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THE CLOSING MINISTRY OF THE DISPENSATION

Mark 11:15 - 17, 27 - 33; Mark 12:1 - 3, 6 - 11, 13 - 25, 28 - 31, 34 - 44; Mark 13:1 - 4

Brooklyn, 5 November 1957

The Lord’s closing ministry in the temple is of great interest in each gospel and brings out in a remarkable way the truth of His Person. The climax in the 8th of John is, "Before Abraham was, I am". The great I AM had come to His temple and did not leave it without it being filled with His glory testimonially. So He says, "Before Abraham was. I am". Light had been shining in the temple because He was there. In the synoptic gospels, His closing ministry in the temple culminates in the bringing out of the truth of His Person in the way of a question, as it says in Mark 12:35, "How do the scribes say that the Christ is son of David? for David himself said speaking in the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet. David himself therefore calls him Lord, and whence is he his son?" So again before the Lord leaves the temple, it is filled with His glory testimonially.

Now I believe the closing ministry of the Lord in the temple bears on the current revival and its teaching. According to Mark 11:15 it says, "And they come to Jerusalem, and entering into the temple, he began to cast out those who sold and who bought in the temple". The present revival commenced with that kind of action. Those who were commercializing that which professes to be the house of God, were exposed by an extraordinary ministry which revealed in their true character the corruptions practised in Christendom from one end to the other. No doubt those whom the Lord cast out of the temple came back the next day and continued their practices. So in the current

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revival, there has been the exposing ministry but the practices have been persisted in by those who have blunted and seared consciences. They go on with that which has been exposed. J.N.D.'s writings are in the great seminaries and the religious leaders know about them. They are all the more responsible. At the close of His discourse, and after He left the temple, the Lord said, as to the temple, there shall not be left a stone upon a stone. If, after such a ministry, the money-changers and those who sold doves came back and carried on as if nothing had happened, there could be no result but unsparing judgment. Every stone has been cast down. In like manner the whole Christian profession is going to be removed in the most unsparing judgment ever witnessed. Ours is a solemn day. We live in the time between the giving of the ministry which has exposed evil practices from one end of Christendom to the other, and the time when unsparing, unmitigated judgment will fall upon those who continue in them.

But then, in what comes out in the temple between the casting out of the money-changers and the Lord’s final departure from it we see how truth comes out in the presence of opposition. The very questions of the opposers bring out the truth. That has been true of the current revival. The great features of truth have been recovered in the face of opposition and have been brought out in clarity through the very questions of opposers. Though the opposers themselves have never got the gain of the answers to the questions, all the way through there have been disciples, like those who were with the Lord, who have got the gain of them. From this standpoint we have to look at the ministry of the current revival in its bearing upon the whole of Christendom. We still form part of the great house; we still form part of that

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which publicly bears the name of Christ in this world and assumes the place of the temple; and the bearing of the ministry that the Lord has given, whether through J.N.D. or F.E.R. or J.T., has been on the whole profession. Certain ones only have got the gain of it but the whole profession will be judged in the light of the fact that this closing ministry has been brought to it. Responsibility rests upon the whole profession.

The ministry has come out in the face of opposition; temple light has shone in spite of opposition. I am likening now the close of the dispensation when the Lord was here -- the close of His life -- to the close of this dispensation. In spite of all the opposition in that which professed His name, He went on bringing out light. He knew well that there were those there who had ears to hear and who would get the benefit. That is how Satan defeats himself. He raises up opposition but the very questions raised by the opposers, whose hearts are too hard to get any benefit from the answers themselves, bring out answers which are just the light needed by those who are keenly following the truth. So the first question raised after the cleansing is: "By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?" -- the very question raised early in the history of the current revival. Men challenge the authority of the ministry just as they did when the Lord was here; and in Acts they said, ‘How have these men letters having never learned?’ They had never been to a seminary. Similarly in this revival one of the first issues raised was the authority of ministry. Men would say that persons who have never been ordained ought not to minister. The Lord answers the question with a question. Temple light was shining and sometimes temple light is best brought in in

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the nature of a question. The Lord says: "I also will ask you one thing, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John, was it of heaven, or of men? answer me". Now in that one question, which they were not prepared to answer, temple light shone on the great question of ministry and its authority. As to any ministry the point is, is it of heaven or of men? Men ordain other men, they send them to schools and colleges; but the authority of those men is given by men and that is not divine authority at all. The authority of all true ministry is of heaven, and it carries the stamp of authority with it in such a manner that there is no need for anyone to assert it. That was true of the Lord’s own ministry, par excellence. What He said carried such weight that it could not be gainsaid, its authority was manifest, and these men knew it. In Mr. Darby’s case, also, men knew it. The opposers could not gainsay the power and truth of the ministry, although they resisted it.

