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REST, LIFE, FOOD, DRINK

Matthew 11:28; John 5:39, 40, 45 - 47; John 6:35; John 7:37 - 39

G.R.C. The words we have read are all the Lord's own words, and in each passage He refers to coming to Himself. I think the most important exercise at the present time is the strengthening of our personal links with Christ upon which all else depends; so that primarily the value of the present conflict lies in that. Those who have been going through things with God, facing sufferings, in their exercises they should see to it that their links with the Lord are permanently strengthened -- that they acquire the habit of coming to Him. Because coming to Jesus is not a thing to be done once; it is to be the daily and perhaps the hourly habit of our lives -- to come to Jesus.

The passages we have read show how all-sufficient He is. The first passage is: "Come to me and I will give you rest". The second, "ye will not come to me that ye might have life"; we need rest, we need life. The third, "he that comes to me shall never hunger"; it is a question of food. We all need food; in natural affairs we cannot go along without it -- but "he that comes to me shall never hunger". And then in the last passage, as coming to Him to drink, it is with a view to a pure stream going out in testimony. There will never be a pure stream going out in testimony to satisfy the thirst all round, unless we ourselves are continually coming to Jesus and drinking.

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So that it is really essential that we each learn to appropriate the Lord Jesus in these four ways; only thus can we be contributors to the fellowship, add wealth to the fellowship. Without this we are more or less passengers being carried by other people.

J.D. So that all the resources are in Him, are they not?

G.R.C. Yes, and what a wonderful thing it is that we are to prove this personally -- in our personal history with Christ; a wonderful experience that is open to us, to prove that Christ is all-sufficient for all the prime necessities of our souls. Every other resource will fail us; but there is one who will never fail.

I.H.R. Would you say that the actual words of the Lord Jesus always have their own appeal to our hearts, to those of us who love Him? I was thinking that if there is one expression above another that is very touching and affecting is this word, "Come" that He uses -- how inviting it is!

G.R.C. Yes, and how He longs for it! We can see how blessed it is that the door is open to each one of us, but the Lord is longing for each one of us to take it up; He says, "all that the Father gives me comes to me", as though He is waiting for it, looking out for those who are going to come. But then, how much have we done it?

A.J.Gl. Would you say a word as to coming to the Lord where He is?

G.R.C. That is what we have to keep in mind in these passages, coming to Him where He is.

A.J.Gl. Coming to Him outside the camp?

G.R.C. Oh yes, outside the camp; "Let us go forth to him without the camp", Hebrews 13. Coming to Him means coming to Him as the glorified one;

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then that gives strength to go to Him outside the camp, as to position here. But we come to Jesus glorified. He is not here, in the days of His flesh now; if we come to Jesus, it is to Jesus glorified.

H.C. As Peter says: "with God, chosen and precious", we come to that One.

G.R.C. Yes; in our last scripture, the 7th of John, it makes it quite clear. He says: "If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink", and then the scripture goes on to say: "But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified". Showing that what He had in mind was persons coming to Him glorified. Now, how often do we come to Jesus glorified in the course of one day?

Q.H.H. The hymn we sung is in keeping with what you are saying: "Exalted far beyond the skies", and, "Received in glory bright up there", etc. He is given a place up there by the Father as glorified.

G.R.C. So that in the language of Hebrews it means entering the holy of holies where Jesus is. He is glorified and God's glory is shining forth in Him, and because of the work He accomplished, that place is our home -- where Jesus is it is the very home of our souls. And we should go home as often as we can in our personal links with Christ.

H.F.R. This is not only for our need, is it? The last scripture we read really refers to the eternal day, the great day of the feast, does it not? and then we shall be always coming to Him -- and that is not when we are in need.

G.R.C. So that in coming to Him now we touch what is eternal. It is the same with the living bread,

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He says, "that which abides to life eternal". And the rest He brings us into in Matthew 11 is an eternal rest.

H.F. Would you say what you had in mind in reading the scripture speaking of rest?

