He has a Man before Him now who has gone in, to use the type, in the cloud of fragrant incense, brought out fully in the very sufferings of atonement.

So that God's presence is filled with fragrance, for the satisfaction of His heart, in Christ and in those whom Christ brings with Him. We are received into the presence of God in the cloud of fragrant incense in which Christ has gone in. Instead of the stench of corruption of the old man, God's presence is filled with the fragrance of Christ. It is wonderful to think of the sacrificial work of Christ as meeting both the requirements of His throne and the requirements of His love, because His love required that man should be near Him in the very closest relationship. And Man has gone in; Christ has gone in and He has taken us in with Him, as it were, into the very presence of God. We are not actually there yet, but we have liberty to enter at any time in our spirits, because that is our place -- "that where I am, ye also may be".

It is proposed now that we should consider the truth of sanctification and what is connected with it, the service of God. The word "sanctification" means a setting apart. The work of Christ has set us apart for divine service. Our privilege of entering the presence of God is not a question of our service: it is Christ's service, and His entering in, that has opened the way

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for us. We can go straight in. But He has provided, not only for our going in to the place of greatest privilege, but also for God to be served. By His very work He has set us apart to God and for God's service. God will be served by His sons, but He would be served by His sons as fully equipped priests; and therefore, at the beginning of Exodus, chapter 29, it says, "And this is the thing which thou shalt do to hallow them, that they may serve me as priests". That is the point, to hallow (or sanctify -- the words have the same force) "that they may serve me as priests"; and it is very affecting that Christ is called in Hebrews, the One who sanctifies. He has sanctified us at all cost to Himself. What is set out in this chapter in type shows the way He has sanctified us. And what is connected with sanctification is consecration. Consecration means filling of the hands (see note on Leviticus 8:28). In setting us apart to God, Christ has brought us before God on the same basis as He is Himself, by way of sacrifice so that, not only as being kindred, but also on a sacrificial basis, we are all of one with Him. And, not only so, but He fills our hands. He has died as the ram of consecration to fill our hands as priests, so that we might never lack having that which we can, delightedly and freely, wave before God. And then the chapter shows, as it proceeds, that the priests, having been sanctified and consecrated for service, are to serve every day. It immediately goes on to speak of the daily service, the morning and the evening burnt-offering, and the morning and the evening incense, the continual burnt-offering and the continual incense, both altars functioning every day.

In Hebrews 2:12 we get the assembly side of the matter. We are sanctified to serve assembly-wise also -- "I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises". There is the daily priestly service, and there is service in the assembly. As priests it is our privilege and responsibility thoroughly to carry out both.

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Then the word in John 17 shows how concerned the Lord is that we should be in practical and intelligent sanctification, "sanctified by truth". The more intelligent we are as to the truth, the more efficient we shall be in service. So He prays to the Father about us, "Sanctify them by the truth: thy word is truth". And then He says "I sanctify myself for them". He, as the Sanctifier, has sanctified Himself, that we might be sanctified by truth.

B.H.T. Are you regarding this as one of the fundamental features of the truth? I think you said yesterday morning that it was in mind to consider foundational truths.

G.R.C. Yes. The righteousness of God is the great foundation. And then, the foundation from the standpoint of our need is justification; the foundation from the standpoint of the divine requirements, both as to the throne and as to love, is reconciliation; and the foundation from the standpoint of the service of God is sanctification. While these are all fundamental, they go to the very top. We must not think that fundamental truths remain at the bottom. They are the truths on which everything rests, but they take us from the bottom to the top. Even the line of justification ends with "that we might become God's righteousness in him".

C. de K.F. Is the service of Moses, in the 29th chapter, priestly service? I was thinking of our approach to God.

G.R.C. I think we have to distinguish between approach and service; although, of course, they are very closely allied. Our approach is right into the holiest. If we stop short of that, we have stopped short of the Christian portion and position; we are on Jewish ground. So the word in Hebrews 10:22 as to "let us approach", means going right into the holiest, without a pause, as one might say. We may need to pause to receive mercy and find grace for seasonable help; but

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the mercy and grace is always there in abundant supply to ensure that, whatever the pressure of the way, we shall always be able to go right into the holiest. That is God's thought. It is His pleasure. He loves to see us come into the holiest. It gives Him great joy. We are depriving Him of His joy if we do not continually come into His presence. He loves to see us come and loves to have us there. All the grace needed is, therefore, always available, so that we should always be free to approach in to the very presence of God.

F.L. Would it be helpful to refer to the first ram? There seems to be a distinct connection between the first and the second. There is the act of the hands being placed on the head of each.

G.R.C. All three offerings (the bullock and the two rams) are connected with the sanctification of the priestly company. The first item of sanctification is in verse 4, "Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring near the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shalt bathe them with water". They are washed all over. We can have no links with Christ after the flesh. The whole basis of our relationship with Christ is on the ground of resurrection, and ascension. Therefore the bathing with water is the initial thing. Our links with Christ are on the basis of our having put off the old man and put on the new; and that we have been buried with Him in baptism, and raised with Him through faith of the working of God.

Then Aaron is clothed and anointed by himself. If we take the antitype, we know the Lord was anointed by Himself after His baptism. His baptism was figurative of His death.

Then there are the sons of Aaron. There is a new beginning, as it were, in that the sons of Aaron are now brought in with him. They are with him in verse 4 in the bathing; but then Aaron is treated alone in verses 5 to 7. But in verse 8 it says. "And thou shalt bring his sons near, and clothe them with the vests. And

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thou shalt gird them with the girdle -- Aaron and his sons"; and from that time you have Aaron and his sons. And the scripture sets out the way in which the sons can be fully identified with Aaron in the service, as all of one with him. They are all of one with him in the sense that they are his sons. There is the relationship. But it is also a question of being all of one with him on the sacrificial basis on which they are before God; and the sacrificial basis on which they are before God is on the ground of the sin-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the ram of consecration, the three offerings. It is very affecting when you think of Christ as the Sanctifier; what it has cost Him! He could have gone in to God alone. He was anointed by Himself; but to bring us in with Him, as all of one with Him, meant that He had to become the sin-offering, and to go in to God on the basis of the sin-offering and the burnt-offering and the ram of consecration. Surely we ought to love Christ dearly as the Sanctifier; "he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one" -- what it has cost Him to sanctify us! Instead of going in without passing through the article of death, He has gone into death as the sacrifice for sin, and as the burnt-offering and as the ram of consecration, in order that we might, in the presence of God, be all of one with him; be with Him on the same basis as He is as Man now before God. He has gone in on a basis on which He can link us with Himself. What wondrous grace! So as regards each of these offerings it says that Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the

head of the offering. Aaron and his sons were all to be before God on the basis of these offerings.

C.G.G. Why is it a ram?

G.R.C. Does it not refer to the fact that Christ's affections were peculiarly engaged in this service? It refers to the strength and energy of His affections. And there is the generative thought in it, that He would bring about similar affections in the priestly company.

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C.G.G. I wondered if it was linked with the idea of the ram in Genesis 22 also.

G.R.C. I think so. And there you get the seed introduced -- Abraham's seed -- the heavenly and the earthly. But all is based on the devotedness of Christ even unto death, and the energy of His devoted love which is continued in the seed that is secured.

M.S.V. Is it the thought that "having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end"?

G.R.C. That would be included in it. He loved them through everything, is what that word means. He went through all this. It says knowing "that he came out from God and was going to God". He is the Sanctifier. He came from God on a mission. He would not go back alone. His mission, in that respect, was that He would bring others to God with Him.

F.J.F. So would you say there is no disparity between Aaron and his sons?

G.R.C. That is just what I would say.

C. de K.F. Would you say more as to the laying on of their hands? There is such an identification with the offering.

G.R.C. Well I think the literal meaning, as the note indicates, is to "lean on or with". Aaron and his sons leaned on the head of the bullock of the sin-offering, as also the other offerings.

A.A.H. That man in the gospel with the withered hand; the Lord restored his hand, that he might have both hands full, that he might put both hands on the ram?

G.R.C. Yes. The hands filled come later in this chapter; but that would be in mind -- that he should serve God with both hands filled. Here there is full identification, Aaron and his sons leaned with their hands on the bullock of the sin-offering. That is, it is the only footing on which we can be before God. We have to have full and complete reliance on Christ as the sin-offering.

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L.D.V. When we were looking at the matter of righteousness, the blood was upon the mercy-seat; but the blood of the bullock here is put upon the horns of the altar; and the blood of the burnt-offering is upon the altar round about, and so also, of the ram of consecration.

G.R.C. I think it is because the service is in view here. The blood on the mercy-seat is what the work of Christ has done for God, meeting His requirements. The blood here is to sanctify and set apart a priestly company to serve God and the main place of their service is the altar. So the blood of the sin-offering is put on the horns of the altar, and all the blood is poured out at the bottom of the altar.

C.M.M. So when you distinguish between approach and service, is the thought that we go into the holiest in approach, but service would be at the altar?

G.R.C. Exactly. Service is at the two altars. It is true now, that when we are serving at the altars, we are serving in the full light of the holiest. And our spirits are still, as it were, in the holiest. But the first thing is to be sure we enter the holiest. We cannot serve aright unless we have been there; and unless our spirits are still in the sense of our place there.

F.J.F. It is very interesting that when Paul is describing the outer part of the first tabernacle, that is the holy place, he just says there was a table and a candlestick. He does not say they were made of gold. But as soon as he speaks of inside the holiest he says there was gold. He mentions the gold on everything. As if he did not want to detain them in the outer tabernacle.

G.R.C. Our part is to go inside; otherwise we are serving on Jewish ground. We are not on real Christian ground unless we are in the power and joy of our place within the veil. Then we are qualified to serve at the altars.

W.G. Is there any service in the holiest?

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G.R.C. It is not exactly the place of service. The whole being, if we are really there, must be absorbed with God. We are in the immediate presence of God and you could not be in His presence without being absorbed in every faculty of your being with God Himself, and the Man of His pleasure.

L.D.V. Would it be correct to say that the approach is greater than service?

G.R.C. The service should be in keeping with the approach. Our service should be on an entirely different level from the service of Israel or any other family, because of the level of our approach. But the approach is equal to the revelation. That has always been held, because the approach is in the same Person. But then I think the response is in keeping with the revelation and the approach, because He says "in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises".

L.D.V. We also have the verse in Psalm 48. "According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise".

M.S.V. If we have been inside, I suppose it would give character to our service outside. As to Peter and John -- the world could take account of them that they were with Jesus.

G.R.C. That is like the kingly priesthood. Peter speaks of the holy priesthood, "to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ". But then he speaks of "a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession". The priest not only went in to God and served God, but he came out to bless the people. And the priest's lips should keep knowledge. It is a priestly function to represent God in testimony. No one who is not an active functioning priest can truly represent God here in testimony.

W.E.G. We go into the holiest and there we worship and now we come out in service. It is a wonderful thought.

G.R.C. What is engaging us should draw our affections out to the Sanctifier. Moses represents the Sanctifier.

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It says in Hebrews 10, "by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body" as the sin-offering, as the burnt-offering and as the ram of consecration, to sanctify us once for all. That should greatly affect us. He could have gone in, but, if He was to take in with Him a sanctified company, He had to go in on the basis of sacrifice which would bring us alongside Him. The fact that Aaron laid his hands on these offerings shows that Christ has gone in on that basis. He is before God now on the basis of having offered Himself. There is the sin-offering and the burnt-offering and the ram of consecration, and we are with Him before God on that basis. Aaron and his sons were together on a sacrificial basis before God, leaning on these offerings. We have to rely entirely on the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all; from this standpoint we lean on Him as the One who has thus offered Himself.

D.M.S. The sense of what transpired at the cross should be poured very deeply into our souls, because God goes into great detail in this chapter in the bullock and in the two rams; as if to impress us with what was needed for our sanctification.

G.R.C. So the sin-offering here is a bullock. It is the fullest presentation of Christ as a sacrifice for sin; and then the burnt-offering is a ram, signifying the energy of His devoted love for God, and then the ram of consecration, the devoted energy of love which would go into death in order to fill our hands. The ram of consecration was to fill the hands. The sin-offering and the burnt-offering laid the basis of things -- sin put away, the burnt-offering our acceptance. But what is going to fill our hands? The ram of consecration is a type of Christ, going into death to fill our hands with what is pleasurable to God, so that we should never lack substance to offer to God.

R.S. The reference to the second ram, "And thou

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shalt take the second ram", would have a very special appeal to our hearts.

G.R.C. The way it is to affect us is indicated. The second ram is to affect our ears and our hands and our feet. We are to become dominated by love of the same character which led Christ thus to devote Himself to God to secure a priestly company.

N.C.J.C. Is that seen in Hebrews 10, the devotion of Christ -- "Lo, I come to do thy will" and then it goes on to say "by which will we have been sanctified"?

G.R.C. That is right. You get His devoted love -- "Lo, I come to do thy will" -- full devotion, like the ram.

F.J.F. Would you connect full sanctification with what is said in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, "sanctify you wholly: and your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless"?