So this great truth has been recovered that authoritative ministry is of heaven and, if it is of heaven, it carries its own credentials with it. It is a remarkable thing that it comes from the Man who is above the heavens. It comes from an ascended Christ, who has ascended above all heavens "that he might fill all things; and has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers … with a view to the work of the ministry". The Lord Jesus has ascended above all heavens, an altitude to which the creature can never go. Psalm 68:17, 18, from which Ephesians 4:8 is quoted, applies the name Adonai to Him, a plural word used only of God and implying the right of lordship that is inherent in Deity. He has ascended in the right of His own Person. So the Psalm says: "The chariots

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of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord", Adonai, "is among them: it is a Sinai in holiness. Thou hast ascended on high". He has gone above all heavens in the right of His own Person, and it is from that altitude that the ministry comes. He has given some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some shepherds and teachers. What immeasurable authority, therefore, lies behind the ministry, the authority of the Man who is Adonai and who has ascended above all heavens. Who can resist it? Men may resist it, but they are dashing their heads against a stone. They cannot overthrow it because of the One from whom it has come. The truth will go through, it cannot do otherwise. One of Mr. Darby’s earliest papers was on ministry and deals with its source and origin and its nature. How wonderful that God has given us light on this question. Those who accept the light as to its authority, get the benefit of the ministry given. Those who accepted John the baptist’s ministry as being of heaven, got the benefit of it. Those who accepted that the ministry of the Lord Jesus was of heaven, got the benefit of it. Thank God that so many have got the benefit of the ministry in these days.

Following this, the Lord begins to speak to them and to set out the truth in a dispensational way, particularly distinguishing between the Jewish dispensation and the present one; and all this has been clarified in the way of temple light in the present revival. Christendom publicly has gone back to Jewish practices but the Lord has brought out clearly that Israel has been set aside. Israel failed to provide the fruit which was looked for, even when God sent His beloved Son. They cast Him out of the vineyard and murdered Him and therefore the vineyard has been taken away from them and

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given to others; for the Lord says in Matthew 21:43, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation producing the fruits of it". That nation is the holy nation of 1 Peter 2:9. That nation is composed of Christians down here, a holy nation, a people for a possession. This light would free us from Judaism and all connected with it, which can yield no fruit for God. But then coupled with that is the truth of the present position, that the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, or, as the note says, head of the corner.

The headship of Christ should have its full place with us. It is a balancing truth as over against the authority of ministry. The authority of ministry is not to establish clericalism, just the reverse. Ministry is given, "for the perfecting of the saints … with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man … in order that we may be no longer babes", Ephesians 4:12. Now where gift is allowed to override the truth of the body, it no longer edifies the body. It may please the brethren and save them many ‘body’ exercises but it no longer edifies the body. It no longer helps the saints to grow up, but keeps them in a babe state. The purpose of gift is to bring about in increasing measure amongst the saints, true body conditions and formation. It is for the building up or edifying of the body of Christ, and it is to cause us to grow up to Him in all things, who is the Head. So that ministry, in its very nature, insofar as it is successful, tends to make the saints independent of gift because they grow up to Him in all things who is the Head, and they function bodywise, the body thus building itself

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up in love. Not that we shall ever cease to need and value ministry while we are here, for other generations come along, and gift always brings in excess which we are all delighted to have. We shall always rejoice to have authoritative ministry; but the measure of its success is seen in body formation and growth so that the saints are no longer babes. So the Lord brings in this great truth of Himself as the Head of the corner which would save us at all times from clericalism. If we give way to clericalism, not only do the saints suffer, but the minister suffers, we all suffer. That is why, while emphasizing the authority of ministry and the altitude from which it comes and its invincibility if rightly ministered, yet we have to see that it is never used to promote clericalism, but to promote the very opposite, that is, body formation and the functioning of each member in his place.