G.R.C. I think that apart from knowing rest we are not of much use to God or to men. It is the great thought of the Sabbath which is continued in the next chapter. The Son of Man is the Lord of it. The Father is the Lord of heaven and earth, but the Son is the Lord of the Sabbath. He brings in God's rest in heaven and earth. He says: "Come to me", and the note says, 'I will bring you to rest'; and that rest involves the liberty in which Christ has set us free from every yoke of bondage, and the only yoke we have is His yoke. "Take my yoke upon you", that yoke is perfect freedom; but all other yokes are broken if we come to Jesus in this way. And then we are brought to the rest of God's Sabbath; and that is strictly the beginning of things for us, the beginning of our true spiritual history.

F.W.C. Would the next chapter -- chapter 12 -- show the kind of liberty that the Lord would bring us into?

G.R.C. That is right. Man-made rules deprive us of Sabbath, they break in upon God's rest, as it were, in the saints and our rest in God.

H.F. Does the scripture in Matthew link with verse 16 of Jeremiah 6? "Thus saith Jehovah: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, which is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls".

G.R.C. That is very interesting; that would be the point, the latter part of the verse, "and ye shall find rest for your souls". I am glad to get that connection in Jeremiah. There are two thoughts here: He gives

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us rest, and then we find rest. And I think that if we come to Him and enter into the rest He gives, we shall be enabled to tread the path, as taking His yoke, where we find rest for our souls -- and that would link with Jeremiah.

H.F. Do you think John is typical of one doing this? his head was found on the bosom of Jesus.

G.R.C. I do; we need to keep in mind that that place is open to each one of us, and the Lord wants us there more than we can ever desire to be there. We think that if only we are like John and could rest in the bosom of Jesus and lean on His breast, as though it is something that is far away that we could not attain to! But if we remember that Jesus wants each one of us there. His desires are far stronger than ours could ever be. He feels it if we are not there.

I.H.R. I was going to ask, in connection with Mr. R.'s remark as to our thinking often of our need, whether we should not think more of His need.

G.R.C. Well, it helps us to see that His longings to have us in the greatest nearness to Himself are far greater than ours can ever be. But then it is good to see that in coming to Him all our longings will be satisfied. And the first thing we need is rest; "Come to me and I will give you rest". To understand that God has found His rest in Christ and the work that He accomplished so that we rest there; and if our activity does not spring from rest there is little or nothing for God in it. True Christian activity springs from rest, we are not working up to something, as though by being feverishly active we are going to arrive at something; but we are brought into the blessedness of God's rest and satisfaction in Christ

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so that our works flow from it -- if our works do not flow from Sabbath there is something wrong. Jesus brings us to rest in the presence of God, to rest in Himself as the One in whom God rests. We are in perfect acceptance before God, nothing we could do could add to our acceptance; we are there before God to appreciate with God His rest in Christ.

P.H. Does that involve our contemplation too of His movements here for God's pleasure?

G.R.C. Yes, having arrived at rest, the rest of God, then we come out into the pathway here in the spirit in which He trod it.

-.D. Do we find an example in Mary who sat at His feet and listened to His word; was she not in a restful state?

G.R.C. She was. And so too the man in whom was legion, he was sitting at the feet of Jesus.

K.O. You made a reference in your prayer to Jesus as the Shepherd of the sheep; do you think that He would take us, every one of us, and would lead us into rest?

G.R.C. That is what the Psalmist says: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want"; that bears on what we are saying, you won't want anything else. Then he says, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures"; you cannot imagine anything more restful than to be lying down in green pastures; and you are led, too, beside the still waters; and so the soul is restored. And then he says, "he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake", and that is, "take my yoke upon you", but it follows the other -- "he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake" -- that yoke is easy.

W.L.R. Is the background of this that He is the

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Revealer of the Father? Then He says, "Come unto me". Is that right?

G.R.C. So that John 14 links on with "No one comes to the Father except by me" -- in coming to Jesus, really, we find ourselves in the presence of the Father. The little children were to abide in the Son and in the Father -- abide there. It involves continual coming.

L.J.J.W. The intense desire in the heart of the Lord that we should come to Him and be with Him should affect us; the element of invitation enters into all these scriptures.

G.R.C. Think of being invited by the glorified Man to come to Him as and where He is and to find our rest there!

H.F.R. You have not to take any journey now physically; I was thinking of the great advantage of the present dispensation. He is glorified and the Spirit is here. The Spirit will bring us into immediate contact with the glorified Christ.