G.R.C. I would. And in the second epistle it speaks of "in sanctification of the Spirit". There are four things mentioned in the New Testament as to sanctification -- "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all"; "that he might sanctify the people by his own blood"; Hebrews 13:12; "sanctification of the Spirit" see 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and 1 Peter 1:2; and sanctification by truth. We are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ; and then there is the sanctification of the Spirit, involving power, and sanctified by truth involving intelligence. So the person sanctified in these ways is fully equipped for priestly service.

F.J.F. That is wonderful.

L.D.V. Would the sanctification in the power of the Spirit be seen in the wafers and the loaf of bread and the cake of oiled bread which are offered?

G.R.C. Sanctification of the Spirit links with the anointing. It says in verse 21, "And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing

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oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him; and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him". The completion of the sanctifying work was the anointing. That is confirmed in Exodus 40, verse 15: "And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall be to them an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations". The anointing completed the sanctifying process and was to them an everlasting priesthood. The sacrificial side is the basis, but the power is the anointing. No one is a priest who is not anointed.

R.S. Would you say something as to the close link between the blood and the anointing? Firstly, the blood was put on the tip of the right ear, and so on, but then there is the blood that is upon the altar taken, and the anointing oil, and sprinkled.

G.R.C. I think that is what Peter refers to. When Peter refers to the sprinkling of the blood in the first verse of his epistle, he is not referring to the sprinkling of the blood which purifies our hearts from a wicked conscience; but to the blood of the ram of consecration. Peter has in mind the priesthood. So he says "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father". That would link on with the fact that we are sons of Aaron typically. Then "by sanctification of the Spirit", that is the anointing oil, and then "unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ". As I understand it, that is the sprinkling of the blood of the ram of consecration which commits us to a devotion of obedience that marked Jesus Christ. We are to be in keeping with the ram of consecration in our devoted obedience.

R.S. Is that why it is on the persons and the garments?

G.R.C. Say what you mean as to the garments, please.

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R.S. We are to be in keeping with this devotion. The garments would be what we are outwardly as viewed among men. They are to be in keeping with what we are inwardly in a priestly state.

G.R.C. That is helpful. It is not only that I am affected inwardly by the anointing and by the blood of the ram of consecration, but all my habits and associations are affected. All my habits and associations are to be marked by the obedience of Jesus Christ. And His obedience was an obedience in the energy of devoted love.

C.M.P. In verse 9, it says "And thou shalt gird them with the girdle". In all else there is a distinction between Aaron's garments and the garments of his sons. But there is only one girdle. I wondered whether we are to be committed wholly to the one service -- whether it is not linked with "all of one". It is no doubt the girdle of the ephod.

G.R.C. It may mean that our minds are all on the same thing, as held in the current of the mind of Christ. The girdle links with the mind. Peter says "having girded up the loins of your mind, be sober" (the sobriety is like the linen vests) "and hope with perfect steadfastness in the grace which will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ", that is like the high caps. You lift up your head with a sure and certain hope. All three things are needed in the service of God. But I think the girdle is interesting. The priests should have their minds concentrated on what the mind of Christ is concentrated on. Gird up the loins of your mind.

C.M.M. In the cleansing of the leper, blood and oil are placed on the ear, the thumb and the toe. Would one who is truly a priest be able to help as having himself learned something of the meaning of the blood applied?

G.R.C. I would think so. The cleansing of the leper is a remarkable thing. The anointing oil is not

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used there, however. It is just a log of oil. And the remainder of the oil is put upon the head of the leper. But it is not the holy anointing oil. It is more the Spirit viewed as the power and energy to fulfil responsibility here; so that we are set up in dignity, according to the eighth of Romans. But this is the holy anointing oil which was a perfume after the work of the perfumer, and fits the priest for his office. The idea of the anointing from this standpoint is that everything a person does, who is in the power of the anointing, has a peculiar fragrance about it which any spiritual person can sense at once. They know at once whether anyone is acting in the power of the anointing or not. And that odour is very precious to God. Paul said he manifested the odour of God's knowledge in every place; whatever he did was in the power of the anointing as a priest.

W.E.G. So coming out into service, we have got everything in our favour. We have got the power, the Holy Spirit, the intelligence and the truth.

G.R.C. Therefore it becomes a question of whether we are all functioning priests. Every provision has been made, and if we have received the Spirit we are priests, but are we functioning as priests? And a priest does not need a vestry. He does not take his priestly garments off when he leaves the sanctuary. Aaron had to take off his garments. But in Christianity we, as priests, do not change our garments. We do not have special garments when we are serving God, and other garments when we are amongst men. We are a kingly priesthood. We move amongst men in the dignity of royalty and priesthood.

R.L. "Grace to you and peace be multiplied", 1 Peter 1:2. That would be the spirit in which we would move in sanctification of the Spirit. There is no putting of that off in the vestry.

F.J.F. And then, Paul, when he preached said "we

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are a sweet odour of Christ to God, in the saved and in those that perish".

G.R.C. So that he carries on the gospel service as a sacrificial service, that is, as a priest, that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. If you heard Paul preach you would hear a priest preaching. You would hear a son preaching, and you would hear a priest in full function.

M.S.V. Do you mean there would be a spiritual dignity about the service if we are marked by the anointing?

G.R.C. Yes, and God will get a portion from it. There will be the sweet savour of Christ to God, whatever the effect may be upon men.

C.M.M. This chapter would give us what is daily, morning and evening?

G.R.C. Yes. And first of all what is continuous in the way of the ear and the hand and the foot being held for God. It is a wonderful thing, the obedience of Jesus Christ. His ear, His hand, His feet were ever engaged in the service of God, in a priestly way, whether He was speaking to God or speaking to men; and we are to be marked by the devoted energy of love which would bring us into that path of happy obedience; the ear ever available to divine communications, the hand available in divine service, the feet also.

C. de K.F. Even the use of material things can be on this line. In Philippians the apostle refers to what had been brought to him by Epaphroditus, being a sweet odour, a sacrifice acceptable to God.

G.R.C. I am glad you have mentioned that. It bears on the daily service. There was the continual burnt-offering, and the continual incense. That was prescribed. But in the New Testament it says, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of the lips confessing his name. But of doing good and communicating of your substance be not forgetful, for with such sacrifices

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God is well pleased", Hebrews 13:15 - 16. The latter are like the peace-offerings, which, except in two cases, were not prescribed. They were left to love to furnish, and the wealth of the fellowship depended on how many peace-offerings were brought, because the peace-offering is for the brethren. The inwards were for God, that is, God is the object in what is done, but every clean person could feed upon the peace-offering, and the priests had a special portion. I believe that is all part of the daily service of God. There should be the sacrifice of praise to Him, but there should also be the doing good every day of our lives.

C.M.M. Is that why the word "sacrifice" is particularly connected with the peace-offering?

G.R.C. Yes. It is a practical sacrifice. It is communicating of your substance. You have given up something.

W.E.G. It is open to everyone of us daily to be whole-heartedly for the Lord. We are so half-hearted. We do things when we come together, perhaps, but when the meetings are over, what then?

G.R.C. I think there is a danger of limiting Christian life to assembly life; limiting it to meetings, in other words; as though our meeting life is one thing and the rest of our life is quite another. That is utterly foreign to Christianity. A priest is a priest all the time, and his functions are daily.

Ques. Does the box on the table link with the communicating of our substance.

G.R.C. Yes. But it is not the whole matter. The doing good goes on every day. If we hold our bodies for God's will as He held His, both service Godward and service manward will be maintained.

R.S. So that the ram of consecration secures persons like Christ, and the service flows from that.

G.R.C. The blood was placed on the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and the great toe of the right foot. The whole man is secured.

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F.J.F. So we ought to be very careful what we allow into our minds by reading.

G.R.C. That would be girding up the loins of your mind. We need to use the girdle and to see that our minds are concentrating on what Christ is engaged with.

F.J.F. There is such a wealth of truth in those that have gone before, and what they have left behind. It is a library of wondrous things.

G.R.C. And so we must make time for priestly service; it is not a question of giving God what is left over. It is giving God the first place. Priestly service is our highest responsibility. So we must see that this is not neglected. We must see we make time for the continual burnt-offering and the continual incense.

Ques. What is that practically?

G.R.C. Before we go on to that I would like to refer again to the importance of our minds; and the using of our minds for reading the scriptures and the ministry. It is especially important to follow up diligently every exercise raised in our souls and every impression received in the meetings; following the lines of thought through scripture and availing ourselves of the help past ministry affords. The Bereans searched the scriptures daily.

C.M.M. We are to love God with all our strength and with all our mind.

G.R.C. We are glad to see young ones enjoying necessary recreation, for bodily exercise profits a little; but, as we get older, we do not want to go back to the sports of youth. That is a very poor thing to do. It does not please God at all. "When I was a child", Paul says, "I spoke as a child, I felt as a child". But let us give up childish things, and go in for things that belong to spiritual manhood: If you need exercise and go for a walk, you can think, and walk with God. But do not indulge in things that leave God out and which God has no pleasure in. Is that right, Mr. M?

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C.M.M. I am very glad you tell us that. It weighs on me a good deal.

R.B. You spoke of the service of God as though it were something that we as individuals could enter into. We usually speak of the service of God in a collective way.

G.R.C. The service of God in its highest; aspect is in the assembly. But it is to be maintained every day by the priesthood. Daily praise and prayer is to be maintained constantly. On Monday evening we engage in assembly prayer. But things happen daily in the sphere of testimony and the sphere of government. We cannot leave the saints, nor men, nor those in authority unprayed for from one Monday to another. The priesthood makes supplication and intercession before God daily.

E.S. We know that a certain amount of bodily exercise is needed for youth. Now what about the mind? I was thinking of books dealing with discoveries by science and such things.

G.R.C. I expect most of us have read the newspaper more than we ought to. J.T. said that the more you read it, the more muddy it is. It is like a glass of muddy water. The nearer you get to the bottom, the more the mud. We need to have some knowledge of what is happening in the world in order to pray intelligently, and to do our duty as down here amongst men; but I think the girdle bears very much on reading of that kind. I wish I had used it more. In reading the newspaper we need to have the girdle on, so that we look only at what is necessary for us as servants of God, and to fulfil our obligations in business and so on. Scripture speaks of shutting the ears from hearing of blood and the eyes from seeing evil. I think that needs to be in our minds when we look at a newspaper.

E.S. And what about other books?

G.R.C. We may think many kinds of books are necessary now to help the minds of the young, but

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the printing press is a fairly modem thing and universal education more modem still. And furthermore, we have the Lord as the great example. At the age of twelve He said "did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father's business?" And you have in the Psalms "and in his law doth he meditate day and night".

F.J.F. Of Mr. Raven, J.N.D. said, "Take care of that young man, because his mind is formed by scripture". J.N.D. also said that the heart always follows the mind in a creature like ourselves. If our minds are set upon a thing or engaged with it, our hearts will follow instinctively. The heart follows the mind in the creature.

G.R.C. I think we prove that by experience. The more we let our minds dwell on a thing that appeals to us naturally, the more our hearts become set upon it, and it becomes an idol.

C.W.C. Is that not why Paul says to the Colossians "Have your mind..".

G.R.C. Yes, and that word implies the bent of mind.

C.G.G. So would the idea of consecration help in these matters, the hands being filled with what is so precious to God?

G.R.C. Yes. Because the hands are filled and you are waving it, which means your mind and heart are engaged with it. You are waving it for God to take account of, but as a priest you are feeling with God and appreciating what God appreciates. Your mind and heart are engaged with what you are waving.

C.W.C. Is what was waved before God priestly food?

G.R.C. It became priestly food. It strengthened the constitution of the priest. And we experience that, in practice, in the assembly. A brother gives thanks to God and what he says becomes priestly food for the whole company. Primarily it is for God, and the whole company

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respond to it Godward, and God gets a portion from the hearts of the whole company; but then it is food for the company.

E.S. This reading should not be enjoyed and then forgotten, but searched out and assimilated.

G.R.C. There is no kind of reading that I have found more enjoyable and profitable than the following up of impressions. You receive something from God, and you would like to see all round the subject and get the thing thoroughly from scripture; and so you look up all the scriptures that bear on it. That is a very happy way of pursuing the truth. It says, "cutting in a straight line the word of truth". So when we get a fresh impression the thing is to get the whole line of it through scripture and then we really have it.

M.S.V. Would the morning and evening lamb bring before us an aspect of Christ's death?

G.R.C. It is the burnt-offering. We can bring our peace-offerings too. You are always at liberty to do that; but the burnt-offering is the continual sweet odour of Christ to God, maintained by the priesthood in their appreciation of it and in the outgoings of their hearts toward God. We come before God with a fresh appreciation of Christ and with praise in our hearts. Then there is also the incense at the golden altar. Therefore both sides, praise and prayer, are maintained, both morning and evening, before God. There are cases in scripture, like Daniel, who three times a day was before God. So we do not limit it to morning and evening but this is the minimum of the requirements of divine love.

M.S.V. Do we therefore serve at both altars?