The next question raised has been a prominent question in the present revival, and relates to Caesar’s authority. We recognize the authority of ministry and the authority of the Lord as Head. Where, then, does Caesar’s authority come in? This exercise still continues amongst us, and temple light continues to shine upon it. It has been shining especially during this century and is still shining. We have been instructed as to Caesar’s place and how to hold Caesar in our thoughts and prayers. We are to give him his due, but not more than his due. It is a great matter with God that we should be intelligent. We are God’s direct representatives; we are the sons of God, we form the house of God, and we are to represent Him rightly. We have a greater place than Caesar; for we are the kingly priesthood. But then Caesar has a place. God has given him a place. There is no authority except from God and

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those that exist are set up by God. As His priesthood we should understand all this. The place Caesar has should be clearly defined in our minds and we should not fail to give him his due, but we should know where to draw the line. The Lord’s answer, like all His answers, puts the whole truth in a nutshell. No one could answer like the Lord, not even an apostle. In many instances you will find that the Lord puts the whole truth in so few words that you stand amazed. So His word here is: "Pay what is Caesar’s to Caesar, and what is God’s to God". Prior to that He says, "Whose is this image and superscription? And they said to him, Caesar’s". Now that is the whole point of the matter as to our relations with Caesar. It is a question of the image and superscription. Man was created in God’s image and glory; the true representation is lost in sinful man but it is recovered in the new man, which is created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth. We are responsible to represent God, His image and superscription is upon us. Nothing we do is to mar that image and superscription. If Caesar demands something that will mar God’s image and superscription, we must say, No, to Caesar. Our first responsibility is to be here representative of the God whose sons we are, whose house we form and whose priesthood we are to function in.

Mr. Taylor helped the brethren greatly in Great Britain during 1914 to 1916, those critical war years, pointing out that Romans 12 comes before Romans 13. In Romans 12 we are called upon to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is our intelligent service. That word is priestly service. We are priests of God, and these bodies of ours are to be used in the representation of God. They have been presented to God, and nothing can override His

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claim. It is not until the 13th chapter that you get the claim of Caesar and what is in chapter 13 cannot override what is in chapter 12. The presentation of the body is irrevocable. Having been presented to God, it cannot be presented to Caesar; and if Caesar demands the use of my body in such a manner that I can no longer be truly representative of God, I must refuse the claims of Caesar. He has encroached upon the rights of God. Our first responsibility is to represent the God whose sons we are and whose priests we are. That is why we cannot carry arms; and we have to make this clear to the authorities. Caesar has authority and we recognize it; God has given him authority. We must do his bidding insofar as we can, so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of God and our responsibility to represent God. Rome would say that the church’s place is to rule over the nations; that will not do at all -- not in this day. That would be interference with Caesar’s rights. Protestants say the church should be subject to the authorities, and they make the king the head of the church. That is entirely wrong. The church is subject to Christ. So the Lord has been throwing light on these matters so that there might still be a true representation of God here; Caesar’s rights being recognized as they ought to be and a true witness being rendered to Caesar. It has always been God’s way, ever since He committed power into the hands of the Gentiles, to bring His direct representatives before them to bear witness to them. It is necessary for more reasons than one. Firstly, God desires that all men should be saved, including the rulers. He converted Nebuchadnezzar. He has a certain affection for men who ‘are useful to Him in the sphere of government -- see the references to Cyrus in Isaiah 45 --

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and He would bring His testimony in its most powerful form before them, in order that some might be saved. Secondly, He would bring home to their consciences their responsibility to Him, in view of the day of judgment.