G.R.C. So that we have boldness at all times to enter the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus. It can be done, as you know, perhaps in a busy street or anywhere else. Sometimes the Holy Spirit would help us to abstract ourselves.

H.S.E. Would you connect this with the last verse of 2 Corinthians 3"Looking on the glory of the Lord", emphasising coming to the glorified Man; and I take it that restfulness accrues from the contemplation of that One.

G.R.C. That is right. The glory in the face of Moses repelled, and they had to put a veil on his face; but because of the work that Jesus has done on the cross, having glorified God on our account,

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the radiant glory shining in His face attracts. We are not repelled and we are not expelled from the presence of it; we are attracted into it and we find our home in it.

E.R.E. Is that how transformation takes place?

G.R.C. Transformation -- then we shall represent God aright. You can see the thing must begin from there if we are to be here for God. We must begin from the top.

J.E. I think you said just now something about the difference between these two rests; would you like to say a word about them, please?

G.R.C. One seems to be an absolute thing, 'I will bring you to rest'; that is, we are brought to share God's rest in Christ and in the work that He has completed for God's glory. It involves rest in the presence of that glory, and there we shall rest eternally -- it is really God's eternal Sabbath, from that standpoint. We know that the eternal Sabbath will involve everything, the whole universe, in all that is congenial for God, but we touch God's eternal rest. Well then He says: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls". The yoke is the yoke of bondmanship to Christ. But our souls have longings; we have longings for our brethren, we have longings for the blessing of men, we have longings that the service of God might go on right down here, and we can get feverish about them, and that spoils things. But having come into the rest, the foretaste of God's eternal rest, then we come out into the sphere of service and testimony, with all the longings that the Spirit of God produces in our souls, in the way that He came into things. He was meek

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and lowly in heart; and in coming out to Him in that way we find rest to our souls -- I think it is the opposite to feverishness.

L.J.J.W. Does the present position that we have sought to take, in this exercise, become the sphere in which these two things come out?

G.R.C. Well, there is tremendous amount of labour and burden. The brethren have been brought under heavy burdens. The Scribes and Pharisees bound heavy burdens on men, hard and heavy to bear; the Lord was thinking of those kind of things as well as others. He was thinking, no doubt, of what would have burdened His spirit, if He had not the retreat into the Father's presence; the burden too of the lack of repentance with people in spite of all His grace. Also that the Pharisees bound burdens hard and heavy to bear, the Lord says; they were bound on people, and He says: "Come to me and I will give you rest". That is the call at the present time from that standpoint.

L.J.J.W. It is good to see in the light of that, in view of the work of God in the saints, this is their natural environment.

G.R.C. It is. "All that the Father has given me will come to me". The work of God in the saints; but men come in with many other things and put the saints in bondage. If it is allowed to work, it will work in keeping them away from Christ; occupying them with themselves, and with anything but Christ.

H.S.E. This matter of rest of soul comes first in John's third epistle. It is quite clear that Gaius was no idle man, he found plenty to do and in very adverse circumstances, all of which would be calculated to act against restfulness. But the apostle

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speaks to him first of all of the prosperity of his soul.

G.R.C. You are thinking of it as linking on with the 11th of Matthew; I think that is right.

H.S.E. I thought that that would be implied in speaking of the prosperity of his soul, before he says anything else.

G.R.C. I think that is good, because that must be the way of soul prosperity -- and the only way -- because it is as we find rest unto our souls that our souls prosper.

H.S.E. As J.N.D. says: "Who serve Thee with a quiet mind, find in thy service rest"!

G.R.C. Yes.

W.L.R. Feverishness would only be effective to the flesh, and the flesh loves to be active in relation to the Lord's things.

G.R.C. And we so easily get feverish. I think that brings out another point, that although it is not mentioned in this scripture, it is mentioned in the other three scriptures; it shows that coming to Jesus, in the way we are speaking of it, is a matter of living and active faith. In John 5, after saying: "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life", He says: "for if ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye do not believe his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" It is a question of faith. And then in chapter 6 He says: "he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst at any time", verse 35. And earlier when they said, "what should we do that we may work the works of God?" -- which is feverishness -- the Lord said to them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he has sent", verse 29. This is not just believing once, any

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more than coming once. It is the constant state of a normal Christian soul -- continually coming to Christ on the principle of living active faith -- "Having ... boldness for entering the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus ... let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith". And so again in John 7, "But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive".