G.R.C. I think we should serve at both God's altars -- not at our household altar to begin with. The great privilege is to enter the holiest and then to serve at God's altars. That is, to serve at the incense altar, because that would be the order, if you look at verse 20. In the actual service they went into the tent of meeting

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first. "When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water" and "when they come near to the altar to serve, to burn an offering by fire to Jehovah". So that the order of service in the actual working out of it was that the priest went to the golden altar first, and the incense ascended. And then he came out to serve at the altar of burnt-offering. We go into the holiest, we serve at the altar of incense, we serve at the altar of burnt-offering.

B.H.T. If Christ is a living Person to us, our lives will be consecrated, will they not? And everything else will fall into its own place.

G.R.C. Yes. We are married to another to bring I forth fruit to God. And this is the fruit to God.

D.J.P. Would you say something about the bearing of all this on the supper? I was thinking of the hands being full.

G.R.C. It has a very special bearing on the supper, because the service of God in its most full and elevated character proceeds then. I think if we take up the service daily, it will greatly help us at the supper. If we take up the service of prayer daily, at the altars of God, it will greatly help us at the prayer-meeting. Things are greater in the assembly than they can be in our personal devotions or in our household devotions. But I think in our daily devotions the great thing is to start in the presence of God, and then to serve at the altars of God before we go to our family altar. We thus pray and praise in relation to the whole sphere of God's universal interests first, then we come to our matters.

M.S.V. I used to think the family altar came first.

G.R.C. You have to work from the top. We belong to the top; and the thing is to begin at the top and to work down, and then you find the family altar is a very

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simple matter. You will not need to spend long there. If you begin at the family altar, you may never get any further.

F.J.F. So Paul did that in Ephesus, did he not? He began at the top.

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(4) PURIFICATION

Numbers 19:1 - 13, 19 - 22; Numbers 8:5 - 11; 2 Corinthians 6:11 - 18; 2 Corinthians 7:1

G.R.C. We have had before us thoughts relating to justification, reconciliation and sanctification. These scriptures deal with purification. Numbers 19 introduces the aspect of the death of Christ which relates to this subject, showing how the death of Christ has provided the means of purification. I might say in this respect that the word purification is used in Hebrews in a wider way than that in which we are speaking now. The writer did not use the word reconciliation, possibly because he was writing to Hebrews. Hebrews 1:3 speaks of purification by blood, "having made by himself the purification of sins", and Hebrews 9:22 says "and almost all things are purified with blood according to the law, and without blood-shedding there is no remission. It was necessary then that the figurative representations of the things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things (or "the heavenlies") themselves with sacrifices better than these". So that Hebrews refers to the way the whole system has been purified by the blood of Christ. The heavenlies themselves are purified in that sense and we belong to the heavenlies. But then Hebrews does not ignore the aspect of purification in Numbers 19, that is, purification by means of the water of separation (see the allusion to the heifer's ashes in Hebrews 9:13). This is practical purification, relative to our mixed condition and our circumstances down here. Exodus gives the supplying of the material

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and then the formation of the tabernacle and God coming down to dwell; and Leviticus deals with our approach to God and service in that tabernacle. But Numbers treats of the wilderness position, the position we are in as in circumstances of responsibility, but set in relation to God and His habitation. We are in a scene of defilement and, therefore, practical purification becomes essential. The issues are very great because we have spoken of justification and what goes with it -- joy in the Holy Spirit; and we have spoken of reconciliation and the blessedness of drawing near to God; and we have spoken of sanctification and the privilege of serving God. All these blessings and privileges have been secured for us freely from the divine side; but in practice, while we are down here in a scene of responsibility, we can forfeit them all, as to the present enjoyment of them, by failing to avail ourselves of the water of separation, which is called "a purification for sin", Numbers 19:9. Paul, in other writings than Hebrews, when he refers to purification, has this kind of purification in mind, as far as I remember. And so we have in Numbers 19 a type of the death of Christ which has not been introduced earlier. It stands related to our responsible position in the wilderness, as having been set in array around the tabernacle, and the chapter, coming as it does after the great rebellion of chapter 16, shows that it has a special bearing on us in our day. The great rebellion of chapter 16 links on with the time when the church publicly became a department of the world. That happened in the early days of church history. The church publicly succumbed to the world, accepted recognition and became a department of the world and the clerical system was set up. It did not matter whether a man had the Spirit or not, he was made a priest. An official priesthood was established, irrespective of the anointing, which denies the authority of God and the authority of Christ as Lord and as High Priest. Men who have not the Spirit,

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and thus have not the anointing, are called priests; whereas the anointing was to be to Aaron's sons an everlasting priesthood. Therefore in our day, in a special way, we need the water of separation. They say "for all the assembly, all of them, are holy", Numbers 16:3. Men talk like that today. And so we have this remarkable type of the death of Christ.

It helps much to contrast this with the day of atonement. It says, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without blemish, wherein is no defect, and upon which never came yoke", showing that the idea of a yoke is in mind. Christ was never under yoke to the world or anything in it. It is a beautiful presentation of Christ, "a red heifer without blemish, wherein is no defect, and upon which never came yoke". But from that point on the passage ceases to bring before us the excellence of Christ. On the day of atonement the excellence of Christ is before us all the time. There is the bullock of the sin-offering and the ram of the burnt-offering, and Aaron going in in a cloud of fragrant incense. What is stressed on the day of atonement is the perfection of Christ, the perfection of the One who took our place. The burning comes at the end, the body of the victim burnt outside the camp; that is brought in at the close, because the work of atonement is founded on that, that the man that was offensive has been ended in judgment. But the main stress on the day of atonement is on the perfection and glory of the One who took our place and bore the judgment. But in this type, after the first affecting reference to the beauty and perfection of Christ, the emphasis is not, from that point, on the beauty and perfection of Christ, but on the awfulness of the man whose place He took. What is stressed on the day of atonement is the perfection and beauty of the One who took our place. What is stressed in this type is the awfulness and corruption of the man whose place He

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took. And we are to arrive at a true judgment of the man whose place He took.

L.F.J. It is the female type here. God has in mind that men shall arrive at this, I suppose, so that the emphasis is on our side here.

G.R.C. It is a contrast here to the male, the bullock and the ram. Here with the female, the stress is on state. In Christ we see a perfect state, absolute perfection. But then He took our place, and what is stressed here is the awfulness of the state of the man whose place He took. But then, as you say, it would mean that He has laid the basis for a right and purified state with us.

L.F.J. Samuel was told to take a heifer at the anointing of David, as if God had in mind an answer to David from the very outset.

R.S. Does the red heifer suggest the distinctiveness of this type of the death of Christ?

G.R.C. How distinctive His manhood is. What other man has ever been here without blemish and with no defect and upon whom never came yoke.

A.A.G. Why is it given to Eleazar and not to Aaron?

G.R.C. Because Eleazar represents us. Eleazar was one of the sons of Aaron, and he is representative of the saints in their capacity as priests.

N.C.J.C. Taking up this exercise would promote a state of holiness with us. Is not holiness really shrinking from sin in this awful character?

G.R.C. So much so that we would not readily occupy ourselves even with the ashes. Our conversation so easily turns on defects amongst the brethren, even if it is with a desire that they might be remedied. Yet even the man who sprinkled the water of separation became unclean himself until the evening, and even to touch the water made a man unclean. We have to be very careful, therefore, about being occupied with him unless it is absolutely essential.

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M.S.V. Did you say that this is the greatest burning we have in the Old Testament?

G.R.C. In the way of sacrifice, I do not know of any burning so complete as this.

A.A.G. So it says "one shall burn the heifer before his eyes": that is, Eleazar's eyes. If he represents us we are to contemplate that dreadful burning.

G.R.C. That is where the contrast between this and the day of atonement is so instructive. In the day of atonement, the victim was presented before God. Although the bullock of the sin-offering was to be burned outside the camp afterwards, it was presented before God at the entrance of the tent of meeting and its blood, as with all sin-offerings (see Leviticus 4) poured out at the bottom of the altar; and its inwards burnt on the altar. So that it stood related to God. It was under His eyes. And what He was engaged with primarily was the perfection of the Person. But this is very different. It is not presented before Jehovah. It says "ye shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring it outside the camp, and one shall slaughter it before him". It is slaughtered before Eleazar. "And Eleazar the priest shall take of its blood with his finger, and shall sprinkle of its blood directly before the tent of meeting seven times". On the day of atonement the blood was taken in to the mercy-seat, and sprinkled on the mercy-seat. What a tremendous contrast! This blood did not even go inside the tent of meeting! And then "And one shall burn the heifer before his eyes", so this is what is before our eyes. The day of atonement particularly refers to what is before God's eyes, but this is all to be before our eyes.

L.D.V. So it tells us of certain persons who stood by the cross of Jesus. We have to take account of where He went. Would it remind us of 2 Corinthians 5:21, "Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us"?

G.R.C. That verse also applies to the sin-offering on the day of atonement, because it was burnt outside

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the camp; but here that side of things is stressed for our benefit.

C.M.M. Had not Paul sought to bring this before the Galatians -- "before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified among you", Galatians 3:1?

G.R.C. That scripture was on my mind. "One shall burn the heifer before his eyes", and, as Paul went about, it is evident that he put this side of the truth before the saints' eyes. "O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you; to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified among you?" It is not a question of the altar or what is before God, but crucified among you, before their very eyes; just as this was before Eleazar's eyes. Ministers of Christ should seek everywhere to portray this type of the death of Christ before the very eyes of the saints, as among them.

F.J.F. They saw, as it were, the crucifixion, right among them?

G.R.C. Vividly portrayed in a man who was in the gain of it.

J.W.B. Paul speaks of not knowing anything among them "save Jesus Christ; and him crucified", 1 Corinthians 2:2. Is the apostle in effect standing by the cross there in relation to Corinth?

G.R.C. That scripture again shows that he portrayed Christ crucified everywhere.

J.W.B. So that this thought of purification is very wide if we take in the epistles to the Corinthians, Galatians and Colossians.

G.R.C. It is very wide indeed. It begins in Romans with the idea of purification from myself, as after the flesh; that is Romans 7. If we do not begin there we have got nowhere. It is useless to talk about what you might call external purification if we have not begun with the internal, as the Lord said in the gospel: "Make clean first the inside of the cup and of the dish,

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that their outside also may become clean", Matthew 23:26. We must begin with ourselves, and that is Romans 7 -- "this body of death". That is the dead body of a man that we are all up against initially in ourselves.

R.S. Does "before his eyes" bring the priest to the sixth verse, "shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet". Is that committal to this truth of the death of Christ as affecting me inwardly?

G.R.C. I am glad you have pointed that out. It is very interesting because it says "one shall burn the heifer before his eyes". That is like Paul in Galatia. He was, as it were, burning the heifer before the eyes of the Galatians, in the completeness of the burning, "its skin and its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall he burn". Then it affects the priest, as you say; and that is the effect it should have had on the Galatians. "The priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer". It is a great thing if we arrive at that in our priestly judgment. That is what God intends us to arrive at. We should cast all that we could boast in after the flesh into the burning. We do not boast in the dung, we all know that is no use. But what we are apt to boast in is the cedar-wood and the hyssop and the scarlet, the false and fancied glory of sinful man away from God. It is a wonderful thing when the burning so affects the priestly sensibilities of the saints that they are prepared to cast the cedar-wood and the hyssop and the scarlet into the burning. When you get to that point, the battle is won. We would all judge a drunkard, and base things that even men judge as not fit for society, but the measure of our true judgment of man in the flesh is the way we judge the refined things, the things men are boasting in, the cedar-wood, the hyssop, the scarlet; false greatness, false humility, false glory.

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R.S. It includes the whole clerical system, the philosophical system and the educational system.

G.R.C. We have to use the educational system, but we would use it soberly; we use the world, but we do not dispose of it as our own. We do not deck ourselves or take any credit or glory. If God has given us ability, we can use the educational system, we thank God for it. We do not make capital out of it, in the way of cedar-wood, nor do we put on a false humility, nor do we put on scarlet.

L.D.V. Is it the religious aspect of man in the epistle to the Galatians?

G.R.C. The religious aspect of cedar-wood and hyssop and scarlet is the most obnoxious. For men to vaunt themselves, and their false greatness, false humility and false glory in the very sphere of Christian profession, is a most outrageous thing. It is most outrageous that a man should set himself up as "his holiness", and wear the triple crown, and call himself the vicar of Christ on earth, and seek to rule over the nations. I am only quoting that as the outstanding example. Christendom is full of that kind of thing in different degrees. And God is going to judge it with a judgment that has never been seen in the universe before. There has never been and probably never will be seen again, a judgment like that of Babylon.

L.D.V. In Galatia they were seeking to be perfect in the flesh, and we might be on that line. If so, the man we are trying to perfect is the man that has been burnt as you were speaking of here.

G.R.C. We can make a religious world out of the brethren. These things are in all of our hearts. We may give up the profane world, and yet want to bring the cedar-wood and hyssop and scarlet of human glory into the meetings. If we are seeking to be made perfect in flesh, that is just what we are doing.

M.S.V. So the apostle says to the Corinthians,

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"Who then is Apollos, and who Paul?" It is like putting all that into the fire.

G.R.C. While the flesh took another form in Corinth, it was a similar thing, human greatness. They were boasting in their local leaders and he transfers the application to himself and Apollos for their sakes. He would not name the local leaders but he shows the folly of what they were doing.