It is a wonderful privilege to carry God’s testimony before kings and rulers. As going before such the Christian is in a greater position than the ruler, not in the realm of God’s government down here, but in actuality. He is one of the priests of God; he has access to God; he knows and represents the God who gave the ruler his authority. He bears witness to God and His rights; and a true witness, as history proves, will often, in the most astonishing way, affect the conscience of the ruler. Many rulers, when faced with the enormous problems of government, and their own incapacity, are forced to the conclusion that a greater power than they is overruling. They may not know God, they may not fear God, yet they get some sense that a greater power than themselves is behind the scenes. It was evident with certain statesmen during the last war. So that what is brought before them in testimony, finds a certain confirmation in their own experience, and thus reaches their conscience. What I am stressing now is the privilege, if God so orders it, of having to appear before authorities. When the rights of God and Caesar’s claims clash, it has often meant believers being called upon to appear before the highest authorities; and it is God’s will that witness should be borne at the highest levels, so that He may be justified when He judges. All those men who have exercised authority have got to stand before Him in judgment. So this question is not one of minor importance. Temple light has shone upon it through much exercise and in the face of

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opposition, and it is still shining. How important, then, it is to have these things in balance -- the authority of ministry, the supreme authority of Christ as Lord and Head, and then the authority of Caesar.

The next question clarifies the nature of our spiritual links in Christ. Great confusion exists in Christendom. The idea of carrying over natural relationships into the next life is very prevalent, as though these human relationships, that belong to flesh and blood conditions, will be resumed. The Lord puts all that in order. If people have that in their minds, Christ never has the place He should have with them. In the new man Christ is everything and in all. No natural relationships intrude. Our relationships m the spiritual sphere are with Christ -- His brethren, His body, His bride; and with God the Father as sons, and with one another as brethren in Christ. The light of this helps us at the present moment. The new man is existing here on earth, and we are privileged to touch the reality of it on occasions such as this. We are privileged to touch the blessedness of spiritual relationships which will abide for eternity, and we need to be intelligent as to those which will abide and those which will not. You can see the benefit of this in the recovery of the truth, that these things should be clarified in the minds of the saints. In this connection the Lord said to those who opposed, "Do ye not therefore err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God?" One was impressed this afternoon with the need to know the Scriptures. In the passage read in John 2:22 it says, "When therefore he was raised from among the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken". That is a governing idea in the

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temple. We believe the Scripture, and we do not accept anything contrary to Scripture; but we also believe what is current. You would not believe what is current if it were not according to Scripture. They "believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken". The word which Jesus had spoken was the oral ministry, we might say, at that time, and that is to be expected in the temple. We need to know the Scriptures but, as knowing the Scriptures and testing things by Scripture, we are to have our ears open to what the Spirit is giving currently. Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the others judge. The saints know the Scriptures and they appreciate all that is currently given by the Holy Spirit.

Following this we get the question of the first commandment and it brings in the all-embracive claims of God, a most important matter, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thine understanding, and with all thy strength". This is the secret of spiritual progress. We are not putting it out as a demand of law now; we love because He first loved us and love claims our life, our soul, our all. God’s claims in love are nothing less than one hundred per cent. If we are to be in the gain of spiritual things, it is a question of one hundred per cent. All thy heart -- think of God having all your heart! And all thy soul -- no ambition and longing outside of God, God the great centre of your desire! The soul is the seat of ambitions and longings. The Psalmist puts us to shame when he speaks of his longings, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" Psalm 42:2. We are to love God with all our soul and all our understanding. You may have to apply your understanding to material matters, young brothers

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and sisters; you have your studies to do. But do not let them dominate you. God will help you in them; if He sees that what you are going in for is good and profitable. You have to give attention to them; but always keep in mind that your understanding as renewed by the Holy Spirit, can find its only worthy object in God Himself. He is the great study, if I may use the word rightly, of the renewed mind of man -- the all-absorbing occupation of the human understanding. For some of us, our days of business study are over, and we would not like to divert our understanding in the slightest degree from absorption with God. The divine claim is a one hundred per cent idea and this lays the basis for an apprehension of the Lord’s question which follows.

The opposers were silent, they dare ask Him no more; and now He brings in the greatest light by way of a question of His own. If David called him Lord, how is he his son? Now you come to the greatest question and the greatest light shining through the question. Do you know the answer? The Psalm from which He quotes tells us the answer: "The Lord [Adonai] at thy right hand will smite through kings in the day of his anger", Psalm 110:5. That verse asserts His deity. The first verse is, "Jehovah said unto my Lord [Adon] Sit at my right hand, until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet". ‘Adon’ is a word sometimes applied to men in authority and sometimes to God; but ‘Adonai’ in verse 5 is a word applied only to God. It is an unquestionable assertion of the Deity of the One who is at God’s right hand. The Psalm itself, therefore, answers the question, but the opposers were not prepared to submit to the scripture nor to the current word at the moment. Nevertheless there were those who were getting the benefit of the light. That is the position all the

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way through; the ministry bears on the whole of the profession and there are those who are getting the benefit. The opposers are not getting the benefit, but their very questions are used to bring out the truth which reaches a climax in the Lord’s great question.