A.L.O. I am thinking of the beginning of Hebrews where God's Son is brought forward, that God is behind all this, and the importance of seeing Who the Person of Christ is to Whom we are coming, and the power there available for us!

G.R.C. So that again in John 6, He says, "This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes on him, should have life eternal". That is the will of God the Father that we should see the Son and believe on Him -- the greatness of His Person, Jesus glorified.

H.D. Is the Father's will that we should have the yoke of Christ?

G.R.C. They said, "What should we do that we may work the works of God?". We cannot do anything pleasing to God until we are believers -- and characteristic believers, living by faith. Paul says, "I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God". That means he was continually coming to Him, continually believing -- living on that principle.

L.J.J.W. So that believing is intensified for us now.

G.R.C. Yes; why don't we come to Jesus continually and prove all these great realities?

P.H. Is the Lord turning to the Father here, in spite of the dark background at Capernaum and the lack of faith all round Him, a wonderful example for us?

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His turning to the Father, reverently speaking, instinctively, in that happy restful way, is it something for us to learn? He says, "and learn from me".

G.R.C. I think that is it. I think we can learn particularly from the Lord in the circumstances of that moment when He spoke those words; He was resting in and indeed praising the Father, the Lord of heaven and earth. The Father is the Lord of heaven and earth, but the Son is the Lord of the Sabbath. That is, the Son of Man is the only one who can dispense rest; there is not anyone in the universe who can bring us into rest except Jesus.

R.C.B. If it is not deviating, will you say a word as to the first invitation in John 1? There were those who were exercised and say, "Where abidest thou?" and He says, "Come and see"! and they came and saw and abode with him that day! Would that be a right exercise, as to what you are speaking of -- restful conditions?

G.R.C. Well, it would, because abiding implies that. They abode with Him in restful conditions. But that may imply more than what we are saying; perhaps that is implying not only our coming to Him, but His being present with us. It may refer to His abode here as coming to His own. But, at any rate, it bears on what we are saying. Could Mr. M. help us on coming to Jesus continually?

C.M. Do you not think there are two steps here? First of all you get rid of your burden and you take up a yoke which is easy. It is a yoke, but it is easy; it is a burden but it is light.

G.R.C. Yes, that is very good. Could you say a little more about the last, the yoke that is easy and the burden that is light?

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C.M. Is that what holds us to Christ, a Divine Person? You wonder how a father and mother get on with their children -- with difficulties and many burdens, you see that naturally in the home; but love makes it light. Does it not?

G.R.C. Yes, it does. And we must have a yoke, otherwise we will be lawless. We might be without a yoke at all and free, but actually we would be doing our own will which is bondage. The enemy would get a grip on us, but under Christ's yoke is the real path of freedom.

L.J.J.W. Is it not very beautiful that John portrays the Lord coming in in this spirit and atmosphere of restfulness: "No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". As though, from the outset he would give us the sense of that sphere of restfulness, do you think?

G.R.C. You are thinking of the Son in the bosom. The Lord is under command here ever recognising the yoke in that sense, but the perfect liberty of it! As Mr. M. says, where things are right, the constraining yoke -- if you put it that way -- of a father and mother is not burdensome; without it, the children would go astray -- they must be under control, but it is love's control.

J.E. As Paul says: "not without law, but as legitimately subject to Christ". And it was said in our care meeting last night that we should not give up a single divine principle that we have learnt; is that right?

G.R.C. I am sure that is right, "if ye love me, keep my commandments". Love would not surrender anything due to the One we love. I think that if we

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move on the lines we are referring to now, continually coming to Christ, we should be preserved in every way, because we should be accustomed to His own surroundings where He is and we should want things down here among the saints to correspond with the circumstances up there.

Ques. So would not that give substance in the soul, instead of shallowness? One would desire to have substance in the soul, which I am sure is what we all need!

G.R.C. Well, this is the only way to have substance. Paul says, "What have we that we have not received?" All that we have we have received from the Lord -- as coming to him.

H.F.R. That is life, is it not -- your second scripture? Every time we come to Him we get a fresh living impression of Himself.