A.A.G. How does the washing follow on the casting into the burning, in verse 7?

G.R.C. It is the only thing that could be consistent with what the priest has seen. He washed his garments and bathed his flesh in water. He would see that there was nothing attaching to him that belonged to the man whose place Christ took.

F.J.F. He disappears. It was the religious man that said "We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die", John 19:7.

G.R.C. Quite so. But then the cedar-wood and hyssop and scarlet refer not only to the religious side of things. In the list of things that are mentioned in 2 Corinthians, the religious is put last, "what agreement of God's temple with idols?" The religious aspect is the most obnoxious, but that is not the only aspect of man in the flesh. It is a wonderful thing when the priestly element amongst the saints -- and we should all be in it because all are priests who have the Spirit -- is prepared to throw the cedar-wood and hyssop and scarlet into the midst of the burning. The gross things do not deceive us; but these are the things that deceive us, and have deceived us, and which have led us to enter into associations which are contrary to the injunctions of 2 Corinthians 6. These are the things that have deceived us, the cedar-wood, the hyssop and the scarlet.

E.S. Is that why you read verses 11 - 13, as preceding the section in 2 Corinthians 6 relating to

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separation. Verses 11 - 13 refer to the heart expanding itself?

G.R.C. It is very interesting that those verses precede. "Let your heart also expand itself". That is the way we are going to get clear on these questions, by letting our hearts expand themselves. What has preceded in the epistle is the ministry of the New Covenant (chapter 3); that is, the ministry of righteousness and the ministry of the Spirit from the glory to fit men for the glory. That links with what we had: yesterday morning. But then there is the ministry of reconciliation, which links with what we had yesterday afternoon; the way Christ has met everything for God; and the desires of the heart of God to have us in the nearest place to Himself, "God as it were beseeching by us", 2 Corinthians 5:20. Now in the light of all that, what are we going to do? Paul says "for an answering recompense". It is a question of an answering recompense to all that we have had before us in the previous three readings. There is justification, the gift of the Spirit, reconciliation, sanctification, all freely given to us from the divine side. Now he says "for an answering recompense, let your heart also expand itself". Purification is the answering recompense on our side.

R.S. Would the three references to water in verses 7 - 10 bear on that?

G.R.C. I think so. It was the mouth of the ambassadors which was opened to them, "We are ambassadors therefore for Christ, God as it were beseeching by us, we entreat for Christ". Think of God taking the attitude of entreaty, like the father who went out to the elder brother and entreated him; "we entreat for Christ, Be reconciled to God". Be in the matter practically! And we can be in the matter practically, so that God has His present joy in us, only by way of purification. So he says "for an answering recompense... let your heart also expand itself". Let

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your heart expand itself in the love of God. Think of all that He has done -- justifying, reconciling, sanctifying; what more could God do? Well, now, for an answering recompense, let your heart expand itself and be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. Come out of all that would hinder our being in the gain of those great blessings, so that God might have His present portion.

F.J.F. You might be regarded as a fool for Christ's sake if you did that. But that is our glory, is it not?

G.R.C. That is just what we are faced with. That is the present position. We have got to accept the fact that we are going to be fools for Christ's sake, in the eyes of men.

L.D.V. Would the apostle Paul himself be like the clean man who dealt with the ashes? The ashes were put outside the camp by the clean man so that they should be available.

G.R.C. I think that is a good application. Paul made them available to every local company.

S.P.S. How do the ashes bear on purification?

G.R.C. The ashes are the evidence that the awful man whose place Christ took, has been consumed to ashes vicariously before God.

F.J.F. Paul in Philippians says "and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh... if any other think to trust in flesh, I rather..". Then he gives a list of all that went into the burning.

G.R.C. Very good. "What things were gain to me", he says, "I counted, on account of Christ, loss". The cedar-wood and the hyssop and the scarlet all went into the burning as far as Paul was concerned, and he had more to give up than anyone here.

D.M.S. What is the clean place?

G.R.C. It is outside the camp. It is the place of the reproach of Christ.

C.M.M. One can be thankful there is a clean place in wilderness surroundings. Would this reference to

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death in such a complete way show the abhorrence we should have for anything of this character. It speaks of touching a dead person "the dead body of a man that is dead", verse 13, as though to bring home to us the awfulness of it. Perhaps we have not been sufficiently conscious that we are surrounded by such awful corpses, and perhaps we try to decorate them. But it is death. In some cases we may not have a direct contact; but even an indirect contact would be defiling.

G.R.C. The list given in 2 Corinthians 6 is very comprehensive. What have you in mind as to an indirect contact?

C.M.M. Entering into a tent in which is a dead person. You may not even touch the dead person.

G.R.C. Quite so. It says "Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers". Now that is a yoke. That would be touching, there is the yoke. "For what participation is there between righteousness and lawlessness?" There you get participation. That would also be a definite link, you participate in shareholding or whatever else it may be. Then "what fellowship of light with darkness?" Men have their fellowships. You say, 'I cannot see anything wrong with this fellowship'. But it is darkness; the light of God is not there. And then "what consent of Christ with Beliar?" Now that is only consent, a lesser thing. People just want your consent to something, they want to put your name on the list. They do not ask you to do anything active, it is just consent. But how can we consent with Beliar? Then you come down to what may be merely companionship, "what part for a believer along with an unbeliever?" That might apply to what you have said, being in someone's tent, just companionship. What would you say?

C.M.M. I do feel we need to face this matter of defilement. We have moral corpses all round us, men and bodies of men, and we are to be truly purified people. The assembly family is not to be below the

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level of those who will follow during the tribulation and who will suffer martyrdom, because they do not accept the mark of the beast. We are being tested by that kind of thing today, are we not?

G.R.C. Quite so. We can see clearly that the world is being prepared in its links and associations for the advent of the beast. Every grade of society is becoming organised by the forming of bodies and it will be a simple matter for the mark of the beast to be enforced upon all these bodies of men. The reason it is not enforced now is because "only there is he who restrains now until he be gone", and because God is also restraining through government. Are we going to take advantage of God's kindness and care, in restraining and preventing the ultimate issue for a time by saying 'It is permissible to be in all these things'? What example shall we be to those who follow after, whose only outlet will be to die in the Lord? There will be those who will be unable to live in the Lord. The only way to remain faithful in the Lord will be to die. We have the opportunity still to live in the Lord, as well as to die in the Lord.

W.E.G. How the apostle must have felt it, when he wrote to the Corinthians, "ye are straitened in your affections", and how much the blessed Lord must feel it today when we do not want to come out, but to remain linked with these things.

G.R.C. The open principle is regarded by many as giving expansion and liberty, but the only result of it is the loss of the sense of God's presence amongst His people, and thus a great contraction in outlook and affection. Expansion of outlook lies in being entirely free with God, individually and collectively, so that the presence of God is known at all times. We enter the holiest at all times, and thus we are in the centre of the system and become greatly expanded. A sister who was bedridden for 40 years said, 'I am in the very centre of things'. She was habitually entering the

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presence of God, and looking out with God on the whole domain of His interests. But the moment you link up with what is unholy you lose, in a practical way, the presence of God, and you become exceedingly straitened. You may have big numbers, but you are very narrowed up.

J.E.M. In the interval the question was asked, 'Why is it that it is of such recent date that these matters relating to associations have come to the notice of brethren in a definite way, as naming them?' Could you help us as to that? Certain associations of men have been named during the year. Before that it was men's unions and masters' unions, but now it is other named associations that have come before the brethren in such a definite way.

G.R.C. What would you say?

J.E.M. I have thought that the matter of timing is to be recognised amongst us, and the present voice of the Spirit would be credited with bringing these things to bear upon us at this time, as we are able to bear it.

G.R.C. I think that is right, and it magnifies the grace and patience of God. It is a wonderful thing that He has borne with us for so long.

C.M.M. Do we see progression in this. There is coming out, and then being separated, and then not touching. In Ezekiel, if a bone was found they had to set a mark against it. If we see something and mark it and name it, we are to be on our guard, are we not?

G.R.C. That is very interesting. Once a thing is marked and named, then there is no excuse for touching.

C.M.M. The verse is Ezekiel 39:15. "And the passers-by shall pass through the land, and when any seeth a man's bone, he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-Gog". There had been a lot of bodies put out of sight at this point, but there is still the searching to be made, and here is a mark put against it.

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H.J.R. The word says "be separated". It does not say "be separate". It is a finished matter.

G.R.C. Yes it is a question of being separated to God. We often talk about being in separation. But it is a question of being separated to God.

D.N. Is that an attitude?

G.R.C. Yes. And it is good to see the word "come". In the case of Abraham, that is the initial call, it is "go out", and I suppose that call comes to us all. But here it is the setting of the camp, and God dwelling in the midst of His people. "I will dwell among them, and walk among them". Our God the centre is, and our houses, our tents are encamped around the tabernacle, for God is there. And so He says "come out". He is calling us to Himself, as though to say: Come out from the midst of them, and be separated, so that you can be free with Me and free in My habitation, free to serve Me as a priest, and in other ways.

R.S. Would this reference "for ye are the living God's temple" indicate that the bearing of this exercise is the maintenance of the glory that is shining in the assembly? We say there is wonderful light that is coming from the Lord and from the Spirit, but if that is going to be preserved, it requires these conditions.

G.R.C. The living God's temple is a wonderful thought. It refers here to the assembly in the wilderness. The tabernacle had a temple as well as the house that Solomon built. The first mention of the temple in Scriptures is the temple of the tabernacle (1 Samuel 1:9 and 1 Samuel 3:3) and one of the last mentions is the temple of the tabernacle of witness in Revelation 15:5, the temple of the tabernacle of witness in heaven. The most holy place is the temple, the shrine where God is; and the saints of this dispensation form the shrine of God. How essential therefore, purification is. "Ye are the living God's temple" is an expression that touches the heart. The living God is dwelling amongst

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us, with living affections, living desires, the One who has reconciled us to Himself at such a cost, the One who has sanctified us that we might serve Him as priests. Are we going to forfeit it all for ourselves and for Him by a link with the world? That is the point here. He is among us. It is God here, dwelling amongst us. What wonderful grace that He should be dwelling amongst us! And the whole temple service is in mind. The temple is the place where we get light, but the greatest aspect of the temple is seen when the service of God is proceeding and every whit utters glory.

G.B. How would we come out of these associations? Would the way out be through the red heifer?

G.R.C. That is the way to get cleansed. As regards the ashes it says, "put running water thereon", so that it involves the Spirit, the death of Christ brought home to the soul in the power of the Spirit; but the death of Christ from the standpoint that the man whose place He took has been reduced to ashes in the sight of God. That is the thing to keep in mind. Whatever we think about it, the truth is that the man whose place Christ took, in the sight of God, is nothing but ashes. All his glory is but ashes. The cedar-wood and hyssop and scarlet are all just ashes in the sight of God, and the sprinkling of the ashes is to bring that home to the conscience and heart, so that the person on whom they are sprinkled is brought into accord with the divine judgment of himself and of everything around him. The sprinkling is on the third day and again on the seventh, and then he acts himself. Someone else does the sprinkling. The Lord will see that that is done, by whatever means He may use. But then, on the seventh day, the man acts himself. It says in verse 19 that "on the seventh day; he shall wash his garments, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even". There is the sprinkling first, bringing home the truth to his soul, but then he acts himself. He washes his garments

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which refers to habits and associations that are unclean; and then he washes himself. He judges himself as the awful man whose place Christ took.

L.D.V. In Revelation 22:14, it says "Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life". You were referring to "separated" as a completed matter. Is "wash their robes" a continuing process?

G.R.C. We can take account of a man's robes or garments, what he is outwardly linked with and his outward habits, but in addition, here he is to wash himself. Sometimes a man appears to have washed his garments but we may find he has not washed himself. Romans 7 is the basic exercise underneath it all. "This body of death" is myself. I am the worst man I have got to deal with, and if I really dealt with myself, the matter of associations should not be difficult.

J.v.N. The compensation is great, for it says "and I will receive you; and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters", 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18.

G.R.C. In what a tender way God will take us under his wing, as sons and daughters. He knows what this means to a brother and He knows what it means to a sister, to be faithful in these ways, so He says "sons and daughters". We have His almighty care in our circumstances, which so many have proved. Then it follows, "Having therefore these promises, beloved", and that would include both; the earlier promise, "I will dwell among them, and walk among them", which is the greatest, and then the care in circumstances. But the greatest thing is God dwelling among us. What could be greater?

F.J.F. Is that the clean place?

G.R.C. That is the holy place.

F.J.F. It is clean, too.

G.R.C. It is clean, but we have to distinguish between what is clean and what is holy. The court was

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holy, and the holy place was holy, and then there was the holy of holies. But all the houses of the saints should be clean places, in fact the whole camp. They were to put lepers out of the camp. The whole camp should be clean, but the habitation of God, in all three parts of it, was holy.

M.S.V. Do we see the third and the seventh days in principle in this scripture in Corinthians? The third day would answer to our being separated, but when we come to the seventh day, it says, "let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit".