I believe this particularly links on with the moment we are living in. It is the great truth as to the Person of Christ linked up with the truth of the Godhead, because these truths go together. In asking this question the Lord testimonially filled the temple with His glory. This question understood would mean that, for the hearts of the faithful, the Lord would be seen sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filling the temple. He is the root and offspring of David. It is a question of the final way in which He addresses Himself to the assembly. Just prior to that in Revelation 22:13 He says: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" -- an absolute assertion of Deity. But then, wonderful though that is, the next presentation has an even greater appeal to the affections. "I Jesus … I am the root and offspring of David". It combines His deity and His Manhood in a most attractive way. The offspring of David, Solomon, was a great object of affection in the Old Testament, yet but a feeble type of the Lord as the great Object of affection. This dispensation is thus closing with the glory of Christ vividly shining before our souls, His deity and His Manhood held reverentially, in the way they should be, in our souls; and then, what must necessarily accompany that, the great truth of the Godhead. It is in relation to the greatness of Christ and His Person that the whole truth of the Godhead has come to us following the ministry as to the Sons hip of Christ. That ministry laid the

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basis for the whole truth as to the Godhead to shine out. We are living in this glorious time when testimonially the glory is filling the temple. It is there for every believer in all Christendom, and there are some who are getting the benefit of it. The ministry is printed, it is on the lips of the brethren, it is there for all who would take account of it; but the great thing is that some are getting the benefit. This widow gets the benefit. The light shining in this glorious way is culminating with the full light of the Person of Christ, who He is. What is the answer? It is seen in this widow -- she cast all that she had into the treasury, one hundred per cent. "This poor widow has cast in more than all … into the treasury: for all have cast in of that which they had in abundance, but she of her destitution has cast in all that she had, the whole of her living", Mark 12:43, 44. This tests us all, of course, but I believe it is what the Lord is bringing us to. I believe He is so filling the temple with His glory and the glory of God that we shall come to this, like the poor widow. May God grant that we do come to it, so that we shall cast into the treasury all that we have, the whole of our living. The love that exceeds our highest powers, demands our life, our soul, our all. That is what the Lord is bringing us to.

I will just touch on the next chapter to show what is a complementary truth. While the ministry bears upon the whole profession and there are some getting the good of it, from another standpoint those who really get the good of it will find themselves in a separate position. The Lord leaves the temple and He sits on the mount of Olives and, in that setting, questions are raised by those who are sympathetic. Thank God it is not always a question of light coming out through questions of

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opposers. We have known that kind of thing in recent years; but there is also the blessed way we can sit down together, as it were, on the mount of Olives, in the gain of the Spirit and thus in the gain of the temple, and, as lovers of Christ and in the light of His glory, we can make our inquiries.

One more word. Following the shining out of this glory in Mark 12:37, He denounces the scribes in scathing terms. If you want to read a chapter of unexampled severity, read the corresponding passage in Matthew 23. After the full truth of His Person is brought out and rejected, the extreme severity of the Lord’s language is to be noted. "Serpents", He says, "offspring of vipers, how should ye escape the judgment of hell?" Matthew 23 is a fearful chapter, all spoken in the temple. It reminds me of Revelation 15:8, where it says, "The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power". So on the one hand the temple is filled with the glory of Christ and, on the other hand, going alongside it, there is the most fearful denunciation and foretelling of judgment like the smoke filling the temple. And we should enter into the meaning of both, because, when those angels come out of the temple of the tabernacle of witness in heaven, to receive the seven bowls full of the fury of God, they are coming out from us. The tabernacle of witness is ourselves, the assembly. "I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of witness in the heaven was opened; and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple … And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power", Revelation 15:5 - 8; showing that we are to be brought into accord with Christ in the severity of our judgment of what is corrupt around us. May the Lord help us in these matters, but especially as to the glory of His Person, and as to our response to it, for His Name’s sake.