G.R.C. So that brings us to John 5. He says: "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life". He says: "Ye search the scriptures", and the note says, 'it is not command, it is an appeal'; the Lord wanted them to go on searching the scriptures. He wants us to search the scriptures, but with this in mind, that "these are they which testify of me". If we do not search the scriptures from that point of view we won't get the gain of them. But then to really get the gain of them we must come to the Person of whom they speak.

Ques. The disciples, each of them had a link with the Lord. If failure comes in on my side, Peter would say: "Lord, thou knowest I am attached to thee". We should have that link and attachment as coming to Him, intimately and personally, then only am I suitable for the company. Is that right?

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G.R.C. It seems to me that if we study Scripture merely as a study -- apart from state -- we shall never get the gain of it. Timothy knew the letter of scripture from a child, but the only way to make him wise unto salvation was "through faith that is in Christ Jesus"; and faith in Christ Jesus will lead us to do what we are saying this afternoon -- to keep on coming to Him, as livingly feeding on Him. And it is really as coming to Him that the scriptures will light up: we realise that they really do testify of Him.

H.F.R. It used to be told us forty years ago that John's gospel was written to make believers of believers.

G.R.C. That is true.

H.F.R. It is true indeed; and every time we come to Him we become more firmly established believers, because we know more of Himself.

G.R.C. Mr. Raven used to say that the trouble with Christians is that they tend to realise that they must be justified by faith, but having been justified by faith they go back to live by law. But we are justified by faith and we are to live by faith; and living by faith involves this constant coming to Jesus where He is, and with coming to Him like that we come into life. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life".

L.J.J.W. Do you think this will have a very practical bearing upon the present time? Might we look at it in this way, that the saints have been liberated that they might have life really?

G.R.C. I think so; "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly". It is the Shepherd again; He brings in the thought of liberty, they should go in and out and find pasture.

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And then, in the pasture there is the thought of rest -- lying down in green pastures. Then He says, "I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly". Well, let us go in for it; He has come for that purpose but it involves our coming to Him continually, so that we are all under His direction as the Shepherd.

-.F. Which came first, do you think, in the Galatian error, the tendency among the saints to decline from living by faith of the Son of God, or the actual legal enactments that eventually put them in bondage? I wondered whether they gained scope for these legal enactments that came in by their living lower than by faith, faith of the Son of God!

G.R.C. Well, I would say that it is that latter thing which makes way for legality. Whether we know it or not, our state gets very low -- as to what the Lord said, "He that eats me shall live by me". We were not really living by Him, by our continually coming to Him; and that is what happened in Galatia, as you say, the teachers came down from Judea, and there was evidently there soil ready to receive it, because they gave up living by faith. So we must get back to this; and we shall see that what we are on this afternoon is absolutely essential, otherwise we shall get into bondage again.

W.L.R. Would the opening of John 5 answer that? The man was healed, but he went back to the temple, instead of going back to the One that healed him, like the blind man in chapter nine.

G.R.C. Well, he is a warning for us; he went back to where he was -- without Christ.

L.J.J.W. Paul had entered into the practical gain of what we are speaking of this afternoon, had he not?

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G.R.C. Well, he lived by faith, the faith of the Son of God. And he shows from the next chapter that that is synonymous with living by the Spirit and walking by the Spirit -- the two things go together. A man that is full of faith is full of the Spirit; they are put both ways round in Acts. Stephen full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Barnabas full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. So at the end of Galatians 2 Paul says, I live by faith, by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me, and he begins chapter three with "O, senseless Galatians ... having begun in the Spirit, are ye going to be made perfect in flesh?" He was showing that he was making the two things synonymous, living by the faith of the Son of God is going on in the Spirit; the Spirit would not lead you any other way. And if you don't do that, you will be going back to the flesh and legal commandments, because you are not getting the support of the Spirit.

A.L.O. What is the meaning of that word in Galatians, "if righteousness is by law then Christ died for nothing"?

G.R.C. Because righteousness never was by law, and never could be. You see, righteousness before God is by faith, that is the only ground of justification, and practical righteousness is by the Spirit.

A.L.O. What does it mean then, Christ died for nothing?

G.R.C. Well, he says, if it were by law, Christ would have died for nothing. But the truth is that righteousness, in the history of mankind, has never been by law.

F.W.C. Does that passage in Romans 10 amplify that matter? "For Moses lays down in writing the

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righteousness which is by the law. The man who has practised those things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith speaks thus".