G.R.C. I think in principle the apostle was sprinkling the water on them. But he is exhorting them to arrive fully at the seventh day. "Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves". I think that would be accepting the sprinkling on the third and seventh days and, in the power of the truth brought home to the soul, taking action on the seventh day in washing one's garments and washing oneself so that one is clean at even.

M.S.V. There have been several brethren in this country who have acted on this scripture, and they have become fools for Christ's sake, but have also found that God has been a Father to them.

G.R.C. That is, I think, the general experience. But the compensations spiritually are immense, because it means that the joys of justification, the gift of the Spirit, reconciliation, liberty of approach to God in the holiest, sanctification and priestly service, are unhindered.

L.V. As the service has expanded (as it has in recent years), the need for purification has become so much greater.

G.R.C. As God becomes better known to us, so He looks for a greater measure of purification.

A.A.G. Does the holiness intensify in Numbers 19? It begins with the assembly of the children of Israel and

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then speaks of the tabernacle of Jehovah. Then, when you come to what the man does himself, it refers to the sanctuary of Jehovah.

G.R.C. It shows the seriousness of not purifying oneself and thus defiling the tabernacle and the sanctuary.

D.M.S. What is your thought about God's fear, "perfecting holiness in God's fear"?

G.R.C. The fear of God should always mark us, "For also our God is a consuming fire". He is very patient. In that which represents God there is the ox, which suggests patience, but that is not the whole matter. There is also the lion, and the prophet speaks about the lion roaring. Then there is the eagle. The face of a man is the most prominent thing, and that is very precious, but we are to fear God all the time, and to fear Christ. It says in Ephesians 5:21, "submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ".

D.M.S. So that one end in view in the exercise the Spirit is raising with us, is that there should be in our hearts the fear of God. It is not a legal enactment, it is the fear of love that would give God His right place?

G.R.C. Quite so. But then we must fear God. "for Jehovah -- Jealous is his name -- is a jealous God", Exodus 34:14. And it says, "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?", 1 Corinthians 10:22. Is there something claiming our hearts which is conflicting with His rights? We do well to fear God.

A.A.G. So that there is no option as regards purification. If it is not done, the soul is cut off.

G.R.C. Quite so. That is the Old Testament passage, showing the seriousness of it. We have to apply it, of course, in the spirit of the New Covenant, and that is how Paul is doing it. Paul says "Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness

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in God's fear". How Paul would enfold them in the arms of love.

A.A.G. We want living conditions amongst the saints.

G.R.C. We have been slow to come to things and God has been patient with us. Abraham waited till his father died, he was slow to fully answer to the truth of separation. How patient God is, but then God's patience is not the only feature of His character, so we do well to fear.

J.E.M. We are very thankful that many of us have received mercy.

J.R. As to associations, you spoke about the religious one coming last. I am not clear why you do not associate most of them with what is religious.

G.R.C. I think if you go back forty or fifty years, many thought that separation involved only separating from sects and denominations of christendom where the truth of one body is denied. We are all clear about that. Some used to say that it does not refer to business yokes and other things. But I think now it is clear that it does apply to other things. A trade union is not a religious thing.

W.D.McK. Ever since we have had liberty with the Spirit this matter of associations has come forward. I believe myself the Spirit is emphasising His presence among us.

G.R.C. You can understand how the Spirit is grieved and hindered if we are not in the gain of purification.

J.R. It says "or what part for a believer along with an unbeliever?". Now that would cover things like shares, would it not? It is a question of participating in a thing, having things in common and getting gain from them together.

G.R.C. Quite so. I believe if you examine the different statements they cover every facet of separation.

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They cover every facet of links with what is dead, morally dead towards God.

J.R. The question of university degrees has been raised. I personally thought of that long ago and came to the conclusion it was a matter of form, not a vital matter, but one would like help because it can be unsettling to young ones.

G.R.C. I think if any particular matter is looked into, in dependence on God, the thing will become clear. I do not think anyone, so far, has regarded a university degree in itself as a yoke or a participation. But let things be looked into so, so that we can get through without compromising the fellowship of God's Son, to which all Christians are called.

J.R. But we must be clear about the matter, what is meant, and what the obligations are.

G.R.C. We can only be clear by looking at all the facts, as before God.

As regards the last passage read, the Levites, apart from any specific touching of a dead body, were to have the water of purification sprinkled upon them, and also to pass the razor over all their flesh and wash their garments and be clean. No evidence of cedar-wood, hyssop, scarlet, or other features of the flesh were to remain. You could not think of the Levites being offered as a wave-offering to Jehovah unless they had submitted to that process.

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(5) NEW CREATION

2 Corinthians 5:14 - 18, 21; Ephesians 2:10, 14 - 16, 22; Revelation 21:1 - 7; Galatians 6:15, 16.

G.R.C. I thought we might consider new creation, as existing at the present time and how it stands relative to reconciliation. The scripture in Revelation gives the completeness of it, the One on the throne pronounced that "it is done". "Behold, I make all things new". So that that passage affords special help as to new creation, bearing in mind that we have there the external view of things. It refers to the holy city, new Jerusalem, and indicates that the same vessel is the tabernacle of God. The city retains the character of the bride, shewing that the heavenly relationships in which we find our life spiritually, belong to new creation. And the throne of God is there. This, of course, is not limited to new creation; in a way, it stands apart from creation, it is the throne of God; but it is still in evidence in the new creation scene, showing that rule remains. Then there is the word, "I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son". But the passage does not give us the inner life of the tabernacle. We have to go to John's gospel to get an idea of the inner life of the tabernacle of God, the Father's love for the Son, the Son's love for the Father and the place we have in that wonderful "dwelling". In his gospel John unfolds the inner life, but he is viewed as an onlooker in Revelation 21. He is seeing, from an external viewpoint, the features of new creation.

But then we have to recognise that new creation already exists. There is not yet a new heaven and a

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new earth, but new creation already exists and so the word in Galatians 6 is "in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision; but new creation. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God". The Galatians were fond of rules. They were going back to law. But the apostle leaves them with this word "as many as shall walk by this rule", the rule of new creation, and those walking in the power of the Spirit walk according to that rule, they are the Israel of God. So that we have to apprehend that new creation already exists, the great institutions that are seen in their completeness in Revelation 21 are already existing, and we are to walk according to the rule of new creation.

R.S. Does "I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son" belong to new creation and eternity?

G.R.C. It is the public view of the relationship and we are put on our mettle as to whether we shall be worthy to be owned as son in the public position; that is, relative to God in His majesty as on the throne.

R.S. Will that be the portion of men in eternity, not only the assembly?

G.R.C. I think it refers to those who form the assembly.

M.S.V. Sonship goes right through into eternity?

G.R.C. Yes; only we have to distinguish between sonship in the setting of majesty and the family setting. We are all firstborn sons through divine grace, so that, relative to the Father and the Father's house, the Lord says, "I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be". That is a position given to us in wonderful grace, for the satisfaction of divine love. But in Revelation 21 it is the setting of majesty. It is the One on the throne who speaks. His utterance is most majestic: "Be-

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hold", He is calling attention, "Behold, I make all things new". It is what God has done by Himself and for Himself and He calls attention to it. And then it says, "And he says to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, It is done". Now that shows how, in a setting of supreme majesty, there can be intimacy. Think of the condescension of the One on the throne! After His public proclamation, He turned to His bondman, John, and said something to him, "he said to me, It is done". He said that to John; so that John, being a true bondman, a true slave of Jesus Christ, as the first chapter of the book indicates, would be one of those who would be owned as son in the public position. He himself would say he was a bondman and not worthy to be the bondman of the King in His majesty. Yet there is no doubt he is one who would be owned as son; and I suppose the whole of that last communication to John is for us who form the assembly, John being a pattern man. "It is done. 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. He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son". Who can doubt that John would be an overcomer, and I believe an overcomer is one who walks according to the rule of new creation now. So we are tested as to how Galatians ends, "as many as shall walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy". Such will be honoured in the day that Revelation 21 speaks of.

F.J.F. This is the only time that John speaks of son.

G.R.C. According to John, the Lord speaks of the family, and of the intimacy of our place "that where I am ye also may be". All that is what grace confers upon us to satisfy divine love. But here it is sonship in the setting of majesty, putting us on our mettle as to whether we shall be worthy of being owned as son in

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that setting. Not every son, among human rulers, is worthy to be owned as son in the public position of majesty.

C.M.M. When the Lord Jesus presents himself to the Laodiceans He says that He is the "beginning of the creation of God". Would that include new creation?

G.R.C. I think so. As to the present creation He is the source of it, "All things received being through him"; and much in the present creation is figurative of the new and was patterned on the new. Adam was a figure of Him that was to come. Yet, from another standpoint, the new creation is in contrast to the old. The word "new" involves what is entirely different.

L.D.V. Is that the meaning of the title "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end"? He initiated the new creation and He is the One who has completed it.

G.R.C. I think that title goes further. In Colossians He is called "the beginning, firstborn from among the dead". There it is the beginning, I would think, in the sense of pattern. The new creation is patterned after Christ, it is nothing but Christ. Every family will bear His features in some measure. He is the pattern, the Beginning. The "beginning of the creation of God" may be a rather more extensive thought, including perhaps the fact that He is the source. All things received being through Him, whether we think of this creation or the new one. But then when He says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end", He is referring to Deity. God is the Beginning and He is the great End.

B.H.T. God looks at us as created in Christ Jesus.

G.R.C. And that is the way we are to learn to look upon the saints. How can we walk according to the rule of new creation if we have not that outlook?

B.H.T. New creation is existing now?

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G.R.C. It is indeed. God is not dwelling with the old man. He has His tabernacle of testimony here on earth at the moment, but He is dwelling among those who have put on the new man, "which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness". God would not be dwelling here but for new creation.

B.T. Were you going to say a little more about 2 Corinthians 5?

G.R.C. In verse 14, Paul is speaking of the judgment he had arrived at. Earlier he speaks of the judgment seat of Christ. It is a question as to how far we walk down here according to the rule of new creation. Nothing else, I would judge, will meet with approval at the judgment seat of Christ. Paul tells us how his judgment was formed. He was walking in the light of the judgment seat of Christ and he says, "For the love of the Christ constrains us, having judged this: that one died for all, then all have died; and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised". Now we need to have our judgment formed like Paul's. One had died for all, therefore, morally, all had died; and we are to live to the One who died for us and rose again; and if we are to live to Him we must live according to new creation. So he goes on to say immediately, as a result of that judgment, "So that we henceforth know no one according to flesh..". This is the great negative rule of new creation; we know no one according to flesh. "But if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer".

R.S. "Then all have died" indicates that new creation is a moral necessity.

B.H.T. And verse 14 commences "For the love of the Christ". That is an ocean that knows no depths, is it not?

G.R.C. We could have no part in new creation but for the love of Christ. He died for all. New creation

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links with Christ risen. He is "the beginning, firstborn from among the dead". Therefore Paul says, "So that we henceforth know no one according to flesh". That is the first thing, bearing on the way we look at one another. We know no one according to flesh. Thus we do not recognise links based on the flesh.

It does not mean that we do not take up family relationships such as husband and wife, and parents and children, but that in our links together as Christians, we know no one after the flesh. There is nothing more damaging than to form links with one another, as Christians, based on the flesh. We may have to take account of one another, as to what we are by nature, in order to help one another, but not to form links with one another on the line of nature. It is a shameful thing to do; because most of us would never have known one another but for our being in Christ. And the moment we form a link that is on a lower level than "in Christ" and "new creation", we degrade the holy links in Christ. Why should we bring in something foreign, when we would never have known one another but for being in Christ?

W.E.G. He goes further, and says, "if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer".

G.R.C. It is very affecting that Christ after the flesh is known no more, He has laid down that condition for ever. Had He not done so, we should have had no link with Him and no link in Christ with one another.

J.W.B. The word to Peter in Acts is "slay and eat". Is that the setting aside of the old order and appropriating the new?

G.R.C. I think so. He was not to feed on them as after the flesh. We may feed on one another after the flesh by forming social links, which are Moabitish, or national and racial links, which are Ammonitish. All

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social and racial distinctions are gone in new creation. 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", all those things have gone. We may form links with one another because of national proclivities, racial proclivities, social proclivities, business proclivities; or, on the other hand, we may take aversion to one another and be occupied with the unpleasant side of the flesh in one another. Both aspects are contrary to the rule of new creation. Peter would have turned with aversion from the Gentile, "for I have never eaten anything common or unclean", he says to the Lord. But he had to learn the truth of Ephesians 2:15, "that he might form (and that word 'form' is the same as 'create' in the original) the two", that is Jew and Gentile, "in himself", that is in Christ Jesus (verse 13) "into one new man". That is new creation.

B.H.T. Now knowing Him in glory, which is implied in the verse, "now we know him thus no longer", only tends to enhance the glory of His blessed pathway here as the perfect Man.

G.R.C. And the new man involves that His character is continued in the saints. We cannot speak of Jesus as the new Man. He is the Second Man out of heaven. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But Christ formed in the saints is the new man. It is new creation. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, it says "So if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation". He does not say there will be a new creation; it is existing now. We await the new heavens and the new earth; all things are not yet made new, but yet new creation is already existing. And then it says "the old things have passed away", not that they will pass away: "the old things have passed

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away; behold all things have become new; and all things are of the God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ". Now we need to consider that verse carefully. It is to govern our outlook. It is the way God is looking at things; "if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation". Such a one is in new surroundings and new relationships, if he is in Christ. All those distinctions I have referred to are done away. He is in Christ, a new order of things.

B.H.T. In the authorised it says, "he is a new creature". But that is not the thought.

G.R.C. It is not wide enough. It is true that there is a new creative work in the man; he would not be in Christ otherwise. But the point is "if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation". He finds himself in a new creation. Perhaps we have not really discovered ourselves there yet. And then it says "the old things have passed away". Now it is a great thing to grasp how God looks out on new creation at the present time. The new man is here, created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth. God looks out upon the saints and what does He see? He sees the new man. For Him the old things have passed away. He is not knowing us after the flesh and we are not to know any one after the flesh. Through divine grace and through the work of Christ, God is not looking at us as after the flesh. As after the flesh, our history has been judicially finished before God at the cross. We have been reduced to ashes. So that as He looks out upon the saints from this standpoint, the standpoint of reconciliation, the old things have passed away.

C.M.P. Would it be right to say that as all the features pleasurable to God were seen in Christ personally here in manhood, so God, by the Spirit, is enjoying the same features in the saints in new creation?

G.R.C. Christ was Himself the Second Man out of heaven. But we are God's workmanship and He is

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forming Christ in the saints. Those features in the saints are called in Scripture "the new man". And God looks out and for Him the old things have passed away. You may say 'How can it be?' Because of the work of reconciliation, the old things have passed away. But for that work it could never be said that the old things have passed away. Christ has been made sin for us, who knew no sin; the blood has been placed on the mercy-seat and has been sprinkled on the whole system, and that covers everything for God. He does

not see the old things, He is not occupied with them. For Him the old things have passed away, judged and finished in the cross of Christ. So God is looking out on a new creation in the saints, now, and He is dwelling among us relative to that new creation.

M.S.V. Is this the truth presented from the divine side and is the apostle exhorting us to come into it?

G.R.C. That is just what it is. He had come into it and those with him. He says "we", emphatic, "we henceforth know no one according to flesh". They had come to God's viewpoint, they had arrived at God's judgment. God is not knowing us according to flesh. Where should we be if He did? We would still be under judgment. But God is not viewing us according to flesh because of the reconciliation work of Christ. That history is finished before Him, and so for Him the old things have passed away. What He sees is His own work, "all things have become new". Now we are to get that viewpoint; to learn to look out upon the saints, and the whole anointed system, from this standpoint, that the old things have passed away. If we do, we shall not make links based on natural proclivities, we shall not cherish natural aversions. For us the old things will have passed away, and our links with one another will be wholly connected with what is new. "All things have become new: and all things are of the God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ".

J.E.M. Would it be right to say that in the old

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creation God's rest was disturbed, but in the new creation, because of reconciliation, His rest is final, complete and eternal?

G.R.C. Yes. When we come to Revelation 21, it says "the former things have passed away". They will have actually passed away then, there will not be any trace of the old man or of the old things, everything will be new. Then it will be very simple to have this outlook, we shall all have it then; but because of the reconciliation work of Christ we can have this outlook now. God, speaking with all reverence, has a right to look at things this way. He has a right to look at us from the standpoint that the old things have passed away. He is not knowing us after the flesh, the old things have passed away; and all things have become new. So he looks out on us with complacency. And this is where the two thoughts of reconciliation and new creation meet. Reconciliation has met the whole question of old things. Through that work, the old things have passed away from before God's eye, and they should pass away from before our eye.

F.J.F. Is that why we can enter into God's rest and enjoy it with Himself?

G.R.C. Yes. God thus has an outlook of rest at the present time.

F.J.F. It is a wonderful thing that we can enjoy the rest to come, our place of liberty.

G.R.C. And then another thought we must guard against is that our place of favour and nearness to God depends upon the new creation work. If so, some of us would be nearer to God than others, because the work would have proceeded further. We have been reconciled to God by Jesus Christ and that work is complete; what He has done and the way He has gone in to God, have secured our place. And that could not be improved upon by any work in us. No work in us could improve the place God has given us, because it

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is Christ's own place of favour in His presence. God works in us and, but for His work in us, we should never accept or receive the reconciliation. Then God continues His work in us that we might be fitted for the place, the place which cannot be improved upon, which is ours in Christ. The new creation work fits us for it. It does not give it to us.

W.E.G. I am glad you are drawing our attention to new creation as existing now.

G.R.C. That is what we want to lay hold of, so as to have this viewpoint. And I can tell you where we shall get this viewpoint; it is in the holiest. Paul says in verse 13, "whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God". That means that, whenever they were free, as the note indicates, from the calculations of love in their service for the saints, they were in the holiest. In the holiest you get God's outlook. For Him the old things have passed away, and for anyone who has been in the holiest the old things have passed away, and all things have become new.

E.P.S. When Noah built the altar it says, "And Jehovah smelled the sweet odour" (or odour of rest).

G.R.C. That verse indicates the basis on which God will go on with the renewed earth in the millennium and on which the world stands in provisional reconciliation even now. But reconciliation for us means liberty to enter into our place within the veil. There is nothing to compare with our place in God's presence with Christ, and the thing is to be there as often as we can. I do not see how we can maintain this new creation outlook, nor walk by the rule of new creation, unless we enter the holiest continually.

E.P.S. Within there was the blood on the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat, and that is the basis of everything.

G.R.C. And God is there, in the centre of the system, and looking out on the system. Everything in the tabernacle system, the figurative representation of

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the things in the heavens, was typically Christ. The tabernacle system, typically, was a new creation. It was all made according to the pattern shown on the mount. Christ is the pattern. He is the Beginning. And everything in the tabernacle was of Christ. It was all figurative then, now we have got the real thing. And God was the centre of that system. But then, you see, the blood on the mercy-seat, and the blood sprinkled on the tabernacle and all the vessels of service (Hebrews 9:21), implied typically that those who form the system, who have their part in it, have had a previous history. But the blood has covered all that, old things have passed away under the power of the blood, as we may say, in the eye of God. So that God is free to look out on a system which is wholly of Christ. That is the present position, as at the end of Ephesians 2; we are "built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit".

C.M.M. You spoke of the point where reconciliation touches new creation. Is it right to say that there is an entity which goes through?

G.R.C. Exactly. In the work of reconciliation we may say we have been consumed to ashes. Christ has borne the judgment. From the divine standpoint the judgment is passed and we, as after the flesh, are ended, in judgment. But the person is retained. What we are as after the flesh has been dealt with, God made Him to be sin for us; but the person is retained, and, therefore, is carried into new creation.

L.F.J. Did you imply just now that there was growth in relation to the person in new creation?

G.R.C. At the present there is. We must not regard new creation as like the old. It is not just an act of power.

L.F.J. That is what we want help on. Will you just open that up?

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G.R.C. In the first creation God spoke and it was done. New creation is entirely different from the first creation.

J.H.H. Does Philippians 1 come into this where Paul says to the Philippians, "he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ's day"?

G.R.C. Exactly. "we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works", Ephesians 2:10. What does workmanship mean? Does it mean something done in a second? Our glorified bodies are given to us in a moment, but it says, "Now he that has wrought us for this very thing is God", 2 Corinthians 5:5. And what is wrought takes time, workmanship takes time, and that is going on now.

R.S. So that new birth may take place this afternoon in some soul, would you say?

G.R.C. Well, generation is a creational process, as Mr. Taylor said. In natural things, birth is a creational process. Even the material creation is still proceeding, in that sense. But we need to take account of the word, "we are his workmanship". When we think of generation, it is the individual line, but new creation refers to the way God has worked in the saints as a whole, setting us together tabernaclewise, bodywise, and as the new man. The curtains of the tabernacle involved workmanship. They represent all the saints, knit together curtainwise, for God's habitation.

M.S.V. Your point is that, in going into the holiest, we have a view of all that which God has brought in for His pleasure?

G.R.C. We get His view, His outlook. The boards show how we, as coming into it in a personal way, are together. Romans gives that. The whole tabernacle was a matter of workmanship, but it was typically new creation. Viewed as the tabernacle of witness, it is here at the present time.

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S.P.S. Why do you connect new creation more particularly with the collective side?

G.R.C. I think it links more in scripture with the collective side. God is working in us to bring about the great institutions He has in mind, namely, the new man, the one body, the holy temple in the Lord, and the habitation of God in the Spirit. All these things are mentioned in Ephesians 2.

R.L. It says "if anyone be in Christ (there is) a new creation". I am thinking of the one.

G.R.C. That is, he finds himself in a new creation. It is not simply that he is a new creation, but he finds himself brought into a system of things where the old things have passed away and all things have become new.

R.L. So he forms part of the new creation system.

G.R.C. He does. But God is working out the whole thing, and we should not individualise ourselves in it, because the work is not only what is done in me personally, but it involves fitting me into the system.

R.S. God's work in my soul has the assembly in view, my place in it.

G.R.C. God's work in each of us individually is that we might find ourselves, as in Christ, in a new creation order of things.

W.E.G. It is good to see that that workmanship is not for the one alone, but all come into it. That is what God is working for, the habitation of God.

G.R.C. We love to individualise ourselves. Our self-importance dies slowly. But God is not individualising us. We all have our personal links with Him, but He has in mind finally the holy city, new Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God. And what is at present existing is referred to in Ephesians 2.

C.W.C. The use of "us" and "we" in 2 Corinthians 5 is very striking. See verses 18 and 21.

G.R.C. We are not individualised; "that we might become God's righteousness in him". We shall be the

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eternal witness, in new creation, to the righteousness of God.

C.M.M. Do the "good works" in verse 10 of Ephesians 2, "which God has before prepared", refer to the works of Christ as man here?

G.R.C. They do; but then the way it works out with us, as I understand it, is that we walk in the new institutions. If we do not understand that, it becomes too vague in our minds. We are told that we should walk as He walked. But how are we to walk as He walked? We have to walk in the institutions connected with new creation.

T.T.S. Have those works been set forth perfectly in the Lord Himself, where the Lord could say, "follow me"?

G.R.C. Quite so. Only how do we take them on? By walking according to the rule of new creation. That is the only way to walk as Christ walked. We are not walking as Christ walked, unless we are walking according to the truth of the new man "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", Colossians 3:10. So the first thing is to walk according to the truth of the new man. Following the reference to the new man in Ephesians 2:15 it says, "reconcile both in one body to God by the cross", Ephesians 2:16. The next thing, therefore, is to walk in the truth of the one body. And that lays the basis for our growing into a holy temple in the Lord; we are to walk in the truth of that. Jesus spoke of His body as the temple when He was here, and now we, as Christ's body, are the temple; but it is increasing, it is not finished yet. Finally it says, "in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit". That refers to the saints as the tabernacle of witness; and we are to walk in the truth of that.

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N.C.J.C. "And your having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness", Ephesians 4:24. Would you say something about righteousness and holiness, in relation to this matter?

G.R.C. It is in contrast to the old man. The first man was created innocent. He was not created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth. That is an illustration of how different new creation is from the first creation. The first creation was an act of power, but, when you come to new creation, it is based on the settlement of moral issues, and the understanding of the settlement of moral issues being wrought out in our souls. It is not a new man created in innocence, but a new man created in righteousness and holiness of truth, created according to God.

J.W.B. Would the verse in 1 Corinthians 1:30 have a bearing: "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus"? That is, the apostle is taking account there of what is of new creation in the local company, "who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption".

G.R.C. Yes, that is a good verse, because "of him are ye in Christ Jesus" is the new creation work. Bad as they were in their state, Paul looks at them from the standpoint that the old things have passed away. And then he brings in the ground on which they are with God; not on the ground of a work in them, but on the ground of what Christ is, He is made to us wisdom, righteousness, holiness, redemption. We have to keep the two things clear. If we held that the work of new creation in our souls improved our place of acceptance with God, it would take away from the glory of Christ and His completed work upon the cross.

C. de K.F. It is wonderful to think that these are practical matters, not theories. They are not ideas which stand to be worked out in a future day, the day

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of Christ, but the things of Jesus Christ, which have a bearing on us now (Philippians 2:21). They will come out in display in Christ's day.

G.R.C. "Things" are substantial, they are not just ideas or theories. All things have become new. There are things on this earth, substantialities, institutions, if we may speak of them in that way, that are existing. The new man is here, the one body is here, the household of God, family relationships, which are new and will go on for eternity, are existing. We already have access to the Father. The temple is here, although it is not complete, and the habitation is here. These things are here, and we are to walk in these things. That is the rule of new creation. Walking as Christ walked, for us involves walking in these substantial realities which are here through the work of God.

J.E.M. Is there a suggestion in Matthew 11:28 in regard to the way we may come experimentally into the great idea of new creation and the rest that marks it? "I will give you rest" or "bring you to rest". Would we learn it in the holiest?