G.R.C. That is right. So that righteousness for us is always by faith and in a practical sense is by the Spirit; there is no other way for it. The law perfected nothing.

K.C.O. Does the end of chapter five show the value of the Old Testament?

G.R.C. There are several sayings of the Lord that show the great value He put on the Old Testament, and that is one of them. It is of great value to speak of them as to the value of the Scriptures as a whole; not to treat the Old Testament as though it is hardly inspired. The inspiration of the Old Testament is a most wonderful thing; the pains the Spirit of God went to in preparing vessels to be used for inspiration. In a way, it was simpler in the New Testament, because He was indwelling the persons. But in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God took up persons and passed them through experiences, like David fleeing from Saul and so on, to give them feelings. So that they did not express the inspired word like automatons -- like Balaam did. The Spirit could give inspiration through a man who had no feelings about it at all. But, generally speaking, the Spirit of God prepared men with great care, so they had feelings suited to the inspired words He put in their mouth; and that is really a wonderful thing and should attach our hearts to the Holy Spirit. The care with which all was done; and while the things themselves in the Old Testament were types and shadows, the language used was not shadow. The inspired language used was used with great accuracy. The tabernacle was a

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type and shadow, but you take the words used in its description -- they were perfectly accurate in detail; and so were the offerings, and they were repeated in the Old Testament.

P.H. That is what we want to get hold of; it has been often stressed lately that they were mere shadows and mere figures of things to come and so on; but their value to us is surely infinite.

G.R.C. Yes. We have to keep in mind I suppose that the actual things or persons used as types were only shadows; but we must not limit our minds to the literality, otherwise they will get warped. But you come to the description, the detailed language used to describe things is not shadowy language, as far as I can see -- it is with very great accuracy. Take the language as to the offerings, it is not shadowy language, it is very accurate language -- you will know how to apply it spiritually, for it is very accurate language.

P.H. Yes, indeed, very helpful.

W.W. So that "He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself".

G.R.C. Yes.

I.H.R. We were saying in Croydon recently that the early disciples only had the Old Testament writings; and when Paul writes to Timothy, he says, "Especially the parchments". Would that show the great value of the Old Testament writings in the mind of Paul?

G.R.C. Yes, I think he does in the second epistle; he makes it quite clear, the value he put upon it -- "Every scripture is divinely inspired". So the Holy Spirit was in great pains to give us accurate details of the truth in the Old Testament, and it is

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a wonderful thing that alongside of the law, which perfected nothing, he brought in a type of Christianity in the tabernacle. Showing what was in God's mind, that alongside of that which could only condemn man, He brought in typically, and accurately described, a system where man would live before God, in perfect righteousness and peace for ever.

E.R.E. The value of that was particularly seen in later types in relation to the ministry as to the Spirit, that it was almost entirely confined to the Old Testament.

G.R.C. Yes, the literal examples were typical. Yet there is much in the New Testament from which you can make an accurate spiritual deduction, and spiritual deductions occur in scripture. Abel, in giving his offering, made a spiritual deduction; Noah, in building his altar, the first altar in scripture, made a spiritual deduction. It is right to make deductions, provided they are spiritual; and if they are spiritual, there is no doubt but that they immediately appeal -- if we are unbiased -- as being right.

I.H.R. Do you mean that the more we come to Him the more we are able to make these spiritual deductions?

G.R.C. Yes; we have to be careful about the mind working, but right through scripture there are spiritual deductions. David said, this is the house of the Lord God, this is the altar of the burnt offering of Israel, and so right through. We make a spiritual deduction as to household baptism in the New Testament. There are those, we know, who say, there is no literal scripture in the New Testament to say that you should include children when the household is baptised -- there should only be the adults in the house-

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hold. They say that because there is no literal statement in the New Testament to say so. But you can make a spiritual deduction in the New Testament and then go to the Old Testament and find that you have it confirmed. "We will go with our young and with our old", Moses said to Pharaoh.

I.H.R. I suppose the more we come to the Lord, the less literal we become and the more spiritual.

G.R.C. Yes, quite so.

Ventnor, I.O.W. -- 22nd April, 1961, G. R. Cowell, Reading, Haddad Books, Divine Provision in a Day of Small Things, 11: 1 - 22