G.R.C. It is in the holiest that we learn these things and enter into rest, as in Hebrews 4:3. The force of that verse is that we enter into rest at the present time. The rest in its fulness is future, but we enter into rest at the present time, day by day, by entering the holiest. We get a greater entry into rest in the time of privilege at the Lord's supper. But, nevertheless, day by day, we should enter into rest by being in the presence of God and looking out as He does.

C.M.M. When Paul says, "I know a man in Christ", would that be a new creation thought?

G.R.C. It would. He explored the realm of new creation in a way which no one else has done.

C.M.M. Is it put in that way to entice us into it and the joy of it?

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G.R.C. Yes. He does not say that it was himself. He just says "I know a man in Christ". So there it is. It is open to a man in Christ.

J.W.B. "Of such a one I will boast", he says.

G.R.C. That is good, because our place in Christ does not stand related to anything we could boast in. We are reduced to ashes in God's sight. There is nothing to boast of in ashes. It is all God's grace -- the Person and work of Christ and all that has been secured for us by Him, and then the work of God in grace in us.

S.P.S. Were you linking the thought of "good works" with the substantial things you spoke of just now, or have you something else in mind?

G.R.C. No. It is these substantial things. If we walk in these great realities we shall have good works on the Christian level, not on the level of human philanthropy. Colossians enumerates features proper to the new man -- the features of Christ coming into expression in our practical relations with one another. It says, "bowels of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye. And to all these add love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been called in one body, and be thankful", Colossians 3:12 - 15. These are good works. Then, as regards the temple, there should be the light of God shining for men around. The Lord spoke of the temple of His body, and the light was shining for men around. When He was here, He was the light of the world. There is great scope for good works in shedding forth the light of God to men.

R.S. The Lord said of the woman that "she has wrought a good work toward me", Matthew 26:10.

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G.R.C. That is the greatest kind of good work; a good work toward Him, and towards God.

T.T.S. Is it not important that we should, in considering these good works, take account of ourselves as God's workmanship?

G.R.C. Exactly. We are God's workmanship and therefore we have part in these great institutions. We have put on the new man.

T.T.S. That would prevent us having our own idea of good works.

G.R.C. Just so. We can be very vague about good works and sink down to the level of human philanthropy, which has man as its object and its centre. Good works have God as the object, and God as the motive, and therefore they stand related to these institutions which He has set up. And I believe that is what it means when he says "as many as shall walk by this rule". We love a rule, and our tendency is to go back to law, and make a rule of law. We may make a rule of something which is only a matter of wisdom. There are many things that are matters of wisdom, but they are not inflexible like the Lord's commandment. Our tendency is to make hard and fast rules. But the rule we are to walk by is new creation.

R.S. And the promise connected with that is "peace upon them and mercy". I suppose we are to know the joy of that in these good works.

G.R.C. Quite so.

R.S. And it says, "and upon the Israel of God". So that the dignity of the position is not lowered.

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THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Hebrews 2:5 - 10; 1 Corinthians 15:22 - 28; Numbers 23:21; Numbers 24:5 - 7

I wish to speak a few words, dear brethren, about the kingdom, and particularly about the expression, "the kingdom of God". This is very comprehensive in its scope. It is not referred to much in the Old Testament in a direct way, although in the Psalms it does speak of Jehovah's kingdom being an everlasting kingdom. But it is referred to a great deal by the Lord Jesus Himself. According to Matthew 3:2, John the Baptist began his testimony with the words, "Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh". And the Lord Jesus begins in the very same way. According to Matthew 4:17 it says, "began Jesus to preach ... Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh". According to Mark 1:15 He says, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn nigh; repent and believe in the glad tidings". So that, with the coming of Christ -- the Word having become flesh -- the kingdom of God had drawn nigh. The Lord Jesus speaks a great deal about the kingdom in the Gospels, and we find the theme continued in the book of Acts. He appeared to the disciples after He had suffered, and he spoke to them "of the things which concern the kingdom of God", Acts 1:3. What a place it had in the heart of Christ and in His ministry, even during those forty days of His risen life on earth. Paul, referring to his ministry in Ephesus, when speaking to the elders, said, "I know that ye all, among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more", Acts 20:25. And the book of Acts closes with Paul in his own hired house, "preaching (or

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heralding), the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, with all freedom unhinderedly", Acts 28:31.

These scriptures are surely sufficient to show the great place the kingdom of God had -- both in the ministry of Christ and in the ministry of the apostles: and the great place it has in the scope of divine truth.

While the kingdom of God had drawn nigh when Jesus was on earth, in the Acts, when He was exalted by the right hand of God and the Holy Spirit given, it was established. We live in the glorious time when the kingdom of God is an established thing. Peter announced it at Pentecost. "Let the whole house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ", Acts 2:36. He was the first one to herald the great fact that Jesus was enthroned on high. Jesus is Lord and Christ. Jesus is God's Anointed. God has anointed His King upon His holy hill of Zion. Jesus, crowned with glory and honour, is set over the works of God's hands. And though we do not see yet all things put under him, we see Jesus, crowned with glory and honour. And, following his exaltation, the Spirit is given. The Spirit came to bear witness to the fact that Jesus was crowned above. And not till the apostles had received the Spirit and, by the Spirit, had seen Jesus crowned with glory and honour, did they announce it. And so Peter says, "Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which ye behold and hear", Acts 2:33. Thus the kingdom of God was established -- Jesus, Lord and Christ above, and the Holy Spirit here. And what was the end in view? That God should have His rights in the hearts of men and women and children -- that God's will should be done here on earth by His people, as it is in heaven. And thus it is so. There may be many believers who are not fully

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subjugated, and are not practically in the kingdom, but, nevertheless, the kingdom of God exists; and there are those on earth who are doing the will of God, and proving the value of being in the kingdom of God; proving that the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. It is not a question of our standard of living. Men's kingdoms are based on eating and drinking. Men's kingdoms compare themselves with each other as to the standard of living, and comparisons lead to wars and hatred and strife. The kingdom of God lies outside of the range of eating and drinking. The kingdom of God is righteousness -- that involves doing the will of God -- and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. There is no peace in the kingdoms of men. You cannot keep peace, properly speaking, in one street, even among neighbours. How then can you keep peace among nations? The moment you bring God in, and recognise His rights, and His will, you will come into peace. The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy. You will find no joy in the kingdoms of men. There is mirth, and the pleasures of sin for a season, but no real joy. Joy is unknown outside of the kingdom of God. Joy, in the true sense of the word, is something no one can take from you -- something that does not depend on circumstances at all -- something that goes beyond death. In fact, the very sources of supply of Christian joy lie outside the realm of death. Those in the kingdom of God know what joy is -- righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And this kingdom is existing here at the present moment.

Now the kingdom of God has a military aspect, based on military victory. The great battle has been fought and won.

"His be the Victor's name,
Who fought the fight alone". (Hymn 24)

God's kingdom can never be overthrown because the victory, the initial and fundamental victory, is complete.

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Men, in their warfare, know nothing of real victory. Modem nations have found to their costs, that sometimes the so-called victor nation suffers the most. There is no real victory. Each war is fought to end wars; but when it is over, all the old foes are there again. There is no end to it. That is not so in God's military operations. It says, "Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin the law; but thanks to God, who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ", 1 Corinthians 15:56, 57. Think of those enemies -- death, sin, the law -- no amount of armies and navies and air-forces could overthrow those three things, the great enemies that stood out against us, and behind these Satan. Men do not attempt to touch those enemies. They cannot. They are powerless in the presence of them. But God's kingdom is established on the basis of all those enemies being defeated.

"He Satan's power laid low;
Made sin, sin's reign o'erthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death by dying slew". (Hymn 24)

It was a complete victory, every enemy laid low, and even the law having no more power against us. And on the basis of that battle, fought by Christ alone, on the terrible battleground of Calvary, God gives us the victory -- a free gift. If we submit to the gospel, and come into the kingdom, God gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. So His kingdom is based on victory.

But then, to secure souls in His kingdom, there is the subjugating side of conflict. We need to be subjugated to the Lord. He has dealt with the enemies. But we shall not be free of the enemies unless we confess Him as Lord. God has made Him Lord. I have to make Him Lord in my heart, surely a thing which every right-minded person would like to do. I would like to own as Lord the One that God has made Lord, the One that He has exalted, the One who is

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rightly exalted, because He fought the fight alone, and has won the victory. And so, the Lord is operating in grace to subdue men and women and children. See how He subdued Saul of Tarsus, an enemy of Christ, set to destroy the saints, and to blot out the name of Christ. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee" -- He did not say, 'it is hard for Me, you are persecuting Me and I am feeling it'. The Lord was feeling it intensely, more than we can estimate, to see the members of His body ill-treated. The Lord was suffering, though in glory. But think of how He treated him. "It is hard for thee to kick against goads". He says as it were to Saul, 'I am thinking of you, you are on a hard path'. He was on a path which was leading to certain destruction. It broke Saul of Tarsus down, to find that the One he was persecuting, was thinking of him, in grace. He could say afterwards, "the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me", Galatians 2:20. That was the One who appeared to him on the way that he went. And so Saul of Tarsus was subjugated. That is another aspect of the kingdom -- the subjugating power of Christ, the subjugating power of the word of God. That is how we are subdued and brought into and become subjects of the kingdom. May God grant that we may all be subjugated and thoroughly surrender to Christ, so that we may be truly in the kingdom of God, proving it to be righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. That is our side of the matter.

But the great point in the kingdom of God is that God should have His place. An enemy has come in, and has robbed God of His place. And we have a world system built up to cater for the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life and not to cater for God at all. It uses the creatures of His hands and exploits them for men's lusts, and corrupts men in the doing of it, so that God should have no place in the hearts of men. But God has established

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His kingdom here, and the great end in view is that God shall have the place which is truly His, in the hearts of His creatures; and, indeed, ultimately, in the hearts of a universe; that is the great end in view.

Now I desire to say a word as to the millennial kingdom. It is spoken of in Hebrews 2:5. It says God "has not subjected to angels the habitable world which is to come, of which we speak". I have just described the present world. It is a system built up to cater for men and men's lusts, every kind of man is catered for. Satan is the god of this world. But there is a world to come wherein the true God will have His place. And who will secure this? The same One who secures His place in your heart at the present time -- the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist says of Him, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world", John 1:29. The world to come is not a different heaven and a different earth. It is the same heaven and the same earth, but under an entirely different management. And that world to come is about to come. Jesus is about to come, and to take up His public rights in government. John the Baptist says, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". When the sin of the world is taken away, it will be the world to come -- the same heavens and the same earth, and yet an entirely different state of affairs. The Lamb of God has laid the sacrificial basis for taking away the sin of the world by sacrificing Himself. Had He not done that, the taking away of the sin of the world, would have meant taking us all out of it. It would not have been a habitable world. There would not have been any men in it. But He has laid the sacrificial basis, that there might be a world of men, redeemed by His blood. And He has laid the basis thus for taking man, and his glory, out from the centre of the world, and putting God, as known in Himself, in the centre. He is about to take away the sin of the world thus, and to establish the rights of God in love and grace, in this

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very heavens and this very earth with which we are connected. And so it says that He has not subjected to angels the world to come. It is a wonderful thing to think that God's purpose as to the world to come was to subject everything to man. It brings out the greatness of the day in which we live. In the past dispensation things were subjected to angels. The law was given by the administration of angels. Angels are on a higher plane than men, as to creational position. But, Christ having gone into heaven, and angels and principalities and powers having been made subject to Him, the whole position has changed. We are living in a wonderful dispensation, when those who were the rulers, as it were, in a past dispensation, are now the servants of the saints. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation?", Hebrews 1:14. They are great beings, to be greatly esteemed. Many of them are principalities and authorities in the heavenlies, holding great official positions, but yet glad now to be the servants of those who shall inherit salvation, because they see our destiny, as they see Christ exalted above. They see the Man, Christ Jesus, set at God's right hand in the heavenlies, above every principality and authority and power and dominion and every name named. And they apprehend that those who belong to Christ, though still here in conditions of weakness, are destined for that glory. He is there, crowned with glory, but He is bringing many sons to glory. He is the Leader -- He is gone before, and He has been made perfect through sufferings. That includes the atoning sufferings. He has been right down into the depths, in order to be perfected as a Leader. He could not have led many sons to glory if He had not been into those depths, and borne our sins in His body on the tree and if God had not made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, "that we might become God's righteousness in him". We, who were once under death and under the

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judgment of God, are now among the many sons, en route to glory -- our destiny assured -- to be in glory with Christ. And the anxious looking out of the creation or the creature, waits for the revelation of the sons of God. The creation will not be set free from the bondage of corruption until these "many sons" are manifested in public power and glory. And it is to Christ, and those many sons that He is bringing to glory, that the world to come is subjected -- first of all to Christ Himself, of course. Universal dominion is His.

It is wonderful to think that the world to come is about to be introduced. It includes heaven and earth. The Old Testament prophecies could only tell you about earth. But in the New Testament we see clearly that the title "the Christ" -- the Anointed, God's King -- means that His rule and dominion extend to heaven and earth. The mystery of God's will is "to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth", Ephesians 1:10. How wonderful it is! What a world to look forward to! The present heavens and the present earth all under the dominion of Christ, and of men in Christ; not subjected to angels, but to men, according to God's divine appointment. The day is at hand when every office in the universe, every position and seat of government, will be filled by Christ and those delegated by Christ. Christ will fill all things. There will not be a position of authority anywhere in the universe that is not occupied by Christ Himself or those delegated by Him, we in the heavenly part of it, the Lord preserving us for His heavenly kingdom! He is "head over all things to the assembly, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all", Ephesians 1:22 - 23 -- the assembly with Him, in the headship and the dominion and the glory of that great scene, the world to come, of which we speak. How we ought to speak of it! It rejoices the heart to think of the present heavens and the present

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earth -- the triumph of it -- being all under the dominion of Christ, and those appointed by Him; the kings of the earth walking in the light of the heavenly city, everything regulated according to God. We shall see thus the sin of the world taken away; the holy city coming forth, having the glory of God, and her shining like a precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone; and the light, dispelling all the darkness -- no more dark thoughts of God, no more scope for the lie, but the heavenly light of the city shed abroad, and the whole creation liberated; we ourselves, as forming the city, being in the direct rays of the glory which is shining in the Lord Jesus. The glory of God enlightens the city, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof, and we can gaze upon Him without a veil. We can behold the glory face to face; but other families and the nations will get their light through us. What a wonderful day the world to come is! What a wonderful part we have in it! What a wonderful view of the kingdom!

In that day the official glories of Christ will shine resplendent; and how the assembly delights in His official glories -- the Head over all things, the King of kings, the Priest of the Most High God, the Lamb -- think of the greatness and glory and dignity of Christ! The throne of God and the Lamb is in the city. The Lamb's high glories will occupy the attention and the lips of heaven and earth. And thus God will have His rightful place in the present heavens and the present earth. It is because of the state of things that has come in, that it has been necessary, as it were, for God to commit things into the hands of the Son. He loves the Son and has put all things into His hand. He has put all things under His feet, in order that everything might be subdued and yet, in the world to come latent evil will still be there, and thus administration will be necessary as evidenced in the wall and gates of the city. Therefore a mediatorial kingdom in the hands of the

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Son is necessary. His official glories coming into display in that day of Christ. Wonderful day!

But then it says in 1 Corinthians 15:24, "Then the end, when he gives up the kingdom". The millennial kingdom is to be given up. He "gives up the kingdom to him who is God and Father". The Father committed all things into His hand; and when the purpose for which all things were committed into His hand is completed, He delivers up the kingdom to Him who is God and Father. It does not mean that the kingdom comes to an end. It has been received, and it is delivered up. But what glory attaches to Christ as the One who, in the great administration committed to Him, has brought all things to finality! And the bringing of everything to finality not only includes the thousand years' millennial reign, but also what follows it. And so it goes on to say, "when he shall have annulled all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that is annulled is death". The millennial reign, the great reign of peace, will be over, and there will be the great rebellion; Satan loosed from his prison, and Gog and Magog going up from the four corners of the earth to besiege the camp of the saints and the beloved city -- that great final rebellion, even after the millennial reign of Christ. Satan being loosed is the final test -- the test to those born in the millennium -- the great answer to socialist ideas of the present day, which assert that men only need a better environment and they would prove to be alright. Even present events give the lie to that. The wealthy classes have never been the best classes morally, even though they may have had all that money could buy. And yet that is the theory men have held -- only put men in a right environment and they will be alright. It is a denial of original sin. It is not the truth. And the final disproof, of that lie will be seen in those who have been born under the reign of Christ, and have been in perfect

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conditions. The moment Satan is loosed, they fall a prey, and there is the great rebellion. But then the Lord Jesus deals with that. "Fire came down from God out of the heaven and devoured them", Revelation 20:9.

Then it says, "And I saw a great white throne" -- after that great rebellion is quelled, there is the final settlement of everything. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled, and place was not found for them". Think of the majesty of Jesus!

"God's glory bright, God's majesty divine,
Resplendent in the face of Jesus shine". (Hymn 255)

You cannot conceive of a scene of greater majesty than that depicted. And the dead, great and small, stood before the throne. And they were judged according to their works. Every moral issue is finally settled at that great assize. Think of Jesus, the glorious Person before whose face the earth and the heaven fled! As another scripture says, "Thou in the beginning, Lord, hast founded the earth, and works of thy hands are the heavens. They shall perish, but thou continuest still; and they all shall grow old as a garment, and as a covering shalt thou roll them up, and they shall be changed", Hebrews 1:10 - 12. When this present heavens and earth have fulfilled their purpose, and there has been a thousand years' reign vindicating Christ and magnifying God, and displaying all that God has worked out through all the dispensations before an admiring universe, then He who made them, will roll them up and they shall be changed. That is one aspect of it. But the other aspect is that in doing that, in rolling them up and changing them, no moral issue is left unsettled. There is a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, and no moral issue is left unsettled at that great assize. There are those earlier whose judgment is summary -- Satan, the beast and the false prophet cast alive into the lake of fire. The execution of judgment

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upon them did not need to wait for the great assize. Their guilt was plain for all to see. But finally there is the great assize, and the majesty of the scene defies human description. But we shall see it. And thank God we shall not be amongst those who stand before the throne there, to be judged "according to their works". Woe betide those who do! Heaven and earth fled, but men raised and held there to give an account to God. And thus every moral issue is settled, and evil consigned to its own place.

And then John says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth ... And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband", Revelation 21:2. Now we look on to the eternal scene! -- the final aspect of the kingdom of God. The Son, having completed all that was put in His hands to do, delivers up the kingdom. And it says, "But when all things shall have been brought into subjection to him, then the Son also himself shall be placed", 1 Corinthians 15:28 -- it does not say that anyone places Him there, it is according to divine counsel. He "shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all". Now we come to the final phase of the kingdom of God -- God, all in all, a fixed, an eternal scene,

"Where deceiver ne'er can enter,
Sin-soiled feet have never trod". (Hymn 206)

What a wonderful scene this is! The great end reached -- "Then the end" -- the great end and objective in all God's ways, that God should have His full place in the universe -- not now in the present heavens and the present earth, in a provisional state of affairs where flesh and blood still exist, where evil is still latent, but that God should have His place in a final state of affairs, where evil is for ever put away and can never intrude again, where nothing can ever

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challenge God's rights. He has His city, the new Jerusalem, an incorruptible city. The assembly as the city will always fulfil every responsibility. The assembly is the great vessel of fulfilled responsibility, standing related to "my God, and your God", the city of God. Think of God having a vessel that will fulfil responsibility, and through which His light will be diffused in the universe, all through eternity; where everything will be held in incorruption. But, you see, in that eternal day, the official glories of Christ recede. They are no longer prominent, because the official services of Christ are no longer needed in the same way. His activities, for instance, as Lord and Priest will no longer be needed as in the earlier provisional state of things. Even His glory as the Lamb recedes. I do not think these glories will ever be forgotten, but they are no longer the great prominent features of the day, the day of God. They are the great features of the world to come, the day of Christ, but in the day of God all that is personal to Christ as Man, in the way of official glories, will recede, in order that God may be all in all. And in Whom do we see God expressed? In Jesus. He is the effulgence of God's glory, and the expression of His substance, and He will always be that, all through eternity. It is a question of God, we see God shining forth in Him -- the Fulness dwelling in Him bodily. It is God with whom we are occupied -- surely ever the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but God, God manifested in a Man. God's glory bright, His majesty divine, will ever in the face of Jesus shine. And so, in the references to Christ related to eternity, it just says, "he that sat on the throne". There is nothing to draw attention to His distinctive official glories as Man, that belong to Him alone. He that sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new". Who is speaking? -- Jesus. But it just says "He", because it is a question of God being before the soul. It is Jesus as representing God -- God, all in all, still

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known to us in Jesus, but God. "He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new ... I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end", Revelation 21:5, 6. That is the kingdom of God in its final and fullest aspect. Paul says, "Now to the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God, honour and glory to the ages of ages", 1 Timothy 1:17. And that will be so. There will be glory to God the King to the ages of ages, and yet He is ever the invisible God. We see Him in Jesus most blessedly, and God fills our hearts. What a day that day will be!

Now I want to come back for a moment to the present time, that we might get some practical idea of what the kingdom of God is now. We have spoken about the eternal kingdom, which flesh and blood cannot inherit. But what about the present time? Numbers helps us as to the present aspect of the kingdom of God. Christ is on high, and the Holy Spirit is given that God might reign in our hearts now. Initially that was His idea in Israel. God did not appoint a king to begin with. And when the people asked for a king, He says to Samuel, "They have not rejected you, they have rejected Me from reigning over them". In the tabernacle system in the wilderness we get a foreshadowing of God's eternal thoughts -- that God Himself would reign as dwelling among His people. A king normally dwells among his people. And the idea of a king is that he is beloved of his people. Lordship and headship combine in kingship. A king must be lord, and the title "Adonai" in the Old Testament is lordship as applied to God. In England the king is cited in official documents as "Sovereign Lord". Lordship means that God has absolute rights, supreme rights. But headship is a question of moral power and influence. A king is head of the State. No earthly king is properly fit to be head. It needs moral qualifications to be head so as to morally influence everything aright. Christ is the true Head.

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But then God is Head in the final sense, "thou art exalted as Head above all", 1 Chronicles 29:11. But there is a foretaste of that now, even in the wilderness position. And that is what you get in Numbers. The kingdom of God, in its practical working out, typically, is seen in the book of Numbers, the early chapters. God had come down to dwell among His people. He said they were to be a kingdom of priests. He had come down to dwell in Exodus, He had called upon them to approach Him in Leviticus, He wanted them near to Him, and in Numbers He orders all the camp relative to Himself, God the centre, dwelling in His habitation. That is the present position. God has His habitation in the Spirit here. The tabernacle of witness is here, formed of His people, and God is dwelling among His people. And the idea of the kingdom of God is that the whole nation is regulated by the King. We are the holy nation -- 1 Peter 2:9 -- a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Numbers gives you the holy nation, every household in it is set in its place by the King. According to the early part of Numbers, we are numbered for military service, numbered for levitical service, and held for priestly service; and all encamping in our proper positions.

That is the practical side of the kingdom of God. And therefore we can measure ourselves up as to how far we are in the kingdom. The Lord says, "thy will be done as in heaven so upon the earth". The early chapters of Numbers give God's will on earth at the present time: that the tents of the saints should be camped around His tent; that His interests should be our interests; that our interests should be entirely subordinated to His. That is the kingdom of God. That is where you will prove righteousness, peace and joy, because that is righteousness. Righteousness lies in recognising God's claims in love over you; that He has a right to your services. We are called upon to hold our houses as military households, encamped in position, as

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levitical households encamped around the tabernacle; and as priestly households on the east side of the tabernacle, ready to take up service day by day, morning by morning, evening by evening. We in this day are a kingdom of priests, free to enter the holiest at all times. We are also a holy nation and He is the King. And He will order everything relative to Himself as the centre. So that we should not put off the idea, "Our God the centre is", to the future. It will be the grand result of the future, but it is present. If we are in the gain of the kingdom, it is a present matter, that God is already the centre. I am not my own centre, in that sense, nor are my interests my centre or chief concern. But it is God -- God the centre -- His habitation the great concern; my habitation, my business held relative to Him. That is the teaching of Numbers. That is the kingdom of God at the present time. Are we in it? Or have we contracted out of it? Is God the centre of heart and thought and life? And Balaam looks at them from that viewpoint. He sees the kingdom, as you may say, in its present aspect. He says, "Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in his midst", Numbers 23:21.

Oh, the glorious present, the glorious present, dear brethren! We think of the glorious future, the world to come; and the glorious future, the day of eternity. But oh, the glorious present! Let us not miss it. The glorious present of God dwelling among His people now, and walking among us, and we encamped around Him, all our interests subservient to His -- we going through with Him -- "when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness", we -- all moving on with Him, to the appointed end. Let us all be in this glorious matter! And who would be out of it? You will never get another opportunity of knowing the kingdom in its present aspect. Now is the time. And there is a glory about the present moment which will never be repeated -- to be in the

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kingdom now, moving relative to God as centre now, moving with Him in the testimony now. What a favour this is! Let us all be in it, let us not lag behind! "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts". Let us have our ears and hearts open and be moving on with God, truly in the kingdom of God. Think of the triumph of it! "Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in his midst". No one can stand in the way of the saints if they are in the gain of this. God is moving forward, and we are moving forward with Him. And so, Balaam says, "How goodly are thy tents, Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel!" He sees them all in their setting, in relation to God as the centre, and therefore all proving the support and the refreshing power of the Holy Spirit. In a desert? Yes. And yet what Balaam says as he sees the tents all in order, around the tabernacle, every one in the holy nation in his place, is, "Like valleys are they spread forth, like gardens by the river side", Numbers 24:6. "Like aloe-trees which Jehovah hath planted, like cedars beside the waters. Water shall flow out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in great waters". This is the kingdom of God -- plenty of water, plenty of refreshment, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. May the Lord help us to be in this matter at the present time, as well as having our hearts beating high with hope as to the world to come, which is about to appear; and also, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. May it be so, for His name's sake.